New NASA map shows global rain and snowfall patterns
Digital Reporter
Friday, February 27, 2015, 3:25 PM - A video released by NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Thursday provides a 3D view of global rain and snowfall between April and September, 2014.
The map is the first of its kind, and leverages data from 12 satellites into a seamless map.
It currently covers 87% of the planet and is updated every half hour, enabling scientists to gain a better understanding of how storms migrate around the planet.
"What this visualization shows so clearly is that all precipitation is interrelated all around the globe," GPM Project Scientist Gail Skofronick-Jackson said in a statement.
"What people sometimes don't realize is how rain over their backyard in the U.S. then goes on to affect the people in Europe once the storms go across the Atlantic."
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The map will provide essential information to remote regions that don't have access to ground radar.
"We get data requests from all over the world," GPM Deputy Project Scientist George Huffman said.
"People living in India are trying to understand the monsoon and what it means for the risk of landslides and flooding. People in Africa are working with famine relief programs that need rainfall data to forecast the growing season. Even here in the United States where we have a good weather radar network system, we need satellite data over the oceans to see what's coming."
It's hoped the data will help scientists and the public learn more about how weather patterns interact with one another on a global scale, while providing insight into how short-term trends impact long-range forecasts.
Source: NASA
