Life of the Monsoon

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    North American Monsoon

    Aug. 3rd, 2017

    Music: "Mesmerized Housewives," Donn WIlkersonComplete transcript available. North America experiences a yearly monsoon weather system in late summer as moisture comes up from the west coast of Mexico and enters the southwestern U.S. The seasonal weather pattern brings both much of the region's precipitation but can also pose a threat in the form of flash flooding. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission gathers data from these storms in order to better understand the precipitation processes happening within, which can help better forecast the breaks and surges in the monsoon. Related pages

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    Monsoons: Wet, Dry, Repeat...

    June 22nd, 2016

    This visualization shows the Asian monsoon and how it develops using observational and modeled data. It also showns some of the impacts.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. The monsoon is a seasonal rain and wind pattern that occurs over South Asia (among other places). Through NASA satellites and models we can see the monsoon patterns like never before. Water evaporates from the ocean, then condenses into clouds and heavy rainfall that winds carry across the region. The monsoon rains provide important reservoirs of water, including increased soil moisture, which sustains human activities like agriculture and supports the natural environment. Too much rain is a trigger for flooding. Notice the floods snaking down rivers in the region. Landslides can be triggered when extreme rainfall intersects topography; this is especially prevalent during the monsoon season. In the summer, moisture-laden winds blow towards Asia from the ocean, carrying rainfall. In the winter, dry winds blow away from the continent. In the summer the land gets hotter, heating the atmosphere and pulling in cooler air from the oceans. In the winter the land cools off and winds move towards the warmer ocean. Notice that there is a day-night temperature difference that varies around the seasonal averages. The diurnal cycle is seen as heat from the sun moves around the Earth. Surface temperatures from the MERRA atmospheric model are shown. MERRA surface temperatures color bar (blue, green, yellow, red)range: 243.15 to 283.15 Kelvin GPM/IMERG liquid precipitation color bar (green, yellow, red)ranges: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 10, 20, 50 mm/hr GPM/IMERG frozen precipitation color bar (cyan, blue, magenta)ranges: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 10, 20, 50 mm/hr Soil ,oisture index color barrange: 0 to 1 Global Flood Monitoring System color bar (transparent, blue, magenta)ranges: 0., 0.0, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 9999 Landslides are indicated with a circular glyph The monsoon is a seasonal rain and wind pattern that occurs over South Asia (among other places). Through NASA satellites and models we can see the monsoon patterns like never before. Monsoon rains provide important reservoirs of water that sustain human activities like agriculture and supports the natural environment through replenishment of aquifers. However, too much rainfall routinely causes disasters in the region, including flooding of the major rivers and landslides in areas of steep topography.This visualization uses a combination of NASA satellite data and models to show how and why the monsoon develops over this region. In the summer the land gets hotter, heating the atmosphere and pulling in cooler, moisture-laden air from the oceans. This causes pulses in heavy rainfall throughout the region. In the winter the land cools off and winds move towards the warmer ocean and suppressing rainfall on land. Related pages

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    High Resolution Layers from "Monsoons: Wet, Dry, Repeat..."

    June 22nd, 2016

    Composited layers - all layers on Cloud layer from NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) updated every 4th frame (once per hour) Precipitation from GPM IMERG - updated every other frame (every 30 minutes) Winds from MERRA - updated every frame via interpolation (every 15 minutes) - distinct data sets are every hour Sea Surface Temperature (SST) layer from SST-MUR (JPL) - updated every frame via interpolation (every 15 minutes) - distinct date sets are once per day Soil moisture layer from NASA-USDA-FAS - updated every frame via interpolation (every 15 minutes) distinct data sets are every 3 days Water Vapor from MERRA - updated every 4 frames (every hour) Date and time layer - updated every frame (every 15 minutes) Blue marble land layer - this is a static layer Grid layer - this is a static layer Political boundary layer - this is a static layer Blue ocean layer - this is a static layer The visualizations here are based on the visualization Monsoons: Wet, Dry, Repeat (#4397). Each data set is presented in three resolutions: 8192x4096, 4096x2048, and 2048x1024. Each the 8192x4096 and 4096x2048 layers have been rendered with alpha transparency channels to allow you to create your own combinations of layered data. NOTE: the preview movies are composited over a black background, but the individual 8192x4096 and 4096x2048 frames have transparency channels. The 2048x1024 frames do not have transparency channels.The layers have frame numbers from 01000 through 13000. Frame 01000 corresponds to 02 Jun 2014 at 00:00 GMT. Each successive frame is 15 minutes later. Frame 13000 corresponds to 05 Oct 2014 at 00:00 GMT. To determine the time for a specific layer's frame number, you can look at the date sequence's corresponding frame.Even though all layers are provided at 15 minute intervals, most data sets do not have such a high cadence. In these cases, the frames simply show the same data. See the annotation with each data set for the cadences. Related pages

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    Monsoons: Wet, Dry, Repeat...

    June 23rd, 2016

    Complete transcript available.Music: Letting Go by Mario Lauer, 24 Dimensions by Christian Telford, David Travis Edwards, Matthew St. Laurent, and Robert Anthony Navarro The monsoon is a seasonal rain and wind pattern that occurs over South Asia (among other places). Through NASA satellites and models we can see the monsoon patterns like never before. Monsoon rains provide important reservoirs of water that sustain human activities like agriculture and supports the natural environment through replenishment of aquifers. However, too much rainfall routinely causes disasters in the region, including flooding of the major rivers and landslides in areas of steep topography.This visualization uses a combination of NASA satellite data and models to show how and why the monsoon develops over this region. In the summer the land gets hotter, heating the atmosphere and pulling in cooler, moisture-laden air from the oceans. This causes pulses in heavy rainfall throughout the region. In the winter the land cools off and winds move towards the warmer ocean and suppressing rainfall on land. Related pages

    Read more