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[ Reporter ] NASA is unveiling a new global portrait of rain and snow.

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Here to show us this portrait and tell us a little about it is Dr. Eric Brown de Colstoun.

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Thanks for joining us.

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[ Dr. Brown de Colstoun ] Thanks for having me.

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[ Reporter ] This global view is very compelling.

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What makes this map so special?

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[ Dr. Brown de Colstoun ] First of all, we don't have a full global picture all the time,

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so the data from this joint Japan/US mission,

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called the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission,

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gives us, really, a global picture from pole to pole

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of precipitation every 30 minutes,

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and about at the size of about 6 miles across.

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So what we're seeing is intense storms across ...

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all the way from the eastern Pacific all the way to the southern Atlantic.

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[ Reporter ] Can you take us on a tour and show us some of the surprising things you've seen?

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[ Dr Brown de Colstoun ] Sure ... sure.

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So one of things that we have here is, I think,

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a clip of several events in one week in August, so it was a busy time on Earth.

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And so you see here, actually, Hurricane Iselle and Tropical Storm Julio

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going through Hawaii - it was the first storm to hit Hawaii in 22 years.

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You also see what we call this "popcorn" precipitation and clouds

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over the Amazon river basin.

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And obviously all that rainfall falls into the Amazon and feeds the tropical forest.

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You see all these big storm tracks through the southern ocean.

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Where you actually see in blue, you see the snow and ice on the top of the clouds.

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And then the red and greens are the rainfall.

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[ Reporter ] This is the first satellite designed to measure falling snow.

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Show us a recent snowstorm.

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[ Dr. Brown de Colstoun ] A recent snowstorm.

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On the east coast of the US we have a couple examples that we can show you.

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So, I think what's interesting here is we can actually see this sort of CAT scan

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or three dimensional structure of the storm

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which I think is really exciting as well, and scientists do.

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What you see is the top of the clouds are blue and purple

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which is ice or snow, and then at the bottom is the rain.

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Again, the reds and purples are stronger precipitations.

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This is a storm in February of this year in the eastern US.

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And the other part, as well, is we can track the snow

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all the way from top of the atmosphere all the way to the ground.

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And so you get this really, pretty cool three dimensional picture

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of every storm everywhere on Earth.

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[ Reporter ] How will forecasters and emergency managers use this map?

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[ Dr. Brown de Colstoun ] This is kind of the step in technology.

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We're now able to see the whole globe every 30 minutes

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so that's critical for all kinds of forecasts, not only for weather forecasting

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and climate forecasting as well.

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Here you have an example of Typhoon Haiyan,

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Super Typhoon Haiyan hitting Japan.

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When we're looking at the accumulation of rainfall,

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not only over the oceans, but over land,

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obviously you can see the applications for first responders

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to know where the areas of flooding could occur,

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but any number of different applications for emergency responders.

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[ Reporter ] Thanks so much for joining us.

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[ Dr. Brown de Colstoun ] Thank you.