Extreme Weather
Resource Packet to accompany the GPM "10 in 10"Anniversary Series: Webinar #5
GPM
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite operates in low Earth orbit, carrying two instruments for measuring Earth's precipitation and serving as a calibration standard for other members of the GPM satellite constellation . The satellite was developed and tested in-house at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and launched from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, on February 27th, 2014.
As a part of our celebration of the 10- Year anniversary of GPM, the GPM Outreach Team is hosting a series of "10 in 10" webinars to help share some of the amazing ways in which NASA's Earth observing satellites and partners are helping us better understand and protect our home planet.
Below you will find the recoded webinar which was held on June 13th, 2024.
Extreme Weather
Weather and climate describe the world outside the window - whether it’s hot or cold, humid or dry, sunny or cloudy. Weather is the short term conditions present in the moment that let people know what to wear today and whether or not to bring an umbrella. Climate describes the long term conditions that let people know what clothes to keep in their wardrobe all year long and whether they need to own snow boots, flip flops or both.
An extreme weather event is something that falls outside the realm of normal weather patterns. It can range from superpowerful hurricanes to torrential downpours to extended hot dry weather and more. Extreme weather events are, themselves, troublesome, but the effects of such extremes, including damaging winds, floods, drought and wildfires, can be devastating.
NASA uses airborne and space-based instruments, in conjunction with those from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to monitor these events and the ways in which our changing climate is contributing to them. Together, the agencies are collecting more detailed data on weather and climate than ever before, improving society's ability to predict, monitor and respond to extreme events
Impact of Climate Change
As Earth’s climate changes, it is impacting extreme weather across the planet. Record-breaking heat waves on land and in the ocean, drenching rains, severe floods, years-long droughts, extreme wildfires, and widespread flooding during hurricanes are all becoming more frequent and more intense.
Human actions since the Industrial Revolution, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, have caused greenhouse gases to rapidly rise in the atmosphere. As carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases increase, they act as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. In response, Earth’s air and ocean temperatures warm. This warming affects the water cycle, shifts weather patterns, and melts land ice — all impacts that can make extreme weather worse.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report released in 2021, the human-caused rise in greenhouse gases has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. NASA’s satellite missions, including the upcoming Earth System Observatory , provide vital data for monitoring and responding to extreme weather events.
Read the article below to better understand the relationship between human activities and extreme weather events.
Global climate change is not a future problem. Changes to Earth’s climate driven by increased human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are already having widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, and plants and trees are blooming sooner.
Check out this interactive map from Carbon Brief which shows 504 extreme weather events and trends across the globe for which scientists have carried out attribution studies.
Here are some good resources to use to help one understand the differences between weather and climate, and the evidence that our climate is changing.
Disasters
Disasters happen when a hazard - like a hurricane, earthquake, or volcano – strikes an exposed and vulnerable group of people. By empowering partners with tools to understand disaster risk, we reduce disaster impacts and build resilient communities.
The NASA Disasters program advances science and builds tools to help communities make informed decisions for disaster planning. They develop free and accessible resources that use Earth observations to reveal how natural hazards interact with social vulnerability, exposure, and coping capacity in a changing climate.
Before, during, and after disasters strike, our timely information and agile network of partners help communities worldwide reduce risk, improve response, hasten recovery, and build disaster resilience.
The NASA Disasters Mapping Portal is a powerful interface for viewing, analyzing, and downloading the latest near real-time and disaster specific data products in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) format. The Disasters Mapping Portal supports NASA’s Earth Applied Sciences Disasters program area in its mission to use Earth-observing data and applied research to improve the prediction of, preparation for, response to and recovery from hazards and disasters around the world.
ARSET provides in-person and online trainings focusing on access and applications of remote sensing observations for disaster management. The trainings are aimed at facilitating disaster monitoring, preparedness, and relief activities by using remote sensing observations. Topics can include extreme rainfall, floods, landslides, hurricanes, earthquakes, and oil slicks.
NOAA has a website which discusses and maps the billion-dollar disasters which have taken place in the U.S. since 1980.
Hurricanes
A hurricane, which is known scientifically as a "tropical cyclone", occurs when "a rotating low-pressure weather system that has organized thunderstorms but has no boundary separating two air masses of different densities. (See NOAA " What is a hurricane " page for more details) Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 39 miles per hour (mph) are called tropical depressions. Those with maximum sustained winds of 39 mph or higher are called tropical storms. When a storm's maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph, it is called a hurricane."
Looking to learn more about tropical cyclones and teach information about them to others. check out the curated "Precipitation Education" page below.
Flooding/Severe Storms
As Earth’s temperature rises, the warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor -providing more water for intense rainfall, snowfall, and other precipitation from storms. Heavy precipitation is already occurring more often and will become more frequent and intense with increasing global temperatures.
Increases in water vapor in the atmosphere mean some wet areas will get wetter. As precipitation increases, it can exceed the capacity of natural and human-made drainage systems to move or soak up moisture, leading to damaging floods. Sea level rise will also worsen flooding events near the coast.
Mapping floodwater extent for active floods is critical for local and regional officials and for disaster relief organizations that need to ascertain where to focus their efforts. NASA's Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EO ( LANCE ) provides data to the Dartmouth Flood Observatory .
There is a curated list of good resources to use to better understand and teach others about flooding below.
Landslides
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines a landslide as " movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope. Landslides are a type of "mass wasting," which denotes any down-slope movement of soil and rock under the direct influence of gravity."
Landslides occur in all environments and can be caused by natural processes like rain or earthquakes, or by human processes such as construction or mining. They can cause unexpected loss of life and destruction of roads, buildings, and property.
Learn more about modeling and reporting landslides using GPM data here .
Droughts
The World Health Organization defines drought as "a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle that can occur anywhere in the world. It is a slow-onset disaster characterized by the lack of precipitation, resulting in a water shortage. Drought can have a serious impact on health, agriculture, economies, energy and the environment.
An estimated 55 million people globally are affected by droughts every year, and they are the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world. Drought threatens people’s livelihoods, increases the risk of disease and death, and fuels mass migration. Water scarcity impacts 40% of the world’s population, and as many as 700 million people are at-risk of being displaced as a result of drought by 2030.
Rising temperatures caused by climate change are making already dry regions drier and wet regions wetter. In dry regions, this means that when temperatures rise, water evaporates more quickly, and thus increases the risk of drought or prolongs periods of drought. Between 80-90% of all documented disasters from natural hazards during the past 10 years have resulted from floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, heat waves and severe storms."
In a s tudy of 20 years of data from the NASA/German GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites, two NASA scientists confirmed that major droughts and pluvials — periods of excessive precipitation and water storage on the landscape — have been occurring more often.
Wildland Fires
Wildland fires — uncontrolled fires that occur in areas of combustible vegetation — are an essential process that connects terrestrial systems to the atmosphere and climate. But their effects can also be disastrous to the communities in their path, in both the short and long-term.
Learn how Liz Saccoccia, a research analyst with World Resources Institute, is helping decision-makers know which data to use when plaaning for and responding to wildland fire outbreaks.