2002 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID |
Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| GOING TO EXTREMES TO MONITOR WEATHER
| G02-014 | 12/15/01 |
00:14:12 | Extreme weather has had quite an impact
on us: raging floods, roof-blowing tornadoes, ocean-churning
hurricanes and elusive El Nino's are a constant and permeable threat
felt worldwide. Alternately, extreme weather is a constant source of
fascination and the focal point of every mundane conversation.
Somewhere between these extremes lies a scientific objective to
conquer this force through a better understanding and predicting that
can only come from constant monitoring both on the ground and in
space from a range of government agencies. Herein is our quest: how
can science better understand the multiple phenomena that have
plagued civilization for ages?
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): The El Nino
Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Phenomenon - What is basically a
warming or cooling trend in the Pacific Ocean can have a profound
impact on the rest of the world's climate and weather events. From
flooding in South America to drought in Indonesia and Australia, the
El Nino/La Nina events greatly affect worldwide climate. Here a map
charts global rainfall over a 20-year span with data garnered from
space, historical records and radar. The key is in watching tropical
rainfall patterns for early indicators of ENSO events and vice versa,
and more extremes in global precipitation during El Nino/La Nina
years. Following the map is the TRMM satellite's view of an El Nino
warming 1997-8.
Credit: NASA / NASDA
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| ITEM (2): Waters Rushing In:
Floods -Floods have proven themselves to be one of the most
unpredictable forces based on the difficulty of judging factors like
the depth, speed and power of the floodwaters. Since 1900 floods have
taken over 10,000 lives in the United States alone. Scientists at the
National Weather Service (NWS) are providing information on-line as
to how high they expect a river to rise and where, its peak, and its
duration.
This information will help city officials with evacuation plans, when
to move goods and property and where construction could help reduce
damage potential. While forecasts are generally made 3-5 days in
advance, scientists are aiming to improve that to weeks in advance by
combining factors from radar, weather satellites, ground
measurements, climate predictions, snow cover/melt data and weather
observations.
Credit: NWS & FEMA
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| ITEM (3): Winds From The
East: Hurricanes -Quite possibly one of the most beautiful
forces to observe from space is that of a hurricane - within this
spiraling menace winds can range from 74 mph to greater than 155 mph
(enough to uproot trees). With weather satellites like the
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), NASA
scientists are watching its path, its size and its force. With the
TRMM spacecraft, they can peer through it and get a 3-D view of its
enormous rain clouds. And with the SeaWinds instrument on the
QuikSCAT spacecraft, NASA scientists are measuring the wind vectors
of the ocean surface day or night, clear or cloudy. With QuikSCAT and
TRMM data combined, a better picture of changes in storm intensity
and path yield better prediction times. Video: winds seen by
QuikSCAT, a 3-D view from TRMM and a head-on view from GOES.
Credits: NASA / NOAA, NASA / NASDA, NASA / NOAA
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| ITEM (4): The Stormy Path To
Tornadoes: Lightning - Stronger tornadoes can attain an
intensity of over 300 mph winds, with the highest incidence worldwide
occurring in the United States with about 1,000 occurring annually.
Because tornadoes are spawned during severe thunderstorms, scientists
are looking to the sky for new ways to see the warning signs. One
sign may be lightning, which invisible to the naked eye, actually
hits the Earth an estimated 8.6 million times per day. Because the
lightning had been difficult to track, the national average lead-time
for a tornado is only 11 minutes. By using satellites like TRMM,
scientists hope to increase the lead time by watching for a rapid
increase in the in-cloud flash rate to gain as much as a 50% increase
in severe storm warning lead time. Shown is a month's worth of
lightning strikes worldwide as seen by TRMM, and views of lightning
from the space shuttle.
Credits: NASA / NASDA & NASA
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| ITEM (5): A Unique Weather
Sentry: TRMM Spacecraft - One of the spacecraft shedding new
perspectives on extreme weather was originally intended to measure
rainfall over the hard-to-track tropic areas. Yet the Tropical
Rainfall Measuring Mission, going on its fourth year of operation, is
also being used operationally by real-time weather centers worldwide
to update storm locations and intensity. It's also so precise, that
scientists use it to calibrate their ground-based rain monitoring
systems!
Credits: NASDA/NASDA
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