2000 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| NASA SATELLITE USED TO IMPROVE RAINFALL FORECASTING ACCURACY | G00-007 | 01/12/00 | 00:02:20 | New research shows that the accuracy of tropical three-day rainfall forecasts can be improved as much as 100% by combining existing forecast models with satellite rainfall data. The research could be particularly valuable in the prediction of hurricane behavior and rain accumulation. These findings were presented today at the annual American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) meeting in Long Beach, Calif. They will also be featured in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Climate.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Rainfall Predictions ? Dramatic Improvements with new "Super-ensemble" Model - In September of 1999, Hurricanes Floyd and Irene drenched the southeastern United States. Using the new "super-ensemble" forecasting techniques, the following visualizations compare September’s collected one-day forecasts to the collected daily observations of actual
rainfall. This new forecasting technique is a major improvement over earlier methods. The tropics are notoriously hard for daily precipitation predictions; in this representation the overall forecasting trend through time is more significant than precise matching of the rainfall areas depicted by the color map shown.
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| ITEM (2): TRMM Animation - The TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite measures tropical rainfall in a band around the Earth stretching 35 degrees north and south of the equator. The instrument uses several instruments to detect rainfall, including radar, microwave imaging, and lightning sensors. TRMM data is available to researchers around the world; it is managed by a team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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Earth Science Gallery