On March 17, 2014, the GPM, or Global Precipitation
Measurement mission's Core Observatory, flew over a
rare late-season East Coast snow storm. This was also one of the
first major snow storms observed by GPM shortly after
it was launched on February 27, 2014. Shades of
green to red are liquid precipitation. Cyan to purple are frozen
precipitation. GPM is the first NASA satellite designed to
measure the full range of light rain, heavy rain, and falling snow.
Off the coasts of the Carolinas, the tops of the clouds are icy,
reaching about 10 kilometers up into the atmosphere. Down at the surface
heavy rains fall in the Atlantic Ocean. Farther north
over West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland, the post-frontal part
of the storm has much lower cloud tops, and they are
composed of snow, which falls at the surface. GPM's broader
spectrum of precipitation data gives scientists a better estimate of
water content and a new perspective on winter storms,
particularly in the middle and high latitudes.
In addition to its own data gathering, the GPM Core Observatory
is the reference standard for the GPM Constellation, a network
of international partner satellites that detect falling rain and
snow all over the globe every few hours. Here
the partner satellites crisscross the globe and observe the March 17
snow storm.
[rain falling]