Welcome to a special
edition of NASA Science Live focusing on climate change.
I'm your host Tahira Allen.
Today we're diving into the world of extreme weather
and how NASA's cutting edge technology and research
are helping us understand these phenomena.
This is your chance to interact with NASA experts
and have your questions answered live on air.
Be sure to drop those into the comments.
Stream wherever you're watching using the hashtag ask NASA.
Today's focus is extreme weather.
As Earth's climate changes, we see changes in the frequency
or intensity of events such as record breaking heat
waves, severe floods, prolonged droughts,
devastating wildfires and intense hurricanes.
Understanding the science behind these changes is crucial
for our future.
Since the industrial Revolution, human activities,
especially the burning of fossil fuels,
have led to a rapid increase in greenhouse gases.
These gases trap heat, acting as a blanket
that's warming our planet and affecting weather patterns.
NASA satellites provide invaluable data
that are helping us monitor
these changes and model what may happen in the future.
We are keeping an eye
on the questions pouring in online,
and we'll be bringing those straight
to our experts live on air later on in the show.
We'll also have experts in the comments standing by
to answer your questions in real time.
Let's jump right in.
With us now is NASA's chief scientist and senior climate
advisor, Dr Kate Calvin.
Welcome, Kate.
Thanks for having me here.
And Dr Michelle Hawkins, the program
manager for NASA's Climate Resilience and Community Action.
Hi, Michelle.
Hi Tahira.
Thank you both so much for being here with us.
Can you start by explaining a little bit about your roles
at NASA?
Kate, we'll start with you.
Yeah, thanks.
So I'm NASA's chief scientist and senior climate advisor.
So I play a few different roles within the agency, both
with respect to science and climate.
I'm an advisor to the administrator
and senior leadership
and give them information about science and climate.
I play a role in connecting within the agency.
We have research on climate that happens throughout NASA,
and I help bring those people together
and ensure that connection within the agency.
And then I do
a lot of outreach and engagement externally
so that people know what NASA is working on
and have access to that information.
I'm Michelle,
thanks Tahira.
So as a program manager at NASA headquarters
in the Earth Action Program,
I support projects that help us understand how,
climate change is impacting communities
and how NASA, science and data and information can be used
to help build resilience to climate change and to address
equity and environmental justice issues.
Thank you both.
That is really helpful and we are so glad
to have you on today's show.
So let's jump right into the topic extreme weather.
Michelle, when we say extreme weather,
what types of events are we talking about specifically?
Yeah.
So scientists
have a really specific definition
when talking about extreme weather.
We're really talking
about those really rare events that we would expect to happen.
not often.
So maybe even less than 10% of the time
at a specific location or at a certain time of year.
But climate change is changing those odds.
So changing the, odds
that we will experience more of these really rare events.
And that's exactly what we're seeing.
We're seeing more intense hurricanes.
We're seeing longer, hotter heat
That's really useful context.
And so you know, Kate, to follow up.
How do scientists determine that changes in extreme
weather events are linked to climate change?
Yeah, thanks.
And that's a really great question.
Scientists have a number of different ways
at looking at how climate impacts
things like extreme events.
One of the things we can do is we can look at observations
and see how things have changed over time.
So we have more than, you know, decades
worth of information from satellites,
which give us this comprehensive
coverage of our Earth and what's happening on it.
We have an even longer records, and we look back,
through the surface temperature and precipitation records
and what we can do, and we look through that
and see how there's been changes in events over time,
whether the frequency, the duration or the intensity
of those extreme events.
We also use things called models.
These are computer programs that capture our understanding
of the the physics and the biology
and the chemistry that happens on Earth.
And we can use those to better understand the processes
that drive changes or project them into the future.
And usually
when you hear
people talk about
extreme events,
we often talk about types of events
and how those types of events might change
under a warming climate.
So we might talk about more heat waves or other extreme events.
But there's also people that look into an individual event
and how much more likely it might be with climate change.
So we can compare worlds within without warming,
and see how much more likely was that event to have happened?
Given that there's been climate change?
Well, that makes sense.
And it's great that we have so much data.
You know, as we've been discussing,
NASA has been able
to observe and monitor
these events from the vantage point of space,
no matter where they've occurred.
And so, you know,
satellite data from NASA and other government agencies,
like our partners at USGS and NOAA, are really critical
to understanding how and why these extreme events take place.
As you were just talking about, you know, how does NASA
specifically address extreme weather events, say, before,
during or after they occur?
Yeah, so we do look before, during and after.
Some of the ways that we look
at these sorts of events or with near
real time data from our satellites,
and so we can look
before an event and see if the conditions
are conducive to a particular type of event
occurring during an event.
We can provide information
in near real time to decision makers
so they understand what's happening.
And after an event, we can look at what might happen,
and has happens.
And you can provide that
to response agencies to help with recovery.
That's just with near real time data.
One of the other things NASA does is we develop models
like the one I've mentioned and contribute to understanding.
And so before an event,
we can actually look into
a better understanding
what might lead to that event in the future
and use that for long term planning.
So we can understand how conditions might change
further into the future and help people plan into that
long term future.
And I'll add that, we work very closely
with our federal partners to help them access NASA data
that can be useful in their, response missions.
So, for example, NASA has a disasters program.
And earlier this summer, the disasters program
announced a new disaster response coordination system,
which provides actionable, timely and trusted information
to agencies and organizations that are actively responding
to disasters.
And in fact, just before jumping on here, I got a notification
that the Disaster Response Coordination System
was activated for flooding in Nepal right now.
Wow, that is really great to hear.
You know, that we have this new coordination system.
And as you mentioned it,
for anyone watching that wants to learn
more about how NASA advances the science for disaster relief,
and resilience, you can visit disasters nasa.gov.
So let's talk specifically about hurricanes
for a moment moment.
Right now we're in the middle of Atlantic
hurricane season,
which is from, you know, June 1st through November 30th.
We have seen communities affected by Hurricane Beryl.
And even here on the East Coast, many communities are currently
getting weather from Hurricane, hurricane Ernesto
Michel, our more frequent and intense hurricanes
linked to climate change.
So although we don't see a direct link
between climate change and landfalling hurricanes,
we are seeing more intense hurricanes, especially as they
move over the really warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
So, scientists are also seeing more slowly moving hurricanes.
And so,
some of this science is still happening,
still working to understand
the connection
between climate change and slow moving hurricanes.
But I will say that
a slow moving hurricane is a very dangerous hurricane,
because it can dump a lot of rainfall in a location
and cause really catastrophic flooding.
And we saw this in 2017
when Hurricane Harvey hit the coast of Texas.
That, hurricane slowed to about five miles an hour,
after it made landfall
and dumped historic amounts of rainfall
and caused catastrophic flooding in that area.
And you
just mentioned we got an alert about heavy flooding,
you know, so on this topic of heavy rain,
which can sometimes lead
to flash flooding events, even in more inland areas.
Are these occurrences linked to climate change?
Yeah.
One of the things that climate
change does is change the water cycle.
And as a result, we're seeing more heavy
precipitate ocean events.
So when rain comes down, we're seeing a lot of it.
and that can lead to flooding.
And in addition to changes in rainfall,
there's also, you know, we're seeing increases in sea levels.
So melting of ice caps and, and the change in the,
and the temperature of the
water in the ocean has led to sea level rise.
And for coastal communities with higher sea levels,
we're seeing more storm surge and more flooding events,
even without changes in rainfall.
So we're seeing more rainfall, higher sea levels,
and both can contribute to more flooding events.
Wow. And you know, right now
it seems we have gotten
a little bit of a break from the heat waves.
But, you know, for the last several months
we have been seeing record breaking temperatures and heat.
Kate, can we expect to see more heat waves in the future?
Unfortunately, yes.
With increases in global average temperatures,
we're seeing more extreme heat
events, more frequent, changes in duration.
And these are having impacts on people all around the world.
And if I can add, you know,
I think it's important for people to remember that heat
isn't just a nuisance.
Heat is, it can be deadly.
Exposure to extreme heat causes more deaths
than any other extreme weather event.
And so, yes, we'll be experiencing more extreme heat,
but that doesn't mean
that we'll necessarily experience more deaths
related to heat because we know how to protect ourselves.
our partners over at the National Weather Service issue,
watch warnings and advisories for extreme heat,
so letting us know when it's coming our way.
We know that we need to stay cool,
stay hydrated, and know where the cooling
centers are in your area.
And then also, NASA has ongoing research
looking at how heat is impacting communities
and how heat is impacting, some communities differently.
And so, for example, from the vantage point of space,
we can see where there may be areas of tree inequality.
And this is information that city planners or state
and local governments can use
as they're thinking about how to create more cool spaces
in their area where they may want to plant more trees.
Yeah.
Thank you, Michelle, you know, for giving us some of this hope.
And, you know, it's great to hear that
these are things that we are able to plan for.
And on this topic, as we're discussing heat,
we do often get the questions are wildfires getting worse?
So let's take a look.
Are wildfires getting worse?
Yes, unfortunately they are.
We're seeing increases in the intensity and the severity,
the overall burned area of wildfires
and the duration of fire across
the fire season and wildfire is a natural part of ecosystems.
What's really driving this change is
we're seeing a lot of changes in our climate.
We're seeing increases in global temperature
as well as more extreme weather events.
So longer droughts.
And so we have these hot and dry conditions,
which makes vegetation, forests and grasses
more available to burn because they're drier.
And so with these drier conditions
and these drier fuels, we're likely to see more fires.
And this is happening in many locations all across the world.
This can be really detrimental to the ecosystem,
but also to human health, where we're seeing people
going to the hospital with respiratory issues
and smoke and just travel
many thousands of miles with these fires.
How can we help? What can we do?
One thing that I find really hopeful
is that NASA continues to study wildfires around the globe.
We have people going out on the land
to make measurements.
We have airborne campaigns that fly
around to better understand wildfires from the air,
how it's impacting smoke, where wildfires are burning.
And then, of course, we have satellite imagery,
which gives us a global picture of wildfires.
All around the world all the time.
So are wildfires getting worse?
Yes they are.
But there are ways that we can all think about this together.
And I think just learning about these issues
and being able to share that with others members
in our community is a way we can all go forward
and think about climate change and wildfires.
So, Michelle, we just got a few examples of what
NASA is doing to, to look at wildfires.
Could you expand a little bit on those?
Yeah.
So as you saw on that video, from the vantage
point of space, we can see how wildfires are behaving.
We can see how air how smoke from wildfires,
impact communities way far away from those fires.
I'm reminded of last year, and I think you're seeing this
on the screen where, smoke from Canada
made its way to New York,
and we all remember those really eerie orange,
pictures of the New York skyline.
and I think it was July 8th, where New York had the worst
air quality in the world.
And so we can see that from space.
our partners who do air quality forecasting
can use that information and provide forecast of where,
and when people will be experiencing poor air quality
because of fires.
NASA has a fire information for Resource Management System
or firms, which provides near real time information
for active fires.
And this helps, fire
managers, make better decisions on how to attack fires.
And you know, another thing
that really may be on
people's minds right now, especially with a new
the release of a recent Hollywood film or tornadoes.
Kate, what does the current science
tell us about the connection
between climate change and tornadoes?
So smaller scale, short lived,
severe weather, like tornadoes
are actually more difficult for us to assess
than some of these larger scale events.
but scientists are interested in better understanding
changes in tornadoes.
And so we are it's an active area of research.
One of the challenges we have is that
observations are incomplete.
So when you're thinking about something like tornadoes,
we often rely on tornado spotters or observation
direct of tornadoes.
And so we have incomplete information in the past
which limits our ability to draw really,
you know, robust conclusions from it.
But again, something
given the severity of storms like this, it's
something scientists really want to better understand.
So there is active research looking into
whether or not there's a change
in the number of tornadoes or the the power of tornadoes.
There are some emerging studies
that show that tornado alley has shifted.
And so I think that's an area
we really want
to better understand,
because for people that have
never been around a tornado, they may not know what to do.
and so understanding if where tornadoes are occurring
is going to change the frequency.
That's something that scientists
really want to better understand.
and so there is an active
area of research, but it is a harder, harder
for scientists to assess because of the small scale storms.
Thank you, Kate.
And you
know, Michelle here in the U.S., but we're not in the
winter months right now.
We also see these extreme events in that season as well.
You know, with heavy snowfall and blizzards.
What can you tell us about climate change and snow?
Yeah, so that's also an area of active research.
Scientists are working to better understand
how climate change is impacting winter extremes.
we do know that we are experiencing
and will experience less extreme cold, really cold days.
And on those cold days that the temperatures will be milder.
So on milder cold days,
the precipitation is more likely to be rain instead of snow.
So while overall we may see less, snow,
that doesn't mean we should become complacent,
because scientists also know that in a warmer,
climate, we'll still experience those really impactful
snowfall events that we experience now.
So the ones that kids get really excited about
because it's
going to close schools, but also negatively impact
our transportation systems and can be really deadly.
we'll still experience those events even in a warmer climate.
Well, thank you both so much for this
fantastic introduction to extreme weather.
We have a ton of questions coming in
from our viewers online. So let's get to some of those.
And remember, if you are just tuning in,
you can submit
your own questions for experts to answer live on air
by using the hashtag ask NASA or dropping that question
directly into the comment stream.
Wherever you're watching.
All right, let's jump right in.
Our first question is from Jan on ECS,
who asks,
can you imagine what the extreme weather will look like
when or if the Earth reaches
four plus degrees Celsius at the end of the century,
Cape or not?
I think I can take that one. Yeah, dear.
and I guess before I start, for those that aren't familiar
with how climate scientists think about warming,
that four degrees Celsius might not sound familiar.
one of the things that we do is we look at how much
climate has warmed from pre, from the late 19th century.
So from, you know, looking compared to 1850 to 1900.
And so we know today is about 1.1 or 1
point two degrees Celsius more than that.
So a little more than two degrees Fahrenheit.
And so when you're talking about four degrees Celsius,
that's warming
almost three degrees Celsius more than where we are now.
Warmer world than today by by a lot.
and so one of the things that scientists do
is we use climate models, like the ones I mentioned earlier,
to better understand what a future climate might be.
And what we can do is look at,
you know, different projections of emissions
and how much warming that might cause.
And then from those different warming worlds,
look at how that might impact things like extreme events.
So there are a lot of studies that look at how much more
how will extreme events change in a in a world
that's two degrees warmer than before,
four degrees warmer than before,
and we can actually
look at the changes in frequency
or intensity of different events.
and I think that's, you know,
one of the things you'll see is more heatwaves, more heavy
precipitation events and decline in Arctic sea ice.
And so we can see
one of the things that scientists track is,
you know, how much ice do we have
in the Arctic in September,
which is when it's at its minimum at the end of
northern hemisphere summer, and we'll see less and less ice
over time with that, depending, you know, and more and more,
you know, nearly ice free days in the future, more of them.
The warmer the world gets.
Thank you, Kate.
And you know,
the beginning of this show, we've talked a lot
about what extreme weather
is looking like and how it is getting more extreme.
And so my next question hands me 97 on Twitch asks,
what is the biggest thing that
the world could do to slow down climate change?
Michelle, do you want to take this on?
Sure.
so reduce our carbon emissions.
but we know that, the more carbon in the carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere and other greenhouse gases,
we know that they're warming the Earth.
And so reducing those emissions,
will help reduce the impacts that we'll see, in the future.
And I don't know if Kate wants to add to that.
Yeah.
I mean,
the number one driver of climate change is carbon dioxide.
The second is methane.
So those are both greenhouse gases.
And we want to slow the rate of warming
or even stop warming in the future.
We need to reduce those emissions.
And I have a follow up question.
You know, for you, Kate.
24 over seven live skies on YouTube
asks didn't this all happen many times over again?
You know, with the 26,000 year cycle
we've been going through for millions of years?
So there are changes in climate.
natural changes in
Earth's climate that have to do with, you know,
that the tilt of the Earth, how far it is from the sun.
But those happen on very, very long timescales,
you know, tens of thousands of years.
What we're seeing now
is very rapid changes over the last 150 years.
And it has a different signature on these changes.
So when scientists, we can look at observations,
we can look at what changes.
And the kind of warming we're seeing now
is different than before,
because it's not from a change
in the amount of sunlight coming in. We can measure that.
We can study that.
It's from a change in greenhouse gases.
So there's less there's more heat being trapped
and less heat leaving the Earth's surface
and going back into space.
So we're getting a warming that's due to trapping of heat,
and it's happening very rapidly.
and that rapid makes it means it's harder for, for ecosystems
and people to adjust because it's happening so quickly.
And, you know, talking about adjusting.
Michelle, we have Sandy on Twitch
who asks, what skills should we focus on learning
or solidifying
to help with the issues arising from climate change?
You know, I love this question.
what I I'm really encouraged by how universities
now are really encouraging interdisciplinary studies.
So, you know, we need to learn about
how the climate is changing.
We need to also learn
how people, are responding to those changes.
We need to learn.
You know what new technologies and science
needs to happen for us to, adapt moving forward.
And so I think there are
a number of opportunities to learn more about this topic,
and different types of things that need to be learned.
as we move forward,
that's great.
And that's really hopeful.
So, you know, we have Michael Martin
Dylan on YouTube who says regarding climate change,
isn't it past largely past the point of no return?
Would you say that? You know,
look how much warmer it gets in the future.
Depends on future emissions.
You know, Michelle talked about greenhouse gases
are driving the warming that we see now.
How much warmer it gets depends on
how much more we emit in the future.
So we still we have a, we have a different alternative
futures that we could achieve depending on emissions.
everything from keeping warming at roughly the rates we have
now to much warmer world.
And it all depends on emissions.
Thank you.
And, Michelle, I have an, my next question is for you.
We have Glenda Nelson on YouTube who asks,
can you explain the difference between climate change
and global warming? Is there a difference?
Yeah.
And I might, pop this over to Kate, as well.
But you know, when we talk about
global warming, we're talking about the average,
warming that the Earth is experiencing.
climate change is a bit more specific
in the different changes that we're seeing in our climate.
And so depending on where you live, you may experience,
different changes in your environment.
Yeah.
And just adding on that, I will say in
it's become this terms are often used
interchangeably in, in common language.
So you might hear either of them
and they're both trying to capture this.
You know, last 150 plus years where we are seeing rapid,
you know, warming due to greenhouse gases.
But as Michelle said, you know,
climate change is broader than just temperatures.
It also captures changes in, in, you know, rainfall
and all these other impacts that we think about.
And Kate we have a viewer on Twitch who wonders, you know,
would there be a time where heat waves are so unusual
that they become the new norm of climate.
I mean, that's a really interesting question.
I think what we know is that you'll
you'll see changes in the frequency
and the duration
and the intensity of these heat waves over time.
How much more you'll see
depends on how much warmer the world gets as a whole.
and, you know, as Michelle mentioned earlier,
there are steps we can take, to adapt
to some extent to those heat waves,
but they are incredibly you know,
incredibly impactful to people now,
and could be in the future as well.
And, Michelle, I know you work a lot
with communities and how, you know, they
deal with the climate change and things like that.
We have Ryan on YouTube
who asks, what is the future outlook
if current climate trends continue?
So, you know, we'd love to hear that
not only from a science standpoint,
but, living in this world.
What do you see from that?
Yeah.
So if current climate, continues
the way it is, we'll have to adapt a lot more.
and that means that,
what we're doing now definitely isn't enough.
and, you know, we already know that we could be engaging
communities more and having more community voices
in these, these, discussions so that adaptations that are
being made are appropriate
for the location and the communities, involved.
And that's something that we're doing more
and more and more of, here at NASA, in particular
in the climate resilience program that I manage, we,
had a solicitation that we released earlier this year,
looking for research that directly involves communities.
And so I'm really excited about
what we're going to get out of that work.
That's great.
And Kate,
you know, following up on that as well with what, you know, on
what the current models
and the data are showing us, are there
any near-term predictions on what we can expect,
maybe five, ten, 20 years from now?
Yeah, this is an area that a lot of the
the climate science community looks into is,
you know, how much warmer will it get on different scales.
And then, as I mentioned,
how much warmer it gets in the long term
really depends a lot on how much more emissions we have.
So we look at different ranges of what,
greenhouse gas emissions might look like in the future.
But when we bring all of that together,
you know, the studies show that,
you know, we'll see continued warming in the near term
reaching 1.5°C, probably in the early 2030s.
But how much warmer beyond that
depends on us depends on future emissions.
And I have a great question for the both of you.
You know, Michelle, we can start with you,
but we have a user on, on ECS who wants to know,
how are you clients,
how are you as climate experts, you know, feeling right now
about the future?
How do you keep up hope?
Yeah, I'm happy to start there and I think I'm feeling hopeful.
you know, as as Kate said, we have options,
and the options are up to us.
we there are decisions that we can make,
that contribute to the future that we want to have.
So, you know, making choices that reduce our greenhouse
gas emissions, is where I'm.
I'm leaning, and so, you know, as an individual,
there are things we can do, like, you know,
there are plenty of options for electric cars.
We can reduce the amount of red meat we eat.
As Kate mentioned, methane is a huge, source of emissions.
And and we know that cows are a big part of that.
so there are things we can do to change our diet.
there are things we can do
at the community level, at state and local government level.
You know, here at NASA, again,
we're doing a lot to understand how the Earth is changing.
and, you know, the adaptations that we need to take.
So I'm just really hopeful for all of the options
before us and just knowing that we have choices,
to create a better future for ourselves makes me hopeful.
Yeah.
I mean, I think, you
know, climate change is clearly presenting challenges
to people all around the world.
And we've all experienced extreme events
and they're no longer, you know, abstract
things that might be coming in the future.
They're things we're experiencing now.
Michelle mentioned wildfire smoke.
You know, I'm I'm from the northeastern part of the US.
This is the first time
I'd ever breathed in wildfire smoke in the northeast.
and we are experiencing those.
And they do present challenges.
But I think for me, you know,
someone told me once that science is hope.
and I think for me, when I think about this,
we understand what's driving climate change,
which means we understand how we can address it in the future.
And there are people all over the world
that are working on it.
And we're continually, you know, learning new things,
and better understanding our planet.
And, you know, we touched on this a little bit earlier
in the show, but, for those
that might just be tuning in, Michelle,
this would actually be great for both of you,
but we can start Michelle with you.
Barbara on YouTube wants to know what is NASA doing to help
humanity prepare for a climate change.
Yeah.
So, the first thing we're doing is, is understanding,
how the Earth is changing.
So, you know, we have right now about 25 missions, satellite
missions, constantly observing the Earth,
helping us understand the Earth as a system
and how that system is changing, and how the systems
within the systems impact each other.
And so,
you know, one of the major things we're doing
is collecting a lot of data and information
to help us understand how the Earth is changing.
And the other thing we're doing,
as I mentioned, is working more closely with,
decision makers who need to use that information
to, make decisions on how to protect people
from the extreme events that we are seeing,
and how to make decisions on adaptation.
So that would be, useful in the future.
So we are, more and more sharing our data and information
with, communities and, and decision
makers, to help us prepare for the future that we're seeing.
Yeah.
And just adding to that, you know,
as Michelle mentioned,
we're helping with understanding so people understand
what's happening in their communities
and can use that information to plan for the future.
We use our models to do projections
into the future, so you can understand
what the different potential futures
might look like and how you can prepare for them.
And we provide that information publicly.
So people have access to it
so they can both understand what's happening
and also take steps to address
the challenges in their communities.
And as part of that,
we opened an Earth Information Center about a year ago.
and there's a couple of parts to it.
One is an in-person space.
If you're ever in Washington, DC, in the NASA headquarters
building, we have a public exhibit
where we show some of the data and information that we have,
as well as from our partner agencies.
A lot of the other US government agencies that we work closely
with to help understand what's happening on Earth.
We've brought some of that
information together
and can show people, what you know,
what we know about Earth and how it's changing.
And then we also have information from that online.
So if you don't come to DC,
you can look,
from wherever you are@earth.gov and see the information we have
and better understand what we know about the planet
and what data we can provide to help you respond
to changes in your community.
That's wonderful.
Thank you both.
our next our next question is from a viewer on Twitch.
Kate, earlier you talked a little bit
about how the, climate change and its relationship to
tornadoes is an active area of research.
this viewer has a question that asks, what effect
is climate change likely going to have on tornado
activity in the central U.S.?
If we had to get a prediction from what we know now?
Yeah, I think, you know, because it's
an active area of research.
You know, there are studies that are looking at,
you know, whether or not, you know, tornado outbreaks
are becoming more frequent.
So there are people
looking into that specific question
and then whether there's a shift in tornado alley.
So there are some emerging,
literature on that,
that the tornado alley has shifted eastward.
but I think it's an area we want to better understand
so that we can make those predictions.
And, you know, we, you know, our partner agency, Noah, has a,
you know, severe storm prediction center.
And they work very actively on this
to try to give the best predictions
they can, about tornadoes.
And so we're trying to, you know, help them understand it.
One of the things we can do.
So I had mentioned before that one of the challenges is around
observation is we can also look at aftermath of tornadoes
and look at things like tornado tracks
and use that kind of information from satellite data
to understand where tornadoes have been.
And that's a way of complement.
Other observations we have.
And adding another tool to the scientists
toolkit as they're
looking into tornadoes, and how they're changing.
Thank you.
And our next question is for Michelle.
Michelle, earlier
you mentioned that NASA
has a fleet of Earth observing satellites.
And so now we have Scarlett
on Twitch, who asks
what is one of the newest weather satellites?
And you know, what new add ons does
it have compared to previous ones?
So, I think I'll talk about my favorite, newest one,
which is pace.
Pace was launched back in February.
and what pace is giving us is really unprecedented
in terms of ocean color.
We can see from space different types of phytoplankton.
we can also we also have better characterize characterization
of aerosols and says you, as I mentioned earlier,
talking about wildfires and smoke, you know, we can see,
the different types of aerosol within the smoke plumes.
and we can see
how there are connections, that perhaps we didn't see before.
So how, wildfire smoke from one area,
is transported again, really, really far away from that fire,
but could become nutrients for different phytoplankton,
leading to, harmful algal blooms.
And so we really have an opportunity
to see the Earth in a way, in a way that we haven't before.
And so I'm really excited for for the pace mission.
Pace stands for plankton, aerosols, clouds,
and ocean ecosystems.
Thank you.
I have a great
follow up from Mia on YouTube who asked about phytoplankton
and wants to know your thoughts
on their importance in climate change.
Yeah.
So, again, with with pace, we can understand phytoplankton
and their environment.
and different types of phytoplankton
can lead to what's called harmful algal blooms.
And these are really dangerous,
areas that can, impact fisheries.
They impact beaches sometimes they're beach closed closures
due to, harmful algal blooms.
And so, you know, again, piece is giving
us an opportunity to really study phytoplankton
in a way that we haven't been able to before.
And, Kate,
I know this might be a loaded question,
but do you have a favorite Earth mission Earth observing
satellite, or maybe one you'd just like to highlight?
Right now?
You don't have to call it a favorite.
Yeah, I was thinking about that as Michelle was answering.
I have lots of favorites.
and I would say I will highlight
two more in addition to what Michelle just mentioned.
First of all, peace is great and really excited about its data.
the other two I'll mention one is called Swat.
the surface water and ocean topography,
which is also studying the ocean.
So it's looking at how oceans mix,
and so or how the water moves on the surface of the ocean.
And that's really important because oceans
absorb a lot of heat and carbon.
But one of the other interesting things
that Swat is doing is it's gonna look at inland water.
and so it's going to give us the first global survey of water
running through rivers and lakes.
We use a lot of water to water our crops
or for energy production.
and until Swat, we would rely on things like stream gauges.
And so we can measure water in an individual river
where we had a gauge,
but we didn't have a comprehensive view
of how much water
we had available or how that was changing.
And so that's what's really going to change that.
and then my second one,
just because I don't want to just pick one,
would be tempo, which we launched a year ago.
it's looking at air
pollution over North America, and it's doing it
at a neighborhood scale, at an hourly rate,
so we can actually understand what's driving
changes in air pollution
and then provide that information
to local decision makers so they can take steps, to, to,
to change, and improve air quality where they are.
That's wonderful.
So, I mean,
we've got such a fleet of satellites
looking from so many different angles, you know, at this Earth.
And one thing that I think we might have seen, in the news,
but we have then on Twitch, who's asking about it?
He says, we've heard that we've heard about the Gulf
Stream stopping or reversing or changing directions,
you know, is that really a possibility
or have other theories disproven that idea?
Okay.
So this is also an active area.
I mean,
I think what I'll talk about usually
when I hear about this, people are talking about the,
a marker Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.
So our oceans circulation that moves
air around on the Atlantic.
and, you know,
if there was a big change in that,
it would have pretty severe impacts on weather
because it is carrying, warm air and moving air around.
So scientists are looking into this,
you know, I think it's an active area of research.
I don't, you know, I think it's something that,
That would have impacts if it happened.
But I think the likelihood of it
happening is perhaps different.
Thank you. Kate.
And, Michelle,
our next question, I think would be great for you.
It is Deon Emanuel on YouTube who asks,
how is NASA helping to develop more sustainable practices
and industries, you know, heavily
impacted by climate change, like agriculture or energy?
things like that.
Yeah. So,
again, by sharing our, our data and information.
so one thing that comes to mind about, building
sustainable and particular sustainable buildings is
we have
to think about our own buildings,
when thinking about climate change.
And so we have projects that, help us understand
how climate change is impacting, the, towns in and around,
the locations of our buildings
and then sharing
that information with nearby communities,
because we know that climate change
doesn't care about our gates.
and so the more that we can do to build resilience,
for NASA centers
and share that information with communities,
the more we're all we're all building resilience together.
And maybe I could just add to that.
Yeah.
one of the other things,
you know, a lot of people probably think of NASA
when you think of NASA,
you think of astronauts and exploring space.
and one of the things we do,
we have to think about how we can make sure
that astronauts have clean air, clean water and food and space.
And a lot of the research we've done into that
also has benefits on Earth.
So we're able to produce food and more sustainably or water
filtration system.
Some of the
the technology we've used on the International Space
Station is now used on Earth
to provide clean water to places where they didn't have it,
with, with crops, we actually grow
crops on the International Space Station,
and we've done a lot of work into LED lighting and fertilizer
that can also be used here on Earth.
So that's one of the other things we do.
And we think about
how do we send astronauts into space
and make sure that they have air, water and food?
We also think, can we use those technologies,
people that are living here on earth
is very cool.
Thank you for adding that.
Kate and I have a good question.
A follow up question for you.
The VR on YouTube asks,
how do we know what the weather was like hundreds of years ago?
You know, you talk about
you've talked about the models and the data
that we have that we that we built from it.
But, with regards
to extreme weather events, when we maybe
didn't have all these
satellites in place, how are we measuring that?
So we have different ways of doing that.
So first of all, from observation,
direct observations of things like temperature
and precipitation and other events, we have,
you know, several decades worth of satellite information.
And NASA's got more than 50 years
of satellite information from surface weather stations.
We have information back to like mid 1800s, 1850 to 18 80s
about when you start to get enough data
that you can actually look
at global temperatures from surface data.
and so we can look
at those direct observations from surface
measurements, starting back then
and then if you want to look further back in time,
we have two different ways of doing that.
One is we can use proxy records, so we can look at ice
cores and tree rings
and they'll tell us about the climate of the
in when the ice was formed or the tree was growing.
And so we can use that to extend our records even further back.
And then we can use models to, to fill in the,
the rest of the information using the observations we have,
as long as well as our physical understanding of processes,
we can get a more complete picture
by looking at, the modeling information.
Thank you Kate.
And so I have I have a follow up.
We were just talking about satellites.
we have a viewer on Twitch who wants to know
what are some of the most promising advancements
in satellite technology that NASA uses to monitor,
to monitor and mitigate the impacts of climate change?
this is one that, you know,
I'd love to hear from both of you on.
I know you both have favorite Earth satellites.
And so we can start
with Michelle and then hear from Kate.
Sure.
so one thing that comes to mind
is a mission that we're flying right now called eco stress.
And eco stress is on the International Space Station.
and a really unique project that's happening right now
is, by using data from Eco Stress, we're able to see where
there are hotspots within cities.
So we talked about extreme heat and how dangerous heat can be.
Well, from space, I'm always amazed at the things
that we can see from space.
We can see within cities where there may be hotspots.
And so, some cities are using
this information to paint reflective,
paint on different streets and in certain hotspot areas.
And they're seeing that
they're able to, reduce the heat in those areas.
And so I think that's just one really promising, example of,
how we are helping to, again,
share information and help build climate resilience.
Yeah.
And I'll just add to
that was another instrument that's on
the International Space Station called emit.
emit was actually designed to measure mineral trust, a mineral
just these fine particles, depending on the color
that either reflector absorbs sunlight.
And so we,
you know, climate scientists
wanted to better understand the distribution of mineral dust
to better understand what it's contributions
were to a warming or cooling.
But the science team,
just realized that they could also measure and observe,
methane from space using the same instrument.
So they're now been using emit
to identify methane super emitters.
And methane is a very potent greenhouse gas.
So knowing where those emissions are coming
from is really important in understanding
how to address and respond to them.
Thank you both.
And so earlier on in the show,
we talked a little bit about what climate change means.
You know, the difference between that.
Or if we say global warming, we have Richard on Twitch
who asks, does climate change also mean extreme cold?
Michelle.
So as I mentioned earlier,
scientists are still working to understand the connection
between, extreme winter,
events, and climate change.
So, but we do know that we are experiencing less cold days
and that on those cold days the temperatures are milder.
so we are we do see that connection with climate change.
But I'll reiterate,
as I said earlier, we shouldn't get complacent
because we are still going to see really impactful snow events
even in a warmer climate.
And our next question is from Hozier, 48, on Twitch,
who asks, do you see climate change on other planets?
Kate.
Yes. So we do study the changes
and climates of other planets,
and we can learn something from those planets about Earth.
The drivers are very different.
So I'll just give an example of Venus.
Venus has a very high concentration of carbon dioxide.
and so it's much, much warmer than it would be without that.
And so we see the greenhouse effect on Venus.
And we've
learned, we've learned from Venus about things about Earth.
The drivers are very different.
So on Earth, the increasing greenhouse
gases are coming from human activities.
On Venus, it's natural processes.
But they both have the same effect on temperature
in that they're increasing
the temperature of the planet itself.
And I have a I have a fun follow up for you.
a viewer on Twitch asks, who has the wackiest weather
then, Earth or Mars?
Oh, I don't know.
I mean, I think
we might need an answer.
No, not my area of expertise either.
I don't know.
That's funny.
Well, maybe one of our experts in the comments
can, can throw some, some comparisons down in there.
Thank you.
So, our next question is going to be from,
Jim Bode on Twitch, who asks, how does she see ice melting?
Raise the sea level?
So, you know, doesn't
the ice displace the amount of water it contains?
Kate.
Yeah.
So when we talk about sea level rise and ice melt,
we're talking about ice sheet melt.
So I spit over land, when it melts.
Greenland. Antarctica, glaciers.
When those melt, they add more water to the ocean.
So when we're talking
about the contribution of ice to sea level rise,
we are talking about ice over land.
and that is one major component of sea
level rise we're seeing is that as you melt
ice on Greenland and Antarctica and you're seeing,
some observations of, Antarctica right now
on the screen from one of our satellites called Grace.
And then it's follow UN mission. Great. Follow on.
so that's contributing more water to the ocean.
The other component of sea level rise
that you'll hear people talk about quite a bit
is what scientists would call thermal expansion.
So as water gets warmer, it takes up more space.
And that contributes.
but when we think about sea ice melting, it's not adding
volume to the ocean. It does change the salinity.
It changes the reflectiveness of the Earth's surface.
If you ice is, brighter than, then, then water might be,
but when we talk about ice melt and sea level rise,
we're talking about ice and over land melting into the ocean.
And, you
know, we just saw those great observations of Greenland.
We have a follow up question from one fun panel on Twitch,
who asks, Will Greenland melt in our lifetime?
It's a tough one.
I mean, there's parts in the edges of Greenland
you saw in that animation are melting now,
and I think with further warming we'll see.
Increased melting.
there, I have not looked at specific projections.
How much more melting you would experience
would depend on how much warmer it gets.
and so that there are people that have studied
that and have estimates of it.
so we can look at projections of future Greenland melting,
and look at that.
Thank you Kate.
And so my next question is for you,
Michelle, it's Jared on Twitch who asks,
how close is your day to day working relationship with Noah
or USGS?
that's a great question.
Very close.
you know, in the and I would say in the federal space,
we work closely with many agencies.
because we all bring different solutions to the table.
So, you know, NOAA has, an active,
responsibility for providing forecast.
and we have active responsibility
for providing research and data and information.
USGS has a different FEMA has a responsibility
for, responding to disasters.
so there are a number of federal agencies
that we work very closely with to bring all of our data
and information together, to, protect the public,
to protect our lives and livelihoods.
here on, on Earth.
Thank you.
Michelle.
And so I have another my next question.
Kate, we'll give this one to you.
You know, throughout the show,
we've talked about how climate change impacts
hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires.
But we have another viewer on Twitter
who wants to know, does climate change impact cloud types?
Did you see that again?
Sorry.
Does climate change impact cloud types.
And you know, clouds, cloud cover and things like that.
Yeah.
So you know
changes in temperature and can impact cloud formation.
It's actually an area
that scientists
are really interested in better understanding,
because clouds are one of the things that,
you know, they have a big role in weather.
They also have a role in climate.
So the mission that Michelle mentioned, piece,
one of its components, is looking at clouds
and helping us better understand
cloud formation and how they change.
That's great.
And, you know, we also have the Globe program
where you can
make your own cloud observations
that's open to anyone in the public
to volunteer and input your, cloud observations.
So that is a NASA
citizen science project that folks are able to join.
All right.
Our next question is from
a viewer on YouTube who asks, roughly,
how many years does it take for a satellite
to positively identify a change in the climate?
and so, yes, trying to understand the process
that leads to the conclusion,
Kate, why don't you take that one?
Yeah, that's a good question.
So I think, you know, you learn different things
over different time periods.
And so with satellites, you know, the nice thing
about a satellite is that we see for most of our satellite
today orbit the Earth's,
we can get a complete picture of, Earth,
and we get near real time information
so we can get, you know, as soon as the satellite is launched.
You know, pretty quickly after that, we start to get data down.
From that, we can see things like, extreme events.
So we have, you know, satellites that look at precipitation,
you'll see on the screen now, GPM,
when you see that acronym that's looking at precipitation.
And so once we start getting data from that,
we can see things like heavy precipitation events.
If you want to see how climate is impacting things, you
then you want to look at a longer term record.
so looking at how things change over time.
And there are for some of our satellite missions,
we have decades long records.
And so we're able to look through those records
and see how things have changed over time.
So we have, you know, grace and grace follow on.
The ones that we were using
to look at Antarctica and Greenland.
We have more than 20 years of information for sea level rise.
We have more than 30 years of information.
And for things, looking at the land surface,
like lakes, trees, crops, we have more than 50 years.
And so we can look through that
record and see how things have changed
over a longer time scales.
Thanks, Kate.
And so our next question is from Madras, zero three on Twitch.
Who asks, how does El Nino impact European
summers and or winters?
Michelle, to make that.
Sure.
so El Nino and La Nina are natural,
our natural phases in our climate.
So El Nino refers to warmer
than average temperatures, in the tropical Pacific.
And La Nina is the opposite of that.
So cooler than average temperatures
in the tropical Pacific.
so these, both of these impact weather in,
really distinct ways.
the one that sort of sticks in my mind
because we're in hurricane season is, they really impact,
or La Nina really impacts, produces
favorable conditions for hurricanes to, to thrive.
So during La Nina years,
we expect to see more hurricanes.
And that's exactly why
we forecasters have predicted more hurricanes for this season.
because, the, our, our colleagues at NOAA, predict
when we go in and out of these La Nina or El Nino phases.
And so they're predicting that we will be moving into a
La Nina phase, right at the height of hurricane season.
All right.
Thank you so much.
We have time for one more question.
And this is a great one for both of you.
How is NASA's climate data available to individuals
across the globe? Table.
Start with you.
Yeah.
So every all of NASA's data is publicly available.
And so you can get it for free wherever you are just going.
You start by nasa.gov.
And there's different data sets available there.
But one of the things we're doing is working
to make it easier to use and easier to find.
so I mentioned EarthGang
before, and that's
one of the portals that we have where you can see
based on different types of impacts.
If you want to learn more about wildfires, sea level rise,
you can find different data sets. There.
Yeah.
And I'll just, sure.
I'll just add that,
you know,
as I mentioned earlier, we have more than 25 missions
constantly observing the Earth,
giving us tons of data and information.
And one thing we're really,
really good at is collecting data and analyzing that data.
As Kate said, and we're getting better.
And better and better
at getting that data and information
into the hands of people who need to make decisions.
And this is a really big focus of our Earth action, portfolio.
And so that could range from farmers
who need information about which crops to plant,
to city planners who are making decisions
about where to, you know, plant or trees
and how cool spaces and their, neighborhoods or, develop
climate action plans and implement
those plans to our other federal agencies.
there are lots of discussions about climate services now
and the data and information needed for climate services.
so, you know, it's a really,
I think space that is, is much needed.
And we're doing more and more in that area.
Yeah.
And that is great to hear. That's great information.
And for folks watching, you know,
you can also contribute your own Earth observations.
We mentioned earlier
the globe project where you can submit cloud observations.
That is just one number,
one example of a number
of citizen science volunteer projects
that you can do from the comfort of your own home.
So to learn more, you can visit cokanasiga or slash
citizen science.
Kate, Michelle, thank you both so much for joining us today.
You know, to discuss this incredibly important topic.
Thanks for having me here.
This was fun.
Thank you.
And thank you all online for watching.
You know, to stay up to date on the Climate science at NASA,
follow NASA Earth on Facebook and Instagram.
Remember from the SpaceX Sky Sea Land, NASA
provides detailed climate data and research to the world.
All of this
data, as I just mentioned, is freely available to anyone
and you can access this information
and more at Claim Climate dot NASA.gov.
Thank you and see you next time.