National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center

Arctic Fires Summer 2019 - fine particulates

The GMAO Research Site

The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) supports NASA's Earth Science mission. Activities in Earth System modeling and data assimilation aim to maximize the impact of satellite observations on analyses and predictions of the atmosphere, ocean, land and cryosphere.

Science Snapshots

Science Snapshot Archive »

All-time Highs in the High Latitudes: Siberia 2020

An historically warm first half of 2020 across Siberia was punctuated in June by a record-smashing heatwave. This heatwave, which was focused across Northeastern Siberia, exhibited many of the characteristics in common with other such intense heatwave and drought events of recent years, such as in the summer of 2010.

Atmospheric Dust Rivers: Saharan Dust Makes the Journey to the Americas

During June 2020, dust from the Sahara Desert was forecast and observed to cross the Atlantic Ocean, impacting the Caribbean, the US Gulf Coast states, and recirculated over parts of the mid-Atlantic region. GEOS aerosol assimilation products show the progress of this event, from its origin over the Saharan Desert source regions and through its intercontinental transport and its extend over the US.

Major Advance in MJO Prediction Skill in GMAO’s Near Real Time Seasonal Forecasts

The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is predicted much more realistically in version 2 of the NASA GEOS-S2S system (GEOS-S2S-2) than in the older version (GEOS-S2S-1).

GEOS Captures Tropical Cyclone-Like System Trudy over the Mediterranean Sea

A cyclone type is found primarily in the Mediterranean Sea and is thus frequently referred to as a Medicane. Until now our models could not fully resolve these processes. The current GEOS FP did show all the ingredients necessary to trigger Medicane Trudy. This may be the first Mediterranean Medicane correctly forecast and analyzed by NASA's GEOS.