National Aeronautics and Space Administration

July 2018 began with record-setting dry conditions in the Mid-Atlantic region. Signs of a change in the circulation pattern became evident around the middle of the month. In accord with other 5-10 day forecasts, NASA’s GEOS FP (Forward Processing) system indicated a mid-level height anomaly pattern analogous with those of prior notable long-duration and major Middle Atlantic rainfall events.

The graph shown in this Snapshot depicts impacts of assimilating Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) terrestrial water storage data, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) data, and both data types on the skill of a hydrological mode

Stratospheric ozone plays a critical role in the Earth system by shielding the biosphere from harmful ultraviolet radiation and by influencing the planet’s radiative budget. Following a period of decline in the second half of the 20th century, ozone concentrations in the upper stratosphere (above approximately 35 km) have been shown to rise in the past two decades. A clear signal of recovery has recently emerged from satellite observations.

NASA's MERRA-2 Reanalysis is an ideal candidate for the scientific studies of stratospheric intrusions since it is such a high-resolution global dataset and also assimilates both ozone and meteorological observations.