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 »

GEOS-S2S Predicted 2020 Summertime Precipitation Anomalies Three Months in Advance

The GEOS-S2S-V2 system forecasted a persistent negative precipitation anomaly on the west coast three months ahead of time and with high probability (present in most of the ensemble forecast members).

Impact of SMAP brightness temperature data and gauge-based precipitation on the skill of the SMAP L4 Soil Moisture (L4SM) product

Merging Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite brightness temperature (Tb) observations and gauge-based precipitation data into a numerical model of land surface water and energy balance processes, NASA generates the global, 9-km resolution, 3-hourly Level-4 Soil Moisture (L4SM) data product, which is published with ~2.5-day latency to support Earth science research & applications.

Satellite Monitoring of Global Surface Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics Using the SMAP Level 4 Carbon Product

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Level-4 Carbon (L4C) product includes estimates of topsoil (0-5cm) SOC, which are shown to be consistent with soil inventory data and global vegetation models (r≥0.89) but provide better spatial resolution (1-9km) and daily fidelity.

Rare Atmospheric River Caused Record Floods Across the Middle East

Atmospheric river (AR) Dena, originating in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, led to unprecedented flooding in late March 2019 across several Middle Eastern countries and caused enormous damages and casualties, particularly in Iran.