HONG KONG: The National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) wants “citizen scientists” to get involved in its highly-ambitious Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission.
GPM was launched by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency around a year ago to remotely estimate precipitation rates using a cluster of satellites. The system looks at frequencies and wavelengths that can not be seen with the naked eye.
At least 12 satellites are involved in the system, which provide an unprecedented view of precipitation across the globe in near real time. The first map developed by the system was released on the recently past Thursday.
Dr. Walt Petersen, deputy project scientist for the GPM project, explained, “It’s pretty cool that here on the eastern shore of Maryland, we’ve been able to establish what I think is probably one of the foremost ground validation sights in the world in terms of looking at different types of precipitation.”
Research scientist Dr. Tiffany Moisan said civilians’ participation through the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network was essential to validate rain and snow data. Civilians can validate the data using simple rain and snow gauges.
NASA is also hopeful that passionate citizens will also join one of its newest projects, the Soil Moisture Active Passive Satellite, which will measure soil moisture in the same way as GPM measures precipitation.
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