NASA Science Live: Climate Edition - Extreme Weather [Episode 57]

As Earth’s climate changes, we’re seeing shifts in the intensity of events such as record-breaking heat waves, severe floods, prolonged droughts, devastating wildfires and stronger hurricanes. Join NASA’s Chief Scientist Dr. Kate Calvin and climate expert Dr. Michelle Hawkins on Wednesday, August 21 at 3:00 p.m. ET on NASA Science Live as they discuss the science behind these changes. Have questions? Use #askNASA.----- Tahira Allen, NASA Communications Dr. Kate Calvin, NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Dr. Michelle Hawkins, Program Manager, NASA Climate Resilience and Community Action

What is said in the film

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.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from NASA. NASA material is generally not copyrighted and is in the public domain.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.