Earth Science Research from Space

Geoscience: Eyes in the Sky, Monitoring the Earth by Satellite

#Earth360 #EarthScience

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January 2015

#Earth360, scientific leap forward with the soon-to-launch Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) platform"

Scheduled to launch Jan 29th to "measure the moisture in Earth's soils with unprecedented accuracy and resolution.

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December 2014

Global Warming / NASA OCO Satellite Sends Back Most Detailed CO2 View Ever / Dec 18

The initial round of data is made available...

A full set of CO2 data will likely be available in March 2015 for scientists and public to download and explore.

More on the history-making Orbiting Carbon Observatory

According to JPL scientists: "Where OCO-2 really excels is the sheer amount of data being collected within a day, about one million measurements across a narrow swath... For fluorescence, this enables us, for the first time, to look at features on the five- to 10-kilometer scale on a daily basis." SIF can be measured even through moderately thick clouds, so it will be especially useful in understanding regions like the Amazon where cloud cover thwarts most spaceborne observations."

The changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide that OCO-2 seeks to measure are so small that the mission must take unusual precautions to ensure the instrument is free of errors. For that reason, the spacecraft was designed so that it can make an extra maneuver. In addition to gathering a straight line of data like a lawnmower swath, the instrument can point at a single target on the ground for a total of seven minutes as it passes overhead. That requires the spacecraft to turn sideways and make a half cartwheel to keep the target in its sights.

The targets OCO-2 uses are stations in the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), a collaborative effort of multiple international institutions. TCCON has been collecting carbon dioxide data for about five years, and its measurements are fully calibrated and extremely accurate. At the same time that OCO-2 targets a TCCON site, a ground-based instrument at the site makes the same measurement. The extent to which the two measurements agree indicates how well calibrated the OCO-2 sensors are.

Additional maps released recently showed the results of these targeting maneuvers over two TCCON sites in California and one in Australia. "Early results are very promising," said Paul Wennberg, a professor at Caltech and head of the TCCON network. "Over the next few months, the team will refine the OCO-2 data, and we anticipate that these comparisons will continue to improve."

More about the OCO-2 mission, making history as it reveals the extent of atmospheric CO2

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November 2014

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Ocean_currents_from_GOCE_20141125-jpg.jpg

From the GOCE mission

Scientists have produced what they say is the most accurate space view yet of global ocean currents and the speed at which they move.

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Sept 08, 2014 - NASA opens a new era in its exploration of our home planet with the launch of the first in a series of Earth science instruments to the International Space Station, Earth-observing instruments to be mounted on the exterior of the #ISS. ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds for climate research, weather predictions and hurricane monitoring. The second instrument is the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), a laser instrument that will measure clouds and the location and distribution of pollution, dust, smoke, and other particulates in the atmosphere. Look closer at the array of instruments #RapidScat #EarthRightNow

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#GlobalWarming

The Antarctic: Big Melt Accelerates / Antarctic Ice Sheet Expands

The Antarctic: Big Melt Accelerates [1] [2] Antarctic Ice Sheet Expands, Why? [3]

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May 2014

Doubling-of-antarctic-ice-loss-revealed-by-european-satellite

Melting New assessments of impacts of global warming come from Europe's Cryosat spacecraft.

The CryoSat is part of the Living Planet Programme [4] [5] [6] [7] of the European Space Agency. [8]

Earth-observing satellites for earth system monitoring include:

The European Space Agency "Living Planet Programme" managed by Earth Observation Programmes - [9]

• GOCE – Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer - launched on March 17, 2009 - [10]

• SMOS – Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite - studying ocean salinity and soil moisture; launched in 2 November 2009 - [11]

• CryoSat is designed to map the Earth's ice cover. CryoSat-1 was lost in 2005. CryoSat-2 was launched 8 April 2010 - [12]

• Swarm – is a trio of satellites to map the Earth's magnetism. The SWARM constellation was launched successfully on 22 November 2013 - [13]

• Aeolus – Atmospheric Dynamics Mission will use an innovative laser to measure winds. Due for launch in 2015 - [14]

• EarthCARE – Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer will examine the formation and effects of clouds. Due for launch in 2016 - [15]

• BIOMASS is designed to calculate the amount of carbon stored in the world's forests, and to monitor for any changes over the course of its five-year mission. Due to launch in 2020 - [16]

The European Space Agency's mission:

To benefit citizens "asking for a better quality of life on earth... for greater security and economic wealth... to pursue dreams, to increase knowledge... for younger people to be attracted to the pursuit of science and technology... ESA's purpose shall be to provide for, and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation in space research and technology and space applications, with a view to their being used for scientific purposes..."

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#GeoScience #EarthMonitoring

More data re ice melt-Grace/US-NASA [17] [18]

Geoscience: Eyes in the Sky, Monitoring the Earth by Satellite

Polar Clouds from the ISS, Sept. 2014

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Planet API | #PlanetAPI | Planet Citizen | #PlanetCitizen

GreenPolicy360 | #Earth360 | #EarthImaging | #EarthMonitoring

GP360 | #EarthObservations | #EarthScience | #NewSpace

#EarthPOV | Earth Point of View

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