Earth Science from Space (Satellites)
Esprit Smith, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Pascale Bresson, CNES, Paris, France
Raphaël Sart, CNES, Paris, France
John Leslie, NOAA National Environmental Satellite and Information Service, Silver Spring, Md.
Neil Fletcher. EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany
The Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), the third in a U.S.-European series of satellite missions designed to measure sea surface height, successfully ended its science mission on Oct. 1. NASA and its mission partners made the decision to end the mission after detecting deterioration in the spacecraft’s power system.
Jason-2/OSTM, a joint NASA mission with the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), launched in June 2008. The mission extended the long-term record of sea surface height measurements started by the NASA-CNES TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 missions. Jason-2/OSTM’s 11-year lifetime well exceeded its three-year design life. These measurements are being continued by its successor, Jason-3, launched in 2016.
NASA has selected two new missions to advance our understanding of the Sun and its dynamic effects on space. One of the selected missions will study how the Sun drives particles and energy into the solar system and a second will study Earth’s response.
Written by Carol Rasmussen
NASA Earth Science News Team
- In 15 years of operations, the GRACE satellite mission has revolutionized our view of how water moves and is stored on Earth.
- GRACE measures changes in the local pull of gravity as water shifts around Earth due to changing seasons, weather and climate processes.
- Among other innovations, GRACE gave us the first space-based view of water beneath Earth’s surface, giving insight into where aquifers may be shrinking or dry soils contributing to drought.
- The GRACE Follow-On mission, launching in early 2018, will extend GRACE’s innovative measurements
“Revolutionary” is a word you hear often when people talk about the GRACE mission. Since the twin satellites of the U.S./German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment launched on March 17, 2002, their data have transformed scientists’ view of how water moves and is stored around the planet.
“With GRACE, we effectively created a new field of spaceborne remote sensing: tracking the movement of water via its mass,” said Michael Watkins, the original GRACE project scientist and now director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Data from NASA’s Aura spacecraft, illustrated here, were analyzed by scientists to produce improved estimates of sulfur dioxide sources and concentrations worldwide between 2005 and 2014.
- “Understanding Sea Level,” a summary of decades of scientific research that has shaped our knowledge of sea level rise: its causes, including a warming, expanding ocean and melting ice on land; projections of future sea level rise; and ways in which humanity might adapt, largely drawn from NASA data.
- An interactive data analysis tool, launching in mid-2016, that will allow direct access to NASA datasets on sea level. Users will be able to manipulate these datasets to automatically generate charts, graphs and maps of sea surface height, temperature and other factors. The analysis tool will also allow users to make forecasts of future conditions, as well as “hindcasts” — retroactive calculations of past trends and conditions.
- News highlights and feature stories with strong visual elements that explore the findings of sea level researchers in detail.
- An extensive library of published papers on sea level-related topics, hyperlinked to individual citations throughout “Understanding Sea Level.”
- A multimedia section with dynamic still and video imagery, and a glossary of sea level terms.
- A “frequently asked questions” section maintained by sea level scientists. Users can submit questions to scientists and data managers.