Environment-Clean-Generations

Environment-Clean-Generations
THE DEFINITIVE BLOG FOR EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT YOU LIVE IN, WITH REFERENCE TO LIFE, EARTH AND COSMIC SPACE SCIENCES, PRESENTED BY ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER DORU INDREI, ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND ENERGY SPACIALIST
"Life is not about what we know, but what we don't know, craving the unthinkable makes it so amazing, that is worth dying for." Doru Indrei
Custom Search

Salt Seen From Space



Scientists have long known that the saltiness of sea water is critical to ocean circulation patterns, to the Earth's water cycle and to global climate. While their theory was clear, however, what they could actually see of these shifting levels of sea surface saltiness was a not-so-clear picture patched together from scattered buoys and uneven shipboard data old and new.

              With the launch of a NASA rocket set for Thursday at Vandenburg Air Force Base in California, a sensitive new microwave instrument aboard an internationally developed satellite is about to bring this picture up to high definition. 

              The first satellite to scan the salty surface of the seas was the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity instrument launched in 2009. That instrument captures images of emitted microwave radiation around the frequency of 1.4 GHz and concentrates on polar regions. SMOS carried the first-ever, polar-orbiting, space-borne, 2-D interferometric radiometer. NASA's Aquarius mission will cover the entire global ocean on a weekly basis using three radiometers sensitive to 1.413 GHz and a scatterometer that corrects for the ocean's surface roughness. 

               From 408 miles in space, the sensors of the Aquarius instrument will detect subtle differences in salt content of ocean surface water as differences in thermal brightness in the microwave band. A saltier area of ocean emits a brighter thermal signal to the Aquarius sensors, which are able to detect changes as small as two parts per 10,000.
              "If you took a pinch of salt and put it in a gallon of water, we could detect that sensitivity from 408 miles above the Earth," Aquarius project manager Amit Sen said in a NASA podcast. "That's quite a feat by itself."

         Among other advances, the satellite-borne measurements will fill in gaping holes in data from the southern hemisphere oceans, key areas of ocean circulation where monitoring is especially sparse. They will also develop more detailed profiles of changes underway in the central North Atlantic, where salinity has been increasing. And researchers will get a more detailed look at the Nordic and Labrador Seas, where cold, salty, dense water accumulates and sinks to the depths, part of a global conveyor that transports heat from the equator toward the poles. 

       The new readings also will supply important information about the exchange of energy and water vapor between the ocean and the atmosphere, where the processes of evaporation and precipitation account for 80 percent of the planet's water cycle.

         All of this new information is expected to eventually find its way into computer models that simulate global ocean and atmospheric circulation, improving forecasts of the future of our changing climate.

        "We'll see the ocean in a whole different light," he told NASA's Alan Buis. "When the first Earth science satellites launched in the 1970s, we saw ocean eddies for the first time and got our first glimpse of the tremendous turbulence of the ocean. With Aquarius, we're going to see things we don't currently see. It's as though the blinders will be removed from our eyes." Principle Investigator Gary Lagerloef, a scientist at the independent lab Earth & Space Research in Seattle, sees a new frontier in satellite-based ocean research.


by "environment clean generations"
            

3 comentarii:

Anonymous said...

This article discusses the design choices required when designing a application specific power resistor. The article focusses on material choices and their implications.
see more details:Optical Critical Dimension

Unknown said...

Hi there
Scatterometry Applied to Microelectronics Processing. John R. (Bob) McNeil. Center for High Technology Materials Univ.Scatterometers are unique among satellite remote sensors in their ability to determine the wind direction over water.Take a look at-scatterometry

Thanks

Unknown said...

Hi...My apartment in Switzerland was too big for me. I needed far less living space than I had. I was constantly preoccupied with the idea to get away from this place, it just bothered me that much. The only thing I liked were those moments that helped me escape the dismal mood, which hung over me more often. Like a child I would sit on a chair in the middle of the room, observing the bright celestial body, which was clearly seen from the large windows on both sides of the living room. Early hours were particularly good for this. The city was just slowly waking up when I already saw the sunrise. Gentle rays of the spring sun flooded my face, bringing back memories of the mountains, and the paths. I vividly remembered jogs in the undisturbed snow. The sun reflected off the pristine snow, blinding my eyes and making it unable to put on pace. Those times seemed so distant and unattainable now.Read more-Scatterometry

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Search

Custom Search

 
Design by Wordpress Theme | Bloggerized by Free Blogger Templates | coupon codes