How NASA

1
How NASAs Earth Observing System (EOS) Monitors
our World Environment
Diane E. Wickland Office of Earth Science NASA
Headquarters

• Outline
• EOS Goals Mission Objectives
• Key areas of scientific uncertainty in
  understanding climate global change
• Status of first series of EOS flights
• Landsat 7, QuikScat, Data Assimilation, Terra,
  EO-1
• Aqua, ICESat, Aura

2
EOS Goals Mission Objectives

• Goals
• Develop an understanding of the total Earth
  system, and the effects of natural and
  human-induced changes on the global environment
• Expand scientific knowledge of the Earth system
  using NASAs unique capabilities from the vantage
  points of space, aircraft, and in situ platforms
• Disseminate information about the Earth system
• Support national and international environmental
  policy recommendations
• Mission Objectives
• Create an integrated scientific observing system
  that will enable multidisciplinary study of Earth
  system science
• Develop a comprehensive data and information
  system, including a data retrieval and processing
  system
• Acquire and assemble a global database
  emphasizing remote sensing measurements from
  space over a decade or more
• Improve predictive models of the Earth system

3
Key Areas of Uncertainty in Understanding
Climate Global Change

• Earths radiation balance and the influence of
  clouds on radiation and the hydrologic cycle
• Oceanic productivity, circulation and air-sea
  exchange
• Transformation of greenhouse gases in the lower
  atmosphere, with emphasis on the carbon cycle
• Changes in land use, land cover and primary
  productivity, including deforestation
• Sea level variability and impacts of ice sheet
  volume
• Chemistry of the middle and upper stratosphere,
  including sources and sinks of stratospheric
  ozone
• Volcanic eruptions and their role in climate
  change
• EOS Science Plan The State of Science in the EOS
  Program (M. D. King, Ed.)
• Available in hard copy and CD ROM versions from
  the EOS Project Science Office, NASA Goddard
  Space Flight Center
• Available in pdf format from http//eospso.gsfc.na
  sa.gov/sci_plan/chapters.html

4
Landsat 7
Launched April 15, 1999
5
Landsat 7 Goals Objectives

• Land use and land cover change
• Agricultural evaluations, forest management
  inventories, water resource estimates, coastal
  zone appraisals
• Growth patterns of urban development, Spring
  run-off contaminants in lakes, land use in
  tropical rainforests, health of temperate conical
  forests, mapping wildfire hazards in Yosemite
• Vegetation patterns
• Annual cycle of vegetation dynamics, drought
  stress, and flooding
• Dune reactivation in the US Great Plains,
  precision farming and land management
• Glaciers and snow cover
• Growth and retreat
• Gradual changes in the Antarctic ice sheet
• Geological surveys
• Volcanic hazards and lava lakes

6
QuikScat
Launched June 19, 1999

• All-weather global ocean surface wind speed and
  direction measurements
• Tropospheric dynamics improved weather
  forecasting (especially over the Southern
  Hemisphere)
• Upper-ocean circulation
• Air-Sea interaction
• Improved forecasting of El Niño La Niña
• Non-ocean scattering cross-sections used for
  vegetation classification/monitoring and ice
  edge/type investigations

7
QuikScat/SeaWinds

• Hurricane Dora
• Wind speed color bar as below, but 0-40 m s-1

• Land/ice backscatter
• Wind vectors (arrows)
• Wind speeds (color bar)
• strong monsoon over Indian Ocean
• hires over northern Atlantic Pacific
• Comparison with NCEP
• lt2 m s-1 rms error in wind speed
• 19-23 rms difference in wind direction

8
Terra
Launched December 18, 1999
MODIS
MOPITT
ASTER
MISR
CERES
9
Terras Global Perspective

• MODIS
• 1-2 day global coverage in 36 wavelengths from
  250 m to 1 km resolution
• MISR
• Stereo images at 9 look angles
• ASTER
• Hi-resolution, multi-spectral images from 15 m to
  90 m resolution, plus stereo
• MOPITT
• Global measures of CH4 CO
• CERES
• Measures Earths shortwave, longwave, and net
  radiant energy budget

10
Global Atmospheric Water VaporLow-Level (0-3 km)
q(cm)
11
MODIS Global Perspective

• This 8-day composite image shows surface
  reflectance of the Earths land (green shows
  vegetated areas) and temperature of the oceans
  (red is warm, blues are cold)

12
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)

• MISR is a new type of instrument
• It sees the Earth at nine different look
  anglesfour forward, four aftward, and one at
  nadir
• Each of the nine cameras views the Earth in red,
  green, blue, and the near-infrared
• MISR can see at resolutions from 275 m to 1.1 km,
  and can produce stereoscopic images

13
MISR Provides New Angle on Haze

• In this MISR view spanning from Lake Ontario to
  Georgia, the increasingly oblique view angles
  reveal a pall of haze over the Appalachian
  Mountains

14
NASA Earth Science Spacecraft in Orbit
TRMM 11/27/97
Landsat 7 4/15/99
Terra 12/18/99
QuikScat 6/19/99
15
EOS Spacecraft Recently Launched or Under
Development
EO-1 11/21/00
Aqua 9/01
ICESat 12/01
Aura 7/03