“NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) sits onboard NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite at the Lagrange point 1, a million miles away from Earth. EPIC has been imaging the sunlit side of Earth between 13 and 22 times a day since 2015. Now, scientists have developed ways to use these images to study specific elements of our home planet’s atmosphere and plant life, like ozone in the stratosphere, the makeup of clouds and the health of vegetation on land.”
“NASA’s new laser instrument, the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, or GEDI, has advanced laser technology that will reveal the makeup of remote forest ecosystems around the globe. GEDI will soar above Earth at 17,150 miles per hour onboard the International Space Station. Its measurements of the height of leaves, branches, trees, and shrubs below its path will help scientists map the structure of forests and better understand how ecosystems are storing or releasing carbon.
GEDI’s lidar instrument sends laser pulses down to Earth, where they penetrate the globe’s temperate and tropical forests. The laser beams ricochet off the first thing they hit, which can be a leaf atop a dense canopy, a protruding branch, or the ground from which the forest emerges. The energy returned to the GEDI telescope on the International Space Station will provide an intricate three-dimensional map of forest canopies and carbon storage.
Led by the University of Maryland in collaboration with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, GEDI has the highest resolution and densest sampling of any lidar every put in orbit. ”
“The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) is a satellite designed to investigate changes in the Earth’s ionosphere. ICON will study the interaction between Earth’s weather systems and space weather driven by the Sun, and how this interaction drives turbulence in the upper atmosphere. It is hoped that a better understanding of this dynamic will mitigate its effects on communications, GPS signals, and technology in general. It is part of NASA’s Explorers program and will be operated by UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory.
Once launched, ICON will perform a two-year mission to observe conditions in both the thermosphere and ionosphere. ICON will be equipped with four instruments: a Michelson interferometer, built by the United States Naval Research Laboratory, will measure the winds and temperatures in the thermosphere; an ion drift meter, built by UT Dallas, will measure the motion of charged particles in the ionosphere; and two ultraviolet imagers built at UC Berkeley will observe the airglow layers in the upper atmosphere in order to determine both ionospheric and thermospheric density and composition.
Many low-Earth orbiting satellites, including the International Space Station, fly through the ionosphere and can be affected by its changing electric and magnetic fields. The ionosphere also acts as a conduit for many communications signals, such as radio waves and the signals that make GPS systems work. The ionosphere is where space weather manifests, creating unpredicted conditions such as electric currents that can cause electrical charging of satellites, changing density that can affect satellite orbits, and shifting magnetic fields that can induce current in power systems, causing strain, disrupt communications and navigation or even blackouts. Improved understanding of this environment can help predict such events and improve satellite design.”
“Every year, the ozone hole over Antarctica reaches an annual maximum extent during southern winter. The depletion of ozone by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) happens faster at colder temperatures and slows down as temperatures warm, so each October, the ozone layer begins to heal again for the year.
Scientists from NASA and NOAA work together to track the ozone layer throughout the year and determine when the hole reaches its annual maximum extent. This year, the South Pole region of Antarctica was slightly colder than the previous few years, so the ozone hole grew larger. However, scientists from NASA have developed models to predict what the ozone layer would have looked like without the Montreal Protocol, which banned the release of CFCs. Although the 2018 hole was slightly larger than that of 2017 or 2016, it was still much smaller than it would have been without the Montreal Protocol.”
“Operation IceBridge is NASA’s longest-running aerial survey of polar ice. During the survey, designed to assess changes in the ice height of several glaciers draining into the Larsen A, B and C embayments, IceBridge senior support scientist Jeremy Harbeck saw a very sharp-angled, tabular iceberg floating among sea ice just off of the Larsen C ice shelf.”
“The European Space Agency demonstrates its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through the activities promoted by its ten directorates. Satellite data and space applications, as well as space technologies, play a major role in addressing issues ranging from health care and education through to climate change and human migration. ESA’s multifaceted technical expertise can provide policy makers, aid organisations and private companies with the necessary tools to support economic growth, social development and environmental protection.”
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