OrbitalHub

NASA dicit:

Using the most advanced Earth-observing laser instrument NASA has ever flown in space, scientists have made precise, detailed measurements of how the elevation of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have changed over 16 years.

The results provide insights into how the polar ice sheets are changing, demonstrating definitively that small gains of ice in East Antarctica are dwarfed by massive losses in West Antarctica. The scientists found the net loss of ice from Antarctica, along with Greenland’s shrinking ice sheet, has been responsible for 0.55 inches (14 millimeters) of sea level rise between 2003 and 2019 – slightly less than a third of the total amount of sea level rise observed in the world’s oceans.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Lead Producer: Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA)
Lead Writer: Kate Ramsayer (Telophase)
Scientist: Thomas A. Neumann Ph.D. (NASA/GSFC)
Lead Scientists: Benjamin E. Smith (University of Washington Applied Physics Lab Polar Science Center)
Helen Amanda Fricker (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego)
Alex S. Gardner (NASA/JPL CalTech)
Lead Visualizer: Kel Elkins (USRA)
Lead Editor: Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA)
Lead Narrator: LK Ward (USRA)
Lead Animator: Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (USRA)
Videographer: Jefferson Beck (USRA)

NASA dicit:

Better and faster computers have improved how we model and study Earth. More information is the other piece of the puzzle improving how we model and forecast our planet’s atmosphere.

Since 1980, the 10th anniversary of Earth Day, the number of observing systems, which include satellites, weather balloons, and even instruments flown on commercial airlines, have dramatically increased — from 175,000 observations gathered over a six-hour period in 1980 to around 5 million observations in 2018.

The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, uses the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) modeling and data assimilation system to produce estimates of Earth’s atmospheric state by combining short-term forecasts with observations from numerous observing systems. The GEOS modeling system helps us see Earth more clearly and better understand our atmosphere and how it changes.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/Katie Jepson (USRA): Producer/Will McCarty (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Will McCarty (NASA/GSFC): Animator/Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Visualizer/Steven Pawson (NASA/GSFC): Scientist

Wikipedia dicit:

The Van Allen Probes, formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes, were two robotic spacecraft that were used to study the Van Allen radiation belts that surround Earth. NASA conducted the Van Allen Probes mission as part of the Living With a Star program. Understanding the radiation belt environment and its variability has practical applications in the areas of spacecraft operations, spacecraft system design, mission planning and astronaut safety. The probes were launched on 30 August 2012 and operated for seven years. Both spacecraft were deactivated in 2019 when they ran out of fuel. They are expected to deorbit during the 2030s.

Video credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/Tom Bridgman (GST): Lead Animator/Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Producer/Genna Duberstein (USRA): Producer/David G. Sibeck (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Shrikanth G. Kanekal (NASA/GSFC): Scientist

NASA dicit:

Asia’s high mountains are a crucial freshwater source to one-seventh of the world’s population. Snow and glaciers in these mountains contain the largest volume of freshwater outside of Earth’s polar ice sheets, leading hydrologists to nickname this region the “third pole.”

Rapid changes in the region’s climate, however, are affecting glacier flows and snowmelt. Local people are already modifying their land-use practices in response to the changing supply, and the region’s ecology is transforming. Scientists estimate that by 2100, these glaciers could be up to 75% smaller in volume.

NASA’s satellites observe and measure snow and ice cover remotely with multiple types of sensors. This allows scientists to create an authoritative estimate of the water budget of this region and a set of products local policy makers can use in responding to hazards and planning for a changing water supply.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Katie Jepson (USRA): Lead Producer/Carol Rasmussen (NASA/JPL CalTech): Lead Writer/Bailee DesRocher (USRA): Animator/Music credit: “The Mystery Novelist” by Quentin Bachelet [SACEM]

NASA dicit:

In a generic brick building on the northwestern edge of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center campus in Greenbelt, Maryland, thousands of computers packed in racks the size of vending machines hum in a deafening chorus of data crunching. Day and night, they spit out five quadrillion calculations per second. Known collectively as the Discover supercomputer, these machines are tasked with running sophisticated climate models to predict Earth’s future climate.

But now, they’re also sussing out something much farther away: whether any of the more than 4,000 curiously weird planets beyond our solar system — or exoplanets — discovered in the past two decades could have the ingredients necessary to support life.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/LK Ward (USRA): Lead Producer/Claire Andreoli (NASA/GSFC): Lead Public Affairs Officer/Lonnie Shekhtman (ADNET): Lead Writer/Alex Kekesi (GST): Lead Visualizer/Anthony DelGenio (NASA/GSFC GISS): Lead Scientist/Avi Mandell (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist/Michael J. Way (NASA/GSFC GISS): Scientist/Chris Smith (USRA): Animator/Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support/Music: “Machine Learning” by Jon Cotton and Ben Niblett; “No Wave” by Julien Vignon; “The Missing Star” by Matthew Charles Gilbert Davidson; all from Universal Production Music

NASA dicit:

Earth’s global surface temperatures in 2019 ranked second-warmest since 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Global temperatures in 2019 were 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) warmer than the late 19th century, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. 2019’s temperatures were second only to those of 2016 and continued the planet’s long-term warming trend: the five warmest years on the instrumental record have been the five last years.

Video credit: NASA Goddard