Goddard in the News

Aqua: Space.com and The Boston Daily featured articles about the Aqua spacecraft. Aqua is scheduled to launch next Saturday from Vandenburg Air Force Base, Calif. Aqua will carry six instruments to collect data on global precipitation, evaporation, and the cycling of water and will examine changes in ocean circulation and how clouds and surface water processes affect climate, helping scientists better understand how global ecosystems are changing, and how they respond to and affect global environmental change.

In addition, the Aqua pre-launch press conference and video file resulted in approximately 22 broadcast stories on local television stations across the country.

SOHO: CNN featured an article about the Solar and Heliographic Observatory (SOHO) capturing images of a recent solar flare that produced Coronal Mass Ejections CMEs. CMEs create the colorful sky displays known as auroras or the Northern and Southern Lights.

EOS: A computer model that can determine the originating point of the water contained in rain and snowstorms was featured at Wired.com. Goddard scientists helped with the development of this computer model and Mike Bosilovich is quoted in the article as he explains the benefits of the model providing more accurate rainfall and drought forecasts and a greater understanding of how climates change.

Ananova.com, Cosmiverse.com, Discovery.com, Science Daily.com and Space.com featured articles about the NASA-funded research, which revealed that large icebergs from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf are causing a 40 percent reduction in the size of the 2000-2001 plankton bloom in one of Antarctica's most biologically productive areas. The icebergs decrease the amount of open water that the plants need for reproduction, which is vital to the local food chain.