2001 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID |
Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| FIRST RESULTS FROM THE ASTER "ZOOM LENS" ON
TERRA | G01-046 | 05/29/01 |
00:04:02 | New views of the Earth's changing
surface and mankind's imprint on it are being revealed by the ASTER
sensor on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Highlights presented at the AGU
2001 Spring Meeting include previously undetectable details of
volcanic eruptions and gas plumes, routine monitoring of the ebb and
flow of the world's glaciers, and the first comparison of the
different "skeletal patterns" of cities around the
world.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Monitoring All The
World's Glaciers - ASTER images are being used in an
ambitious international project to map the extent of the world's
glaciers and the rate at which they are changing. The Global Land
Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project is a global consortium
led by the U.S. Geological Survey. An ASTER image of several glaciers
in the Canadian Arctic on Ellesmere Island (July 31, 2000).
Courtesy: NASA/UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
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| ITEM (2): A Glacier's
Crumbling "Tongue" - The leading edge of the Eugenie
Glacier's "floating tongue" reveals
surface cracks and extensive calving of icebergs in this ASTER image
(July 31 2000)..
Courtesy: NASA/UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
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| ITEM (3): Urban Ecology:
Revealing A City's "Skeleton" -Ecologists now accept human
beings and our activities as a significant factor in studying the
Earth's ecology. ASTER data is being used to better understand urban
ecology, in particular how humans build their cities and effect the
surrounding environment. Scientists will use ASTER images to look for
common features, or the lack of them, in global city
structure.Baltimore's urban core reveals its "skeleton" of the amount
of built structures in the city. A false-color ASTER image shows
land cover types (vegetation is red) and natural features, which are
stripped away as ASTER data focuses on the density of edges seen in
the landscape.
Courtesy: NASA/ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
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| ITEM (4): A 'True' Phoenix
Rises From The Desert - Phoenix, Arizona, is one of 100
cities around the world being monitored by ASTER to study urban
ecology and how cities change over time. Vegetation is red in the
false-colored ASTER image.
Courtesy: NASA/ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
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| ITEM (5): A Tale Of Two
Different Cities: Baltimore And Phoenix - Urban ecologists
using the new ASTER survey of world cities may find that no two
cities are exactly alike. In this comparison of the urban"skeletons"
of Baltimore (left) and Phoenix (right), very different patterns or
urban density and development are clearly shown.
Courtesy: NASA/ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
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| ITEM (6): A Watchful Eye On
Volcanic Hot Spots - ASTER's ability to sense fine-scale
heated surfaces is providing never-before seen views of volcanic
eruptions. Lava flows, hot mudflows, and other details of eruption
activity that cannot be seen using other
techniques are revealed. The active Russian volcano Bezymianny in
Kamchatka shows an ongoing flow from a vent on the side of the
volcano in a sequence of ASTER infrared images taken Oct. 25 and
Dec. 28, 2000. The flow (red) doubles in size in two
months.Courtesy: NASA/ UNIVERSITY OF
PITTSBURGH
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| ITEM (7): Eruptions In
Never-Before-Seen Detail - Current technology can detect
volcanic hot spots from space, but not until Terra's ASTER sensor
could eruptions be detected in such detail. For example, here are
two views of the Bezymianny eruption taken six days apart: the
infrared signature from AVHRR (Oct. 31, 2000) and an ASTER image
(Oct. 25, 2000).
Courtesy: NASA/ UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
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