2002 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| SOUTHERN AFRICAN REGIONAL SCIENCE INITIATIVE
(SAFARI) 2000 AGU VIDEO FILE | G01-087 | 12/12/01 | 00:13:41 | The Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI) 2000 field campaign to sub-Saharan Africa in August and September of 2000 was part of an international research effort designed to better understand the relationships between climate change, human activity and the region's ecosystems.
The air quality and atmosphere of the region is of particular concern due to the frequency and range of biomass burnings - southern Africa has some of the most extensive biomass burning in the world. As well, due to a unique wind circulation pattern over southern Africa during much of the year, air pollution can be trapped for weeks and moved hundreds of miles.
The project's multi-disciplinary approach collected measurements from ground-based observation towers, instruments onboard aircraft and satellite instruments. Subjects of study included air pollution, biomass burning, ozone, atmospheric aerosols and trace gases, clouds and radiation, as well as the unique ecology of the region.
This SAFARI 2000 field campaign coincided with the peak-burning season in southern Africa. Earlier in February of 2000, a separate field campaign went to southern Africa to study ecology and land usage. However, this resource tape focuses exclusively on the August and September campaign.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Satellite View of Fires - Researchers involved in the SAFARI 2000 mission planned each day's agenda according to data from instruments like the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) onboard NOAA's Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES). The data here, taken on August 30, 2002, includes fires in Angola, Congo Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (2): Satellite View of Fires and Aerosols - Multiple fires are burning across the southern part of the African continent in September 2000, as shown by data from another AVHRR onboard the NOAA-14 satellite. The unprecedented amount of fires generated large amounts of aerosols, (overlaid on top) which were observed with the Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (3): Satellite View of Kruger National Park Fires - The SeaWiFS instrument on the Orbview-2 satellite captured this image of the smoke plumes from the fires in Kruger National Park in the southern part of Africa on September 6, 2001. Credit: NASA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (4): Where The Pollution Goes - The swirling colors in this sequence paint a remarkable new portrait of our planet. For the first time, scientists have a powerful new tool to track immense clouds of air pollution, shown in red, as they travel across the Earth. The observations help identify and quantify pollution sources for observing the transport of pollution on a global scale. Credit: NASA/NCAR
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| ITEM (5): Air Pollution Source #1: Ground Biomass Burning - Southern Africa has some of the highest concentrations of biomass burning in the world, one main cause of which is fires in the savannahs. Prescribed burns in the region are a common practice to reduce the fire danger from a build-up of dry grasses, promote greener grass for grazing and as preparation for agriculture and land clearing. This fire was set on August 15, 2000 in an experimental plot in Kruger National Park, a big game reserve in South Africa. Park staff burned 250 acres to coincide with a flyover of planes from the SAFARI 2000 experiment. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (6): Other Pollution Sources - Other sources of biomass burning and point of study for the mission in the use of domestic fuelwood for home heating and cooking and fossil fuel burning for industrial uses. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (7): Terra - Terra's primary objective is to study Earth's lands, oceans, air, ice and life functions as a planet-wide system. The fires were set in conjunction with Terra's orbit so that it could best study the results. In particular, MODIS and the Multi-Angle Imaging Spectrometer (MISR) instruments looked at land surface temperature, fire properties and aerosols. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (8): Landsat 7 - NASA's Landsat 7 provided fine-scale land-cover change as the
fires occurred. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (9): ER-2 B-Roll and Airport - Flight preparations for SAFARI 2000 are located in the city of Pietersburg, in South Africa's Northern Province. One type of plane used in the ER-2 high altitude research aircraft, which can fly at an altitude of 70,000 feet, over 95% of the earth's atmosphere. The single pilot aircraft carries simulators of instruments found onboard the TERRA satellite. The instrumentation is used to study the circulation and composition of the atmosphere, industrial emissions, pollution from biomass burning and the extent and severity of burn scars. Aircraft flights are timed to coincide with satellite flyovers of a burning region. The acquired data is then used to validate data taken from the satellite's remote sensors. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (10): University of Washington Convair 580 B-ROLL - Another type of aircraft used in SAFARI 2000 is the Convair 580, a research aircraft from the University of Washington. Larger than the ER-2, this medium altitude aircraft is capable of carrying both scientists and instruments. The in situ instruments onboard were designed to study clouds and the chemical properties of air pollution, including aerosols and gases such as ozone. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (11): Tower Instruments - Another way to validate satellite data is to use instrumentation on the ground. This tower was erected in Kruger National Park and is equipped with instruments that measure the exchange of gases between the land and the atmosphere. Hundreds of bits of data are collected every second. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (12): Views of South Africa - Landscapes, people and sunsets Credit: NASA
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