2002 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| THERMOMETER IN SPACE MEASURES OCEAN TEMPERATURES LIKE NEVER BEFORE | G02-013 | 2/14/02 | 00:10:59 | The most detailed measurements ever made of sea surface temperature can now be made everyday, all over the globe, thanks to an instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite, the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). More than the world's largest swimming holes, the oceans are a driving force for our climate. Changes in sea surface temperature can hold the clues to such phenomena as weather patterns, El Nino, and La Nina events. Since MODIS's sea surface temperature measurements are accurate to within from 0.3 to 0.4 degrees C, scientists believe the instrument provides much needed accuracy to predict how minute temperature changes effect weather patterns around the world.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Global Views of Sea Temperatures - The MODIS sensor aboard NASA's Terra satellite measures sea surface temperature accurate to within a quarter of a degree (C), better than twice the accuracy of previous sensors. Oceanographers are excited to now be able to observe temperature and current patterns all over the globe with such clarity. The improved sensitivity helps make subtle features more visible. (Examples: cold tongues of upwelled water off the west coast of Mexico, the warm loop current in the Gulf of Mexico, and the tropical instability waves moving westward along the equatorial Pacific.)
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| ITEM (2): Sea Surface Temperature and El Nino - By carefully monitoring changes in sea surface temperatures (SSTs), scientists can track the evolution of powerful climatic events such as El Nino. These images show the huge changes in SSTs associated with the 1997-1998 El Nino. Red colors indicate temperatures 4-5 dregrees C warmer than normal. Blue colors indicate cooler than normal SSTs. The new MODIS measurements will be the most accurate ever made from space. Data source: NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument.
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| ITEM (3): Weathering Through The Storm With El Nino - Accurately measuring Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) is critical to understanding how the Earth works as a system. This 3-D data visualization displays the complex relationship between the ocean surface temperatures (colors), the wind anomalies (black arrows) and sea surface height anomalies (3-D elevation). The images show how the weakening trade winds helped further the evolution of the warmer than normal waters associated with the huge El Nino of 1997-1998. Data Source: Surface Elevation: Topex/Poseidon; SSTs: NOAA AVHRR; Wind Vectors: Florida State University.
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| ITEM (4): Interview Excerpts With:
Chris Justice, University of Maryland and Peter Minnet, University of Miami
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| ITEM (5): Terra's MODIS Instrument - Serving as a sophisticated thermometer in space, an instrument aboard NASA's Terra sateliite, the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is helping Earth scientists advance studies of how our world's oceans and atmosphere interact in ways that drive weather patterns and, over the long term, help to define our climate.
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| ITEM (6): Terra Spacecraft - Launched December 18, 1999, NASA's Terra Satellite is the flagship of the Earth Observing System series of satellites, part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term research program dedicated to understanding how human-induced and natural changes affect our global environment.
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Earth Science Gallery