2002 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| LIGHT ON WATER: AQUA SENDS FIRST PICTURES | G02-049 | 6/24/02 | 00:10:09 |
Scientists and engineers call it "first light"-- the first images from a newly activated spacecraft. This week NASA and its international partners are releasing first light images from the recently launched Aqua satellite. This powerful Earth observing platform houses six advanced instruments, designed to look at interrelated geophysical properties of our home planet, with a particular emphasis on water.
While most first light pictures fall into a category known as engineering images, one of the instruments onboard has already enabled researchers to create an early scientific product. Using the AMSR-E instrument, Aqua researchers have created a striking picture of the world's sea surface temperature, an important characteristic in monitoring the status and changing conditions of our planet. The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) manages the AMSR-E instrument.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): No More Cloudy Days (Reporter VO ( :34)) - The clouds have parted. That's the message from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where this week scientists are releasing so-called "first light" images from their newly launched Aqua spacecraft. Why no clouds? Data gathered from one of the advanced Earth observing sensors onboard has delivered a first-time picture of the entire planet's sea surface temperature. Until now, few space based systems could resolve ocean temperature through clouds, often forcing experts to undertake complicated stitching techniques to get global pictures. Sea surface temperature is an important indicator for many complex geophysical processes.
Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (2): Water World - NASA announces a significant milestone on its journey to a new understanding of the Earth. So-called "first light" images from its newly launched Aqua spacecraft show dramatic maps of the Earth's sea surface temperature measured to a high degree of accuracy, collected world wide regardless of cloud cover. Sea surface temperature is an important indicator for many complex geophysical processes. This is the first of what the space agency believes will be many important images delivered from the suite of six advanced scientific instruments flying onboard. The data for this scene comes from an instrument called AMSR-E. The second image shows a "pseudo" color image, generated from microwave emissions from the surface. The somewhat natural looking colors used to create this scene correspond to areas on the globe where AMSR-E detected various concentrations of water in the atmosphere.
Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (3): AMSR-E: Looking at Water From Space - Several of the instruments onboard the Aqua spacecraft have enabled scientists to generate early engineering pictures, but data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) have already yielded a geophysical product. The powerful device helmed by a spinning golden disk has facilitated a nearly global picture of the Earth's sea surface temperature. Compared to the other instruments onboard Aqua, AMSR-E is distinctive for its appearance. Rising like a golden sail above the bow of the vehicle, the instrument spins 40 times a minute. It will gather data from an 867-mile (1445 km) swath of the planet as it orbits.
Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (4): Scientific Synergy - Aqua will make measurements of the Earth many times a day, but it will cross the equator at the same time, all the time. This is because it will orbit the planet on a nearly polar route, passing over different points on the ground at approximately 1:30 pm and 1:30 am. By maintaining a consistent time for taking readings, the integrated suite of sensors on Aqua will facilitate sophisticated measurements of planetary processes that until now have been challenging to collect and calibrate. Working in concert or independently, Aqua's scientific hardware will be used to study climate change, vegetation, water vapor in the atmosphere, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice, snow cover and more.
Credits: NASA
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| ITEM (5): Colors in the Afternoon - The sun rose on a new scientific era the morning of May 4, 2002. At 2:55 a.m. in the pre-dawn darkness, the Aqua satellite blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Flying at an altitude of 438 miles (705 km), the vehicle carries six advanced instruments designed to study various Earth processes. As part of the mission design, these instruments are specifically tailored to work together as well as separately--in essence embodying the philosophy that if the Earth's processes function in systemic, interrelated ways, the best way to study the planet is with sensors that can correlate their findings.
Credits: NASA
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| ITEM (6): An Enterprise, an Adventure - Aqua is just one component of NASA's growing Earth Observing System, an integrated fleet of satellites and data collection procedures designed to study the Earth in terms of conjoined, interdependent processes. Space offers a useful and powerful perspective for gathering information about natural and human-induced change around the world. It's not feasible to study changes in the oceans, the atmosphere, or life on Earth in global terms without looking back at the Earth from space.
Credits: NASA
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