WATER WORKS: THE AQUA PROJECT - Back to Aqua website

Climate is to weather what families are to relatives: they both describe complex interactions among various component parts.
This analogy extends to modern strategies for studying the Earth, too. Instead of making discrete, independent measurements about isolated places around the globe, experts are fielding closely integrated fleets of satellites and instrumentation, designed to work in concert while looking at vast stretches of the planet.
NASA's Earth observing satellite called Aqua is the latest example of this trend. It's designed to explore the Earth in terms of interrelated systems, leveraging simultaneous collection of data about related aspects of the planet.

Soundbite: Phil Sabelhaus - EOS Aqua Project Manager

Very sophisticated, indeed. The school bus sized vehicle houses six advanced instruments, each designed to gather data about the Earth in ways that can be used independently or in conjunction with other observations. The satellite will also carry several major advancements in Earth observing technology. A particularly exciting instrument called AIRS will work with two other devices to collect three-dimensional atmospheric information about temperature and moisture to a degree never seen before. And as the name of the satellite implies, the Aqua program hopes to make significant contributions to our understanding of the global water cycle.

Soundbite: Claire Parkinson - Aqua Project Scientist

Detailed examinations of these kinds of large-scale systems describe the essence of Aqua's mission. Research into climate change, global plant productivity, the health of the oceans, and much more depend on separate but cross-calibrated measurements and analysis, because each part of the natural world is fundamentally interconnected to all the others.

Soundbite: Claire Parkinson - Aqua Project Scientist

NASA and its international partners are counting on this powerful observatory to help researchers explore not only how the Earth lives and breathes, but also how the people of the world can best care for the only planet in the solar system known to harbor life.