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Destination Tomorrow - DT10 - Climate Change
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NASA Destination Tomorrow Segment explaining how NASA will use satellites engineered to analyze and predict trends in climate change and global warming.
In recent years, researchers have seen an alarming warming trend in the global climate.
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Reports of increasing temperatures, thinning glaciers, and rising sea levels have led to
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widespread speculation that global warming is being caused by greenhouse gases that result
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from man's activities.
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Climate models that predict the Earth's future climate patterns indicate that global warming
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could continue to increase if the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continues
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to rise.
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Even though these climate models are powerful tools in predicting future global climate,
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a more detailed understanding of clouds and aerosols could lead to more accurate climate
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prediction models.
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Researchers may be able to determine why the climate is warming, if it is being affected
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by greenhouse gases, and what we can do to change it.
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That is why researchers at NASA are preparing six innovative satellite systems, which when
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launched will provide key information about the Earth's atmosphere.
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Two of these satellites, CALYPSO and CLOUDSAT, will focus primarily on aerosols and cloud
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structures, providing much more information about how clouds and aerosols interact with
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each other and how they are affecting the atmosphere's radiation balance.
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I spoke with Lamont Poole at the NASA Langley Research Center to find out more.
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It's important to study clouds and airborne particles, which we call aerosols, because
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both of them have significant effects on the Earth's climate, just like greenhouse
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gases such as carbon dioxide.
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But unlike greenhouse gases, which warm the planet, airborne particles and clouds can
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either have a warming effect or a cooling effect depending on their type and their altitude.
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Because of these complicating factors, it's very difficult to represent cloud and aerosol
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processes accurately in climate models that are used to forecast the climate in the future.
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So the data that we will be collecting from CLOUDSAT and CALYPSO will provide a much more
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accurate picture of cloud and aerosol processes.
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So what are the differences between the CALYPSO and CLOUDSAT satellites?
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They're going to be launched on the same rocket, and when they get to altitude, they will separate
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into different, very closely matched orbits.
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In fact, as CALYPSO and CLOUDSAT orbit the Earth, they will be within 10 to 15 seconds
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of each other in their orbit.
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CLOUDSAT and CALYPSO are going to be flying as part of a formation of satellites that's
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called the Afternoon Constellation, or the A-Train for short.
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The A-Train will actually consist of six separate satellites flying in close proximity to one
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another.
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Once in orbit, each satellite will cross the equator within minutes of one another, taking
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specific atmospheric measurements.
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Although each satellite has a unique mission, the data retrieved will be combined together,
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providing detailed observations about the condition of Earth and assisting scientists
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with making predictions related to climate change.
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By combining information from the different satellites, scientists will be able to gain
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much more information about the condition of the planet than they could from any single
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mission alone, greatly improving prediction capabilities.
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Once these systems are in place, what do you hope the outcome will be?
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Our ultimate goal is to provide accurate scientific information to decision makers
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and governments worldwide so that informed and balanced decisions on how to mitigate
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or adapt to climate change can be made.
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And NASA's going to play a very crucial role in this process because of our capabilities
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in developing and flying new technologies such as CALYPSO and CLOUDSAT.
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- Idioma/s:
- Niveles educativos:
- ▼ Mostrar / ocultar niveles
- Nivel Intermedio
- Autor/es:
- NASA LaRC Office of Education
- Subido por:
- EducaMadrid
- Licencia:
- Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
- Visualizaciones:
- 494
- Fecha:
- 28 de mayo de 2007 - 17:04
- Visibilidad:
- Público
- Enlace Relacionado:
- NASAs center for distance learning
- Duración:
- 03′ 40″
- Relación de aspecto:
- 4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
- Resolución:
- 480x360 píxeles
- Tamaño:
- 21.39 MBytes
