nasa’s cryosphere mission to provide ‘exceptionally important’ data about our planet - most accurate laser measure

by:UMeasure     2019-10-15
nasa’s cryosphere mission to provide ‘exceptionally important’ data about our planet  -  most accurate laser measure
What does Antarctic warming mean for us?
Take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday. 15, 2018.
Image: Matt HartmanSource: global scientists are about to make the most accurate and sober observation of the speed of the Earth's melted ice, and because of the launch of NASA satellites, glaciers and sea ice have powerful new technologies.
Frozen areas of the Earth
Collectively, the low temperature circle-
Rising sea levels threaten the Pacific Islands and major coastal cities in the world.
Last weekend, NASA launched a new satellite that will help scientists monitor the speed of ice melting on Earth in a mission called "particularly important to science. The ICESat-2 mission (
The first letter of Ice, Cloud and land ascension satellite, acronym)
Launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday local time, it carries an instrument: an advanced terrain laser height gauge system or ATLAS.
In about two weeks, the device will be activated and will reveal unprecedented details of current ice thickness in fragile polar regions as the climate warms.
"With this mission, we continue to explore the remote polar regions of our planet, and improve our understanding of how the Earth's polar Poles and other parts of ice and snow cover continue to change will affect life around the world, now and in the future, "said Thomas zubu, deputy director of NASA's science mission.
Joint Launch Alliance (ULA)
Delta II rocket for NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land lift satellites2 (ICESat-2)on-board.
Image: Bill IngallsSource: APIt has been almost a decade since NASA had a tool in orbit to measure ice levels.
Image: Bill inggos/NASASource: APIt has been almost a decade since NASA had a tool in orbit to measure the height of the surface of the global ice sheet.
The first iteration of the project was launched in 2003 and continued until 2009.
But since then, NASA has been measuring aircraft flying over Greenland and Antarctica as part of a project called Operation Ice Bridge. The nearly $1.
The 3 billion satellite is more powerful and precise than its predecessor.
There is a powerful laser on the new star, and when it measures the environment below, it fires 10,000 times per second.
The original ICESat was launched 40 times per second.
The original ICESat device was measured at an interval of about 100 m, while the new device was measured once per meter.
NASA says it will be able to measure the height of the ice sheet in Antarctica and Greenland to less than centimeters, or about the width of the pencil.
ATLAS technology will also measure the height of the forest to determine the number of vegetation in an area and monitor other attributes of the land surface, water and cloud.
By timing how long the laser takes from satellite to Earth and back, scientists can calculate the height of glaciers, sea ice, forests, lakes, etc.
The artist concept at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center depicts ICESat-
2, and how the spacecraft will use lasers and very precise detection instruments to measure the height of the Earth's surface.
Source: AFPIn images obtained from NASA on October 2014, engineers and technicians checked the suitability of ICESat
The telescope of 2 is placed on the sling, and then it is placed on the optical workbench of the instrument.
Image: Debbie McAllum/NASASource: scientists behind the project say the launch will provide
Environmental data needs to be driven, but cannot be achieved at a more important time.
Richard Slonaker of ICESat
NASA's project director called the mission "very important to science ".
The continued dependence of humans on fossil fuels means that the Earth
Greenhouse gases continue to heat up.
The average global temperature is rising year by year, and the hottest four years in modern times have occurred in 2014 --2017. ICESat-
This will help scientists understand the contribution of the melting of the ice sheet to rising sea levels.
"We will be able to look specifically at how ice changes over a year," said Tom Wagner, a NASA low-temperature circle project scientist.
A natural earth science paper published in 2010 concluded that on their front lines, glaciers in western Greenland melt 100 times faster at the bottom than at the top.
The rate of melting is accelerating due to the warming of the sea.
Source: SuppliedNASA believes that the mission will provide "amazing pictures" of environmental change and is eager to provide information to the scientific community as soon as possible.
"One thing we are trying to do is, one thing is to describe the changes that are happening in the ice, which will greatly improve our understanding of this, especially in areas where we don't know how well it is changing now, "said Mr Wagner, referring to the depths of Antarctica as such a mysterious area.
The task plan lasts for three years, but if the task manager decides to extend its life, the task has enough fuel to last for a full decade. —
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