Date: Apr 14 18:43 UTC
Subject: New Ocean Wind Experiment
From: NASA Space News
NEW INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE OCEAN WINDS INTEGRATED THIS WEEK
A NASA instrument that will measure ocean winds from space was
integrated this week into Japan's host spacecraft, the Advanced Earth
Observation Satellite, in preparation for the spacecraft's launch and
three-year mission beginning in February 1996.
The instrument was delivered to Japan's National Space Development
Agency last December for reassembly and extensive testing before full
integration work began this week.
James Graf, project manager of the NASA Scatterometer at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, said the collaborative effort to put a NASA
instrument aboard a Japanese satellite represents one of the first
times the United States and Japan have carried out a joint
Earth-observing mission. The agreement, signed in 1989, calls for
launch of the instrument-laden satellite on an H-11 rocket from
Tanegshima Space Center, located about 1,000 kilometers (625 miles)
southwest of Tokyo.
The measurements of the winds over the oceans by radar will be used by
JPL for climate research, helping scientists better understand ocean
circulation and the role of air-sea interactions in the global
ecosystem. Data from the scatterometer will be transmitted to JPL in
real time and be incorporated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration into their weather models to improve weather
forecasting.
The NASA Scatterometer will complement the measurements of two other
instruments onboard the spacecraft: a Japanese instrument, called the
Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner, which will look at the biomass of
the oceans, and another NASA instrument, the Total Ozone Mapping
Spectrometer, which will provide daily maps of global ozone levels.
The scatterometer will be capable of taking 190,000 wind measurements
per day, mapping more than 90 percent of the world's ice-free oceans
every two days. The instrument looks at the small waves on the ocean
surface which are caused by wind, and can read wind direction by using
two or more radar antennas pointed at different angles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- T o d d E. V a n H o o s e a r -
``'''vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu - vanhoose@msu.edu - vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu
(._.) Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI USA
(_) Computer Laboratory - Department of Communication
`---' <A HREF="http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/">My Home Page</A>
"Lottery: a tax on people who are bad at math."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~