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Topic Name: NASA celebrates a decade observing climate impacts on health of world's oceans
Category: STAR (Space, Telecommunications & Radioscience)
Research persons: Gene Carl Feldman
Location: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, United States
Details
The NASA-managed
Sea-viewing Wide
Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) instrument settled into orbit around Earth in
1997 and took its first measurements of ocean color. A decade later, the
satellite's data has proved instrumental in countless applications and helped
researchers paint a picture of a changing climate. NASA recognized the
satellite's tenth anniversary today with briefings at the Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
NASA and GeoEye's SeaWiFS instrument has given researchers the
first global look at ocean biological productivity. Its data have applications
for understanding and monitoring the impacts of climate change, setting
pollution standards, and sustaining coastal economies that depend on tourism and
fisheries.
"SeaWiFS allows us to observe ocean changes and the mechanisms
linking ocean physics and biology, and that's important for our ability to
predict the future health of the oceans in a changing climate," said Gene Carl
Feldman, SeaWiFS project manager at Goddard.
Researchers used SeaWiFS data to identify factors controlling
the unusual timing of the 2005 phytoplankton bloom in the California Current
System that led to the die-off of Oregon coast seabirds. The blooming tiny
microscopic plants are key indicators of ocean health, form the base of marine
food webs, and absorb carbon dioxide - a major greenhouse gas - from
Earth's atmosphere.
"Long-term observations of the California coast and other
sensitive regions is essential to understanding how changing global climate
impacted ecosystems in the past, and how it may do so in the future," said
Stephanie Henson of the University of Maine, lead author of a study published
last month in the American Geophysical Union's "Journal of Geophysical Research
- Oceans." "This type of large-scale, long-term monitoring can only be achieved
using satellite instrumentation," she added.
The SeaWiFS instrument orbits Earth fourteen times a day,
measuring visible light over every area of cloud-free land and ocean once every
48 hours. The result is a map of Earth with colors spanning the spectrum of
visible light. Variations in the color of the ocean, particularly in shades of
blue and green, allow researchers to determine how the numbers of the
single-celled plants called phytoplankton are distributed in the oceans over
space and time.
In other research, Mike Behrenfeld of Oregon State University,
Corvallis, Ore., and colleagues were the first to use SeaWiFS to quantify
biological changes in the oceans as a response to El Nino, which they described
in a landmark 2001 study in Science.
"The 2001 study is significant because it marked the first time
that global productivity was measured from a single sensor," said Paula Bontempi,
program manager for the Biology and Biogeochemistry Research Program at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. "The simplicity of SeaWiFS - a single sensor
designed only to measure ocean color - has made it the gold standard for all
ocean color monitoring instruments."
More recently, Zhiqiang Chen and colleagues at the University of
South Florida, St. Petersburg, showed that SeaWiFS data have direct application
for state and federal regulators looking to better define water quality
standards. The team reported in "Remote Sensing of Environment" that instead of
relying on the infrequent measurements collected from ships or buoys, SeaWiFS
data can be used to monitor coastal water quality almost daily, providing
managers with a more frequent and complete picture of changes over time.
Beyond the realm of ocean observations, however, SeaWiFS has
"revolutionized the way people do research," Feldman said. SeaWiFS was one of
the first missions to open up data access online to researchers, students and
educators around the world. The mission was able to capitalize on advances in
data processing and storage technologies and ride the crest of the World Wide
Web's growth from its beginning.
When the SeaWiFS program launched in 1997, the goal was to place
a sensor in space capable of routinely monitoring ocean color to better
understand the interplay between the ocean and atmosphere and most importantly,
the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle. A decade later, Feldman said, "SeaWiFS
has exceeded everyone's expectations."
Event Information
NASA Science Update will take place on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 2
p.m. EDT from the Science TV Studio at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md. NASA TV will carry the conference live with question-and-answer
capability from participating NASA centers. Media interested in asking questions
via telephone during the briefing should call Sarah DeWitt at 301-286-0535 to
receive the call-in number and password.
The NASA Science Update will be carried live on the Web at
+ NASA TV and on the NASA Television
Public Services Channel (#101) and the Media Services Channel (#103). NASA
Television is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6,
at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization.
A Digital Video Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is required for
reception. For NASA TV information and schedules on the Web, visit:
+ NASA TV
For more information contact:
Tabatha Thompson
NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC
Phone: 202/358-3895
Sarah DeWitt
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
Phone: 301/286-0535
About Researchers:
Gene Carl Feldman
Email: gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov
Most Related Links:
http://www.class.noaa.gov/release/data_available/oc/index.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/nsfc-nca091907.php
http://www.generef.com/newsstory.html?pid=43540
http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=107
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/seawifs_10th_related.html
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