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Europe probe tracks global warming impact on water
Paris (AFP) Nov 2, 2009 The European Space Agency on Monday launched a water tracking satellite that will help give faster predictions of floods and other extreme weather incidents caused by global warming. The 315 million euro (460 million dollar) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) probe was carried into space on a Russian Rockot launcher from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia. The ESA said it is now orbiting 760 kilometers (470 miles) above Earth from where it will gauge the impact of climate change on the movement of water across land, air and sea. By providing precise measures of soil moisture and ocean surface salt levels, SMOS will fill important gaps in scientific knowledge about the water cycle and help meteorologists make more accurate forecasts in near-real time, say experts. "Climate change is a fact, but its impact on precipitation, evaporation, surface runoff and flood risks is still uncertain," said Yann Kerr, a researcher at the Center for the Study of the Biosphere from Space and SMOS mission scientific director. "The availability of water plays a more important role on these impacts than temperature itself," he told journalists. Scientists rely heavily on computer models to project weather and climate patterns, and the additional data will make predictions more accurate. SMOS "has long been awaited by climatologists who try to predict the long-term effects of today's climate change," said ESA's director of Earth observations programme Volker Liebig in a communique. "The data collected will complement measurements already performed on the ground and at sea." The satellite has two intertwined missions. Measuring soil water content to a depth of one-to-two metres across the planet every three days will help forecast drought and flood risk. When a storm breaks, for example, the ability of rainwater to percolate down depends on the type of soil and how much water it is already holding. It is also critical for calculating Earth's carbon cycle, the process by which heat-trapping carbon dioxide is released and absorbed, especially by plants and the oceans. Climate change, scientists agree, is largely caused by CO2 pollution that has upset that natural balance. Its second job is to measure changes in the salt content of sea surface waters, which will enhance understanding of what drives global ocean circulation patterns. Ocean circulation helps moderate climate, notably by transporting heat from the equator to the poles. Some studies have suggested that global warming could disrupt these cycles and dramatically alter regional weather patterns. Variations in the salinity of ocean waters depend on the addition or removal of fresh water through evaporation and precipitation and, in polar regions, on the freezing and melting of ice. Both sets of data will be collected by the large Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS). MIRAS, programmed to operate for three-to-five years, connects 69 receivers mounted on three deployable arms to measure the temperature of the reflection of the Earth's surface in the microwave frequency range. A second ESA satellite lifted into space Monday, Proba-2, is designed to demonstrate innovative in-orbit technologies. It will test a new type of lithium-ion battery, an advanced data and power management system, a dual-frequency GPS receiver, an experimental solar panel, an exploration micro-camera and a dozen other technologies. Proba-2 will also conduct experiments related to solar observation and space weather. The launch Monday is the second of ESA's Earth Explorer missions to collect data on the impact of human activities on the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and interior. The GOCE satellite was sent into space in March to provide more accurate global and regional models of Earth's gravity field. Scheduled for launch in 2011, the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus) will measure wind profiles from space. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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EU Space Missions To Strengthen Earth Observation For Climate And SecurityParis, France (SPX) Oct 30, 2009 In 2005, the EU made the strategic choice to develop an independent European space borne earth observation capacity to deliver services in the environmental and security fields, called Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES). This capacity is designed in a way that is firmly rooted on existing capacities led by the European Space Agency (ESA), Eumetsat and individual ... read more |
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