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Jorge Vazquez August 4, 2011

How satellites have revolutionized our understanding of the Earth: From Benjamin Franklin to Aquarius. Jorge Vazquez August 4, 2011. The Past Oceanographers: Benjamin Franklin Matthew Fontaine Maury. Animation Courtesy of Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa California. ~ 2.0 mm/yr.

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Jorge Vazquez August 4, 2011

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  1. How satellites have revolutionized our understanding of the Earth: From Benjamin Franklin to Aquarius Jorge Vazquez August 4, 2011

  2. The Past Oceanographers:Benjamin Franklin Matthew Fontaine Maury

  3. Animation Courtesy of Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa California

  4. ~ 2.0 mm/yr ~ 0.25 mm/yr 120 years 9000 years Historic Sea Level Rise Recent rates of sea level rise are 100 times larger than historic rates. Plots by Robert A. Rohde for Global Warming Art: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/

  5. Tide Gauge Observations ~ 8 inches (20 cm) [Church and White, 2006]

  6. Tide Gauge Observations ~ 8 inches (20 cm) Average Rate ~ 1.8 mm/year [Church and White, 2006]

  7. Tide Gauge Observations 3.2 mm/year 2.0 mm/year ~ 8 inches (20 cm) 0.8 mm/year [Church and White, 2006]

  8. Satellite Observations

  9. Sea Level Rise from Altimetry

  10. addition of heat addition of freshwater Total sea level rise + = 75% (6”) Add Mass Ice Melt 25% (2”) Thermal Expansion 100% (8”) Heating or Melting?

  11. Potential Contributions Thermal Expansion: ~1 meter (3 feet) Melting Land ice does! Sea Ice Melt Does NOT raise sea level So does iceberg calving

  12. 186 Gt/year = 0.5 mm/year sea level rise Greenland losing mass 362 Gt = 1 mm GMSL [Wouters et al., 2008]

  13. Antarctica losing mass [Velicogna, 2009] [Riva et al., 2009]

  14. The Ocean Conveyor Belt

  15. What’s up with the ice sheet?

  16. Evacuate the Country!!!

  17. The Great Ocean Conveyor Belt

  18. The Great Conveyor Belt

  19. Both Arctic Sea Ice and Greenland Ice Sheet are shrinking

  20. The FUTURE NASA launches Aquarius Satellite June 10, 2011 • Will measure Ocean Salinity • Important because the Ocean’s drive the global hydrological cycle

  21. Instrument Specifications: Radiometer & Scatterometer    Footprint size - 62x68, 68x62, 75x100    Footprint size - 76x94, 84x120, 96x156     Orbit 657 km Sun Synchronous Radiometer       – Frequency n = 1.413 GHz +/- 25MHz
      – Wavelength l = c/n ~ 0.212m
      – L band = 0.39 - 1.55 GHz   Scatterometer       – Frequency n = 1.26 GHz
      – Wavelength l = c/n ~ 0.238m - 390 Kilometer swath

  22. Balance between Evaporation and Precipitation: E-P More evaporation salinity increases, more precipitation salinity decreases • River outflow: Eg: Amazon adds freshwater to Eastern South Atlantic, salinity decreases • Ocean Circulation: Ocean Currents and Eddies move tremendous amount of heat and salt. • Smaller scale processes such as entrainment and diffusion • Ice melting and freezing: Eg: Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) What Effects Ocean Salinity?

  23. Salinity Measured as grams of salt per 1000 grams of water. In the ocean varies between 32 to 38 parts/thousand.

  24. Schematic of Hydrological Cycle

  25. Aquarius URLs and information • http://aquarius.jpl.nasa.gov/AQUARIUS/ • http://aquarius.nasa.gov/ • http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/AQUARIUS/ • http://podaac-www.jpl.nasa.gov/SeaSurfaceSalinity

  26. THANK YOU!!!!! • Questions?

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