Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change
When NASA researcher Stanford Hooker is in the field, he pays close attention to color. For Hooker, being in the field means being at sea. On one such research trip to the frigid waters of the Arctic, with a Coast Guard icebreaker looming nearby and the snow-crusted ice shelf a few feet away, Hooker...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20130009021 2023-05-15T15:18:59+02:00 Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available February 2013 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20130009021 unknown Document ID: 20130009021 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20130009021 No Copyright CASI Man/System Technology and Life Support Spinoff 2012; 94-97; NASA/NP-2012-11-912-HQ 2013 ftnasantrs 2019-08-31T23:10:08Z When NASA researcher Stanford Hooker is in the field, he pays close attention to color. For Hooker, being in the field means being at sea. On one such research trip to the frigid waters of the Arctic, with a Coast Guard icebreaker looming nearby and the snow-crusted ice shelf a few feet away, Hooker leaned over the edge of his small boat and lowered a tethered device into the bright turquoise water, a new product devised by a NASA partner and enabled by a promising technology for oceanographers and atmospheric scientists alike. Color is a function of light. Pure water is clear, but the variation in color observed during a visit to the beach or a flight along a coastline depends on the water s depth and the constituents in it, how far down the light penetrates and how it is absorbed and scattered by dissolved and suspended material. Hooker cares about ocean color because of what it can reveal about the health of the ocean, and in turn, the health of our planet. "The main thing we are interested in is the productivity of the water," Hooker says. The seawater contains phytoplankton, microscopic plants, which are the food base for the ocean s ecosystems. Changes in the water s properties, whether due to natural seasonal effects or human influence, can lead to problems for delicate ecosystems such as coral reefs. Ocean color can inform researchers about the quantities and distribution of phytoplankton and other materials, providing clues as to how the world ocean is changing. NASA s Coastal Zone Color Scanner, launched in 1978, was the first ocean color instrument flown on a spacecraft. Since then, the Agency s ocean color research capabilities have become increasingly sophisticated with the launch of the SeaWiFS instrument in 1997 and the twin MODIS instruments carried into orbit on NASA s Terra (1999) and Aqua (2002) satellites. The technology provides sweeping, global information on ocean color on a scale unattainable by any other means. One issue that arises from satellite observation, however, is that the instruments must be continuously calibrated over time to maintain the quality of the data they gather from orbit. To validate and calibrate the satellites, researchers must also gather data at sea level. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Climate change Ice Shelf Phytoplankton NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Arctic Hooker ENVELOPE(-62.050,-62.050,-63.283,-63.283) |
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Open Polar |
collection |
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
op_collection_id |
ftnasantrs |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Man/System Technology and Life Support |
spellingShingle |
Man/System Technology and Life Support Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change |
topic_facet |
Man/System Technology and Life Support |
description |
When NASA researcher Stanford Hooker is in the field, he pays close attention to color. For Hooker, being in the field means being at sea. On one such research trip to the frigid waters of the Arctic, with a Coast Guard icebreaker looming nearby and the snow-crusted ice shelf a few feet away, Hooker leaned over the edge of his small boat and lowered a tethered device into the bright turquoise water, a new product devised by a NASA partner and enabled by a promising technology for oceanographers and atmospheric scientists alike. Color is a function of light. Pure water is clear, but the variation in color observed during a visit to the beach or a flight along a coastline depends on the water s depth and the constituents in it, how far down the light penetrates and how it is absorbed and scattered by dissolved and suspended material. Hooker cares about ocean color because of what it can reveal about the health of the ocean, and in turn, the health of our planet. "The main thing we are interested in is the productivity of the water," Hooker says. The seawater contains phytoplankton, microscopic plants, which are the food base for the ocean s ecosystems. Changes in the water s properties, whether due to natural seasonal effects or human influence, can lead to problems for delicate ecosystems such as coral reefs. Ocean color can inform researchers about the quantities and distribution of phytoplankton and other materials, providing clues as to how the world ocean is changing. NASA s Coastal Zone Color Scanner, launched in 1978, was the first ocean color instrument flown on a spacecraft. Since then, the Agency s ocean color research capabilities have become increasingly sophisticated with the launch of the SeaWiFS instrument in 1997 and the twin MODIS instruments carried into orbit on NASA s Terra (1999) and Aqua (2002) satellites. The technology provides sweeping, global information on ocean color on a scale unattainable by any other means. One issue that arises from satellite observation, however, is that the instruments must be continuously calibrated over time to maintain the quality of the data they gather from orbit. To validate and calibrate the satellites, researchers must also gather data at sea level. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
title |
Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change |
title_short |
Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change |
title_full |
Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change |
title_fullStr |
Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change |
title_sort |
microradiometers reveal ocean health, climate change |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20130009021 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-62.050,-62.050,-63.283,-63.283) |
geographic |
Arctic Hooker |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Hooker |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Ice Shelf Phytoplankton |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Ice Shelf Phytoplankton |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20130009021 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20130009021 |
op_rights |
No Copyright |
_version_ |
1766349152412762112 |