Earth
Our planet is changing, and NASA is on it. Administrator Bolden declared 2014 the year of Earth because for the first time in more than a decade, five NASA Earth Science missions were scheduled to be launched into space within a one year period. Together with NASA's existing fleet of satellites, airborne missions, and researchers, these new missions will help answer some of the critical challenges facing our planet today and in the future: climate change, sea level rise, freshwater resources, and extreme weather events.
An extra-tropical cyclone seen off the coast of Japan, March 10, 2014, by the GPM Microwave Imager.
Image Credit: NASA/JAXA
Launched on Feb. 27, Global Precipitation Measurement mission is setting a new standard for precipitation measurements from space. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite launched July 2 is NASA’s first spacecraft dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide. NASA’s International Space Station-Rapid Scatterometer (ISS-RapidScat) was launched to the space station Sept. 21 on a SpaceX resupply flight. ISS-RapidScat monitors ocean winds and is the first NASA instrument to use the ISS for full-fledged Earth science research. The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) instrument also is heading to the space station. It is set to launch on a SpaceX cargo flight targeted for Jan. 6, 2015. Once installed on the outside of the station, CATS will study the distribution of aerosols -- the tiny particles that make up haze, dust, air pollutants, and smoke – in Earth’s atmosphere. The last of these five new Earth science missions is the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), which is targeted to launch Jan. 29, 2015. SMAP will map Earth's soil moisture and provide precise indications of the soil's freeze-thaw state to improve understanding of the cycling of water, energy, and carbon. It also will air aid in predictions of agricultural productivity, weather and climate.
NASA research in 2014 showed new changes our planet is undergoing. A new study published in May by researchers at NASA and the University of California, Irvine, found a rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in an irreversible state of decline, with nothing to stop the glaciers in this area from melting into the sea. Another study announced in July by NASA and the University of California, Irvine, found more than 75 percent of the water loss in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin since late 2004 came from underground resources. The extent of groundwater loss may pose a greater threat to the water supply of the western United States than previously thought. NASA research published in August shows Earth's atmosphere contains an unexpectedly large amount of an ozone-depleting compound from an unknown source decades after the compound was banned worldwide.
Glaciers and mountains in the evening sun are seen on an Operation IceBridge research flight, returning from West Antarctica on
Image Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger
