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Featured Content
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Data-Browsing Made Easy: NASA WorldviewLearn how NASA is allowing users around the world to interactively view images created from Earth observations in the May-June 2015 issue of The Earth Observer. Using the Worldview interface, you can access visualizations of data within four hours of when the data were collected—an invaluable tool for land managers, forecasters, or anyone needing near-real-time data to manage ongoing natural events. |
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Preliminary Results Revealed!The March-April 2015 issue of The Earth Observer reveals preliminary results from the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) field campaign, held between October 2013 and October 2014 to validate data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. |
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15 Things Terra has Taught UsFor more than 15 years, NASA’s Terra spacecraft has enabled new discoveries in Earth System Science. In the January-February issue of The Earth Observer, we provide a sense of what Terra has provided us, and explore 15 findings—on an instrument-by-instrument basis—that are interesting and useful in their own right, and that serve as examples of what Terra has accomplished and will continue to accomplish for years to come! |
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iBooks Now Available!Several of our communication publications are now available for download as iBooks. Complete with bold rich colors, interactive content, and other multimedia enhancements, the collection includes the Understanding Earth series of science story booklets (The Icy Arctic, Biodiversity, Biomass Burning, and The Journey of Dust), as well as five in-depth brochures about recently launched Earth-observing missions (Aquarius, OCO-2, ISS-RapidScat, CATS, and SMAP). New iBooks will continue to be added as they become available. Download free copies here. |
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Aura Celebrates Ten Years in OrbitJust over ten years ago, the NASA launch and science teams assembled at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for the Aura launch. After two delays due to minor problems, on July 15, 2004, shortly after 3:00 AM PDT the Delta II rocket lifted off, carrying the spacecraft toward a polar, sun-synchronous orbit. Still in orbit today, Aura has well exceeded its five-year mission lifetime. The stand-alone feature in the November-December issue of The Earth Observer provides an overview of Aura results over the 10 years since its launch, and acknowledges the work of more than 200 researchers. |
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CATS: Measuring Clouds and Aerosols from the ISSLaunched January 10, 2015, NASA's Clouds and Aerosol Transport System (CATS) mission provides vertical profiles of cloud and aerosol properties at three wavelengths (1064, 532, and 355 nanometers) from its mounting location onboard the International Space Station. The mission seeks to build on the CALIPSO data record, provide observational lidar data to improve research and operational modeling programs, and demonstrate new lidar retrievals of clouds and aerosols from space. These technologies and the science gained from the CATS mission will be used to design future missions that will study clouds and aerosols and their affects on Earth’s climate and air quality for years to come. |
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Stops by the HyperwallThe Earth Observing System (EOS) Science Program Support Office (SPSO) organized and coordinated NASA’s Hyperwall presence at Our Ocean Conference 2014, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The meeting took place at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC, June 16-17, 2014. Several senior-level managers from NASA Headquarters and Goddard Space Flight Center used the Hyperwall to deliver presentations highlighting NASA’s role in studying Earth’s ocean from space. On day two of the meeting, John Kerry and environmental activist and American actor and film producer Leonardo DiCaprio visited the Hyperwall. To learn more and to view photos from the event, check out the September-October issue of The Earth Observer newsletter. |
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ISS-RapidScat Mission BrochureNASA’s International Space Station Rapid Scatterometer, or ISS-RapidScat, is the first scientific instrument specifically created to observe winds from the space station. Successfully launched on September 21, 2014, the experimental mission (described in this brochure) will measure ocean-surface wind speeds and directions, providing data that are needed to support weather and marine forecasting—including tracking storms and hurricanes—and climate research. The space station’s unique orbit will allow ISS-RapidScat to make the first direct observations of how ocean winds vary over the course of the day. |
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Integrating Carbon From the Ground Up: TCCON Turns TenIn May 2004 a new approach for studying greenhouse gases in our atmosphere came from an unlikely source: a lone trailer in Park Falls, WI. Now a decade later, TCCON has expanded and provides important information about regional and global atmospheric levels of carbon-containing gases from many stations worldwide. |
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Dark Data Rescue: Shedding New Light on Old PhotonsThis article, from the May-June issue of The Earth Observer newsletter, recounts a fascinating effort to coax life—and science—out of data that were collected during the 1960s (from Nimbus 1, 2, and 3). |