# Presentation: 135737

## Status of Aqua

- Claire L. Parkinson
- Aqua Project Scientist
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

- Presentation at the AIRS Science Team Meeting,
- Greenbelt, MD, October 14, 2008

## Aqua Hardware Status

- Spacecraft: Excellent condition, although Partition 6 of the Solid State Recorder requires a reconfiguration eventually.
- AIRS: Excellent condition, performing superbly.
- AMSU-A: Still functioning well except for degradation in channels 4, 5, and 7.
- HSB: Inoperative (8-9 months of good data; survival mode since 2/5/03).
- AMSR-E: Excellent condition except for the 89 GHz channel using the A feedhorn and worrisome increases in the Antenna Drive Electronics motor current and torque and the Antenna Drive Assembly temperature.
- CERES (two sensors): FM3 is in excellent condition; the shortwave channel of FM4 failed as of 3/30/05.
- MODIS: Excellent condition except for band 6 (most band 6 detectors are non-functional).

## AMSR-E Antenna Drive Electronics (ADE) Motor Current and Torque Progression

- Time: Launch (May 4, 2002) through September 2008

- AMSR-E ADE Torque (Nm)

## Revised Aqua Lifetime Estimate

- The Flight Dynamics Team has updated their estimates of expected fuel usage through 2017.
- Result: Aqua appears to have enough fuel to last at least through 2016 and perhaps through 2020, still with fuel available for the necessary end-of-mission maneuvers.

**Ascent Maneuvers**

**Inclination Adjust Maneuvers**

## A-Train Status

- Successful CloudSat maneuver on 10/2/08 leaves CloudSat 124.1 km (16.54 seconds) ahead of CALIPSO and approaching CALIPSO at about 1.1 km/day (0.15 seconds/day).
- Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) scheduled to launch 1/15/09, to be positioned in front of Aqua.
- Glory scheduled to launch 6/15/09, to be positioned between PARASOL and Aura.
- Some possibility that the Japanese Global Change Observation Mission – Water (GCOM-W) will join the A-Train in 2013 or later.

## Next 7 Slides: A Selection of Science Results from Aqua’s Other (non-AIRS) Science Teams 

## Sample MODIS and AMSR-E Snow Products(intra-Aqua comparisons)

- Sample MODIS and AMSR-E Snow Products(intra-Aqua comparisons)

- Percent snow cover

- MODIS 8-day composite 5-km resolution snow map, February 24 – March 2, 2004

- Sample wintertime AMSR-E snow water equivalent (SWE) map

- Images from Dorothy Hall and Jim Foster

## Blended AMSR-E/MODIS Snow Product

- Air Force – NASA Snow Algorithm (ANSA) blended product
- High-resolution MODIS data
- All-weather AMSR-E data
- Improved snow water equivalent (SWE) and snow extent products

- Sample blended SWE image for 2/25/08 (from Jim Foster and Dorothy Hall)

- Sample validation results for snow extent from eastern Turkey (from Zuhal Akyurek and Dorothy Hall)

- Blue & red bars: % agreement with ground data
- Green bar: % additional information

## MODIS Cloud Cover, Aqua vs. Terra

- MODIS Aqua minus Terra monthly mean daytime cloud fraction averaged over the 5-year period August 2002 – July 2007 (from Steve Ackerman et al., *J. Atmos. Oceanic Technology*, 2008)

## Antarctic Sea Ice from Two AMSR-E Algorithms and one SSMI Algorithm

** **Average ice concentrations

- Av. Ice Concentration (%)

- - - - - NT2
- —— ABA

- Sample  ABA and NT2 sea ice concentrations

- Time series of ice extents and ice areas

| Algorithm | Ice Extent Trend |
| --- | --- |
|        ABA | - 65,000  46,000 km2/yr |
|        SBA | - 68,000  46,000 km2/yr |
|        NT2 | - 67,000  45,000 km2/yr |

| Algorithm | Ice Area Trend |
| --- | --- |
|        ABA | - 78,000  41,000 km2/yr |
|        SBA | - 75,000  41,000 km2/yr |
|        NT2 | - 86,000  42,000 km2/yr |

- Table.  Anomaly Trends, 7/02 - 12/06

- Illustrations from Parkinson and Comiso (2008, *JGR*)

- _Algorithms:_
- ABA – AMSR-E bootstrap
- SBA – SSMI bootstrap
- NT2 – AMSR-E NASA team

## Comparison of Climate Feedbacks from Models versus  AMSR-E and CERES Data

- From Roy Spencer and William Braswell (2008, submitted)

- Note: Great match between satellite and model results for the LW feedback, but not for the SW feedback.
- Key message: The models are not properly simulating the SW feedback.

## Sample Aqua Data Intercomparison for Climate Studies: CERES Shortwave TOA Flux versus MODIS Cloud Fraction 

- From Norman Loeb and Bruce Wielicki, CERES Science Team

- TOA = Top of Atmosphere

## Sample A-Train Data Fusion Efforts

- Cloud layers

- Aerosol layers

- Eventually will include:
- (1) cloud overlap profiles from CALIPSO and CloudSat,
- (2) Cloud and aerosol properties from CALIPSO, CloudSat, and MODIS,
- (3) TOA radiative fluxes from CERES.
- Goal: Improved radiative flux profiles.

- CALIPSO-derived cloud and aerosol mask

- From Norman Loeb and Bruce Wielicki, CERES Science Team

## July 2003 Mid-Tropospheric CO2 from AIRS

- From Mous Chahine et al. (2008, *GRL*)

## Upcoming Reviews

- Aqua End-of-Prime-Mission (EOPM) Review.
- Scheduled for December 2-3, 2008.
- Focused on lessons learned and how NASA can improve future missions.
- Sample topics to include:
- Instrument performance
- Performance versus expectations
- Data handling
- Data flow to users
- Cal/val, including an accounting of where the data products are with respect to validation
- An accounting of any research products that have essentially become standard products
- Interactions (among Aqua teams, with the rest of the A-Train, between centers, agencies, and countries)
- Possible improvements in the management of the mission or the science
- 2009 Senior Review
- Suggested revised scope being considered by HQ
- Perhaps less all-encompassing than the 2007 Senior Review
- Perhaps more oriented to science, data, and mission ops.
- Do the data products address NASA objectives?
- Are the products produced efficiently?
- Are the products being used and by whom?
- Expect the call for proposals in December 2008.
- Proposals due in March 2009.
- Review panel to meet in late April 2009.
- Expect 3 review panels, for science, EPO, and Core mission.

## Aqua Products Supporting Weather Forecasting

- NOAA NCEP, ECMWF, and the UK Met Office use AIRS/AMSU temperature and radiance data.
- The National Hurricane Center uses AMSR-E rainfall and brightness temperatures.
- The U.S. Navy, UK Met Office, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and the Japan Fisheries Information Service Center use AMSR-E SSTs.
- The Japan Meteorological Agency uses AMSR-E water vapor and precipitation data.
- At least 10 numerical weather prediction centers use MODIS polar winds.

- AMSR-E SSTs (Dec. 2003)

- Impact of MODIS polar winds on weather forecasts

- AIRS radiance spectra

- AIRS/AMSU sfc air temps (Jan. 2003)

## Aqua Products Supporting Other Applications

- Oregon Fires, 8/12/02, from MODIS

- Dust storm in Iraq, 8/7/05, from MODIS

- Volcanic SO2 plume, 10/28/02, from AIRS

- MODIS contrail detection reveals flight patterns of aircraft over Iraq

## Visibility of Aqua Results

- Number of users of Aqua data, by year and domain