# Presentation: 140180

## Our Home Planet as Viewed from the Aqua Satellite

- Presentation April 26, 2007 at the NASA GSFC Earth Day celebrations

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

## Photograph by Apollo 17 astronauts, December 1972

## Water in the Earth Environment

## The Aqua Spacecraft

- May 4, 2002 launch

## Aqua’s Orbit

- (animation by Jesse Allen)

## Earth-Observing Instruments on Aqua

- Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)
- Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU)
- Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB)
- Moderate Resolution                                         Imaging Spectro-                                                     radiometer (MODIS)
- Clouds and the Earth’s                                      Radiant Energy System                                      (CERES; two                                                      instruments)
- Advanced Microwave                                             Scanning Radiometer                                                for the Earth Observing                                              System (AMSR-E)

## Methods of Sending the Aqua Data to the Ground

- Direct playback from the solid state recorder (SSR), while in view of one of the EOS Polar Ground Stations.
- Direct broadcast, to anyone with a receiving system.

**Direct Playback (150 Mbps) or**
**Direct Broadcast (10 Mbps)**

**X-band Direct Broadcast (10 Mbps)**

**Polar Ground**
**Station**

## Hurricane Isabel, September 2003

- Image from the Aqua MODIS, 9/14/2003.

- Baltimore aftermath, 9/19/03 (photo by P. Hawkes).

## Fires in Oregon, August 12, 2002  

- Image from the Aqua MODIS.

## Dust Storm over the Eastern Mediterranean, October 19, 2002

- Syria

- Jordan

- Image from the Aqua MODIS.

## MODIS Imagery Captures a Dust Storm Overriding Baghdad, August 2005 

- Syria

- Saudi Arabia

- Iraq

- Iran

- Courtesy of the MODIS Science Team.

## Changes in the Aral Sea

- August 12,  2003,
- from the Aqua MODIS

- July - September 1989, from Landsat

## Aqua MODIS Images of Sea Ice and Iceberg B15A off the Coast of Antarctica

- January 16, 2003

- January 30, 2005

## Aqua MODIS View of the Greenland Ice Sheet, July 13, 2002

## Electro-magnetic Spectrum

-     **Wavelength** (short to long)

-     **Radiation Type**

-     **Frequency** (high to low)

-    Aqua measure-ment ranges

-    **CERES**

-    **MODIS**

-    **AIRS**

-    **HSB**

-    **AMSU A**

-    **AMSR-E**

## Outgoing Shortwave and Longwave Radiation, June 22, 2002,  from the Aqua CERES

- (images courtesy of the CERES Science Team)

- 256

- 128

- 0

- Reflected shortwave radiation (W/m2)

- 150

- 250

- 350

- Outgoing longwave radiation (W/m2)

## Sample Infrared Data at One Location and One Time, from the Aqua AIRS

- Data from all 2378 AIRS infrared channels for one footprint off the west coast of South Africa, June 13, 2002, 1:30 UTC.

- (spectrum courtesy of M. Chahine and the AIRS Science Team)

- 500                            1000                           1500                            2000                            2500         wavenumber (cm-1)
-  20                               10                               6.7                                5                                  4           wavelength (m)

## AIRS Mid-Tropospheric (8 km) CO2 July 2003

- (image courtesy of M. Chahine)

**Concentration (ppm)**

**364                 370                376                382**

## Northern Hemisphere Total Ozone Amounts, December 25, 2002 - January 1, 2003, from AIRS/AMSU and TOMS Data 

- (animations courtesy of Stephanie Granger and  the AIRS Science Team)

- Ozone (in Dobson Units) from
- Aqua’s AIRS/AMSU

- Ozone (in Dobson Units) from the Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)

## AIRS Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Methane (CH4)

- Carbon Monoxide,
- 8/11/2005

- Methane Volume Mixing Ratio at 210 mb, 8/8/2005

- Dobson Units

- 3.5
- 3.0
- 2.5
- 2.0
- 1.5
- 1.0

- 1.85
- 1.80
- 1.75
- 1.70
- 1.65
- 1.60

- (images courtesy of the AIRS Science Team)

## Mt. Etna Eruption as Seen in Aqua Imagery, October 28, 2002

- Visible/Near IR image

- (images courtesy of M. Chahine and  the AIRS Science Team)

- IR difference image highlighting SO2

## Water Vapor, January and July 2003, from the Aqua AIRS and AMSU

- (images courtesy of C. Thompson and E. Olsen)

- January 2003

- July 2003

## Surface Air Temperatures, January and July 2003, from the Aqua AIRS 

- January 2003

- July 2003

- (images from C. Thompson and E. Olsen)

## Enhanced Vegetation Index from the Aqua MODIS December 19, 2003 - January 4, 2004 

- (image courtesy of the University of Arizona and the MODIS Science Team)

## Ocean Chlorophyll Concentrations for Autumn 2005

- from Aqua MODIS Data

- (image courtesy of the NASA/Goddard Ocean Color Processing Group)

## Phytoplankton Bloom north of Norway, as seen in Aqua Imagery, July 19, 2003 

- (image courtesy of the MODIS Science Team)

## Sea Surface Temperatures, December 2003, from the Aqua MODIS and AMSR-E

- From AMSR-E

- From MODIS

## Sea Surface Temperatures, June 2002 - May 2003, from AMSR-E Data

- (animation courtesy of JAXA)

## Hurricane Katrina

- (visualization by the NASA GSFC SVS)

- GOES clouds, AMSR-E SSTs, MODIS land, August 27, 2005

- AMSR-E SSTs, depicting the Katrina cold wake, August 30, 2005

## Typhoon in the East China Sea, July 4, 2002, from the Aqua AMSR-E

- (image courtesy of JAXA)

- AMSR-E image, 2:26 a.m. Japan Standard Time (JST).

- Philippines

- Japan

## Hurricane Frances, September 1, 200489 GHz Data from the Aqua AMSR-E

- (image from the NOAA/NASA Near Real Time Processing Effort)

## Global Sea Ice Coverage, June 2-4, 2002 (top) and July 21-22, 2002 (bottom), from Aqua’s AMSR-E 

- (images courtesy of JAXA)

## Sample Aqua Validation Activities

## The A-Train Constellation of Satellites

- (animation by Jesse Allen)

## Photograph by Apollo 17 astronauts, December 1972