The third in a sequence of 5 polar-orbiting satellites developed by NASA and the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to review Earth’s climate and setting will launch on Tuesday (Nov. 1).
Using atop an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg House Pressure Base in California, the JPSS-2 satellite, a part of the Joint Polar Satellite tv for pc System, will blast off to offer meteorologists and climatologists necessary information to assist predict excessive climate occasions and to raised perceive how these occasions have an effect on our planet.
JPSS-2 will be part of the Suomi Nationwide Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), which launched in 2011, and NOAA-20, which launched in 2017 as JPSS-1, in polar orbit round Earth. JPSS-2 will probably be renamed NOAA-21 as soon as it’s in orbit and conducting scientific operations. Two additional launches, JPSS-3 and JPSS-4, are deliberate for 2027 and 2032, respectively.
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Of their polar orbits, the satellites circle the Earth 14 instances per day. From this vantage level, “JPSS-2 will observe each place on Earth at the very least twice a day because the satellite orbits the Earth from pole to pole,” Tim Walsh, director of NOAA’s JPSS program, mentioned throughout a information convention held on Oct. 4. “To foretell climate, we actually want to have the ability to observe Earth’s atmosphere from this world perspective.”
To perform its mission, JPSS-2 will carry 5 key devices into orbit, most of that are additionally on Suomi NPP and NOAA-20.
Two of those devices, the Superior Know-how Microwave Sounder (ATMS) and the Cross-Observe Infrared Sounder (CrIS), will monitor atmospheric temperature and moisture content material, “giving climate forecasters a world 3D image of … probably the most elementary data required by forecast fashions,” Walsh mentioned.
The 2 devices will complement one another. CrIS is restricted in how far it might see into clouds as a result of water vapor absorbs infrared gentle, however ATMS’ microwave instrument can penetrate these clouds, permitting the instrument to see into the hearts of storms.
One other instrument is named Libera, which can play the identical function that the much less superior Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Power System (CERES) instrument does on Suomi NPP and NOAA-20. These devices research the energy balance of Earth’s floor and ambiance, or how a lot vitality is absorbed by Earth’s floor and ambiance versus how a lot is emitted again into space, and the way this impacts temperatures on Earth.
The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) will observe the ozone layer, in search of holes and the way the focus of ozone and different aerosols varies globally.
Lastly, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is “primarily the eyes of the satellite,” Walsh mentioned. VIIRS will seize imagery of Earth’s floor, oceans and ambiance in seen and infrared gentle, revealing how a lot snow and ice covers the planet, how a lot of the planet is roofed by clouds (which might have an effect on the vitality stability), the place fog shrouds the skies, the colour of the ocean and the way that pertains to the abundance of microscopic phytoplankton, the well being of vegetation based mostly on the presence of chlorophyll, and the conduct of hurricanes, floods, wildfires and dust storms.Â
Specifically, the Joint Polar Satellite tv for pc System undertaking focuses on observing excessive climate occasions to know them higher. For instance, Hurricane Ian, which slammed into the Caribbean, Cuba and the southeast United States on the finish of September, initially started as a tropical atmospheric wave off the coast of West Africa.
“A storm in Africa can have an effect on the event of a hurricane that hits the East Coast ; a storm in Japan could cause heavy rain in California a number of days later,” Walsh mentioned.
This “butterfly impact” exhibits how interconnected Earth’s climate methods actually are; the Joint Polar Satellite tv for pc System undertaking’s mission is to attempt to disentangle the components that affect Earth’s climate and setting on a world scale.
Comply with Keith Cooper on Twitter @21stCenturySETI. Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
