First Images From NASA's "Thermometer in the Sky" Sizzle
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August 6, 2002
The old adage that everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it, may soon fall by the wayside thanks to the quality of data from NASA's new "thermometer in the sky" - a suite of three advanced weather instruments aboard the Aqua spacecraft. First images from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder spectrometer and its two companion instruments--the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil--are exceeding the expectations of the world meteorological community. The results, project scientists say, will be substantially increased accuracy of short-term weather predictions, improved tracking of severe weather events like hurricanes and advances in climate research. "The three sounding instruments of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder system will comprehensively capture a continuous, detailed picture of Earth's atmosphere for use in global weather prediction and climate studies," said Dr. Moustafa Chahine, science-team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., which manages the experiment. "The instruments are in excellent health and are ready to serve NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, and the broader climate research community." The three sounding instruments, with visible, infrared and microwave detectors, provide a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather. Working in tandem, the three instruments can make simultaneous observations from space all the way to the Earth's surface, even in the presence of heavy clouds. With more than 2,400 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, 3-D map of atmospheric temperature and humidity and provides information on clouds, greenhouse gases and many other atmospheric phenomena. Chahine said the key to increasing the useful range of weather forecasts from the current two-to-three days to five days is to observe today's weather with much higher accuracy. "The accuracy of computer models is dependant upon the quality of today's weather information," he said. "Our experiment will effectively multiply our existing global armada of 4,000 weather balloons by 100, giving us global coverage over land and sea from space with the same data quality as ground-launched balloons. This additional data will dramatically reduce errors that have traditionally limited the range of current weather forecast models." Claire Parkinson, Aqua project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., said the impact on world commerce from improved weather and climate prediction may be enormous. "From the data measured by these three instruments, we can better understand the global water cycle and its implications for managing fresh water resources," she said. "Improved temperature predictions will help commerce move merchandise and fuel where needed to meet cold- or warm-weather demands. Other industries that are strongly dependent on weather will also benefit, including aviation, transportation and agriculture." The experiment recently completed calibration and is now transmitting continuous, uninterrupted data to the project science team and NOAA. Instrument validation will continue through next June, as NOAA evaluates the new data set, learns how to integrate it and gains confidence in its accuracy. Following instrument validation, the data will be integrated into existing weather prediction models by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction and six of the world's leading weather-prediction centers. The data will also be distributed to the World Meteorological Organization in Switzerland, where it will be made available to 105 countries. Aqua's planned six-year mission will collect data from the six instruments aboard on global temperature variations, the cycling of water, global precipitation, evaporation, changes in ocean circulation and how clouds and surface-water processes affect climate. The information will help scientists better understand how global ecosystems change and how they respond to and affect global environmental change. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. ### Contact: JPL/Alan Buis (818) 354-0474
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These images, taken over northern Europe on July 20, 2002, depict a few of the different views of Earth and its atmosphere that are produced by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder experiment system operating on NASA's Aqua spacecraft.
This image is from an infrared channel from the AIRS instrument that measures the surface temperature in clear areas and cloud top temperatures in cloudy areas. The image reveals very warm conditions in France and a storm off the east coast of the United Kingdom.
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This image represents a microwave channel from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unite instrument that sees through most clouds and observes surface conditions everywhere.
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This image is a microwave channel from the Humidity Sounder for Brazil instrument that is very sensitive to humidity and does not see the surface at all, but instead reveals the structure of moisture streams in the troposphere.
High-Res Version 784 K JPEG The infrared and microwave data from the AIRS experiment are integrated to retrieve a single set of temperature, moisture, and cloud values. These three channels represent only a small portion of the 2,400-channel multispectral experiment, whose primary objectives are to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and to study climate change.
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The AIRS experiment system also takes pictures of the Earth at four visible and near-infrared wavelengths that can be combined into a color picture like this image. This image shows a swirling low-pressure system over England, clear skies over much of France, and frontal systems in the North Atlantic. Because AIRS is sensitive to different wavelengths than your eye, the colors shown are different from what you would see. For example, plants appear very red to AIRS. There are also subtle color differences in the clouds that relate to their altitude and thickness (compare the white clouds over England with the slightly grey-green ones near Iceland). These images are used in conjunction with other AIRS, AMSU, and HSB measurements to get a full 3-D view of the atmosphere. The images may be found at 
