08 December 2004
U.S. Satellite Completes Three-Year Mission
Jason satellite measuring ocean surface height since 2001
A U.S. satellite named Jason completes a three-year mission this month to measure the surface height of the world's oceans, according to a December 7 press release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
In 2001, Jason took over a mission begun in 1992 by the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite mission, which had pushed science's understanding of ocean circulation and global climate to new levels. When Jason took flight, JPL was able to operate the two craft on complementary paths, allowing the first cross-calibration and verification of the data streams being delivered independently by the satellites.
The two craft have provided 13 years of new data about Earth's oceans.
Further information about Jason's mission is available at http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/jason-1.html
The text of the JPL press release follows:
(begin text)
NASA
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
California Institute of Technology
Ocean Surface Topography from Space
[Pasadena, California]
Primary Mission Achieved: Jason launch 3rd anniversary, December 7, 2004
This month the Jason mission satellite completes its primary three-year mission to measure the surface height of the worlds' oceans. Launched in December 2001, Jason now begins an extended mission to continue collecting detailed sea-surface topography data.
Jason is the successful follow-on to the pioneering TOPEX/POSEIDON mission, which revolutionized our understanding of the dynamics of ocean circulation and global climate. The sea-surface height measurements begun by TOPEX/POSEIDON in 1992 and now carried on by Jason provide an unprecedented 13-year-long record of consistent, continuous global observations of Earth's oceans. An early calibration phase of the mission allowed TOPEX/POSEIDON and Jason to fly over identical ground tracks. For the first time, two radar systems fly simultaneously over the same location, providing a unique opportunity to cross calibrate the spacecraft instruments to remove systematic errors. The resulting data stream provides seamless coverage between the two missions. This coverage allows scientists to observe and study both short-lived events such as hurricanes and long-term climate phenomena such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. It also provides the capability to monitor global mean sea level, an indicator of global temperature change. This calibration experiment provides the first demonstration of how overlapping missions enable a long-term consistent data record.
Jason and its predecessor, TOPEX/POSEIDON, now fly in tandem, collecting even more detailed information about Earth's oceans. "This novel satellite configuration with two simultaneous parallel measurements of sea height provides a unique opportunity for scientists and operational users to move beyond global-scale climate studies to small-scale ocean currents and their "practical uses" in marine transportation, safety, and weather forecasting," says Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu, Jason and TOPEX/POSEIDON project scientist.
A follow-on mission to Jason, called the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), is in development to continue the legacy begun by TOPEX/POSEIDON. "The extended mission of Jason is expected to last to overlap with OSTM in 2008 and to provide a cross-calibration opportunity similar to the one with TOPEX/POSEIDON," says Dr. Fu.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=December&x=20041208115141cmretrop0.9145672&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
