Solar Storms Affirmative – 4 Week Lab [1/3]
Satellite Data K2 Solve Warming
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- ****I couldn’t find an actual date of publication for this report, but I clicked the copyright link at the very bottom of the page and it said 2010****
- Satellite data is “absolutely critical” to monitoring and forming models to predict climate change Vieru 10
Satellite Data K2 Solve WarmingSatellites are key to the measurement of many factors of climate change UK Space Agency 10 (“Tracking climate change,” 2010, http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency/what-we-do/earth-observation/why-is-it-useful/tracking-climate-change) ****I couldn’t find an actual date of publication for this report, but I clicked the copyright link at the very bottom of the page and it said 2010**** Below are some of the ways that satellites help us monitor weather and climate: Predicting El Nino El Nino is a naturally occurring event caused by a moderate warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean. This temperature change influences the behaviour of the atmosphere and has wide-ranging consequences for weather around the world. Effects might include vastly increased rainfall in South America, drought in Australia, fires across South East Asia, or dying coral reefs in India. The instruments on board Envisat are able to measure sea surface temperatures. The Jason satellites show the El Nino event throughout its course by giving precise, regular, global measurements of changes to the height of the sea surface and changes in ocean circulation patterns. Measuring sea level rise It is essential to monitor changes in sea level as these changes can be a result of global warming. The Jason satellites have been measuring the state of the oceans since 1992. These data form a critical input to sea level and climate change predictions. In February 2010, US and Europe confirmed plans to continue this important dataset with the Jason-3 satellite now under development and scheduled for launch in 2014. Measuring soil moisture and ocean salinity Global measurements of salinity and soil moisture will improve our understanding of how water is transported around the Earth and how it circulates through the oceans. This is a crucial component of understanding climate change since ocean circulation governs heat transport around the globe. is collecting data that complements measurements already being collected by ENVISAT. This ESA mission is measuring moisture levels in the Earth’s soils and the saltiness (salinity) of the surface waters of the world’s oceans. British scientists and engineers have been involved in the mission from the start. Mapping the carbon cycle Carbon dioxide is one of the main greenhouse gases. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere depends on human activities, such as burning fossil fuel, and the behaviour of the ocean and terrestrial biosphere. Understanding how the global carbon cycle works is essential for predicting climate change. Satellites are able to measure global mass of vegetation to help model the global carbon cycle. Plants are an important part of the carbon cycle because, during photosynthesis, plants convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. The carbon they absorb helps make up its roots, wood and leaves. Some of this carbon is then lost - either when the leaves drop or when the plant dies - and becomes soil carbon. Microbes within the soil breakdown this carbon and release it back to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Monitoring atmospheric gases Clouds are an important feature of our climate. All clouds reflect incoming energy from the sun back into space. However, low clouds also reflect the heat emitted by the Earth back downwards, providing a 'blanket' for the planet. The amount and distribution of clouds therefore determine how much total energy is absorbed by the Earth's surface. Clouds also provide a direct energy source to the atmosphere, as energy is released when water vapour condenses to form clouds. Because of this, clouds have a significant influence on the global atmospheric circulation. Satellites are able to measure cloud properties and positions to help unravel their contribution to climate change. Sea surface temperature Sea surface temperate data helps scientists understand temperature changes and the speed at which oceans can transport heat. In the past, sea surface temperature data came from fixed observations made by ships and buoys. This meant that any data collected only covered small areas. Satellite technology enables us to get extremely accurate global measurements. The Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) on board the ENVISAT satellite can provide the accurate global sea surface temperature data needed. The UK led the development of the sensors and continues to exploit the data coming back from them. Thanks to Envisat's predecessors, ERS-1 and 2, scientists now have a global sea surface temperature data archive covering 15 years. Satellite data is “absolutely critical” to monitoring and forming models to predict climate change Vieru 10 (Tudor, writer for Softpedia, “Satellite Data Critical for Modeling Climate Change,” December 20, 2010, http://news.softpedia.com/news/Satellite-Data-Critical-for-Modeling-Climate-Change-173708.shtml) Given the large-scale variability of global warming and climate change, understanding these phenomena is not easy without comprehensive computer models, that include a vast amount of data. Satellite data are absolutely critical to this scientific endeavor, experts argue. The 2010 UN Climate Summit, which was held in Cancun, Mexico, officials from 193 countries around the world met up to discuss issues related to how to mitigate the effects of global warming. Analysts agree that the conference in itself was a failure, similar to last year's one. Even if Cancun delegates did sign an greenhouse gas emissions reduction agreement, the document still sets the world on a path that will see it warming by no less than 3.2 degrees Celsius. The general consensus is that a temperature rise exceeding 2 degrees Celsius will move the planet beyond a tipping point, making mitigation of global warming side-effects impossible. At the Cancun meeting, the role that satellites operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) in providing data for climate models has been underlined again. This happened at a side event focused on the agency's Climate Change Initiative (CCI). What ESA is most interested in are robust long-term global records of essential climate variables, which can then be correlated with each other to produce viable long-term climate models. “Monitoring sea-level rise from space using altimeter satellites is very important; we know that sea level is currently rising in response to global warming, and that the rate is accelerating,” said Dr Anny Cazenave. “Sea level will continue to rise in the future. But how much? We don't know,” added Cazenave, who is a senior scientist at Laboratoire d'Etudes en Geophysique et Oceanographie Spatiale, in France. “Climate model projections are still very uncertain, mostly because the future behavior of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets is unknown,” she went on to say, quoted by SpaceRef. “The ESA Sea Level CCI project will contribute to constraining climate models used for sea-level projections, to quantify current acceleration rates and, eventually, to detect the anthropogenic warming signature,” the expert argued. Data obtained through the CCI are sent to the Global Climate Observing System, which is one of the main tools used by the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) of the United Nations in constructing its reports. “ESA is now working with key climate modeling centers in Europe to bring together the satellite and climate modeling communities to realie the full benefits of satellite data for improving climate predictions,” said Roger Saunders. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 0.93 Mb. Share with your friends:
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