This video provides a global tour of sea surface
salinity using measurements taken by NASA's Aquarius instrument aboard
the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft, from December 2011 through December 2012.
Red represents areas of high salinity, while blue represents areas of
low salinity. Aquarius is a focused effort to measure sea surface
salinity and will provide the global view of salinity variability needed
for climate studies. The mission is a collaboration between NASA and
the Space Agency of Argentina (Comisión Nacional de Actividades
Espaciales).
Credits: NASA/Goddard
Este vídeo ofrece un recorrido global de la superficie del mar de salinidad usando mediciones tomadas por instrumento Aquarius de la NASA a bordo de la nave espacial Aquarius / SAC-D, a partir de diciembre de 2011 hasta diciembre de 2012. El rojo representa las zonas de alta salinidad, mientras que el azul representa las zonas de baja salinidad. Acuario es un esfuerzo concentrado para medir la salinidad superficial del mar y proporcionará la visión global de la variabilidad de la salinidad necesaria para el estudio del clima. La misión es una colaboración entre la NASA y la Agencia Espacial Argentina (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales).
Artist’s rendering of the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite
as it would appear in orbit. The Aquarius mission studied the
interactions between changes in the ocean circulation, global water
cycle and climate by measuring ocean surface salinity.
Credits: NASA
Simple diagram of the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite
Credits: NASA
An international Earth-observing mission launched in 2011 to study
the salinity of the ocean surface ended June 8 when an essential part of
the power and attitude control system for the SAC-D spacecraft, which
carries NASA's Aquarius instrument, stopped operating. The Aquarius
instrument successfully achieved its science objectives and completed
its primary three-year mission in November 2014.
The Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D satellite
observatory, was an international collaboration between NASA and
Argentina’s space agency, Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales
(CONAE), with participation from Brazil, Canada, France and Italy. NASA
launched Aquarius/SAC-D from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on
June 10, 2011.
Aquarius was a pathfinder mission to demonstrate that accurate,
scientifically-significant measurements of salinity could be made from
space. It was also the first mission to combine use of passive
(radiometer) and active (radar) measurements at L-band.
The instrument’s surface salinity measurements are contributing to a
better understanding of ocean dynamics and advancing climate and ocean
models, both from season to season and year to year. These models still
are improving El Niño prediction. Aquarius global salinity maps are
revealing how freshwater plumes coming from the mouth of large rivers
and the precipitation and evaporation over the oceans affect the
salinity structure of the ocean.
“The Aquarius sensor collected three years and nine months of
valuable data,” said Aquarius principal investigator Gary Lagerloef of
Earth & Space Research, Seattle. “It was truly a pioneering effort
to determine how accurately we could measure ocean salinity from space
and for the first time study large and small-scale interactions of the
global water cycle.”
Preliminary indications are that an onboard hardware component called
a Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) shut down, which caused the loss of
onboard power regulation and spacecraft attitude stabilization.
Salinity information is critical to improving our understanding of
two major components of Earth’s climate system: the water cycle and
ocean circulation. By measuring ocean salinity from space, Aquarius
provided new insights into the massive natural exchange of freshwater
between the ocean, atmosphere and sea ice, which – in turn – influences
ocean circulation, weather and climate.
Data from Aquarius revealed how extreme floods impact our seas and
how low-salinity river plumes affect hurricane intensity. Aquarius data
also were integral to the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional
Study (SPURS), a year-long international field study of the
oceanographic processes that sustain the maximum surface salinities in
the central subtropical North Atlantic, and influence global ocean
circulation.
The Aquarius instrument was jointly built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. JPL managed Aquarius through the
mission’s commissioning phase and archives mission data. Goddard managed
the mission’s operations phase and processes Aquarius science data.
CONAE provided the SAC-D spacecraft, an optical camera, a thermal camera
in collaboration with Canada, a microwave radiometer, sensors developed
by various Argentine institutions, and the mission operations center in
Argentina. France and Italy also contributed instruments.
NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of
our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future. NASA develops
new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems
with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique
knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new
insights into how our planet is changing.
For more on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission, visit:
For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities, visit:
-end-
Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
Rani Gran
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-2483
rani.c.gran@nasa.gov
Alan Buis
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-653-8339
alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
Rani Gran
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-2483
rani.c.gran@nasa.gov
Alan Buis
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-653-8339
alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov
Last Updated: June 29, 2015
Editor: Karen Northon
Tags: Aquarius, Goddard Space Flight Center, Water
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
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