Jul 9 2002
From The Space Library
NASA announced the selection of two proposals for space missions for its Earth System Science Pathfinder small-satellite program, developed to research Earth's carbon cycle and the relationship of climate change and oceans. Specifically, the selected proposals would support the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), which would provide global measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the Aquarius mission, which would map salt concentrations on oceans' surfaces to learn how they affect ocean circulation and global heat redistribution. NASA planned to provide up to US$175 million for each of the two proposals selected for the program. NASA appointed David Crisp of JPL as Principal Investigator for the OCO mission and Chester J. “Chet” Koblinsky of GSFC as Principal Investigator for the Aquarius mission. NASA had numerous university, corporate, and international collaborators for both missions, including the Argentine Space Program, a significant partner in the Aquarius mission. (NASA, “Pathfinder Missions To Enhance Our Understanding of Earth,” news release 02-121, 9 July 2002.)
ESA reported research indicating that the universe might be older than scientists had previously estimated and that a common method of estimating the age of celestial bodies might be incorrect. A group of scientists had analyzed the XMM-Newton satellite's x-ray observations of the distant but exceptionally luminous quasar APM 08279+5255 and found that the quasar contains three times more iron than the Sun. Because exploding stars release iron, which increases across the universe over time, the scientists had expected APM 08279+5255 to have less iron than Earth's relatively older solar system. The scientists noted that the surprising quantity of iron in the distant quasar could be the result of an unknown phenomenon that produces iron very efficiently. However, they suggested that the more likely explanation for the finding was that the conventional method of measuring the age of celestial objects by estimating the objects' redshift~ a property of the light emitted by such objects~ was flawed. (ESA, “Is the Universe Older Than Expected?” ESA news release, 10 July 2002; Günther Hasinger, Norbert Schartel, and Stefanie Komossa, “Discovery of an Ionized Fe K Edge in the z=3.91 Broad Absorption Line Quasar APM 08279+5255 with XMM-Newton,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 573, no. 2 (10 July 2002): L77-L80.)
Data from NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) satellite provided support for a decades-old, unproven theory that winds converge in two large areas near Earth's equator, driving ocean circulation south of the equator. The two areas, known as the northern and southern portions of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, are part of a belt circling Earth near the equator, where trade winds of both the northern and southern hemispheres converge. The region affects north-south atmospheric circulation, significantly influencing precipitation and temperatures in many regions of the globe. Previously, researchers had identified the double Intertropical Convergence Zone as a limited seasonal phenomenon. However, since 1969 the zone's existence, location, and seasonality had remained controversial. The QuikSCAT data confirmed, not only that the double Intertropical Convergence Zone exists all year long, but also that it is more extensive than scientists had suspected. The finding provided important information about how Earth's atmosphere and oceans interact near the equator, data that could assist scientists in climate modeling and weather forecasting. (NASA JPL, “Satellite Sees Double Zone of Converging Tropical Winds Around the World,” news release, 9 July 2002; W. T. Liu and X. Xie, “Double Intertropical Convergence Zones~A New Look Using Scatterometer,” Geophysical Research Letters 29, no. 22 (30 November 2002): 2072.)
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