Jan 30 2003
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(New page: Israeli scientists announced that, while traveling aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, astronaut Ilan Ramon had successfully captured images of smoke from a burning rain forest, a d...)
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Israeli scientists announced that, while traveling aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, astronaut Ilan Ramon had successfully captured images of smoke from a burning rain forest, a dust storm above the Mediterranean Ocean, and a small dust plume off the African coast over the Atlantic Ocean. Operating a twin-camera multispectral instrument in Columbia's payload bay, Ramon had scanned dust and other aerosol particles, which storms had blown from deserts and high winds had carried across the globe. The instrument had also operated during the night, capturing images of the tops of thousands of thunderstorms. The team of scientists from Tel Aviv University's Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX) intended to use the images to develop a better understanding of climate change, one of the goals of Columbia's research flight, which had encountered two years of delays. Joachim Joseph, a principal researcher on the project, remarked that the experiment had gathered “very good data, very unique data.” The purpose of the US$2 million experiment was to “provide a better understanding of how migrating dust plumes affect climate.” 363" "363 NASA, “Shuttle's Desert Dust Experiment Delivers,” news release N03-010, 29 January 2003, ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/2003/n03-010.txt (accessed 9 July 2003); Associated Press, “Astronaut Photographs Dust Storm,” 31 January 2003; Warren E. Leary, “ Space Shuttle Crew Completes Israeli Dust and Cloud Studies,” New York Times, 31 January 2003.
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