Jun 15 1974
From The Space Library
15 June-23 September: The Global Atmospheric Research Program's At-lantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) was conducted over a 51-million-sq km area of tropical land and sea to collect data on the behavior of the tropical atmosphere and its ultimate effects on global weather. Spon-sored by the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization, more than 4000 scientists, technicians, and support personnel from 72 coun-tries-including the U.S., Brazil, France, East and West Germany, Mexico, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and U.S.S.R.-used 38 ships, 65 instrumented buoys, 13 aircraft, 6 kinds of satellites, and nearly 1000 land stations to observe and record phenomena from the top of the atmosphere to 1500 m below the sea surface. Objectives of GATE were to extend the time range and scope of weather predictions, develop means to assess pollution, determine feasibility of large-scale weather modification, and establish new bonds of international cooperation.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration coordinated U.S. participation, which included NASA, Dept of Defense, Dept of State, Dept of Transportation, National Academy of Sciences, National Science Foundation, and National Center for Atmospheric Research, as well as the private sector of the scientific community.
Instrumented aircraft, including NASA's Convair 990, flew at altitudes between 90 and 9150 m to probe the cores of tropical cloud clusters and investigate the intertropical convergence zone, ocean waves and surface temperatures, radiation, tropical disturbances and dust layers moving off the African continent, and day-night weather changes in the coastal areas. Ships from 10 countries, including NASA's Vanguard tracking ship and eight other U.S. vessels, investigated tropical cumulus cloud clusters, uppermost layers of ocean affected by local atmospheric conditions, and the broad systems of ocean currents near the equator. Satellites-including Sms 1, Ats 3, Noaa 2 and 3, Nimbus 5, and DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellites from the U.S. and polar orbiting Meteor-class satellites from the U.S.S.R.-furnished day and night information on cloudtop heights and temperatures, cloud liquid-water content, wind speed and direction, temperature and moisture in the atmosphere, and sea surface temperatures. Land stations provided surface and upper-air data; instrumented buoys collected data from the sea surface to 10-m altitude.
Each nation contributing vehicles would process and validate the collected data. By March 1976 all data would be sent to two World Data Centers, operated by the U.S. and U.S.S.R., where they would become available to scientists. (NOAA, GATE News Press Kit, 9 May 74; GATE Release NI 74 45; FBIS-Poland, 25 June 74, G6; NOAA Release 74-154)
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