Jun 21 2001
From The Space Library
NASA released new images gathered by the Terra satellite’s instruments~ Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES)~ which revealed shrinking glaciers, as well as the most accurate global radiation measurements ever captured. Launched in December 1999, Terra monitored most of the world’s major glaciers. The CERES instruments had captured the high-resolution images from 440 miles (708 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. Initial analysis of the new data had revealed that most glaciers had shrunk considerably since previously measured. For example, the glaciers in the mountains of Patagonia had receded about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) over the course of 13 years. CERES had also provided the first complete year of radiation readings since 1987, capturing readings from the May 2001 heat wave, which had produced record temperatures in the United States. (NASA, “NASA’s Terra Satellite Captures a World of Sunlight and Heat,” news release 01-123, 21 June 2001; Kenneth Chang, “Spacecraft’s Supercamera Captures Earth in All Its Detail,” New York Times, 19 June 2001.)
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