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Terra Spacecraft Open for Business
First release of Terra data images announced by NASA
After a picture-perfect launch into space last December, NASA's premier Earth Observing System Satellite, Terra, has completed on-orbit checkout and verification and is "open for business," accoring to a NASA press release. Terra, an international mission and part of NASA's Earth Sciences Enterprise, is opening a new window to the Earth and is providing daily information on the health of the planet. First images from the five instruments aboard Terra are being presented during a press briefing today at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. Terra is the first satellite to monitor daily -- and on a global scale -- how the Earth's atmosphere, lands, oceans, solar radiation and life influence each other. Terra's wide array of measurements will give a comprehensive evaluation of the Earth as a system and will establish a new basis for long-term monitoring of the Earth's climate changes. "Terra is measuring and documenting the Earth's vital signs, many of them for the first time," said Dr. Yoram Kaufman, Terra Project Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. "Like our taking vital signs to check the state of our own health, these data will help us diagnosis several key aspects of the Earth's health. "The data will help us understand our planet, aid in our distinguishing between natural and human-induced changes, and show us how the Earth's climate affects the quality of our lives."

According to a NOAA press release, the United States has just experienced the warmest January-March period ever, according to 106 years of record-keeping compiled by NOAA. The latest data also show that June 1999-March 2000 was the warmest June-March on record. NOAA Administrator D. James Baker and FEMA Director James Lee Witt released the latest figures at an Earth Week news conference in New Orleans, La., which focused on global climate change and links between a warming atmosphere and more severe weather. "Our climate is warming at a faster rate than ever before recorded. Ignoring climate change and the most recent warming patterns could be costly to the nation. Small changes in global temperatures can lead to more extreme weather events including, droughts, floods and hurricanes," NOAA Administrator D. James Baker said. "We will continue to provide the best possible data and forecasts to the policy makers to help them as they deal with these difficult issues."

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NOAA and NASA to Launch Latest Eye-in-the-Sky Weather Spacecraft
An advanced U.S. weather spacecraft, which will monitor hurricanes, severe thunderstorms, flash floods and other severe weather, is being prepared for launch May 3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Liftoff of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-L, is targeted to occur at 2:27 a.m. EDT from Pad A at Complex 36 on Cape Canaveral. "GOES satellites are a mainstay of weather forecasting in the United States," said Gerry Dittberner, NOAA's GOES program manager. "They are the backbone of short-term forecasting, or nowcasting. GOES images of clouds are well-known to all Americans; the images can be seen on television weather broadcasts every day." The real-time weather data gathered by GOES satellites, combined with data from Doppler radars and automated surface observing systems, greatly aids weather forecasters in providing better warnings of severe weather. These warnings help to save lives, preserve property, and benefit commercial interests. For example, in 1999, NOAA's National Weather Service had an average lead time of 11.6 minutes for tornado warnings and an average lead time of 41 minutes for flash floods. "NASA is excited about providing another fine tool for the National Weather Service to use for weather operations," said Martin A. Davis, NASA's GOES program manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The launch of the GOES-L is the continuation of a 25-year joint program between NASA and NOAA.

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A "Moderate" Hurricane Season
Hurricane forecast team continues call for less active season than that of recent years; activity still above average
Colorado State University's hurricane forecast team continues to call for a "moderate" season this year with 11 named storms, seven hurricanes and three intense hurricanes predicted, according to a Colorado State press release. These numbers, presented in the initial 2000 hurricane season forecast issued in December 1999, are above the long-term average but lower than the number of storms than occurred in four of the past five years. William Gray, professor of atmospheric science, and his colleagues are calling for an above-average probability of U.S. major hurricane landfall on the East Coast and Florida Peninsula and an about-average probability of major storm landfall for the Gulf Coast during the hurricane season, which runs from June 1-Nov. 30. "We do not anticipate a season as active as those in 1995, 1996, 1998 or 1999," Gray said. "Still, we believe we are entering a new era for increased storm activity and for East Coast landfalls by major storms. There is a strong likelihood that in coming years we'll see more major storms as we did during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s."

The complete forecasts are available here.

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Warming of the World Ocean
Automated North Pole station will take pulse of the Arctic Ocean
An international scientific team supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) will establish a research camp at the North Pole this month. The scientists will use the camp to lay the groundwork for a five-year project to take the pulse of the Arctic Ocean and learn how the world's northernmost sea helps regulate global climate. James Morison of the University of Washington, the lead researcher for the North Pole Automated Station project, said the team will deploy a system of floating buoys this season and, eventually, devices anchored to the ocean floor to measure everything from the salinity of the water in the Arctic Ocean to the thickness and temperature layering of its ice cover. "This will be the first time we've put such a congregation of drifting buoys at the North Pole," Morison said. Researchers will return to the Pole repeatedly over several seasons to deploy additional buoys. Michael Ledbetter of NSF's Arctic System Science (ARCSS) program said that after the first year, the number of research projects will expand to cover a broad range of sciences. Morison added that for long-term observations, an automated station does the work of a manned platform, but at far less cost.

Ozone losses of more than 60 percent have occurred in the Arctic stratosphere near 60,000 feet (18 kilometer) in one of the coldest winters on record. This is one of the worst ozone losses at this altitude in the Arctic, according to a press release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Investigations into the Arctic stratosphere have provided better insights into the processes that control polar ozone. These insights considerably add to scientists' ability to predict ozone levels in the future as chlorine levels decline as a result of the Montreal Protocol, and as greenhouse gases increase. Climate change in the stratosphere will likely enhance ozone losses in the Arctic winter in the coming decades, even as the amount of chlorine introduced into the atmosphere is decreased, researchers say. This winter, the NASA sponsored SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE) and European Union sponsored Third European Stratospheric Experiment on Ozone (THESEO) obtained measurements of ozone, other atmospheric gases, and particles using satellites, airplanes, large, small and long duration balloons, and ground-based instruments. Scientists from the United States joined with scientists from Europe, Canada, Russia and Japan in mounting the biggest field measurement campaign yet to measure ozone amounts and changes in the Arctic stratosphere. The activities were conducted from November 1999 through March 2000. The total amount of information collected by the international campaign this winter is greater than the information collected in any past polar measurement campaign. Most of the measurements were made near Kiruna, Sweden with additional measurements being made from satellites and a network of stations at mid- and high-northern latitudes.

The latest U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite imagery shows the persistent La Niña pattern continues to dominate the Pacific Ocean in a very similar manner to this time last year. For more than a year now, lower than normal sea-surface heights, indicating cooler temperatures, have continued along the coasts of the Americas and have spread out into the tropical ocean. In contrast are the higher than normal sea-surface heights that show warmer temperatures dominating the entire western Pacific. These TOPEX/Poseidon data, collected over the latest 10-day sampling cycle, March 1 to 11, 2000, show the La Niña condition still exists. The image of sea surface heights reflects unusual patterns of heat storage in the ocean. Scientists continue to debate whether this image hints at the presence of a large, longer lasting climate pattern, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. This long-term pattern that covers most of the Pacific Ocean has significant implications for global climate, especially over North America.

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Warming of the World Ocean
Earth's "Missing Warming" Found in the Ocean
Oceanographers rummaging through piles of neglected data have uncovered enough evidence to show that the Earth's oceans are warming and that climate modelers' suspicions that a large part of the "missing warming" has been taken up by the oceans. The international data search-and-rescue effort "adds credibility to the belief that most of the warming in the 20th century is anthropogenic," says climate modeler Jerry D. Mahlman of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey. It also suggests that past greenhouse gas emissions guarantee more global warming ahead and that the climate system may be more sensitive to greenhouse gases than some had thought.

The entire article and a news summary are available on-line for subscribers to Science Online.

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