News at a glance: Earth science satellites, Global Fund ’s haul, and Neptune’s rings

EARTH SCIENCE European satellite duo will study oceans and warming The European Space Agency (ESA) last week approved the $420 million Harmony mission as the next in its Earth Explorer line of science missions, following a competition. Harmony’s two satellites will carry infrared sensors and radar receivers to observe the turbulent waves, winds, and eddies that govern the interchange of heat and gases between the oceans and atmosphere. Scientists know oceans soak up more than 90% of the excess heat of global warming, but they need Harmony’s finer scale observations to explain how—and to calibrate climate models that predict the evolution of these dynamics decades ahead. “We want to study how the oceans and the atmosphere are talking to each other,” says principal investigator Paco López-Dekker, a remote sensing scientist at the Delft University of Technology. After launch in 2029, the Harmony satellites will fly in formation with one of ESA’s Sentinel-1 radar satellites, to be launched in 2025, while capturing its reflected beams at different angles. The mission will also be able to monitor 3D ground motions as small as 1 millimeter a year—of interest to scientists monitoring glacial ice loss, volcanic eruptions, and the seismic strain that leads to earthquakes. FACILITIES Fiona ruins Puerto Rico research Scientists in Puerto Rico say they lost vital refrigerated samples and face delayed and ruined studi...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news