Earth Science Mission Description Website E/PO Lead First Name E/PO Lead Last Name Organization Email

The ACRIMSAT mission is measuring Total Solar Irradiance (TSI). The ACRIMSAT spacecraft carries the Active Cavity ACRIMSAT http://acrim.jpl.nasa.gov Karen Yuen JPL [email protected] Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM) III instrument, the third in a series of long-term solar monitoring tools.

The Airborne Science Program within the Earth Science Airborne Science Program Division is responsible for providing aircraft systems that http://airbornescience.nasa.gov Cheryl Yuhas NASA HQ [email protected] further science and advance the use of satellite data.

To improve our understanding of the role of North American ecosystems in the global carbon cycle, the Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface is AirMOSS http://airmoss.jpl.nasa.gov Annie Richardson JPL [email protected] providing new continental-scale estimates of periodic changes in the amount of carbon dioxide exchanged between these ecosystems and the atmosphere. Aqua is obtaining a set of precise atmosphere and ocean measurements to understand their role in Earth's climate and its variations. Aqua carries six state-of-the-art instruments to observe Earth's ocean, atmosphere, land, ice and snow covers, and vegetation, providing high measurement accuracy, spatial detail, and temporal frequencey. It is gathering data on Earth's water cycle, in particular Aqua http://aqua.nasa.gov Steve Graham GSFC [email protected] information on water vapor and clouds, precipitation from the atmosphere, soil wetness on land, ice on both land and sea, and snow cover. It also provides information on vegetation cover, temperatures of the air, land and water, and radiation from both the sun and the Earth. Aqua is a joint project of the United States, Japan and Brazil.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is one of six instruments aboard the Aqua satellite. Together with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A), these instruments observe the global water and energy cycles, climate variation and trends, and the response of the climate Aqua / AIRS http://airs.jpl.nasa.gov Sharon Ray JPL [email protected] system to increased greenhouse gases. AIRS creates 3-D maps of air and surface water temperature, water vapor and cloud properties. AIRS can also measure trace greenhouse gases such as ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane.

NASA Earth Science Missions E/PO Contact List 1 Updated August 2013 Earth Science Mission Description Website E/PO Lead First Name E/PO Lead Last Name Organization Email Aquarius measures the salinity, or saltiness, of the ocean surface. Throughout the history of Earth, the weathering of rocks has delivered mineral salts into the ocean. Over decades, the amount of salt in ocean basins has been relatively stable. The water cycle operates on much faster time scales, however, causing changes in salinity patterns. Aquarius Freshwater input from rivers, melting ice, rain and snow http://aquarius.nasa.gov Annette deCharon University of Maine [email protected] makes the ocean less salty. Processes that cause freshwater to exit the ocean—such as evaporation and formation of sea ice—make the ocean saltier. Differences in salinity can play a major role in moving seawater—and the heat it carries— around the globe. Thus salinity is crucial to keeping Earth’s climate in balance. Recent studies suggest that even small changes in stratospheric humidity may have significant climate impacts. The Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment uses the long- ATTREX http://espo.nasa.gov/missions/attrex/ Jhony Zavaleta ARC [email protected] range NASA Global Hawk uninhabited aircraft systems to understand changes in stratospheric humidity and ozone concentrations to support climate studies. The Aura mission studies Earth's ozone, air quality and climate. It is designed exclusively to conduct research on the composition, chemistry and dynamics of Earth's atmosphere. Aura's objective is to study the chemistry and dynamics of Sigma Space Aura Earth's atmosphere with emphasis on the upper troposphere http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov Ginger Butcher [email protected] Corp/GSFC and lower stratosphere by employing multiple instruments on a single satellite. The satellite's measurements enable scientists to investigate questions about ozone trends, air quality changes, and their linkage to climate change. The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite is providing new insight into the role that clouds and atmospheric aerosols (airborne particles) play in regulating Earth's weather, climate, and air CALIPSO quality. CALIPSO and CloudSat are highly complementary and http://www-calipso.larc.nasa.gov/outreach/ Jessica Taylor LaRC [email protected] together provide 3-D perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect weather and climate. CALIPSO is a joint preject between NASA and Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) of France. The Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment aircraft mission will collect detailed measurements of CARVE important greenhouse gases on local to regional scale in the http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/projects/CARVE/ Karen Yuen JPL [email protected] Alaskan Arctic and demonstrate new capabilities to quantify Arctic carbon changes and carbon cycle-climate processes. CloudSat is among the first satellites to study clouds on a global basis. Its key observations are the vertical profiles of Todd Ellis SUNY-Oneonta [email protected] cloud liquid water and ice water contents, and related cloud physical and radiative properties. CloudSat flies in a tight Colorado State CloudSat formation with the CALIPSO satellite, and both follow behind http://cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu Deanna TeBockhorst [email protected] University the Aqua satellite in a looser formation. The combination of these satellites provide a rich source of information that can be used to assess the role of clouds in Peter Falcon JPL [email protected] both weather and climate.

NASA Earth Science Missions E/PO Contact List 2 Updated August 2013 Earth Science Mission Description Website E/PO Lead First Name E/PO Lead Last Name Organization Email To understand how to better diagnose air pollution, NASA scientists have planned a series of airborne field campaigns—called DISCOVER-AQ—that fly over selected U.S. cities taking air quality measurements. Scientists are coordinating these measurements with satellite- and ground- based measurements to see where the differences are. One http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/discover- DISCOVER-AQ Lin Chambers LaRC [email protected] airplane carries remote sensing instruments to make aq/ measurements looking down from about 26,000 feet, simulating what a satellite would see, while a second plane flies beneath the first, spiraling up and down at selected points to measure pollution in the different layers of the atmosphere. The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission is an international satellite mission to provide next-generation observations of rain and snow worldwide every three hours. NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch a “Core” satellite carrying advanced instruments that will set a new standard for precipitation measurements from GPM space. The data they provide will be used to unify http://www.nasa.gov/gpm Dalia Kirschbaum GSFC [email protected] precipitation measurements made by an international network of partner satellites to quantify when, where, and how much it rains or snows around the world. This will help advance our understanding of Earth’s water and energy cycles, improve weather forecasting, and deliver other societal benefits. The Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program is a science-driven Program designed to provide an innovative Earth System Science http://science.nasa.gov/about-us/smd- approach to Earth science research by providing periodic, Kimberly Land LaRC [email protected] Pathfinder Program programs/earth-system-science-pathfinder/ competitively selected opportunities to accommodate new and emergent scientific priorities.

The New Millennium Program Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) program completed its baseline mission requirements successfully after one year of operations on Nov. 20, 2001. In Dec. 2001, NASA HQ approved a plan to permit the EO-1 EO-1 Program to embark on an Extended Mission operations phase. http://eo1.gsfc.nasa.gov Nancy Leon JPL [email protected] The objectives of the Extended Mission are to maximize the infusion of EO-1 technology by simultaneously increasing utilization of the on-orbit resource and to reduce the cost of operations through a Continuous Improvement Program.

The primary goal of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission is to accurately map variations in Earth's gravity field. Another goal of the mission is to create a http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Grace/ind University of Texas - GRACE better profile of the Earth's atmosphere. The results are Margaret Baguio [email protected] ex.html Austin contributing to global climate change studies. GRACE is a joint project between NASA and Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Germany.

NASA Earth Science Missions E/PO Contact List 3 Updated August 2013 Earth Science Mission Description Website E/PO Lead First Name E/PO Lead Last Name Organization Email

GRACE Follow-on The GRACE Follow-on mission is scheduled for launch in 2017. http://grace.jpl.nasa.gov Tom Nolan JPL [email protected]

Since 2012, the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel mission has been using two NASA Global Hawk aircraft to help http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricane HS3 Bernadette Luna ARC [email protected] understand and better predict hurricane intensity in the s/missions/hs3/index.html Atlantic Ocean basin.

The Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite studied the ice sheets and sea ice that blanket the North and South Pole regions, as well as global measurements of aerosol, cloud, and vegetation height. Scientists wanted to find out whether the polar ice was growing or shrinking, and how fast, because the Sigma Space ICESat and ICESat-2 http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov Brian Cambpell [email protected] amount of land ice affects global sea level. We need to Corp/Wallops understand and predict how ice sheets and sea level will respond to future climate change. ICESat-2 is scheduled to launch in 2016. Until then, Operation IceBridge will bridge the gap in polar observations. Jason-1 is a satellite oceanography mission, which measures sea-surface height to understand global ocean circulation, improve global climate predictions, and monitor events such as El Niño conditions and ocean eddies. Accurate measurements of sea-surface height and ocean winds provide scientists with information about the speed and direction of Jason-1,OSTM/Jason-2 ocean currents and about the heat stored in the ocean. This, http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov Annie Richardson JPL [email protected] in turn, helps reveal global climate variations. The Ocean Surface Topography Mission on the Jason-2 satellite is a follow-on to Jason-1. It takes the measurement of sea surface height from space into an operational mode, for continued climate forcasting science and research, and for industrial and commercial applications.

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is our nation's next generation polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite JPSS http://www.jpss.noaa.gov Trena Ferrell GSFC [email protected] system. JPSS is a collaborative program between NOAA and its acquisition agent NASA.

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Landsat and Landsat Data Survey. For almost 40 years, Landsat satellites have collected Sigma Space Continuity Misssion http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov Ginger Butcher [email protected] data of Earth's continental surfaces to support global change Corp/GSFC (LDCM) research and applications. The data constitutes the longest continuous record of Earth's surface as seen from space.

NASA Earth Science Missions E/PO Contact List 4 Updated August 2013 Earth Science Mission Description Website E/PO Lead First Name E/PO Lead Last Name Organization Email Operation IceBridge aircraft campaigns image Earth’s polar ice to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system. These data will also help http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/icebridge/ Operation IceBridge George Hale GSFC [email protected] improve predictions for sea level rise. OIB is helping to bridge index.html the gap in polar observations between NASA’s two ICESat satellite missions. QuikSCAT is recording sea-surface wind speed and direction data under all weather and cloud conditions over Earth's oceans. QuickSCAT can acquire hundreds of times more observations of surface wind velocity each day than can ships QuikSCAT and buoys, and can provide continuous, accurate and high- http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/ Peter Falcon JPL [email protected] resolution measurements of both wind speeds and direction regardless of weather conditions. This data is vital for global climate research, operational weather forecasting, and storm warning. The Soil Moisture Active Passive mission will provide a capability for global mapping of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state. Since large amounts of energy are required to vaporize water, soil moisture controls both the water and energy fluxes at the surface, and their influence on weather and climate. Accurate soil moisture information will improve the Sigma Space SMAP http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov Brian Campbell [email protected] performance of land surface parameterizations in Corp/Wallops atmospheric models and enhance their predictive skill. Furthermore, SMAP will quantify the nature, extent, timing and duration of landscape seasonal freeze/thaw state transitions that are key to estimating terrestrial carbon sources and sinks. http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/sorce/ The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiments (SORCE) is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission providing measurements of incoming x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and total LASP/University of SORCE http://lasp.colorado.edu/reu Martin Snow [email protected] solar radiation. The measurements specifically address long- Colorado term climate change, natural variability and enhanced climate prediction, and ozone and UV-B radiation.

NASA Earth Science Missions E/PO Contact List 5 Updated August 2013 Earth Science Mission Description Website E/PO Lead First Name E/PO Lead Last Name Organization Email The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership mission was named after a former high school science teacher turned remote sensing scientist named Verner Suomi. The Suomi NPP Suomi NPP satellite continues key data records critical for short-term http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov Trena Ferrell GSFC [email protected] weather forecasting and long-term climate change studies. Suomi NPP was built with funding from NASA, NOAA and DoD, with current satellite operations funded by NOAA. Terra is the first Earth Observing System (EOS) platform and provides global data on the state of the atmosphere, land and oceans, as well as their interactions with solar radiation and with one another. The five instruments onboard Terra include the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), the Moderate- Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS), the Measurement of Pollution in The Troposphere (MOPITT), and Terra http://terra.nasa.gov Tassia Owen GSFC [email protected] the Advances Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument. CERES measures thermal radiation or heat emitted from the U.S. MISR measures the variation of surface and cloud properties, and particles in the atmosphere. MODIS captures true color images of the Earth. MOPITT maps carbon monoxide and methane concentrations at altitudes between 10 miles and the ground. ASTER measures cloud properties, vegetation index, surface The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission is a joint NASA mission with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that is designed to measure rainfall for weather and climate research. TRMM covers the Earth’s tropical and subtropical regions, which make up about two thirds of the total rainfall on Earth and are important for powering global atmospheric Tropical Rainfall circulation. TRMM provides important precipitation Measuring Mission http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Dalia Kisrchbaum GSFC [email protected] information using several space-borne instruments to (TRMM) increase our understanding of the interactions between water vapor, clouds and precipitation, which are central to regulating Earth’s climate. TRMM precipitation measurements have made and continue to provide critical inputs to tropical cyclone forecasting, numerical weather prediction, agricultural forecasting, and disaster management.

NASA Earth Science Missions E/PO Contact List 6 Updated August 2013