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.