2007 PO.DAAC Announcements

AIRSAR data has moved to the Alaska Satellite Facility.  Researchers interested in obtaining AIRSAR data should now refer to: http://airsar.asf.alaska.edu

All:

On behalf of the Pecora Award Committee, I would like to congratulate the GRACE Mission Team for winning the 2007 Pecora Award. The William T. Pecora Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions by individuals or groups toward understanding the Earth by means of remote sensing.

The Pecora Award presentation will take place at AGU during the NASA Science Mission Directorate Town Hall Meeting on Monday 10 December Moscone West, Room 3005 at 1930h. Dr. Alan Stern, AA for NASA SMD will be presenting the award with Mr. Jim Devine, Senior Advisor for Science Applications, USGS to Dr. Byron Tapely who will accept on behalf of the GRACE Team.

Again, Congratulations,

Peter Meister

On November 16, 2007, a small degradation in the QuikSCAT spacecraft's battery capacity was detected during the eclipse period. In order to reduce the battery load, the QuikSCAT Project temporarily operated the SeaWinds instrument in receive-only mode during the eclipse periods between November 20 and 29 (days 324-333). As a result, there are data gaps at Northern high latitudes on these dates. A list of impacted orbits, including the start and end times for each sigma0 data gap, is available at:
http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/DATA_PRODUCT/OVW/QSbattery_anom_2007.html.
Please note that the wind vector data gaps will be approximately four minutes longer than the sigma0 gaps.

The problem with the QuikSCAT battery is believed to be the result of normal spacecraft component aging. The QuikSCAT spacecraft is currently operating nominally. However, in the event of future spacecraft anomalies, PO.DAAC will send another announcement as we have in the past.

The QuikSCAT eclipse season occurs from 14 November 2007 through 27 January 2008. These eclipses occur near the North Pole and last up to 16 minutes.

If you have any questions related to this anomaly or QuikSCAT data, please email podaac@podaac.jpl.nasa.gov

PO.DAAC is pleased to announce a new service for our users and scientists; the PO.DAAC Sandbox. The PO.DAAC Sandbox provides an opportunity to present unvetted science products to the user community. The products submitted for distribution by a provider will be reviewed by the relevant science team (OST, OVW, or SST) prior to release at the Sandbox. The users are warned that the product is unvetted by NASA or PO.DAAC and to use this product at one's own risk. The prospective users are asked to register and provide feedback to PO.DAAC on the specific product. Feedback will be forwarded to the provider.