March 16, 2021
Evolution of the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) sea surface salinity (SSS) response to the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. It is common to observe patches of 1) salinity freshening due to enhanced precipitation and 2) salinity increase due to wind stress-generated vertical mixing, wherein increased salinity from a mid-level maximum is brought to the surface. The two effects are clearly observed along the tracks of the 2020 Atlantic tropical cyclones. (SMAP SSS DOI: 10.5067/SMP50-3TPCS).
March 16, 2021
Evolution of the NASA Multi-Scale Ultra-High Resolution (MUR) sea surface temperature (SST) response to the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. It is common to observe trails of cooler water, or cold wakes, along hurricane tracks as a result of wind-induced mixing and turbulence that brings cold waters at depth to the surface. The cold wakes associated with the 2020 Atlantic tropical cyclones are clearly observed as waters approximately 2°C cooler from normal that persisted for several days. (MUR SST DOI: 10.5067/GHGMR-4FJ04).
March 16, 2021
Evolution of GOES-East IR, NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) sea surface salinity (SSS), and NASA Multi-Scale Ultra-High Resolution (MUR) sea surface temperature (SST) response to the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season response. (MUR SST DOI: 10.5067/GHGMR-4FJ04; SMAP SSS DOI: 10.5067/SMP50-3TPCS).
February 24, 2021
Animation of the Integrated Multi-Mission Ocean Altimeter Sea Surface Height (SSH) Level 2 version 5.0 dataset displays the SSH Anomaly derived from multi-mission altimeter data, including TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, OSTM/Jason-2, and Jason-3 missions covering the period of September 1992 to October 2020 (https://doi.org/10.5067/ALTTS-TJA50).
February 5, 2021
Animation of the retrieved ocean surface wind speed (meters per second) over the period of 1 August 2018 to 31 December 2020, produced using the CYGNSS Level 3 Climate Data Record (CDR) Version 1.1 dataset, which provides wind speed data retrieved from the Delay Doppler Mapping Instrument (DDMI) aboard the CYGNSS satellite constellation. The dataset can be accessed from the PO.DAAC Portal at https://doi.org/10.5067/CYGNS-L3C11 (DOI: 10.5067/CYGNS-L3C11). More information about the CYGNSS mission and other datasets can be found here: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/cygnss.
January 28, 2021
Humans are reshaping the Earth. Not just the climate of Earth, but the planet itself. As the Earth warms due to human interference with the climate, the oceans rise. And covering more than two thirds of the planet’s surface it means the rising oceans are literally changing the shape of the planet we call home. And since the early 1990s, a single series satellites has captured this change with unbelievable accuracy. Built to measure changes in ocean currents, our sea level satellites have revolutionized our understanding of the oceans and now provide one of the most important records of how fast our climate is changing.
December 11, 2020
Animation of sea surface salinity from 31 March 2015 to 9 November 2020 based on the 8-day running mean version 5.0 Level 3 NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) dataset from JPL. The dataset can be accessed from the PO.DAAC Portal at https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SMAP_JPL_L3_SSS_CAP_8DAY-RUNNINGMEAN_V5 (DOI: 10.5067/SMP50-3TPCS).
November 17, 2020
This animation depicts gridded, daily volumetric water content estimated for the 0-5 cm surface soil layer between March 2017 and August 2020. These soil moisture data constitute the first land product from CYGNSS, a NASA Earth Ventures mission and satellite constellation for ocean surface remote sensing using a technique called GNSS-Reflectometry, and represent a starting point to explore land surface research applications using this promising new technique. The dataset can be accesses from the PO.DAAC Portal at https://doi.org/10.5067/CYGNU-L3SM1 (DOI: 10.5067/CYGNU-L3SM1)
October 29, 2020
For NASA scientist Severine Fournier, studying our planet knows no borders. Our changing ocean affects everyone across the globe. That’s why the new Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, launching Nov. 10, is a truly international mission that will study our rising seas from space.
October 29, 2020
Our planet is changing. Our ocean is rising. And it affects us all. That’s why a new international satellite will continue the decades-long watch over our global ocean and help us better understand how climate change is reshaping our planet.