Jorge VazquezUniversidad del Norte

Barranquilla, Columbia, Nov 14, 2012

How satellites have revolutionized our

understanding of the Earth

The Past The Past Oceanographers:Oceanographers:

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin Matthew Fontaine MauryMatthew Fontaine Maury

44

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Animation Courtesy of Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa California

99

1010

Historic Sea Historic Sea Level RiseLevel Rise

Plots by Robert A. Rohde forGlobal Warming Art: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/

~ 0.25 mm/yr

~ 2.0 mm/yr

Recent rates of sea level rise are 100 times larger than historic rates.

9000 years9000 years

120 years120 years

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

MS

L (

mm

)

Year

Tide Gauge ObservationsTide Gauge Observations

[Church and White, 2006]

~ 8 inches(20 cm)

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

MS

L (

mm

)

Year

Tide Gauge ObservationsTide Gauge Observations

Average Rate ~ 1.8 mm/year

[Church and White, 2006]

~ 8 inches(20 cm)

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

MS

L (

mm

)

Year

Tide Gauge ObservationsTide Gauge Observations

0.8 mm/year

2.0 mm/year

3.2 mm/year

[Church and White, 2006]

~ 8 inches(20 cm)

Satellite Observations

Sea Level Rise from AltimetrySea Level Rise from Altimetry

Heating or Melting?Heating or Melting?

addition of heat

25% (2”)

Thermal Expansion

addition of freshwater

+

75% (6”)

Add Mass Ice Melt

=

Total sea level rise

100% (8”)

Potential ContributionsPotential Contributions

Thermal Thermal Expansion: Expansion: ~1 meter (3 feet)~1 meter (3 feet)

Sea Ice MeltSea Ice Melt

Does NOT raise sea levelDoes NOT raise sea level

Melting Melting LandLand ice does! ice does!

So does iceberg calvingSo does iceberg calving

Greenland losing Greenland losing massmass

[Wouters et al., 2008]

362 Gt = 1 mm GMSL

186 Gt/year = 0.5 mm/year sea level rise

Antarctica losing Antarctica losing massmass

[Velicogna, 2009][Riva et al., 2009]

The Ocean Conveyor Belt

WhatWhat’’s up s up with the ice with the ice

sheet?sheet?

Evacuate the Evacuate the Country!!!Country!!!

The Great The Great OceanOcean Conveyor Conveyor BeltBelt

The Great Conveyor BeltThe Great Conveyor Belt

Both Arctic Sea Ice and Greenland Ice Sheet are shrinking

The FUTURE NASA The FUTURE NASA launches Aquarius Satellite launches Aquarius Satellite June 10, 2011June 10, 2011• Will measure Ocean SalinityWill measure Ocean Salinity

– Important because the Ocean’s drive Important because the Ocean’s drive the global hydrological cyclethe global hydrological cycle

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Instrument Specifications: Radiometer & Scatterometer   Footprint size - 62x68, 68x62, 75x100   Footprint size - 76x94, 84x120, 96x156    Orbit 657 km Sun Synchronous Radiometer      – Frequency n = 1.413 GHz +/- 25MHz      – Wavelength l = c/n ~ 0.212m      – L band = 0.39 - 1.55 GHz  Scatterometer      – Frequency n = 1.26 GHz      – Wavelength l = c/n ~ 0.238m - 390 Kilometer swath

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What Effects Ocean Salinity?• Balance between Evaporation and

Precipitation: E-P More evaporation salinity increases, more precipitation salinity decreases

• River outflow: Eg: Amazon adds freshwater to Eastern South Atlantic, salinity decreases

• Ocean Circulation: Ocean Currents and Eddies move tremendous amount of heat and salt.

• Smaller scale processes such as entrainment and diffusion

• Ice melting and freezing: Eg: Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)

Measured as grams of salt per 1000 grams Measured as grams of salt per 1000 grams of water. In the ocean varies between 32 to of water. In the ocean varies between 32 to

38 parts/thousand38 parts/thousand. .

Schematic of Hydrological CycleSchematic of Hydrological Cycle

• Aquarius URLs and informationAquarius URLs and information– http://aquarius.jpl.nasa.gov/AQUARIUS/– http://aquarius.nasa.gov/– http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/

AQUARIUS/AQUARIUS/– http://podaac-www.jpl.nasa.gov/SeaSurf

aceSalinity

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• THANK YOU!!!!!THANK YOU!!!!!

• Questions?Questions?