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A New Angle on Global Wind Measurements - presented by Science@NASA
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Summer can bring with it a whirlwind of activity.
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Hurricane season causes potential havoc on land with threats of forceful winds and torrential rainfall.
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A helpful set of eyes mounted on the International Space Station (ISS) allows scientists to observe these massive storms from a special angle -
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51.6 degrees to be exact.
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That is the inclination of the space station's orbit around Earth.
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NASA's ISS-Rapid Scatterometer or ISS-RapidScat, was launched and fixed to the space station in September 2014,
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giving it a view of the planet below that differs from any other wind measuring instrument.
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Bryan Stiles, ISS-RapidScat science processing lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says,
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"Because of its inclination, RapidScat observes storms in higher latitudes much more frequently than polar-orbiting scatterometers.
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The same location can be observed several times per day, and this lets us see how storms are developing in more detail."
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The data that RapidScat provides is being used by NOAA to support marine weather forecasts and warnings,
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providing better observations of storms as they intensify and weaken.
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Zorana Jelenak, RapidScat Project Scientist at NOAA says,
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"RapidScat observations greatly aid in our ability to study temporal changes of windfields.
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When observations are available we have the ability to study changes within one hour at high latitudes.
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Previously we were able only to characterize changes every 6 hours.
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In the tropics, RapidScat has improved the wind coverage of the space borne scatterometer constellation from once every other day to more than once a day, on average."
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ISS-RapidScat is a radar, bouncing microwaves off the ocean surface and measuring the echo.
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Rough waters-those disturbed more by wind-return a stronger signal than smooth waters.
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From that information, scientists can derive wind speed, as well as its direction based on the orientation of the waves.
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"RapidScat excels at measuring winds at the ocean's surface," adds Stiles.
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Measurements of surface winds are important for many reasons.
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For one thing, surface winds define how the ocean and the atmosphere interact where they meet,
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which influences weather in the short and long time scales.
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Moreover, surface winds are what boats experience at sea
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and people and buildings actually experience when a storm makes landfall.
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RapidScat provides remotely sensed ocean surface wind speeds and directions.
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With such a huge void of radar and surface observations over the oceans,
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remotely sensed ocean surface winds play an instrumental role in marine decision making, forecasting, and modeling.
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Stiles says, "This is useful information for both weather forecasting and climate studies."
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Since it was launched, ISS-RapidScat has seen dozens of storms, big and small.
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Maps of surface winds have given Earth scientists a unique view of the inner workings of these storms.
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The orbit of the space station covers the majority of the oceans from Southern Canada all the way to the southern tip of South America every 48 hours.
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This means few storms escape RapidScat's relentless microwave scanning.
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These advantages are enticing weather forecasters and climatologists to make increasing use of the high resolution wind data that ISS-RapidScat offers.
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The information from these data are being utilized by marine forecasters at NOAA to help forecast,
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warn and analyze wind and wave conditions over the ocean environment from hurricanes and winter storms to fair weather conditions.
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Improved knowledge of impending wind and wave conditions impacts everything from large cargo ship routing,
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to recreational boating, to families vacationing along the coasts.
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As summer unfolds, ISS-RapidScat will have a lot to do.
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For more from the International Space Station, go to www.nasa.gov/station
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Stay tuned for updates from science.nasa.gov