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TOPEX/POSEIDON Satellite
Viewing Earth as an ocean planet
Viewed from space, the oceans give the Earth the "blue marble" appearance which
sets our planet apart from all the other ones. Some say that Earth should have been
appropriately called "Ocean" instead of "Earth" because water covers
more than 70 percent of Earth's surface area.
Earth is an ocean planet. The oceans cover nearly three-quarters of the world's surface,
store most of earth's available hear and carbon dioxide, and play a central role in
determining global climate trends. These trend, or climate changes, affect the earth's
temperature and rainfall, which in turn impact crops and industry. In recent years
scientists have discovered that they can obtain a continuous, comprehensive look at the
surface of world's oceans by using a satellite in space equipped with an instrument called
an altimeter.
In 1979, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory began planning TOPEX, an Ocean Topography
Experiment that would use a satellite altimeter to measure the surface of the world's
oceans. At the same time the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
was designing an oceanographic mission called Poseidon, named for the Greek god of the
Sea.
Media | The Launch of the TOPEX/Poseidon Satellite
See or Hear the exciting launch of the TOPEX/Poseidon Satellie from French Guyana on
August 10, 1992. Those of you who don't understand French will not have trouble following
the countdown we hope!
Quicktime Movie
Real Audio
Thanks to Susan Gee from NASA/JPL/Caltech
The two space agencies decided on a cooperative effort and pooled their resources to form
a single mission. The result is the highly-successful TOPEX/Poseidon which has achieved
science objectives beyond expectations and at a lower cost that either mission would have
achieved separately. The satellite has continously surveyed the oceans' surface currents
with radar altimeters since launch in 1992. The satellite orbits Earth 4 700 times per
year, and engineers are optimistic that the missoin will continu to collect data through
at least Septemeber 1998.
Building on three earlier earth-orbiting missions TOPEX/Poseidon - a joint mission between
the US and France - is part of a global oceanographic effort to acquire a comprehensive
look at the world's oceans. TOPEX/Poseidon's contribution involves continuous observations
of the surface currents of the ocean.
TOPEX/Poseidon is based on earlier earth-orbiting satellite missions. The earliest
missions provided proof of the concept that some ocean observations can be made more
economically and with better coverage from space than from the earth's surface. Each
mission carried a different complement of instruments and discovered new facts that
inspired successive missions and generations of spacecraft.
The International Science Working Team for the data of the TOPEX/Poseidon
Data from TOPEX/Poseidon are analyzed and interpreted by the International Science Working
Team. This team is composed of 38 groups of scientists from Australia, France, Germany,
Japan, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the
United States.
Continue and read about TOPEX/Poseidon's data for this El Niņo.
Media | The TOPEX/Poseidon Satellite..in action!
See the TOPEX/Poseidon Satellite in 3-D simulated action.
Quicktime Movie
Thanks to Susan Gee from NASA/JPL/Caltech
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