Sep. 26 () –
A new ESA mission will map in 3D the “cooling blanket” of low oceanic clouds that may be at risk of disappearing due to climate change.
The tenth Earth Explorer mission, known as Harmony, has been approved by the ESA Earth Observation Program Board, meaning you can move from the preparatory phase to the design consolidation and implementation phase, with a release scheduled for 2029.
The mission consists of two identical satellites that will fly in tandem with a Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite to better understand three areas of Earth’s interconnecting systems: the ocean-atmosphere interface, land and sea ice (how they distort with time) and tectonics. deformations and volcanic processes.
The two satellites will carry a thermal infrared instrument which will work together to map in 3D the movement of low ocean clouds in greater detail than before.
The different angles of the ten infrared cameras inside each instrument, and the different perspective offered by the two Harmony satellites separated by hundreds of kilometers but aimed at the same part of the Earth’s surface, will provide stereo images, which will allow scientists to calculate the height of the cloud top as well as the movement (and therefore the wind).
When there are no clouds, the lightning will travel to the ocean and be used to calculate a crucial factor that affects the interaction of clouds and the ocean: the temperature of the sea surface.
Professor Jean-Peter Muller, from the Space Sciences Laboratory at University College London (UCL), a member of the Harmony Mission Advisory Group, said it’s a statement: “These clouds cover vast areas of the ocean and cool the planet by reflecting light and thus allowing heat back into space. But how they will respond to climate change is unclear. One model suggests that a warming ocean will cause them to disappear, with catastrophic consequences for our climate.“.
“This mission will provide sub-kilometre resolution images of cloud motion, rather than tens of kilometers resolution as previously achieved.”
“Current climate change forecasts do not account for clouds due to their complexity, since they depend on many factors on a small and large scale. By having a much finer level of detail about the processes that lead to different types of clouds, our data will help refine mathematical models of how these clouds behave and whether they might speed up or, as some models have suggested, even slow global warming.
In addition to the thermal infrared instrument, each of Harmony’s satellites will carry a large payload, a receive-only synthetic aperture radar (SAR). These will record radio waves originating from the accompanying Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite as they bounce off the Earth’s surface, allowing scientists to measure tiny changes in the shape of the Earth’s surface. such as those related to earthquakes and volcanic activity, as well as land ice and sea ice. Over the ocean, this will also provide simultaneous high-resolution measurements of the sea surface, its motion and wind to help reveal the complexities of how sea and air interact.
Above sea ice, it will provide the first snapshot view of sea ice fracturing, as well as ridge formation (an accumulation of sea ice where two floating ice sheets meet).
The mission will also enable the study of 3D deformation and flow dynamics of glaciers in the fringes of ice sheets. that change rapidly for a better understanding of sea level rise.
