Charting sea salt from space
Source: Agencies |
June 7, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN international mission will chart the saltiness of the ocean - from outer space.
An Argentine-built spacecraft carrying instruments from the United States and other nations is set to launch on Thursday from the Vandenberg Air Force Base along the central California coast aboard a Delta 2 rocket.
The craft will circle 657 kilometers above the Earth and will use a NASA-built instrument to map weekly changes in the levels of brine in the sea. NASA's Aquarius instrument is so sensitive that it can detect changes down to a dash of salt in a gallon of water.
Nearly three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water, which contains about 3.5 percent salt. Though the amount of salt in the world's oceans remains mostly unchanged, the brine concentration in the topmost layer varies around the globe.
Understanding how brackish the sea surface is will help researchers better predict future climate change and short-term climate phenomena such as El Nino and its alter ego La Nina, which can have profound effects on weather around the world.
A fleet of Earth-orbiting satellites routinely provides updates on sea surface temperatures, sea level changes and ocean winds. But measurements of dissolved salts in the ocean so far have been limited, sporadically measured by ships and buoys.
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