Seawinds/Wind-Ice Interaction
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The figure demonstrates of the capability of the SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quikscat satellite in
monitoring both sea ice and ocean surface wind, thus helping to further our knowledge in wind-ice interaction and
its effect on climate change. The gray-scale image of normalized radar back scatter shows various kinds of ice in
Antarctica. The land mass is outlined in black. The gray area outside the land mass is occupied by sea ice.
Outside of the ice, white streamlines representing wind direction are overlaid onto the color image of wind speed
distribution. The map (including both ice and wind) is produced from one day, July 21, 1999, of QuikScat interim
observations.
With its all-weather observing capability, SeaWinds provides continuous monitoring of ice edge and tracking
of icebergs, and describes the morphology of both glacier ice and sea ice. Since the start of its ocean observing
mode, SeaWinds has already helped the National Snow and Ice Data Center track an iceberg broken off from
Antarctica.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the SeaWinds/Quikscat mission for NASA's Earth Science
Enterprise, which is a long-term research and technology program designed to examine Earth's land, oceans,
atmosphere, ice and life as a total integrated system. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA.
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