PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Mary A. Hardin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 1996
JPL INSTRUMENT SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED TO MEASURE OCEAN WINDS
Japan's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) carrying
a JPL instrument designed to measure global ocean surface winds
was launched from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 6:53
Pacific time tonight.
Launched on a Japanese H-II rocket and destined for a 800-
kilometer (497-mile) high circular orbit above the Earth, ADEOS
is due to begin day-to-day science operations in November.
The JPL-built NASA Scatterometer will make 190,000
measurements per day of the speed and direction of winds within
about 3 centimeters (1.5 inches) of the ocean surface. These
winds directly affect the turbulent exchanges of heat, moisture
and greenhouse gases between the atmosphere and the ocean. These
air-sea exchanges, in turn, help determine regional weather
patterns and shape global climate.
NSCAT has been developed under NASA's strategic enterprise
called Mission to Planet Earth, a comprehensive research effort
to study Earth's land, oceans, atmosphere, ice and life as an
interrelated system. JPL manages the NSCAT instrument for NASA.
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