[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 2 - 10:09:01 ]
Hello and welcome to our early arriving chat participants. Today's chat with Susan Digby from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory will begin in approximately 20 minutes. Be sure you have read Susan's profile at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/bios/sdigby.html to prepare your questions.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 3 - 10:10:06 ]
Today's chat will be MODERATED. This means only a few questions will appear in the chat room at a time. But DON'T WORRY. We will post new questions every few minutes.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 4 - 10:11:10 ]
At the conclusion of today's chat, please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us. You may use our online surveys at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats to provide feedback to us today. We look forward to hearing from you!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 8 - 10:29:31 ]
Hello and welcome to today's Women of NASA Chat with Sue Digby from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory! Sue Digby uses two satellite oceanography projects, TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1, to measure the height of our world's oceans. The information from the satellites can be used to detect the El Niño/La Niña phenomena. The satellites have even helped Sue locate whale habitats, all the way from space!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 9 - 10:29:56 ]
And now, here is Sue Digby to answer your questions.

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 11 - 10:32:21 ]
RE: [MrsKelley/Alabama] Mapping the ocean must be very interesting. Did you have an interest in geography as a child? In regards to Jason I, we are going to do experiments with Jason XI, the international space station and a lab off the Florida Keys, Extremes, what did you like most about Jason I and how would you suggest younger students be involved? Thank you.
Geography has always fascinated me, as has the sea. Actually the Jason-1 that I am involved with is an Earth-orbiting satellite that measures the ocean topography ... the hills and valleys of the ocean. It will launch in September 2000 and carry on from the satellite that we now have up (called TOPEX/Poseidon)

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 16 - 10:39:01 ]
RE: [Scott] Hi. One of my kids is wondering how knowing the ocean heights can help NASA?
Hi ... Knowing the ocean height does not exactly help NASA but it does help us. From the maps of how high the ocean is we can tell if there is an El Niño coming for instance. This is very useful because with El Niño's we often get flooding in S America and California. If we know one is coming we can prepare by cleaning our flood channels etc. Also we can see eddies in the oceans. These are swirls of water that can move fast .. 5 miles and hour so people laying communications cables get this information so they avoid working when these eddies are about (because the cables have to be very accurate. (see http://www-ccar.colorado.edu/~altimetry/applications/index.html)

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 19 - 10:43:57 ]
RE: [Scott] She's also asking if you have had any scary moments out on the ice floes. Is there a 'scariest' one?
Scary moments .... not actually that many. I think the scariest was watching a helicopter pick up some people from an ice flow that was getting bumped around by waves .. things always look worse when you are watching them rather than when you are involved. Perhaps the worst for me was when I was standing on the edge of a seal breathing hole, a hole about a meter wide in ice 2 meters think (a meter is about 3 feet). Melt water from the snow was rushing and gurgling down and I thought about what would happen if I fell in. But actually its really great on the ice .... and very beautiful!

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 20 - 10:46:06 ]
RE: [USN4thGradeScott] Ms. Kyger's class is wondering if it's lonely doing this kind of work. Are there many people working with you?
If you are talking about working on the ice, its not lonely. Usually there is a very interesting group of people, anywhere between 6 and 50, all experts on different things. One gets to know people very well and often one makes friendships for life.

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 24 - 10:56:36 ]
RE: [carmen] How can you find the location of whale habitats from satellite images?
In the ocean there are eddies and these eddies make bulges or dips that we can 'see' from space. Some of the eddies are the result of water that is upwelling from the bottom of the ocean. When this happens nutrients are brought up, and then there is more plankton, more fish and therefore more whales. Some people cause these eddies 'restaurants of the ocean'!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 26 - 10:57:16 ]
We would like to remind you to share your thoughts with us at the conclusion of today's chat. You may do so at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats. Thank you!

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 27 - 11:00:43 ]
RE: [USN4thGradeScott] Elyse is wondering if you've ever thought about going into space?
I have thought about going up in space and have decided that there are place here that I want to explore first. I really like the Arctic and it is an enormous place. I also paint, so one of my dreams is to get back to the north and go on a painting tour. If you are interested in going up in space .. that's great. They need a lot of experts and doing this sort of thing is getting easier and easier for women.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 30 - 11:07:20 ]
Again, we appreciate your patience as Sue provides responses to your questions. Thank you!

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 31 - 11:08:49 ]
RE: [USN4thGradeScott] I've had two students ask what you think your greatest achievement has been?
I think my greatest achievement was the work on seal breathing holes. Or perhaps I should say it is the work I am most proud of. I was very happy that I was able to realise that the patterns on the satellite imagery were from the drained ice areas around the seal breathing holes. (This project started when I was in the Arctic on my birthday, measuring snow thickness and the person I was with fell through the roof of a seal lair. They rest on the ice in snow caves during the winter. Luckily he did not fall through the hole into the sea). I view the work as important because I found that [researchers] can use satellite imagery to get a measure of variations in seal populations. Also it was important because before then these white dots on satellite imagery were a mystery and people thought they were chunks of much thicker ice . the type that you need to steer around if you are in an icebreaker.

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 34 - 11:13:10 ]
RE: [USN4thGradeScott] Beyond what you say on your bio page about "going for it," do you have any advice for young girls who might be interested in careers in Science?
My advice would be to take courses in science, computers and math. Also to take any opportunities that you hear about to do field work. For instance there was an expedition a year ago to the Arctic and they were looking for university students ... a great opportunity. One of the ways to find this information is through the Internet. But I regret that all that I know about is for university students. Your career councillor might know of 'out-of-class' opportunities.

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 36 - 11:19:01 ]
RE: [carmen] Can satellite imagery of the ocean also help predict the path of a hurricane?
Hmm... The path of a hurricane. The path is predicted from models and some of the information that they feed in comes from weather satellites. I don't know much about this .. but I do now that a very large number of types of data are used including surface pressures, jet stream locations, historical data and sea surface temperatures. Our ocean topography data is just now starting to be used to predict hurricane intensities. Warm eddies in the ocean appear as bumps and if a hurricane passes over one of these the wind speeds increase, so if you know a hurricane is going to go over a warm eddy .. watch out! There is quite a good explanation of this on http://www-ccar.Colorado.EDU/~altimetry/applications/hurricanes/

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 37 - 11:20:24 ]
RE: [USN4thGradeScott] To rephrase a student question so that it might not be either too specific or too personal, do you feel well-compensated financially for the work you do?
Hmmm .. some days I feel very well paid and some days I feel I don't get paid nearly enough!

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 39 - 11:23:06 ]
RE: [USN4thGradeScott] One more for now. Is this your favorite job that you've had and do you ever get bored doing it?
My favorite job was when I was working on the ice. The job was a great mix of experiment planning and data analysis and I saw some really neat country. (As you can probably tell I **really* like the Arctic) During part of that time I also when back to school so I was studying too. That was a great combination!!

[ USN4thGradeScott - 40 - 11:23:37 ]
If you could work anywhere besides the Arctic where might it be? and a related question: If you could do anything besides art or science or teaching, what might that be?

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 43 - 11:28:09 ]
I would also like to work in alpine areas and South America interests me. If I was independently wealthy I think I would retrain (go back to school) as a medic and work in undeveloped areas of the world. I think the doctors without borders program is really tremendous and would love to be a part of it. Or perhaps I would retrain in construction and get on projects that build houses in undeveloped areas or areas that need disaster relief.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 41 - 11:24:54 ]
As Sue answers our final questions, we would once again like to remind you to share your thoughts with us at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats. Thank you very much!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 42 - 11:27:22 ]
Our next Women of NASA activity is our upcoming forum with Nancy Roman from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This forum will occur between November 9 and November. Check the Women of NASA activity schedule at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/won-chat.html for more information.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 44 - 11:29:04 ]
This concludes today's Women of NASA Chat with Susan Digby from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Our thanks to everyone for joining us today.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 45 - 11:29:44 ]
Our very special thanks to Sue for sharing her career experience, and thoughtful responses to our questions. Thank you Sue!

[ USN4thGradeScott - 46 - 11:29:52 ]
Thank you!!!

[ SusanDigby/JPL - 47 - 11:29:53 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] This concludes today's Women of NASA Chat with Susan Digby from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. our thanks to everyone for joining us today.
Thank-you!!