New spaceborne radar data of California's October 16 7.1-magnitude earthquake near the desert town of Twentynine Palms show ground movement of as much as 17 feet (5 meters) near the fault. The new radar measurements combine two images taken by the European Space Agency's European Remote Sensing-2 satellite about one month before and four days after the quake. The image analysis was carried out by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory imaging radar group using a technique called synthetic aperture radar interferometry, which is becoming a standard method for studying active tectonics.

NASA will launch and deploy the to the Earth Observing System (EOS) series of satellites, part of a precedent-setting program designed to provide daily information on the health of the planet. The Terra spacecraft is scheduled for launch December 16. Terra begins a new generation of Earth science, one that studies the Earth's land, oceans, air, ice, and life as a total global system. A series of 10 spacecraft, known as the first EOS series, are scheduled for launch into the next decade.

New research by scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of California, Los Angeles shows that the devastating drought that plagued North Africa for decades may be a natural phenomenon-fueled by the land's naturally changing vegetation cover. Scientists have been trying to understand what caused the paralyzing drought that began in the 1970s. In a paper published in the Nov. 19 issue of the journal Science, researchers have found that previous drought conditions in Africa grasslands cause following years to remain drier, over-riding meteorological conditions which otherwise would have caused more rain to fall.

NASA scientists are joining researchers from Europe, Russia, Canada, and Japan to mount the largest field measurement campaign ever to assess ozone amounts and changes in the Arctic upper atmosphere this winter. This collaborative campaign will measure ozone and other atmospheric gases using satellites, airplanes, heavy-lift and small balloons, and ground-based instruments. From November 1999 through March 2000, researchers will examine the processes that control ozone amounts during the Arctic winter at mid to high latitudes from their base above the Arctic Circle in Kiruna, Sweden.

As many drought-stricken farms in America limp through the last harvest of the 20th century, researchers are using remote-sensing technology developed for the space program to help improve crop management and increase profitability. At the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., scientists are collaborating with university researchers to apply remote sensing to a sophisticated agricultural technique called precision farming.

NASA scientists have developed a new digital tectonic activity map of the Earth that pinpoints the geologically and volcanically active features of the entire planet over the last one million years. The series of six color maps combines ground- and space-based information to show the Earth's currently active large-scale features, including major faults, earthquakes, and volcanoes. The "Digital Tectonic Activity Map" provides researchers and educators with a more realistic picture of the Earth's crustal dynamics, which may lead to a better understanding of our volatile Earth.

Using spaceborne technologies to study the effects of Hurricane Floyd, a NASA oceanographer has seen indications that there may be significant impacts on the marine food chain along the North Carolina coast due to extensive rainfall in the region. "Rivers and tributaries along the Atlantic are choked [with sediment and waste] and major ecological changes are happening," said Gene Feldman, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.