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- Mission Overview The joint U.S./Argentinian Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D mission will map the salinity—the concentration of dissolved salt—at the ocean surface, information critical to improving our understanding of two major components of Earth's climate system: the water cycle and ocean circulation. By measuring ocean salinity from space, Aquarius will provide new insights into how the massive natural exchange of freshwater between the ocean, atmosphere and sea ice influences ocean circulation, weather and climate. Because ocean surface salinity varies from place to place and over time, scientists can use it to trace the ocean's role in Earth's water cycle. For example, more than 85 percent of global evaporation and more than 75 percent of global precipitation occur over the ocean. By measuring changes in ocean surface salinity caused by these processes, as well as by ice melting and river runoff, Aquarius/SAC-D will provide important new information about how Earth's freshwater moves between the ocean and atmosphere and around the globe. Knowing ocean surface salinity can also help scientists track ocean currents and better understand ocean circulation. Salinity, together with temperature, determines how dense and buoyant seawater is. This, in turn, drives how ocean waters are layered and mixed and the formation of water masses. Salinity also has a major effect on ocean circulation, including the flow of currents that move heat from the tropics to the poles. Aquarius/SAC-D will provide essential ocean surface salinity data needed to link the water cycle and ocean circulation—two major components of the climate system. This information, in turn, will help scientists improve the accuracy of computer climate models. Global ocean salinity has been an area of much scientific uncertainty. Past measurements of salinity have been limited mostly to summertime observations in shipping lanes. Recently, a European mission has begun making ocean surface salinity measurements. With the launch of Aquarius/SAC-D, scientists will collect more data in the mission's first few months than had been amassed by ships and in-water sensors during the previous 125 years. Scheduled for launch no earlier than June 2011, Aquarius/SAC-D is designed to measure ocean surface salinity for at least three years, repeating its global pattern every seven days. During its lifetime, the mission will provide monthly maps of global changes in ocean surface salinity with a resolution of 150 kilometers (93 miles), showing how salinity changes from month-to-month, season-to-season and year-to-year. The spacecraft will fly in a sun-synchronous orbit 657 kilometers (408 miles) above Earth's surface. NASA's Aquarius is the primary instrument on the SAC-D spacecraft. It consists of three passive microwave radiometers to detect the surface emission that is used to obtain salinity and an active scatterometer to measure the ocean waves that affect the precision of the salinity measurement. While salinity levels in the open ocean generally range from 32 to 37 practical salinity units, or psu (roughly equivalent to parts per thousand), the Aquarius sensor will be able to detect changes in salinity as small as 0.2 psu. This is equivalent to about a "pinch" (i.e., 1/8 of a teaspoon) of salt in one gallon of water. Aquarius/SAC-D is a collaboration between NASA and Argentina's space agency, Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), with participation from Brazil, Canada, France and Italy. The Aquarius instrument was jointly built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. JPL will manage Aquarius through the mission's commissioning phase and will archive mission data. Goddard will manage the mission's operations phase and process Aquarius science data. NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is managing the launch. CONAE is providing the SAC-D spacecraft, an optical camera, a thermal camera in collaboration with Canada, a microwave radiometer, sensors developed by various Argentine institutions, and the mission operations center in Argentina. France and Italy are also contributing instruments. Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: AQUARIUS_SAC-D Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites Short_Name: AQUARIUS_SAC-D Long_Name: Aquarius SAC-D End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: AQUARIUS_RADIOMETER Short_Name: AQUARIUS_SCATTEROMETER End_Group Group: Orbit Orbit_Altitude: 657 Orbit_Inclination: 98 Equator_Crossing: 18:00 Local time: e.g. Period: 98 Repeat_Cycle: 7 Orbit_Type: LEO > LOW EARTH ORBIT > POLAR SUN-SYNCHRONOUS End_Group Creation_Date: 2013-04-01 Online_Resource: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aquarius/main/index.html Sample_Image: http://aquarius.nasa.gov/gallery-spacecraft.html Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 2011-06-10 Launch_Site: VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, USA Design_Life: 3 years Primary_Sponsor: NASA Primary_Sponsor: CONAE End_Group End_Group
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