The Sentinel-6 Michael Freelich satellite is set to launch on Saturday, as the next pay-space of the spacecraft monitors our planet’s sea surface.
The joint venture between NASA and the European Space Agency will begin on November 21 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on November 21 at 12:17 p.m.
Once in orbit, the pickup truck-sized satellite will track global sea levels for five and a half years, coming from 830 miles above the Earth’s surface.
Satellites have been helping to monitor Earth’s sea level for 30 years. The satellite is the latest in a series, but it will collect the most accurate data yet on how it will change in response to global sea levels and climate change.
The Sentinel-6 has a high resolution for collecting criteria, which means it can track both large features such as Gulf Stream as well as small features such as coastal variations.
The satellite will collect data that can be used to improve weather forecasting, hurricane tracking and weather samples, such as humidity and atmospheric temperature. Scientists can also use the data to predict areas where coastline may change.
This is a bilateral mission and the satellite has a twin, the Sentinel-6B, which will launch in 2025. Together, the twin satellites will carry on the tradition of additional continuous surveillance of the sea surface in the fourth decade.
“This mission is a global partnership to study our planet, because it belongs to all of us,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, during a news conference Friday.
“To understand what climate change means to humanity, science needs to think long and hard. This mission is to follow years of uninterrupted measurement by a spacecraft orbiting the earth. We will have serious criteria for more than a decade from this perspective.” We work together as a community and it makes us stronger. “
The legacy of studying our planet
The mission was named earlier this year by Michael Freelich, the late scientist, and director of NASA’s seismological division from 2006 to 2019. Freelich died in August. The satellite was named in his honor to commemorate Freelich’s contributions to Earth science and satellite oceanography and to advance space-based oceanography.
During Friday’s press conference, Zurbuchen reminded everyone of Frylich’s words and perspective on the importance of studying the Earth from space.
“Humanity, not an agency, not a country, not a continent, but … Humanity has been observing the global sea surface with excellent precision for more than 28 years.”
Sentinel-6 follows in the footsteps of Jason-3, a satellite that launched in 2016. It currently provides observations of global ocean topography.
Overlap missions in satellites assure teams that they receive continuous data before the previous mission is completed.
Once launched, the Sentinel-6 will fly back 30 seconds from the Jason-3. The team will calibrate data from both satellites in the coming year before the Jason-3 mission is completed.
This long tradition of sea-based surveillance satellites began with the original Jason Series mission and its predecessor TopX / Poseidon, which began in 2001 and 1992, respectively.
It is part of the Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program. The program maintains accurate data for sea level rise of more than 90% of the Earth’s oceans. The data collected by this chain of satellites has contributed to climate studies, marine meteorology and oceanography.
Eyes on the sea
Long-term uninterrupted monitoring of global sea levels is the key to understanding how our planet is responding to global warming and climate change. And when global sea levels rise, it is a clear indicator of global warming, according to climate experts.
Understanding the global ocean surface can help scientists track ocean currents as they transfer heat to Earth. This ripple effect can affect our weather.
Part of the coastline has also changed in response to the rising sea level caused by climate change. As the planet warms, the oceans absorb the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases, causing some expansion behind sea level rise. Melting glaciers and ice sheets are in most shifts.
Sea level rates have risen over the last 25 years, and will continue to do so in the future. Tracking it is an important factor as coastal floods caused by hurricanes can reshape populated areas.
Freelich recognized that the cooperation of people from all over the world is needed to understand and solve the rising sea level of the earth.
The agency formed the Sea Level Change Science team in 2014 to bring together people to study the glaciers, ice sheets, sea and land movement of NASA and other organizations to get the best picture of sea level performance.
In a statement, NASA’s program manager, Nadia Vinogradova Schiff, said: “We are united in this big goal. “The sea floor is affected by these various factors that do not cover a single discipline – so we have brought in experts to approach it from all angles.”
But this satellite could contribute to a greater understanding of how the Earth’s atmosphere is stabilizing overall, from its global ocean to the top of its atmosphere.
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