March
2009

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Key U.S. Senator Cautions Obama on NASA Pick

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Key U.S. Senator Cautions Obama on NASA Pick
By Becky Iannotta
Space News Staff Writer

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We Went to the Launch

Then came the fun part -- we hopped on a bus (well, I didn't do much hopping) and were taken to the launch pad for the NOAA-N prime satellite to be launched the next morning by NASA.  In the first picture, you can see us at the launch pad with the satellite sitting on its Delta-II rocket still in the housing (just to prove that we were there).  In the second picture you can see the rocket after the "roll out" -- that huge housing was "rolled" away from the rocket and gantry.

At 1:45 AM we were bussed to the top of a hill, far enough from the launch pad to be safe, to watch the scheduled 2:22 AM launch.

Paula.

NASA works with girls-in-science
By: BECKY SHAY, The Billings Gazette

Tony Leavitt isn't exactly a chick in science.

He's a self-described "astronaut wannabe" and former high school teacher who works with NASA. He helps teachers and students - including "chicks" - get excited about science.

Leavitt landed in Billings, February 13, to take part in science-based events with Montana State University Billings. Leavitt gave two workshops to teachers at MSU Billings through the university's Educators on Campus program. On Saturday, he had a booth at the Chicks in Science event at Alterowitz Gym.

Leavitt hails from a small town in Maine and works as an education specialist for NASA's Aerospace Education Services Project, a job he never envisioned having but loves. He is one of a cadre of NASA education specialists around the nation. Leavitt is affiliated with Penn State University, which contracts with NASA. Although he lives in Vancouver, Wash., he is tied to NASA's Ames Research Center in California.

"Our program provides, hopefully, inspiration," Leavitt said. "It's about the cool things you can do with math and science and the cool careers you can pursue if you gain those tools."

NASA employees believe educators are their colleagues and have "one of the toughest and most important jobs on earth," Leavitt said.

Girls have great role models at NASA, Leavitt said. The list includes women who have gone to space, some as commanders, but also those who stay on the Earth.

"Most girls don't realize that maybe women are as much involved in NASA as men are," Leavitt said. "They are astronauts, engineers, scientists and technicians who are critically important to the space program."

Kim Schweikert, an MSU Billings outreach coordinator, said Chicks in Science gives girls a chance to see women working in science, technology, engineering and math.

"Just as importantly, this reminds girls that you can be a cool chick and be smart at the same time," she said.

Chicks in Science is targeted at girls in fourth through eighth grades. Studies show that during those grades, girls start losing interest in science, according to event organizers. Schweikert said Chicks in Science works to bridge the psychological barriers, gender expectations and the "coolness" factors that can stop girls from entering science and math fields.

Leavitt said his booth at Chicks in Science gave girls a look at microgravity and the environment of living in space.

"Kids always ask the question, 'Why do I need to know this?' and these activities provide them with real-life applications for the knowledge they are learning in the classroom," he said.

He's also doing some outreach in Billings. The Aerospace Education Services Project has opportunities for Leavitt to visit classrooms and work with teachers and students, so he'll be handing out business cards and hoping for an invitation to return.

Leavitt also encourages teachers to check out the free educational products available through NASA.

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NASA, Channel One News Linkup With Next Shuttle Mission; Students Can Submit Questions for Astronauts

HOUSTON/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a unique event, NASA and Channel One News will offer students the opportunity to ask questions of the next space shuttle crew. The crew includes two former science teachers, Joseph Acaba and Richard Arnold, who are now fully-trained NASA astronauts. They will make their first journey into orbit on shuttle Discovery's upcoming mission to the International Space Station, currently targeted to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than Feb. 27.

On the mission's fourth day, Channel One News Anchor Steven Fabian will interview Acaba, Arnold, shuttle Commander Lee Archambault and International Space Station Commander Mike Fincke. The questions will be selected from written and videotaped submissions made on the Web at:

http://www.channelone.com/news/space-station-q-a

NASA Television and the agency's Web site will broadcast the interview live. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

"This is a great opportunity to recognize the important contribution of teachers inspiring the next generation of explorers," said Joyce Winterton, NASA's assistant administrator for Education at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"We are thrilled for this special opportunity to connect Channel One students directly to the space shuttle crew," commented Angela Hunter, senior vice president and executive producer for Channel One News. "Providing teens with this type of access to an important journey allows students to share in a unique experience and offers them tools to further explore a fascinating area of science."

The STS-119 mission will deliver the station's final set of giant solar arrays, which will provide the electricity to fully power science experiments and support the station's expanded crew of six in May. The flight also will replace a failed unit for a system that converts urine to potable water.

During the 14-day flight, Acaba will conduct two spacewalks and Arnold will conduct three. As a complement to the spacewalks, NASA has developed an educational Web site focused on spacesuits and spacewalks. The site includes activity guides for kindergarten through 12th grade teachers; a clickable spacesuit to learn about the parts and functions of the astronauts' personal spacecraft; and a career corner that features profiles on spacesuit designers and technicians.

To access the resources designed to enhance classroom discussions and excite students, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education/spacesuits

For Acaba and Arnold's complete biographies, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/acaba-jm.html
and
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/arnold-rr.html

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Seeking Nominees to Set Science Standards

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) and American College Testing (ACT) are looking for outstanding science educators and professionals to set basic, proficient, and advanced achievement levels for science in grades 4, 8, and 12. ACT is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides more than a hundred assessment, research, information, and program management services in the broad areas of education and workforcedevelopment. ACT’s contract with NAGB is to set achievement levels for the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment.

Education Council members are invited to nominate outstanding individuals with science expertise to participate in one of two standard setting studies tentatively scheduled for October 7-11, 2009 and January 27-31, 2010. Nominees should be representative of all segments of our nation, and as such, Council Members are encouraged to nominate teachers, non-teacher educators, and members of the general public who you think will make a significant contribution to the national achievement level setting process. Teachers should be current 4th, 8th, or 12th grade science teachers. Non-teacher educators may include curriculum specialists and other administrative school personnel with knowledge of curriculum and policy issues concerning science instruction for 4th, 8th, or 12th grade students. Members of the general public may include school board members, members of local Chambers of Commerce, parents of 4th, 8th, or 12th grade students, and business persons or professionals who use science in their work. You may nominate up to four candidates in each category. If you meet the qualifications for serving as a panelist in our study, you are invited to nominate yourself. For each of your nominees, please provide a brief explanation of how each person is familiar with the subject matter and/or content area, and why you believe the candidate would be an "outstanding" panelist for setting national science standards. To be considered for the October meeting, nominations must be submitted no later than March 31, 2009. To be considered for the January meeting, nominations must be submitted no later than September 1, 2009. Please submit your nominations directly to www.act.org/naepscience.

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) and ACT both desire to have the best-qualified nominees serve as panelists. To that end, they cannot guarantee that everyone who is nominated will be asked to serve, but every attempt will be made to be inclusive, so that all points of view are represented, and that the panelists represent a national perspective.

If you are interested in nominating an individual or would like more detailed guidelines and information regarding ACT’s standard setting meetings, please visit their website (www.act.org/naepscience <http://www.act.org/naepscience>).

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Obama Inaugural Captured By GeoEye-1 From Height Of 423 Miles

GeoEye-1 collected an image over the United States Capitol and the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. The image, taken from 423 miles in space, is the world’s highest resolution, color satellite image of the Inaugural celebration.

The image, taken through high, whispy white clouds over Washington D.C., shows the monuments along the National Mall and masses of people between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. Among the many interesting features in the image are the clusters of people gathered around large jumbotron screens. The image was taken by GeoEye’s newest satellite, GeoEye-1, as it moved from north to south along the eastern seaboard of the United States traveling at 17,000 mph, or about four miles per second. GeoEye-1 is able to discern objects on the ground as small as 0.41-meter, or about 16 inches in size, which represents an object about the size of home plate on a baseball diamond. However, due to current U.S. licensing restrictions, the imagery is re-sampled to half-meter ground resolution. The satellite is currently in its final stages of check-out and calibration. The 4,300-pound satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on September 6, 2008. GeoEye is making the imagery available at no cost.

(Photo credit: GeoEye Satellite Image)

Scoping Out the Year Ahead: Change May be the One Certainty
By: Bruce Lieberman The Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media

The New Year has begun with a blast of arctic air freezing much of the country. The winter weather - and of course it’s weather and not climate - isn’t exactly the kind of motivation people need to think about the globe’s warming.

And then there’s the economy. The relentless tide of gloomy news also isn’t helping to focus the American people on investing in CO2-lowering technologies, conserving energy and demanding costly changes to the nation’s power and automobile industries.

And yet the climate issue is expected to receive a lot of attention this year. President Barack Obama has promised dramatic Executive Branch action on the climate, and on Capitol Hill, new shifts in political power make Congress a likely partner for change.

Meanwhile, next December, climate talks in Copenhagen could - repeat, could - lead to a more promising successor to Kyoto, and perhaps to real global progress toward cutting greenhouse gases.

It’ll be a challenge to keep track of all the changes under way, but journalists will do well to follow a handful of key issues and topics as 2009 unfolds. Below is a rundown of key developments reporters might follow over the next several months.

Obama’s Environment Team

The President has assembled a blue-ribbon environment team that’s been widely praised. Few question at this point that the Obama Cabinet will take a radically different approach to many issues than did its predecessor Cabinet under President Bush.

But there are a few things journalists can watch out for as the new cabinet members get to work:

John Holdren, Harvard energy/environment expert and Obama’s pick for science adviser, is an outspoken advocate for action to reduce CO2. He is the immediate past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and his position as science adviser is being elevated to the level of assistant to the President. How he exercises that clout on climate change in particular will demand close attention. One of Holdren’s first jobs will be to help appoint new members to the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. P-CAST will shape the quality and tenor of advice Obama receives on important science issues.

Carol Browner, White House coordinator of energy and climate policy, will be the nation’s new “climate czar.” But here too, the power she’ll wield, and how she will interact with established federal departments, agencies, and Cabinet Secretaries, is still unclear. A New York Times article discusses these uncertainties.

Browner too has expressed strong views on the climate issue. As EPA chief in the Clinton administration, Browner supported the agency’s authority to regulate CO2 emissions under the Clean Air Act - something the Bush Administration refused to do even after a Supreme Court decision in 2007 affirmed its authority. Browner also has supported efforts by California to take aggressive steps to regulate CO2 emissions, particularly from automakers - unlike the EPA under Bush.

Nobel laureate Steven Chu, often portrayed as an innovator, is to head the Department of Energy. A committed advocate for federal research into new sources of energy as head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chu has championed alternative fuels research, particularly on biofuels. Kenneth Chang and Andrew Revkin provide useful background on Chu in a recent New York Times story.

In his blog, James Fallows of The Atlantic has written that he hopes for another role for Chu as he takes over the energy department.

“He could try to reframe the standoff between climatologists and those nonscientists who genuinely don’t understand how science works, and who genuinely believe that climate scientists’ consensus stems from politics,” Fallows wrote. “I think those people are reachable and need to be reached.”

Some climate “doubters,” including some in The Wall Street Journal editorial page and most of its opinion writers, are all but unreachable, Fallows wrote. But Chu could use his considerable reputation and talent for explaining science to the public to educate many who don’t adequately understand the climate change threat.

“That’s why one of my own main hopes for Chu is that on behalf of science, and from his new bully pulpit, he can re-start the techno-civic discussion concerning the nature of the AGW [anthropogenic global warming] consensus,” Fallows wrote.

“I’ll bet Chu, if he takes it up respectfully as a diplomatic mission, could instead get the reachables to recognize science’s inherent, dispassionate mechanisms for self-correction. I’ll bet he could illuminate scientists’ self-interested desire to promote themselves by genuinely, in fact ruthlessly, seeking truths about nature, with a consequent disinterestedness that has nothing to do with their political views because it has everything to do with their professional aspirations.”

Among other important Obama picks for his environment team is Jane Lubchenco as head of NOAA. The renowned Oregon State University oceanographer (and also former AAAS president) is an intriguing pick for a few reasons that may not be obvious.

A tireless advocate for environmental protection in the oceans, and a significant voice for marine conservation, Lubchenco is also an expert on ocean acidification, perhaps among the most profound and widespread consequences of rising CO2 emissions. Lubchenco is also the architect of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, which helps scientists better communicate their work to the general public, and participate more effectively in public policy.

Along with the selection of Holdren, the Lubchenco choice at NOAA is seen as a strong sign that science and scientists will play a more active role in White House policy making.

Colorado Democratic Senator Ken Salazar, Obama’s pick for Secretary of the Interior, has said part of his job will be to meet the climate change threat with a “moon shot” toward energy dependence. How he manages the agency’s oil and gas leasing program, and the extent to which he promotes wind, solar and other green energy projects on federal lands, will test his rhetoric.

Some environmentalists say Salazar has not adequately spoken out about environmental consequences of oil and gas development in national forests and other wilderness areas.

Shifting Centers of Power in Congress - California Rising

No one should conclude that Obama, despite an inevitable “honeymoon” and sky-high standing in polls, long will have lawmakers in his pocket - despite the strong Democratic majorities in both houses.

But at the same time, developments in a House and Senate under firm Democratic control suggest that much of Obama’s climate agenda likely will gain the backing of some of the most powerful lawmakers in the 111th Congress.

The rise of Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., signals a real shift in congressional power. The new chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Waxman unseated long-time Chairman John D. Dingell of Michigan, who held the chairmanship for 16 years and was seen as too protective of the automobile industry.

A Congressional Quarterly profile of Waxman and the new power he wields offers useful insights.

Other California lawmakers are expected to lead much of the drive toward lower greenhouse gas emissions, as the shift of congressional influence to California amounts to a major factor in shaping environmental legislation.

Californian Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, for instance, has made it clear that she wants the federal government to emulate the kind of aggressive legislation forged by California legislators to lower CO2 emissions.

Another Californian, Senator Barbara Boxer, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, is expected soon to introduce two climate bills. One will be a $15 billion annual grant program to cut greenhouse gas emissions to promote innovations in alternative energy. The other would require the EPA to set up a cap and trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

With former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley chairing the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the council is certain to be far different from President George W. Bush’s CEQ. Yet another Californian, Christina Romer, is to chair the Council of Economic Advisers. California Democratic Representative Hilda L. Solis, Obama’s Secretary of Labor, is expected to make “green jobs” part of her agenda.

Lyndsey Layton of The Washington Post has detailed how Californians will help shape environmental policy, both in Congress and in the White House.

Movements by Key Interest Groups

All kinds of interest groups calling for action on the climate issue have publicized their recommendations. One of them, the liberal Center for American Progress, has pointed to a handful of actions that journalists should keep an eye on in coming months. Among them:

In addition, a broad-based coalition of business and environmental interests, the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, USCAP, in mid-January announced a “blueprint for legislative action” urging a cap and trade approach to achieve an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2050. The group counts among its members GE, BP America, Duke Energy, Du Pont, GM, Johnson & Johnson, Shell, Xerox, and Caterpillar and also includes the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, World Resources Institute, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

The electric utilities’ Edison Electric Institute’s board of directors, reading writing on the wall, on January 14 expressed (pdf) its “commitment to swift enactment of federal legislation capping greenhouse gas emissions, has adopted an updated climate change framework calling for an 80 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2050, from current levels.”

A Green Economy Amidst a Bleak Economy?

Popping up in the media over the past few months, particularly since the economic crisis unfolded last fall, have been stories about how the lending crunch is slowing stalling investments in green technology.

“Never mind the fall in oil prices. It’s the credit crunch that has siphoned momentum from alternative and renewable energy,” wrote Kristen Hays in the Houston Chronicle. “Analysts say many capital-intensive new projects or expansions of established ones are pretty much on ice until access to money loosens up.”

Debate over Obama’s economic stimulus package points perhaps to a tough road for those advocating federal investments in green technologies. In a Washington Post story, for instance, reporters Paul Kane and Michael D. Shear wrote of a developing tug-of-war between those lawmakers wanting an immediate return from the stimulus program and environmentalists and smart-growth advocates favoring a significant portion of stimulus money invested in “green collar” jobs that promote alternative energy and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

There is a lot of pressure to direct stimulus money to “shovel-ready projects” such as highway and bridge construction that will put people to work immediately. But advocates for action on the climate issue are wary.

“Environmentalists and their allies view old-fashioned highway construction as encouraging longer commutes and increasing the energy-consumption crisis of the past year,” Kane and Shear wrote.

The economic crisis is also altering plans by individual states to act. Washington State is scaling back plans to establish a regional cap and trade system. Facing a state budget deficit of $6 billion, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire is worried about the economic costs of the initiative. “Concerned about the bad economy and pressure on businesses, Gregoire is leaning toward giving away most of the pollution credits, rather than auctioning them off as environmentalists had hoped,” Phoung Le of the AP wrote.

The Long Road to Copenhagen in December

Given the current economic climate, the road to global climate talks in Copenhagen will be anything but smooth.

Obama has promised to re-engage the United States in helping to forge a successor to Kyoto. That approach will re-insert the nation into an international negotiation from which it was largely missing in action over the past eight years … but a lot of what happens in December will depend on what the U.S. brings to the table.

And therein lies potential for falling short of the kinds of global reductions in CO2 that scientists say are needed by 2050.

Without domestic progress toward a concrete plan to cut CO2 emissions, America may have little clout with developing nations - chiefly China and India - to take bold steps of their own.

And without China and India committing to significant cuts in CO2, the U.S. Senate may look hard before supporting sacrifices here and in the rest of the developed world.

If recent climate talks in Poznan, Poland, are an indication, movement toward a new international agreement will be extremely difficult.

‘Fiddling As World Melts’ … and Climate Change ‘For Ever’

In “Fiddling with words as the world melts,” The Economist magazine lamented the lack of progress in Poznan.

“At this pace, it seems hard to believe that a global deal on emissions targets … can be reached next December at a meeting in Copenhagen, seen as a make-or-break time for UN efforts to cool the world,” the article said.

There was some reason for optimism at the Poznan meeting, although all the good news seemed to come from Latin America, The Economist reported: “Mexico vowed to halve greenhouse emissions by 2050; Brazil said it could reverse a recent rise in deforestation and cut the rate of forest loss by 70% over the next decade; Peru said that with help it could reduce deforestation to zero.”

Whether the world’s largest greenhouse gas polluters go to Copenhagen with anything so ambitious will be among the most important climate questions of the New Year.

The London Independent attempted to place things in perspective, perhaps with a touch of hyperbole.

In his piece, Tom Burke, a visiting professor at Imperial and University colleges in London, challenged the world’s leaders to not lose sight of the climate change issue as they work on the economic crisis and continuing troubles in the Middle East.

“This is arguably the first week of the most important year in human history,” Burke began, acknowledging the risk he was taking in being too grandiose.

“In December, a meeting on an issue far more important to the future prosperity and security of everyone on earth will take place in Copenhagen. Yet, nowhere did its prospects make the front pages. Terrible though they are, war and recession pass.

“Climate change is for ever.”

Author
Bruce Lieberman reported on science issues from 2002-2007 for the San Diego Union-Tribune, where he now covers education issues. He is also a freelance science writer. (E-mail: bruce@yaleclimatemediaforum.org)

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The next generation of space exploration
By Melanie L. Benfield, Collier Citizen

Nearly 40 years ago, 5-year-old Joe Dowdy sat in front of a black-and- white TV set, mesmerized, as he watched John Glenn become the first American to orbit Earth. Today, Dowdy works to promote the excitement he felt that day in the lives of youngsters across America.

Now a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, currently serving as NASA special operations manager at Kennedy Space Center, Dowdy addressed Pine Ridge Middle School students in Sharon Baines’ science class, Jan. 27, presenting a video history of the space program.

Dowdy grew up in Little Rock, Ark., during America’s ‘Space Race’ in the 1960s. He recalls gathering with his family to watch every launch and remembers well, at the age of 12, watching Neil Armstrong take man’s first steps on the moon in July 1969.

“We were challenged by a young president - John Fitzgerald Kennedy - to place a man on the moon by the end of that decade....” said Dowdy. “The decade was the 1960s.”

Dowdy went on to explain that Kennedy would not live to see that challenge met in his lifetime. He questioned the students, “Were those our best days? Was that the best that we could ever do as a people? If they were, we are going to cease to be a great nation.”

During the video presentation, Dowdy took students on a historical tour, starting with the ‘60s. They observed the original Mercury 7 astronauts, the first walk in space, the Gemini program, the Apollo program and its first crew, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin, in July 1969, and the Space Shuttle missions, which began in April 1981.

Students also watched a video of the International Space Station, the Mars Rover Landings and pictures taken from space of hurricanes and wildfires on Earth.

Dowdy said he has traveled throughout the world during his career with the Marine Corps, to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia and Panama. He added he had visited places that, in their own time, had been great countries and empires; places like Rome, Cairo, Athens, Madrid and London. He said, today, these countries celebrate what they once were, rather than what they are now.

Dowdy challenged the students to ensure that America’s best days as are still ahead and encouraged students to take stock in the future of NASA. He outlined the Constellation program, promoting an American quest to go back to the moon, and then on to Mars.

“We are going to fly our first rocket in this program, this summer, from the Kennedy Space Center,” Dowdy said. “It is called Ares One.”

By the time the program launches Ares Five, he said, one of the students in the classroom could be aboard.

“The first person - man or woman - to step on the surface of Mars could be sitting in this room,” he said. “The future is here - you are part of it. Go forth and do great things!”

This year, NASA will celebrate its 50th birthday. Dowdy said that landmark should be celebrated nationally, not just in Florida.

“For your generation, the new world awaits,” he said. “We are going to the moon and then on to Mars. You are the men and women - your generation - will do that.”

NOAA Offers New Online Media Library Featuring Ocean-Related Photos and Videos

NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries has launched a new online multimedia library offering public access to thousands of high-resolution, ocean-related photos and videos taken by NOAA scientists, educators, divers and archaeologists.

“This robust online library offers thousands of images from all 14 marine protected areas managed by NOAA,” said Michiko J. Martin, national education coordinator for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. “Some of these images depict threats and human pressures on marine life in a compelling fashion that we hope will inspire ocean literacy and conservation.”

Users can access the new media library online.

The National Marine Sanctuaries Media Library is a comprehensive database containing a collection of high-quality still images and video footage featuring all 13 national marine sanctuaries and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The database is fully searchable by keyword, category and location, and all the images are tagged with relevant information including resolution and usage rights.

The media library is part of a continuing NOAA effort to enhance public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the marine environment. It was created to provide a resource for numerous audiences, including students, educators, publishers, conservation organizations and individuals looking for compelling marine-related images.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

The Human Factor: Understanding the Sources of Rising Carbon Dioxide
By Alan Buis
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Every time we get into our car, turn the key and drive somewhere, we burn gasoline, a fossil fuel derived from crude oil. The burning of the organic materials in fossil fuels produces energy and releases carbon dioxide and other compounds into Earth's atmosphere. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide trap heat in our atmosphere, warming it and disturbing Earth's climate.

Scientists agree that human activities have been the primary source for the observed rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide since the beginning of the fossil fuel era in the 1860s. Eighty-five percent of all human-produced carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil, including gasoline. The remainder results from the clearing of forests and other land use, as well as some industrial processes such as cement manufacturing. The use of fossil fuels has grown rapidly, especially since the end of World War II and continues to increase exponentially. In fact, more than half of all fossil fuels ever used by humans have been consumed in just the last 20 years.

Human activities add a worldwide average of almost 1.4 metric tons of carbon per person per year to the atmosphere. Before industrialization, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was about 280 parts per million. By 1958, the concentration of carbon dioxide had increased to around 315 parts per million, and by 2007, it had risen to about 383 parts per million. These increases were due almost entirely to human activity.

While we are able to accurately measure the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, much about the processes that govern its atmospheric concentration remains a mystery. Scientists still do not know precisely where all the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere comes from and where it goes. They want to learn more about the magnitudes and distributions of carbon dioxide's sources and the places it is absorbed (sinks). This knowledge will help improve critical forecasts of atmospheric carbon dioxide increases as fossil fuel use and other human activities continue. Such information is crucial to understanding the impact of human activities on climate and for evaluating options for mitigating or adapting to climate change.

Scientists soon expect to get some answers to these and other compelling carbon questions, thanks to the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a new Earth-orbiting NASA satellite set to launch in early 2009. The new mission will allow scientists to record, for the first time, detailed daily measurements of carbon dioxide, making more than 100,000 measurements around the world each day. The new data will provide valuable new insights into where this important greenhouse gas is coming from and where it is being stored.

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Before humans began emitting significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the atmospheric uptake and loss of carbon dioxide was approximately in balance. "Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere remained pretty stable during the pre-industrial period," said Gregg Marland of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. "Carbon dioxide generated by human activity amounts to only about four percent of yearly atmospheric uptake or loss of carbon dioxide, but the result is that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been growing, on average, by four-tenths of one percent each year for the last 40 years. Though this may not seem like much of an influence, humans have essentially tipped the balance of the global cycling of carbon. Our emissions add significant weight to one side of the balance between carbon being added to the atmosphere and carbon being removed from the atmosphere.

"Plant life and geochemical processes on land and in the ocean 'inhale' large amounts of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and then 'exhale' most of it back into the atmosphere," Marland continued. "Humans, however, have altered the carbon cycle over the last couple of centuries, through the burning of fossil fuels that enable us to live more productively. Now that humans are acknowledging the environmental effects of our dependence on fossil fuels and other carbon dioxide-emitting activities, our goal is to analyze the sources and sinks of this carbon dioxide and to find better ways to manage it."

Current estimates of human-produced carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere are based on inventories and estimates of where fossil fuels are burned and where other carbon dioxide-producing human activities are occurring. However, the availability and precision of this information is not uniform around the world, not even from within developed countries like the United States.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory's highly sensitive instrument will measure the distribution of carbon dioxide, sampling information around the globe from its space-based orbit. Though the instrument will not directly measure the carbon dioxide emissions from every individual smokestack, tailpipe or forest fire, scientists will incorporate the observatory's global measurements of varying carbon dioxide concentrations into computer-based models. The models will infer where and when the sources are emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

"The Orbiting Carbon Observatory data differ from that of other missions like the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite by having a relatively small measurement 'footprint,'" said Kevin Gurney, associate director of the Climate Change Research Center at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. "Rather than getting an average amount of carbon dioxide over a large physical area like a state or country, the mission will capture measurements over scales as small as a medium-sized city. This allows it to more accurately distinguish movements of carbon dioxide from natural sources versus from fossil fuel-based activities."

"Essentially, if you visualize a column of air that stretches from Earth's surface to the top of the atmosphere, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory will identify how much of that vertical column is carbon dioxide, with an understanding that most is emitted at the surface," said Marland. "Simply, it will act like a plane observing the smoke from forest fires down below, with the task of assessing where the fires are and how big they are. Compare that aerial capability with sending a lot of people into the forest looking for fires. In this vein, the observatory will use its vantage point from space to peer down and capture a picture of where the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide are, rather than our cobbling data together from multiple sources with less frequency, reliability and detail."

Gurney believes the Orbiting Carbon Observatory will also complement a NASA/U.S. Department of Energy jointly-funded project he is currently leading called Vulcan.

"Vulcan estimates the movement of carbon dioxide through the combustion of fossil fuels at very small scales. Vulcan and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory together will act like partners in closing the carbon budget, with Vulcan estimating movements in the atmosphere from the bottom-up and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory estimating sources from the top-down," he said. "By tackling the problem from both perspectives, we'll stand to achieve an independent, mutually-compatible view of the carbon cycle. And the insight gained by combining these top-down and bottom-up approaches might take on special significance in the near future as our policymakers consider options for regulating carbon dioxide across the entire globe."

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NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries Support For Teachers

The National Marine Sanctuary Program aims to provide teachers with resources and training to support ocean literacy in America's classrooms. You will find curriculum, lesson plans, and activities that will excite your students about science and technology.

Ocean Guardian Schools
Promote ocean conservation at your school or in your local community by becoming an Ocean Guardian School and apply for funding to implement your conservation project.

Click here to see all the tools at your command.

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2008 Global Temperature Ties as Eighth Warmest on Record

The year 2008 tied with 2001 as the eighth warmest year on record for the Earth, based on the combined average of worldwide land and ocean surface temperatures through December, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.  For December alone, the month also ranked as the eighth warmest globally, for the combined land and ocean surface temperature. The assessment is based on records dating back to 1880. 

The analyses in NCDC’s global reports are based on preliminary data, which are subject to revision.  Additional quality control is applied to the data when late reports are received several weeks after the end of the month and as increased scientific methods improve NCDC’s processing algorithms.

NCDC’s ranking of 2008 as the eighth warmest year compares to a ranking of ninth warmest based on an analysis by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The NOAA and NASA analyses differ slightly in methodology, but both use data from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center – the federal government's official source for climate data.

Global Temperature Highlights – 2008

Global Temperature Highlights – December 2008

Other Global Highlights for 2008

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Severe Space Weather
by Dr. Tony Phillips

You can keep an eye on space weather yourself at the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center, www.swpc.noaa.gov. And for young people, space weather is explained and illustrated simply and clearly at the SciJinks Weather Laboratory.

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NASA Tracks Changes to Earth's Green-covered Regions
By: Ruth Dasso Marlaire
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

NASA's satellite imagery, combined with high-resolution commercial imagery, is giving scientists new insight into the changing appearance of our planet on a regional scale, and whether it is due to human activity or extreme climate.

Researchers from NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, Calif., analyzed several years of imagery data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the NASA Terra satellite, and then fused these results with high-resolution commercial images to identify changes to local vegetative "green" areas. They found that regional land cover disturbances can be identified, most recently as wildfire-burned areas and extensive forest harvests.

"This is the first application of its kind. NASA is beginning to take full advantage of using its daily satellite imagery data in tandem with the compelling visual detail and color images from commercial sources," said Chris Potter, lead author of the new study, published in the May 2008 Imaging Notes, a trade journal for the commercial satellite imaging companies.

By using NASA MODIS to pinpoint changes in extensive areas of land cover, underlying commercial images are given unique, dynamic attributes, allowing consumers and land use planners to make better interpretations of areas showing remarkable changes in color and vegetation.

Scientists found that between 1970 and 2005, California experienced a 75 percent increase in its population, resulting in rapid and extensive urbanization and loss of natural vegetative ground coverage. These urbanized areas expanded into irrigated prime farmland, fallow marginal farmlands and wildlands.

Between 2001 and 2005, the MODIS images taken above an area of approximately 3,200 sq. miles, revealed continually shrinking green areas in California. The area studied included forests (46 percent), shrublands (29 percent) and herbaceous cover (7 percent). According to the MODIS time series analysis, the forests and shrublands showed most of the continual reduction in surface area. In contrast, about 200 square miles of the MODIS image area, less than one percent, showed signs of expanding vegetation green areas. Scientists focused on the shrinking green areas for the remainder of the study.

By using high-resolution commercial images, scientists were able to examine in greater detail the Earth's diminishing vegetation coverage. The image analysis revealed a recent wildfire-burned area and extensive forest harvests near Lower Bear River Reservoir in Amador County, Calif.. Similar areas showed extensive forest cutting in the state's Mendocino, Butte, and Pulmas counties.

NASA researchers will continue to explore use of image analysis to help show greater detail of the ever-changing appearance of Earth.

"The use of satellite imagery has made the mapping of land cover changes possible on local and global scales, which has helped a variety of disciplines, including agronomy, urban planning, and forestry," said Potter.

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Create a Cloud Mobile

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Learn Weather Basics in 5 to 10 Minutes with Simple Projects
From: About.com

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