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The ESA Looks at the World's Oceans

Posted on: Monday, 11 December 2006, 12:01 CST

The European Space Agency is backing two projects to obtain data on key oceanic variables involved in carbon dioxide absorption: color and temperature.

By absorbing half of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, the Earth's oceans have a profound influence on climate. However, the Paris-based ESA says the oceans' ability to absorb carbon dioxide might be impaired as a result of climate change.

The Medspiration and the GlobCOLOR projects combine data from instruments aboard different satellites. GlobCOLOUR uses data from color sensors aboard the ESA's Envisat satellite, as well as the U.S. GeoEye's Orbview-2 satellite.

Medspiration utilizes data from the ESA's Envisat and Meteosat-8, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar orbiters, the U.S. and Japanese space agencies' Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and the AMSRE instrument onboard the U.S. Aqua satellite.

Clues to climatic changes may already be written on the oceans' surface, said Ian Robinson of Britain's National Oceanography Center and manager of the Medspiration Project. ESA is making a difference to public awareness of climate change by helping us to better understand the sea surface temperature story.

Source: United Press International

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