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U. Scientist Fears Demise of Earth-Imaging Satellite

Posted on: Monday, 12 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

A University of Utah scientist is worried that NASA may soon turn off one of the great success stories in Earth imaging, a satellite called TRMM.

"I just view it as a distorted sense of priorities," Edward J. Zipser, professor in the department of mines and earth sciences, said of the apparent decision to turn off the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. He has led TRMM fieldwork in Texas, Florida, Brazil and Kwajalein, Marshall Islands.

An expert in tropical convection, hurricanes and lightning, he is one of the scientists who use TRMM data in their studies.

The Deseret Morning News interviewed another TRMM scientist beside Zipser. He said NASA has been putting out statements that a decision has not been made to turn off the satellite.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is a partner with NASA in TRMM and built its innovative radar. Japanese colleagues have said their space agency briefed them, and the Japanese agreed with NASA to terminate the project.

"But it hasn't been officially announced yet," the unnamed scientist added. He said many people are upset about the pending loss of the satellite, including scientists and people outside the space agency who use the data.

The satellite represents a U.S.-Japan investment of about $700 million. The reason for bringing it down apparently is the $3 million to $4 million yearly cost to operate it. That seems like small potatoes in light of NASA's gigantic projects, but the agency is looking for ways to trim the budget and proceed with President Bush's plan to land on the moon and Mars.

Earlier this year, the Hubble Space Telescope also seemed headed for the celestial junk yard, with NASA saying the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster made another Hubble servicing mission too risky. Since then, Hubble has had a reprieve of sorts, with the space agency considering a possible robotic probe to service and save it.

The unnamed scientist said TRMM is in great shape and its instruments are working well.

"I'm basically operating on insider rumors," Zipser said. "What I've been told is that it could be a matter of days to weeks before they would turn it off. But it's hard to say who's making the decision; it's hard to say if the decision has already been made."

TRMM's burning up in the atmosphere would be a loss to science, he believes.

"It's one of the great success stories," he said.

Launched in November 1997, TRMM has been sending back a dazzling set of images and information about tropical rainfall. It has been gathering data for both weather forecasting and climate studies, he said.

Its unique space-based radar shows how much rain is falling throughout its orbit pattern, which takes it over much of the tropical regions of the world. The radar allows the satellite to see through clouds and actually determine how much precipitation is falling.

"There's no such thing as a remote rain gauge," Zipser said. But TRMM can measure the rainfall from space, as no other satellite can. This information goes into global forecast models, improving accuracy of weather predictions and helping to chart longer-term changes.

TRMM's string of successes includes these news stories distributed by NASA:

-- June 10, the satellite has discovered that "the African monsoon consists of two distinct seasons."

-- June 9, TRMM shows how deforestation affects the climate of the Amazon Basin in South America.

-- Feb. 10, it finds that as tropical oceans continue to heat up, warm rains in the tropics are likely to become more frequent.

-- May 27, 2003, TRMM indicates that heat from coastal cities causes heavier and more frequent rainfall downwind from the cities.

The satellite's data help in calculating the intensity of a hurricane, he said. "We have a better idea of exactly where that storm center is and how strong it is."

It provides important information for hurricane and typhoon forecasters, he said. Every additional year it is in space, it adds to the knowledge of how Earth's climate works and how it is changing.

It may be another five years before another orbiting weather radar can be launched, Zipser said. TRMM is the only such instrument in space.

"It would be very damaging to climate research if we had to give that up."

E-mail: bau@desnews.com

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