Before scientists apply new spacecraft measurements to global
climate change research, they must carefully test their understanding
of the data under controlled conditions. During April 2001, a team
of 200 investigators from 11 countries participated in the Aerosol
Characterization Experiment (ACE) field campaign in Asia, deploying
instruments aboard several ships, aircraft, and island stations in
the waters surrounding Japan and Korea. They characterized meteorological
conditions, measured the atmospheric energy balance, and directly sampled
airborne dust and pollution particles while the Multi-angle Imaging
SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and other satellite instruments flew overhead.
These MISR images, centered just north of Shikoku Island in southwest
Japan, were acquired on April 13, 2001 during Terra orbit 7015.
They are two of nine simultaneous views obtained at different angles by
the instrument, at 26 degrees aft of vertical (left) and 60 degrees
forward of vertical (right). The entire west end of Honshu Island,
which crosses the upper half of the images, is covered with broken
clouds. Away from the clouds, the atmosphere looks hazier in the steeper
MISR view; such differences reveal information about particles in the
atmosphere.
As these images were taken, the U.S. National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Research Vessel Ron Brown and
the National Science Foundation (NSF)/National Center for Atmospheric
Research (NCAR) C-130 aircraft probed the environment near Oki island,
in the upper left part of the images. At the same time, the Center for
Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter
aircraft made atmospheric chemistry and heat-balance measurements in the
bottom-center region of the images.
For more about ACE-Asia, see http://saga.pmel.noaa.gov/aceasia/
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team.
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