1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,300 Music 2 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,820 Climate change is arguably one of the most important issues facing our planet. 3 00:00:13,830 --> 00:00:17,460 And this is a difficult problem because we don't have a full understanding of 4 00:00:17,460 --> 00:00:21,210 how much carbon we're producing to man-made sources or how much is 5 00:00:21,210 --> 00:00:24,300 occurring from natural sources. And we also don't know how much is being 6 00:00:24,300 --> 00:00:29,490 removed through oceanic uptake and photosynthesis. To solve this we need to 7 00:00:29,490 --> 00:00:33,560 be able to measure carbon globally and have a long-term climate record. Both 8 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:36,620 NOAA and NASA scientists have been working on these problems and that's 9 00:00:36,620 --> 00:00:39,560 where my research comes into play. My name is Emily Wilson 10 00:00:39,570 --> 00:00:42,780 I'm the lab chief of the laser remote sensing lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight 11 00:00:42,780 --> 00:00:45,420 Center. I developed miniaturized instruments 12 00:00:45,420 --> 00:00:47,720 that measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. 13 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:51,620 One of these instruments is a miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer, 14 00:00:51,620 --> 00:00:55,700 and we call that the mini-LHR for short. Our vision is to develop a 15 00:00:55,700 --> 00:01:00,120 low-cost global network of mini-LHR instruments to measure greenhouse gases. 16 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,980 To do this, we've partnered with AERONET. This is a global network of 17 00:01:03,980 --> 00:01:07,880 about 500 instruments that measure aerosols in the atmosphere. We've 18 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,140 designed the mini-LHR to operate in tandem with the AERONET sun photometer 19 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,900 so that we can deploy our instrument into their network. The way the mini-LHR 20 00:01:15,900 --> 00:01:19,040 works is that sunlight that's passed through greenhouse gases in the 21 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,820 atmosphere it's collected with optics that are connected to the side of a 22 00:01:22,820 --> 00:01:26,840 AERONET sun tracker. So we mix sunlight with laser light to produce a 23 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:31,040 beat signal. And from this beat signal we can then calculate the concentration of 24 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,640 greenhouse gases in the atmospheric column. On a daily basis I work on 25 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:39,960 improvements to the instrument, so I'm working in the lab. I'm also working on 26 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:45,540 proposals and publications. And in addition, I manage the Laser Remote Sensing 27 00:01:45,540 --> 00:01:49,140 Lab, which has about 30 people. The most exciting part of my job is testing an 28 00:01:49,140 --> 00:01:52,320 instrument in the field. It's a completely different experience to get 29 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,040 an instrument working in the lab than it is in the field, for example on a volcano 30 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:01,290 at 11,000 feet. Instrument development is not like the science that you see 31 00:02:01,290 --> 00:02:06,600 TV where something big happens all of a sudden. It's slow, steady progress to 32 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,090 develop your instrument. You're troubleshooting, you're trying to figure 33 00:02:09,090 --> 00:02:13,280 out why things aren't working, you're improving components. And eventually you 34 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,280 create a characterized instrument that you can take to the field and deploy. 35 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:21,150 Everybody assumes that NASA is all space flight, but the reality is that 36 00:02:21,150 --> 00:02:25,440 here we do a lot of earth science applications and work on projects to 37 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,940 protect our planet. Working on the mini-LHR is exciting because we're going to 38 00:02:29,940 --> 00:02:33,000 produce a low cost instrument that can contribute to the global effort to 39 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,640 better understand climate change. 40 00:02:35,780 --> 00:02:38,800 Music 41 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:47,060 Beep, Beep, Beep