Transcripts
Narrator: Earth Science; we should look at it as Earth System Science. There are a lot of interconnecting systems that all require measurements to try to understand.
So, if you are looking at the sea surface temperature; how does that relate to the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, which then changes the weather, which then changes land use, which then changes the amount of dust.
So, these are all connected things that we are trying to understand. So, by making all of these individual measurements, that helps us get a sense of what the whole picture is.
NPP is going to make a whole suite of observations. It observes the entire globe once a day. It has five instruments on it and it spans the entire spectrum of observations required for short-term weather forecasting, as well as observing environmental events such as forest fires or volcanic eruptions, as well as putting together long-term data records.
NPP is a continuation of the existing Earth-orbiting satellites. For weather prediction and for climate monitoring purposes, you need to have continuous observations. These are all multi decades of data sets and we want to just keep on adding to that so we can answer: Is the sea surface changing? Is it getting warmer or colder? Is it getting dustier? Is the size of the ozone hole getting larger or smaller?
So, there is a whole series of “what is happening” observing questions, which can then be used in models so we can answer: Is the climate changing? The purpose of NPP is; essentially it’s the prototype of the next generation weather satellite. It’s the nation’s first attempt to really combine weather monitoring and climate observing in the same platform.