WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:04.150
[dramatic music]

2
00:00:04.170 --> 00:00:08.160
[dramatic music] >>Narrator:  Ten years

3
00:00:08.180 --> 00:00:12.340
ago, on July 15th, 2004, NASA launched a

4
00:00:12.360 --> 00:00:16.350
new science satellite: Aura. The third in

5
00:00:16.370 --> 00:00:20.360
NASA's Earth-observing system of satellites, Aura was designed to monitor the

6
00:00:20.380 --> 00:00:24.380
composition of the Earth's atmosphere and record our planet's health.

7
00:00:24.400 --> 00:00:28.420
Aura measures the crucial gases that affect our protective ozone layer,

8
00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:32.440
the quality of the air we breathe, and our changing climate.

9
00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:36.480
[music transitions]

10
00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:40.680
The region of our upper atmosphere known as the ozone layer

11
00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:44.690
protects everyone living on Earth's surface. >>Paul: Ozone

12
00:00:44.710 --> 00:00:48.760
screens ultraviolet radiation. If there's less ozone, you

13
00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:52.770
sunburn faster. This UV radiation can also cause things like

14
00:00:52.790 --> 00:00:56.780
skin cancer. It can result in the suppression of your immune system.

15
00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:00.830
>>Narrator: A few decades ago, man-made chemical substances known as

16
00:01:00.850 --> 00:01:04.840
CFCs were destroying our ozone layer. >>Paul: Ozone-depleting

17
00:01:04.860 --> 00:01:08.850
substances were going up and up and up during the 1970s.

18
00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:12.880
In 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed, and that slowed

19
00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:16.910
the growth rate. And in fact now, every nation on the Earth has signed the

20
00:01:16.930 --> 00:01:21.100
Montreal Protocol, and these ozone-depleting substances are fully banned.

21
00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:25.110
So we needed a satellite to go up that could watch the ozone

22
00:01:25.130 --> 00:01:29.150
layer and see how these man-made chemicals were impacting ozone. So this is

23
00:01:29.170 --> 00:01:33.170
really a key period - is ozone starting to recover from the

24
00:01:33.190 --> 00:01:37.220
effects of these ozone-depleting substances? Ozone was going down,

25
00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:41.230
and now it's kind of gone flat. And Aura's been flying during this period,

26
00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:45.430
telling us exactly what's happening to ozone. And we're hoping that in

27
00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:49.440
the next decade or so, we're going to see ozone start going up.

28
00:01:49.460 --> 00:01:53.460
>>Narrator: Aura also measures the pollutant gases

29
00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:57.490
in our lower atmosphere, near the surface. >>Bryan: We've seen

30
00:01:57.510 --> 00:02:01.590
dramatic changes in the US air pollution during the Aura record since 2004.

31
00:02:01.610 --> 00:02:05.620
Our air quality is improving. It's a lot better than it was

32
00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:09.650
a decade ago, and that has been the result of environmental regulations.

33
00:02:09.670 --> 00:02:13.660
They're working. >>Narrator: Even though air quality has been improving in the US,

34
00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:17.710
other places in the world have seen their air quality get worse.

35
00:02:17.730 --> 00:02:21.720
>>Bryan: In countries like China and India, and many other countries in the

36
00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:25.720
Middle-East or Africa, we're seeing pollutant emissions go up. And so satellites

37
00:02:25.740 --> 00:02:29.830
are able to see their pollutant levels and monitor them over time.

38
00:02:29.850 --> 00:02:33.840
[music transitions]

39
00:02:33.860 --> 00:02:38.020
>>Narrator: Aura also measures aerosols, and gases

40
00:02:38.040 --> 00:02:42.030
such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, so that scientists

41
00:02:42.050 --> 00:02:46.060
can study how they interact with clouds and each other, affecting our climate.

42
00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.120
>>Bryan: If you want to understand climate change, you need to monitor the greenhouse gases and how

43
00:02:50.140 --> 00:02:54.130
they change over time. >>Narrator: Climate change takes decades,

44
00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:58.150
and it certainly takes more than ten years to study and understand it.

45
00:02:58.170 --> 00:03:02.160
Aura's record of greenhouse gases and aerosols adds to the satellite

46
00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:06.210
and ground data that we've accumulated over the past several decades.

47
00:03:06.230 --> 00:03:10.260
Along with measurements of things like clouds and rainfall from other satellites,

48
00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:14.270
Aura composition data reveal the processes that contribute to

49
00:03:14.290 --> 00:03:18.300
climate change. [music transitions]

50
00:03:18.320 --> 00:03:22.310
>>Paul: Aura has four instruments. The first one is

51
00:03:22.330 --> 00:03:26.330
the Ozone Monitoring Instrument. The second one is TES.

52
00:03:26.350 --> 00:03:30.400
It measures in the infrared, and it measures things like

53
00:03:30.420 --> 00:03:34.430
carbon monoxide. The third instrument is the Microwave Limb Sounder. MLS measures

54
00:03:34.450 --> 00:03:38.430
a range of gases - chlorine monoxide, also measures ozone.

55
00:03:38.450 --> 00:03:42.520
And the fourth instrument is HRDLS. It didn't last very long,

56
00:03:42.540 --> 00:03:46.560
but HRDLS could measure, again, ozone, it could measure

57
00:03:46.580 --> 00:03:50.570
some of the chlorofluorocarbons. Some of these instruments had evolved

58
00:03:50.590 --> 00:03:54.760
from earlier instruments. But Aura brought new technology

59
00:03:54.780 --> 00:03:58.760
and better resolution.

60
00:03:58.780 --> 00:04:02.970
[music transitions]

61
00:04:02.990 --> 00:04:07.150
>>Narrator: Over these past ten years, Aura has been here to witness and record this

62
00:04:07.170 --> 00:04:11.220
momentous time in our environmental history. Aura sees the effects of

63
00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:15.220
emission regulations on our ozone layer and our air quality, and monitors the

64
00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:19.330
greenhouse gases that contribute to our changing climate.

65
00:04:19.350 --> 00:04:23.390
The Aura mission was designed to last five years.

66
00:04:23.410 --> 00:04:27.570
We are now celebrating the mission's ten-year anniversary, and its instruments

67
00:04:27.590 --> 00:04:31.620
are still producing excellent science data. Based on the amount

68
00:04:31.640 --> 00:04:35.640
of fuel left in the spacecraft and the condition of the instruments, engineers

69
00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:39.640
project that Aura will continue delivering crucial science data until

70
00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:43.820
2022 and beyond.

71
00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:47.850
[final drumbeat reverberates] [beep beep... beep beep...]

72
00:04:47.870 --> 00:04:51.880
[beep beep... beep beep... beep beep...]

73
00:04:51.900 --> 00:04:55.910


74
00:04:55.930 --> 00:04:59.096