On the ground,
These large dishes are used to communicate with NASA's Earth-observing satellites.
Here, the data is downloaded and made public, which helps
scientists connect the dots between what we see from space to on the ground.
But why are these dishes in Alaska?
Dr. Meyer: So the reason why these stations, like ASF, are built in Alaska
is because Earth-observing satellites,
if you think of their orbits, they converge in the polar regions.
So in Alaska, we can see the same satellite more often than in the lower 48.
Narration: In fact, this facility is in the perfect position
to receive data from one of NASA's latest Earth-observing missions.
NISAR is an upcoming satellite that will be launched by NASA
in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization.
It will use radar similar to what is flown on NASA's airborne missions,
like for ABoVE, to measure fine, centimeter- scale, changes in Earth's surface.
Dr. Meyer: What's interesting and unique about NISAR is that it's going to cover the globe
regularly every 12 days, and it's going to do it at a
a wavelength or a frequency range, so-called L-band frequencies,
that are very useful for doing Earth observations.
L-band will allow us to study ecosystem changes
and deformations of the Earth's surface with higher accuracy
and better spatial coverage than we can with current systems in space.
Narration: And in the Arctic, some of the most pronounced environmental
changes satellites can observe are happening right down the road.