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Alan Buis 818-354-0474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.buis@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Steve Cole 202-358-0918
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Stephen.e.cole@xxxxxxxx
News Release: 2008-217 November 18, 2008
NASA's Quikscat Ocean-Observing Satellite Mission Honored
PASADENA, Calif. -- An Earth-observing satellite that has provided early detection of ocean storms
and advanced the scientific exploration of global ocean wind patterns has been recognized for helping
scientists better understand our home planet. NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior Tuesday
presented the William T. Pecora Award to NASA's Quick Scatterometer, or QuikScat, mission team.
The two agencies present individual and group Pecora Awards annually to honor outstanding contributions
in the field of remote sensing and its application to understanding Earth. The award was established in 1974
to honor the memory of William T. Pecora, former director of the U.S. Geological Survey and under
secretary of the Department of the Interior.
Bob Doyle, deputy director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and Margaret Luce, acting deputy director of
NASA's Earth Science Division, presented this year's awards in Denver at the 17th William T. Pecora
Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium.
Since 1999, the QuikScat team has advanced Earth science research and contributed to improved
environmental predictions using measurements of global radar backscatter of wind speed and direction
over the ice-free oceans. The QuikScat mission was conceived, developed and launched less than two
years after the unexpected loss of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Advanced Earth Observing
Satellite-1 spacecraft, which carried the NASA scatterometer. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., developed QuikScat and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington.
QuikScat measurements have had enormous impact on marine forecasts by enabling early detection
of the location, direction, structure and strength of ocean storms. Data from the satellite are made
available within two hours of acquisition to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and
other international weather forecasting centers to enhance marine watches and warnings, and to improve
the quality of global and regional weather forecasts. QuickScat data also help monitor changes in Arctic
sea ice and icebergs, as well as snow and soil moisture changes on land.
"We at NASA are very proud of the accomplishment of QuikScat," NASA Associate Administrator
Christopher Scolese said. "The mission has improved our understanding of Earth, proved valuable to
the research and operational communities and demonstrated great cooperation among NASA centers,
industry and academia. It also has developed some of the best leaders in NASA and aerospace."
The QuikScat mission team includes personnel from JPL; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md.; Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp. of Boulder, Colo.; the University of Colorado's
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder; and numerous principal investigators
funded by NASA's Ocean Vector Winds science team.
This year's individual Pecora Award recipient is Samuel N. Goward of the University of Maryland,
College Park. Goward, a professor of geography, was recognized for his "outstanding and sustained
scientific leadership in advancing remote-sensing science and especially the continuation of the
Landsat Program." Goward played a key role on the Landsat 7 science team in planning the acquisition
of the most robust, cloud-free global archive of Landsat imagery ever assembled.
Goward's career has been dedicated to advancing geographic education and Earth observation science.
He currently leads an interagency research team to quantify the recent history of forest disturbance for
the North American Carbon Program. Because of his many contributions to remote-sensing education,
science and programs, Goward also has been awarded the U.S. Geological Survey John Wesley
Powell Award and the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Estes Memorial Award.
For more information about the William T. Pecora Award, visit: http://remotesensing.usgs.gov/pecora.php .
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .
For more information about QuikScat, visit: http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm .
JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
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