NASA, US and European Partner Satellite Returns First Sea Level Measurements
Launched on a Falcon 9 rocket Nov. 21, the U.S.-European satellite will measure the world's ocean with unprecedented accuracy.
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, a joint
U.S.-European satellite built to measure global sea surface height, has sent
back its first measurements of sea level. The data provide information on sea
surface height, wave height, and wind speed off the southern tip of Africa.
"We're excited for Sentinel-6 Michael
Freilich to begin its critical work studying sea level and helping us
understand the many aspects of our planet's global ocean," said Thomas
Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science at the agency's
headquarters in Washington. "I know Mike would be thrilled that the
satellite bearing his name has begun operating, but he'd also be looking
forward to studying the data from this important mission, as we all are."
Since the successful Nov. 21 launch from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Space-X Falcon 9 rocket,
engineers and scientists have spent several weeks switching on and checking out
the satellite and its instruments, making sure everything is operating as it
should.
"Christmas came early this year," said
Josh Willis, project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern
California. "And right out of the box, the data look fantastic."
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will continue a
decades-long effort to measure global ocean height from space, which started in
the early 1990's. Since then, the rate of sea level rise has doubled with a
current rate of 0.16 inches (4 millimeters) per year. The rise is caused almost
entirely by a combination of meltwater from land-based glaciers and ice sheets
and the fact that seawater expands as it warms.
"Data from Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will
help us evaluate how the Earth is changing," said Karen St. Germain,
director of NASA's Earth Science Division. "When we combine the data from
instruments like the altimeter on Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich with data from
other satellites like GRACE-FO and IceSat-2, we can tell how much of the sea
level rise is due to melting ice and how much is due to expansion as the oceans
warm. Understanding these underlying physical mechanisms is what allows NASA to
improve projections of future sea level rise."
The initial orbit for Sentinel-6 Michael
Freilich was 11.4 miles (18.4 kilometers) lower than its ultimate operational
orbit of 830 miles (1,336 kilometers) above Earth. Engineers plan to move the
satellite into its operational orbit by mid-December, where it will trail
the Jason-3 satellite by 30
seconds. During this tandem flight, scientists and engineers will spend the
next six to 12 months cross-calibrating the data collected by both satellites to
ensure the continuity of measurements between the two. Once assured of the data
quality, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will then become the primary sea level
satellite. The first publicly available sea level data will be available in
about six months, with the rest available within a year.
"We are now gearing up the operational
systems supporting the processing of the instruments' data by EUMETSAT and
partner organizations, as they are all contributing to this complex process,"
said Manfred Lugert, program manager for the Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuity of
Service) mission at the European Organisation for the Exploitation of
Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). "This will keep us busy for the next
few months, as the independent scientific validation and fine tuning need to be
undertaken very carefully." Lugert expects the first operational products
from the mission would be available to those who need them by mid-2021.
In addition to measuring sea level, Sentinel-6
Michael Freilich is monitoring atmospheric temperature and humidity, which will
help improve weather and hurricane forecasts. Engineers and scientists turned
on that instrument Nov. 27, and the initial data look good.
More About the Mission
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is named in honor of
the former director of NASA's Earth Science Division, who was a leading figure
in advancing ocean observations from space. Freilich passed away Aug. 5, 2020.
"I think he would be proud," said Willis. "Like Mike himself, we
expect great things from the satellite that bears his name, and so far, it's
looking good."
The spacecraft is one of two identical
satellites that will extend a nearly 30-year sea level record collected by an
ongoing collaboration of U.S. and European satellites by another decade. That
record began in 1992 with the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite and continued with
Jason-1 (2001), OSTM/Jason-2 (2008), and Jason-3, which has been observing
Earth's oceans since 2016. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will pass the baton to
its twin, Sentinel-6B, in 2025.
Both spacecraft are a part of the
Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission, which will collect accurate measurements of sea
surface height for more than 90% of the world's oceans. The satellites will
also monitor atmospheric temperature and humidity, as well as wave height and
wind speed, which will provide crucial information for operational
oceanography, marine meteorology, and climate studies.
ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT, NASA, and
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are jointly developing
the Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission, with funding support from the European
Commission and support from France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES).
The mission is part of Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation
program, which the European Commission manages.
NASA's contributions to the Sentinel-6/Jason-CS
mission are three science instruments for each of the two satellites: the Advanced Microwave Radiometer for Climate, the Global Navigation Satellite System - Radio Occultation, and the Laser Retroreflector Array.
NASA also contributed launch services, ground systems supporting operation of
the NASA science instruments, the science data processors for two of these
instruments, and support for the U.S. members of the international Ocean
Surface Topography Science Team. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division
of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the agency's contribution to the
mission.
For more information, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/sentinel-6
https://www.esa.int/Sentinel-6
https://edefis.eu/CopernicusFactsheets
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