03 GP science apps

Slide1: 

Ocean Data Applications • Climate Research • Ship Routing Offshore Industries Hurricane Forecasting Fisheries Management Marine Mammal Research El Niño & La Niña Forecasting Coral Reef Research Ocean Debris Tracking

Slide2: 

APPLICATIONS •Climate Research: By modeling changes in the distribution of heat in the ocean with TOPEX/Poseidon & Jason-1 data, scientists can study patterns of evaporation and resultant precipitation in the ocean system. Ship Routing: Maps of currents and eddies from TOPEX/ Poseidon and Jason-1 are used in commercial shipping and recreational yachting to optimize routes. Offshore Industries: Cable-laying vessels and offshore oil operations require accurate knowledge of ocean circulation patterns to minimize impacts from strong currents. Hurricane Forecasting: Altimeter data are incorporated into atmospheric models for hurricane season forecasting and individual storm severity. Fisheries Management: Altimeter data identifies ocean eddies which bring an increase in organisms that comprise the marine food web, attracting fish and fishermen. Marine Mammal Research: Sperm whales, fur seals, and other marine mammals can be tracked, and therefore studied, around ocean eddies where nutrients and plankton are abundant. El Niño & La Niña Forecasting: Understanding the pattern and effects of climate cycles such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a primary goal of the TOPEX/ Poseidon and Jason-1 missions. Coral Reef Research: Altimeter data is used to monitor and assess coral reef ecosystems, which are sensitive to changes in ocean temperature due to large-scale climate variability. Ocean Debris Tracking: Altimeter data can be used to calculate ocean currents to identify likely locations of marine debris which can pose a hazard to coral reefs, marine mammals, and oceangoing vessels.

Slide3: 

Annual Sea Surface Height Anomaly

Slide4: 

Seasonal Sea Level Changes

Slide5: 

Dynamic Ocean Currents

Slide6: 

Multidisciplinary Studies

Slide7: 

Monitoring El Niño and La Niña NOAA long-term climate forecasts: flood control, agricultural strategy, water and energy use planning Media use to explain weather and climate to the public TOPEX/Poseidon data have become familiar to more than a billion people worldwide EL NIÑO AND LA NIÑA FORECASTING & MONITORING Images produced by Dr. Victor Zlotnicki, Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu, and Akiko Hayashi, of the Oceans Research Element at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Slide8: 

Tracking El Niño & La Niña

EL NIÑO COMING: 

EL NIÑO COMING

EL NIÑO GOING: 

EL NIÑO GOING

EL NIÑO GONE: 

EL NIÑO GONE

Slide12: 

El Niño Global Impacts: Some are Harmful…

Slide13: 

… Some are Great! Gulf of Alaska - Improved salmon fisheries due to increased juvenile survival Arizona - Desert gets more rainfall than usual - flora and fauna thrive California - Surf’s up, as sea levels are up by as much as six inches. Better surfing and sport fishing this year Kansas - Plenty of summer rain produces bountiful harvests and fills emergency silos. “Tornado Alley” shuts down. South Atlantic Coast of U.S. - A mild hurricane season after a disastrous 1996. Southern Rocky Mountains - Plenty of snow forecast for this winter, water storage is up and so are tourist dollars.

Slide14: 

Long-term seasonal forecasts of the numbers and strengths of hurricanes expected in a given hurricane season Short-term forecasts of the strength of individual hurricanes HURRICANE FORECASTING

Slide15: 

SHIP ROUTING Private companies make charts of surface height Eddies and swift moving currents can be identified Transatlantic ship routing, cable laying, and oil exploration use these maps to increase safety and economic return.

WHERE ARE THE WHALES?: 

WHERE ARE THE WHALES?

Slide17: 

CORAL BLEACHING TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter sea level and NOAA AVHRR sea-surface temperature data monitor and assess global coral reef environments. High and low tropical sea levels and ocean temperatures caused by the ‘97 to ‘98 El Niño/ La Niña “bleached” 25% of all coral reefs. Maldive Islands, Central Indian Ocean, NASA Landsat 7 image Biodiversity - Coral ecosystems are our oceans “rainforests” 90%Bleached

Slide18: 

PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION The current Pacific Decadal Oscillation pattern has persisted since April 2001 Warm water (higher sea levels) in red and white Cooler water (lower sea level) in blue PDO images are courtesy of Nathan Mantua & Steven Hare, University of Washington, Units are degrees Celsius

Slide19: 

GLOBAL MEAN SEA LEVEL VARIATION Nerem, 2001 Global sea level has increased at an average rate (red line) of 2.4 millimeters per year from 1993-2001.