Overview
NASA's
Earth science vision is also a technology vision. Geospatial, computing,
and communications technology power the process of characterizing,
understanding, and predicting atmospheric conditions. Revolutionary
advances in these technologies, combined with science-driven global
monitoring, will enable us to more accurately predict the future
of the Earth system. The New Millennium
Program's Earth Observing 3 (EO3) GIFTS will transform current Earth
surface-and-atmospheric observations. And, it will revolutionize weather
forecasting with its new measurement concept and highly developed
instrument, for which it is named, GIFTS.
With
its advanced technologies, GIFTS will improve the observation of
the three basic atmospheric states——temperature, moisture, and
wind velocity——and how they vary. And, GIFTS will monitor pollutants
and greenhouse gases in both the Earth's troposphere and stratosphere.
These observations allow higher spatial, vertical, and temporal
(over time) resolutions than are now achievable.
By
observing the changes in temperature, clouds and water vapor, and
gases that modulate energy in different spectral bands, scientists
will get a very accurate picture of what is happening and what weather
is likely to develop in the atmosphere. By monitoring the movement
of trace gases in our atmosphere, GIFTS will improve our ability
to forecast air quality.
The
GIFTS-IOMI mission's primary objective is to test new technology
that will significantly improve weather forecasting by measuring
the horizontal and vertical movement of moisture through the atmosphere,
as well as the transformation of gases in our atmosphere. Its secondary
objective is to test the usefulness of geosynchronous satellites
for studying Earth's atmospheric chemistry.
Overview | A Joint Mission | The
GIFTS Instrument |
Instrument Technology Facts
