VMC went pro and goes great

In the past fortnight, the VMC camera on Mars Express has delivered some of the best images ever, showing the Martian surface in excellent detail, colour and contrast.

If you’re a VMCer (and, if you’re reading this, you are!) and you’ve been following the live (well, as live as possible) frequent updates in Twitter, you’ve been treated to some excellent images of the north polar ice cap, Valles Marineris, the Tharsis Montes region and some of the craters where rovers rove.

17-271_16.17.11_VMC_Img_No_6.png

Many of the images in August and September so far were acquired from an altitude above the surface of just 3000-5000 km, giving even the puny VMC webcam a chance to use its simple optics to get a great ‘close-up’ view of what’s passing by below.

In fact, these are some of the closest-ever images that VMC has been able to grab, and were acquired approximately half-way between periares and apoares – the closest and furthest points to the surface in the highly elliptical MEX orbit.

And they contrast (nicely!) with the typical VMC images we’ve been used to seeing for the past near-decade, which were all taken at or very close to apoares at about 10 000km.

Why the great pics?

Simon Wood, spacecraft operations engineer on the Mars Express team here at ESOC in Darmstadt, says that the delicious close ups are now possible because VMC has ‘gone pro’.

He points to the big news last year when VMC was promoted to the status of a pro science instrument. Its images are now being studied – and new software is being developed – by the Planetary Sciences Group of the University of the Basque Country, Spain.

The promotion to adulthood meant that observing time (and, hence, spacecraft pointings) for VMC can be programmed into the overall mission science timeline, in coordination with pointing slots for the rest of the instruments, which is a higher priority than when the camera was being used only for outreach, education and PR.

Formerly, VMC observation slots could only be programmed on a strict non-interference basis with the spacecraft’s ‘real’ science instruments, with the effect that VMC only got to peek at Mars from high above, at apoares, the highest point in MEX’s orbit, which few or none of the other instrument teams ever requested as most of their observations require the spacecraft to be close to the planet.

So, back to the question: why the recent series of great close ups?

“To enable it to be used as a scientific instrument, it is necessary to understand how the colours, brightness and shadows on VMC images match up to reality,” says Simon.

“In general, instruments need to regularly collect data for calibration because they change with time. In the particular, in the case of VMC, these data were never collected in the first place, as it ‘wasn’t an instrument’.”

“The low-altitude images are being acquired to obtain what we call flat fields – to correct the pixel response variability.”

“So as part of this process, in August and September, we are taking a series of images at lower altitudes where we have good data from other instruments to which we can compare and correct VMC images. This will help calibrate the output from VMC in future.”

In the meantime, for the rest of we VMCers, it’s a chance to enjoy some terrific shots of our second-favourite planet, as updates are auto-tweeted and all images auto-posted into the dedicated Flickr site.



from Rocket Science http://ift.tt/2xMg0xP
v

In the past fortnight, the VMC camera on Mars Express has delivered some of the best images ever, showing the Martian surface in excellent detail, colour and contrast.

If you’re a VMCer (and, if you’re reading this, you are!) and you’ve been following the live (well, as live as possible) frequent updates in Twitter, you’ve been treated to some excellent images of the north polar ice cap, Valles Marineris, the Tharsis Montes region and some of the craters where rovers rove.

17-271_16.17.11_VMC_Img_No_6.png

Many of the images in August and September so far were acquired from an altitude above the surface of just 3000-5000 km, giving even the puny VMC webcam a chance to use its simple optics to get a great ‘close-up’ view of what’s passing by below.

In fact, these are some of the closest-ever images that VMC has been able to grab, and were acquired approximately half-way between periares and apoares – the closest and furthest points to the surface in the highly elliptical MEX orbit.

And they contrast (nicely!) with the typical VMC images we’ve been used to seeing for the past near-decade, which were all taken at or very close to apoares at about 10 000km.

Why the great pics?

Simon Wood, spacecraft operations engineer on the Mars Express team here at ESOC in Darmstadt, says that the delicious close ups are now possible because VMC has ‘gone pro’.

He points to the big news last year when VMC was promoted to the status of a pro science instrument. Its images are now being studied – and new software is being developed – by the Planetary Sciences Group of the University of the Basque Country, Spain.

The promotion to adulthood meant that observing time (and, hence, spacecraft pointings) for VMC can be programmed into the overall mission science timeline, in coordination with pointing slots for the rest of the instruments, which is a higher priority than when the camera was being used only for outreach, education and PR.

Formerly, VMC observation slots could only be programmed on a strict non-interference basis with the spacecraft’s ‘real’ science instruments, with the effect that VMC only got to peek at Mars from high above, at apoares, the highest point in MEX’s orbit, which few or none of the other instrument teams ever requested as most of their observations require the spacecraft to be close to the planet.

So, back to the question: why the recent series of great close ups?

“To enable it to be used as a scientific instrument, it is necessary to understand how the colours, brightness and shadows on VMC images match up to reality,” says Simon.

“In general, instruments need to regularly collect data for calibration because they change with time. In the particular, in the case of VMC, these data were never collected in the first place, as it ‘wasn’t an instrument’.”

“The low-altitude images are being acquired to obtain what we call flat fields – to correct the pixel response variability.”

“So as part of this process, in August and September, we are taking a series of images at lower altitudes where we have good data from other instruments to which we can compare and correct VMC images. This will help calibrate the output from VMC in future.”

In the meantime, for the rest of we VMCers, it’s a chance to enjoy some terrific shots of our second-favourite planet, as updates are auto-tweeted and all images auto-posted into the dedicated Flickr site.



from Rocket Science http://ift.tt/2xMg0xP
v

Climate and energy are becoming focal points in state political races

As soon as Donald Trump won the presidential election, people in the US and around the world knew it was terrible news for the environment. Not wanting to believe that he would try to follow through on our worst fears, we held out hope

Those hopes for a sane US federal government were misplaced. But they are replaced by a new hope – an emerging climate leadership at the state level and a continuation of economic forces that favor clean/renewable energy over dirty fossil fuels. In fact, it appears that some states are relishing the national and international leadership roles that they have undertaken. Support for sensible climate and energy policies is now a topic to run on in elections.

This change has manifested itself in American politics. One such plan stems from my home state, but it exemplifies work in other regions. I live in the state of Minnesota where we are gearing up for a gubernatorial election, which is where this plan comes from.

My state is well known as somewhat progressive, both socially and economically. The progressive policies resulted in a very strong 2007 renewable energy standard, which helped to reduce carbon pollution and create 15,000 jobs. 

As an aside, it is really painful for me to have to describe sane energy policies as “progressive.” The fact that conservatives in the US have largely attacked clean energy and the science of climate change is deeply disappointing, but it is a reality nonetheless. 

Consequently, it is not surprising that one of the candidates for Governor, Rebecca Otto, has outlined what may become the trend among other states. She is not yet elected, but her clean energy proposal has many people talking. 

The proposal presents a two-part focus on clean energy-based economic development and climate-change mitigation. Basically, in my state (and in many other states), the clean energy economy is a major contributor to the creation of new, high-paying jobs. Here wind and solar power are king. If you drive through the farm fields of southern Minnesota, you will see wind farms that stretch as far as the eye can see. With solar, there are some large-scale solar farms but the real excitement is the small-scale commercial and residential solar generation that is complementing the large-scale wind turbines.

From an energy production standpoint, this makes sense. A diversified renewable energy portfolio is one that that includes large wind (which provides intermittent power) along with solar that also is intermittent but often generates power when the wind isn’t blowing (and vice versa). Also, the small-scale nature of solar makes it more reliable, less subject to local weather systems.

So the proposed clean energy plan would leverage the fast-growing and high-wage industries in energy. It also brings to bear perhaps the best financing mechanism to spur clean energy growth (the so-called “fee and dividend”). The way fee and dividend works is a fee is charged to companies that produce greenhouse gas emissions. No longer would society be subsidizing the costs from carbon pollution

The revenue from the fees would be returned to citizens so that it becomes a revenue-neutral tool. There is no net increase in cost or increase in income. What the fee and dividend method does, however, is reward people and companies for good choices. If you make choices that reduce your greenhouse gas contributions, you end up with extra money at the end of the year. On the other hand, if you make poor choices, you end up with less money. I think of this as a tax that advantages the smart over the, well, less smart.

What is also exciting about the plan is that a portion of the fees would go to fund clean-energy technology and tax credits. For instance, residents would get funds to offset the costs of energy purchases. So when residents insulate their house, buy solar panels, or install high-efficiency heat pumps, part of that cost is covered.

It will be interesting to see if similar plans emerge nationally. Most importantly, it will be interesting to see whether the climate change and energy topic becomes something that political candidates actively run on. In the past, this issue has been low on voter priorities lists. But, if proposing bold new plans can get votes, that may change – and quickly.

Click here to read the rest



from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2x2o89X

As soon as Donald Trump won the presidential election, people in the US and around the world knew it was terrible news for the environment. Not wanting to believe that he would try to follow through on our worst fears, we held out hope

Those hopes for a sane US federal government were misplaced. But they are replaced by a new hope – an emerging climate leadership at the state level and a continuation of economic forces that favor clean/renewable energy over dirty fossil fuels. In fact, it appears that some states are relishing the national and international leadership roles that they have undertaken. Support for sensible climate and energy policies is now a topic to run on in elections.

This change has manifested itself in American politics. One such plan stems from my home state, but it exemplifies work in other regions. I live in the state of Minnesota where we are gearing up for a gubernatorial election, which is where this plan comes from.

My state is well known as somewhat progressive, both socially and economically. The progressive policies resulted in a very strong 2007 renewable energy standard, which helped to reduce carbon pollution and create 15,000 jobs. 

As an aside, it is really painful for me to have to describe sane energy policies as “progressive.” The fact that conservatives in the US have largely attacked clean energy and the science of climate change is deeply disappointing, but it is a reality nonetheless. 

Consequently, it is not surprising that one of the candidates for Governor, Rebecca Otto, has outlined what may become the trend among other states. She is not yet elected, but her clean energy proposal has many people talking. 

The proposal presents a two-part focus on clean energy-based economic development and climate-change mitigation. Basically, in my state (and in many other states), the clean energy economy is a major contributor to the creation of new, high-paying jobs. Here wind and solar power are king. If you drive through the farm fields of southern Minnesota, you will see wind farms that stretch as far as the eye can see. With solar, there are some large-scale solar farms but the real excitement is the small-scale commercial and residential solar generation that is complementing the large-scale wind turbines.

From an energy production standpoint, this makes sense. A diversified renewable energy portfolio is one that that includes large wind (which provides intermittent power) along with solar that also is intermittent but often generates power when the wind isn’t blowing (and vice versa). Also, the small-scale nature of solar makes it more reliable, less subject to local weather systems.

So the proposed clean energy plan would leverage the fast-growing and high-wage industries in energy. It also brings to bear perhaps the best financing mechanism to spur clean energy growth (the so-called “fee and dividend”). The way fee and dividend works is a fee is charged to companies that produce greenhouse gas emissions. No longer would society be subsidizing the costs from carbon pollution

The revenue from the fees would be returned to citizens so that it becomes a revenue-neutral tool. There is no net increase in cost or increase in income. What the fee and dividend method does, however, is reward people and companies for good choices. If you make choices that reduce your greenhouse gas contributions, you end up with extra money at the end of the year. On the other hand, if you make poor choices, you end up with less money. I think of this as a tax that advantages the smart over the, well, less smart.

What is also exciting about the plan is that a portion of the fees would go to fund clean-energy technology and tax credits. For instance, residents would get funds to offset the costs of energy purchases. So when residents insulate their house, buy solar panels, or install high-efficiency heat pumps, part of that cost is covered.

It will be interesting to see if similar plans emerge nationally. Most importantly, it will be interesting to see whether the climate change and energy topic becomes something that political candidates actively run on. In the past, this issue has been low on voter priorities lists. But, if proposing bold new plans can get votes, that may change – and quickly.

Click here to read the rest



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The Mail's censure shows which media outlets are biased on climate change

Back in February, the conservative UK tabloid Mail on Sunday ran an error-riddled piece by David Rose attacking Noaa climate scientists, who had published data and a paper showing that there was never a global warming pause. The attack was based on an interview with former Noaa scientist John Bates, who subsequently admitted about his comments:

I knew people would misuse this. But you can’t control other people.

The UK press regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organization (Ipso) has now upheld a complaint submitted by Bob Ward of the London School of Economics. Ipso ruled that the Mail piece “failed to take care over the accuracy of the article” and “had then failed to correct these significantly misleading statements,” and the Mail on Sunday was required to publish the Ipso adjudication.

The Mail’s manufactured controversy

Essentially, Bates had expressed displeasure in the way the data from a Noaa paper had been archived at the organization. Rose and the Mail blew this minor complaint into the sensationalist claim that “world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data.” It would be hard to find a better example of fake news than this one. The piece included a grossly misleading chart that Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies director Gavin Schmidt described as a "hilarious screw up."  In fact, the Noaa data and paper in question had already been independently verified by other researchers, and are in close agreement with global temperature data from other scientific groups.

And of course the paper itself had undergone rigorous peer-review prior to its publication in one of the world’s most highly-regarded scientific journals, Science. All signs pointed to the Noaa data and paper being based on sound science that had been reproduced and verified. But that didn’t fit the preferred denialist narrative of Rose and the Mail on Sunday, so they weaved a conspiracy theory that then reverberated through the right-wing media echo chamber.

Misinformation spread through right-wing media outlets

Rose’s story seemed to have all the climate denial components that biased conservative media outlets crave. A lone wolf scientist whistleblowing his former colleagues with accusations of data manipulation for political purposes? Despite the glaring errors in the story that were immediately called out by climate scientists and reputable science journalists, this narrative proved irresistible to the conservative media: Breitbart, Fox News, Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh, The Daily Caller, The Washington Times, and more ran with Rose’s story. Meanwhile, legitimate news outlets like The GuardianThe Washington PostCarbon BriefE&E NewsArs TechnicaScience InsiderRealClimate, and numerous other science blogs quickly debunked Rose’s falsehoods.

The errors really aren’t surprising. Rose and the Mail have a long history of climate denial, including error-riddled stories on Arctic sea iceAntarctic sea icehuman-caused global warming, even the very existence of global warming. And the Mail has such a long history of inaccuracies in general that Wikipedia editors consider it an unreliable source and banned its use. But Breitbart, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and other right-wing media outlets have no qualms with publishing inaccuracies from unreliable sources, as long as the story advances their climate denial agenda.

House (anti-)science committee echoed the Mail falsehoods

Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, has been attacking the Noaa scientists since they published their ‘pausebuster’ paper in 2015. Rose’s piece was almost perfectly timed for one of Smith’s frequent anti-climate science congressional hearings just two days later, but alas, by then reputable journalists had already soundly debunked the story. Smith could only plead with attendees to believe that the story “may be more serious than you think.”

As Ipso has verified, it wasn’t.

Click here to read the rest



from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2x2s4aC

Back in February, the conservative UK tabloid Mail on Sunday ran an error-riddled piece by David Rose attacking Noaa climate scientists, who had published data and a paper showing that there was never a global warming pause. The attack was based on an interview with former Noaa scientist John Bates, who subsequently admitted about his comments:

I knew people would misuse this. But you can’t control other people.

The UK press regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organization (Ipso) has now upheld a complaint submitted by Bob Ward of the London School of Economics. Ipso ruled that the Mail piece “failed to take care over the accuracy of the article” and “had then failed to correct these significantly misleading statements,” and the Mail on Sunday was required to publish the Ipso adjudication.

The Mail’s manufactured controversy

Essentially, Bates had expressed displeasure in the way the data from a Noaa paper had been archived at the organization. Rose and the Mail blew this minor complaint into the sensationalist claim that “world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data.” It would be hard to find a better example of fake news than this one. The piece included a grossly misleading chart that Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies director Gavin Schmidt described as a "hilarious screw up."  In fact, the Noaa data and paper in question had already been independently verified by other researchers, and are in close agreement with global temperature data from other scientific groups.

And of course the paper itself had undergone rigorous peer-review prior to its publication in one of the world’s most highly-regarded scientific journals, Science. All signs pointed to the Noaa data and paper being based on sound science that had been reproduced and verified. But that didn’t fit the preferred denialist narrative of Rose and the Mail on Sunday, so they weaved a conspiracy theory that then reverberated through the right-wing media echo chamber.

Misinformation spread through right-wing media outlets

Rose’s story seemed to have all the climate denial components that biased conservative media outlets crave. A lone wolf scientist whistleblowing his former colleagues with accusations of data manipulation for political purposes? Despite the glaring errors in the story that were immediately called out by climate scientists and reputable science journalists, this narrative proved irresistible to the conservative media: Breitbart, Fox News, Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh, The Daily Caller, The Washington Times, and more ran with Rose’s story. Meanwhile, legitimate news outlets like The GuardianThe Washington PostCarbon BriefE&E NewsArs TechnicaScience InsiderRealClimate, and numerous other science blogs quickly debunked Rose’s falsehoods.

The errors really aren’t surprising. Rose and the Mail have a long history of climate denial, including error-riddled stories on Arctic sea iceAntarctic sea icehuman-caused global warming, even the very existence of global warming. And the Mail has such a long history of inaccuracies in general that Wikipedia editors consider it an unreliable source and banned its use. But Breitbart, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and other right-wing media outlets have no qualms with publishing inaccuracies from unreliable sources, as long as the story advances their climate denial agenda.

House (anti-)science committee echoed the Mail falsehoods

Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, has been attacking the Noaa scientists since they published their ‘pausebuster’ paper in 2015. Rose’s piece was almost perfectly timed for one of Smith’s frequent anti-climate science congressional hearings just two days later, but alas, by then reputable journalists had already soundly debunked the story. Smith could only plead with attendees to believe that the story “may be more serious than you think.”

As Ipso has verified, it wasn’t.

Click here to read the rest



from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2x2s4aC

New research, September 18-24, 2017

A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below. The graphic is from Lamsal et al. (paper #32).

Climate change

1. Inconsistent subsurface and deeper ocean warming signals during recent global warming and hiatus

"In general, the global SDO has sequestered a significant amount of heat – about 3.50*1022 joules with trends of 0.59 W m−2 on average among the four datasets – during the recent hiatus, demonstrating widespread and significant warming signals in the global SDO." (SDO = Subsurface and Deeper Ocean.)

2. Enhanced Decadal Warming of the Southeast Indian Ocean during the Recent Global Surface Warming Slowdown

"The rapid Indian Ocean warming during the early-21th century was a major heat sink for the recent global surface warming slowdown. Analysis of observational data and ocean model experiments reveals that during 2003-2012 more than half of the increased upper Indian Ocean heat content was concentrated in the southeast Indian Ocean (SEIO), causing a warming “hotspot” of 0.8-1.2 K decade-1 near the west coast of Australia." ... "Large-ensemble climate model simulations suggest that this warming event was likely also exacerbated by anthropogenic forcing and thus unprecedentedly strong as compared to previous IPO transition periods."

3. Emission budgets and pathways consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C

"If CO2 emissions are continuously adjusted over time to limit 2100 warming to 1.5°C, with ambitious non-CO2 mitigation, net future cumulative CO2 emissions are unlikely to prove less than 250GtC and unlikely greater than 540GtC. Hence, limiting warming to 1.5°C is not yet a geophysical impossibility, but is likely to require delivery on strengthened pledges for 2030 followed by challengingly deep and rapid mitigation."

4. More-Persistent Weak Stratospheric Polar Vortex States Linked to Cold Extremes

"Using hierarchical clustering, we show that over the last 37 years, the frequency of weak vortex states in mid to late winter (January and February) has increased which were accompanied by subsequent cold extremes in mid-latitude Eurasia. For this region 60% of the observed cooling in the era of Arctic amplification, i.e. since 1990, can be explained by the increased frequency of weak stratospheric polar vortex states, a number which increases to almost 80% when El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability is included as well."

5. Climatic and synoptic characterization of heat waves in Brazil

"The performed analysis reveals the existence of positive and significant trends in HW frequency since the 1980s, particularly for the cities of São Paulo, Manaus, and Recife."

6. Roles of wind stress and thermodynamic forcing in recent trends in Antarctic sea ice and Southern Ocean SST: An ocean-sea ice model study

"The results suggest that Antarctic sea ice expansion is mostly explained by trends in the thermodynamic surface forcing, notably cooling and drying and a reduction in longwave radiation. Similarly, thermodynamic forcing is found to be the main driver of the zonal SST cooling trend. While apparently less influential on sea ice extent and SST, wind stress plays a key role in sea ice motion, thickening coastal sea ice, and thinning and decreasing the concentration of ice in mid-pack regions of the Amundsen-eastern Ross seas and 65–95°E in winter-spring."

7. CO2-Induced Ocean Warming of the Antarctic Continental Shelf in an Eddying Global Climate Model

8. Impacts of recent warming and the 2015/16 El Niño on tropical Peruvian ice fields

9. Fingerprints of Sea-Level Rise on Changing Tides in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays

10. Hydrological drought in the Anthropocene: impacts of local water extraction and reservoir regulation in the US

11. Are simulated and observed 20th century tropical Pacific sea surface temperature trends significant relative to internal variability?

12. Driving Roles of Tropospheric and Stratospheric Thermal Anomalies in Intensification and Persistence of the Arctic Superstorm in 2012

13. The role of microbes in snowmelt and radiative forcing on an Alaskan icefield

14. Multi-decadal weakening of Indian summer monsoon circulation induces an increasing northern Indian Ocean sea level

15. Global budget of tropospheric ozone: Evaluating recent model advances with satellite (OMI), aircraft (IAGOS), and ozonesonde observations

16. A Madden-Julian Oscillation event remotely accelerates ocean upwelling to abruptly terminate the 1997/1998 super El Niño

17. Methods and model dependency of extreme event attribution: The 2015 European drought

18. Variability and quasi-decadal changes in the methane budget over the period 2000–2012

19. Warming and wetting climate during last century revealed by an ice core in northwest Tibetan Plateau

20. Deep Uncertainty Surrounding Coastal Flood Risk Projections: A Case Study for New Orleans

21. Which temperature and precipitation extremes best explain the variation of warm vs. cold years and wet vs. dry years?

22. Relative humidity has uneven effects onshifts from snow to rain over the Western U.S.

23. Long-term warming trends in Korea and contribution of urbanization: An updated assessment

24. Post-stagnation retreat of Kamb Ice Stream's grounding zone

25. Structure and evolution of the drainage system of a Himalayan debris-covered glacier, and its relationship with patterns of mass loss

26. Impacts of 1.5 and 2 °C global warming on water availability and extreme hydrological events in Yiluo and Beijiang River catchments in China

27. The influence of flow and bed slope on gas transfer in steep streams and their implications for evasion of CO2

28. A Source-Receptor Perspective on the Polar Hydrologic Cycle: Sources, Seasonality, and Arctic-Antarctic Parity in the Hydrologic Cycle Response to CO2-Doubling

29. Is there a role for human-induced climate change in the precipitation decline that drove the California drought?

30. The Impact of Climate Change on Hazardous Convective Weather in the United States: Insight from High-Resolution Dynamical Downscaling

31. Tropical ocean contributions to California’s surprisingly dry El Niño of 2015-16

Climate change impacts

32. The greening of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau under climate change

"Highlights

• Climatic suitability of the nine Himalayan tree-line species will expand towards higher elevation into areas that are currently unsuitable.

• The total climatic suitable areas will increase in the future compared to the current period.
• High elevation belts will see more climatic suitability.
• Cold stress is the main limiting factor for the current and future distribution of the investigated species."

33. Adaptation to climate change and freshwater resources in Vusama village, Viti Levu, Fiji

"In particular, prolonged drought and changing seasonal patterns, together with people’s increasing reliance on a village borehole in lieu of family wells have resulted in a freshwater crisis. People are coping by using earnings from wage employment and harvesting and selling seafood to buy water and vegetables, rationing freshwater and depending on extended social networks for fresh produce."

34. Vulnerability of specialty crops to short-term climatic variability and adaptation strategies in the Midwestern USA

"Our results indicate that weather-induced losses vary by state with excessive moisture resulting in the highest total number of claims across all Midwestern states followed by freeze and drought events. Overall, specialty crop growers are aware of the increased production risk under a changing climate and have identified the need for crop-specific weather, production, and financial risk management tools and increased crop insurance coverage."

35. Soil microbial communities drive the resistance of ecosystem multifunctionality to global change in drylands across the globe

36. Increased resource use efficiency amplifies positive response of aquatic primary production to experimental warming

37. Quick release of internal water storage in a glacier leads to underestimation of the hazard potential of glacial lake outburst floods from Lake Merzbacher in central Tian shan Mountains

38. Staying in place during times of change in Arctic Alaska: the implications of attachment, alternatives, and buffering

39. Plant resistance to drought depends on timely stomatal closure

40. The relative importance of subjective and structural factors for individual adaptation to climate change by forest owners in Sweden

41. Ecological performance of construction materials subject to ocean climate change

42. Climate variability affects the germination strategies exhibited by arid land plants

43. Winter warming effects on tundra shrub performance are species-specific and dependent on spring conditions

44. Effects of shrub and tree cover increase on the near-surface atmosphere in northern Fennoscandia

45. Significance of direct and indirect impacts of climate change on groundwater resources in the Olifants River basin: A review

46. Complex effect of projected sea temperature and wind change on flatfish dispersal

Climate change mitigation

47. The potential of behavioural change for climate change mitigation: a case study for the European Union

"Our results indicate that modest to rigorous behavioural change could reduce per capita footprint emissions by 6 to 16%, out of which one fourth will take place outside the EU, predominantly by reducing land use change. The domestic emission savings would contribute to reduce the costs of achieving the internationally agreed climate goal of the EU by 13.5 to 30%. Moreover, many of these options would also yield co-benefits such as monetary savings, positive health impacts or animal wellbeing."

48. For wind turbines in complex terrain, the devil is in the detail

"We find that the mean wind, wind shear and turbulence level are extremely sensitive to the exact details of the terrain: a small modification of the edge of our scale model, results in a reduction of the estimated annual energy production by at least 50% and an increase in the turbulence level by a factor of five in the worst-case scenario with the most unfavorable wind direction."

49. Making sense of climate engineering: a focus group study of lay publics in four countries

"With few exceptions, participants largely expressed negative views of large-scale deliberate intervention in climate systems as a means to address anthropogenic global warming."

50. Are the impacts of land use on warming underestimated in climate policy? 

51. Cultural multilevel selection suggests neither large or small cooperative agreements are likely to solve climate change without changing the game

52. Carbon tax effects on the poor: a SAM-based approach

53. Global assessment of shipping emissions in 2015 on a high spatial and temporal resolution

54. Greedy or needy? Land use and climate impacts of food in 2050 under different livestock futures

55. Roadmaps to Transition Countries to 100% Clean, Renewable Energy for All Purposes to Curtail Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Energy Risk

56. Climate mitigation by dairy intensification depends on intensive use of spared grassland

57. The presidential politics of climate discourse: Energy frames, policy, and political tactics from the 2016 Primaries in the United States

58. Past and future carbon sequestration benefits of China’s grain for green program

59. What policies improve forest cover? A systematic review of research from Mesoamerica

Other papers

60. Synchronous volcanic eruptions and abrupt climate change ∼17.7 ka plausibly linked by stratospheric ozone depletion

"Rather than a coincidence, we postulate that halogen-catalyzed stratospheric ozone depletion over Antarctica triggered large-scale atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate changes similar to the modern Antarctic ozone hole, explaining the synchronicity and abruptness of accelerated Southern Hemisphere deglaciation."

61. Atmospheric methane control mechanisms during the early Holocene

62. Spatial distribution of the atmospheric radionuclide production by Galactic cosmic rays and its imprint in natural archives

63. Special issue on earth observation of essential climate variables

64. Solar signal on regional scale: A study of possible solar impact upon Romania's climate

65. Influence of solar variability on the occurrence of central European weather types from 1763 to 2009

66. Can measurements of the near-infrared solar spectral irradiance be reconciled? A new ground-based assessment between 4000-10000 cm-1

67. Sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to interglacial climate forcing: MIS 5e versus MIS 11

68. Characterizing Sources of Uncertainty from Global Climate Models and Downscaling Techniques



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A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below. The graphic is from Lamsal et al. (paper #32).

Climate change

1. Inconsistent subsurface and deeper ocean warming signals during recent global warming and hiatus

"In general, the global SDO has sequestered a significant amount of heat – about 3.50*1022 joules with trends of 0.59 W m−2 on average among the four datasets – during the recent hiatus, demonstrating widespread and significant warming signals in the global SDO." (SDO = Subsurface and Deeper Ocean.)

2. Enhanced Decadal Warming of the Southeast Indian Ocean during the Recent Global Surface Warming Slowdown

"The rapid Indian Ocean warming during the early-21th century was a major heat sink for the recent global surface warming slowdown. Analysis of observational data and ocean model experiments reveals that during 2003-2012 more than half of the increased upper Indian Ocean heat content was concentrated in the southeast Indian Ocean (SEIO), causing a warming “hotspot” of 0.8-1.2 K decade-1 near the west coast of Australia." ... "Large-ensemble climate model simulations suggest that this warming event was likely also exacerbated by anthropogenic forcing and thus unprecedentedly strong as compared to previous IPO transition periods."

3. Emission budgets and pathways consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C

"If CO2 emissions are continuously adjusted over time to limit 2100 warming to 1.5°C, with ambitious non-CO2 mitigation, net future cumulative CO2 emissions are unlikely to prove less than 250GtC and unlikely greater than 540GtC. Hence, limiting warming to 1.5°C is not yet a geophysical impossibility, but is likely to require delivery on strengthened pledges for 2030 followed by challengingly deep and rapid mitigation."

4. More-Persistent Weak Stratospheric Polar Vortex States Linked to Cold Extremes

"Using hierarchical clustering, we show that over the last 37 years, the frequency of weak vortex states in mid to late winter (January and February) has increased which were accompanied by subsequent cold extremes in mid-latitude Eurasia. For this region 60% of the observed cooling in the era of Arctic amplification, i.e. since 1990, can be explained by the increased frequency of weak stratospheric polar vortex states, a number which increases to almost 80% when El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability is included as well."

5. Climatic and synoptic characterization of heat waves in Brazil

"The performed analysis reveals the existence of positive and significant trends in HW frequency since the 1980s, particularly for the cities of São Paulo, Manaus, and Recife."

6. Roles of wind stress and thermodynamic forcing in recent trends in Antarctic sea ice and Southern Ocean SST: An ocean-sea ice model study

"The results suggest that Antarctic sea ice expansion is mostly explained by trends in the thermodynamic surface forcing, notably cooling and drying and a reduction in longwave radiation. Similarly, thermodynamic forcing is found to be the main driver of the zonal SST cooling trend. While apparently less influential on sea ice extent and SST, wind stress plays a key role in sea ice motion, thickening coastal sea ice, and thinning and decreasing the concentration of ice in mid-pack regions of the Amundsen-eastern Ross seas and 65–95°E in winter-spring."

7. CO2-Induced Ocean Warming of the Antarctic Continental Shelf in an Eddying Global Climate Model

8. Impacts of recent warming and the 2015/16 El Niño on tropical Peruvian ice fields

9. Fingerprints of Sea-Level Rise on Changing Tides in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays

10. Hydrological drought in the Anthropocene: impacts of local water extraction and reservoir regulation in the US

11. Are simulated and observed 20th century tropical Pacific sea surface temperature trends significant relative to internal variability?

12. Driving Roles of Tropospheric and Stratospheric Thermal Anomalies in Intensification and Persistence of the Arctic Superstorm in 2012

13. The role of microbes in snowmelt and radiative forcing on an Alaskan icefield

14. Multi-decadal weakening of Indian summer monsoon circulation induces an increasing northern Indian Ocean sea level

15. Global budget of tropospheric ozone: Evaluating recent model advances with satellite (OMI), aircraft (IAGOS), and ozonesonde observations

16. A Madden-Julian Oscillation event remotely accelerates ocean upwelling to abruptly terminate the 1997/1998 super El Niño

17. Methods and model dependency of extreme event attribution: The 2015 European drought

18. Variability and quasi-decadal changes in the methane budget over the period 2000–2012

19. Warming and wetting climate during last century revealed by an ice core in northwest Tibetan Plateau

20. Deep Uncertainty Surrounding Coastal Flood Risk Projections: A Case Study for New Orleans

21. Which temperature and precipitation extremes best explain the variation of warm vs. cold years and wet vs. dry years?

22. Relative humidity has uneven effects onshifts from snow to rain over the Western U.S.

23. Long-term warming trends in Korea and contribution of urbanization: An updated assessment

24. Post-stagnation retreat of Kamb Ice Stream's grounding zone

25. Structure and evolution of the drainage system of a Himalayan debris-covered glacier, and its relationship with patterns of mass loss

26. Impacts of 1.5 and 2 °C global warming on water availability and extreme hydrological events in Yiluo and Beijiang River catchments in China

27. The influence of flow and bed slope on gas transfer in steep streams and their implications for evasion of CO2

28. A Source-Receptor Perspective on the Polar Hydrologic Cycle: Sources, Seasonality, and Arctic-Antarctic Parity in the Hydrologic Cycle Response to CO2-Doubling

29. Is there a role for human-induced climate change in the precipitation decline that drove the California drought?

30. The Impact of Climate Change on Hazardous Convective Weather in the United States: Insight from High-Resolution Dynamical Downscaling

31. Tropical ocean contributions to California’s surprisingly dry El Niño of 2015-16

Climate change impacts

32. The greening of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau under climate change

"Highlights

• Climatic suitability of the nine Himalayan tree-line species will expand towards higher elevation into areas that are currently unsuitable.

• The total climatic suitable areas will increase in the future compared to the current period.
• High elevation belts will see more climatic suitability.
• Cold stress is the main limiting factor for the current and future distribution of the investigated species."

33. Adaptation to climate change and freshwater resources in Vusama village, Viti Levu, Fiji

"In particular, prolonged drought and changing seasonal patterns, together with people’s increasing reliance on a village borehole in lieu of family wells have resulted in a freshwater crisis. People are coping by using earnings from wage employment and harvesting and selling seafood to buy water and vegetables, rationing freshwater and depending on extended social networks for fresh produce."

34. Vulnerability of specialty crops to short-term climatic variability and adaptation strategies in the Midwestern USA

"Our results indicate that weather-induced losses vary by state with excessive moisture resulting in the highest total number of claims across all Midwestern states followed by freeze and drought events. Overall, specialty crop growers are aware of the increased production risk under a changing climate and have identified the need for crop-specific weather, production, and financial risk management tools and increased crop insurance coverage."

35. Soil microbial communities drive the resistance of ecosystem multifunctionality to global change in drylands across the globe

36. Increased resource use efficiency amplifies positive response of aquatic primary production to experimental warming

37. Quick release of internal water storage in a glacier leads to underestimation of the hazard potential of glacial lake outburst floods from Lake Merzbacher in central Tian shan Mountains

38. Staying in place during times of change in Arctic Alaska: the implications of attachment, alternatives, and buffering

39. Plant resistance to drought depends on timely stomatal closure

40. The relative importance of subjective and structural factors for individual adaptation to climate change by forest owners in Sweden

41. Ecological performance of construction materials subject to ocean climate change

42. Climate variability affects the germination strategies exhibited by arid land plants

43. Winter warming effects on tundra shrub performance are species-specific and dependent on spring conditions

44. Effects of shrub and tree cover increase on the near-surface atmosphere in northern Fennoscandia

45. Significance of direct and indirect impacts of climate change on groundwater resources in the Olifants River basin: A review

46. Complex effect of projected sea temperature and wind change on flatfish dispersal

Climate change mitigation

47. The potential of behavioural change for climate change mitigation: a case study for the European Union

"Our results indicate that modest to rigorous behavioural change could reduce per capita footprint emissions by 6 to 16%, out of which one fourth will take place outside the EU, predominantly by reducing land use change. The domestic emission savings would contribute to reduce the costs of achieving the internationally agreed climate goal of the EU by 13.5 to 30%. Moreover, many of these options would also yield co-benefits such as monetary savings, positive health impacts or animal wellbeing."

48. For wind turbines in complex terrain, the devil is in the detail

"We find that the mean wind, wind shear and turbulence level are extremely sensitive to the exact details of the terrain: a small modification of the edge of our scale model, results in a reduction of the estimated annual energy production by at least 50% and an increase in the turbulence level by a factor of five in the worst-case scenario with the most unfavorable wind direction."

49. Making sense of climate engineering: a focus group study of lay publics in four countries

"With few exceptions, participants largely expressed negative views of large-scale deliberate intervention in climate systems as a means to address anthropogenic global warming."

50. Are the impacts of land use on warming underestimated in climate policy? 

51. Cultural multilevel selection suggests neither large or small cooperative agreements are likely to solve climate change without changing the game

52. Carbon tax effects on the poor: a SAM-based approach

53. Global assessment of shipping emissions in 2015 on a high spatial and temporal resolution

54. Greedy or needy? Land use and climate impacts of food in 2050 under different livestock futures

55. Roadmaps to Transition Countries to 100% Clean, Renewable Energy for All Purposes to Curtail Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Energy Risk

56. Climate mitigation by dairy intensification depends on intensive use of spared grassland

57. The presidential politics of climate discourse: Energy frames, policy, and political tactics from the 2016 Primaries in the United States

58. Past and future carbon sequestration benefits of China’s grain for green program

59. What policies improve forest cover? A systematic review of research from Mesoamerica

Other papers

60. Synchronous volcanic eruptions and abrupt climate change ∼17.7 ka plausibly linked by stratospheric ozone depletion

"Rather than a coincidence, we postulate that halogen-catalyzed stratospheric ozone depletion over Antarctica triggered large-scale atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate changes similar to the modern Antarctic ozone hole, explaining the synchronicity and abruptness of accelerated Southern Hemisphere deglaciation."

61. Atmospheric methane control mechanisms during the early Holocene

62. Spatial distribution of the atmospheric radionuclide production by Galactic cosmic rays and its imprint in natural archives

63. Special issue on earth observation of essential climate variables

64. Solar signal on regional scale: A study of possible solar impact upon Romania's climate

65. Influence of solar variability on the occurrence of central European weather types from 1763 to 2009

66. Can measurements of the near-infrared solar spectral irradiance be reconciled? A new ground-based assessment between 4000-10000 cm-1

67. Sensitivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet to interglacial climate forcing: MIS 5e versus MIS 11

68. Characterizing Sources of Uncertainty from Global Climate Models and Downscaling Techniques



from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/2xQMeZ1

Engineering the Future: MQ-9 pilot gives back

An Air Force pilot was recently recognized for his contributions to the community with the Great Minds in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Hero award, the League of United Latin American Citizens Excellence and Service Award and the Air Combat Command National Public Service Award.

from http://ift.tt/2xQZ9KN
An Air Force pilot was recently recognized for his contributions to the community with the Great Minds in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Hero award, the League of United Latin American Citizens Excellence and Service Award and the Air Combat Command National Public Service Award.

from http://ift.tt/2xQZ9KN

Star of the week: Gamma Cephei

Image via Tim Jones/McDonald Observatory.

Artist’s conception of Gamma Cephei’s planet, found in 2002, and its view of the two stars in the Gamma Cephei system. The planet, shown here with rings, orbits the bright yellow star on the right every 2.5 years. This was the first planet found in a close binary system. Image and caption via Tim Jones/McDonald Observatory.

Although Gamma Cephei – also known as Errai – rates as only a third-magnitude or moderately bright star, it is easy to find and quite visible in a dark country sky. To many stargazers, the constellation Cepheus the King looks like a child’s depiction of a house, with Gamma Cephei marking the peak of the roof. This is a fascinating star – a future North Star. It also plays an important role in this history of our understanding of extrasolar planets, that is, planets orbiting distant stars.

How to find Gamma Cephei

Gamma Cephei as a future North Star

Gamma Cephei has the first planet found in a close binary system

Cepheus can be found in the northern sky. It looks very much like a child's drawing of a house. The star Gamma Cephei, or Errai, marks the peak of the roof of the house.

Cepheus can be found in the northern sky. It looks very much like a child’s drawing of a house. The star Gamma Cephei, or Errai, marks the peak of the roof of the house.

How to find Gamma Cephei. Do you know the M-shaped or W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia? If so, then draw a line between the star Caph at one end of the M (or W) toward Polaris, our present-day North Star. Gamma Cephei – aka Errai – is just to one side of that line, a bit more than midway along it.

Think of it this way. Cepheus the King is not a particularly prominent constellation, but you’ll know that you’ve found Cepheus, because you’ll see his more striking wife – the M or W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia the Queen – standing at his side.

Or use the familiar Big Dipper asterism to find Gamma Cephei. The two outer stars in the Dipper’s bowl are Merak and Dubhe, sometimes called the Pointers, because a line between them extended northward points to Polaris. Then jump one fist-width – held at arm’s length – beyond Polaris to Gamma Cephei.

For most of the Northern Hemisphere, orange-colored Gamma Cephei shines as a circumpolar star. Circumpolar stars are stars that neither rise nor set, but always appear above the horizon.

The 26,000-year precession cycle causes the north celestial pole to move counter-clockwise in front of the backdrop stars at about one degree every 72 years

Animation showing 26,000-year precession cycle relative to backdrop stars. This cycle causes Earth’s northern axis to point out at an ever-changing succession of North Stars. Image via Wikimedia Commons

Gamma Cephei as a future North Star. Our present North Star, which we know as Polaris, will continue to reign as the northern pole star for centuries to come.

But our present-day Polaris won’t remain the North Star forever, due to a motion of Earth known as the precession of the equinoxes. Gamma Cephei stands next in line to inherit the North Star title. This star will be closer to the north celestial pole than Polaris around 3000 CE. It will most closely mark the north celestial pole around 4000 CE.

But – due to precession – Earth’s northern axis will continue to trace its great circle among the northern stars. Around 7500 CD, Alderamin – Cepheus’ brightest star – will become the North Star. And ultimately, of course, our present-day Polaris will be the North Star once more.

Gamma Cephei has the first planet found in a close binary system Gamma Cephei is a binary star – two stars revolving around a common center of mass. One component is an ordinary main-sequence star, somewhat similar to our sun. The other star has less than half our sun’s mass and is considered a red dwarf.

In 2002, astronomers with the McDonald Observatory Planet Search project found a planet for Gamma Cephei. It was the first planet orbiting a star in a close-in binary star system. The discovery had implications for the number of possible planets in our galaxy, because unlike our sun, most stars are in multiple systems. However, planets in multiple systems have their own inherent challenges. For example, some orbits for planets of multiple star systems are not possible for dynamical reasons; a planet would be ejected from the system, or transferred to a more inner or outer orbit.

That said, there are indeed many planets in multiple star systems known today. As of September 28, 2013, a total of 986 planets in 750 planetary systems have been found, including planets in 168 multiple planetary systems. (Source: Exoplanet.eu)

But Gamma Cephei’s planet will always be the first in a close binary!

Bottom line: The star Errai or Gamma Cephei is a binary star system with at least one planet. This star – at the peak of the “roof” in the house-shaped constellation Cepheus the King – will someday be a North Star for Earth.

Polaris: The North Star



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1eKwLf2
Image via Tim Jones/McDonald Observatory.

Artist’s conception of Gamma Cephei’s planet, found in 2002, and its view of the two stars in the Gamma Cephei system. The planet, shown here with rings, orbits the bright yellow star on the right every 2.5 years. This was the first planet found in a close binary system. Image and caption via Tim Jones/McDonald Observatory.

Although Gamma Cephei – also known as Errai – rates as only a third-magnitude or moderately bright star, it is easy to find and quite visible in a dark country sky. To many stargazers, the constellation Cepheus the King looks like a child’s depiction of a house, with Gamma Cephei marking the peak of the roof. This is a fascinating star – a future North Star. It also plays an important role in this history of our understanding of extrasolar planets, that is, planets orbiting distant stars.

How to find Gamma Cephei

Gamma Cephei as a future North Star

Gamma Cephei has the first planet found in a close binary system

Cepheus can be found in the northern sky. It looks very much like a child's drawing of a house. The star Gamma Cephei, or Errai, marks the peak of the roof of the house.

Cepheus can be found in the northern sky. It looks very much like a child’s drawing of a house. The star Gamma Cephei, or Errai, marks the peak of the roof of the house.

How to find Gamma Cephei. Do you know the M-shaped or W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia? If so, then draw a line between the star Caph at one end of the M (or W) toward Polaris, our present-day North Star. Gamma Cephei – aka Errai – is just to one side of that line, a bit more than midway along it.

Think of it this way. Cepheus the King is not a particularly prominent constellation, but you’ll know that you’ve found Cepheus, because you’ll see his more striking wife – the M or W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia the Queen – standing at his side.

Or use the familiar Big Dipper asterism to find Gamma Cephei. The two outer stars in the Dipper’s bowl are Merak and Dubhe, sometimes called the Pointers, because a line between them extended northward points to Polaris. Then jump one fist-width – held at arm’s length – beyond Polaris to Gamma Cephei.

For most of the Northern Hemisphere, orange-colored Gamma Cephei shines as a circumpolar star. Circumpolar stars are stars that neither rise nor set, but always appear above the horizon.

The 26,000-year precession cycle causes the north celestial pole to move counter-clockwise in front of the backdrop stars at about one degree every 72 years

Animation showing 26,000-year precession cycle relative to backdrop stars. This cycle causes Earth’s northern axis to point out at an ever-changing succession of North Stars. Image via Wikimedia Commons

Gamma Cephei as a future North Star. Our present North Star, which we know as Polaris, will continue to reign as the northern pole star for centuries to come.

But our present-day Polaris won’t remain the North Star forever, due to a motion of Earth known as the precession of the equinoxes. Gamma Cephei stands next in line to inherit the North Star title. This star will be closer to the north celestial pole than Polaris around 3000 CE. It will most closely mark the north celestial pole around 4000 CE.

But – due to precession – Earth’s northern axis will continue to trace its great circle among the northern stars. Around 7500 CD, Alderamin – Cepheus’ brightest star – will become the North Star. And ultimately, of course, our present-day Polaris will be the North Star once more.

Gamma Cephei has the first planet found in a close binary system Gamma Cephei is a binary star – two stars revolving around a common center of mass. One component is an ordinary main-sequence star, somewhat similar to our sun. The other star has less than half our sun’s mass and is considered a red dwarf.

In 2002, astronomers with the McDonald Observatory Planet Search project found a planet for Gamma Cephei. It was the first planet orbiting a star in a close-in binary star system. The discovery had implications for the number of possible planets in our galaxy, because unlike our sun, most stars are in multiple systems. However, planets in multiple systems have their own inherent challenges. For example, some orbits for planets of multiple star systems are not possible for dynamical reasons; a planet would be ejected from the system, or transferred to a more inner or outer orbit.

That said, there are indeed many planets in multiple star systems known today. As of September 28, 2013, a total of 986 planets in 750 planetary systems have been found, including planets in 168 multiple planetary systems. (Source: Exoplanet.eu)

But Gamma Cephei’s planet will always be the first in a close binary!

Bottom line: The star Errai or Gamma Cephei is a binary star system with at least one planet. This star – at the peak of the “roof” in the house-shaped constellation Cepheus the King – will someday be a North Star for Earth.

Polaris: The North Star



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1eKwLf2

Space visionaries boost Pluto lander

Illustration depicting how the Pluto lander would land on the surface and then “hop” to different locations. Image Credit: L. Calçada of European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ AmericaSpace.

This article was originally published at Americaspace.com. Reprinted here with permission.

In 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft provided our first up-close look at Pluto and its moons, helping to transform our knowledge about these small, cold worlds in the outer fringes of the solar system. The only downside, if there were one, was that it was a flyby mission, meaning New Horizons would zip past Pluto and then continue on deeper into the Kuiper Belt. Since then, there has been growing advocacy for a return mission such as an orbiter, or perhaps even a lander.

This week – at the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium (September 25-27, 2017) in Denver, Colorado – Global Aerospace Corporation (GAC) presented a concept mission for a Pluto lander. As currently envisioned, the probe would land on Pluto using drag from the super-thin atmosphere and a few pounds of propellant. Then, it could explore the surface further by hopping from one location to another, using Pluto’s low gravity. The probe would be capable of traveling tens or even hundreds of kilometers at a time and features of interest could be studied up close at many different locations. The entrycraft, as it is called, would need to be almost the size of a football field in order to bring the lander to the surface.

According to GAC, the mission could be launched as soon as 12 years from now.

High-resolution view of Pluto from New Horizons. The large smoother area of ice in Sputnik Planum is the western lobe of the heart-shaped feature. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

One of the most iconic images of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, acquired after closest approach, with Pluto backlit by the sun. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

A lone “iceberg” of water ice floats in the nitrogen ice sea of Sputnik Planum. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

A possible cryovolcano (ice volcano) on Pluto, called Wright Mons. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

Pluto and its largest moon Charon. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

Benjamin Goldman, principal investigator of the Phase I NIAC effort, said:

Pluto’s surface pressure is just 10 millionths of Earth’s, but its atmosphere is extremely spread out, extending about 1,000 miles above the surface. This extended and ultra-low-density atmosphere is ideal for dissipating large amounts of kinetic energy by means of aerodynamic drag, but the key is making the drag area very large while keeping system weight at a minimum.

Some goals of the mission would be to:

– Shed new light on its origins and relationship to other Kuiper Belt objects and other planets.
– Characterize the dynamics between the subsurface and the atmosphere by investigating outgassing processes such as cryovolcanism.
– Expand the understanding of surface geomorphology from multiple locations (on approach, during descent, and at the surface).
– Use in-situ sampling to study the nature of the its crust and search for hypothesized liquid water oceans.
– Validate New Horizons measurements including atmospheric pressure and temperature profiles.

New Horizons was an exciting mission, even if it only offered a brief look at the Pluto system. But that brief glimpse showed that Pluto is an active world, with nitrogen ice seas and glaciers, water ice mountains with methane snow, tall spikes of ice, ancient rivers and lakes of liquid nitrogen, a hazy atmosphere and possible cryovolcanoes (ice volcanoes). There may even be a subsurface ocean of water. Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, also appears to have had a subsurface ocean, but it is completely frozen now. It is a bizarre and intriguing place, begging for a return mission to explore its mysteries further. An orbiter would be a phenomenal follow-up to New Horizons, and a lander even more so. Pluto was once just a tiny point of light only visible to the largest telescopes, but now it is an incredible world just waiting to be explored in-depth.

An early artist’s conception of what the surface of Pluto might look like. With a Pluto lander, we could see it for real. Image image ESO/ L. Calcada.

Bottom line: Originally called the Pluto Hop, Skip and Jump mission, this new concept for a Pluto lander was announced by NASA in April, 2017 as a Phase I selection in the NIAC program.



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2wnE3Qs

Illustration depicting how the Pluto lander would land on the surface and then “hop” to different locations. Image Credit: L. Calçada of European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ AmericaSpace.

This article was originally published at Americaspace.com. Reprinted here with permission.

In 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft provided our first up-close look at Pluto and its moons, helping to transform our knowledge about these small, cold worlds in the outer fringes of the solar system. The only downside, if there were one, was that it was a flyby mission, meaning New Horizons would zip past Pluto and then continue on deeper into the Kuiper Belt. Since then, there has been growing advocacy for a return mission such as an orbiter, or perhaps even a lander.

This week – at the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium (September 25-27, 2017) in Denver, Colorado – Global Aerospace Corporation (GAC) presented a concept mission for a Pluto lander. As currently envisioned, the probe would land on Pluto using drag from the super-thin atmosphere and a few pounds of propellant. Then, it could explore the surface further by hopping from one location to another, using Pluto’s low gravity. The probe would be capable of traveling tens or even hundreds of kilometers at a time and features of interest could be studied up close at many different locations. The entrycraft, as it is called, would need to be almost the size of a football field in order to bring the lander to the surface.

According to GAC, the mission could be launched as soon as 12 years from now.

High-resolution view of Pluto from New Horizons. The large smoother area of ice in Sputnik Planum is the western lobe of the heart-shaped feature. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

One of the most iconic images of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, acquired after closest approach, with Pluto backlit by the sun. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

A lone “iceberg” of water ice floats in the nitrogen ice sea of Sputnik Planum. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

A possible cryovolcano (ice volcano) on Pluto, called Wright Mons. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

Pluto and its largest moon Charon. Image via NASA/ JHUAPL/ SwRI.

Benjamin Goldman, principal investigator of the Phase I NIAC effort, said:

Pluto’s surface pressure is just 10 millionths of Earth’s, but its atmosphere is extremely spread out, extending about 1,000 miles above the surface. This extended and ultra-low-density atmosphere is ideal for dissipating large amounts of kinetic energy by means of aerodynamic drag, but the key is making the drag area very large while keeping system weight at a minimum.

Some goals of the mission would be to:

– Shed new light on its origins and relationship to other Kuiper Belt objects and other planets.
– Characterize the dynamics between the subsurface and the atmosphere by investigating outgassing processes such as cryovolcanism.
– Expand the understanding of surface geomorphology from multiple locations (on approach, during descent, and at the surface).
– Use in-situ sampling to study the nature of the its crust and search for hypothesized liquid water oceans.
– Validate New Horizons measurements including atmospheric pressure and temperature profiles.

New Horizons was an exciting mission, even if it only offered a brief look at the Pluto system. But that brief glimpse showed that Pluto is an active world, with nitrogen ice seas and glaciers, water ice mountains with methane snow, tall spikes of ice, ancient rivers and lakes of liquid nitrogen, a hazy atmosphere and possible cryovolcanoes (ice volcanoes). There may even be a subsurface ocean of water. Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, also appears to have had a subsurface ocean, but it is completely frozen now. It is a bizarre and intriguing place, begging for a return mission to explore its mysteries further. An orbiter would be a phenomenal follow-up to New Horizons, and a lander even more so. Pluto was once just a tiny point of light only visible to the largest telescopes, but now it is an incredible world just waiting to be explored in-depth.

An early artist’s conception of what the surface of Pluto might look like. With a Pluto lander, we could see it for real. Image image ESO/ L. Calcada.

Bottom line: Originally called the Pluto Hop, Skip and Jump mission, this new concept for a Pluto lander was announced by NASA in April, 2017 as a Phase I selection in the NIAC program.



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2wnE3Qs