|
|
|
|
|||
|
| |||
science, health & technology
Also in this section:
The 2DS particle imaging probe, seen close up CR-AVE: Costa Rica Aura Validation Experiment articles and photos by Brandt Irion During the period from January 12 through February 12 I helped repair and maintain two atmospheric research instruments. These instruments were part of a larger contingent of about 30 instruments which were temporarily mounted on a WB-57 research aircraft owned and operated by NASA. I was one of a group of three engineers and scientists sent by SPEC, a cloud physics research firm out of Boulder, Colorado. Our job was to maintain and download data after each flight. The WB-57 is just a two-seater aircraft (pilot and observer) so we would make a preflight check of our instruments, send them off to collect data automatically, then meet the plane when it landed and download data that our instruments had recorded during the five-hour flight. There were flights about every other day, so we were constantly downloading data, looking at it, determining what changes we could make to our instruments to make them work even better, making them, then sending our instruments up again on the next flight to gather more data.
In Houston, preparing the WB-57 for its mission to Costa Rica
What did our instruments do? We had a Cloud Particle Imager and a 2DS particle imaging probe. Both instruments take pictures of the tiny ice and water particles found in clouds. Particles as small as 20 microns in diameter can be imaged. One micron is one-thousandth of a millimeter. The Cloud Particle Imager takes two dimensional pictures. The 2DS can take three dimensional pictures. These instruments mount on the wing or fuselage of an aircraft and take pictures of cloud particles as the aircraft flies at up to 450 miles per hour through clouds. Why do scientists want to know what the cloud particles look like? Why do they want cloud particle concentration information? These particles may affect the amount of solar radiation that gets through to people on the ground, and also the visibility of phenomena on the ground and in the atmosphere to satellites in space. Their shapes, sizes and concentrations are factors that may need to be taken into account when interpreting data and images taken from high above. The Aura satellite carries an instrument called the Ozone Measuring Instrument (OMI). It measures ozone in the atmosphere. Its measurements are used by the National Weather Service in predicting high Ultraviolet (UV) index days. Some instruments in our CR-AVE project (like ACAM and CAFS) also measure ozone. The purpose of these instruments is to take measurements and compare them with the ozone measurements taken by OMI aboard the Aura satellite. In this way, scientists can tell if the OMI is providing them with accurate data on atmospheric ozone concentrations. Do these measurements have anything to do with the daily life of the average person on the ground? Ozone protects living things against the damaging effects of ultraviolet rays from the sun. Although scientists are cautious about declaring that there is a definite link between ozone depletion in the atmosphere and skin cancer in humans, there is some scientific evidence that suggests depleted ozone layers can cause a higher incidence of skin cancer. The Cancer Council of Australia puts on a National Skin Cancer Action Week emphasizing the “slip, slop, slap” message: go on the web to hear the slip slop slap jingle: Slip on a shirt, Slop on sunscreen, Slap on a hat.
Also in this section: News | Business | Editorial | Opinion | Letters | Arts | Review | Community | Fun | Travel Unclassified Ads | Calendar | Outdoors | Dining | Science | Sports | Español | Front Page Archives
Make the
Executive Hotel your headquarters in Panama City --- http://ww.executivehotel-panama.com Find the boat of your dreams through Evermarine --- http://www.evermarine.com |
|||||||||||
|
