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Seattle, WA - March 9, 2004
NASA APPOINTS SEATTLE RESEARCH SCIENTIST TO HEAD GROUND-BREAKING AQUARIUS MISSION
Dr. Gary Lagerloef Applies 15 Years of Research to NASA Project that Will Explore the Mysteries of the Earth's Climate, Ocean Circulation and Global Water Cycles.
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Earth & Space Research (ESR), a Seattle-based scientific institution, announced today that its President, Dr. Gary S.E. Lagerloef, has been appointed by NASA to be Principal Investigator for the innovative Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission. As Principal Investigator, Lagerloef has overall responsibility for the NASA mission, and interacts with researchers around the world. The Aquarius measurements will help determine the large scale climate variability of the ocean and its effects on weather. NASA plans to launch the satellite in 2009 on a Boeing Delta II rocket. The Aquarius mission's primary scientific achievement will be a broader, more cohesive understanding of how changes in the water cycle -- such as rainfall, evaporation, river flow and melting or freezing ice -- alter the ocean circulation and its effects on global climate. This research will provide new insights into how Earth's present climate functions and improve prediction models of future climate changes. The Aquarius three-year mission is specifically designed to provide global measurements of how sea water salinity varies at the ocean surface, a key to studying the links between ocean circulation and global water cycles. More than 17 university, corporate, government and international institutions are involved in the Aquarius mission. |
 Related Article from the Baybridge Island Review on Dr. Gary Lagerloef + View PDF |
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
"Although the salinity remote sensing concept had been around since the 1970s, there were serious technical obstacles.", said Dr. Lagerloef. "By the end of the 1980s, several colleagues and I recognized that emerging new satellite instrument technology would make it possible to measure ocean salinity from satellites with sufficient detail and accuracy. From that time forward, I have worked with colleagues to develop support for a mission such as what we have today with Aquarius." In 1998 Lagerloef coordinated a working group of international experts to provide science objectives and measurement requirements, and in 2000 became part of a NASA team to develop a new mission proposal.
The Aquarius mission is one of the three new Earth System Science Pathfinder small-satellite program missions announced by NASA in January this year. Each mission performs a first-of-a-kind exploratory measurement that will help answer fundamental questions about how our planet works and how it may change in the future. The Aquarius mission is being developed in an international partnership with Argentina's space agency, Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), which has successfully developed three consecutive science application satellites in cooperation with NASA.
For the joint mission Argentina is providing the SAC-D spacecraft and additional science instruments, while NASA provides the Aquarius salinity sensor and the rocket launch. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the Aquarius mission development for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise based in Washington, D.C., and NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will manage the mission after launch.
About Dr. Lagerloef and Earth & Space Research
Dr. Lagerloef, an oceanographer for more than 30 years, has been a Puget Sound resident since 1976 and received his Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Washington. His expertise is focused on ocean circulation and climate variability, with an emphasis on developing new applications for satellite ocean remote sensing. In 1995, Lagerloef teamed with Dr. Robin Muench to co-found Earth & Space Research a nonprofit, scientific research institute specializing in oceanographic and climate research which is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. ESR was established by Lagerloef and Muench as a small institution to carry out scientific research on topics relating to climate and the environment for public dissemination and benefit. ESR works with governmental and international organizations on major research programs involving exploratory oceanographic observations and field expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic, ocean data analysis, and satellite earth remote sensing. ESR is actively pursuing outreach efforts to inform students and the public about climate change, and holds tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. To learn more about ESR, visit www.esr.org
Camisa Carlson
Earth & Space Research
206-842-4800
carlson@esr.org
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