On-the-ground measurements are notoriously difficult in the harsh environment of the Arctic, but satellites could help close the gap in measuring sea surface salinity.
satellites
Posted inResearch Spotlights
NASA Fleet Helps Predict Space Weather
Using 8 years of data collected via spacecraft, scientists produce hindcasts of plasma eruptions from the Sun. These will help improve forecasts.
Posted inScience Updates
Putting Satellite Maps of Surface Water to Practical Use
2nd SWOT Application User Workshop: Engaging the User Community for Advancing Societal Applications of the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission, Reston, Virginia, 5–6 April 2017
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Juno Gets Spectacular View of Jupiter’s Aurora
The NASA spacecraft has taken images of Jupiter’s powerful aurora dancing around its poles, revealing never-before-seen details in their structure.
Posted inEditors' Vox
New Findings from Old Data
Recalibrated and reanalyzed data from the Voyager flybys of Jupiter 40 years ago, presented in a series of papers in JGR: Space Physics, show the value of archival data.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Blending Satellite Data to Monitor Agricultural Water Use
A new technique that merges data gathered by multiple satellites can be used to monitor agricultural water use and improve water quality assessments around the globe.
Posted inScience Updates
Tracking River Flows from Space
Satellite observations, combined with algorithms borrowed from river engineering, could fill large gaps in our knowledge of global river flows where field data are lacking.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
For Magnetic Reconnection Energy, O—not X—Might Mark the Spot
A new analysis of satellite data could upend conventional wisdom about how solar storms produce their dangerous radiation—not from X-shaped mergers of magnetic field lines but from swirling vortices.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Lightning Creates "Killer Electrons" in Earth's Radiation Belts
New calculations show that lightning-triggered plasma waves in Earth's magnetosphere absorb energy from slow particles and energize electrons to levels that can damage satellites severely.
Posted inNews
GOES-16 Satellite Lights Up Lightning Flashes in New Video
The satellite's lightning mapper instrument will help scientists forecast extreme weather.