Five Spheres - Water

  • Released Saturday, May 1, 2010
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Satellite data can be used to observe the dramatic ebb and flow of the our planet's water system from space. This animation of QuikSCAT's sea surface winds is match framed to animation entries 3707, 3708, 3709, and 3710. The SeaWinds Scatterometer instrument on the QuikSCAT satellite captures the always moving and complex sea surface. The mission has also provided critical information for monitoring, modeling, forecasting and researching our atmosphere, ocean and climate.By any measure of success, the 10-year-old QuikSCAT mission is a unique national resource that has achieved and far surpassed its science objectives. Designed for a two-year lifetime, QuikSCAT has been used around the globe by the world's operational meteorological agencies to improve weather forecasts and identify the location, size and strength of hurricanes and other storms in the open ocean. More information on QuikSCAT is online at: http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm.

This animation shows the dynamic global sea surface winds from Jan 1, 2006 through Feb 7, 2006 as observed by the SeaWinds Scatterometer instrument on the QuikSCAT satellite.

Quikscat winds on a cartesian grid.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Saturday, May 1, 2010.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.

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