NASA mission to study ice clouds, help observe our dynamic atmosphere
NASA has selected a new mission to help humanity better understand Earth's dynamic atmosphere鈥攕pecifically, ice clouds that form at high altitudes throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions. The PolSIR instrument鈥攕hort for Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer鈥攚ill study such ice clouds to determine how and why they change throughout the day. This will provide crucial information about how to accurately simulate these high-altitude clouds in global climate models.
The investigation consists of two identical CubeSats鈥攅ach small satellite is just a little over a foot tall鈥攆lying in orbits separated by three to nine hours. Over time, these two instruments will observe the clouds' daily cycle of ice content.
"Studying ice clouds is crucial for improving climate forecasts鈥攁nd this will be the first time we can study ice clouds in this level of detail," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Every NASA mission is carefully chosen to better understand our home planet."
The award is for for lifecycle costs no more than $37 million, which does not include launch costs. The radiometer is an Earth Venture instrument鈥攍ower-cost instruments with a targeted research goal, which typically catch a ride along with another mission or commercial satellite in order to minimize launch costs. The Earth Venture class also focuses on providing frequent flight opportunities, so innovative science investigations can be flown relatively quickly, generally within five years or less. Missions like this provide key targeted research opportunities, which help us improve our understanding of what's driving change in the entire Earth system.
"Understanding how these ice clouds respond to a changing climate鈥攁nd then, in turn, contribute to further changes鈥攔emains one of the great challenges to predicting what the atmosphere will do in the future," said Karen St. Germain, who leads NASA's Earth Sciences Division. "The radiometers, which measure the radiant energy emitted by clouds, will significantly improve our understanding of how ice clouds change and respond throughout the day."
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