2000 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE | G00-075 | 08/29/00 | 00:08:29 | The issue of climate change as a major environmental and political concern continues to consume the attention of scientists and policy makers. Now new research coming from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York is adding an important element to the international conversation. According to Dr. James Hansen and colleagues there, warming trends relating to climate change have been primarily caused by substances other carbon dioxide, a finding that may cause many scientists to reconsider their understanding of contemporary climate models.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): CLOSING IN ON CLIMATE CHANGE - This visualization of methane circulating around the Earth emphasizes the need for continuing efforts to curtail its release into the atmosphere. Dr. Hansen's research shows that other atmospheric contaminants, particularly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), soot particles, and tropospheric ozone may have more of a detrimental effect on the Earth's climate than carbon dioxide.
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| ITEM (2): MEASURING AEROSOLS WITH MOPITT - Scientists expect new instruments like MOPITT, onboard NASA's recently launched Terra satellite, to provide more detail than ever about atmospheric gasses like methane. Methane can trap nearly 30 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. As future data describes images similar to the one shown here, researchers will be better able to refine their climate models by studying not only the sources of gasses like methane, but also wide scale modes of distribution and interaction.
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| ITEM (3): EARTH'S HEAT SIGNATURE - This sequence shows longwave radiation (heat) emitted by the Earth back into space. Oranges and reds show where more heat flows back into space, while blues and whites show where less heat escapes. The Earth absorbs more energy in the tropics than in polar regions, thereby driving the circulation of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite acquired these measurements.
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| ITEM (4): SUNLIGHT ON EARTH'S FACE - This CERES sequence shows shortwave radiation (sunlight) reflected back into space by our planet. White and tan colors indicate regions where the Earth reflects more sunlight back into space due to surfaces such as clouds or deserts. Greens and blues indicate areas where less sunlight is reflected. Understanding energy coming into and out of Earth dynamic sphere is critical for assessing the accuracy of global climate change models.
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| ITEM (5): HEAT FLOW AND CLIMATE - The Earth's climate is governed by a balance between sunlight that reaches the Earth and heat that's radiated back into space. Terra will help scientists monitor this delicate balance and better understand the relationship between greenhouse gases, cloud cover, and long-term climate change.
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| ITEM (6): TOTAL OZONE MAPPING SPECTROMETER - The current TOMS instrument flies on NASA's Earth Probe, launched in July 1996. Its ozone mapping capabilities come from the instrumentŐs abilities to monitor reflected ultraviolet light. By making nearly 200,000 daily measurements, the instrument can survey nearly the entire planet on a regular basis, offering scientists a powerful tool for measuring both sudden and long-term climatological changes.
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| ITEM (7): EARTH SCIENCE ENTERS THE TERRA ERA - - Terra is a multi-national orbiting research platform managed at NASAŐs Goddard Space Flight Center. By synchronizing a sophisticated suite of sensors and instruments, Terra will help researchers pursue some of the grandest and most complex questions about the nature of our home planet, including cutting edge research into climate change.
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| ITEM (8): TERRA SCIENCE OBJECTIVES - Terra will simultaneously study clouds, water vapor, aerosol particles, trace gases, terrestrial and ocean properties, and systemic interactions on a planetary scale. The data sets portrayed in this visualization include: Earth as seen by the Galileo spacecraft, radiant energy, vegetation anomalies, temperature, fires, aerosols, clouds, methane, water vapor, and global biosphere.
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| ITEM (9): CHANGING SKY, CHANGING EARTH (Reporter package) - It's been said that a leaky roof ought to be fixed before the rains come. Yet on the issue of climate change, not all are in agreement about how damaged is our shared roof, nor in what kind of jeopardy is the furniture housed underneath. Now a new report from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York is offering some strong suggestions to the nations of the world about how to help stem the rate of climate change. Of the many greenhouse gasses that can cause the world's temperature to rise, some have a greater effect than others. Tropospheric ozone from industrial production and power plants, methane from rice cultivation, cow farming and landfill decay, and soot particles created from burning coal and diesel fuel all can intensely influence the Earth's climate. But the report emphasizes that climate change from these substances is significantly greater than that caused by carbon dioxide. So while production levels of each of these gasses have not spiked in recent years, the report suggests that greater international efforts to curtail ozone, methane, and soot might have the most significant positive effect on future climate change. It's true that carbon dioxide continues to be one of the greatest global warming culprits. But its overall rate of production has not been steep in the past twenty years. The report's authors suggest that it may be possible to continue scaling back CO2 production without slowing economic growth. More importantly, they suggest continued reduction in other non-CO2 gasses may be the best way insure that the sun shining on the Earth's face doesn't cause a worldwide burn.
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