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MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov 

Colleen Sharkey  (818) 354-0372
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.                           
February 19, 2003
   
News Release:  2003-022

Free Lectures Feature New Weather and Climate Tools

Human nature yearns to understand our planet's weather and how we
affect it.  In a pair of free lectures, Dr. Moustafa Chahine,
science-team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif., will discuss NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument
that is helping scientists understand Earth's weather and water cycle
with unprecedented detail.

The instrument, along with its two companion instruments -- the
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil
-- launched in May 2002 on the NASA Aqua mission.  JPL's Atmospheric
Infrared Sounder measures Earth's atmosphere and surface, allowing
scientists to improve weather prediction and observe changes in
Earth's climate.

The three sounding instruments, with visible, infrared and microwave
detectors, provide a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather.  The
three instruments can make simultaneous observations from space all
the way to Earth's surface, even in the presence of heavy clouds. With 
more than 2,400 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere, 
the system creates a global, 3-D map of atmospheric temperature and 
humidity and provides information on clouds, greenhouse gases and 
other atmospheric phenomena.

"The accuracy of numerical weather prediction models is dependent upon 
the quality of today's weather information, which is largely based on 
weather balloons," Chahine said.  "Our experiment will effectively 
multiply our existing global armada of 4,000 weather balloons 100 
times, giving us global coverage over land and sea from space with the 
same data quality as ground-launched balloons.  This additional data 
will dramatically reduce errors that have traditionally limited the 
range of current weather forecast models."

Chahine is a senior research scientist at JPL and science team leader
for NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument.  He received his
Ph.D. in fluid physics in 1960 from the University of California at
Berkeley, after which he came to JPL where he has served as founding
manager of the Earth and Space Sciences Division and as laboratory
chief scientist. 

Both lectures begin at 7 p.m.  Seating is on a first-come,
first-served basis.  The Thursday lecture will be webcast live and
available after the event on the JPL Web site at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/feb03.html . The lecture at
JPL, located at 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, off the Oak Grove Drive
exit of the 210 (Foothill) Freeway, will be held in the von Karman
Auditorium.  The Friday lecture will be held in Pasadena City
College's Vosloh Forum at 1570 E. Colorado Blvd.  For more
information, call (818) 354-0112. 

Aqua is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term research
effort dedicated to understanding and protecting our home planet. 
Through the study of Earth, NASA will help provide sound science to
policy and economic decision makers so as to better life here, while
developing the technologies needed to explore the universe and search
for life beyond our home planet. 

JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena.

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