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An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission

The Time‐Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission was selected by NASA as part of the Earth Venture‐Instrument (EVI‐3) program. The overarching goal for TROPICS is to provide nearly all‐weather observations of 3D tempera...

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Autores principales: Blackwell, W. J., Braun, S., Bennartz, R., Velden, C., DeMaria, M., Atlas, R., Dunion, J., Marks, F., Rogers, R., Annane, B., Leslie, R. V.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6360932/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30774158
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/qj.3290
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author Blackwell, W. J.
Braun, S.
Bennartz, R.
Velden, C.
DeMaria, M.
Atlas, R.
Dunion, J.
Marks, F.
Rogers, R.
Annane, B.
Leslie, R. V.
author_facet Blackwell, W. J.
Braun, S.
Bennartz, R.
Velden, C.
DeMaria, M.
Atlas, R.
Dunion, J.
Marks, F.
Rogers, R.
Annane, B.
Leslie, R. V.
author_sort Blackwell, W. J.
collection PubMed
description The Time‐Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission was selected by NASA as part of the Earth Venture‐Instrument (EVI‐3) program. The overarching goal for TROPICS is to provide nearly all‐weather observations of 3D temperature and humidity, as well as cloud ice and precipitation horizontal structure, at high temporal resolution to conduct high‐value science investigations of tropical cyclones. TROPICS will provide rapid‐refresh microwave measurements (median refresh rate better than 60 min for the baseline mission) which can be used to observe the thermodynamics of the troposphere and precipitation structure for storm systems at the mesoscale and synoptic scale over the entire storm life cycle. TROPICS comprises six CubeSats in three low‐Earth orbital planes. Each CubeSat will host a high‐performance radiometer to provide temperature profiles using seven channels near the 118.75 GHz oxygen absorption line, water vapour profiles using three channels near the 183 GHz water vapour absorption line, imagery in a single channel near 90 GHz for precipitation measurements (when combined with higher‐resolution water vapour channels), and a single channel near 205 GHz which is more sensitive to precipitation‐sized ice particles. This observing system offers an unprecedented combination of horizontal and temporal resolution to measure environmental and inner‐core conditions for tropical cyclones on a nearly global scale and is a major leap forward in the temporal resolution of several key parameters needed for assimilation into advanced data assimilation systems capable of utilizing rapid‐update radiance or retrieval data. Launch readiness is currently projected for late 2019.
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spelling pubmed-63609322019-02-14 An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission Blackwell, W. J. Braun, S. Bennartz, R. Velden, C. DeMaria, M. Atlas, R. Dunion, J. Marks, F. Rogers, R. Annane, B. Leslie, R. V. Q J R Meteorol Soc Advances in Remote Sensing of Rainfall and Snowfall The Time‐Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission was selected by NASA as part of the Earth Venture‐Instrument (EVI‐3) program. The overarching goal for TROPICS is to provide nearly all‐weather observations of 3D temperature and humidity, as well as cloud ice and precipitation horizontal structure, at high temporal resolution to conduct high‐value science investigations of tropical cyclones. TROPICS will provide rapid‐refresh microwave measurements (median refresh rate better than 60 min for the baseline mission) which can be used to observe the thermodynamics of the troposphere and precipitation structure for storm systems at the mesoscale and synoptic scale over the entire storm life cycle. TROPICS comprises six CubeSats in three low‐Earth orbital planes. Each CubeSat will host a high‐performance radiometer to provide temperature profiles using seven channels near the 118.75 GHz oxygen absorption line, water vapour profiles using three channels near the 183 GHz water vapour absorption line, imagery in a single channel near 90 GHz for precipitation measurements (when combined with higher‐resolution water vapour channels), and a single channel near 205 GHz which is more sensitive to precipitation‐sized ice particles. This observing system offers an unprecedented combination of horizontal and temporal resolution to measure environmental and inner‐core conditions for tropical cyclones on a nearly global scale and is a major leap forward in the temporal resolution of several key parameters needed for assimilation into advanced data assimilation systems capable of utilizing rapid‐update radiance or retrieval data. Launch readiness is currently projected for late 2019. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2018-09-17 2018-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6360932/ /pubmed/30774158 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/qj.3290 Text en © 2018 The Authors. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the Royal Meteorological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
spellingShingle Advances in Remote Sensing of Rainfall and Snowfall
Blackwell, W. J.
Braun, S.
Bennartz, R.
Velden, C.
DeMaria, M.
Atlas, R.
Dunion, J.
Marks, F.
Rogers, R.
Annane, B.
Leslie, R. V.
An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission
title An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission
title_full An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission
title_fullStr An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission
title_full_unstemmed An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission
title_short An overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission
title_sort overview of the tropics nasa earth venture mission
topic Advances in Remote Sensing of Rainfall and Snowfall
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6360932/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30774158
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/qj.3290
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