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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Pacific Island nations such as Kiribati — a low-lying country in the southern Pacific Ocean — are preparing now for a future of higher sea levels.NASA Earth Observatory Climate change is rapidly reshaping a region of the world that’s home to millions of people.
In the next 30 years, Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji will experience at least 8 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise, according to an analysis by NASA’s sea level change science team. This amount of rise will occur regardless of whether greenhouse gas emissions change in the coming years.
The sea level change team undertook the analysis of this region at the request of several Pacific Island nations, including Tuvalu and Kiribati, and in close coordination with the U.S. Department of State.
In addition to the overall analysis, the agency’s sea level team produced high-resolution maps showing which areas of different Pacific Island nations will be vulnerable to high-tide flooding — otherwise known as nuisance flooding or sunny day flooding — by the 2050s. Released on Sept. 23, the maps outline flooding potential in a range of emissions scenarios, from best-case to business-as-usual to worst-case.
“Sea level will continue to rise for centuries, causing more frequent flooding,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, who directs ocean physics programs for NASA’s Earth Science Division. “NASA’s new flood tool tells you what the potential increase in flooding frequency and severity look like in the next decades for the coastal communities of the Pacific Island nations.”
Team members, led by researchers at the University of Hawaii and in collaboration with scientists at the University of Colorado and Virginia Tech, started with flood maps of Kiribati, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru, and Niue. They plan to build high-resolution maps for other Pacific Island nations in the near future. The maps can assist Pacific Island nations in deciding where to focus mitigation efforts.
“Science and data can help the community of Tuvalu in relaying accurate sea level rise projections,” said Grace Malie, a youth leader from Tuvalu who is involved with the Rising Nations Initiative, a United Nations-supported program led by Pacific Island nations to help preserve their statehood and protect the rights and heritage of populations affected by climate change. “This will also help with early warning systems, which is something that our country is focusing on at the moment.”
Future Flooding
The analysis by the sea level change team also found that the number of high-tide flooding days in an average year will increase by an order of magnitude for nearly all Pacific Island nations by the 2050s. Portions of the NASA team’s analysis were included in a sea level rise report published by the United Nations in August 2024.
Areas of Tuvalu that currently see less than five high-tide flood days a year could average 25 flood days annually by the 2050s. Regions of Kiribati that see fewer than five flood days a year today will experience an average of 65 flood days annually by the 2050s.
“I am living the reality of climate change,” said Malie. “Everyone (in Tuvalu) lives by the coast or along the coastline, so everyone gets heavily affected by this.”
Flooding on island nations can come from the ocean inundating land during storms or during exceptionally high tides, called king tides. But it can also result when saltwater intrudes into underground areas and pushes the water table to the surface. “There are points on the island where we will see seawater bubbling from beneath the surface and heavily flooding the area,” Malie added.
Matter of Location
Sea level rise doesn’t occur uniformly around the world. A combination of global and local conditions, such as the topography of a coastline and how glacial meltwater is distributed in the ocean, affects the amount of rise a particular region will experience.
“We’re always focused on the differences in sea level rise from one region to another, but in the Pacific, the numbers are surprisingly consistent,” said Ben Hamlington, a sea level researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the agency’s sea level change science team lead.
The impacts of 8 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise will vary from country to country. For instance, some nations could experience nuisance flooding several times a year at their airport, while others might face frequent neighborhood flooding equivalent to being inundated for nearly half the year.
Researchers would like to combine satellite data on ocean levels with ground-based measurements of sea levels at specific points, as well as with better land elevation information. “But there’s a real lack of on-the-ground data in these countries,” said Hamlington. The combination of space-based and ground-based measurements can yield more precise sea level rise projections and improved understanding of the impacts to countries in the Pacific.
“The future of the young people of Tuvalu is already at stake,” said Malie. “Climate change is more than an environmental crisis. It is about justice, survival for nations like Tuvalu, and global responsibility.”
To explore the high-tide flooding maps for Pacific Island nations, go to:
https://sealevel.nasa.gov
News Media Contacts
Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 25, 2024 Related Terms
Climate Change Earth Earth Science Jet Propulsion Laboratory Oceans Sea Level Rise Explore More
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
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Internet of Animals
The Internet of Animals project combines animal tracking tags with remote sensing, to better understand habitat use and movement patterns. This kind of research enables more informed ecological management and conservation efforts, and broadens our understanding of how different ecosystems are reacting to a changing climate.
https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-earth-exchange-nex/new-missions-support/internet-of-animals/
FATE: dFAD Trajectory Tool
FATE will quantify dFAD (drifting fish aggregating devices) activity in relation to ocean currents, fish biomass, and animal telemetry at Palmyra Atoll, which is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) National Wildlife Refuge and is part of the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) in the central Pacific Ocean. This innovative decision support tool will use NASA observations and numerical models to predict future dFAD trajectories and inform resource managers whether they should deploy tactical resources (boats, personnel) to monitor, intercept, or retrieve dFADs that have entered the MPA.
SeaSTAR
SeaSTAR aims to provide multi-spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol optical properties using a custom-built robotic sun/sky photometer. The instrument is designed to operate from a ship and is planned to deploy aboard the NOAA research vessel RV Shearwater in September 2024 to support the PACE-PAX airborne campaign.
PACE Validation Science Team Project: AirSHARP
Airborne asSessment of Hyperspectral Aerosol optical depth and water-leaving Reflectance Product Performance for PACE
The goal of AirSHARP is to provide high fidelity spatial coverage and spectral data for ocean color and aerosol products for validation of the PACE Ocean Color Instrument (OCI). Coastal influences on oceanic waters can produce high optical complexity for remote sensing especially in dynamic waters in both space and time. Dynamic coastal water features include riverine plumes (sediments and pollution), algal blooms, and kelp beds. Further, coastal California has a range of atmospheric conditions related to fires. We will accomplish validation of PACE products by combined airborne and field instrumentation for Monterey Bay, California.
Water2Coasts
Watersheds, Water Quality, and Coastal Communities in Puerto Rico
Water2Coasts is an interdisciplinary island landscape to coastal ocean assessment with socioeconomic implications. The goal of Water2Coasts is to conduct a multi-scale, interdisciplinary (i.e., hydrologic, remote sensing, and social) study on how coastal waters of east, and south Puerto Rico are affected by watersheds of varying size, land use, and climate regimes, and how these may in turn induce a variety of still poorly understood effects on coastal and marine ecosystems such as coral reefs and seagrass beds.
US Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF)
The USCRTF was established in 1998 by Presidential Executive Order to lead U.S. efforts to preserve and protect coral reef ecosystems. The USCRTF includes leaders of Federal agencies, U.S. States, territories, commonwealths, and Freely Associated States. The USCRTF helps build partnerships, strategies, and support for on-the-ground action to conserve coral reefs. NASA ARC scientists are members of the Steering Committee, Watershed Working Group, and Disease and Disturbance Working Group, and lead the Climate Change Working Group to assist in the use of NASA remote sensing data and tools for coastal studies, including coral reef ecosystems. Data from new and planned hyperspectral missions will advance research in heavily impacted coastal ecosystems.
CyanoSCape
Cyanobacteria and surface phytoplankton biodiversity of the Cape freshwater systems
The diversity of phytoplankton is also found in freshwater systems. In Southern Africa, land use change and agricultural practices has hindered hydrological processes and compromised freshwater ecosystems. These impacts are compounded by increasingly variable rainfall and temperature fluctuations associated with climate change posing risks to water quality, food security, and aquatic biodiversity and sustainability. The goal of CyanoSCape is to utilize airborne hyperspectral data and field spectral and water sample data to distinguish phytoplankton biodiversity, including the potentially toxic cyanobacteria.
mCDR: Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal
The goals of this effort are to conduct literature review, analysis, and ocean simulation to provide scientifically vetted estimates of the impacts, risks, and benefits of various potential mCDR methods.
Ocean modeling
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in a changing climate
The goals of this project are to build scientific understanding of the AMOC physics and its implications for biogeochemical cycles and climate, to assess the representation of AMOC in historical global ocean state estimates, and evaluate future needs for AMOC systems in a changing climate.
Elucidating the role of the ocean circulation in changing North Atlantic Ocean nutrients and biological productivity
This project will conduct analysis of NASA’s ECCO-Darwin ocean biogeochemical state estimate and historical satellite ocean color observations in order to understand the underlying causes for the sharp decline in biological productivity observed in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Integrated GEOS and ECCO Earth system modeling and data assimilation to advance seasonal-to-decadal prediction through improved understanding and representation of air-sea interactions
This analysis will build understanding of upper ocean, air-sea interaction, and climate processes by using data from the SWOT mission and ultra-high-resolution GEOS-ECCO simulations.
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. The mission is targeting an Oct. 10, 2024, launch.NASA/JPL-Caltech The first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth, Europa Clipper aims to find out if the ice-encased moon Europa could be habitable.
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, the largest the agency has ever built for a planetary mission, will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Europa, an intriguing icy moon of Jupiter. The spacecraft’s launch period opens Thursday, Oct. 10.
Learn more about how NASA’s Europa Clipper came together – and how it will explore an ocean moon of Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Data from previous NASA missions has provided scientists with strong evidence that an enormous salty ocean lies underneath the frozen surface of the moon. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and conduct 49 close flybys of the moon to gather data needed to determine whether there are places below its thick frozen crust that could support life.
Here are eight things to know about the mission:
1. Europa is one of the most promising places to look for currently habitable conditions beyond Earth.
There’s scientific evidence that the ingredients for life — water, the right chemistry, and energy — may exist at Europa right now. This mission will gather the information scientists need to find out for sure. The moon may hold an internal ocean with twice the water of Earth’s oceans combined, and it may also host organic compounds and energy sources under its surface. If the mission determines that Europa is habitable, it would mean there may be more habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond than we have imagined.
2. The spacecraft will fly through one of the most punishing radiation environments in our solar system — second only to the Sun’s.
Jupiter is surrounded by a gigantic magnetic field 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s. As the field spins, it captures and accelerates charged particles, creating radiation that can damage spacecraft. Mission engineers designed a spacecraft vault to shield sensitive electronics from radiation, and they plotted orbits that will limit the time Europa Clipper spends in most radiation-heavy areas around Jupiter.
3. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter, studying Europa while flying by the moon dozens of times.
The spacecraft will make looping orbits around Jupiter that bring it close to Europa for 49 science-dedicated flybys. On each orbit, the spacecraft will spend less than a day in Jupiter’s dangerous radiation zone near Europa before zipping back out. Two to three weeks later, it will repeat the process, making another flyby.
4. Europa Clipper features NASA’s most sophisticated suite of science instruments yet.
To determine if Europa is habitable, Europa Clipper must assess the moon’s interior, composition, and geology. The spacecraft carries nine science instruments and a gravity experiment that uses the telecommunications system. In order to obtain the best science during each flyby, all the science instruments will operate simultaneously on every pass. Scientists will then layer the data together to paint a full picture of the moon.
5. With antennas and solar arrays fully deployed, Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission.
The spacecraft extends 100 feet (30.5 meters) from one end to the other and about 58 feet (17.6 meters) across. That’s bigger than a basketball court, thanks in large part to the solar arrays, which need to be huge so they can collect enough sunlight while near Jupiter to power the instruments, electronics, and other subsystems.
6. It’s a long journey to Jupiter.
Jupiter is on average some 480 million miles (about 770 million kilometers) from Earth; both planets are in motion, and a spacecraft can carry only a limited amount of fuel. Mission planners are sending Europa Clipper past Mars and then Earth, using the planets’ gravity as a slingshot to add speed to the spacecraft’s trek. After journeying about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) over 5½ years, the spacecraft will fire its engines to enter orbit around Jupiter in 2030.
7. Institutions across the U.S. and Europe have contributed to Europa Clipper.
Currently, about a thousand people work on the mission, including more than 220 scientists from both the U.S. and Europe. Since the mission was officially approved in 2015, more than 4,000 people have contributed to Europa Clipper, including teams who work for contractors and subcontractors.
8. More than 2.6 million of us are riding along with the spacecraft, bringing greetings from one water world to another.
As part of a mission campaign called “Message in a Bottle,” the spacecraft is carrying a poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, cosigned by millions of people from nearly every country in the world. Their names have been stenciled onto a microchip attached to a tantalum metal plate that seals the spacecraft’s electronics vault. The plate also features waveforms of people saying the word “water” in over 100 spoken languages.
More About Europa Clipper
Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.
Find more information about Europa here:
https://europa.nasa.gov
Europa Clipper Teachable Moment See Europa’s Chaos Terrain in Crisp Detail Europa Clipper Gets Its Super-Size Solar Arrays News Media Contacts
Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 Related Terms
Europa Clipper Jet Propulsion Laboratory Jupiter The Solar System Explore More
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By NASA
NASA, ESA/Matthias Maurer An astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped this picture of the Moon as the station orbited 265 miles above the U.S. state of Minnesota on Dec. 17, 2021.
Astronauts aboard the orbital lab take images using handheld digital cameras, usually through windows in the station’s cupola, for Crew Earth Observations. Crew members have produced hundreds of thousands of images of the Moon and Earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere.
On Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, International Observe the Moon Night, everyone on Earth is invited to learn about lunar science, participate in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connection to the Moon. Find an event to join in the celebration.
Image credit: NASA, ESA/Matthias Maurer
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