EVENT:
WHEN: 10 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 5.
WHERE: MCC Building, 3925 W. Braker Lane, Suite 200. (Maps of The University of Texas at Austin can be obtained at: www.utexas.edu/maps/main).
BACKGROUND:
More clues in the global warming mystery and its resulting polar ice cap melts will emerge from NASA's next space mission, thanks to the leadership of engineers at The University of Texas at Austin who helped design the mission's instruments and will monitor their valuable measurements.
Powerful laser-based instrumentation designed to precisely measure Earth's features that influence sea levels will launch Dec. 19 aboard NASA's new Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat).
Aerospace Engineering Professor Dr. Bob Schutz headed a nationwide team which developed the satellite's orbit and the technical specifications for the laser system. The laser will reflect light onto Earth to reveal land, ice and other Earth changes over time. This Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) will be the mission's sole payload.
Among the questions the ICESat/GLAS team seeks to answer are:
Are the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets growing or shrinking?
Will the ice sheets thin or thicken in a warmer climate?
How fast are sea levels rising?
ICESat will measure details of the planet's all-important polar ice sheets-and, secondarily, land elevations, vegetation cover and ocean ice-throughout the year, while taking into account the influence of such important atmospheric phenomena as clouds and aerosols. Its goal is to gather accurate data about a host of climate variables and their near- and far-range effects: information that will improve understanding and protect the planet against changes in weather patterns that have present-day climatologists concerned.
Climatological information ICESat/GLAS generates will be used to identify the annual net change in polar ice mass believed partly responsible for a global sea level rise of about 0.8 inch every 10 years. The increase, small in any given year, is nonetheless sufficient over a period of several decades to seriously affect low-lying coastal regions through shoreline retreat and flooding.
Related Web sites: http://www.csr.utexas.edu/glas/
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About the Cockrell School of Engineering:
The Cockrell School ranks among the top ten engineering programs in the United States and aspires to move into the top five. With the nation's fourth highest number of faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Cockrell School's more than 7,000 students work with many of the world's finest engineering educators and researchers. This environment prepares graduates to become engineering leaders and innovators working for the betterment of society.