Ocean satellite launch critical to Australian science

A new earth observing satellite being launched in California will help guide future Australian ocean and climate science.

Jason-2, or the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), is a joint venture between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the French Space Agency (CNES) and the European Meteorology Satellite service (EUMETSAT). "There's plenty resting on this satellite in terms of where our ocean and climate science is going," said Dr David Griffin, an oceanographer from the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship and a member of the international science team, which advises on satellite altimeter missions. "Jason-2 provides a lifeline between space and some very significant science projects that are integral to our capabilities in understanding how the oceans are changing and particularly future ocean forecasting products," he said. With an orbit 1,336km above the Earth's surface, Jason-2 will be one of three satellites equipped with special altimetry sensors to precisely measure sea level, and indirectly infer ocean heat content changes. This information is also important for Australia's evolving ocean forecasting system, BLUElink, sea safety and offshore oil and gas operations, measuring global sea level rise, tracking large-scale ocean-atmosphere phenomena like El Niño and La Niña and marine mammals feeding in nutrient-rich ocean eddies, and forecasting currents for sports events such as the Sydney-Hobart yacht race. High quality satellite altimetry started with the TOPEX/Poseidon mission (1992-2005), and continued with Jason-1 (2001-to the present).
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