Thread by @weatherindia

.@NASA Launches Mission to Study Role of Whirlpools and Ocean Currents in #ClimateChange

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(📸: Xinhua/Wissam Nassar/IANS)

@NASA After being delayed over a year due to the pandemic, @NASA has launched a mission with scientific instruments aboard a self-propelled ocean glider and several aeroplanes to study the role of small-scale whirlpools and ocean currents in #Climatechange.

@NASA The Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) mission will deploy its suite of water and air-borne instruments to study what's happening just below the ocean's surface.

@NASA #Climatechange

@NASA The S-MODE team hopes to learn more about small-scale movements of ocean water such as eddies. These whirlpools span about 6.2 miles or 10 kilometres, slowly moving ocean water in a swirling pattern.

@NASA #Climatechange

@NASA The full-fledged field campaign will begin in October 2021. The team is using a self-propelled commercial Wave Glider decked out with scientific instruments that can study the ocean from its surface.

@NASA #Climatechange

@NASA The most important gadgets used in the mission are the acoustic Doppler current profilers, which use sonar to measure water speed and gather information about how fast the currents and eddies are moving, and in which direction.

@NASA #Climatechange

@NASA The glider also carries instruments to measure wind speed, air temperature, humidity, water temperature, salinity, and light and infrared radiation from the Sun.

@NASA #Climatechange

The new data will allow the scientists to estimate the exchange of heat and gases between Earth's atmosphere and the ocean, and consequently, understand global #Climatechange better.

@NASA

@NASA While the Wave Glider continues its slow trek across the ocean's surface, several aeroplanes will fly overhead to collect data from a different vantage point.

@NASA #Climatechange