Earth  ID: 13978

Instruments in the Sea and Sky: NASA’s S-MODE Mission Kicks off

Released on October 29, 2021
Using instruments at sea and in the sky, the Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) team aims to understand the role these ocean processes play in vertical transport, the movement of heat, nutrients, oxygen, and carbon from the ocean surface to the deeper ocean layers below. In addition, scientists think these small-scale ocean features play an important role in the exchange of heat and gases between air and sea. Understanding small-scale ocean dynamics will help scientists better understand how Earth’s oceans slow the impact of global warming and impact the Earth climate system.
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Music credit: “Graceful Play” from Universal Production Music

Complete transcript available.

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From its vantage 28,000 feet in the air aboard the NASA Armstrong King Air B200, the DopplerScatt instrument bounces radar signals off the ocean to provide information about winds and currents at the surface. The MASS instrument aboard the Twin Otter DHC6 plane flies below the clouds to observe how surface waves move and break. It collects measurements with a complex suite of laser-based and imaging devices, which allow the team to infer ocean currents from these measurements.
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Several Saildrones set sail from San Francisco Bay to join the S-MODE fleet collecting data at the study site. The Saildrones and Wave Gliders will measure a vast array of factors such as ocean currents, wind speed and direction, air and water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll content.
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On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
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On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
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On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
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On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
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On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
Download Options
On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
Download Options
On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
Download Options
On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
Download Options
On Oct. 19, the research vessel Oceanus, owned by the National Science Foundation, set sail to an area a hundred nautical miles out to sea off the coast of San Francisco, accompanied by a fleet of several types of autonomous marine research vehicles.
 

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Credits

Kathleen Gaeta (AIMM): Lead Producer
Sofie Bates (KBR Wyle Services, LLC): Lead Writer
Ellen T. Gray (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Producer
Kathryn Mersmann (KBR Wyle Services, LLC): Technical Support
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Jesse Carpenter (Mori Associates Inc): Videographer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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Keywords:
SVS >> Climate
DLESE >> Physical oceanography
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Ocean Circulation >> Eddies
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Field Campaign

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0