NASA recently released a satellite as part of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite mission, in partnership with Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Researchers are collecting and analyzing data which will help them better understand Earth’s waters.
Oceanographer Will Perrie has worked on many projects throughout his career, but says this latest one is a game changer.
“Through Dalhousie, I submitted a proposal and it was funded and therefore Dalhousie became a part of it,” he says.
Over the next few years, Perrie, along with other Dalhousie researchers, will collect and analyze data from space to better understand marine forecasts and, over time, climate change.
“Data that can go back months, years, even decades or centuries, and then we can inform the climate models and the models will improve,” says Perrie.
NASA launched a satellite from California last week which will provide the data for Perrie and his team.
The first phase of the project will be focused on software development.
“Take the satellite data; insert it into the day-to-day marine forecast that handle the ocean and weather over ocean areas and ultimately all of Canada.”
It is the first satellite mission to observe the planet's surface water and will give scientists a better idea of what water levels are like in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and oceans around the world.
“Weather is global, climate is global,” says Perrie. “If you improve the forecast over the ocean, you have impact over weather and climate throughout the country, throughout the globe.”
In the first three months, a technical crew will ensure the satellite is working properly. Later on, data collected from the satellite will be compared to instruments on Earth.
“We will have high frequency radar looking at the water; we will have satellite from Canada’s radar satellite collocating in that area,” says Perrie.
He hopes data collection of this scope -- tracking the movement of water around the planet -- will help protect its most precious resource.
