Oceanographic satellite to mark 10th year in orbit



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Los Angeles, June 24 (IANS) Originally designed for a three to five year mission, an international oceanographic satellite tracking rising global sea levels marks its 10th year in orbit this week.

The US-European Ocean Surface Topography mission on the Jason-2 satellite was launched in June 2008. Since then, it has made more than 47,000 trips around the Earth, the Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.

His work includes measuring sea-level changes across the globe, observing ocean currents, studying climatic phenomena such as El Nino and La Nina, and monitoring the long-term rise in global sea level, according to NASA .

"The 10th anniversary of the launch of Jason-2 is also a milestone in the development of operational oceanography since it was the first Jason mission involving two operational agencies, EUMETSAT and NOAA," he said. said Alain Ratier, director general of the European Organization for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), said in a statement Saturday.

EUMETSAT, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, the European Space Agency and the French National Center for Space Studies are currently working on future generations of satellite altimeters, whose launch is planned for the next decade.

The launch of Jason-2 "paved the way for the transition from highly successful research missions to an operational altimetry system, which has now become a reality with Jason-3, Jason-CS / Sentinel-6 and Sentinel-3 providing data until 2030, "said Ratier.

In January 2016, Jason-2 was joined in orbit by its Jason-3 tracking mission.

In July 2017, Jason-2 started a new mission. It was maneuvered into a slightly lower orbit, from where it collected data along a series of closely spaced ground tracks, just 8 kilometers apart.

Other significant results of the mission include studies of ocean circulation, the links between the ocean and the atmosphere and the improvement of global climate predictions and forecasts.

–IANS

ksk / mr

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