Earth’s Ocean And Beyond
Earth’s Ocean and Beyond
Image Credit: NOAA
Earth’s ocean has been the backdrop for ancient epics, tales of fictional fish and numerous scientific discoveries. It was, and will always be, a significant piece of the Earth's story. Most of the ocean is unexplored– about 95% of this underwater realm is unseen by human eyes (NOAA). There is only one global Ocean. In fact, the ocean represents over 70% of the Earth's surface and contains 96.5% of the Earth’s water.
We and the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research work together alongside organizations like the Schmidt Ocean Institute and Ocean Exploration Trust to better understand our oceans and its processes. While space may be the final frontier, understanding our own planet helps scientists as they explore space and study how our universe came to be.
On #WorldOceansDay let’s explore how Earth’s ocean informs our research throughout the solar system.
Earth and Exoplanets
“In interpreting what we see elsewhere in the solar system and universe, we always compare with phenomena that we already know of on Earth...We work from the familiar toward the unknown.” - Norman Kuring, NASA Goddard
We know of only one living planet: our own. As we move to the next stage in the search for alien life, the effort will require the expertise of scientists of all disciplines. However, the knowledge and tools NASA has developed to study life on Earth will also be one of the greatest assets to the quest.
The photo above shows what Earth would look like at a resolution of 3 pixels, the same that exoplanet-discovering missions would see. What should we look for, in the search of other planets like our own? What are the unmistakable signs of life, even if it comes in a form we don't fully understand? Liquid water; every cell we know of -- even bacteria around deep-sea vents that exist without sunlight -- requires water.
Phytoplankton (Algae) Bloom vs. Atmosphere of Jupiter
Jupiter’s storms are mesmerizing in their beauty, captured in many gorgeous photos throughout the decades from missions like Voyager 1 and Juno. The ethereal swirls of Jupiter are the result of fluids in motion on a rotating body, which might come as a surprise, since its atmosphere is made of gas!
The eddies in Jupiter’s clouds appear very similar to those found in Earth’s ocean, like in the phytoplankton (or algae) bloom in the Baltic Sea, pictured above. The bloom was swept up in a vortex, just a part of how the ocean moves heat, carbon, and nutrients around the planet. Blooms like this, however, are not all beauty - they create “dead zones” in the areas where they grow, blooming and decaying at such a high rate that they consume all the oxygen in the water around them.
Arctic Sea Ice and Europa Ice Crust
While the Arctic (North Pole) and the Antarctic (South Pole) are “polar opposites,” there is one huge difference between the North and South Poles– land mass. The Arctic is ocean surrounded by land, while the Antarctic is land surrounded by ocean. The North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice.
By studying this sea ice, scientists can research its impact on Earth system and even formation processes on other bodies like Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. For example, it is possible that the reddish surface features on Europa’s ice may have communicated with a global subsurface ocean layer during or after their formation.
Aquanauts and Astronauts
As new missions are being developed, scientists are using Earth as a testbed. Just as prototypes for our Mars rovers made their trial runs on Earth's deserts, researchers are testing both hypotheses and technology on our oceans and extreme environments.
NEEMO, our Extreme Environment Mission Operations project, is an analog mission that sends groups of astronauts, engineers and scientists to live in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research station located off the Florida Keys, 62 feet (19 meters) below the surface. Much like space, the undersea world is a hostile, alien place for humans to live. NEEMO crew members, known as aquanauts, experience some of the same challenges there that they would on a distant asteroid, planet or moon.
Deep-sea Robotic Exploration and Space Robotic Exploration
Video credit: Deep Sea Robotics/Schmidt Ocean Institute and Mars Curiosity rover/NASA
From mapping the seafloor through bathymetry to collecting samples on the surface of Mars, researchers are utilizing new technologies more than ever to explore. Satellite and robotic technology allow us to explore where humans may not be able to– yet. They teach us valuable lessons about the extreme and changing environments, science, as well as provide a platform to test new technologies.
Jezero Crater and Dvina River Delta, Arkhangelsk, Russia/Mars Delta
River deltas, the point where a river meets the ocean, are sites of rich sediment and incredible biodiversity. The nutrients that rivers carry to the coastlines make a fertile place for fish and shellfish to lay their eggs.
The Jezero crater on Mars (pictured in false-color on the right) has been selected as the Mars2020 landing site, and has a structure that looks much like a river delta here on Earth! Pictures from our Mars Global Surveyor orbiter show eroded ancient deposits of transported sediment long since hardened into interweaving, curved ridges of layered rock. This is one of many hints that Mars was once covered in an ancient ocean that had more water than the Arctic Ocean. Studying these deltas on Earth helps us spot them on other planets, and learning about the ocean that was once on Mars informs how our own formed.
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Exercising in Space
Are you hoping to get to the gym more often in 2016? While you work out on Earth, here are a few ways that astronauts stay fit on the International Space Station.
Exercise is an important part of the daily routine for astronauts aboard the International Space Station to prevent bone and muscle loss, and to maintain cardiovascular health. On average, astronauts exercise two hours per day. The equipment they use in space is different than what we use on Earth.
Lifting 200 pounds on Earth may be a lot of work, but in microgravity a 200 pound dumbbell would not weigh anything. Therefore, free weights do not serve as a good strength training tool for the astronauts in space. That means exercise equipment needs to be specifically designed for use in space so astronauts will receive the workout needed.
What Equipment Do They Use in Space?
Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED)
The ARED hardware uses adjustable resistance piston-driven vacuum cylinders along with a flywheel system to simulate free-weight exercises in normal gravity. It’s primary goal is to maintain muscle strength and bone mass in astronauts during long periods in space.
Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation System (CEVIS)
CEVIS is very similar to a mechanical bicycle. It’s bolted to the floor, and astronauts snap their shoes on to the pedals. A seat belt can be used to hold them in position, and they can change the resistance for varying levels of difficulty.
Russian Treadmill (BD-2)
BD-2 is the treadmill that is found in the Russian segment of the space station. It allows crew members to walk and run with a speed from 2.4 to 20 km/hr.
Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT)
COLBERT is the second generation U.S. treadmill on the space station. It features data collection devices that will allow scientists and doctors to evaluate how effective the exercise is in reducing the amount of bone and muscle density loss due to microgravity exposure. It allows crew members to walk and run with a speed from 4.8 to 20 km/hr.
Why is it called COLBERT?
The treadmill’s name was selected after comedian Stephen Colbert took interest in our online naming poll for Node 3 of space station. He urged his viewers to submit the name “Colbert.” Although we ended up choosing the suggested name “Tranquillity” for the node, we designated its new treadmill “COLBERT” in honor of the name that received the most entries.
VELO Ergomoeter Bike (VB-3)
VB-3 is used for aerobic training, medical tests and pedaling regimes. It is located in the Russian segment of the space station.
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would you actually want to live on mars?
I would like to live on Mars, but I do know we have a lot of research we have to do to sustain life on there. I’m looking forward to all that we learn on the International Space Station as well as future missions.
Galaxies: Cities of Stars
Galaxies are like cities made of oodles of stars, gas, and dust bound together by gravity. These beautiful cosmic structures come in many shapes and sizes. Though there are a slew of galaxies in the universe, there are only a few we can see with the unaided eye or backyard telescope.
How many types are out there, how’d so many of them wind up with weird names, and how many stars live inside them? Hold tight while we explore these cosmic metropolises.
Galaxies come in lots of different shapes, sizes, and colors. But astronomers have noticed that there are mainly three types: spiral, elliptical, and irregular.
Spiral galaxies, like our very own Milky Way, look similar to pinwheels! These galaxies tend to have a bulging center heavily populated by stars, with elongated, sparser arms of dust and stars that wrap around it. Usually, there’s a huge black hole hiding at the center, like the Milky Way’s Sagittarius A* (pronounced A-star). Our galactic neighbor, Andromeda (also known as Messier 31 or M31), is also a spiral galaxy!
Elliptical galaxies tend to be smooth spheres of gas, dust, and stars. Like spiral galaxies, their centers are typically bulges surrounded by a halo of stars (but minus the epic spiral arms). The stars in these galaxies tend to be spread out neatly throughout the galaxies and are some of the oldest stars in the universe! Messier 87 (M87) is one example of an elliptical galaxy. The supermassive black hole at its center was recently imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope.
Irregular galaxies are, well … a bit strange. They have one-of-a-kind shapes, and many just look like messy blobs. Astronomers think that irregular galaxies' uniqueness is a result of interactions with other galaxies, like collisions! Galaxies are so big, with so much distance between their stars, that even when they collide, their stars usually do not. Galaxy collisions have been important to the formation of our Milky Way and others. When two galaxies collide, clouds of gas, dust, and stars are violently thrown around, forming an entirely new, larger one! This could be the cause of some irregular galaxies seen today.
Now that we know the different types of galaxies, what about how many stars they contain? Galaxies can come in lots of different sizes, even among each type. Dwarf galaxies, the smallest version of spiral, elliptical, and irregular galaxies, are usually made up of 1,000 to billions of stars. Compared to our Milky Way’s 200 to 400 billion stars, the dwarf galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud is tiny, with just a few hundred million stars! IC 1101, on the other hand, is one of the largest elliptical galaxies found so far, containing almost 100 trillion stars.
Ever wondered how galaxies get their names? Astronomers have a number of ways to name galaxies, like the constellations we see them in or what we think they resemble. Some even have multiple names!
A more formal way astronomers name galaxies is with two-part designations based on astronomical catalogs, published collections of astronomical objects observed by specific astronomers, observatories, or spacecraft. These give us cryptic names like M51 or Swift J0241.3-0816. Catalog names usually have two parts:
A letter, word, or short acronym that identifies a specific astronomical catalog.
A sequence of numbers and/or letters that uniquely identify the galaxy within that catalog.
For M51, the “M” comes from the Messier catalog, which Charles Messier started compiling in 1771, and the "51" is because it’s the 51st entry in that catalog. Swift J0241.3-0816 is a galaxy observed by the Swift satellite, and the numbers refer to its location in the sky, similar to latitude and longitude on Earth.
There’s your quick intro to galaxies, but there’s much more to learn about them. Keep up with NASA Universe on Facebook and Twitter where we post regularly about galaxies.
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On Monday, April 8, 2024, there’ll be a total solar eclipse – and it’ll be the last one to cross North America for 20 years. Make sure you’re tuned in to our live broadcast for this exciting event: there’ll be views from along the path of totality, special guests, and plenty of science.
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This unprocessed image shows features in Saturn's atmosphere from closer than ever before. The view was captured by our Cassini spacecraft during its first Grand Finale dive between the planet and its rings on April 26, 2017.
As Cassini dove through the gap, it came within about 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) of Saturn's cloud tops (where the air pressure is 1 bar -- comparable to the atmospheric pressure of Earth at sea level) and within about 200 miles (300 kilometers) of the innermost visible edge of the rings.
See all the unprocessed images from Cassini: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/raw-images/
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We See Seashores Shifting with Satellites
If you’re like us, as soon as the summer Sun is out, you start feeling – well, just beachy, sand you very much.
Lots of our favorite beaches are inside protected marine areas, which are regulated by governments to keep their ecosystems or cultural heritage intact. If you beachcomb at Cape Cod, swim in the Florida Keys or learn about Hawaiian culture at Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, congrats! You’ve visited a protected marine area.
But time and tide haven’t been kind to some protected beaches.
Beaches are constantly changing, and science teams are using our 30-year record of Earth images from the NASA/USGS Landsat program to study what’s happening.
Overall, the sum total of sandy beaches has increased a bit over the last 30 years. But time and tide haven’t been as kind to our protected beaches – the team found that more than 1/3 of sandy beaches in protected marine areas have been eroding away.
Some of these areas were designated to protect vulnerable plant and animal species or connect delicate ecosystems. They are home to humpback whales and sea turtles, reefs and mangroves that protect the land from erosion and natural disasters, and species which are found in only one habitat in the world. Losing land area could upset the balance of these areas and endanger their future.
Next step: Looking for pearls of wisdom to save the beaches!
Right now, we aren’t sure which beaches are eroding due to natural processes, and which are due to humans – that’s the next step for science teams to investigate. Once we know the causes, we can start working on solutions to save the beaches.
Those 30 years of Landsat data will help scientists find answers to these questions much faster – instead of using airplanes or measuring the beaches by hand, they can use computer programs to rapidly investigate millions of satellite photos spanning many years of change.
By tracking beaches from space, scientists can help keep our summers sandy for years to come.
And that makes us as happy as clams.
Read the full story HERE.
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🌊🌊🌊 This natural-color image captured May 17 near the coast of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa shows estuaries branching out like a network of roots from a plant. Crossfading to a data visualization helps reveals water clarity due to dissolved organic matter in Guinea-Bissau.
With their long tendrils, the rivers meander through the country’s lowland plains to join the Atlantic Ocean. On the way, they carry water, nutrients, but also sediments out from the land. These estuaries play an important role in agriculture for this small country that is mostly made up of flat terrain. While the coastal valleys can flood often during the rainiest part of the year in the summer, the rain makes the valleys good locations for farming, especially rice cultivation. Using satellite data, researchers continue to observe the country's change in terrain and as a result, they're documenting a regrowth of previously eroded coastal areas.
Learn more
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Happy 50th Anniversary of Earth Day! 💙🌍
We’re so glad you could join us for this special Earth edition of Tumblr Answer Time. Today is a perfect day to learn about our home planet directly from the people who work to keep it safe.
Kick off starts NOW!
Our Acting Director of Earth Sciences, Sandra Cauffman, and Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen have answers to your questions from their homes! Enjoy.
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Go Behind the Scenes of Science in Space
Gravity rules everything on Earth, from how our bodies develop to what our research can reveal, but what happens when we go 250 miles up to the International Space Station?
Get ready to go behind the scenes of what it takes to get science to space, and meet the people who make it happen.
Introducing Season 4 of NASA Explorers: Microgravity. Floating isn’t just fun. Microgravity could open the door to discovery.
You’ve seen things floating in space, but why does that happen and how does it affect science being conducted aboard the International Space Station?
Microgravity makes the International Space Station the perfect place to perform research that is changing the lives of people on Earth, and preparing us to go deeper into space. This season on our series NASA Explorers, we are following science into low-Earth orbit and seeing what it takes to do research aboard the space station.
Follow NASA Explorers on Facebook to catch new episodes of season 4 every Wednesday!
Five Ways Your Holidays Might Be Similar to the Crew on the Space Station
The holiday season is here! You might think that your celebrations are WAY different than what is done on the International Space Station, but you might be surprised…Here are a few ways your holidays might be similar to the crew on the space station:
1. You’re Instagramming All Your Decorations
Yep! Just like on Earth, the space station crew has the capability to use social media while on orbit. If you don’t follow them, you should check it out and get an out of this world perspective of what life is like on the International Space Station. (Expedition 34 crew members assemble in the Unity node of the space station for a brief celebration of the Christmas holiday on Dec. 24, 2012.)
2. You Have to Make Sure to Call Your Relatives
You don’t want to forget to wish Aunt Sue “Happy Holidays”, she might not send you a gift next year! The crew on the space station have the ability to talk to their loved ones every day. (Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, and astronauts Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and Sunita L. Williams conduct a teleconference on Dec. 25, 2006.)
3. The Family Photos Never Seem to End
The crew on the station might not be related by blood, or even country of birth, but they share living space, meals and time together just like a family on Earth. And when it comes to the holidays, you bet they’ll be snapping pictures to capture the moments. (The six Expedition 30 crew members assemble in the U.S. Lab aboard the space station for a brief celebration of the Christmas holiday on Dec. 25, 2011.)
4. Meal Prep is a Task Shared by All
When you’re making food for multiple people, everyone needs to pitch in and help…the crew on the space station included! (Astronauts Michael Fincke, Sandra Magnus and cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, pose for a photo as they prepare to share a Christmas meal on the space station on Dec. 25, 2008.)
5. Eating Cookies is a Must
What would the holidays be like without eating cookies? They even have the chance to eat them in space…pretty cool! (Astronauts Michael Fincke and Sandra Magnus hold Christmas cookies while posing for a photo near the galley on the space station on Dec. 25, 2008.)
For more pictures from the holidays on the International Space Station, check out our Flickr album: HERE.
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