JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When most people think of NASA, they tend think about looking out into the cosmos, but NASA has an array of satellites that also monitor what’s happening here on Earth.
Meteorologist John Haynes, the Program Manager of the NASA Health and Air Quality Applications, talked with First Coast News about NASA's role in monitoring earths atmosphere and climate.
"25 satellites and sensors, including some on the ISS that continue to monitor the Earth's weather climate and environment. We are getting information on everything from the atmosphere to the land to the ice caps and oceans and looking at the earth as a system and seeing how that is changing over time in particular with climate change," Haynes explained.
He went on to say “it doesn’t seem like a week can go by when you turn on the news and see there is another 1 and 1,000 year event that’s occurring just in Florida itself...We know that climate change is exacerbating these extreme events."
Sea levels also continue to rise, according to Haynes sea levels rise on average about 4mm per year, which is small at first but as it adds up to every 2 inches of sea level rise we lose about 8 feet of beach front. Which means even during normal high tides with an onshore wind unrelated to hurricanes we can even see coastal flooding. Much like what happened in Early April on the First Coast with a nor’easter.
If you want to learn more about the tools NASA uses to monitor the earths atmosphere and climate click here.