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today april 22nd represents earth day

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around the world and uh there's no

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better way for us here in mission

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control to uh celebrate earth day than

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to have a special guest joining us for

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the uh i guess we can call it a

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celebration and that is dr william

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stefanoff he is the associate space

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station program scientist for earth

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observations you're also the lead for

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earth science and remote sensing unit

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here at the johnson space center

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welcome will thanks kyle good to have

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you here

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we know that for years and years the

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one of the tasks that the crew loves to

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do is look out the window but it's a lot

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more important to that for the for the

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team here on the ground but why is it so

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valuable to to look at the earth from

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the ground

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well it's it's part of a long-standing

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tradition of looking at our planet from

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space

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the perspective from orbit allows us to

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see things that you can't really see

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from the ground it also allows you to

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collect data that you you our eyes

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necessarily can't recognize by looking

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at different wavelength regions

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and uh also enables us to collect data

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over remote parts of the earth on a very

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regular basis that might be impossible

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or difficult to get out on the ground to

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actually take

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specific samples or specimens or

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measurements of right so talk a little

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bit about the the different kinds of

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cameras we see earth views all the time

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obviously but talk to us about the

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different kind of cameras the sensors

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that are aboard the space station right

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now that that are pointed down or

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looking at us here on the earth okay

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right now i'm going to focus on the nasa

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sensors although our international

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partners also have their own systems on

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board i'll start on the exterior of the

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station what you're looking at right now

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is the japanese experiment module and

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its exposed facility and if you follow

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the the canadian arm at the bottom of

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the image out to its end and then look

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pretty much straight up towards the top

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of the photo you see a white box that

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looks like its front is cut out right

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and there's a sort of a mylar wrapped

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instrument package in there inside that

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instrument package sits the the hico the

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hyperspectral imager for the coastal

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ocean

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and that is a a sensor that is

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specifically tasked as its name suggests

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on looking at oceanic processes along

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the coasts it's a hyperspectral sensor

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which means it looks at a large portion

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of the electromagnetic spectrum broader

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than our own eyes can see

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but it chops that spectrum up into 128

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different little slices and by looking

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at the energy that returns back to the

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sensor from the earth's surface in each

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of those little slices you can actually

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build uh image spectra these can be

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thought of as fingerprints if you will

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for specific chemicals or materials on

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the earth's surface so

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some of the things that they've used

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that sensor for are

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the epa in particular has looked at

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water clarity and water quality for one

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thing and they've been developing apps

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that people can use to see what the

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water quality is at a particular spot

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that they might be say wanting to go to

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swim in or so

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now we're going to move inside the space

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station because we have sensors both

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exterior and interior here you see a

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picture of a former iss commander chris

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hadfield and floating there in front of

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him is the iserv camera system and this

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is the iss severe environmental and

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research visualization system it was

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specifically built to support the nasa

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surveyor program which collects data and

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helps developing countries develop

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things like maps of agriculture respond

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to disasters and things of that nature

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this is the iserv camera system mounted

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in the wharf which is the window

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observational research facility this is

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inside the u.s destiny lab module and

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it's specifically designed for remote

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sensing instruments to be positioned

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inside and look through the destiny lab

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window and that's a very polished window

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compared to other windows on the station

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right specifically for this type of

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observation exactly in fact it's uh it's

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the finest optical quality window that's

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ever been sent up on a manned spacecraft

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and the icer what the icer system is

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it's kind of an innovative design it's a

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it's a high-end commercial off-the-shelf

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digital camera

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mated to

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a casa grain

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astronomers telescope very similar to

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what an amateur astronomer might buy at

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home and putting those two together

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allows this camera system to collect

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very very high resolution data on the

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earth's surface about three meters per

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pixel

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still inside the other sensor system

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that we have

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is the crew earth observations facility

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and this is the this is the kind of data

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that's been collected for the longest

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time period on space station uh

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astronaut photos taken with handheld

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digital cameras out the station windows

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has been collected since 2000 and here

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you see nasa astronaut don pettit in the

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cupola and he actually has a dual camera

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system that he rigged up where he's

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taking infrared data with one camera and

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visible wavelength data with the other

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camera

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and so all these systems put together

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enabled the iss to collect a wide

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variety of data

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for a number of different surface

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processes we're also going to have

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actually going up this year being

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installed this year two new sensors the

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the cat system the cloud aerosol

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transport system and the iss rapid scat

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system and what cats will do is an

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atmospheric sensor and what it does is

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uses a laser system to look at aerosol

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concentrations in the earth's atmosphere

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and that relates directly to climate

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change investigations it provides data

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useful for determining how much energy

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is absorbed

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by the atmosphere and reflected back

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into space

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um the the rapid scat system looks at

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the sea surface looks at wind patterns

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on the sea surface and that also gets

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back to looking at how in a warming

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global climate how surface circulation

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patterns change

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well

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now you've talked a little bit about

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some of the instrumentation on this

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station but let's talk now

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about maybe show us or talk to us about

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some examples of of what we've learned

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thanks to some of those instruments on

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the station okay

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this slide what you're seeing right now

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this is a hico scene

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uh of galveston bay

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and uh fortunately jsc is just off the

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edge of the image there we're not we're

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not quite there yet but about the

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greater galveston-based system and i

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mentioned earlier this kind of data is

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being used by groups like the epa also

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other groups

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particularly a group that i lead here at

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jsc

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looking at regional climate change and

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hazard and potential

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sustainability issues for the center

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itself uh this is a hyperspectral sensor

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but right now you're looking at a

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visible camera sort of a visible

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wavelength view

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so it's more intuitive to our eyes

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but if you go into that each pixel on

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that image you can pull out spectra

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that's useful for looking at things like

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like i said water turbidity or presence

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of algae

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certain bacteria different chemical

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constituents and plants all things that

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are useful for looking at how climate

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reacts different changes right

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this is a

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image

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on the right taken by the isrf camera

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system

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during floods during 2013 that happened

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up in calgary canada

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and what you see on the left is a

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pre-flood image taken by uh from the

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google earth software environment and on

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the right you have the isurf camera

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system and this was data collected in

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response to this this hazard event and

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the data was sent directly to the

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canadian response

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agencies for use in their in their

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mapping of the flooded areas

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and uh

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sending aid to the proper parts of

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calgary and this is actually an activity

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that all of the nasa iss sensors

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including some of the international

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partner sensors are engaged in as part

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of the international disaster charter

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where uh if there's a global natural

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hazard that takes place

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the iss sensors if they can they can

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collect data that is then given to the

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people in those countries for their use

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and their hazard response

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and this is a image sequence taken by

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the crew earth observations facility the

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handheld digital cameras of the uppsala

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glacier in south america and what we're

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seeing is three time periods and what

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we're looking at is the snout the end of

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the glacier where it goes off into that

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fjord into the water and being able to

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track how that has moved backwards in

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time primarily due to loss of glacial

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ice due to warming in the region and

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these images were all taken at the same

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season

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so we can control that we're not just

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looking at a seasonal variation we're

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actually seeing

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actual retreat of that sensor that

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sensor excuse me that glacier over time

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well um

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there are obviously other earth

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observing spacecraft up there satellites

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and such but

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are there advantages

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obviously there are but can you talk a

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little bit about the advantages that we

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have with the systems on the station

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compared to those

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well the main advantage right now

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is in the iss orbit itself

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most of the the traditional remote

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sensing systems that nasa and other

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countries have are polar orbiting

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satellites so they're designed to cover

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the whole whole surface of the earth at

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approximately the same time of day so

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the sun's illuminating it at the same

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time

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and what this does for most of these

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satellites that means you only go over

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the same spot on the earth about every

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two weeks or so

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that's changing with pointable sensors

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now in sensor constellations but that's

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really good for developing a nice

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regular time series of data

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but if you're interested in taking data

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at other times of day or you're looking

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at things that don't happen to happen at

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the time the sensor passes over you

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can't really get that with these sensors

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what the iss does because of its

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inclined equatorial orbit it has the

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capability to pass over different spots

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of the earth between 52 north and 52

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south latitude at different times of day

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or night so we the sensors on iss can

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collect really a fundamentally different

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kind of data different data set well

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yeah and i'm sorry but you've got one

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more

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advantage i guess and that is you have

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humans in the loop you have crew members

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on board that can help you as well can

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you talk a little just for a minute

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about that sure yeah the iss is a unique

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remote sensing platform and that there

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are humans on it and so what that gives

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you the ability to do is uh serendipity

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basically the the crew can look out the

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window and see something happening and

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take imagery of it just decide on the

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spots take imagery of it where all the

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the automated sensors the ground

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commanded sensors they get a daily set

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of targets that they that are up linked

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to them and they collect data whether

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there's something going on or not

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the crew can also look out the window

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and say all right we're taking a shot of

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this particular image that's flooded but

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it's completely cloud covered we're not

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going to get any data so they can decide

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well there's no point in taking that

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image whereas the automated sensor will

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take the data regardless so it gives you

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it gives you that added human and loop

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ability to respond immediately to

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something that's unfolding

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well well i appreciate it we we all

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appreciate you stopping by on this

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special day earth day 2014. my pleasure