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[Music]

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i'm ellen stofan also known as dr e

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and i'm thomas cerbergan also known as

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dr z and welcome to another episode of

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easy science this one

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is about earth day the 51st earth day

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and of course at nasa

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earth and earth science climate science

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is a high priority nasa really focuses

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on climate understanding our planet's

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climate and how it's changing because of

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human induced activity

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exactly and in order for us to

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understand that we need to look at the

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earth as a interconnected system of

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systems looking at the oceans looking at

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the biosphere the atmosphere all the

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parts the cryosphere ice you know

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looking at all the parts and our

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spacecraft do just that

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a lot of people don't realize nasa has

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over two dozen satellites in orbit

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around the earth right now all different

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orbits different sensors really trying

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to understand how our climate is

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changing how the earth is changing and

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how can we use that data to really help

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not just understand what's going to

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happen next with climate change but how

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to help people be more resilient to the

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changes that are taking place so we had

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an incredible launch this past november

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of a spacecraft called sentinel 6

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michael fry like of course michael

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freilich's name

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was on it the former director of earth

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science and the family was there it's an

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incredibly beautiful launch the whole

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earth was celebrating that launch it

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felt like when it went up there and it's

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taking data right now

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incredible data on sea level rise and

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this is something that mike who is a

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dear colleague of both of ours would

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have been so proud to know

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fundamental data on how is the sea level

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rising where is it rising in some areas

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faster than in others you see that where

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you see all the sudden flooding at high

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tide in communities we need to

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understand that to give people the best

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protection we can and to allow decision

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makers to take that information and

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figure out what do we do with people who

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live very close to vulnerable coastlines

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exactly so there's another launch that's

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going to happen later this year

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the next landsat mission and i remember

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in your museum there's a lot of

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information about landsat what's most

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exciting to you well you know to me

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lansa you know again that's why it's in

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the national air and space museum hugely

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long continuity of data how is the

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earth's surface changing over time can

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we look at how urban areas spread

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can we look at how deserts sometimes

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move in to urban areas or move backward

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can we really see how deforestation is

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taking place where are people cutting

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down trees where is there regrowth of

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forest

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landsat is just a critical critical

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series of spacecraft that have really

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helped us understand this planet and how

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it changes over time so this is the

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ninth one in the series and i just think

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it's an incredible partnership between

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nasa and the u.s geological survey

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absolutely incredible and

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perhaps the most valuable data set that

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we have in our everyday life whether

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it's from farming fisheries even

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firefighting

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the other spacecraft that we're going to

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launch in december is the next in the

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ghost series exposed t in this case

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and the goes satellites are really

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really critical for understanding

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weather helping predict weather helping

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look at cloud cover how hurricanes

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develop and move across the surface of

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the earth we wouldn't know as much about

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weather as we do today without those

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goes satellites really critical i have

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to tell you i'm always very proud when i

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look at the weather images because i

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know they're coming from the spacecraft

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that our teams put together with our

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friends from noaa and it's having an

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impact in my life right now and the

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impact of the lives of my family

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and one of the instruments on there that

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is in this new ghost series is that

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lightning mapper which is really

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starting to have an impact in

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forecasting my noaa friends tell me does

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that actually help you predict tornadoes

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better or severe storms absolutely it

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helps predict tornadoes and the

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occurrence of it i hope on this earth

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day everybody gives a big thank you to

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nasa noaa and the u.s geological survey

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for helping us understand our planet

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better

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happy earth day and thank you for

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joining us for another episode of easy