2014 Antarctic Ozone Hole Holds Steady

The Antarctic ozone hole reached its annual peak size on Sept. 11, according to scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The size of this year’s hole was 24.1 million square kilometers (9.3 million square miles) — an area roughly the size of North America.

This image shows ozone concentrations above Antarctica on Sept. 11, 2014.

Image Credit: 

NASA

NASA's Ozone Hole Watch website

The single-day maximum area was similar to that in 2013, which reached 24.0 million square kilometers (9.3 million square miles). The largest single-day ozone hole ever recorded by satellite was 29.9 million square kilometers (11.5 million square miles) on Sept. 9, 2000. Overall, the 2014 ozone hole is smaller than the large holes of the 1998–2006 period, and is comparable to 2010, 2012, and 2013.

With the increased atmospheric chlorine levels present since the 1980s, the Antarctic ozone hole forms and expands during the Southern Hemisphere spring (August and September). The ozone layer helps shield life on Earth from potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and damage plants.

Five new NASA Earth science missions are launching in 2014 to expand our understanding of Earth’s changing climate and environment.

NASA's "Earth Right Now" website

The Montreal Protocol agreement beginning in 1987 regulated ozone depleting substances, such as chlorine-containing chlorofluorocarbons and bromine-containing halons. The 2014 level of these substances over Antarctica has declined about 9 percent below the record maximum in 2000.

“Year-to-year weather variability significantly impacts Antarctica ozone because warmer stratospheric temperatures can reduce ozone depletion,” said Paul A. Newman, chief scientist for atmospheres at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The ozone hole area is smaller than what we saw in the late-1990s and early 2000s, and we know that chlorine levels are decreasing. However, we are still uncertain about whether a long-term Antarctic stratospheric temperature warming might be reducing this ozone depletion.”

Scientists are working to determine if the ozone hole trend over the last decade is a result of temperature increases or chorine declines. An increase of stratospheric temperature over Antarctica would decrease the ozone hole’s area. Satellite and ground-based measurements show that chlorine levels are declining, but stratospheric temperature analyses in that region are less reliable for determining long-term trends.

Scientists also found that the minimum thickness of ozone layer this year was recorded at 114 Dobson units on Sept. 30, compared to 250-350 Dobson units during the 1960s. Over the last 50 years satellite and ground-based records over Antarctica show ozone column amounts ranging from 100 to 400 Dobson units, which translates to about 1 millimeter (1/25 inch) to 5 millimeters (1/6 inch) of ozone in a layer if all of the ozone were brought down to the surface.

This image shows ozone concentrations above Antarctica on Sept. 30, 2014.

Image Credit: 

NASA

NASA's Ozone Hole Watch website

The ozone data come from the Dutch-Finnish Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite and the Ozone Monitoring and Profiler Suite instrument on the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite. NOAA measurements at South Pole station monitor the ozone layer above that location by means of Dobson spectrophotometer and regular ozone-sonde balloon launches that record the thickness of the ozone layer and its vertical distribution. Chlorine amounts are estimated using NOAA and NASA ground measurements and observations from the Microwave Limb Sounder aboard NASA’s Aura satellite.

NASA and NOAA are mandated under the Clean Air Act to monitor ozone-depleting gases and stratospheric depletion of ozone. Scientists from NASA and NOAA have been monitoring the ozone layer and the concentrations of ozone-depleting substances and their breakdown products from the ground and with a variety of instruments on satellites and balloons since the 1970s. These observations allow us to provide a continuous long-term record to track the long-term and year-to-year evolution of ozone amounts.

Audrey Haar
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

( http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/2014-antarctic-ozone-hole-holds-steady/index.html#.VFScoGjZFJ8 )

Hubble Sees 'Ghost Light' From Dead Galaxies

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has picked up the faint, ghostly glow of stars ejected from ancient galaxies that were gravitationally ripped apart several billion years ago. The mayhem happened 4 billion light-years away, inside an immense collection of nearly 500 galaxies nicknamed “Pandora’s Cluster,” also known as Abell 2744.

The scattered stars are no longer bound to any one galaxy, and drift freely between galaxies in the cluster. By observing the light from the orphaned stars, Hubble astronomers have assembled forensic evidence that suggests as many as six galaxies were torn to pieces inside the cluster over a stretch of 6 billion years.

Massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora's Cluster, takes on a ghostly look where total starlight has been artificially colored blue in this Hubble view.

Image Credit: 

NASA/ESA/IAC/HFF Team, STScI

Computer modeling of the gravitational dynamics among galaxies in a cluster suggests that galaxies as big as our Milky Way Galaxy are the likely candidates as the source of the stars. The doomed galaxies would have been pulled apart like taffy if they plunged through the center of a galaxy cluster where gravitational tidal forces are strongest. Astronomers have long hypothesized that the light from scattered stars should be detectable after such galaxies are disassembled. However, the predicted “intracluster” glow of stars is very faint and was therefore a challenge to identify. 

“The Hubble data revealing the ghost light are important steps forward in understanding the evolution of galaxy clusters,” said Ignacio Trujillo of The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. “It is also amazingly beautiful in that we found the telltale glow by utilizing Hubble’s unique capabilities.”

The team estimates that the combined light of about 200 billion outcast stars contributes approximately 10 percent of the cluster’s brightness.

“The results are in good agreement with what has been predicted to happen inside massive galaxy clusters,” said Mireia Montes of the IAC, lead author of the paper published in the Oct. 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

Because these extremely faint stars are brightest at near-infrared wavelengths of light, the team emphasized that this type of observation could only be accomplished with Hubble’s infrared sensitivity to extraordinarily dim light.

Hubble measurements determined that the phantom stars are rich in heavier elements like oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. This means the scattered stars must be second or third-generation stars enriched with the elements forged in the hearts of the universe’s first-generation stars. Spiral galaxies – like the ones believed to be torn apart -- can sustain ongoing star formation that creates chemically-enriched stars.

Weighing more than 4 trillion solar masses, Abell 2744 is a target in the Frontier Fields program. This ambitious three-year effort teams Hubble and NASA’s other Great Observatories to look at select massive galaxy clusters to help astronomers probe the remote universe. Galaxy clusters are so massive that their gravity deflects light passing through them, magnifying, brightening, and distorting light in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. Astronomers exploit this property of space to use the clusters as a zoom lens to magnify the images of far-more-distant galaxies that otherwise would be too faint to be seen.

Montes’ team used the Hubble data to probe the environment of the foreground cluster itself. There are five other Frontier Fields clusters in the program, and the team plans to look for the eerie “ghost light” in these clusters, too.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington.

For images and more information about Hubble, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble
http://hubblesite.org/news/2014/43

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Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore

( http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-sees-ghost-light-from-dead-galaxies/index.html#.VFSb22jZFJ8 )

Two Years Later: NASA Remembers Hurricane Sandy

Turbulent, swirling winds traveled from the Caribbean Sea and along the Atlantic Ocean in late October of 2012 to produce one of the most impactful hurricanes on the U.S. East Coast— Hurricane Sandy.

In total, Hurricane Sandy caused 159 deaths and $70 billion in damages. Thousands of people slept at Red Cross operated-shelters and millions were without power during the aftermath. Fires erupted from ruptured natural gas lines meanwhile the torrential rains flooded subway systems. The New York Stock exchange was closed for a consecutive two days—an event that hadn’t occurred since 1888.

For the hurricane’s almost two weeks of activity, NASA satellites documented the storm’s movements and helped researchers anticipate and follow the hurricane’s path. The satellite data provided detailed information such as the size and direction of the winds, observations of the cloud structures near the storm and the amount and location of storm’s rainfall.

The accompanying image gallery shows past satellite imagery and simulations of Hurricane Sandy and the superstorm’s impact on the U.S. East Coast.

Image Credit: 

NASA’s Earth Observatory/LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team

Hurricane Sandy Off the Carolinas

On October 28, 2012, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image of Hurricane Sandy off the southeastern United States around noon Eastern Daylight Time. The wind field from the storm was said to stretch 500 to 700 miles and was likely to affect an area from South Carolina to Maine, and as far inland as the Great Lakes. Sandy has already caused significant damage in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Image Credit: 

NASA Earth Observatory

Hurricane Sandy Approaching Landfall

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy approached the densely populated U.S. East Coast. An estimated 60 million Americans were expected to be affected by rain, wind, snow, or ocean surges from the storm. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this natural-color image of Sandy at 1:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (17:35 Universal Time) on October 29.

Before and After Images: 

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Caption: 

Use the slider to see the difference between the images.

Image Credit: 

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA’s Earth Observatory

A Changed Coastline in New Jersey

At landfall, heavy rains pelted states as far inland as Wisconsin and surging seawater washed away beaches and flooded streets, businesses, and homes. These two images show a portion of the New Jersey coastal town of Mantolokig, just north of where the storm made landfall, before (March 18, 2007) and after (October 31, 2012) the storm. On the barrier island, entire blocks of houses along Route 35 (also called Ocean Boulevard) were damaged or completely washed away by the storm surge and wind. Fires raged in the town from natural gas lines that had ruptured and ignited. A new inlet was cut across the island, connected the Atlantic Ocean and the Jones Tide Pond.

Before and After Images: 

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Caption: 

Use the slider to see the difference between the images.

Image Credit: 

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA Earth Observatory

Hurricane Sandy Causes Blackouts in New Jersey and New York

In the days following landfall of Hurricane Sandy, millions remained without power. This pair of images shows the difference in city lighting across New Jersey and New York before (August 31, 2012), when conditions were normal, and after (November 1, 2012) the storm. Both images were captured by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) "day-night band" onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, which detects light in a range of wavelengths and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as gas flares, city lights, and reflected moonlight. In Manhattan, the lower third of the island is dark on November 1, while Rockaway Beach, much of Long Island, and nearly all of central New Jersey are significantly dimmer. The barrier islands along the New Jersey coast, which are heavily developed with tourist businesses and year-round residents, are just barely visible in moonlight after the blackout.

Image Credit: 

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Tracking a Superstorm

Hurricane Sandy's near-surface winds are visible in this NASA GEOS-5 global atmosphere model computer simulation that runs from Oct. 26 to Oct. 31, 2012. The NASA model not only produced an accurate track of Sandy, but also captured fine-scale details of the storm's changing intensity and winds.

For more Hurricane Sandy images from NASA’s Earth Observatory, please visit:http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=79504

For more NASA coverage on Hurricane Sandy during 2012, please visit:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2012/h2012_Sandy.html

To view and download some of the above visualizations, please visit: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Sandy.html

Kasha Patel
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

( http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/two-years-later-nasa-remembers-hurricane-sandy/index.html#.VFSa92jZFJ8 )

NASA Statement Regarding Oct. 28 Orbital Sciences Corp. Launch Mishap

The following statement is from William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, regarding the mishap that occurred at Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during the attempted launch of Orbital Sciences Corp’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft at 6:22 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28.

“While NASA is disappointed that Orbital Sciences' third contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station was not successful today, we will continue to move forward toward the next attempt once we fully understand today's mishap. The crew of the International Space Station is in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies.

“Orbital has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its first two missions to the station earlier this year, and we know they can replicate that success. Launching rockets is an incredibly difficult undertaking, and we learn from each success and each setback. Today's launch attempt will not deter us from our work to expand our already successful capability to launch cargo from American shores to the International Space Station.”

Updates will be posted as available on NASA’s Orbital page, at:

http://www.nasa.gov/orbital

-end-

Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov

( http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/october/nasa-statement-regarding-oct-28-orbital-sciences-corp-launch-mishap/index.html#.VFSbBGjZFJ8 )