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| UNDERSTANDING EL NIÑO -- A new space imager designed to help meteorologists
better predict the "El Niño" effect has been delivered to NASA by Hughes
Space and Communications Company. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
(TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) was built by Hughes in El Segundo, Calif. It is
one of five instruments scheduled to fly on a joint U.S./Japanese spacecraft
when it is launched on a Japanese rocket in November 1997. TRMM is dedicated
to collecting a three-year dataset of global tropical and subtropical rainfall,
which is a significant factor in climate and weather forecast models, but up to
now has been inconsistently measured. TMI is one of the instruments in a
rainfall instrument package that includes the precipitation radar provided by
the Japanese National Space Development Agency (NASDA). Together, TMI and the
precipitation radar will more accurately measure rainfall over large areas,
improving our understanding of air and sea interactions that lead to seasonal
events, such as the "El Niño" effect. TMI's microwave radiometric
capabilities enable the instrument to see through cloud cover, which is not
possible using traditional visible and infrared sensors. TMI can measure sea
surface temperature and subsequent water movement in order to better understand
and predict the "El Niño" effect. A similar instrument was previously
built by Hughes for the U.S. military. This second-generation imager will
serve the civilian meteorological community by helping it to improve weather
forecasting worldwide.
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HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY Communications and Customer Relations P.O. Box 92919 (S10/S323) Los Angeles, CA 90009 (310) 364-6363 www.hughespace.com |
97PR-00173-24 c |
