NASA's Quikscat Ocean-Observing Satellite Mission Honored

Alan Buis 818-354-0474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov

Steve Cole 202-358-0918
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

News Release: 2008-217 November 18, 2008

NASA's Quikscat Ocean-Observing Satellite Mission Honored

PASADENA, Calif. – An Earth-observing satellite that has provided early detection of ocean
storms and advanced the scientific exploration of global ocean wind patterns has been
recognized for helping scientists better understand our home planet. NASA and the U.S.
Department of the Interior Tuesday presented the William T. Pecora Award to NASA's Quick
Scatterometer, or QuikScat, mission team.

The two agencies present individual and group Pecora Awards annually to honor
outstanding contributions in the field of remote sensing and its application to understanding
Earth. The award was established in 1974 to honor the memory of William T. Pecora, former
director of the U.S. Geological Survey and under secretary of the Department of the Interior.

Bob Doyle, deputy director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and Margaret Luce, acting deputy
director of NASA's Earth Science Division, presented this year's awards in Denver at the
17th William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium.

Since 1999, the QuikScat team has advanced Earth science research and contributed to
improved environmental predictions using measurements of global radar backscatter of
wind speed and direction over the ice-free oceans. The QuikScat mission was conceived,
developed and launched less than two years after the unexpected loss of the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-1 spacecraft, which
carried the NASA scatterometer. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.,
developed QuikScat and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington.

QuikScat measurements have had enormous impact on marine forecasts by enabling early
detection of the location, direction, structure and strength of ocean storms. Data from the
satellite are made available within two hours of acquisition to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and other international weather forecasting centers to enhance
marine watches and warnings, and to improve the quality of global and regional weather
forecasts. QuickScat data also help monitor changes in Arctic sea ice and icebergs, as well
as snow and soil moisture changes on land.

"We at NASA are very proud of the accomplishment of QuikScat," NASA Associate
Administrator Christopher Scolese said. "The mission has improved our understanding of
Earth, proved valuable to the research and operational communities and demonstrated
great cooperation among NASA centers, industry and academia. It also has developed
some of the best leaders in NASA and aerospace."

The QuikScat mission team includes personnel from JPL; NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp. of Boulder, Colo.; the
University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder; and
numerous principal investigators funded by NASA's Ocean Vector Winds science team.

This year's individual Pecora Award recipient is Samuel N. Goward of the University of
Maryland, College Park. Goward, a professor of geography, was recognized for his
"outstanding and sustained scientific leadership in advancing remote-sensing science and
especially the continuation of the Landsat Program." Goward played a key role on the
Landsat 7 science team in planning the acquisition of the most robust, cloud-free global
archive of Landsat imagery ever assembled.

Goward's career has been dedicated to advancing geographic education and Earth
observation science. He currently leads an interagency research team to quantify the recent
history of forest disturbance for the North American Carbon Program. Because of his many
contributions to remote-sensing education, science and programs, Goward also has been
awarded the U.S. Geological Survey John Wesley Powell Award and the American Society
of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Estes Memorial Award.

For more information about the William T. Pecora Award, visit:
http://remotesensing.usgs.gov/pecora.php .
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .
For more information about QuikScat, visit:
http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

-end-

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