International Science Teams Selected for Aquarius/SAC-D Mission

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

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

Sandra Torrusio 011-54-11-4331-0074, ext. 288
Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
storrusio@conae.gov.ar

News release: 2009-149 Oct. 1, 2009

International Science Teams Selected for Aquarius/SAC-D Mission

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA and Argentina's Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales
(CONAE), with support from the Argentine Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative
Production (MinCyT), have selected additional members of the international scientific investigating
team for the Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D mission, scheduled to launch in
2010. The new team members include two from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The joint minimum three-year mission will carry a suite of instruments into space onboard the
Argentine-built SAC-D spacecraft. NASA's sensor, Aquarius, is the primary instrument on the
mission. Aquarius is designed to provide monthly global maps of how salt concentration varies on the
ocean surface – a key indicator of ocean circulation and its role in climate change. Seven CONAE-
sponsored instruments will provide environmental data for a wide range of applications, including
natural hazards, land processes, epidemiological studies and air quality issues.

NASA and CONAE conducted a joint solicitation and selection of scientific investigations and
innovative application demonstration projects using Aquarius/SAC-D observations. NASA selected
15 projects that it will fund over the next four years for a total of $8 million. CONAE/MinCyT
selected 15 Argentine projects with participation of scientists from Chile and Brazil, which will be
funded for a total of $1.3 million. An additional 10 proposals were selected from scientists in Italy
and Japan.

The primary focus of the selected projects is to prepare the scientific community to use
Aquarius/SAC-D observations to better understand the interactions between global ocean circulation,
the water cycle and Earth's climate. Several projects will concentrate on socio-economic applications
of the mission's observations in such areas as fishery management, disease and flood forecasting, and
monitoring volcanic eruptions and fires.

The principal investigators for the NASA-funded projects are:

- William Asher, University of Washington, Seattle
- Frederick Bingham, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
- Shannon Brown, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
- Antonio Busalacchi, University of Maryland, College Park
- Ichiro Fukumori, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
- Arnold Gordon, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, N.Y.
- Thomas Jackson, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Md.
- W. Linwood Jones, University of Central Florida, Orlando
- Roger Lang, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
- William Large, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.
- Nikolai Maximenko, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
- Rui Ponte, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
- Stephen Riser, University of Washington, Seattle
- Douglas Vandemark, University of New Hampshire, Durham
- Frank Wentz, Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa, Calif.

The principal investigators for the CONAE/MinCyT-funded projects are:

- Miguel Bertolami, National University of the Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Chubut, Argentina
- Marcelo Cassini, National University of Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Carlos Cotlier, National University of Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
- Dora Goniadzki, National Water Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Raúl Guerrero, National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
- Haydee Karszenbaum, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Maite Narvarte, Marine Biology Institute Alte. Storni, Chubut, Argentina
- Alberto Piola, Naval Hydrographic Service, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Gloria Pujol, National Meteorological Service, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Mirta Raed, National University of Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Raúl Rivas, National University of Centro, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Cristina Rodriguez, Mariscope Chilena Department of Oceanography, Puerto Montt, Chile
- Hector Salgado, Naval Hydrographic Service, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Paola Salio, National University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Cristina Serafini, National University of Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina

NASA is providing the Aquarius instrument (which was built by JPL), along with launch services and
Aquarius science data processing. JPL manages the Aquarius mission for NASA. NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is providing the Aquarius instrument radiometer. CONAE is
providing the SAC-D spacecraft; additional instruments, including optical and thermal cameras, a
microwave radiometer and other specific sensors (with participation from Italy, France, Canada and
various Argentine institutions); and mission operations.

Launch of Aquarius/SAC-D onboard a Delta II rocket is scheduled for no earlier than May 2010 from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

For more information on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission, visit: http://aquarius.nasa.gov and
http://www.conae.gov.ar/satelites/sac-d.html . JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena.

-end-

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