GRAA NEWSLETTER
P.O. Box 1184, Greenbelt, MD 20768-1184

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE AND ARLIN KRUEGER:

Our October luncheon speaker was Dr. Claire Parkinson, a Climate Change Senior Scientist in Goddard’s Earth Sciences Division and a Goddard Senior Fellow, who serves as Project Scientist for the Aqua satellite. Claire is internationally known through her sea ice research and has been elected to the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is an author of over 100 publications, including books on satellite imagery, climate modeling, and climate change. Her presentation was entitled “What a 42-Year Satellite Record Shows About Earth’s Changing Sea Ice Coverage.” This is one of the key areas where Goddard-led missions have measured climate and global warming parameters.

After joining Goddard’s Laboratory for Atmospheric Sciences in 1978, Claire began analyzing sea ice using data from the Nimbus 5 and 7 satellites. Wintertime sea ice typically covers about 15 million square kilometers (an area 1.5 times the size of the U.S.) in the Arctic region and about 18 million square kilometers in the Antarctic region. Satellite measurements are crucial when analyzing sea ice for climate studies, because of the vast areal coverages. Landsat visible light images of ice were limited to daylight and clear skies, and thus could not provide a full census of ice coverage. The Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) flown on Nimbus 5 measured microwave radiation from the surface that passed through clouds, thus opening up full day/night coverage in the polar regions. Emissivity differences between sea ice and sea water allowed calculation of effective sea ice area. ESMR was followed by the Nimbus-7 SMMR, DMSP SSMI, and the Aqua AMSR-E to produce a multi-decadal record.

Sea ice is a good insulator for the ocean under it, and it reflects sunlight back into space, so any changes in the sea ice coverage will affect other aspects of the climate system as well. As the sea ice decreases, more radiation is absorbed by the ocean, leading to further warming. In the Arctic, sea ice coverage showed a definite decreasing trend by 1999, when the trend since the late 1970s showed that on average a 34 thousand square kilometer area of ice coverage, about the size of the state of Maryland, was lost each year. About the same time, data from submarines analyzed by the University of Washington showed a decrease in the thickness of the sea ice, yielding more evidence in line with global warming. The record is complicated by inter-annual variability. In 2007 and again in 2012, satellites detected particularly low extents of Arctic late summer sea ice. Although alarming, these anomalies were determined to be caused by preconditioning (thin and less concentrated ice) and large storms. Data through 2020 show that since the late 1970s, on average the Arctic has lost approximately 55 thousand square kilometers of sea ice each year. This loss of sea ice has been a major reason why the Arctic region’s ocean and atmosphere have been warming much faster than almost anywhere else on Earth and why its coastal erosion is also more significant.

On the contrary, Antarctic sea ice area grew slowly until a gigantic decrease was seen in 2014 - 2017, erasing almost the entire gain. Some rebounding, along with continued variability, has occurred since 2017. There is no consensus on the cause of the rapid decrease between 2014 and 2017.

Claire showed results of a Goddard model that simulated a 4.17 K increase in the Earth’s temperature if the amount of carbon dioxide was doubled. Taking sea ice calculations out of the model resulted in a temperature increase of 2.61 K rather than 4.17 K, implying that 37% of the simulated global warming was due to the loss of sea ice.

In summary, sea ice is a major factor in and a primary indicator of global warming. It greatly affects the amount of radiation absorbed in the polar regions. Spacecraft are incredibly important in measuring sea ice because of the large areas that need to be observed. Data clearly show that the amount of Arctic sea ice is decreasing and that the Arctic and the globe as a whole are experiencing warming. Data from the Antarctic region are more puzzling, but scientists are delving into possible explanations.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Anthony (Tony) J. Pierro, Sr., 90, of Frisco TX died on September 26, 2021. He was born February 12 1931 in Ambridge, PA. He was drafted into the US Army in July 1952. While in the Army, he served in Korea, assigned to CO “A” 765th Trans Railway Shop as a Machinist. He received the following: Korean Service Medal W/2 Bronze Service Star; National Defense Service Medal; and United Nations Service Medal. He was honorably discharged as a Corporal in May 1954. Most of his employment career was with NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. As part of the space pioneer program, his career started with the Interplanetary Monitoring Program (IMP) program that consisted of a series of satellites that began with IMP-A and ended with IMP-J. These satellites were designed to conduct data and space radiation studies. IMP-E was launched into the orbit of the moon. He also worked with the Solar Maximum Monitoring (SMM) spacecraft, a satellite built to investigate solar phenomenon, particularly solar flares. As a spacecraft technician, he was instrumental in fabricating tools and tool boxes for astronauts on many of the Shuttle flights. The last project he worked on was with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) from conception to launch. He retired from NASA at GSFC in August 1987. Following retirement, he continued to work with an on-site contractor (ManTech) working on the Hubble Space Telescope’s first and second repair mission. Following seven years employment with ManTech, he retired a second time in 1994.
• Robert Clinton Sutphin, 91, of Frederick, died on September 26, 2021 at Kline Hospice House, Mt. Airy, MD. He proudly served in the United States Marine Corps, from 1952 to 1960, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant serving in active duty, stationed in the U.S. and Japan, from July 1953 to May 1955, and afterwards in the reserves. He taught mechanical and architectural drawing at Saint Maria Goretti Catholic High School in Hagerstown, MD from 1956 to 1958 and also worked as a part-time instructor at Prince Georges Community College, teaching engineering graphics from 1964 to 1973. Prior to working at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), he worked for Litton Industry as a Standard Specialist and Illustration Supervisor and Fairchild Hiller Corporation as a Technical Illustrator. In his career with NASA, he served as a Project Support Manager for many years with both the Earth Observation System (EOS) and the Explorers program until he retired from GSFC in 1995.
• Dr. Ronald (Ron) James Oliversen, 67, of Laurel, MD died on September 28, 2021 after a difficult battle with Multiple Myeloma. He was a native of Madison, WI and was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, earning his PhD in Physics. He remained a Wisconsin Badgers fan throughout his life. Ron was employed his entire career with the Goddard Space Flight Center where he worked as a planetary scientist. He held positions of Magnetometer Instrument Manager, Planetary Scientist, and Planetary Magnetospheres Associate Lab Chief during his career. During his career he was also an excellent mentor of many PhD candidate student interns and postdocs in the observational and planetary sciences.
• Barbara Jan Owings, 76, died October 14, 2021 after a recent battle with cancer. A graduate of Winthrop College, she also studied at the University of Maryland, after which she enjoyed a 40-year career with NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center. She worked on astronomy, solar physics, Landsat earth resources and other projects as a software engineer doing science data processing. In the early 1980’s, Jan moved to mission flight operations to lead a team charged to take on responsibilities of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) onboard flight software. Her first delivery was to be a new release of the HST onboard science computer software and her team consisted of mostly new college graduates. She treated each team member with respect and unending patience, with the result that each member became capable, dedicated to HST and quality focused. Their first delivery to HST was a complete success. The team recognized that a more capable science simulator system was necessary in order to accommodate the increasingly more complex science instruments to be installed on-orbit via Space Shuttle Servicing Mission. Her software and hardware engineering team defined, developed, and validated the simulator, which continues to support HST science software updates today. In addition to supporting HST prior to launch in 1990, Jan supported on-orbit science operations and preparations for 5 successful HST Servicing Missions.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES — IT HAPPENED IN NOVEMBER:

Fifty years ago on November 15, 1971 Scout launched SSS-A/Explorer 45 to conduct particle fluxes, electric and magnetic field measurements in the magnetosphere. It was launched into an equatorial orbit from San Marco Platform in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received donations from Ron Browning, Colleen Quinn-House, and Deborah Knapp.