NASA WEATHER RESEARCH PLANE TO HEAD TO TROPICS.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer A NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. Dryden Flight Research Center The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. airplane will fly to Brazil to verify and supplement satellite information on rainfall over the tropics. An ER-2, which is a U-2 spy plane modified for high-altitude science research, will begin a six-week mission Friday to support the satellite on a tropical rainfall measuring mission The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint space mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) designed to monitor and study tropical rainfall. . Launched in November 1997, the TRMM TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (NASDA/NASA) TRMM Thermal Radiation Math Model TRMM Training Resource Management Meeting (US Army) TRMM Token Ring Management Module satellite is the first dedicated to measuring tropical rainfall. ``With its full array of remote measurement radars, the ER-2 in Brazil will follow the same path as the TRMM satellite, but at a much lower altitude,'' a spokesperson for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), said. ``In addition, the ER-2 will fly above thunderstorms and other weather systems to obtain convection and moisture data that will provide comprehensive rainfall information.'' The ER-2 can carry a ton of scientific instruments for several hours at altitudes above 60,000 feet. The airplane has recently been used for other weather-related research, including weather studies of Florida and southeastern Texas. The airplane is temporarily stationed at Patrick Air Force Base Patrick Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, Florida, USA. Patrick Air Force Base is home to the 45th Space Wing and the Air Force Technical Applications Center. in Florida to finish up weather research in that region before flying to Brasilia in Brazil on Friday for the three-year TRMM mission. Researchers want information to help them understand how interactions of the sea, air and land masses produce changes in global rainfall and climate. More than two-thirds of Earth's rainfall occurs in the tropics. The information will help researchers understand such weather phenomena as El Nino, the ocean warming that triggered heavy rainstorms last year in Southern California. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) NASA will send a high-altitude ER-2 to Brazil on Friday to support a satellite launched in 1997 on a tropical rainfall measuring mission. |
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