Aquarius and Remote Sensing of Sea Surface Salinity from Space

Aquarius is an L-band radiometer and scatterometer instrument combination designed to map the salinity field at the surface of the ocean from space. The instrument is designed to provide global salinity maps on a monthly basis with a spatial resolution of 150 km and an accuracy of 0.2 psu. The science objective is to monitor the seasonal and interannual variation of the large scale features of the surface salinity field in the open ocean. This data will promote understanding of ocean circulation and its role in the global water cycle and climate

Aquarius and the Aquarius/SAC-D Mission

Aquarius is a combination L-band radiometer and scatterometer designed to map the salinity field at the ocean surface from space. It will be flown on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission, a partnership between the USA space agency (NASA) and Argentine space agency (CONAE). The mission is composed of two parts: (a) The Aquarius instrument being developed as part of NASA.s Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program; and (b) SAC-D the fourth spacecraft service platform in the CONAE Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC) program. The primary focus of the mission is to monitor the seasonal and interannual variations of the salinity field in the open ocean. The mission also meets the needs of the Argentine space program for monitoring the environment and for hazard detection and includes several instruments related to these goals

SAC-D AQUARIUS A SATELLITE FOR OCEAN, CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT. ONE YEAR OF DATA

The SAC-D/Aquarius satellite was launched in June 10, 2011. It's a joint mission between Argentina (through CONAE) and US (NASA). This satellite is a true Observatory with a suite of sensors for Earth Observation, its weight is 1400 kg, sun-synchronous orbit at 657 km (6 pm ascendant node), revisit of seven days. Other space agencies have contributed with instruments and support (facilities and ground segment), as CNES, CSI, ASI and AEB/INPE. The primary objective is to monitor global variations in ocean surface salinity (SSS) in order to improve the knowledge about ocean circulation, water cycle and climate. The SSS is performed with Aquarius instrument (NASA). Other oceanic and atmospheric parameters are measured with a MWR, from CONAE, in K and Ka band, as wind speed, rain rate, sea ice, water vapour and liquid water in clouds. The thermal camera (NIRST) estimates sea surface temperature and detect high temperature events (fires and volcanic eruptions). The High Sensitivity Camera (HSC) generates night images (very useful for fishery activity monitoring in the sea, studying of electrical storms, polar auroras and urban application). The DCS (Data Collection System, from CONAE) can receive meteorological and environmental data from ground platforms and distribute among users. The TDP (Technological Demonstration Package, from CONAE) measures different parameters of satellite position and velocity. Other two important instruments are ROSA (from Italy) and CARMEN 1 (from France). The first is an atmospheric sounder, it allows elaborating atmospheric profiles of temperature, pressure and humidity, and the second has detectors for studies of space debris and the effects of radiation on electronic devices. This work provides a review of the first year of data, including the status of calibration and validation, other finding and at the same time we want to present the progress in the active educational and outreach program including the information of SAC-D Aquarius Mission

Estimación de daño causado por dichroplus elongatus giglio-tos (orthoptera: acrididae) en cultivos de soja en siembra directa, en la provincia de buenos aires

Las comunidades de tucuras exhiben, con cierta frecuencia, grandes oscilaciones temporales en su abundancia, provocando explosiones poblacionales o «outbreaks». En el partido de B. Juárez (sudeste de Buenos Aires) se realizan desde el año 1996 monitoreos sistemáticos de tucuras durante la estación estival, en diversas comunidades vegetales (pastizales nativos, comunidades halófilas, pasturas implantadas y pasturas con moderado y alto disturbio) y, en los últimos años, en cultivos de soja y girasol, principalmente. Con el incremento de la siembra directa en la región, las plagas tradicionales de la soja se han modificado, y es muy notable cómo los acridios afectan a este cultivo. A partir de observaciones realizadas a campo y de resultados obtenidos en estudios preliminares, para la campaña 2003-2004 se planificaron una serie de ensayos, a fin de evaluar los efectos causados por diferentes densidades de Dichroplus elongatus sobre cultivos de soja variedad RR, en lotes en siembra directa de primera y de segunda, ubicados en distintas zonas del partido. En cada lote seleccionado se instalaron nueve jaulones de alambre tejido (tres réplicas por densidad ensayada, de 0,7m x 0,4m x 0,6m (alto) cada una), donde se colocaron adultos jóvenes y ninfas en V estadio de D. elongatus, en tres densidades diferentes (0 individuos/m2, 20 individuos/m2 y 40 individuos/m2). Luego de la cosecha de las plantas, en laboratorio se midieron y analizaron (ANOVA) los siguientes parámetros: número promedio de chauchas y de granos por planta, peso promedio de granos por planta, altura promedio de la planta, peso de 1000 granos para cada una de las densidades ensayadas y el rendimiento (kg/ha) (t-test). A partir de los resultados obtenidos, se podría inferir que las dos densidades de tucuras ensayadas (20 y 40 ind./m2), afectarían significativamente los parámetros analizados, especialmente, el rendimiento de ambas sojas (con una merma en este parámetro que osciló entre 12% y 38,2% según los casos), mereciendo la atención por parte del productor o técnicos, para decidir la aplicación de medidas de control sobre la plag