Soon to Launch Europe, US ‘Climate Guardian’ Satellite to Keep Watch over Oceans

The Climate Guardian will be sent up this weekend to monitor the rise of the seas. This is a joint venture of the US and Europe in keeping tabs on climate change.

Over the weekend, the "climate guardian" satellite will be sent to keep-eye on the sea levels as the effects of climate change and global warming are growing concerns. This was the statement given by an official of the Space Agency.

The designation of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is developed in collaboration with the US and Europe. One board is high tech instruments that can sense the ocean's height all over the globe. The data will be captured with utmost accuracy compared to three decades back, reported AP News.

According to Josef Aschbacher, the European Space Agency's director of Earth observation, the sea level is a crucial indicator of how climate is changing on earth.

Now more than ever, the areas close to the ocean's coast are in danger of the unprecedented rise of water levels. Rising sea level means more water crawling up shorelines in a mere decade, unlike before.

Aschbacher stressed that the sea level is rising precariously but not how fast or how much.

Studies that point to a rise of two feet in the ocean level all over is not comforting as many places on the earth's map is destined for inundation. Scientists predict via models that this will be due by the year 2100, about 80-years from now. Areas like Bangladesh up to Florida will be swallowed.

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Data from the 1990s indicate that average sea levels rising are about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) per year, follows by a recent increase in the last few years per year at almost 5 millimeters (0.2 inches).

One of the challenges of getting a more accurate reading of the ocean level is getting it at uniform measurement. This is what the 'Climate Guardian' satellite is engineered for. It will be scanning for changes every ten days while probing from the earth's orbit.

Aschbacher was quoted," "If you measure it at sea level, you have one measurement device in Amsterdam, and you have a different one in Bangkok and yet another one in Miami." Adding that measuring way out in space is better and uniform as the satellite orbits the earth regularly.

Onboard is the Poseidon-4 radar altimeter that takes measurements with the most precise accuracy to be achieved. The device shoots out powerful radar waves from space that are bounced back to it. Poseidon is the Greek god of the oceans.

A suite of onboard instruments can analyze radio signals passing through the atmosphere, providing accurate atmospheric temperature and humidity to improve weather forecasting in general.

The satellite will be leaving for orbit on Saturday, via the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Two satellites were lost when the rockets did not hit the right trajectory when launched.

To underline the importance of 'Climate Guardian' Satellite in monitoring sea levels is important for getting accurate measures on the oceans deadly rise.