Archive OMI News in 2004 (All items: EN+NL)

Overview of the news items in 2004, INCLUDING items in Dutch.

2004

Satellietwaarnemingen van luchtvervuiling

Date: 31 December 2004
Het is medio oktober als de relatieve rust in de afdeling Atmosferische Samenstelling van het KNMI abrupt verstoord wordt. Gedurende bijna een week staat het onderzoek even stil. Onderzoekers rennen van de microfoon van Radio-1 naar de telefoon waar de schrijvende pers uiteenlopend van NRC Handelsblad tot en met de Apeldoornse Courant aan de lijn hangt. Ook het NOS- en RTL-journaal komen polshoogte nemen. Zelfs de grote oliemaatschappijen tonen veel belangstelling. Wat is er aan de hand? Is de ozonlaag ineens verdwenen? Zijn er oorzaken van plotselinge klimaatverandering vastgesteld? Lees meer ...

NASA Eyes Effects of a Giant 'Brown Cloud' Worldwide

Date: 15 December 2004
NASA scientists recently announced that a giant, smoggy atmospheric "brown cloud" that forms over South Asia and Indian Ocean has intercontinental reach, and has effects around the world.
Scientists studied the intercontinental smog or ozone processes associated with the "brown cloud" using a new NASA technique to combine data acquired by satellites with ozone data measured by instruments on special weather balloons. The brown cloud is a persistent, but moving, air mass characterized by a mixed-particle haze, typically brown in color. It also contains other pollution, such as ozone. Read more ...

NASA's Aura Satellite Sheds New Light on Air Quality and Ozone Hole

Date: 14 December 2004
Launched in July of 2004, the EOS-Aura satellite research platform is already providing the first-ever daily, direct global measurements of low altitude or tropospheric ozone and many other pollutants that affect our air quality. Moreover, Aura delivers its results with unprecedented clarity over a region. The instruments onboard will help scientists monitor pollution production and transport around the world.
Measurements taken from the satellite also offer the potential for new insights into how climate changes influence the recovery of the stratospheric or upper ozone layer, the protective region that shields the Earth from ultra-violet radiation. Read more ...

Eerste OMI resultaten laten grote dagelijkse variatie luchtvervuiling zien

Datum: 23 november 2004
Dankzij satellieten is voor het eerst mogelijk om iedere dag de luchtvervuiling in Nederland en de rest van de wereld te zien tot op stadsniveau. Het blijkt dat in Nederland het verschil in luchtvervuiling van dag tot dag maar ook van plaats tot plaats sterk varieert. Dat zijn verrassende resultaten van het nieuwe satellietinstrument OMI, het Ozone Monitoring Instrument. Inmiddels stromen de eerste meetgegevens bij het KNMI in De Bilt binnen. Lees meer ...

Protecting our planet's ozone layer

Date: 3 October 2004
Monitoring our planet's atmosphere has become an international priority. As successive world summits have stressed, our future on Earth could depend on safeguarding our environment. EuroNews 'Space' magazine reports today from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) which is using instruments on several satellites to follow the evolution of ozone around the planet.
Read more ...

OMI met succes gelanceerd

Date: 15 juli 2004
De Amerikaanse klimaatsatelliet AURA met aan boord het Nederlands-Finse Ozon Monitoring Instrument (OMI) is donderdagmiddag om 12.02 Nederlandse Tijd na een derde poging succesvol gelanceerd. Bij het KNMI, waar een kleine honderd genodigden de spannende lancering volgden, zijn daarna de champagneflessen ontkurkt.
Alle hobbels waar de lancering de vorige 2 dagen op bleef steken werden nu zonder problemen genomen en om 2 minuten over 12 vertrok de Delta II raket met NASA's EOS-Aura satelliet van de lanceerbasis Vandenberg Airforce Base in Californië. Lees meer ...

NASA Puts Safety First During Aura Launch

Date: 15 July 2004
NASA engineers and mission officials decided during multiple launch attempts this week to postpone the launch of the Aura satellite to put safety first for mission success. Aura, a mission dedicated to the health of the Earth's atmosphere, launched successfully this morning at 6:01:59 EDT (3:01:59 PDT). Read more ...

Aura Launched, To Better Understand The Air We Breathe

Date: 15 July 2004
Aura, a mission dedicated to the health of the Earth's atmosphere, was successfully launched today. This moment marks a tremendous achievement for the NASA family and our international partners. We look forward to the Aura satellite offering us historic insight into the tough issues of global air quality, ozone recovery and climate change, said NASA Associate Administrator for Earth Science Dr. Ghassem Asrar. Read more ...

NASA Launch Advisory: Aura Launch Postponed

Date: 14 July 2004
The launch of NASA's Aura spacecraft atop a Boeing Delta II rocket was scrubbed this morning due to an issue with one of the two batteries on the second stage of the Delta II launch vehicle. At approximately three minutes before the scheduled liftoff time, as the batteries were being transferred to internal power, the battery current level dropped below prescribed limits, triggering a launch hold. Read more ...

Voortuitblik op OMI Lancering

Datum: 10 juni 2004
Begin juli lanceert de NASA een technisch hoogstandje van Nederlands- Finse makelij: het 'Ozon Monitoring Instrument'. OMI is het eerste meetinstrument ter wereld dat in één dag de volledige atmosfeer zeer gedetailleerd in kaart brengt. Lees meer ...

NASA Plans to Put an Aura Around the Earth

Date: 3 June 2004
Earth's atmosphere sustains life in all these ways, and by the thinnest margins. If a person could cruise at a speed of 60 miles an hour straight up, it would take just 6 minutes to exit the air we need to survive. Considering the relatively delicacy of this thin protective film, understanding our atmosphere goes hand in hand with protecting life as we know it.
On June 19, NASA will launch Aura, a next generation Earth-observing satellite that will make global observations of the ocean of air that surrounds our planet. Aura will supply the best information yet about the health of Earth's atmosphere. Read more ...