This EMIT scene shows Lake Mead in Arizona-Nevada, USA. A) Tetracorder analysis of ferric and ferrous minerals. Two major minerals, hematite (iron rust) and goethite (iron oxyhydroxide), can cause atmospheric warming when abundant in dust, and Tetracoder analysis also derived particle sizes from space. Masu. Hematite and goethite are two of the ten minerals of interest to climate modelers. B) visible color. C) Tetracorder analysis of eight other targeted EMIT minerals. Note the complexity of the mineral distribution in both panels A and B. Credit: Roger Clark/PSI/EMIT Team/JPL/NASA.
NASA’s EMIT mission was installed on the International Space Station to investigate how dust storms on Earth warm and cool the planet, creating the first complete map of the world’s dust source regions. , provided the exact location of 10 major minerals based on how they are reflected and absorbed. light.
EMIT (short for Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation) is a powerful imaging spectrometer developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in response to the need for more detailed surface mineral composition information. Planetary Science Institute senior scientist Roger Clark, a co-investigator on the mission, led the development of software called Tetracoder, which identifies and maps key minerals.
“Apart from the 10 major minerals that are part of EMIT’s main mission, EMIT data will be used to identify an encyclopedic range of materials at or near the Earth’s surface.” Clark said. “Rather than ‘mineralogy,’ let’s just call it chemistry. Anywhere you need chemistry to understand something on a surface, you can do it using imaging spectroscopy. Now EMIT You’re going to see the big picture, and it’s certainly going to open some eyes. ”
Tetracorder identifies and maps hundreds of minerals, vegetation types, snow and ice, and other chemicals, including man-made materials. The components identified in each EMIT scene are publicly visible.
During its 17 months in orbit, the mission also demonstrated a variety of other capabilities, including detecting plumes of methane and carbon dioxide emitted from landfills, oil facilities, and other infrastructure.
To date, EMIT has captured more than 50,000 “scenes,” or 50-by-50-mile (80-by-80-kilometer) images of the Earth’s surface, in a study area that covers less than 6,900 miles of dry land. A wide (11,000 km wide) belt around the center of the Earth. Collectively, these scenes contain millions of measurements to create detailed maps of surface composition.
Scientists have long suspected that mineral dust in the air may be influencing the climate. They know that dark materials rich in iron oxide absorb the sun’s heat and warm the air around them, while white materials without iron reflect light and heat and cool the air. However, it remains uncertain whether these impacts will have a net warming or cooling effect.
Researchers have insight into how dust moves through the atmosphere, but the missing piece is the composition of the surfaces where dust typically occurs, essentially the color, which until now has were obtained from fewer than 5,000 sampling sites around the world. .
EMIT’s dust source area map provides more detailed information. For example, Somalia and Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa are rich in hematite, a red-brown iron oxide, and goethite, a yellow-brown iron oxyhydroxide, is widespread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. This map records significant areas of kaolinite, a white silicate clay, in central Algeria in the Sahara Desert.
In addition to using EMIT data to improve global climate modeling, scientists can also use the information to study the effects of dust on the ecosystems where it falls. Particles that settle in the ocean can promote large numbers of phytoplankton, which can affect aquatic ecosystems and the global carbon cycle. There is strong evidence that this is the case. It provides nutrients for the growth of the Amazon rainforest.
Apart from the 10 major minerals that are part of EMIT’s main mission, EMIT data includes minerals found on or near the Earth’s surface, including different types of vegetation, snow and ice, and even man-made surfaces. Used to identify an encyclopedic range of substances. A wider geographic scale than was previously possible.
“We have made amazing discoveries by flying imaging spectrometers around the Moon and other planets and mapping the mineralogy of those objects. But EMIT is the first to image large parts of the Earth. is an imaging spectrometer, and its range is still expanding. “We’ve done research elsewhere in the solar system, too. We know there are a lot of minerals on the Earth’s surface. But now we can compare that to other planets,” Clark said. “EMIT is showing us the incredible diversity and complexity of minerals on Earth that no other planet comes close to. EMIT is also showing us the incredible diversity and complexity of life’s minerals. It also shows the diversity of
Quote: NASA’s EMIT instrument maps global airborne mineral dust (December 11, 2023), https://phys.org/news/2023-12-nasa-emit on December 11, 2023 Retrieved from -instrument-global-airborne.html
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