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COSMIC, the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology,
Ionosphere and Climate, is a joint
project between the United States and Taiwan (in Taiwan
it's called FORMOSAT-3). The system is poised to transform
weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and research on space
weather.
COSMIC's six microsatellites, was launched successfully from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:40 p.m. PDT (9:40 p.m. EDT) on Friday, April 14, 2006.
The constellation will track radio signals from the Global Positioning
System as they pass through Earth's atmosphere. GPS signals
undergo changes in frequency and amplitude when they encounter
water vapor or other physical components of the atmosphere.
Those changes can be measured using a process called radio
occultation. UCAR's COSMIC science team is poised to convert
the altered signals into useful profiles of humidity and temperature
throughout the lower atmosphere. Information about the electrical
structure of the upper atmosphere, Earth's gravitational field,
and other data will also be extracted. Researchers and forecasters
around the world will have access to the data
on the Web.
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