The first satellite capable of watching the entire diurnal side of Earth continuously, DSCOVR, was launched into space earlier this month. Unlike current satellites that can only look at a single point on Earth once per day, the Deep-Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has a camera that can sweep across an entire hemisphere – from the North Pole to the South Pole – which will allow researchers to compare conditions in different regions simultaneously. Furthermore, it is able to survey regions for a long period of time, from sunrise to sunset.
The two main phenomena that DSCOVR will measure are the solar energy that hits the earth and the amount of infrared radiation that it reflects back into space. These components together determine the earth’s energy budget and, consequently, the state of our climate.
“We would be able to observe the whole planet, minute by minute,” said Francisco Valero, researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, USA, who developed the new satellite. “This is the first step in a completely new approach for Earth observation.”
