The Lumia 920 is the best Windows 8 phone you can currently buy. Sure, it might have a little too much junk in the trunk, but that girth houses the king of smartphone cameras. It's built like a tank. And although Windows Phone 8 is still a little behind in app availability, it's catchingupeveryday. If you've wanted to give the Microsoft mobile operating system a try, there's never been a better time?AT&T is running a one-day sale where a Lumia 920 is free with a new contract. Of course, there's still the cost of the contract, but that's easy to overlook when you're live-tiling it up. Those tiles?they're so alive. [AT&T]
Also, if you wanted the HTC First, the heralded Facebook phone?and the only HTC LTE phone that can run stock Android?it's only a buck after contract. [AT&T]
For a steady stream of true deals, updated daily, check out deals.kinja.com. And if you've got a Kinja account, click that little grey (+) next to the banner to follow. [Deals Kinja]
The Humble Double Fine Bundle [PC/Mac/Linux] ? Pay anything to get Costume Quest, Stacking, Psychonauts ? Pay ($1+) for [Steam] keys ? Beat the average ($8.09+) to get Brutal Legend ? Pay ($35) to pre-order Broken Age (and get everything else)
Tropico Bundle | IndieGala ? Pay what you want for Tropico Reloaded, min. $1 for [Steam] key ? Pay ($5.20+) for Tropico 3 - Steam Special Edition ? Pay ($9.10+) for Tropico 4 - Steam Special Edition
A note on Dealzmodo: We're professional shoppers. Yes, we make money if you end up buying. That's capitalism, but we're absolutely looking out for your best interest. Read this if you want to know more.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? A fire on the slopes of Kenya's tallest mountain is sending big game animals like elephants fleeing for their lives, as wildlife agents and British troops are fighting to put out several fires, officials said Monday.
The flames have already consumed hundreds of acres of forest on Mount Kenya, said Paul Udoto, a spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service. The fire has covered the spiky mountain in a haze of smoke.
Tourists staying in mountain lodges are safe, Udoto said, but elephants are among the many animals fleeing.
"The elephants fled the area but they are still within the protected areas of the mountain," Udoto said.
Firefighters said they haven't come across any animal hurt or killed by the fire.
Photos of the fire show small bursts of flame and thick white smoke hanging over the mountain's lower elevations. Mount Kenya is the second-highest peak in Africa, at 5,199 meters (17,057 feet).
"There's fires all over the place," said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of the group Save the Elephants. "It's because of the dryness. But I bet people are setting the fires ... accidental but human-generated."
Fires are also burning in the nearby Aberdare National Park. Douglas-Hamilton said the fires will deprive animals of food and that he expects some to get caught in the flames.
Mount Kenya is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The U.N. organization describes the region as "one of the most impressive landscapes of Eastern Africa, with its rugged glacier-clad summits, Afro-alpine moorlands and diverse forests."
Susie Weeks, the executive officer of the Mount Kenya Trust, a group that works to protect the mountain's wildlife, said at least three separate fires were burning. She said in an email that the British military and the Kenya Wildlife Service were coordinating "beautifully" on Monday.
"Today is a much better day! Less chaos, more help, low winds and a bit of cloud. However we need to sustain this level of attack on the fires for a couple of days to succeed," she wrote.
The fire is burning forest that serves as a water catchment, potentially affecting the region's water supply and hydroelectric dams. Wildlife would also be forced to move, said Gitau, the deputy warden of Mount Kenya National Park.
Gitau said four of six burning sites in the forest had been suppressed, but there is a chance the fire will re-ignite because of the dry and windy conditions. He said the cause of the fire is not known, but 90 percent of the fires in Mount Kenya are caused by human activity, either poachers or honey gatherers.
"Sometimes it's accidental like a cigarette butt that hasn't been completely extinguished," he said.
Patrick Wanjohi, the director of the Mountain Rock Lodge, a holiday resort on the lower slopes of Mount Kenya, said the forest will not regenerate fast because of the high altitude. He said animals are likely to flee into farms at lower elevations, leading to human-animal conflict.
Capt. Maz Kingston, a spokeswoman for the British Army Training Unit Kenya, said the British military has helped carry out an aerial assessment of the fire, and is providing command and control for the firefighting response. British military vehicles are helping move firefighters close to the flames.
"Fires have been going on for last couple months with varying degrees of intensity," Kingston said. "It's very intense and it's quite extensive across the mountain. ... We had a little bit of rain last night which tamped it down a little bit."
March 18, 2012 at 1:11 am ? Posted in Marketing ? Comments Off
Wales is a great place to do business. South Wales has seen a bit of a rejuvenation of late. Known for it?s beautiful country side and hilly landscape, Wales hasn?t always been known for business. That is rapidly changing.
The tourist industry has always been booming in Wales , but Wales and South Wales in particular has seen something of a revival in it?s industrial trades.
Though the mines are mostly closed now, Wales excels still in agriculture. If you wanted to set up a business, Wales may be an ideal place to start as local rates are low for businesses and there?s a large pool of potential employees to draw upon.
Wales is also a great place to meet like minded businesses people for networking. For a business network south wales can compete very well with places like the South East of England. And above all it?s a lovely country to live in.
Flower seller Jimmi Lee, 55, sells a sprig of shamrock to shopper Catherine Fahy, 45, on Dublin's main shopping boulevard Friday, March 16, 2012. Dublin is getting ready for its annual St. Patrick's Day parade on upcoming Saturday and is expected to attract a half-million onlookers, many of them wearing a corsage of shamrock, the lucky symbol of Ireland. (AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik)
Flower seller Jimmi Lee, 55, sells a sprig of shamrock to shopper Catherine Fahy, 45, on Dublin's main shopping boulevard Friday, March 16, 2012. Dublin is getting ready for its annual St. Patrick's Day parade on upcoming Saturday and is expected to attract a half-million onlookers, many of them wearing a corsage of shamrock, the lucky symbol of Ireland. (AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik)
A shopper walks past a flower stall selling shamrock, lower left, on Dublin's main shopping boulevard Friday, March 16, 2012. Dublin is getting ready for its annual St. Patrick's Day parade on upcoming Saturday and is expected to attract a half-million onlookers. (AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik)
DUBLIN (AP) ? An estimated 500,000 people crowded Saturday into central Dublin to view the St. Patrick's Day parade, a focal point for Irish celebrations worldwide and the start of the tourist season in debt-battered Ireland.
Bands from Britain, the United States and Russia joined thousands of Irish volunteers on Saturday's two-hour procession down Dublin's major boulevard, O'Connell Street, across the River Liffey, past Trinity College and concluding outside St. Patrick's Cathedral.
In his St. Patrick's Day message, Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady offered prayers to the estimated 50,000 citizens who have emigrated in the past year to escape Ireland's weak economy.
Unemployment stands at 14.4 percent despite the resumption of emigration at levels last seen in the 1980s. Ireland has been forced to raise taxes and slash spending for four straight years and since 2011 has been dependent on foreign loans to pay its government bills.
Seventeen government ministers have left Ireland this week to lobby 15 countries for increased investment and tourism. Prime Minister Enda Kenny is grand marshal of Saturday's parade in Chicago.
"I am keenly aware of the huge numbers who have emigrated from Ireland in recent times, especially those who felt they had no choice," said Brady, spiritual leader of 4 million Catholics in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
"May the memory of St. Patrick, who was himself carried off from his homeland at the age of 16, sustain all those who have left our shores for other lands," Brady said, referring to the saint's legendary background as a slave imported from Britain. "May the example of Patrick's faith in God, who comforted and protected him, protect and comfort them also."
The Catholic Church in Ireland also launched an online information pack for emigrants.
Brady was presiding Saturday over a special service honoring both St. Patrick and the Vatican's new diplomat to Ireland, New York-born Archbishop Charles Brown. At a service in Armagh, Ireland's ecclesiastical capital located in Northern Ireland, the two men planned to bless sprigs of shamrock for the congregation and then take part in Armagh's own parade.
Saturday's Dublin parade is just one of more than 50 across Ireland, many of them rowdy village affairs. The capital is also running a four-day St. Patrick's Festival through Monday that features live performances and amusement park rides in several parts of the city center, although the fireworks show has been canceled, another casualty of austerity.
The city's two most popular tourist attractions, the Guinness brewery and Dublin Zoo, both offered nods to the day's mix of patriotism and partying. Zoo animals were being fed special mixes of oranges and vegetables, mimicking the green and orange of the Irish flag, while Guinness was offering free admission to any visitors named Patrick.
SAN DIEGO (AP) ? A judge approved a settlement Friday to give owners of Honda Civic hybrids up to $200 each over claims that the fuel economy of the cars was inflated.
In making the ruling. Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor cast aside arguments that a motorist's victory in small claims court entitled other owners to a larger award.
Taylor said the essence of a settlement is compromise.
"No doubt plaintiffs would have loved to have gotten more. Certainly their counsel had every incentive to get as much as possible," he said. "Honda undoubtedly has many arrows left in its quiver, and certainly would have preferred to pay nothing."
Taylor listened to nearly two hours of arguments before issuing the final ruling.
The case gained widespread attention after a Los Angeles woman won a $9,867 judgment last month against Honda in small claims court ? a ruling the carmaker vowed to appeal. Plaintiff Heather Peters opted out of the class action so she could try to claim a larger damage award for her the failure of her 2006 Civic to deliver the 50 mpg that was promised.
The judge said Peters' legal victory carried little weight.
Peters, who recently reinstated her law license, said Friday that she was disappointed but not surprised at the ruling by Taylor.
The judge got testy with her last month when she tried to address him at a hearing, saying he had not yet received confirmation that her license was renewed.
His patience also wore thin when California and four other states briefly considered objecting to the settlement after Peters' victory.
The judge was visibly irritated with Peters again Friday when she complained about difficulty reviewing documents under the court's paper filing system.
"Do you really want me to get into that, Ms. Peters?" the judge asked.
Peters told reporters after the hearing that she was focused on arguing Honda's appeal of her small-claims award on April 13.
"I'm certainly disappointed, but we're proud to have stood up," she said.
The settlement pays owners of about 200,000 Honda Civics from model years 2003 to 2009 between $100 and $200, plus a rebate toward the purchase of a new Honda. Owners of models from 2006 to 2008 get the larger amount due to additional claims over battery defects.
The judge has valued the settlement at $170 million. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have pegged the value between $87.5 million and $461.3 million, depending largely on how many people accept rebates of up to $1,500.
The judge also approved more than $8 million in plaintiffs' attorney fees in his 43-page final ruling.
More than 1,700 Honda owners opted out of the settlement. Some believed consumers should be paid more. Others complained the attorney fees were too high.
Kathy Proya of Toronto, Ohio, called the settlement a "travesty of justice," saying it enriches lawyers while only covering a fraction of the loss from the 208,000 miles she logged on her 2005 Civic. Christian Matthews of El Cerrito, Calif., equated Honda Motor Co. to "a con man, swindler or a thief."
Still, the judge noted, many objectors were sympathetic to the automaker. Clancy Hughes, a physician in Homer, Alaska, said he was a satisfied customer.
American Honda Motor Co., the Japanese automaker's U.S. subsidiary, can back out of the agreement if more than 1,500 owners opt out, but it has given no indication that it will.
Chris Martin, a Honda spokesman, said Friday the settlement was a good resolution.
So-called ?targets of interest? might soon have much more to worry about than having their phones tapped.
Wired.com?s national security blog, Danger Room,?reported Thursday that the increased connectivity of everyday objects to the Internet has peaked the CIA?s interest for intelligence gathering purposes.
Speaking earlier this month?at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA?s venture capitalist firm, CIA Director David Petraeus talked about the ?Internet of things? ? the connectedness of every day objects and devices to the Internet.
The emergence and rise of the ?smart home? ? a home in which all major devices are connected and automated through a central computer system ? is one example of this.?Household items connected to the Internet contain troves of data which could be accessed and monitored. Entertainment centers and appliances are just some of the items which could be tapped to surveil ?targets of interest.?
Petraeus told the crowd the agency could use low-cost high-powered cloud computing to track ?items of interest,? ?located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters.?
While the CIA has ?a lot of legal restrictions against spying on American citizens,? reported Danger Room, the collection of ?ambient geolocation data from devices is a grayer area, especially after the?2008 carve-outs to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.?
?Hardware manufacturers, it turns out, store a?trove of geolocation data; and some legislators have grown alarmed at how easy it is for the?government to track you through your phone or PlayStation,? reported Danger Room.
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Issa: 'Similarities' between Fast and Furious, sale of Texas guns that killed ICE agent
'Gravity is climate' - 10 years of climate research satellites GRACEPublic release date: 16-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Franz Ossing ossing@gfz-potsdam.de 49-331-288-1040 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
How much ice is Greenland is really losing? - Movement in the Earth's mantle? - Enough water for all?
For the first time, the melting of glaciers in Greenland could now be measured with high accuracy from space. Just in time for the tenth anniversary of the twin satellites GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) a sharp image has surface, which also renders the spatial distribution of the glacial melt more precisely. The Greenland ice shield had to cope with up to 240 gigatons of mass loss between 2002 and 2011. This corresponds to a sea level rise of about 0.7 mm per year. These statements were made possible by the high-precision measurements of the GRACE mission, whose data records result in a hitherto unequaled accurate picture of the earth's gravity. One of Newton's laws states that the gravity of an object depends directly on its mass. "When the mass of the Greenland ice sheet changes, so does the gravity there," explains Dr. Frank Flechtner from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. "The GRACE gravity field measurements therefore give us information on mass changes, including climate-related ones."
But there's more. The uneven distribution of mass on and within the planet causes, due the resulting variability of gravity, the earth to have an irregular shape, which deviates significantly from sphericity. Known as the "Potsdam Gravity Potato, the geoid has achieved global notoriety. But this potato shape is equally subject to temporal changes. During the last Ice Age, a mile-thick ice sheet covered North America and Scandinavia. Since the ice melted, the crust, now liberated from its load, continues to rise to this day. This causes material flow in the earth's interior, in the mantle, to replenish. With GRACE, this glacial-isostatic adjustment can for the first time be accurately detected globally as a change in the geoid height: the ice ages continue to have an effect, which is especially evident in North America and Scandinavia.
Anniversary in space
On 17 March 2012, the two GRACE twin satellites will have been in orbit for exactly 10 years. The scientists named them "Tom and Jerry", because they chase each other on exactly the same orbit around the earth. Since their launch from the Russian cosmodrome in Plesetsk, the two satellites have circled the Earth more than 55 000 times on a near polar orbit at about 450 to 500 km altitude and a distance of 220 km, and continuously collected data.
GRACE is a joint project of the U.S. space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The mission was planned in 1996 by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the University of Texas Center for Space Research (UTCSR) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and in 1997 was selected to be the second mission in NASA's program Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP). The scientific analysis of the data is carried out jointly by GFZ, UTCSR and JPL. Principal Investigator of the mission is Prof. Byron Tapley (UTSCR), Co-Principal Investigator is Dr. Frank Flechtner (GFZ). Especially noteworthy: with GRACE, NASA for the first time commissioned a non-American company to build satellites. Astrium in Friedrichshafen, who built the GFZ's founding father satellite CHAMP (Challenging Mini-satellite Payload), produced the satellite duo GRACE for NASA.
A hair's breadth: gravity field measurements with satellite
The primary scientific goal of the GRACE satellite mission is to measure the gravitational field of the earth and its changes over time on a global scale with unprecedented accuracy. If the earth were a homogeneous sphere, the two satellites would orbit at exact elliptical orbits around the Earth. But the uneven distribution of mass causes perturbations in the trajectory. "Their analysis allows us to derive the irregular structure of the Earth's gravity," explains Dr. Frank Flechtner. "This, however, requires the satellites' orbits to be measured with high precision. Each of the two GRACE satellites is therefore equipped with a GPS receiver for positioning, an accelerometer to correct for disturbing forces due to the residual atmosphere and solar radiation, and two star trackers to determine the satellites' position in space." But the core is the ultra-precise distance measurement system developed by NASA / JPL, which allows the separartion of the two satellites to be continuously measured with a precision of one tenth of a hair's breadth.
From the varying distance between the two satellites, GFZ scientists can determine the gravitational field of the earth. Approximately every 30 days, the satellite pair has collected enough data for a complete global map. This monthly survey of gravity is at least 100 times more accurate than any previous model, and thus invaluable for the research at the GFZ and the international user community. "Many processes in the climate of our planet are accompanied by large-scale water mass redistributions, which are made visible in the gravitational field," adds Flechtner. This enabled, as the name of the mission suggests, the first observation and analysis of homogeneous and globally numerous climate-related processes from the monthly gravity field models over the last 10 years. Particularly worth mentioning are
The mass balance study of the continental water content, which is ultimately a sum of precipitation, evaporation, runoff and storage. GRACE monitors the season-dependent changes in the major river basins, but also the huge groundwater extraction due to irrigation in northern India and California.
Quantification of the increase or decrease of the ice and snow masses in the polar or large glacier areas. GFZ scientists were able to demonstrate a strong correlation between the climatic phenomenon ENSO / La Nina, the rainfall patterns in West Antarctica and the reduction of ice mass there.
The observation of surface and deep currents, which - in combination with the sea surface topography derived from satellite altimetry brought about a much better understanding of the global ocean circulation and thus the heat transport from the equator toward the poles.
The first-time possibility of separation of mass (ice melt) or temperature (global warming) induced sea level changes.
The changes in the solid earth after large earthquakes, such as Sumatra-Andaman (2004), Chile (2010) and Fukushima (2011).
New potatoes and improved weather forecast
The 'Potsdam Gravity Potato', originally developed in 1995, is now much more precise thanks to GRACE. This is not a gimmick, but is required, for example, to improve the trajectories of geodetic satellites and derive accurate global reference systems from them - a prerequisite for the combination and evaluation of various global sensor systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), the satellite altimetry or local gauge measurements such as for the observation of sea level rise. Another scientific objective of the GRACE mission is to derive about 150 globally distributed vertical temperature and water vapor profiles from GPS data on a daily basis. These data reach the GFZ via its own receiving station in Ny lesund (Spitsbergen) and are delivered to the global weather centers within 2 hours to improve global forecasts. In addition, these data are used for studies of climate induced changes in the earth's atmosphere.
A scientific birthday gift
Right from the beginning, GRACE was planned to be an international program. "For the 10th Birthday, the researchers have devised a special gift for the more than 3,000 users", says Professor Reinhard Huettl, Chair of the Board of the GFZ. "The entire mission was recalculated with improved correction models, instrument data and processing standards." Initial analyzes show that the accuracy of gravity field models could be further improved by a factor of 2. These new models will be released to the global users on 17 March via the Information System and Data Centre (ISDC) of the GFZ.
Like its predecessor mission CHAMP (Challenging Mini-Satellite Payload), GRACE will on 17 March be running for twice as long as originally planned. An end of the mission is, however, still in sight. Therefore, the GFZ have initiated a follow-up mission together with the U.S. colleagues. Professor Httl is confident: "We hope that at Christmas 2016 two GRACE-FO (follow-on) satellites will orbit around the Earth, because only long time series can provide reliable information on global trends in climate."
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
'Gravity is climate' - 10 years of climate research satellites GRACEPublic release date: 16-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Franz Ossing ossing@gfz-potsdam.de 49-331-288-1040 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
How much ice is Greenland is really losing? - Movement in the Earth's mantle? - Enough water for all?
For the first time, the melting of glaciers in Greenland could now be measured with high accuracy from space. Just in time for the tenth anniversary of the twin satellites GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) a sharp image has surface, which also renders the spatial distribution of the glacial melt more precisely. The Greenland ice shield had to cope with up to 240 gigatons of mass loss between 2002 and 2011. This corresponds to a sea level rise of about 0.7 mm per year. These statements were made possible by the high-precision measurements of the GRACE mission, whose data records result in a hitherto unequaled accurate picture of the earth's gravity. One of Newton's laws states that the gravity of an object depends directly on its mass. "When the mass of the Greenland ice sheet changes, so does the gravity there," explains Dr. Frank Flechtner from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. "The GRACE gravity field measurements therefore give us information on mass changes, including climate-related ones."
But there's more. The uneven distribution of mass on and within the planet causes, due the resulting variability of gravity, the earth to have an irregular shape, which deviates significantly from sphericity. Known as the "Potsdam Gravity Potato, the geoid has achieved global notoriety. But this potato shape is equally subject to temporal changes. During the last Ice Age, a mile-thick ice sheet covered North America and Scandinavia. Since the ice melted, the crust, now liberated from its load, continues to rise to this day. This causes material flow in the earth's interior, in the mantle, to replenish. With GRACE, this glacial-isostatic adjustment can for the first time be accurately detected globally as a change in the geoid height: the ice ages continue to have an effect, which is especially evident in North America and Scandinavia.
Anniversary in space
On 17 March 2012, the two GRACE twin satellites will have been in orbit for exactly 10 years. The scientists named them "Tom and Jerry", because they chase each other on exactly the same orbit around the earth. Since their launch from the Russian cosmodrome in Plesetsk, the two satellites have circled the Earth more than 55 000 times on a near polar orbit at about 450 to 500 km altitude and a distance of 220 km, and continuously collected data.
GRACE is a joint project of the U.S. space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The mission was planned in 1996 by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the University of Texas Center for Space Research (UTCSR) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and in 1997 was selected to be the second mission in NASA's program Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP). The scientific analysis of the data is carried out jointly by GFZ, UTCSR and JPL. Principal Investigator of the mission is Prof. Byron Tapley (UTSCR), Co-Principal Investigator is Dr. Frank Flechtner (GFZ). Especially noteworthy: with GRACE, NASA for the first time commissioned a non-American company to build satellites. Astrium in Friedrichshafen, who built the GFZ's founding father satellite CHAMP (Challenging Mini-satellite Payload), produced the satellite duo GRACE for NASA.
A hair's breadth: gravity field measurements with satellite
The primary scientific goal of the GRACE satellite mission is to measure the gravitational field of the earth and its changes over time on a global scale with unprecedented accuracy. If the earth were a homogeneous sphere, the two satellites would orbit at exact elliptical orbits around the Earth. But the uneven distribution of mass causes perturbations in the trajectory. "Their analysis allows us to derive the irregular structure of the Earth's gravity," explains Dr. Frank Flechtner. "This, however, requires the satellites' orbits to be measured with high precision. Each of the two GRACE satellites is therefore equipped with a GPS receiver for positioning, an accelerometer to correct for disturbing forces due to the residual atmosphere and solar radiation, and two star trackers to determine the satellites' position in space." But the core is the ultra-precise distance measurement system developed by NASA / JPL, which allows the separartion of the two satellites to be continuously measured with a precision of one tenth of a hair's breadth.
From the varying distance between the two satellites, GFZ scientists can determine the gravitational field of the earth. Approximately every 30 days, the satellite pair has collected enough data for a complete global map. This monthly survey of gravity is at least 100 times more accurate than any previous model, and thus invaluable for the research at the GFZ and the international user community. "Many processes in the climate of our planet are accompanied by large-scale water mass redistributions, which are made visible in the gravitational field," adds Flechtner. This enabled, as the name of the mission suggests, the first observation and analysis of homogeneous and globally numerous climate-related processes from the monthly gravity field models over the last 10 years. Particularly worth mentioning are
The mass balance study of the continental water content, which is ultimately a sum of precipitation, evaporation, runoff and storage. GRACE monitors the season-dependent changes in the major river basins, but also the huge groundwater extraction due to irrigation in northern India and California.
Quantification of the increase or decrease of the ice and snow masses in the polar or large glacier areas. GFZ scientists were able to demonstrate a strong correlation between the climatic phenomenon ENSO / La Nina, the rainfall patterns in West Antarctica and the reduction of ice mass there.
The observation of surface and deep currents, which - in combination with the sea surface topography derived from satellite altimetry brought about a much better understanding of the global ocean circulation and thus the heat transport from the equator toward the poles.
The first-time possibility of separation of mass (ice melt) or temperature (global warming) induced sea level changes.
The changes in the solid earth after large earthquakes, such as Sumatra-Andaman (2004), Chile (2010) and Fukushima (2011).
New potatoes and improved weather forecast
The 'Potsdam Gravity Potato', originally developed in 1995, is now much more precise thanks to GRACE. This is not a gimmick, but is required, for example, to improve the trajectories of geodetic satellites and derive accurate global reference systems from them - a prerequisite for the combination and evaluation of various global sensor systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), the satellite altimetry or local gauge measurements such as for the observation of sea level rise. Another scientific objective of the GRACE mission is to derive about 150 globally distributed vertical temperature and water vapor profiles from GPS data on a daily basis. These data reach the GFZ via its own receiving station in Ny lesund (Spitsbergen) and are delivered to the global weather centers within 2 hours to improve global forecasts. In addition, these data are used for studies of climate induced changes in the earth's atmosphere.
A scientific birthday gift
Right from the beginning, GRACE was planned to be an international program. "For the 10th Birthday, the researchers have devised a special gift for the more than 3,000 users", says Professor Reinhard Huettl, Chair of the Board of the GFZ. "The entire mission was recalculated with improved correction models, instrument data and processing standards." Initial analyzes show that the accuracy of gravity field models could be further improved by a factor of 2. These new models will be released to the global users on 17 March via the Information System and Data Centre (ISDC) of the GFZ.
Like its predecessor mission CHAMP (Challenging Mini-Satellite Payload), GRACE will on 17 March be running for twice as long as originally planned. An end of the mission is, however, still in sight. Therefore, the GFZ have initiated a follow-up mission together with the U.S. colleagues. Professor Httl is confident: "We hope that at Christmas 2016 two GRACE-FO (follow-on) satellites will orbit around the Earth, because only long time series can provide reliable information on global trends in climate."
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Wales is a great place to do business. South Wales has seen a bit of a rejuvenation of late. Known for it?s beautiful country side and hilly landscape, Wales hasn?t always been known for business. That is rapidly changing.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 16-Mar-2012
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