Update on NASA Satellite Programs 1. RADARSAT-1: MOU between NASA, NOAA and CSA signed last Friday so that data collection by ASF is extended until about March HOWEVER (Draft Statement): Under the current MOU between the U.S. and Canada, ASF will continue to acquire new RADARSAT-1 data until RADARSAT-1 is no longer operational or RADARSAT-2 is certified to be operational, whichever comes first. After that time, archival data from RADARSAT-1 will continue to be available from ASF, but new data acquisition requests cannot be honored. If you need SAR data in support of your research within the ASF and McMurdo masks after the RADARSAT-2 commissioning phase, you may consider using ERS-2 C-band data or ALOS PALSAR L-band data to meet your research requirements. In addition, global ALOS data from both the optical sensors and the SAR sensor is available from through the US Government Research Consortium, as appropriate, or ASF’s AADN. Feel free to contact ASF User Services Office for more information on your options.

2. The replacement for MODIS is the VIIRS (Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite). VIIRS is scheduled to fly on NPP in ~2009, and is vastly inferior to MODIS. The aerosol and ocean color channels are troubled by cross-talk. This means that there may be a critical period (2010+) where we lack ocean color measurements. 3. AQUARIUS: The sea surface salinity satellite is approximately on schedule and due to launch in ~2010.

DECADAL SURVEY MISSIONS RELEVANT TO THE ARCTIC Four missions are in the early queue: SMOS, CLARRIO, ICESat-II, DESDynI (P-band Interferometric SAR). Two of these are relevant to the Arctic: ICESat-II and DESDynI. We hope to get a start on at least one of these missions this fall, although this may not be possible until the Continuing Budget Resolution is resolved. Best guess as to first mission is SMOS or ICESat-II. Note that ICESat-I is operating at two 33-day cycles/year and has just finished a sucessful operation in support of two ships in the Southern Ocean under Tony Worby and Steve Ackley. The next operation will be in March 2008, in support of sea ice thickness observations in the Arctic. GRACE: is still operating successfully, but under Decadal Survey, no replacement planned until ~2015.