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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Coastal locations, such as Drakes Bay on the Point Reyes peninsula in Northern California, are increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise.NOAA/NMFS/WCR/CCO The information will help people who live in coastal areas prepare for impacts caused by rising sea levels.
Earth’s ocean is rising, disrupting livelihoods and infrastructure in coastal communities around the world. Agencies and organizations are working to prepare people as their world changes around them, and NASA information is helping these efforts.
The agency’s global data is now available in the sea level section of the Earth Information Center. NASA developed the global sea level change website in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense, the World Bank, the U.S. Department of State, and the United Nations Development Programme.
The site includes information on projected sea level rise through the year 2150 for coastlines around the world, as well as estimates of how much flooding a coastal community or region can expect to see in the next 30 years. The projections come from data collected by NASA and its partners and from computer models of ice sheets and the ocean, as well as the latest sea level assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and other sources.
“NASA innovates for the benefit of humanity. Our cutting-edge instruments and data-driven information tools help communities and organizations respond to natural hazards and extreme weather, and inform critical coastal infrastructure planning decisions,” said Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth science division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Information to Action
International organizations such as the World Bank will use the data from the global sea level change site for tasks including the creation of Climate Risk Profiles for countries especially vulnerable to sea level rise.
The Defense Department will continue to incorporate sea level rise data into its plans to anticipate and respond to hazards posed to its facilities by the effects of rising oceans. Similarly, the State Department uses the information for activities ranging from disaster preparedness to long-term adaptation planning to supporting partners around the world in related efforts.
“We are at a moment of truth in our fight against the climate crisis. The science is unequivocal and must serve as the bedrock upon which decision-making is built. With many communities around the world already facing severe impacts from sea-level rise, this new resource provides a vital tool to help them protect lives and livelihoods. It also illustrates what is at stake between a 1.5-degree-Celsius world and a current-policies trajectory for all coastal communities worldwide,” said Assistant Secretary-General Selwin Hart, special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general on climate action and just transition.
Rising Faster
NASA-led data analyses have revealed that between 1970 and 2023, 96% of countries with coastlines have experienced sea level rise. The rate of that global rise has also accelerated, more than doubling from 0.08 inches (0.21 centimeters) per year in 1993 to about 0.18 inches (0.45 centimeters) per year in 2023.
As the rate of sea level rise increases, millions of people could face the related effects sooner than previously projected, including larger storm surges, more saltwater intrusion into groundwater, and additional high-tide flood days — also known as nuisance floods or sunny day floods.
“This new platform shows the timing of future floods and the magnitude of rising waters in all coastal countries worldwide, connecting science and physics to impacts on people’s livelihoods and safety,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, director of the ocean physics program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Data released earlier this year found that Pacific Island nations will experience at least 6 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise in the next 30 years. The number of high-tide flood days will increase by an order of magnitude for nearly all Pacific Island nations by the 2050s.
“The data is clear: Sea levels are rising around the world, and they’re rising faster and faster,” said Ben Hamlington, a sea level researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and head of the agency’s sea level change science team. “Having the best information to make decisions about how to plan for rising seas is more crucial than ever.”
To explore the global sea level change site:
https://earth.gov/sealevel
News Media Contacts
Karen Fox / Elizabeth Vlock
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Nov 13, 2024 Related Terms
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Learn Home Bundling the Best of… For Educators Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 3 min read
Bundling the Best of Heliophysics Education: DigiKits for Physics and Astronomy Teachers
For nearly a decade, the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) has been working to bring together resources through its DigiKits–multimedia collections of vetted high-quality resources for teachers and their students. These resources are toolkits, allowing teachers to pick and choose interesting content to support their instruction. As a partner with the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT), this work has directly supported the bundling of digital content around heliophysics lessons created by the AAPT team.
As an example, AAPT’s most recent DigiKit publication, Auroral Currents Science (Figure 1), was developed for educators of advanced high school students and university physics/astronomy majors. DigiKits materials are collected by digital content specialist, Caroline Hall, who searches for high-quality, open digital content and checks it for accuracy and accessibility. The Auroral Currents DigiKit centers around a lecture tutorial that gives students the opportunity to practice and extend their knowledge of magnetic fields produced by current-carrying wires, and relating those understandings to auroral currents – the primary phenomenon underlying the dramatic auroral light shows seen in the sky over the past months.
The corresponding DigiKit includes a collection of relevant simulations, videos/animations, and other teacher resources for background that can help to teach the content in the primary lesson. The DigiKit highlights NASA’s forthcoming Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission, including an animation of the relationship between the Earth and space, an explanation of Earth’s electrojets and a visualization of the spacecraft. It also includes links to NASA’s ongoing Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft video explanation of magnetic reconnection, among many other useful resources that can be shown in the classroom or explored individually by students. Unique to this DigiKit are recent science news articles covering 2024’s spectacular auroral displays.
The light in the aurora comes from atoms in the ionosphere that have been excited by collisions with electrons that were accelerated between 6000 km and 20000 km above Earth’s surface. Those electrons carry electric currents from space along the magnetic field, but the currents flow horizontally some distance through the ionosphere at about 100-150 km in altitude before returning to space. We call those currents the ionospheric electrojets, and we can see the magnetic effects of the electrojets because electric currents are the source of magnetic fields. The AAPT digikit allows students to explore the magnetic signature of the electrojets and determine the size and location of the currents.
As a result of participation in NASA HEAT, AAPT has produced ten DigiKits, all linked below and available alongside the collection of other tutorials/core resources on the AAPT NASA HEAT page. Although the DigiKits are directed toward teachers, and the lessons are intended for standard classroom contexts, the resources can also be a great introduction to NASA-related concepts and modern science ideas for the general public.
Mechanics
Sunspots DigiKit Coronal Mass Ejections DigiKit Solar Energetic Particles DigiKit Light and Optics
Star Spectra DigiKit Exoplanet Atmospheres DigiKit Habitable Zone Planets DigiKit Magnetism
Planetary Magnetism DigiKit Energy of a Magnetic Field and Solar Flares DigiKit Auroral Currents DigiKit Eclipses
Eclipse Science DigiKit Are you an educator curious to learn more? Register for AAPT’s monthly mini webinar series, with the next event on November 9, 2024, featuring the Auroral Currents DigiKit core activity.
NASA HEAT is part of the NASA Science Activation Program portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
Figure 1: Cover image of Auroral Currents DigiKit. Caroline Hall/AAPT NASA-HEAT Share
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Tessa Keating is a public affairs specialist in the Office of Communications at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Keating plans onsite logistics, serves as a protocol officer, and coordinates the Space Flight Awareness Program for NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center.NASA/Danny Nowlin Every task at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is not simply work for Tessa Keating – it is a meaningful step toward a part of something great.
“It has been a dream career. I count it an honor to share the NASA story and humbled to know our team witnesses a part of history,” said Keating, a NASA public affairs specialist in the NASA Stennis Office of Communications. “Every day is an opportunity to contribute to the NASA legacy that will last beyond today. “
Keating plans onsite logistics, serves as a protocol officer, and coordinates the Space Flight Awareness Program for NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center. In fact, she organized much of the recent Space Flight Awareness Silver Snoopy Award ceremony at NASA Stennis in August, except for one part. As the ceremony finished, NASA Stennis Director John Bailey said one more award was to be given.
No one was more surprised than the logistics coordinator herself when Keating’s family joined her on stage. The 21-year NASA Stennis employee was honored for her outstanding contributions in sharing the NASA story of exploring the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all with a diverse audience and for equipping everyone with a broader knowledge and appreciation of the center’s vital role within NASA.
“I am not sure I will ever be able to top that in my NASA career,” Keating said.
It became a full-circle moment that she described as a great honor. The Silver Snoopy is the astronauts’ personal award and is presented to less than 1 percent of the total NASA workforce. Reid Wiseman, a NASA astronaut and commander for the upcoming Artemis II mission around the Moon, presented the award to Keating, along with a lapel pin flown aboard NASA’s Artemis I mission.
As NASA returns to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and inspiration for the Artemis Generation, Keating says it will be extra-special watching Wiseman and the Artemis II crew lay the groundwork for future milestones.
Keating helped lay the groundwork ahead of the successful Artemis I mission. She served as lead logistics for onsite guest operations in 2021 when NASA conducted the most powerful propulsion test in more than 40 years at NASA Stennis. A full-duration hot fire of the first SLS (Space Launch System) core stage and its four RS-25 engines culminated a year-long series of integrated tests. Keating coordinated the viewing of the hot fire for some 200 agency leaders and guests, despite restricted settings due to COVID-19.
“It was truly a highlight. I had grown up hearing my parents and grandparents talk about engines that were tested during the Apollo era, and I had never experienced something of that magnitude,” Keating said. “I was able to live it, feel it, and watch the next part of NASA history onsite.”
For Keating, the groundwork for a NASA career came following graduation with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from William Carey University and a master’s degree in Communications from The University of Southern Mississippi, both schools in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Having grown up in Pearl River County, Mississippi, for most of her life, she knew about NASA Stennis. However, she did not think she could ever work at the center because her strengths were in areas beyond math and science.
Following some additional exploration and conversations with influential people in her life, Keating discovered she, in fact, could be a part of something great at NASA Stennis.
“The possibilities are endless at NASA when you allow yourself to put your best foot forward and research the many opportunities that are available. There is always room for various types of studies,” Keating said. “I credit where I am in my career to God and to the people who have helped to guide my path. I will be forever grateful.”
Learn more about the people who work at NASA Stennis View the full article
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