The satellite array will provide information about clouds and their effect on the climate. The project won a grant of 14 million euros from the European Research Council
Ten nano-satellites, each weighing three kilograms and the size of a shoebox, will be launched within a few years for a manned flight in orbit around the Earth and will provide unprecedented information about clouds and their effect on the climate. The innovative system will provide data on the internal composition and external structure of clouds, using technology developed inspired by medical CT - which maps the inside of the body in XNUMXD. By studying fields of small clouds, which are not well measured by current satellite technologies, the project is expected to reduce significant uncertainties that currently exist in atmospheric modeling and in predicting climate changes.
The project, CloudCT, won a grant of 14 million euros from the European Research Council ERC, as part of its synergy program (ERC Synergy program). This program was founded with the aim of producing "wholes that are greater than the sum of their parts", that is, to encourage ambitious research questions that require collaboration between several researchers and a combination of their complementary abilities. 14 million euros is the highest amount that the Council may allocate within the program, and this is the first year that Israeli scientists have won this type of grant.
The current project is led by two Israeli researchers and one German researcher - Prof. Yoav Shechner from the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technion, an expert in computer vision and computed tomography, Prof. Ilan Koren from the Department of Earth Sciences and Planetary Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, an expert in cloud physics And Gashem and Prof. Klaus Schilling from the Institute of Telematics in Wurzburg, Germany, an expert in flight-structure technologies of tiny satellites.
Clouds play a central role in the energy balance and water cycle in nature. However, even small errors in the estimation of their properties can lead to substantial errors in climate prediction. According to Prof. Koren, "today satellites are used to study large cloud structures with a resolution that is not sufficient for viewing small clouds. Even small clouds affect the climate and are greatly affected by changes in it, so it is important to develop ways to measure their properties and to study their interactions with changing environmental conditions. The CloudCT project will pave the way for that."
According to Prof. Shechner, "the idea of measuring the internal content (tomography) of clouds from space was inspired by the medical CT. Similar to this imaging technology in its medical application, the images in CloudCT will be taken from many directions around and above the cloud. The multi-directional photography will be carried out at the same time using tiny and very agile satellites that move in an autonomous structure flight. However, unlike medical CT, where there is active control of the source radiating on the body, here we will rely on natural solar radiation and the dispersion of the existing light. This is one of the biggest challenges in the project."
Another challenge is the creation of an autonomous satellite network that maintains within it a great deal of coordination, response capabilities and precise control. According to Prof. Schilling, "the distributed satellite system we are developing for the benefit of the project is an example of the ability of an innovative software system to compensate for limitations resulting from miniaturization. This innovation will allow us to develop a satellite network with automatic self-organization and promote new concepts of observation and scientific developments in general."
These days the scientists are working on building the work teams and on the detailed planning of the project. Until the launch, they will invest in detailed planning and testing of the various aspects of the project. According to Prof. Schilling, "in these tests we will use a fleet of three satellites called TOM and our advanced simulator in Würzburg". Prof. Koren adds that "this project will provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to map clouds."
"We are very happy that the European Research Council chose CloudCT", says Prof. Shechner. "This is a pioneering project that brings new observational concepts and breakthroughs in sophisticated computer vision algorithms."
The news was sent jointly by the Weizmann Institute and the Technion
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One response
Prof. Ilan Koren
Greetings
My name is Tovia Berger, I am not a scientist or climate researcher, but I am interested in the subject. I read several articles on the subject of smoke and its effect on global warming. In one place they determined that the smoke has an effect between 460 and 1500 times per unit weight compared to CO2, in another place it was said that the effect is 3000 times and in another place 3200 times. In any case, smoke has a very serious effect. Evidence of this is the gliding of a glacier in the Himalayas, the gliding caused a flood in which over 100 Indians were killed. I have a collection of photos showing vast areas of soot-covered glaciers, at the poles and in the Himalayas. There is no need to elaborate on the meaning of this.
But more significant is the effect on the person. Since soot also includes PM.10 and PM2.5 particles, they are a particularly harmful factor. According to one study they cause 160,000 deaths in five major cities.
All this long introduction comes to present the main thing: my biggest fear about the holiday of "Laj B'Omer" I once came back from a dance at the end of this holiday and the sight was terrible - clouds of black smoke could be seen through the window of the plane. The authorities instruct sensitive people to shut themselves in their homes - equivalent to cupping a dead person. The big danger - even small children sit around the fires, so they absorb a large amount of smoke, some of which will remain in their health forever. Another part will go into the bloodstream. Even those recovering from corona may be harmed by this.
That's why I thought it was worth calling the authorities to act to reduce the phenomenon.
If the topic seems important to that, I would be happy to talk to you.
Sincerely, Tovia
Burger