Media Advisory: Csu Team Presents Findings from Nasa’s Cloudsat, A-Train at Geophysical Conference

WHO/WHAT:

Graeme Stephens, CloudSat principal investigator and University Distinguished Professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, will host a press briefing at the upcoming American Geophysical Union annual conference on the wealth of new scientific data provided by NASA’s CloudSat satellite.

WHEN/WHERE:

Noon MST on Wednesday, Dec. 12, in San Francisco.

Reporters in the United States and Canada may call a toll-free number to participate in the briefing: 1-888-481-3032. The passcode is 115139. (The number is for reporters only and is not intended for publication.)

DETAILS:

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Colorado State University and other partners launched CloudSat, the world’s first cloud-profiling radar, into orbit on April 28, 2006. Researchers will present results that include:

-discovery of a link between observed decreases in polar clouds last summer and a corresponding loss of Arctic sea ice;

-surprising new global estimates of how frequently clouds rain over Earth’s oceans, which suggests the need to reassess the intensity of Earth’s water cycle and its impact on climate models; and

-the first global evidence that the small aerosol particles in our atmosphere may be polluting clouds, making them more reflective.

Other panelists in the briefing include CSU graduate student John Haynes and Jennifer Kay, a post-doctoral fellow who is funded by CSU/NASA and who works at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

-30-