NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: Nov. 12, 1999

Media Advisory m99-235

SUMMARY:

No News Releases Today.

Video File for Nov. 12, 1999

ITEM 1 - PRECISION FARMING (replay)

ITEM 2 - ADVANCED COMPOSITION EXPLORER (ACE) MISSION (special
request feed - replay)
ITEM 3 - "PULSE OF THE PLANET" - NASA RELEASES NEW PICTURES OF
YEAR IN THE LIFE OF PLANET EARTH (special request feed
- replay)

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If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will e-

mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html

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Video File for Nov. 12, 1999

ITEM 1 - PRECISION FARMING (replay)

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: David E. Steitz

(Phone 202/358-1730).
Contact at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL: Steve
Roy (Phone 205/544-0034).
ITEM 1a - NASA HELPS NEW APPROACH TO FARMING---------------TRT
:18

NASA¹s remote sensing technology may help farmers improve crop

management and improve their harvest. The end result could cut
costs and improve productivity.

ITEM 1b- B-ROLL-------------------------------------------TRT 3:23

Footage shows a NASA airplane taking off and landing. It shows

precision farming technology at use in the field. A farmer shows
us the databox in his tractor. We also see soybeans transferred
from the combine into a truck and a close-up of a soybean. Other
footage includes the farmer¹s office showing his farming software.

ITEM 1c - INTERVIEW EXCERPTS------------------------------TRT 1:18

Doug Rickman, Lead Researcher, Global Hydrology and Climate

Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL

Item 1d - Interview excerpts-------------------------------TRT :58

Don Glenn, Farmer, Glenn Acres Farm, Decatur, AL

ITEM 2 - ADVANCED COMPOSITION EXPLORER (ACE) MISSION (special

request feed - replay)

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage

(Phone 202/358-1547).
Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Lynn
Jenner (Phone 301/286-0045).

ITEM 2a - ACE Spacecraft Animation-------------------------TRT :59

Animation from the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins

University depicting the satellite deployment and how ACE will
gather data.
ITEM 2b - ACE ASSEMBLY B-ROLL-----------------------------TRT 1:04

B-roll of assembly and testing at the Applied Physics Laboratory

at Johns Hopkins University and the Goddard Space Flight Center.

ITEM 2c - ACE SOLAR INTERNET WEATHER DATA------------------TRT :10

B-roll of data available on the Internet. CU of a computer

monitor and Web page. The Web page is located at :
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/ace/ace.html

ITEM 2d - Interview---------------------------------------TRT 1:04

Dr. Ed Stone, ACE Principal Investigator & Director, Jet

Propulsion Laboratory

ITEM 2e - Interview----------------------------------------TRT :56

Don Margolies, ACE Mission Manager

ITEM 3 - "PULSE OF THE PLANET" - NASA RELEASES NEW PICTURES OF

YEAR IN THE LIFE OF PLANET EARTH (special request feed
- replay)

Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Lynn

Chandler 301/286-5562.
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: David E. Steitz
202/358-1730.

ITEM 3a - NEW PICTURES FROM NASA CAPTURE DRAMATIC---------TRT

4:01
CHANGES IN A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF PLANET EARTH

The latest portrait compresses an entire year of satellite data

into just a few seconds. The Earth's colors bloom into an artists'
palate of rich scientific information. The latest images help
scientists better understand the complex rhythms of life in the
oceans, the pulse of the global biosphere, and human effects on
the environment.

ITEM 3b - HURRICANES FROM SEAWIFS--------------------------TRT :32

Recent hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.

ITEM 3c - FIRES IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES---------------TRT :22

Plumes of smoke from recent brush and forest fires in the West
appear on SeaWiFS images.

ITEM 3d - PULSE OF THE PLANET - NORTH ATLANTIC BLOOM-------TRT

:16
REBOUND FROM EL NINO

During the winter, storms and surface cooling mix the surface
waters of the Atlantic, replenishing the nutrient supply from the
deep, cold, nutrient-rich waters. Once sunlight is sufficient to
support plant growth, phytoplankton populations explode and
persist for nearly three months until nutrients are depleted. This
bloom migrates northward in synchrony with the Sun throughout the
summer. SeaWiFS enabled scientists to witness the ocean transition
from El Niño (first image) to La Niña (second image) conditions in
the Equatorial Pacific. The cooler nutrient-rich waters associated
with the demise of El Nino also brought a huge plankton bloom
along the equator.

ITEM 3e - PULSE OF THE PLANET - EXPLOSION IN THE-----------TRT :22

GALAPAGOS

SeaWiFS images documented the rapid demise of El Nino in the

waters around the Galapagos Islands. The images show an explosion
in plankton growth as the warm El Nino waters blamed for choking
off essential ocean nutrients are replaced by deep, cold waters.
The false color images, which document plankton concentrations a
period from May 9 - 24 1998, show that life in the region to the
west of the archipelago has returned in remarkable abundance. High
concentrations are shown red. Areas occluded by clouds are shown
in white.
ITEM 3f - AN EYE FOR DISASTERS-----------------------------TRT :22

SeaWiFS provided a unique perspective to a variety of natural

disasters, including fires in Florida, Mexico, and Indonesia;
floods in China; and the progress of Hurricanes such as Bonnie and
Danielle.

Florida Fires - June 1998

Mexico Fires - May 1998
Indonesian Fires - October 1997
Flooding on the Yangtze River - August 1998
Hurricane Bonnie - September, 1998

ITEM 3g - SEAWIFS INSTRUMENT AND LAUNCH-------------------TRT 1:35

(animation and footage)

The SeaWiFS instrument is one component of the SeaStar satellite.

The SeaStar blasted into space on August 1, 1997, lifted by an
extended Pegasus rocket.

ITEM 3h - INTERVIEW/SOUNDBITES----------------------------TRT 1:55

Dr. Chuck McClain, SeaWiFS Project Scientist, NASA Goddard Space

Flight Center

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