"Yeah, right," I hear you saying, "all the scientists say that about their missions." But this time, it's true. Ocean altimetry goes way back, but since the early 1990s, sea-level satellites have revolutionized both climate science and oceanography. Join me for a short stroll through the history of altimetry and find out why the Ocean Surface Topography missions are the best. Like really, really the best.

Speaker: Josh Willis is a NASA Climate scientist, the Project Scientist for Jason missions to measure sea level from space and the Principal Investigator for the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) Airborne Mission. He studies ocean warming and Greenland ice loss, and enjoys communicating about this stuff so much that he went back to school to get a degree in comedy from the Second City Improv school in Hollywood, CA.

LInks and Resources: 

• Jason 2
• Jason 3
• OMG
• NASA Wavelength
• This Exploring Earth: Rising Sea hands-on activity from the National Informal STEM Education Network’s Explore Science: Earth and Space toolkit demonstrates ways to use topographical mapping techniques to track changes in sea level. Together, participants and facilitators can discuss the effects of rising sea levels on coastal communities and the natural environment.
• NASA Climate Kids

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