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THE HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE "SPACE" COMPONENT OF THE STUDY OF CLIMATE

Vassiliy Chesnov

Abstract

Since the turn of the millennium, few scientific issues have become as popular in public discourse as climate change. Phenomena of climatological interest include the boundary layer of the atmosphere, circulation patterns, heat transfer (radiative, convective and latent), interactions between the atmosphere and oceans and the land surface, and the chemical and physical composition of the atmosphere. The main methods used by climatologists are analyzing observations and modeling the physical laws that govern climate. The study of the modern climate includes cumulative data accumulated over many years. Collecting big data on climate variables is essential for climate studies. Researchers use both direct and indirect observations of climate from Earth observation satellites and ground-based scientific equipment (for example, global temperature measurement networks). Space resources provide information on areas inaccessible for research «in situ». Space probes serve not only as a hardware platform for sensing and monitoring the Earth, but are also an important component of communications with ground sensors (collection of data from sea buoys, etc.). A number of scientific discoveries related to climate change have been made thanks to space tools. For example, the Topex-Poseidon missions (NASA, USA and CNES, France) and Envisat (ESA, European Space Agency) have shown sea level rise over the past decade using space altimetry. Typically, climatologists use real-time "space" data originally collected for the needs of either meteorologists, atmospheric physicists, oceanographers, etc. Thus, in many respects, other tasks determine the requirements for such data. Climatologists sort them, concentrate and analyze them. The progress of space technology in the 21st century is leading to the emergence of big data banks. However, their quantity is not always equal to quality. There is a risk of the accumulation of useless, irrelevant, or even false data. Today, hundreds of Earth observation spacecraft are in low-Earth orbit. The study of the Earth from space began with the opening of the space age in 1957. In the first decade, this process was determined by the problems of meteorology and orbital photographic reconnaissance. Then qualitative changes followed. They were associated with the development of new spectral ranges and an ever-increasing coverage of territories. The information content of the data obtained has also increased significantly. By the end of the last century, an avalanche-like growth of both the information received and space observation equipment was already indicated. The historical and scientific consideration of this process, the identification of its features and driving factors in different time intervals is of undoubted interest, including for possible forecasts. The climate is, therefore, one of the elements of the geographic environment, which is a combination of relief, water masses, soil and vegetation cover, fauna, and anthropogenic objects. These elements are closely related to each other. The environment itself is the subject of study in a complex of earth sciences (geography, meteorology, oceanology, ecology, etc.). This situation gives grounds to consider the evolution of both the cosmic component and climatology as a whole in correlation with the development of earth sciences.Brief description of the study and used methods. Brief description of the study and used methods. Brief description of the study and used methods. Brief description of the study and used methods. Brief description of the study and used methods.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2020v/4.2/s06.30

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