NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: August 9, 1999

Media Advisory m99-162

Summary:

MARS: AN ACTIVE PLANET TODAY? BRIEFING SET FOR AUGUST 10

Video File for August 9, 1999

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MARS: AN ACTIVE PLANET TODAY? BRIEFING SET FOR AUGUST 10

The camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission has

revealed surprising new aspects of cloud fronts dust devils and
sand dunes on the red planet. The new images have major
implications for understanding how the weather on Mars varies from
season to season and from year to year. The new still images and
related video products will be the subject of a Space Science
Update press briefing on Tuesday, Aug. 10, at NASA Headquarters,
Washington, DC. It will be carried live on NASA TV.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Doug Isbell

202/358-1747.

Contact at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Mary

Hardin/Frank O'Donnell 818/354-5011.

For full text, see:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/1999/n99-044.txt

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If NASA issues additional 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 August 9, 1999

Item 1 - QuikScat Images - Animated images from radar instrument

aboard QuikScat spacecraft showing fury of Typhoon Olga
as it grew in intensity last week over the China Sea

Item 2 - Underwater Sea Probe -- Volcanic Vent Mission

Footage and Interview
(transferred to Beta-SP from High Definition format)

Item 3 - Solar Eclipse Preview (replay)

NOTE: Regarding the Upcoming Solar Eclipse

NASA will NOT run the eclipse live on NASA TV throughout
its duration on Aug. 11. Any media wishing to pick-up a
live feed of the eclipse can go to Telstar 5, Ku
transponder 11, 97 west, vertical polarity 11929 MHz
downlink frequency. Audio 6.2 / 6.8.
Credit MUST be given: "Courtesy Exploratorium/NASA"

However, solar researchers Steve Maran and Craig DeForest

will be available via NASA TV on August 11 from 6:00 to
11:00 am EDT to provide commentary over a live feed of the
eclipse from Amasya, Turkey. To book an interview, contact
Deanna Corridon 301/286-0045 or Wade Sisler 301/286-6256.

More information about the eclipse is available at:

http://eclipse99.nasa.gov/

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Video File for August 9, 1999

Item 1 - QuikScat Images - Animated images from radar instrument

aboard QuikScat spacecraft showing fury of Typhoon Olga
as it grew in intensity last week over the China Sea

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

202/358-1730.
Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Diane
Ainsworth 818/354-0850.

Item 1a - Animation of data from SeaWinds TRT - :52

on Quikscat
Animation of the spinning globe shows SeaWinds data taken August
1, 1999, highlighting Typhoon Olga in the China Sea.

Item 1b - Animation of data from SeaWinds on TRT - :28

Quikscat

Animation of the spinning globe shows SeaWinds data taken August

1, 1999, highlighting Typhoon Olga in the China Sea. This blowup
of the China Sea shows Typhoon Olga as it moved toward the coast
of south Asia.

Item 1c - First view of surface winds over the TRT - :21

Pacific and Atlantic by SeaWinds

These images of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans were derived from
observations made by the radar scatterometer, SeaWinds, onboard
the NASA mission Quikscat, August 1, 1999.

Item 1d - Quickscat Animation TRT - :55

The Quick Scatterometer (Quikscat), NASA's next El Nino watcher,

will be used to better understand global weather anomalies. The
SeaWinds instrument aboard Quikscat will provide daily, detailed
measurements of winds as they swirl above the world's oceans.
Quikscat launched June 18, 1999.

Item 1e - Quikscat - clean room b-roll TRT - :34

Footage shows the Quikscat satellite in the clean room at Ball

Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, Boulder, CO.

Item 1f - Interview excerpts: Dr. Jim Graf TRT - 2:03

Quikscat Project Manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CA

Item 1g - Interview excerpts: Dr. Timothy Liu TRT - :50

Quikscat project scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CA

Item 2 - Underwater Sea Probe -- Volcanic Vent Mission

Footage and Interview
(transferred to Beta-SP from High Definition format)
Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Diane
Ainsworth 818/354-0850.

Contact at Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA: Mimi Drummond

831/648-4918.

Item 2a - Testing of new instrument package for

Underwater Volcanic Vent Mission

Researchers at JPL recently tested a new deep sea instrument

package of cameras, temperature sensors, optics, and a
spectrometer at depths of 30 ft. at the Monterey Bay Aquarium's
giant kelp tank. Footage was shot in HDTV and transferred to tape.

Item 2b - Interview excerpts TRT - 2:30

Lloyd French, Research Scientist, Underwater Volcanic Vent Mission

Project, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CA

Item 2c - Interview excerpts TRT - 2:41

Dr. Lonne Lane, Research Scientist, Underwater Volcanic Vent

Mission Project, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CA

Item 3 - Solar Eclipse Preview (replay)

Sneak preview of upcoming solar eclipse on August 11. The package

contains animation showing the path of the eclipse through Europe,
some eclipse viewing tips, and examples of how NASA uses
artificial eclipses to enhance its understanding of the Sun's
corona.

NASA scientists will be providing spectacular pictures of the

August 11 total solar eclipse - the last in the millennium - from
both Earth and a million miles out in space.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage

202/358-1547.
Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Wade
Sisler 301/286-6256.

Item 3a - The Great Eclipse of 1999 - animation

Shows the path of the Moon's shadow on the Earth during the August
11th solar eclipse.

Item 3b - The Aruba Eclipse of 1998

Footage of the last total solar eclipse as seen from the Caribbean
island of Aruba on February 26, 1998. This footage was produced
and distributed as part of a live webcast by the San Francisco
Exploratorium and NASA's Sun-Earth Connection.
Courtesy Exploratorium/NASA

Item 3c - Eclipse on Parade

Eclipse highlights.
Courtesy of Dr. Jay Pasachoff, Williams College

Item 3d - Moon Shadow

The time-lapse sequence shows the shadow of the moon as it first

touches the Earth in the Pacific Ocean, about 2,000 miles south of
the Hawaiian Islands, and follows its race across the Pacific,
over northern South America and across the Caribbean Sea before
exiting in the Atlantic about 600 miles west of Morocco.

The time-lapse image sequence was taken from the NOAA/National

Weather Services' Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite (GOES)-10. The sequence was enhanced and rendered at
the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Atmospheres.
Super: NASA/NOAA

Item 3e - The Longest Eclipse - Images from SOHO

NASA uses artificial eclipses to continuously monitor the Sun's

corona. Time-lapse sequences from the Large Angle and
Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) instrument on board
the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft (SOHO).
Courtesy NASA/ESA (European Space Agency)

Item 3f - The Active Sun

Two sequences from SOHO's Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope

(EIT) illustrate the increase in solar activity from January 1996
(first sequence) to July, 1999 (second sequence). The sun is
nearing the peak of its period 11-year solar cycle.
Courtesy NASA/ESA (European Space Agency)
Item 3g - The Speedy Solar 'Wind' - animation

The solar 'wind' can travel at speeds up to two million miles per
hour. As it flows past Earth, the solar wind changes the shape
and structure of the Earth's magnetic field, which can damage
satellites and disrupt communications and power systems.
Courtesy NASA/ESA (European Space Agency)

Item 3h - Source of the Solar 'Wind'

These combined images display UV light emitted by the solar corona

over one full solar rotation (27 days) in August 1996. The inner
images of the solar disk were taken by the EIT instrument aboard
SOHO. The outer diffuse emission was observed by the UVCS
instrument aboard SOHO, which creates an 'artificial eclipse' in
ultraviolet light to observe the dim extended solar corona. The
dark regions at the north and south poles are called "coronal
holes," and they are thought to be the primary source regions of
the high-speed solar 'wind.'
Courtesy Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)

Item 3i - Earth Gets Blasted

This computer visualization shows the impacts of a coronal mass

ejection on the Earth's magnetosphere. This discovery of a way to
provide early warning of approaching solar storms could prove
useful to power companies, the communications industry and
organizations that operate spacecraft. The data were collected by
the NASA's Wind satellite.

Item 3j - SOHO Animation

Animation of the SOHO Spacecraft

Courtesy NASA/ESA (European Space Agency)

Item 3k - An Interactive Event

B-Roll from the San Francisco Exploratorium's interactive webcast

of the February, 1998 eclipse. The Exploratorium will bring this
year's total eclipse to viewers around the world via a live
interactive webcast made possible with support from NASA's Sun-
Earth Connection Education Forum.
Courtesy Exploratorium / NASA

Item 3l - Solar Researcher B-Roll

Images of scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's SOHO
Operations Facility.

Item 3m - Eclipse Viewing Tips

Eclipse viewing tips with NASA Astronomer Dr. Fred Espanek. Never
attempt to observe the partial phases of any eclipse with the
naked eye. Includes B-roll from viewing tips.

Item 3n - Interview Excerpt - Craig Deforest

Craig DeForest explains why scientists are interested in studying

eclipses. Craig DeForest is a solar physicist working for
Stanford University at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

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end of daily news summary