Earth Radiation Budget Satellite

  • IASbaba
  • January 11, 2023
  • 0
Science and Technology
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Context: Recently, a defunct NASA satellite Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) has fallen back to Earth after 38 years orbiting Earth.

About Earth Radiation Budget Satellite:

  • It was launched in 1984 from space shuttle Challenger.
  • It was part of NASA’s three-satellite Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) mission.
  • It carried three instruments to measure– Earth’s radiative energy budget and stratospheric constituents that includes ozone.
  • The ERBS was designed to investigate how energy from the Sun is absorbed and re-radiated by the Earth.
  • Understanding this process helps reveal patterns in Earth’s weather.
  • Until 2005, data from ERBS helped researchers investigate how Earth absorbed and radiated energy from the Sun.
  • It measured ozone, water vapor, nitrogen dioxide and aerosol concentrations in the Earth’s stratosphere.
  • An instrument on ERBS, Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II), collected data that found that ozone layer was declining on a global scale.
  • This helped to create Montreal Protocol Agreement, an international agreement signed in 1987 that resulted in a decreased use of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
  • Its observations helped researchers measure effects of human activities on Earth’s radiation balance.

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) If a major solar storm (solar flare) reaches the Earth, which of the following are the possible effects on the Earth? (2022)

  1. GPS and navigation systems could fail.
  2. Tsunamis could occur at equatorial regions.
  3. Power grids could be damaged.
  4. Intense auroras could occur over much of the Earth.
  5. Forest fires could take place over much of the planet.
  6. Orbits of the satellites could be disturbed.
  7. Shortwave radio communication of the aircraft flying over polar regions could be interrupted.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  1. 1, 2, 4 and 5 only
  2. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 only
  3. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 only
  4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

 

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