DSCOVR- Deep Space Climate Observatory is a weather observing satellite set to be launched by NOAA- National Occeanic and Atmospheric Administration by Jan ,2015.
NASA has contributed two Earth science instruments for NOAA’s satellite. One of the instruments called EPIC or Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera.
EPIC will image the Earth in one picture, something that hasn’t been done before from a satellite. EPIC will also provide valuable atmospheric data..
What is EPIC?
The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) is an imager that provides global spectral images of the entire sunlit face of Earth, as viewed from an orbit around Lagrangian point 1 (L1)—the neutral gravity point between Earth and the sun.
EPIC is able to view the entire sunlit Earth from sunrise to sunset at an almost constant scattering angle between 165–178°. This scattering angle has minimal overlap with other satellites’ scattering angles. EPIC’s observations from the L1 position will provide a unique angular perspective and can be combined with other measurements to obtain particle shape, phase selection, optical depth, 3-D effects and stereo heights.
Imagery from EPIC will be used in science applications to measure
- ozone amounts
- aerosol amounts
- cloud height and phase
- vegetation properties
- hotspot land properties (a view of the land from angles where shadows are a minimum)
- UV radiation estimates at Earth’s surface
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