Abstract
Chapter 4 covers the 1992–1994 period. TOPEX/Poseidon was not expected to be able to measure sea-level rise. A prime goal was to study large currents and how they might impact climate. But the satellite resolution was so precise, many scientists realized that they could detect with clarity climate change’s impact on the oceans. In 1994, a NASA-based scientist found a way to translate complex data into sea-level measurements. Doing so was a breakthrough and it attracted not only scientific but media attention. Meanwhile, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin forced out Tilford and proclaimed EOS the kind of “big science” that conflicted with his faster, better, cheaper (FBC) mantra. TOPEX/Poseidon was a success from the Goldin FBC perspective.
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Notes
- 1.
W. Stanley Wilson, interview by author, Oct. 19, 2020.
- 2.
Richard Leshner and Thor Hogan, The View from Space (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2019).
- 3.
Mark Bowen, Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming (NY: Dutton, 2008), 128.
- 4.
Richard Leshner and Thor Hogan, The View from Space (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2019).
- 5.
Thor Hogan, Mars Wars (Washington DC: NASA, 2007).
- 6.
Richard Leshner and Thor Hogan, The View from Space: NASA’s Evolving Struggle to Understand the Home Planet (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2019).
- 7.
Dixon Butler, interview by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, Oral History, EOS Collection, NASA, March 26, 2010.
- 8.
Dixon Butler, interview by Rebecca Wright, Oral History, EOS Collection, NASA, June 25, 2009.
- 9.
Carl Wunsch, interview by author, Sept. 13, 2020.
- 10.
Ibid.
- 11.
Jay Zwally, interview by author, Sept. 28, 2021.
- 12.
Lee-Lueng Fu, interview by author, Feb. 18, 2020.
- 13.
Richard Leshner and Thor Hogan, The View from Space (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2019), 131.
- 14.
Ibid., 141.
- 15.
Michael Freilich, interview by author, Feb. 18, 2020.
- 16.
W. Stanley Wilson, interview by author, Oct. 27, 2020.
- 17.
Lee-Lueng Fu, interview by author, Aug. 24, 2020.
- 18.
Jean-Louis Fellous, “The Difficult Beginning of a Perfect Agreement,” in History of Meteorology, Atmosphere, and Ocean Science from Space in France and Europe by its Actors Ed. by Fellous, Jean-Lewis., (Paris, France: Institut Francais d’Histoire de l’Espace, forthcoming).
- 19.
William Patzert, interview by author, Nov. 12, 2020.
- 20.
“William Patzert,” Solar System Exploration, (NASA, Jan. 24, 2019). Retrieved from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/1220/William-patzert
- 21.
Carl Wunsch, interview by author, Sept. 13, 2020.
- 22.
Robert Stewart, letter to author, Nov. 27, 2019.
- 23.
Noel McCormack, “Lessons from Space for the Ocean Planet,” Space Times (Sept.–Oct., 1992).
- 24.
Walter Munk, “The Evolution of Physical Oceanography in the Last Hundred Years,” Oceanography, vol. 15, (2002), 135–141.
- 25.
Carl Wunsch, “Towards the World Ocean Circulation Experiment and a Bit of Aftermath,” in Physical Oceanography: Development Since 1950, Edited by Markus Jochum and Raghu Martugudde, (New York, NY: Springer, 2006), 181–201.
- 26.
Jean-Louis Fellous, “The Difficult Beginning of a Perfect Agreement,” in Fellous, ed.
- 27.
John R. Williams, “TOPEX/Poseidon: Mission to Planet Earth Turns its Gaze Upon the Oceans,” Final Frontier, (Oct. 1992).
- 28.
Peter B. de Selding “Poseidon Altimeter Spawns Plan for Ocean-Sensor Fleet,” SpaceNews (Feb. 8–14, 1993), 8.
- 29.
Charles Yamarone, interview by author, Nov. 20, 2019.
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Lambright, W.H. (2023). Breakthrough for Sea-Level Rise. In: NASA and the Politics of Climate Research. Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40363-7_4
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