About Cryosphere

The Cryosphere is an Imperial space station in the Music star system, which is considered to be of major strategic importance. With the Cryosphere (the largest human-built extrasolar space station in existence), control can be maintained over the whole system.
a) Structure: snow he structure of snow consists of two interconnecting. phases, ice and pore space (gas), and sometimes a third phase, liquid water. This paper is mostly limited to methods for observing the structure of cold, dry snow.
b) Sea ice Sea ice is a thin, fragile, solid layer that forms in the Polar Oceans. It forms a boundary between the relatively warm ocean and the cooler atmosphere.
c) Frozen ground and permafrost Frozen ground is soil or rock in which part or all of the water has frozen. If the ground is frozen all year long, we call it "permafrost," or permanently frozen ground. The land, hardened and without any liquid water, is made up of mineral particles (particles of soil, grains and rock debris of various sizes) cemented together by ice.

About Astrophysics

Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior. Among the objects studied are galaxies, stars, planets, exoplanets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic microwave background. Their emissions are examined across all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the properties examined include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. Because astrophysics is a very broad subject, astrophysicists typically apply many disciplines of physics, including mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular physics. In practice, modern astronomical research involves a substantial amount of physics. The name of a university's department ("astrophysics" or "astronomy") often has to do more with the department's history than with the contents of the programs. Astrophysics can be studied at the bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. levels in aerospace engineering, physics, or astronomy departments at many universities. Astrophysics Research Astronomical data arriving at essentially every wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum, this is a fascinating time for astronomy and astrophysics worldwide. Johns Hopkins astrophysicists lead research across the entire range of the discipline, from cosmology to galactic structure to planets, using observational, numerical and theoretical methods. JHU astronomers along with members of the Space Telescope Science Institute just across the street from our building jointly form one of the largest astrophysics communities in the country. The past two years have brought many exciting developments for the astrophysics researchers in our department. Professor Adam Riess received the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the Universe. The department continued its commitment to leadership in large-scale astronomical surveys and joined the Prime Focus Spectrograph project. Several new astrophysics faculty joined our department: professor Marc Kamionkowski, assistant professors Tobias Marriage, Nadia Zakamska and Brice Menard, and Homewood Professor Joseph Silk in a shared appointment. Below we briefly summarize research interests of our faculty and research staff members, arranged roughly in the following order: Cosmology, Extragalactic Astronomy, Galactic Astronomy, Numerical Simulations, Large Datasets, Instrumentation, Group activities. Goals The science goals of Astrophysics are breathtaking: we seek to understand the universe and our place in it. We are starting to investigate the very moment of creation of the universe and are close to learning the full history of stars and galaxies. We are discovering how planetary systems form and how environments hospitable for life develop. And we will search for the signature of life on other worlds, perhaps to learn that we are not alone. Current Programs Astrophysics comprises of three focused and two cross-cutting programs. These focused programs provide an intellectual framework for advancing science and conducting strategic planning. They include:
•Physics of the Cosmos
•Cosmic Origins
•Exoplanet Exploration
•Astrophysics Explorer Program
•Astrophysics Research

Energy Cycle and Water

The Water and Energy Cycle Focus Area studies the distribution, transport and transformation of water and energy within the Earth System. Since solar energy drives the water cycle and energy exchanges are modulated by the interaction of water with radiation, the energy cycle and the water cycle are intimately entwined. The long-term goal of this focus area is to enable improved predictions of the global water and energy cycles. This key goal requires not only documenting and predicting means and trends in the rate of the Earth's water and energy cycling as well as predicting changes in the frequency and intensity of related meteorological and hydrologic events such as floods and droughts. General Characteristics The large-scale water and energy balances of the Mississippi River basin during the period 1995-2000 will be determined and characterized in the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Continental-Scale International Project (GCIP) with high spatial resolution. The normal annual, diurnal, geographic, and vertical variations of surface and atmospheric balances will be defined, as will the major modes of large-scale seasonal to interannual anomalies. The accuracy of these balances will be assessed at various spatial and temporal scales. The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) is an integrated program of research, observations, and science activities ultimately leading to the prediction of global and regional climate change. The International GEWEX Project Office (IGPO) is the focal point for the planning and implementation of all GEWEX activities. The goal of GEWEX is to reproduce and predict, by means of suitable models, the variations of the global hydrological regime, its impact on atmospheric and surface dynamics, and variations in regional hydrological processes and water resources and their response to changes in the environment, such as the increase in greenhouse gases. GEWEX will provide an order of magnitude improvement in the ability to model global precipitation and evaporation, as well as accurate assessment of the sensitivity of atmospheric radiation and clouds to climate change .

About Earth Surface & Interiors

Earth, the largest and densest rocky planet, was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. The Earth's interior is divided into four layers which is typical of rocky planets. Each layer has different characteristics and is made of different elements and minerals. There is a gradient in temperature between the cool surface and the hot interior with the center, or core, as hot as 9000 degrees F. The crust is broken into many large plates that move slowly relative to each other. Mountain ranges form when two plates collide and their edges are forced up. In addition, many other surface features are the result of the moving plates. The plates move about one inch per year, so millions of years ago the continents and the oceans were in different positions. About 250 million years ago, most of the land was connected together, and over time has separated into seven continents. The Crust Because the crust is accessible to us, its geology has been extensively studied, and therefore much more information is known about its structure and composition than about the structure and composition of the mantle and core. Within the crust, intricate patterns are created when rocks are redistributed and deposited in layers through the geologic processes of eruption and intrusion of lava, erosion, and consolidation of rock particles, and solidification and recrystallization of porous rock. By the large-scale process of plate tectonics, about twelve plates, which contain combinations of continents and ocean basins, have moved around on the Earth's surface through much of geologic time. The edges of the plates are marked by concentrations of earthquakes and volcanoes. Collisions of plates can produce mountains like the Himalayas, the tallest range in the world. The Structure of the Moon The Moon, our fellow-traveler in space, has a diameter half that of the Earth's core, and it revolves around the Earth, as all the planets revolve around the Sun, under the force of gravity. Moonquakes of very low energy are caused by land tides produced by the pull of Earth's gravity, and, from analysis of moonquake data, scientists believe the Moon has two layers: a crust, from the surface to 65 kilometers depth, and an inner, more dense mantle from the crust to the center at 3,700 kilometers. The crust is presumed to be com- posed primarily of rocks containing feldspar, calcium aluminum silicate, and lesser pyrox- ene, iron and magnesium silicate; the crust also contains basalt in the mares, which con- tains less iron and more titanium than earth basalt. The mantle is thought to be made up of calcic peridotite, containing both pyroxene and feldspar.

Climate Variability & Change

The Climate Variability and Change program seeks to deliver new knowledge and applications for decision-making in climate-sensitive industries and to understand and project climate variability and change and its impacts to improve adaptive responses and to inform policy and decision making. As such, research in the CVC program covers time-scales from weeks to decades, and includes multi-week prediction, seasonal prediction, and climate change projections. The program interacts strongly with the operational sections of the Bureau of Meteorology, particularly the National Climate Centre, and with a number of the CSIRO National Research Flagships. Observing Climate Variability and Change The Earth's climate is dynamic and naturally varies on seasonal, decadal, centennial, and longer timescales. Each "up and down" fluctuation can lead to conditions which are warmer or colder, wetter or drier, more stormy or quiescent. Analyses of decadal and longer climate records and studies based on climate models suggest that many changes in recent decades can be attributed to human actions; these decadal trends are referred to as climate change. The effects of climate variability and change ripple throughout the environment and society - indeed touching nearly all aspects of the human endeavor and the environment. These factors underlie NOAA's mission to observe, understand, and predict climate variability and change. Importance of Climate-Change Research to the Nation Climate influences every aspect of life on Earth, affecting human health and well-being, water and energy resources, agriculture, forests and natural landscapes, air quality, and sea levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 summarizes overwhelming evidence that global warming, due to human activities since 1750, is unequivocal. In addition to increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, observations find widespread melting of snow and ice; rising sea levels; widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity, and wind patterns; and increasing occurrences of extreme weather, including droughts, heavy precipitation, heat waves, and intensity of tropical cyclones. Objective and interdisciplinary science is needed to understand more clearly the complexity of global climate issues. The science will play an essential role during the next decade in helping communities and land and resource managers understand local and regional implications, anticipate effects, prepare for changes, and reduce the risks of decision making in a changing climate.

About Magnetosphere

The study of the region of space near the Earth helps to determine changes in the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, and upper atmosphere in order to enable specification, prediction, and mitigation of their effects. Heliophysics seeks to develop an understanding of the response of the near-Earth plasma regions to space weather. This complex, highly coupled system protects Earth from the worst solar disturbances while redistributing energy and mass throughout. A key element involves distinguishing between the responses to external and internal drivers, as well as the impact of ordinary reconfigurations of environmental conditions, such as might be encountered when Earth crosses a magnetic sector boundary in the solar wind. This near-Earth region harbors spacecraft for communication, navigation, and remote sensing needs; conditions there can adversely affect their operation. Ground based systems, such as the power distribution grid, can also be affected by ionospheric and upper atmospheric changes. Key near-term investigations emphasize understanding the nature of the electrodynamic coupling, how geospace responds to external and internal drivers, and how the coupled middle and upper atmosphere respond to external forcings and how they interact with each other. History of magnetospheric physics Theories about the solar plasma stream and its interaction with Earth were published as early as 1931. During the next several decades multiple scientists, including Sydney Chapman and Hannes Alfvén, proposed a variety of mechanisms and explanations.The Earth's magnetosphere was first measured in 1958 by Explorer 1 during the research performed for the International Geophysical Year.In August and September 1958, Project Argus was performed to test a theory about the formation of radiation belts that may have tactical use in war. The Earth's Magnetic Field The Earth has a magnetic field with north and south poles. The Earth's magnetic field reaches 36,000 miles into space.The magnetic field of the Earth is surrounded in a region called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere prevents most of the particles from the sun, carried in solar wind, from hitting the Earth. Some particles from the solar wind can enters the magnetosphere. The particles that enter from the magnetotail travel toward the Earth and create the auroral oval light shows.

About Heliophysics

The term heliophysics was coined in 1981 to denote the physics of the entire Sun: from centre to corona. It is a direct translation from the French ‘he ?liophysique’, which was introduced to provide a distinction from physique solaire (solar physics) which in practice was then confined to only the outer layers of the Sun. It is a subdiscipline of heliology. Recently the meaning of the term has been extended by Dr George Siscoe of Boston University to include the physics of the heliosphere (the space around the sun beyond the corona, in principle out to the shock where the solar wind encounters the interstellar medium, but excluding the planets and other condensed bodies). It has subsequently been used by the NASA Science Mission Directorate to encompass the study of the heliosphere and the objects that interact with it—most notably, but not limited to, planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, the solar corona, and the interstellar medium. Heliophysics combines several other disciplines, including several branches of space physics, plasma physics, and solar physics, including stellar physics in general. Overview Heliophysics is all of the science common to the field of the Sun-Earth connections. This fast-developing field of research covers many traditional sub-disciplines of space physics, astrophysics, and climate studies. The NASA Living With a Star program, with its focus on the basic science underlying all aspects of space weather, acts as a catalyst to bring the many research disciplines together to deepen our understanding of the system of systems formed by the Sun-Earth connection. Focus Areas Earth moves through the heliosphere, the exotic outer atmosphere of a star. The space beyond Earth’s protective atmospheric cocoon is highly variable and far from benign. The Sun, our solar system, and the region of the galaxy just outside present us with a complex, interacting set of physical processes. It is the one part of the cosmos accessible to in situ scientific investigation, our only hands-on astrophysical laboratory. Building on NASA’s rich history of exploration of Earth’s neighborhood and distant planetary systems, we are poised to provide a predictive understanding of our place in the solar system. We do not live in isolation; we are intimately coupled with the Sun and the space environment through Earth’s climate system, our technological systems, the habitability of planets and solar system bodies we plan to explore, and ultimately the fate of Earth itself. Variability in this environment affects the daily activities that constitute the underpinning of modern society, including communication, navigation, and weather monitoring and prediction. Because the space environment matters to humans and their technological systems both on Earth and in space, it is essential as a space-faring Nation that we develop an understanding of these space plasma processes.

The Weather System

The weather system includes the dynamics of the atmosphere and its interaction with the oceans and land. Weather includes those local or microphysical processes that occur in minutes through the global-scale phenomena that can be predicted with a degree of success at an estimated maximum of two weeks prior. The Weather theme is important to the NASA Earth Science for two reasons. First, the improvement of our understanding of weather processes and phenomena is crucial in gaining an understanding of the Earth system. It is directly related to the Climate and Water/Energy Cycle Themes. In both cases, the dynamics are to a large degree controlled by "weather processes." Second, there is an infrastructure in the U.S. for operational meteorology at NOAA, the FAA, the DoD, and others that requires the introduction of new technologies and knowledge that only NASA can develop. Monsoon A monsoon is a periodic wind, especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia. The word is also used to label the season in which this wind blows from the southwest in India and adjacent areas that is characterized by very heavy rainfall, and specifically the rainfall that is associated with this wind.

About Planets

Planets:

New Worlds, New Discoveries NASA is at the leading edge of a journey of scientific discovery that promises to reveal new knowledge of our Solar System’s content, origin, evolution and the potential for life elsewhere. NASA Planetary Science is engaged in one of the oldest of scientific pursuits: the observation and discovery of our solar system’s planetary objects. With an exploration strategy based on progressing from flybys, to orbiting, to landing, to roving and finally to returning samples from planetary bodies, NASA advances the scientific understanding of the solar system in extraordinary ways, while pushing the limits of spacecraft and robotic engineering design and operations. Since the 1960s, NASA has broadened its reach with increasingly sophisticated missions launched to a host of nearby planets, moons, comets and asteroids. History All eight planets can be seen with a small telescope; or binoculars. And large observatories continue to provide much useful information. But the possibility of getting up close with interplanetary spacecraft has revolutionized planetary science. Very little of this site would have been possible without the space program Planet Order The Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune

Something About " Dark Matter & Dark Energy "

In the early 1990's, one thing was fairly certain about the expansion of the Universe. It might have enough energy density to stop its expansion and recollapse, it might have so little energy density that it would never stop expanding, but gravity was certain to slow the expansion as time went on. Granted, the slowing had not been observed, but, theoretically, the Universe had to slow. The Universe is full of matter and the attractive force of gravity pulls all matter together. Then came 1998 and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of very distant supernovae that showed that, a long time ago, the Universe was actually expanding more slowly than it is today. So the expansion of the Universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought, it has been accelerating. No one expected this, no one knew how to explain it. But something was causing it. Eventually theorists came up with three sorts of explanations. Maybe it was a result of a long-discarded version of Einstein's theory of gravity, one that contained what was called a "cosmological constant." Maybe there was some strange kind of energy-fluid that filled space. Maybe there is something wrong with Einstein's theory of gravity and a new theory could include some kind of field that creates this cosmic acceleration. Theorists still don't know what the correct explanation is, but they have given the solution a name. It is called dark energy. Dark Energy The greatest discoveries are the unexpected ones, which was the case in the late 1990s when two teams of astronomers competing to measure the rate at which the expansion of the universe is slowing down (as virtually everyone thought it must be) discovered that it is speeding up instead. A previously unknown, all-pervasive dark energy must be at work, representing 70% of the energy density of the universe. Dark matter First proposed in the 1930s, the idea that there is missing mass influencing the behavior of galaxies began to look more and more likely from the 1970s on. We know that it is matter because we can detect its gravitational influence on visible matter, but we cannot see it. An inventory of the distribution of dark matter throughout space shows that it constitutes 25% of the energy density of the universe.