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EMIT Stories

How NASA Uses Light to Detect Waste From Mines
1 min read

Tens of thousands of abandoned mines threaten waterways across the American West, but identifying which sites urgently need cleanup is slow and expensive. Now, NASA’s EMIT instrument can analyze the unique light signatures of mine waste from space to help…

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NASA Sensor on Space Station Eyes Contamination off California Coast
4 min read

Proof-of-concept results from the mouth of the Tijuana River in San Diego County show how an instrument called EMIT could aid wastewater detection. An instrument built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory  to map minerals on Earth is now revealing clues…

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NASA’s EMIT Will Explore Diverse Science Questions on Extended Mission
5 min read

The imaging spectrometer measures the colors of light reflected from Earth’s surface to study fields such as agriculture, hydrology, and climate science. Observing our planet from the International Space Station since July 2022, NASA’s EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source…

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Climate Change Research
6 min read

Science in Space: April 2024 Everyone on Earth is touched by the effects of climate change, such as hotter temperatures, shifts in rain patterns, and sea level rise. Collecting climate data helps communities better plan for these changes and build…

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NASA Sensor Produces First Global Maps of Surface Minerals in Arid Regions
5 min read

EMIT delivers first-of-a-kind maps of minerals in Earth’s dust-source areas, enabling scientists to model the fine particles’ role in climate change and more. NASA’s EMIT mission has created the first comprehensive maps of the world’s mineral dust-source regions, providing precise…

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NASA Helps Study One of the World’s Most Diverse Ecosystems
6 min read

NASA satellite and airborne tools aid an international team studying biodiversity on land and in the water around South Africa. An international team of researchers spent October and November 2023 in the field studying one of the world’s most biologically…

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NASA Mission Excels at Spotting Greenhouse Gas Emission Sources
5 min read

Since launching 16 months ago, the EMIT imaging spectrometer aboard the International Space Station has shown an ability to detect more than just surface minerals. More than a year after first detecting methane plumes from its perch aboard the International…

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NASA Space Missions Pinpoint Sources of CO2 Emissions on Earth
4 min read

A case study involving Europe’s largest coal-fired power plant shows space-based observations can be used to track carbon dioxide emissions – and reductions – at the source. A duo of Earth-observing missions has enabled researchers to detect and track carbon…

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NASA Sensors to Help Detect Methane Emitted by Landfills
5 min read

A nonprofit group, Carbon Mapper, will use data from NASA’s EMIT mission, plus current airborne and future satellite instruments, to survey waste sites for methane emissions. Observations from the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) and other NASA science…

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NASA Dust Detective Delivers First Maps From Space for Climate Science
6 min read

Measurements from EMIT, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, will improve computer simulations researchers use to understand climate change.

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