“Scarab” or Earth thermometer

1994/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

On 25 January this year the Russians put into orbit the meteorological satellite called Meteor III-7. In it, the apparatus called “Scarab”, developed by the French CNRS, was transported to space to measure the energy of the Earth.

Our planet acts as a radiator and cools by emitting heat to the icy vacuum of space. However, solar energy warms us. But how is the mean between absorbed solar radiation and emitted infrared radiation? How does it evolve?

It is interesting to answer the following questions about the possible incidence of air pollution in the climate, but the only system for this is to measure energy exchanges in the upper layers of the atmosphere accurately and over a period of time (detecting incidents).

Since 1990 the Earth's radiation balance has not been measured by satellite, but fortunately the Scarab apparatus will fill this gap. In 1995 there is another one that is put into orbit and in 1997 the third one is placed.