Recording Script
DR CLARKE Yes - in fact
an understanding
of the oceans is crucial to
understanding how the global
climate works. The ocean
transports heat around the
globe. It's like a great reservoir
of heat - a tiny change in sea
surface temperature denotes a
huge change in the amount of
heat it is storing.
INTERVIEWER And now, I understand you are
looking at ways of refining this
measurement of ocean
temperature.
DR CLARKE Yes. For a long time, we've
measured it by placing
thermometers in buoys bobbing
in the oceans and also
when
ships draw water through their
engines.
INTERVIEWER It's also been done by satellite,
hasn't it?
DR CLARKE Yes. But now data from a more
promising system is being
collected. This is the European
along-track scanning
radiometer or ATSR, a much
simpler name. The ATSR
orbits
the earth above us.
INTERVIEWER And what stage are you at with
this?
DR CLARKE Well it's been up there two and a
half years now. It's an infra-red
detector that senses
the earth's
temperature with great accuracy
and this is what we need , . , we
have to be able to separate out
random changes in
temperature.
INTERVIEWER I believe there are other
advantages as well?
DR CLARKE There are several... Every few
days
it covers the entire earth. So
it produces large quantities of
data. It measures the
temperature from two angles,
which allows correction for any
effects that the intervening
atmosphere may be having on
its readings.
Its field of view has
a width of 500km and it
measures the temperature to 0.3
degrees centigrade.
INTERVIEWER And it should go on for years?
DR CLARKE Yes.
INTERVIEWER Thank you, Dr Clarke, for
talking to us today ... and now
over to..
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