MARQUETTE, MI-- NASA is partnering with Northern Michigan University in a radiation-measuring project on Granite Island.
Northern Trustee Scott Holman owns the island. He’s allowing NASA to proceed with its Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System—or CERES—experiment, provided students can be involved in research.
John Lenters owns Lentic Environmental Services, which partners with the Superior Watershed Partnership in large-lake research on Granite Island. He says the equipment will measure how much radiation is coming from the sun and sky. It will be used to validate satellite data and evaluate how much energy comes from the sun and other sources.
“Pretty much all that energy drives the weather and climate. So it starts with the sun and comes also from terrestrial radiation and from the sky. And it leads to other processes like heat fluxes at the earth’s surface that drive winds and evaporation and water vapor transport that leads to rainfall,” he says.
Lenters says Granite Island is a good spot for the equipment due to the lack of contamination from land.
The experiment is being set up Thursday and Friday.
NMU officials say the project could lead to an extended collaboration between NASA and the university.
