David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC                      June 2, 1999
(Phone:  202/358-1730)

Diane Ainsworth
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone:  818/354-0850)

NOTE TO EDITORS:  N99-34

BRIEFING ON NEW OCEAN WINDS SATELLITE SET FOR JUNE 3

     The Quick Scatterometer (Quikscat), NASA's next "El Nino"-
watcher, will be launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force 
Base at 10:15 p.m. EDT on June 18.  This satellite, built in just 
over 12 months -- a record for NASA's Office of Earth Science -- 
will be used to better understand global weather patterns.

     On Thursday, June 3, mission experts will discuss the 
upcoming launch of the satellite, its scientific objectives and 
the benefits Quikscat will provide.  The briefing will be held at 
1 p.m. EDT in the James Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA 
Headquarters, 300 E St. SW, Washington, DC.  Participants will be:

     *Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for Earth 
Sciences, NASA Headquarters
     *Gregory Withee, Assistant Administrator for Satellite and 
Information Services, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), Washington, DC
     *Dr. Eric Lindstrom, Oceanography Program Scientist, NASA 
Headquarters 
     *James Graf, Quikscat Project Manager, Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
     *Dr. Michael Freilich, Quikscat Team Leader, Oregon State 
University, Corvallis

     The SeaWinds instrument aboard Quikscat will provide 
climatologists, meteorologists, and oceanographers daily, detailed 
measurements of winds as they swirl above the world's oceans, 
helping to greatly improve weather forecasting. 

     The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television, with 
question-and-answer capability from participating NASA centers.  
NASA Television is available on transponder 9C of the GE-2 
satellite at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, 
frequency 3880 MHz, audio of 6.8 MHz.

                               -end-