She has written about environmental health, climate, radiation, energy and other issues for numerous publications including Miller-McCune Magazine, High Country News, SELF, and Environmental Health Perspectives.

FORBES: 1st Person | Facing an Unsettled Future After Radiation Exposure

Those little metal discs supplement the internal sensors, including functionality for radiation, heat, chemical and climate sensing.

ENGADGET: Node modular iOS sensor hands-on Hands-on

In addition to its weather-watching mission and collection of climate records, MSG-3 has a radiation sensor to measures the amount of solar and infrared energy that is reflected back into space, to better understand climate processes.

MSN: Satellite's first photo of Earth is an impressive one

Opponents warn that fracking is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, citing, among other risks, air and water pollution, the release of radiation and cancer-causing substances, and the acceleration of global climate change as methane and other greenhouse gases escape during fracking.

FORBES: Fracking: A Role for Universities

Its data may allow scientists to better understand and predict how various surface features absorb and reflect solar radiation, which influence both short-term weather patterns and longer-term climate trends.

BBC: Earthshine map helps predict weather

Further loss of Arctic ice will see radiation absorbed by darker seawater and snow-free land, potentially warming the Earth's climate at an even faster rate than current observational data indicates.

BBC: Canadian Arctic sheds ice chunk