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At least 289 records · Page 16

Aquarius Reflector Surface Temperature Monitoring Test and Analysis

The presentation addresses how to infer the front side temperatures for the Aquarius L-band reflector based upon backside measurement sites. Slides discussing the mission objectives and design details are at the same level found on typical project outreach websites and in conference papers respectively. The test discussion provides modest detail of an ordinary thermal balance test using mockup hardware. The photographs show an off-Lab vacuum chamber facility with no compromising details.

Comision Nacional para el Uso Eficiente de la Ener↗

Expanding the Operational Use of Total Lightning Ahead of GOES-R

NASA's Short‐term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) has been transitioning real‐time total lightning observations from ground‐based lightning mapping arrays since 2003. This initial effort was with the local Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) that could use the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NALMA). These early collaborations established a strong interest in the use of total lightning for WFO operations. In particular the focus started with warning decision support, but has since expanded to include impact‐based decision support and lightning safety. SPoRT has used its experience to establish connections with new lightning mapping arrays as they become available. The GOES‐R / JPSS Visiting Scientist Program has enabled SPoRT to conduct visits to new partners and expand the number of operational users with access to total lightning observations. In early 2014, SPoRT conducted the most recent visiting scientist trips to meet with forecast offices that will used the Colorado, Houston, and Langmuir Lab (New Mexico) lightning mapping arrays. In addition, SPoRT met with the corresponding Center Weather Service Units (CWSUs) to expand collaborations with the aviation community. These visits were an opportunity to learn about the forecast needs of each office visited as well as to provide on‐site training for the use of total lightning, setting the stage for a real‐time assessment during May‐July 2014. With five lightning mapping arrays covering multiple geographic locations, the 2014 assessment has demonstrated numerous uses of total lightning in varying situations. Several highlights include a much broader use of total lightning for impact‐based decision support ranging from airport weather warnings, supporting fire crews, and protecting large outdoor events. The inclusion of the CWSUs has broadened the operational scope of total lightning, demonstrating how these data can support air traffic management, particularly in the Terminal Radar Approach Control Facilities (TRACON) region around an airport. These collaborations continue to demonstrate, from the operational perspective, the utility of total lightning and the importance of continued training and preparation in advance of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper.

GLM↗

Bright Stuff on Ceres = Sulfates and Carbonates on CI Chondrites

Recent reports of the DAWN spacecraft's observations of the surface of Ceres indicate that there are bright areas, which can be explained by large amounts of the Mg sulfate hexahydrate (MgSO4•6(H2O)), although the identification appears tenuous. There are preliminary indications that water is being evolved from these bright areas, and some have inferred that these might be sites of contemporary hydro-volcanism. A heat source for such modern activity is not obvious, given the small size of Ceres, lack of any tidal forces from nearby giant planets, probable age and presumed bulk composition. We contend that observations of chondritic materials in the lab shed light on the nature of the bright spots on Ceres

Zolensky, Michael↗

Incident excitation effects on ZnO-based photoluminescence

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an attractive semiconductor material owing to a wide band gap, large exciton binding energy, and strong luminescent properties. Two distinct spectral regions are present in the room temperature emission of this material: a narrow line in the UV/near-UV region that is excitonic in nature and a lower energy broad emission band centered in the green/yellow region. Commercially available ZnO particles containing excess Zn and oxygen vacancy defect sites (referred to as ZnO:Zn) were excited using three light sources to study different radiative recombination regimes of the as-received powders. First, a UV LED at a center wavelength of 365 nm provided low irradiance (0.02–0.08 W/cm 2 ) with varying pulse widths (continuous operation to 16 ns). Second, the third harmonic of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser provided high irradiances (∼10 4 –10 6 W/cm 2 ) at a fixed nominal pulse width of 5 ns. Finally, a continuous polychromatic synchrotron X-ray source was also used to excite the ZnO:Zn powders. During UV LED excitation, a low number of carriers are created in the material, leading to an anticipated linear relationship between luminescence and irradiance. This held true for defect luminescence; however, there was an observed enhancement of exciton emission relative to the UV LED intensity as the pulse width was decreased, independent of irradiance. During UV laser excitation, the number of carriers was significantly increased, raising the material into a bimolecular recombination regime, which produced exciton emission much stronger than visible band emission. Finally, spectra obtained during synchrotron X-ray excitation, whose continuous illumination and higher penetration depth yielded higher emission from defect sites relative to exciton emission. A redshift in the exciton emission was also observed as excitation pulse width and sample temperature were varied, and is discussed.

Westphal, Eric Robert [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-N↗

FIU Projects 4 & 5: DOE-FIU Science and Technology Workforce Development Program

The DOE-FIU Science and Technology Workforce Development Program has been designed to build upon the existing DOE/FIU relationship by creating a “pipeline” of minority engineers specifically trained and mentored to enter the Department of Energy workforce in technical areas of need. The main objective of the program is to provide interested students with a unique opportunity to integrate course work, DOE field work, and research work at FIU into a well-structured academic program that leads to entry into DOE EM’s Pathways Program. Students selected as DOE EM Fellows perform research at FIU and at DOE sites, national laboratories, and DOE contractors. Graduation and completion of this fellowship leads to employment opportunities with DOE EM, DOE contractors, DOE national laboratories, other federal agencies, and private industry as well as the pursuit of post-master or post-doctoral positions at DOE national labs.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

A substrate-induced gating mechanism is conserved among Gram-positive IgA1 metalloproteases

The mucosal adaptive immune response is dependent on the production of IgA antibodies and particularly IgA1, yet opportunistic bacteria have evolved mechanisms to specifically block this response by producing IgA1 proteases (IgA1Ps). Our lab was the first to describe the structures of a metal-dependent IgA1P (metallo-IgA1P) produced from Gram-positive Streptococcus pneumoniae both in the absence and presence of its IgA1 substrate through cryo-EM single particle reconstructions. This prior study revealed an active-site gating mechanism reliant on substrate-induced conformational changes to the enzyme that begged the question of whether such a mechanism is conserved among the wider Gram-positive metallo-IgA1P subfamily of virulence factors. Here, we used cryo-EM to characterize the metallo-IgA1P of a more distantly related family member from Gemella haemolysans, an emerging opportunistic pathogen implicated in meningitis, endocarditis, and more recently bacteremia in the elderly. While the substrate-free structures of these two metallo-IgA1Ps exhibit differences in the relative starting positions of the domain responsible for gating substrate, the enzymes have similar domain orientations when bound to IgA1. Together with biochemical studies that indicate these metallo-IgA1Ps have similar binding affinities and activities, these data indicate that metallo-IgA1P binding requires the specific IgA1 substrate to open the enzymes for access to their active site and thus, largely conform to an “induced fit” model.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Effects of Experimental Warming and Elevated CO 2 on CO 2 and CH 4 Fluxes in an Ombrotrophic Black-Spruce. Final Report

High latitude peatlands and permafrost soils contain nearly half of the soil carbon pool on Earth. The potential for large soil C stocks in peatlands and permafrost to become a positive feedback to climate change by increasing net emissions of CO₂ and CH₄ to the atmosphere is a subject of grave concern. This research was conducted at the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (herein SPRUCE) experimental facility, located in the USDA’s Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota. The site is dominated by Picea mariana [herein black spruce], ericaceous shrubs and Sphagnum spp. Ten 12m-diameter open top chambers expose portions of the 8.1-ha S1 bog to warming up to +9°C in 2.25°C increments at ambient and elevated CO₂ (eCO₂, 900ppm). The Finzi lab group began manual measurements of CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes and their C-isotopic compositions in 2014. With funding from the DOE-TES program automated measurements of these species began in 2015. With a one-year no cost extension we were able to make measurements through the 2018 growing season. Across the study period we find that experimental warming of the peatland significantly increases the flux of CO₂ and CH₄ to the atmosphere. The highest temperature treatments had the highest fluxes. As peatlands have complex topography and water table dynamics, many of these results were contingent upon the topographic location in which the measurements were made. In the raised portions of the peatland divorced from the water table, fluxes of CO₂ were high and fluxes of CH₄ were low. By contrast, in the lower portions of the peatland surface, which is at or very near the water table, fluxes of CH₄ were substantially higher. A significant fraction of the total annual CH₄ flux was derived from episodic ebullitive fluxes. The occurrence and size of these ebullitive fluxes also increased with temperature. Experimental fumigation of the black spruce peatland with elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ [herein eCO₂] also had significant effects on emissions of greenhouse gasses. In general these effects were far more subtle than the effects of rising temperature. This indicates that temperature change more than atmospheric chemistry changes are affect the belowground cycle of C in the peatland. Overall, this study shows that boreal peatlands are highly sensitive to changes in temperature. The warmer it becomes the more C will be lost from the peatland to the atmosphere. This appears to create a positive feedback loop that is likely to enhance the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Forecasts for Land-Based Wind Deployment in the United States: Wind Industry Survey Results [Slides]

Recent land-based wind deployment in the United States has been sluggish, and expectations for future growth have moderated in recent years. Berkeley Lab conducted a brief survey of wind industry stakeholders to better understand barriers and solutions. The focus of the survey was on land-based wind projects in the United States – not offshore wind or distributed small wind projects. Respondents identified challenges related to the grid and to siting as the most pressing concerns.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

More Than A SketchUp

This 2014 summer internship assignment at John F. Kennedy Space Center (K.S.C) was conducted with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Engineering and Technology (NE) group in support of the Control and Data Systems Division (NE-C) within the Test, Operations & Support Software Engineering Branch (NE-C2). The primary focus of this project was to assist Branch Chief Laurie B. Griffin, to support NASA's Small Payload Launch Integrated Testing Services (SPLITS) mission, by mastering the capabilities of 3-D modeling software called SketchUp. I used SketchUp to create a virtual environment for different laboratories of the NE-00 Division. My mission was to have these models uploaded into a K.S.C Partnerships Website and be used as a visual aid to viewers who browsed the site. The leads of this project were Kay L. Craig, Business and Industry Specialist (AD-A) and Steven E. Cain, (FA-C). I teamed with fellow intern Tait Sorenson of the Flight Structures and Thermal Protection Systems Branch (NE-M5) and met with many K.S.C lab managers willing to display their lab's structure and capabilities. The information collected during these lab tours was vital to the building of the K.S.C Partnerships Website. To accomplish this goal Sorenson and I later teamed with fellow Marketing intern Marlee Pereda-Ramos, of the Spaceport Planning Office In Center Planning And Development (AD-A) Along with Ramos, Tait and I toured an array of laboratories and got first hand exposure to their functions and capabilities.

Trimble Corporation↗

Wellbore integrity assessment with casing-based advanced sensing

Wellbore integrity is of paramount importance to subsurface resource extraction, energy storage 1 and waste disposal. After installation, well casing and cement are subject to mechanical stress due to near-well pressure changes and fluid induced corrosion. This is exacerbated for geothermal wells where produced fluid is at high temperature and corrosive. The current state-of-the-art technologies for wellbore integrity assessments are an array of cased hole logging tools. Wireline deployed acoustic, electromagnetic and mechanical tools are all available to inspect steel casing corrosion and casing-cement bond and these tools can provide high-resolution assessment of borehole conditions. They are intrusive, however, in terms of borehole preparation and interruption to the normal operation of the wells, and not suitable for high temperature or highly deviated well deployments. In addition, these measurements are performed infrequently due to high cost, and are therefore incapable of providing frequent data to better predict borehole degradation trajectory, which can help provide early warning of potential borehole failures. For this project we are developing a suite of novel, non-invasive, casing based tools for wellbore integrity assessment, combining fast/low cost screening with higher-precision investigation. Our approach is based on monitoring the response of the casing when energized at the wellhead, thereby interrogating the casing without well intervention. Lab, field and numerical approaches are used in our study. During the early stage of the research, we focus on numerical simulations, which have shown the sensitivity of the low frequency electromagnetic (EM) signals to changes in borehole depths and have successfully tested the concept at a field site with different length well casings. Initial seismic modeling efforts have also demonstrated our capability to simulate seismic tube wave and seismic field alterations due to borehole breakage and associated fluid leakage. Further numerical, laboratory and field experiments are underway for additional technology sensitivity analysis, particularly the transient EM/Seismic reflectometry methods, data acquisition optimization, and numerical simulation improvements.

Wilt, Michael↗

Findings on subtask 3.3 – applicability of automated brine chemistry determinations for treatment and recovery processes through facility automation/modularization: engineering design study

Under the Energy & Environmental Research Center’s (EERC’s) ~$\$$22 million Phase II Brine Extraction and Storage Test (BEST) Program, a multimillion-dollar brine treatment technology test bed facility was established in western North Dakota to provide a platform for evaluating developing technologies and approaches for brine treatment and volume reduction. The initial facility, and associated research effort, was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), with in-kind contributions provided by several industry participants and the state of North Dakota. Since its opening, the Brine Technology Test Facility (BTTF) has supported performance evaluations of desalination technologies capable of treating high-salinity produced water (PW) and enabled data collection for multiple approaches of PW management and critical material recovery. As part of the decommissioning process for the original project, facility ownership and liability were transferred to Select Water, which is providing the EERC with a continuing site access option for state or federal research and/or commercial technology development. This report documents the findings from a design study conducted by the EERC and the engineering firm that was originally contracted to design and construct the facility (Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, LLC [AE2S]) that evaluated the current status of BTTF and its systems and developed a retrofit design to increase the facility’s capabilities through automation and modularization of its PW treatment infrastructure. The proposed retrofit will provide DOE and industry with an expanded range of conditioned PW that can be produced at the facility for evaluating fit-for-purpose water treatment technologies, online instrumentation for brine chemistry determination, and systems that recover critical materials like lithium and magnesium. The current facility consists of an 9600-square-foot facility that includes a 40-foot by 65-foot Class 1, Division 2-rated demonstration area and associated control rooms and lab-ready space capable of sourcing oil and gas PW and wastewater from industrial sources or tailoring brine compositions up to 300,000 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS) and supplying them at rates up to 25 gpm for extended-duration technology demonstrations. The colocation of the facility with Select Water’s water management facilities allows for access and unloading of more than 10,000 bbl/day of trucked water delivered to site and associated access to on-site Class I and Class II brine disposal wells and nearby hazardous waste landfills operated and/or contracted by Select Water to dispose of concentrate and/or effluents associated with the testing.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Electrically Heated Testing of the Kilowatt Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) Experiment Using a Depleted Uranium Core

The Kilopower project aims to develop and demonstrate scalable fission-based power technology for systems capable of delivering 110 kW of electric power with a specific power ranging from 2.5 - 6.5 Wkg. This technology could enable high power science missions or could be used to provide surface power for manned missions to the Moon or Mars. NASA has partnered with the Department of Energys National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos National Labs, and Y-12 National Security Complex to develop and test a prototypic reactor and power system using existing facilities and infrastructure. This technology demonstration, referred to as the Kilowatt Reactor Using Stirling TechnologY (KRUSTY), will undergo nuclear ground testing in the summer of 2017 at the Nevada Test Site. The 1 kWe variation of the Kilopower system was chosen for the KRUSTY demonstration. The concept for the 1 kWe flight system consist of a 4 kWt highly enriched Uranium-Molybdenum reactor operating at 800 degrees Celsius coupled to sodium heat pipes. The heat pipes deliver heat to the hot ends of eight 125 W Stirling convertors producing a net electrical output of 1 kW. Waste heat is rejected using titanium-water heat pipes coupled to carbon composite radiator panels. The KRUSTY test, based on this design, uses a prototypic highly enriched uranium-molybdenum core coupled to prototypic sodium heat pipes. The heat pipes transfer heat to two Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASC-E2s) and six thermal simulators, which simulate the thermal draw of full scale power conversion units. Thermal simulators and Stirling engines are gas cooled. The most recent project milestone was the completion of non-nuclear system level testing using an electrically heated depleted uranium (non-fissioning) reactor core simulator. System level testing at the Glenn Research Center (GRC) has validated performance predictions and has demonstrated system level operation and control in a test configuration that replicates the one to be used at the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) at the Nevada National Security Site. Fabrication, assembly, and testing of the depleted uranium core has allowed for higher fidelity system level testing at GRC, and has validated the fabrication methods to be used on the highly enriched uranium core that will supply heat for the DAF KRUSTY demonstration.

Briggs, Maxwell H.↗

Development and Experimental Validation of a High-Power DC Distribution Testbed for Advanced Charging Infrastructure and Energy Management

This paper presents the development of a hardware testbed for DC-distributed high-power charging (HPC) stations. As DC distributed solutions emerge as a viable solution to optimize HPC site operations, challenges such as interoperability, protection, and seamless integration of distributed energy resources (DER) persist. These issues underscore the need for a robust testing facility to investigate compliance of available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) market devices. The developed testbed features a DC-distributed charging hub including a charger, emulated energy storage system (ESS), and site level communication and controller implementation. It facilitates the testing of COTS hardware, charger prototypes, standards validation and site energy management system (SEMS) controllers at rated power. This paper details the development of the charging infrastructure platform, implementation of communication system, validation of different SEMS algorithms, and understanding improvements required for future expansion. Using the developed testbed, interoperability gaps for SEMS implementation with multi-vehicle concurrent charging via a multi-port charger are experimentally observed. Aimed at supporting the transition to large-scale EV charging infrastructure deployment and DER integration, this testbed plays a crucial role in conformity testing of COTS device interoperability.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Online Learning Flight Control for Intelligent Flight Control Systems (IFCS)

The research accomplishments for the cooperative agreement 'Online Learning Flight Control for Intelligent Flight Control Systems (IFCS)' include the following: (1) previous IFC program data collection and analysis; (2) IFC program support site (configured IFC systems support network, configured Tornado/VxWorks OS development system, made Configuration and Documentation Management Systems Internet accessible); (3) Airborne Research Test Systems (ARTS) II Hardware (developed hardware requirements specification, developing environmental testing requirements, hardware design, and hardware design development); (4) ARTS II software development laboratory unit (procurement of lab style hardware, configured lab style hardware, and designed interface module equivalent to ARTS II faceplate); (5) program support documentation (developed software development plan, configuration management plan, and software verification and validation plan); (6) LWR algorithm analysis (performed timing and profiling on algorithm); (7) pre-trained neural network analysis; (8) Dynamic Cell Structures (DCS) Neural Network Analysis (performing timing and profiling on algorithm); and (9) conducted technical interchange and quarterly meetings to define IFC research goals.

Niewoehner, Kevin R.↗

Why didn’t Oppenheimer ever win a Nobel Prize?

For his scientific achievement, he would be forever known as the father of the atomic bomb – but never as a Nobel laureate. The pinnacle of global recognition, the Nobel Prize was bestowed on 18 of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s colleagues with whom he worked at the Manhattan Project site in Los Alamos. There, in just 27 months and in a perceived race with Nazi Germany, the scientists created the first nuclear weapons. Their efforts brought the world into the Atomic Age and helped end World War II. Several were awarded the prize before coming to work at the wartime lab, while most would go on to win later in life. Oppenheimer was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics three times: in 1946, in 1951, and in 1967. Colleagues, scholars, and surely Oppenheimer himself pondered why he was never bestowed the honor. “To understand this,” said James Kunetka, historian and author of The General and the Genius, “you have to first examine the man’s academic life before and after the war.”

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Data Files for Runoff Evaluation in an Earth System Land Model for Permafrost Regions

Modeling of hydrological runoff is essential for accurately capturing spatiotemporal feedbacks within the land–atmosphere system, particularly in sensitive regions such as permafrost landscapes. However, substantial uncertainties persist in the terrestrial runoff parameterization schemes used in Earth system and land surface models. This is particularly true in permafrost regions, where landscape heterogeneity is high and reliable observational data are scarce.This data set includes all files that were produced and applied in the paper Runoff Evaluation in an Earth System Land Model for Permafrost Regions [Xiang et al. in review]. The paper is in review as of July 1 2025 in Geoscientific Model Development (GMD). In this study, we evaluate the performance of runoff parameterization schemes in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) land model (ELM). Our proposed framework leverages simulation results from the Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS), which is a physics-rich integrated surface/subsurface hydrologic model that has been successfully evaluated previously in Arctic tundra regions. We used ATS to simulate runoff from 22 representative hillslopes in the Sagavanirktok River basin, located on the North Slope of Alaska, then compared the output with ELM’s parameterized representation of total runoff. This dataset contains 2 figure image files (*.png, *jpg) that describe the study site and methods, as well as folders (Figure*.zip) that contain the associated data files (*.csv, *.dat) and python code notebooks (*.ipynb) for figures 3-7 in the paper. Jupyter notebook (*.ipynb) files that produce the figure files using the associated data files will run within a python environment configured with Jupyter Lab or Notebook packages.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Data and scripts from: “Denoising autoencoder for reconstructing sensor observation data and predicting evapotranspiration: noisy and missing values repair and uncertainty quantification”

This data package includes data and scripts from the manuscript “Denoising autoencoder for reconstructing sensor observation data and predicting evapotranspiration: noisy and missing values repair and uncertainty quantification”.The study addressed common challenges faced in environmental sensing and modeling, including uncertain input data, missing sensor observations, and high-dimensional datasets with interrelated but redundant variables. Point-scaled meteorological and soil sensor observations were perturbed with noises and missing values, and denoising autoencoder (DAE) neural networks were developed to reconstruct the perturbed data and further predict evapotranspiration. This study concluded that (1) the reconstruction quality of each variable depends on its cross-correlation and alignment to the underlying data structure, (2) uncertainties from the models were overall stronger than those from the data corruption, and (3) there was a tradeoff between reducing bias and reducing variance when evaluating the uncertainty of the machine learning models.This package includes:(1) Four ipython scripts (.ipynb): “DAE_train.ipynb” trains and evaluates DAE neural networks, “DAE_predict.ipynb” makes predictions from the trained DAE models, “ET_train.ipynb” trains and evaluates ET prediction neural networks, and “ET_predict.ipynb” makes predictions from trained ET models.(2) One python file (.py): “methods.py” includes all user-defined functions and python codes used in the ipython scripts.(3) A “sub_models” folder that includes five trained DAE neural networks (in pytorch format, .pt), which could be used to ingest input data before being fed to the downstream ET models in ‘ET_train.ipynb” or ‘ET_predict.ipynb’.(4) Two data files (.csv). Daily meteorological, vegetation, and soil data is in “df_data.csv”, where “df_meta.csv” contains the location and time information of “df_data.csv”. Each row (index) in “df_meta.csv” corresponds to each row in “df_data.csv”. These data files are formatted to follow the data structure requirements and be directly used in the ipython scripts, and they have been shuffled chronologically to train machine learning models. The meteorological and soil data was collected using point sensors between 2019-2023 at(4.a) Three shrub-dominated field sites in East River, Colorado (named “ph1”, “ph2” and “sg5” in “df_meta.csv”, where “ph1” and “ph2” were located at PumpHouse Hillslopes, and “sg5” was at Snodgrass Mountain meadow) and(4.b) One outdoor, mesoscale, and herbaceous-dominated experiment in Berkeley, California (named “tb” in “df_meta.csv”, short for Smartsoils Testbed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab).- See "df_data_dd.csv" and "df_meta_dd.csv" for variable descriptions and the Methods section for additional data processing steps. See "flmd.csv" and "README.txt" for brief file descriptions.- All ipython scripts and python files are written in and require PYTHON language software.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Stennis Space Center Verification & Validation Capabilities

Scientists within NASA#s Applied Research & Technology Project Office (formerly the Applied Sciences Directorate) have developed a well-characterized remote sensing Verification & Validation (V&V) site at the John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC). This site enables the in-flight characterization of satellite and airborne high spatial resolution remote sensing systems and their products. The smaller scale of the newer high resolution remote sensing systems allows scientists to characterize geometric, spatial, and radiometric data properties using a single V&V site. The targets and techniques used to characterize data from these newer systems can differ significantly from the techniques used to characterize data from the earlier, coarser spatial resolution systems. Scientists have used the SSC V&V site to characterize thermal infrared systems. Enhancements are being considered to characterize active lidar systems. SSC employs geodetic targets, edge targets, radiometric tarps, atmospheric monitoring equipment, and thermal calibration ponds to characterize remote sensing data products. Similar techniques are used to characterize moderate spatial resolution sensing systems at selected nearby locations. The SSC Instrument Validation Lab is a key component of the V&V capability and is used to calibrate field instrumentation and to provide National Institute of Standards and Technology traceability. This poster presents a description of the SSC characterization capabilities and examples of calibration data.

Pagnutti, Mary↗