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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Radiometer system requirements for microwave remote sensing from satellites

An area of increasing interest is the establishment of a significant research program in microwave remote sensing from satellites, particularly geosynchronous satellites. Due to the relatively small resolution cell sizes, a severe requirement is placed on beam efficiency specifications for the radiometer antenna. Geostationary satellite microwave radiometers could continuously monitor several important geophysical parameters over the world's oceans. These parameters include the columnar content of atmospheric liquid water (both cloud and rain) and water vapor, air temperature profiles, and possibly sea surface temperature. Two principle features of performance are of concern. The first is the ability of the radiometer system to resolve absolute temperatures with a very small absolute error, a capability that depends on radiometer system stability, on frequency bandwidth, and on footprint dwell time. The second is the ability of the radiometer to resolve changes in temperature from one resolution cell to the next when these temperatures are subject to wide variation over the overall field-of-view of the instrument. Both of these features are involved in the use of the radiometer data to construct high-resolution temperature maps with high absolute accuracy.

Juang, Jeng-Nan↗
NASA NTRS1994

Ozone measurements from a global network of surface sites

From a network of surface ozone monitoring sites distributed primarily over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the seasonal, day-to-day, and diurnal patterns are delineated. At most of the NH (Northern Hemisphere) sites there is a spring maximum and late summer or autumn minimum. At Barrow, AK (70 deg N) and Barbados (14 deg N), however, there is a winter maximum, but the mechanisms producing the maximum are quite different. All the sites in the SH (Southern Hemisphere) show winter maxima and summer minima. At the subtropical and tropical sites, there are large day-to-day variations that reflect the changes in flow patterns. Air of tropical origin has much lower ozone concentrations than air from higher latitudes. At the two tropical sites (Barbados and Samoa), there is a marked diurnal ozone variation with highest amounts in the early morning and lowest values in the afternoon. At four of the locations (Barrow, AK; Mauna Loa, HI; American Samoa; and South Pole), there are 15- through 20-year records which allow us to look at longer term changes. At Barrow there has been a large summer increase over the 20 years of measurements. At South Pole, on the other hand, summer decreases have led to an overall decline in surface ozone amounts.

Oltmans, Samuel J.↗
NASA NTRS2003

An Overview of SIMBIOS Program Activities and Accomplishments

The SIMBIOS Program was conceived in 1994 as a result of a NASA management review of the agency's strategy for monitoring the bio-optical properties of the global ocean through space-based ocean color remote sensing. At that time, the NASA ocean color flight manifest included two data buy missions, the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Earth Observing System (EOS) Color, and three sensors, two Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) and the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR), scheduled for flight on the EOS-Terra and EOS-Aqua satellites. The review led to a decision that the international assemblage of ocean color satellite systems provided ample redundancy to assure continuous global coverage, with no need for the EOS Color mission. At the same time, it was noted that non-trivial technical difficulties attended the challenge (and opportunity) of combining ocean color data from this array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. Thus, it was announced at the October 1994 EOS Interdisciplinary Working Group meeting that some of the resources budgeted for EOS Color should be redirected into an intercalibration and validation program (McClain et al., 2002).

Fargion, Giulietta S.↗
NASA NTRS2008

MODIS Land Data Products: Generation, Quality Assurance and Validation

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) on-board NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra and Aqua Satellites are key instruments for providing data on global land, atmosphere, and ocean dynamics. Derived MODIS land, atmosphere and ocean products are central to NASA's mission to monitor and understand the Earth system. NASA has developed and generated on a systematic basis a suite of MODIS products starting with the first Terra MODIS data sensed February 22, 2000 and continuing with the first MODIS-Aqua data sensed July 2, 2002. The MODIS Land products are divided into three product suites: radiation budget products, ecosystem products, and land cover characterization products. The production and distribution of the MODIS Land products are described, from initial software delivery by the MODIS Land Science Team, to operational product generation and quality assurance, delivery to EOS archival and distribution centers, and product accuracy assessment and validation. Progress and lessons learned since the first MODIS data were in early 2000 are described.

Masuoka, Edward↗
NASA NTRS2007

Two-Dimensional Synthetic Aperture Radiometry over Land Surface During Soil Moisture Experiment in 2003 (SMEX03)

Microwave radiometry at low frequencies (L-band, approx. 1.4 GHz) has been known as an optimal solution for remote sensing of soil moisture. However, the antenna size required to achieve an appropriate resolution from space has limited the development of spaceborne L-band radiometers. This problem can be addressed by interferometric technology called aperture synthesis. The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission will apply this technique to monitor global-scale surface parameters in the near future. The first airborne experiment using an aircraft prototype of this approach, the Two-Dimensional Synthetic Aperture Radiometer (2D-STAR), was performed in the Soil Moisture Experiment in 2003 (SMEX03). The L-band brightness temperature data acquired in Alabama by the 2DSTAR was compared with ground-based measurements of soil moisture and with C-band data collected by the Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR). Our results demonstrate a good response of the 2D-STAR brightness temperature to changes in surface wetness, both in agricultural and forest lands. The behavior of the horizontally polarized brightness temperature data with increasing view-angle over the forest area was noticeably different than over bare soil. The results from the comparison of 2D-STAR and PSR indicate a better response of the 2D-STAR to the surface wetness under both wet and dry conditions. Our results have important implications for the performance of the future SMOS mission.

Ryu, Dongryeol↗
NASA NTRS2022

The Future: Nasa’s Surface Biology and Geology Mission and the Dark (Aquatic) Side

With the release of NASA’s Earth System Observatory (ESO) measurement targets that includes studying the Earth’s Surface Biology and Geology (SBG), a global visible to shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer and a multispectral thermal infrared imager have been planned to launch in the late 2020s. This mission will enable unprecedented interdisciplinary science and applications relevant to studying the biology and geology of the Earth's surface. Measurement targets are directly aligned for studying coastal and inland waters ecosystems and water quality, including coralreef ecosystems, snow and ice, mineralogy, volcanology, biology, ecology, biodiversity, and components of radiative forcing from the surface such as greenhouse gas emissions. The observations not only have scientific value in studying feedbacks and interactions of surface processes (e.g., harmful algal blooms, domoic acid, oil spills, and other hazardous events), but also societal benefit – with the capacity to support real-world decision-making such as response to theseevents and inland water conservation, protection of drinking water quality for public and environmental health, and habitat conservation. The work presented here outlines the conducted mission and architecture study and the initiation of science performance trades (signal sensitivity; spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution; and atmospheric effects) informing the design of the SBG segment of the ESO providing the most value to myriad science and applications as possible. Science and applications synergies and algorithms with the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) and the Geostationary Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer (GLIMR) is opportunistic for advancing aquatics research and applications.

THE FUTURE↗
NASA NTRS1975

A New Current Drogue System for Remotely Monitoring Shelf Current Circulation

The author has identified the following significant results. An ocean current drogue system was developed for use in the coastal zone and continental shelf region. The method features an extremely simple radiosonde device whose position is determined from a pair of cooperative shore stations. These ocean sondes follow the tradition of the atmospheric radiosonde in that they are economically disposable at the end of their mission. The system was successfully tested in a number of environments, including the North Atlantic in two winter coastal storms. Tracking to the edge of the Baltimore and Wilmington trenches was achieved. The drogue system is being used in conjunction with remote sensing aircraft and satellites to chart current circulation at ocean waste disposal sites 40 miles off Delaware's coast.

Klemas, V.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Lack of agreement over the use and ownership of the internationally shared resources (such as air space, outer space and the oceans) leading to international conflict

The lack of adequate institutional mechanisms to regulate, monitor and govern the use of commonly owned world resources appears to be politically destabilizing and subject to socioeconomic pressures of overpopulation, food shortages, cartelism, terrorism, and wealth distribution to developing countries. The capacity and propensity to wage war and its potential consequences are elaborated. It is shown that technology is one of the dominant factors affecting the exploration and management of commonly shared resources.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1981

Application of aerial photography to the study of small scale upper ocean phenomena

The industrial waste dumped 180 n. miles south of Galveston was monitored in July 1977 by water sampling, hydrographic measurements, acoustic tracking on board two vessels, and by aerial photography. The plume of the waste diffused vertically and horizontally. Photodensitometry of aerial photos of the plume showed lateral dispersion of the plume in agreement with two other methods: acoustic tracking of the waste suspensoid and transmissometer sampling. In addition, the method showed small scale features like the lateral and longitudinal variations in the photodensity, indicating the waste concentration. This waste concentration showed periodic changes in its axial distance, with the spectral peak at about 160 m wave length. It shows a sharp increase at the windward edge of the plume as do the acoustic records. This phenomenon is explained in terms of the shearing current near the surface together with vertical diffusion. The periodic change along the axis is explained in terms of the Langmuir circulation and in terms of internal ship waves.

Ichiye, T.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Aquarius and the Aquarius/SAC-D Mission

Aquarius is a combination L-band radiometer and scatterometer designed to map the salinity field at the ocean surface from space. It will be flown on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission, a partnership between the USA space agency (NASA) and Argentine space agency (CONAE). The mission is composed of two parts: (a) The Aquarius instrument being developed as part of NASA.s Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program; and (b) SAC-D the fourth spacecraft service platform in the CONAE Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC) program. The primary focus of the mission is to monitor the seasonal and interannual variations of the salinity field in the open ocean. The mission also meets the needs of the Argentine space program for monitoring the environment and for hazard detection and includes several instruments related to these goals.

LeVine, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Aquarius Whole Range Calibration: Celestial Sky, Ocean, and Land Targets

Aquarius is a spaceborne instrument that uses L-band radiometers to monitor sea surface salinity globally. Other applications of its data over land and the cryosphere are being developed. Combining its measurements with existing and upcoming L-band sensors will allow for long term studies. For that purpose, the radiometers calibration is critical. Aquarius measurements are currently calibrated over the oceans. They have been found too cold at the low end (celestial sky) of the brightness temperature scale, and too warm at the warm end (land and ice). We assess the impact of the antenna pattern model on the biases and propose a correction. We re-calibrate Aquarius measurements using the corrected antenna pattern and measurements over the Sky and oceans. The performances of the new calibration are evaluated using measurements over well instrument land sites.

L-band↗
NASA NTRS2000

Recent Results From The Nasa Earth Science Terra Mission and Future Possibilities

The NASA Earth Sciences Enterprise has made some remarkable strides in recent times in using developing, implementing, and utilizing spaceborne observations to better understand how the Earth works as a coupled, interactive system of the land, ocean, and atmosphere. Notable examples include the Upper Atmosphere Research (UARS) Satellite, the Topology Ocean Experiment (TOPEX) mission, Landsat-7, SeaWiFS, the Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission (TRMM), Quickscatt, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), and, quite recently, the Terra'/Earth Observing System-1 mission. The Terra mission, for example, represents a major step forward in providing sensors that offer considerable advantages and progress over heritage instruments. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT), the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emissions and Reflections (ASTER) radiometer, and the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) radiometer are the instruments involved. Early indications in March indicate that each of these instruments are working well and will be augmenting data bases from heritage instruments as well as producing new, unprecedented observations of land, ocean, and atmosphere features. Several missions will follow the Terra mission as the Earth Observing mission systems complete development and go into operation. These missions include EOS PM-1/'Aqua', Icesat, Vegetation Canopy Lidar (VCL), Jason/TOPEX Follow-on, the Chemistry mission, etc. As the Earth Observing systems completes its first phase in about 2004 a wealth of data enabling better understanding of the Earth and the management of its resources will have been provided. Considerable thought is beginning to be placed on what advances in technology can be implemented that will enable further advances in the early part of the 21st century; e.g., in the time from of 2020. Concepts such as 'constellation' missions or 'formation flying' with 'sensorcraft', 'sensor webs', autonomous operation of satellites, more on-board processing and delivery to individual users, data synthesis and analysis in real-time, etc. are being considered. With the data now having been and soon to be received plus the very real possibilities of further advances in use and applicability of data the potential for very significant gains in knowledge for Earth studies and applications looks quite high in the next decade or two.

Salomonson, Vincent V.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Sensor to User - NASA/EOS Data for Coastal Zone Management Applications Developed from Integrated Analyses: Verification, Validation and Benchmark Report

The NASA Applied Sciences Program seeks to transfer NASA data, models, and knowledge into the hands of end-users by forming links with partner agencies and associated decision support tools (DSTs). Through the NASA REASoN (Research, Education and Applications Solutions Network) Cooperative Agreement, the Oceanography Division of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRLSSC) is developing new products through the integration of data from NASA Earth-Sun System assets with coastal ocean forecast models and other available data to enhance coastal management in the Gulf of Mexico. The recipient federal agency for this research effort is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The contents of this report detail the effort to further the goals of the NASA Applied Sciences Program by demonstrating the use of NASA satellite products combined with data-assimilating ocean models to provide near real-time information to maritime users and coastal managers of the Gulf of Mexico. This effort provides new and improved capabilities for monitoring, assessing, and predicting the coastal environment. Coastal managers can exploit these capabilities through enhanced DSTs at federal, state and local agencies. The project addresses three major issues facing coastal managers: 1) Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs); 2) hypoxia; and 3) freshwater fluxes to the coastal ocean. A suite of ocean products capable of describing Ocean Weather is assembled on a daily basis as the foundation for this semi-operational multiyear effort. This continuous realtime capability brings decision makers a new ability to monitor both normal and anomalous coastal ocean conditions with a steady flow of satellite and ocean model conditions. Furthermore, as the baseline data sets are used more extensively and the customer list increased, customer feedback is obtained and additional customized products are developed and provided to decision makers. Continual customer feedback and response with new improved products are required between the researcher and customer. This document details the methods by which these coastal ocean products are produced including the data flow, distribution, and verification. Product applications and the degree to which these products are used successfully within NOAA and coordinated with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) is benchmarked.

Hall, Callie↗
NASA NTRS1994

The integrated sounding system: Description and preliminary observations from TOGA COARE

An Integrated Sounding System (ISS) that combines state-of-the-art remote and in situ sensors into a single transportable facility has been developed jointly by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Aeronomy Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA/AL). The instrumentation for each ISS includes a 915-MHz wind profiler, a Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS), an Omega-based NAVAID sounding system, and an enhanced surface meteorological station. The general philosophy behind the ISS is that the integration of various measurement systems overcomes each system's respective limitations while taking advantage of its positive attributes. The individual observing systems within the ISS provide high-level data products to a central workstation that manages and integrates these measurements. The ISS software package performs a wide range of functions: real-time data acquisition, database support, and graphical displays; data archival and communications; and operational and posttime analysis. The first deployment of the ISS consists of six sites in the western tropical Pacific--four land-based deployments and two ship-based deployments. The sites serve the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) of the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program and TOGA's enhanced atmospheric monitoring effort. Examples of ISS data taken during this deployment are shown in order to demonstrate the capabilities of this new sounding system and to demonstrate the performance of these in situ and remote sensing instruments in a moist tropical environment. In particular, a strong convective outflow with a pronounced impact of the atmospheric boundary layer and heat fluxes from the ocean surface was examined with a shipboard ISS. If these strong outflows commonly occur, they may prove to be an important component of the surface energy budget of the western tropical Pacific.

Parsons, David↗
NASA NTRS2014

New Approach to Monitor Transboundary Particulate Pollution over Northeast Asia

A new approach to more accurately monitor and evaluate transboundary particulate matter (PM) pollution is introduced based on aerosol optical products from Korea's Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI). The area studied is Northeast Asia (including eastern parts of China, the Korean peninsula and Japan), where GOCI has been monitoring since June 2010. The hourly multi-spectral aerosol optical data that were retrieved from GOCI sensor onboard geostationary satellite COMS (Communication, Ocean, and Meteorology Satellite) through the Yonsei aerosol retrieval algorithm were first presented and used in this study. The GOCI-retrieved aerosol optical data are integrated with estimated aerosol distributions from US EPA Models-3/CMAQ (Community Multi-scale Air Quality) v4.5.1 model simulations via data assimilation technique, thereby making the aerosol data spatially continuous and available even for cloud contamination cells. The assimilated aerosol optical data are utilized to provide quantitative estimates of transboundary PM pollution from China to the Korean peninsula and Japan. For the period of 1 April to 31 May, 2011 this analysis yields estimates that AOD as a proxy for PM2.5 or PM10 during long-range transport events increased by 117-265% compared to background average AOD (aerosol optical depth) at the four AERONET sites in Korea, and average AOD increases of 121% were found when averaged over the entire Korean peninsula. This paper demonstrates that the use of multi-spectral AOD retrievals from geostationary satellites can improve estimates of transboundary PM pollution. Such data will become more widely available later this decade when new sensors such as the GEMS (Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer) and GOCI-2 are scheduled to be launched.

Data Assimilation↗
NASA NTRS2018

Enabling Reanalysis Research Using the Collaborative Reanalysis Technical Environment (CREATE)

Modern atmospheric and oceanic reanalysis are valuable assets for atmospheric research and climate monitoring (Kalnay et al. 1996). Now that most reanalysis records are more than 36 years long, the data have become more useful for climate modeling research (Dole et al. 2008). For investigators who need to use multiple reanalysis, a common challenge is that the data are distributed at various sites and often in different formats. The NASA CREATE system provides access to the data in one location in a standard format (one variable per file and standardized metadata in the CMIP5 style; see Table 1 for a list of the key acronyms used in this paper). The collection includes monthly and 6-hourly data from the seven major atmospheric reanalysis: CFSR (Saha et al. 2010), ERA-Interim (Dee et al. 2011), MERRA (Rienecker et al. 2011), MERRA-2 (Gelaro et al. 2017), JRA-25 (Onogi et al. 2007), JRA-55 (Kobayashi et al. 2014), and 20CRv2c (Compo et al. 2011). An ancillary portion of CREATE includes eight ocean reanalysis: NCEP CFSR, CMCC C-GLORSv5 (Storto et al. 2016), ECMWF ORAS4 (Balmaseda et al.2013), ECMWF ORAP5.0 (Zuo et al. 2015), University of Hamburg GECCO2 (Köhl 2015), GFDL ECDA (Zhang et al. 2007), NOAA GODAS (Saha et al. 2010), and MOVE/MRI.COM-G2i (Toyoda et al. 2016). The ocean state variables were similarly reformatted but were then also regridded onto a common horizontal and vertical grid. This approach facilitated the calculation of an ensemble average and spread that is also published alongside the native gridded data. A third reanalysis product is a global hourly 0.5° land surface air temperature dataset constructed by Wang and Zeng (2013). All three datasets are distributed through the ESGF in a format consistent with the CMIP style described by Cinquini et al. (2014).

Potter, Gerald L.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Revisiting Short-Wave-Infrared (SWIR) Bands for Atmospheric Correction in Coastal Waters

The shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands on the existing Earth Observing missions like MODIS have been designed to meet land and atmospheric science requirements. The future geostationary and polar-orbiting ocean color missions, however, require highly sensitive SWIR bands (greater than 1550nm) to allow for a precise removal of aerosol contributions. This will allow for reasonable retrievals of the remote sensing reflectance (R(sub rs)) using standard NASA atmospheric corrections over turbid coastal waters. Design, fabrication, and maintaining high-performance SWIR bands at very low signal levels bear significant costs on dedicated ocean color missions. This study aims at providing a full analysis of the utility of alternative SWIR bands within the 1600nm atmospheric window if the bands within the 2200nm window were to be excluded due to engineering/cost constraints. Following a series of sensitivity analyses for various spectral band configurations as a function of water vapor amount, we chose spectral bands centered at 1565 and 1675nm as suitable alternative bands within the 1600nm window for a future geostationary imager. The sensitivity of this band combination to different aerosol conditions, calibration uncertainties, and extreme water turbidity were studied and compared with that of all band combinations available on existing polar-orbiting missions. The combination of the alternative channels was shown to be as sensitive to test aerosol models as existing near-infrared (NIR) band combinations (e.g., 748 and 869nm) over clear open ocean waters. It was further demonstrated that while in extremely turbid waters the 1565/1675 band pair yields R(sub rs) retrievals as good as those derived from all other existing SWIR band pairs (greater than 1550nm), their total calibration uncertainties must be less than 1% to meet current science requirements for ocean color retrievals (i.e., delta R(sub rs) (443) less than 5%). We further show that the aerosol removal using the NIR and SWIR bands (available on the existing polar-orbiting missions) can be very sensitive to calibration uncertainties. This requires the need for monitoring the calibration of these bands to ensure consistent multi-mission ocean color products in coastal/inland waters.

atmospheric correction↗
NASA NTRS2020

Current and Future Remote Sensing of Harmful Algal Blooms in the Chesapeake Bay to Support the Shellfish Industry

Harmful algal bloom (HAB) species in the Chesapeake Bay can negatively impact fish, shellfish, and human health via the production of toxins and the degradation of water quality. Due to the deleterious effects of HAB species on economically and environmentally important resources, such as oyster reef systems, Bay area resource managers are seeking ways to monitor HABs and water quality at large spatial and fine temporal scales. The use of satellite ocean color imagery has proven to be a beneficial tool for resource management in other locations around the world where high-biomass, nearly monospecific HABs occur. However, remotely monitoring HABs in the Chesapeake Bay is complicated by the presence of multiple, often co-occurring, species and optically-complex waters. Here we present a summary of common marine and estuarine HAB species found in the Chesapeake Bay, Alexandrium monilatum, Karlodinium veneficum, Margalefidinium polykrikoides, and Prorocentrum minimum, that have been detected from space using multispectral data products from the Ocean and Land Color Imager (OLCI) sensor on the Sentinel-3 satellites and identified based on historic phytoplankton data, in situ sampling, and ecological associations. We review how future hyperspectral instruments will improve discrimination of potentially harmful species from other phytoplankton communities and present a framework in which satellite data products could aid Chesapeake Bay resource managers with monitoring water quality and protecting shellfish resources.

Chesapeake Bay, satellite remote sensing, harmful ↗