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NASA NTRS1992

Electronic publishing and intelligent information retrieval

Europeans are now taking steps to homogenize policies and standardize procedures in electronic publishing (EP) in astronomy and space sciences. This arose from an open meeting organized in Oct. 1991 at Strasbourg Observatory (France) and another business meeting held late Mar. 1992 with the major publishers and journal editors in astronomy and space sciences. The ultimate aim of EP might be considered as the so-called 'intelligent information retrieval' (IIR) or better named 'advanced information retrieval' (AIR), taking advantage of the fact that the material to be published appears at some stage in a machine-readable form. It is obvious that the combination of desktop and electronic publishing with networking and new structuring of knowledge bases will profoundly reshape not only our ways of publishing, but also our procedures of communicating and retrieving information. It should be noted that a world-wide survey among astronomers and space scientists carried out before the October 1991 colloquium on the various packages and machines used, indicated that TEX-related packages were already in majoritarian use in our community. It has also been stressed at each meeting that the European developments should be carried out in collaboration with what is done in the US (STELLAR project, for instance). American scientists and journal editors actually attended both meetings mentioned above. The paper will offer a review of the status of electronic publishing in astronomy and its possible contribution to advanced information retrieval in this field. It will also report on recent meetings such as the 'Astronomy from Large Databases-2 (ALD-2)' conference dealing with the latest developments in networking, in data, information, and knowledge bases, as well as in the related methodologies.

Heck, A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Requirements for ongoing development of the Pilot Land Data System (PLDS)

The Pilot Land Data System being developed to address the information processing needs of the NASA land sciences research community is presented. The objective of the pilot program is to establish a limited-scale, distributed information system for the archival, location, transfer, integration, and manipulation of data across multiple sites connected by a high-speed communications network. Functional capabilities required for users to create, access, and maintain local and distributed data bases containing various types of data in support of land sciences research are summarized.

Wharton, S. W.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Monthly mean global satellite data sets available in CCM history tape format

Satellite data for climate monitoring have become increasingly important over the past decade, especially with increasing concern for inadvertent antropogenic climate change. Although most satellite based data are of short record, satellites can provide the global coverage that traditional meteorological observations network lack. In addition, satellite data are invaluable for the validation of climate models, and they are useful for many diagnostic studies. Herein, several satellite data sets were processed and transposed into 'history tape' format for use with the Community Climate Model (CCM) modular processor. Only a few of the most widely used and best documented data sets were selected at this point, although future work will expand the number of data sets examined as well as update the archived data sets. An attempt was made to include data of longer record and only monthly averaged data were processed. For studies using satellite data over an extended period, it is important to recognize the impact of changes in instrumentation, drift in instrument calibration, errors introduced by retrieval algorithms and other sources of errors such as those resulting from insufficient space and/or time sampling.

Hurrell, James W.↗

NASA NTRS1992

The role of the World Data Centers in handling ocean climate data

The World Data Center System, set up for the International Geophysical Year in 1957, is an international network of data centers that links data contributors to data users in the geosciences. It includes means for the synthesis, analysis, and preparation of data products. It was set up in response to the needs of the international scientific community, and is still overseen by non-governmental scientific organizations. Because it is freely available to researchers in all countries, the World Data Center System has a special role to play in support of ocean climate research and monitoring programs. The World Data Centers face a number of challenges today. Apathy is probably the greatest, since many scientists take the system for granted. There is need to improve access and exploit new technology. The system must establish new links to assure continuity in a world with political changes. The multidisciplinary needs of global change research will demand capabilities for data and information management that go beyond the traditional emphasis on geophysics.

Webster, Ferris↗

NASA NTRS2017

Atmospheric Correction for Hyperspectral Ocean Color Retrieval with Application to the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO)

The classical multi-spectral Atmospheric Correction (AC) algorithm is inadequate for the new generation of spaceborne hyperspectral sensors such as NASA's first hyperspectral Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) onboard the anticipated Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite mission. The AC process must estimate and remove the atmospheric path radiance contribution due to the Rayleigh scattering by air molecules and scattering by aerosols from the measured top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance, compensate for the absorption by atmospheric gases, and correct for reflection and refraction of the air-sea interface. In this work, we present and evaluate an improved AC for hyperspectral sensors developed within NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Data Analysis System software package (SeaDAS). The improvement is based on combining the classical AC approach of multi-spectral capabilities to correct for the atmospheric path radiance, extended to hyperspectral, with a gas correction algorithm to compensate for absorbing gases in the atmosphere, including water vapor. The SeaDAS-hyperspectral version is capable of operationally processing the AC of any hyperspectral airborne or spaceborne sensor. The new algorithm development was evaluated and assessed using the Hyperspectral Imager for Coastal Ocean (HICO) scenes collected at the Marine Optical BuoY (MOBY) site, and other SeaWiFS Bio-optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS) and AERosol Robotic NETwork - Ocean Color (AERONET-OC) coastal sites. A hyperspectral vicarious calibration was applied to HICO, showing the validity and consistency of HICO's ocean color products. The hyperspectral AC capability is currently available in SeaDAS to the scientific community at https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

Ocean Color↗

NASA NTRS2018

A Proposed Approach to Studying Urban Air Mobility Missions Including an Initial Exploration of Mission Requirements

Urban air mobility (UAM) is an emerging aviation market that seeks to revolutionize mobility around metropolitan areas via a safe, efficient, and accessible on-demand air transportation system for passengers and cargo. In this paper we describe our three-pronged approach to studying passenger-carrying UAM missions, and we detail the first phase of this approach, which consists of defining an initial set of requirements for multiple exemplar UAM missions. The development of these mission requirements provides justifiable assumptions that feed the second phase of the approach, which is performing aircraft conceptual design studies. Vehicle design is not included in this paper, but the work described here will define sizing missions for follow-on design and sizing studies. The aircraft that emerge from the design studies can then feed the third phase of our UAM analysis approach, which involves simulating an entire UAM network over a metropolitan area to study transportation-system level characteristics. Iteration between each of the three phases of the UAM analysis approach will be necessary to propagate lessons learned as our research progresses and as the UAM community coalesces on a more unified vision for UAM. Therefore, we anticipate that the mission requirements set forth in this paper will be modified over time as the urban air mobility concept matures.

Patterson, Michael D.↗

NASA NTRS2022

Embedding Climate Change in Urban Planning and Urban Design in New York City

Confronting the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing world threatened by climate change requires expanding the traditional influence and capabilities of urban planning and urban design, integrating climate science, natural systems and compact urban form to configure dynamic, desirable and healthy communities. Cost-effective planning and design measures that help mitigate emissions while bringing adaptive benefits should be prioritized. The chapter draws from the publication Climate Change and Cities (Cambridge University Press 2018) by the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN). The two-phase New York City case study by the Urban Design Climate Lab at the New York Institute of Technology and a team of international urban design climate experts illustrates how this emerging expertise can be replicated and implemented worldwide. Its focus on configuring people-centered public spaces that enhance energy efficiency and improve public health draws from four urban climate factors: improving efficiency of urban systems, both in energy and transportation; optimizing the form and layout of urban districts to enhance ventilation; promoting appropriate building materials with high reflectivity; and increasing green and blue urban infrastructure. The chapter highlights a set of tools and methods to measure success.

Resiliency↗

NASA NTRS2010

NASA's International Lunar Network Anchor Nodes and Robotic Lunar Lander Project Update

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have been conducting mission studies and performing risk reduction activities for NASA's robotic lunar lander flight projects. Additional mission studies have been conducted to support other objectives of the lunar science and exploration community and extensive risk reduction design and testing has been performed to advance the design of the lander system and reduce development risk for flight projects.

Cohen, Barbara A.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Communal Sensor Network for Adaptive Noise Reduction in Aircraft Engine Nacelles

Emergent behavior, a subject of much research in biology, sociology, and economics, is a foundational element of Complex Systems Science and is apropos in the design of sensor network systems. To demonstrate engineering for emergent behavior, a novel approach in the design of a sensor/actuator network is presented maintaining optimal noise attenuation as an adaptation to changing acoustic conditions. Rather than use the conventional approach where sensors are managed by a central controller, this new paradigm uses a biomimetic model where sensor/actuators cooperate as a community of autonomous organisms, sharing with neighbors to control impedance based on local information. From the combination of all individual actions, an optimal attenuation emerges for the global system.

Jones, Kennie H.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Framework for NASA Space Relay Satellite Services over the Next Decade: Space Relay Partnership and Services Study

The United States National Space Policy provides guidance and directives for U.S. Government agencies to purchase commercial space services and capabilities to the maximum extent practical. In alignment with this guidance, the anticipated initial NASA near-Earth space relay operating capability over the next decade will be comprised of the existing NASA-owned Space Network infrastructure supplemented with commercially-owned and -provided relay satellites and their associated ground stations. NASA awarded contracts to eight study vendors in May 2019 to investigate the feasibility of applying commercial services concepts to the NASA user mission community. The studies, managed by NASA Glenn Research Center, detailed ten study topic areas. NASA completed the analysis and synthesis of these eight industry studies and other relevant information. The responses from the study vendors indicated a strong interest in providing commercial services to NASA missions, and included a wide range of proposed architectures and demonstration ideas. Overall, the responses indicated that a mature and healthy competitive environment exists across a broad spectrum of industry to deliver high-rate space relay services in the next three to five years. This paper will present an overview of the study, analysis and synthesis processes along with common themes and conclusions, and provide next steps and recommendations. The results of this study serve as a foundation for ongoing efforts to acquire interoperable space relay services for NASA missions from multiple commercial service providers.

Eric Knoblock↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Framework for NASA Space Relay Satellite Services over the Next Decade: Space Relay Partnership and Services Study

Eric Knoblock↗

NASA NTRS2020

Searching for Hyperspectral Optical Proxies to Aid Chesapeake Bay Resource Managers in the Detection of Poor Water Quality

Shellfish aquaculture is a growing industry in the Chesapeake Bay. As population grows near the coast, extreme weather events cause a greater volume of pollutant runoff from impervious surfaces and agricultural lands. Resource managers who monitor shellfish beds need reliable information on a variety of water quality indicators at higher frequency than is possible through field monitoring programs and at a higher level of detail than current satellite products can provide. Although many factors causing degraded water quality that can impact human health are not currently discernable by traditional multispectral techniques, hyperspectral imagery offers a new opportunity to detect phytoplankton communities associated with harmful algal blooms and biotoxin production. Together with resource managers in their routine monitoring of sites around the bay from small boats, we have been exploring remotely sensed optical proxies for the detection of harmful algal blooms and sewage. Early warning by remote sensing could guide sampling and improve the efficiency of shellfish bed closures, ultimately improving health outcomes for humans and animals. An extensive network of routine sampling by Chesapeake Bay Program managers makes this is an ideal location to develop and test future satellite data products to support management decisions. Next generation hyperspectral measurements from the future Plankton Aerosol Cloud ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission at nearly daily frequency, combined with the potential of higher spatial resolution from the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) observing system recommended in the recent Decadal Survey, along with high frequency observations from the newly selected Geostationary Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer (GLIMR) Earth Venture Instrument make this a critical time for defining the needs of the aquaculture and resource management community to save lives, time, and money.

Schollaert Uz, Stephanie↗

NASA NTRS1992

Earth science information: Planning for the integration and use of global change information

The Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) was founded in 1989 as a non-profit corporation dedicated to facilitating access to, use and understanding of global change information worldwide. The Consortium was created to cooperate and coordinate with organizations and researchers throughout the global change community to further access the most advanced technology, the latest scientific research, and the best information available for critical environmental decision making. CIESIN study efforts are guided by Congressional mandates to 'convene key present and potential users to assess the need for investment in integration of earth science information,' to 'outline the desirable pattern of interaction with the scientific and policy community,' and to 'develop recommendations and draft plans to achieve the appropriate level of effort in the use of earth science data for research and public policy purposes.' In addition, CIESIN is tasked by NASA to develop a data center that would extend the benefits of Earth Observing System (EOS) to the users of global change information related to human dimensions issues. For FY 1991, CIESIN focused on two main objectives. The first addressed the identification of information needs of global change research and non-research user groups worldwide. The second focused on an evaluation of the most efficient mechanisms for making this information available in usable forms.

Lousma, Jack R.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Integrating Ideas for International Data Collaborations Through The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) International Directory Network (IDN)

The capabilities of the International Directory Network's (IDN) version MD9.5, along with a new version of the metadata authoring tool, "docBUILDER", will be presented during the Technology and Services Subgroup session of the Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS). Feedback provided through the international community has proven instrumental in positively influencing the direction of the IDN s development. The international community was instrumental in encouraging support for using the IS0 international character set that is now available through the directory. Supporting metadata descriptions in additional languages encourages extended use of the IDN. Temporal and spatial attributes often prove pivotal in the search for data. Prior to the new software release, the IDN s geospatial and temporal searches suffered from browser incompatibilities and often resulted in unreliable performance for users attempting to initiate a spatial search using a map based on aging Java applet technology. The IDN now offers an integrated Google map and date search that replaces that technology. In addition, one of the most defining characteristics in the search for data relates to the temporal and spatial resolution of the data. The ability to refine the search for data sets meeting defined resolution requirements is now possible. Data set authors are encouraged to indicate the precise resolution values for their data sets and subsequently bin these into one of the pre-selected resolution ranges. New metadata authoring tools have been well received. In response to requests for a standalone metadata authoring tool, a new shareable software package called "docBUILDER solo" will soon be released to the public. This tool permits researchers to document their data during experiments and observational periods in the field. interoperability has been enhanced through the use of the Open Archives Initiative s (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (PMH). Harvesting of XML content through OAI-MPH has been successfully tested with several organizations. The protocol appears to be a prime candidate for sharing metadata throughout the international community. Data services for visualizing and analyzing data have become valuable assets in facilitating the use of data. Data providers are offering many of their data-related services through the directory. The IDN plans to develop a service-based architecture to further promote the use of web services. During the IDN Task Team session, ideas for further enhancements will be discussed.

Olsen, Lola M.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Strategies for Information Retrieval and Virtual Teaming to Mitigate Risk on NASA's Missions

Following the loss of NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, it was determined that problems in the agency's organization created an environment that led to the accident. One component of the proposed solution resulted in the formation of the NASA Engineering Network (NEN), a suite of information retrieval and knowledge sharing tools. This paper describes the implementation of this set of search, portal, content management, and semantic technologies, including a unique meta search capability for data from distributed engineering resources. NEN's communities of practice are formed along engineering disciplines where users leverage their knowledge and best practices to collaborate and take informal learning back to their personal jobs and embed it into the procedures of the agency. These results offer insight into using traditional engineering disciplines for virtual teaming and problem solving.

communities of practices↗

NASA NTRS2011

AIRES and RAPEAS on the Move

We report on this presentation an update on two closely related projects with relevance to LISN: AIRES (Argentina Ionospheric Radar Experiment Station) and RAPEAS (Spanish acronym for Argentina Network for Upper Atmosphere Research). AIRES' main goal is the deployment and long term operation of a face of the Afvance Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR) close to La Plata city, in Argentina, where it is possible to perform ionospheric measurements of the geomagnetic conjugate point of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The initial construction of 16 AMISR panels and the infrastructure for the their deployment in Argentina have been initiated in March 2011, in the framework of a memorandum of understanding agreed between the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Argentina National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). In addition, in August 2011, CONICET created RAPEAS, which main objective is to maximize the benefits of AIRES as well as other networks and instruments in Argentina dedicated to Upper Atmosphere research. Over forty scientist and engineers from fifteen scientific and academic institutions are currently part of RAPE AS. Both, RAPEAS and AIRES will create a great synergy within the Argentina Upper Atmosphere community and will open new opportunities for international collaborations among which, the LISN project should play a relevant role.

Janches, Diego↗

NASA NTRS2016

Human Flight to Lunar and Beyond - Re-Learning Operations Paradigms

For the first time since the Apollo era, NASA is planning on sending astronauts on flights beyond LEO. The Human Space Flight (HSF) program started with a successful initial flight in Earth orbit, in December 2014. The program will continue with two Exploration Missions (EM): EM-1 will be unmanned and EM-2, carrying astronauts, will follow. NASA established a multi-center team to address the communications, and related tacking/navigation needs. This paper will focus on the lessons learned by the team designing the architecture and operations for the missions. Many of these Beyond Earth Orbit lessons had to be re-learned, as the HSF program has operated for many years in Earth orbit. Unlike the Apollo missions that were largely tracked by a dedicated ground network, the HSF planned missions will be tracked (at distances beyond GEO) by the DSN, a network that mostly serves robotic missions. There have been surprising challenges to the DSN as unique modern human spaceflight needs stretch the experience base beyond that of tracking robotic missions in deep space. Close interaction between the DSN and the HSF community to understand the unique needs (e.g. 2-way voice) resulted in a Concept of Operations (ConOps) that leverages both the deep space robotic and the Human LEO experiences. Several examples will be used to highlight the unique challenges the team faced in establishing the communications and tracking capabilities for HSF missions beyond Earth Orbit, including: Navigation. At LEO, HSF missions can rely on GPS devices for orbit determination. For Lunar-and-beyond HSF missions, techniques such as precision 2-way and 3-way Doppler and ranging, Delta-Difference-of-range, and eventually possibly on-board navigation will be used. At the same time, HSF presents a challenge to navigators, beyond those presented by robotic missions - navigating a dynamic/"noisy" spacecraft. Impact of latency - the delay associated with Round-Trip-Light-Time (RTLT). Imagine trying to have a 2-way discussion (audio or video) with an astronaut, with a 2-3 sec or more delay inserted (for lunar distances) or 20 minutes delay (for Mars distances). Balanced communications link. For robotic missions, there has been a heavy emphasis on higher downlink data rates, e.g. bringing back science data. Higher uplink data rates were of secondary importance, as uplink was used only to send commands (and occasionally small files) to the spacecraft. The ratio of downlink-to-uplink data rates was often 10:1 or more. For HSF, a continuous forward link is established and rates for uplink and downlink are more similar.

Kenny, Edward (Ted)↗

NASA NTRS2019

Overview of the New Version 3 NASA Micro-Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET) Automatic Precipitation Detection Algorithm

Precipitation modifies atmospheric column thermodynamics through the process of evaporation and serves as a proxy for latent heat modulation. For this reason, a correct precipitation parameterization (especially for low-intensity precipitation) within global scale models is crucial. In addition to improving our modeling of the hydrological cycle, this will reduce the associated uncertainty of global climate models in correctly forecasting future scenarios, and will enable the application of mitigation strategies. In this manuscript we present a proof of concept algorithm to automatically detect precipitation from lidar measurements obtained from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Micropulse lidar network (MPLNET). The algorithm, once tested and validated against other remote sensing instruments, will be operationally implemented into the network to deliver a near real time (latency <1.5 h) rain masking variable that will be publicly available on MPLNET website as part of the new Version 3 data products. The methodology, based on an image processing technique, detects only light precipitation events (defined by intensity and duration) such as light rain, drizzle, and virga. During heavy rain events, the lidar signal is completely extinguished after a few meters in the precipitation or it is unusable because of water accumulated on the receiver optics. Results from the algorithm, in addition to filling a gap in light rain, drizzle, and virga detection by radars, are of particular interest for the scientific community as they help to fully characterize the aerosol cycle, from emission to deposition, as precipitation is a crucial meteorological phenomenon accelerating atmospheric aerosol removal through the scavenging effect. Algorithm results will also help the understanding of long term aerosol–cloud interactions, exploiting the multi-year database from several MPLNET permanent observational sites across the globe. The algorithm is also applicable to other lidar and/or ceilometer network infrastructures in the framework of the Global Aerosol Watch (GAW) aerosol lidar observation network (GALION).

Simone Lolli↗