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At least 433 records · Page 24

The magnetic field investigation on the Ulysses mission - Instrumentation and preliminary scientific results

A fundamental feature of the heliosphere is the three-dimensional structure of the interplanetary magnetic field. The magnetic field investigation on Ulysses, the first space probe to explore the out-of-ecliptic and polar heliosphere, aims at determining the large-scale features and gradients of the field, as well as the heliolatitude dependence of interplanetary phenomena so far only observed near the ecliptic plane. The Ulysses magnetometer uses two sensors, one a Vector Helium Magnetometer, the other a Fluxgate Magnetometer. Onboard data processing yields measurements of the magnetic field vector with a time resolution up to 2 vectors/second and a sensitivity of about 10 pT. Since the switch-on of the instrument in flight on 25 October 1990, a steady stream of observations has been made, indicating that at this phase of the solar cycle the field is generally disturbed: several shock waves and a large number of discontinuities have been observed, as well as several periods with apparently intense wave activity. The paper gives a brief summary of the scientific objectives of the investigation, followed by a detailed description of the instrument and its characteristics. Examples of wave bursts, interplanetary shocks and crossings of the heliospheric current sheet are given to illustrate the observations made with the instrument.

Balogh, A.↗

The hydrogen coma of Comet P/Halley observed in Lyman-alpha using sounding rockets

Hydrogen Lyman-alpha (121.6 nm) images of Comet P/Halley were obtained using sounding rockets launched from White Sands Missile Range on 24.5 February and 13.5 March 1986. The second rocket was launched 13 hours before the fly-by of the Giotto spacecraft. An electrographic camera on both flights provided Lyman-alpha images covering a 20 field of view with 3 arcmin resolution. The data from both flights have been compared with a time-dependent model of hydrogen kinetics. To match the measured isophote contours, hydrogen sources with velocity components of 8 km/s and 20 km/s (from OH and H2O respectively) as well as a low velocity component (about 2 km/s) are required. This low velocity component is thought to result from thermalization of fast hydrogen atoms within the collision zone, providing an important diagnostic of temperature and density near the nucleus. Hydrogen production rates of 3.8 x 10 exp 30/s and 1.7 x 10 exp 30/s have been obtained for the two observations.

Mccoy, R. P.↗

GSMS and space views: Advanced spacecraft monitoring tools

The Graphical Spacecraft Monitoring System (GSMS) processes and translates real-time telemetry data from the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) spacecraft into high resolution 2-D and 3-D color displays showing the spacecraft's position relative to the Sun, Earth, Moon, and stars, its predicted orbit path, its attitude, instrument field of views, and other items of interest to the GRO Flight Operations Team (FOT). The GSMS development project is described and the approach being undertaken for implementing Space Views, the next version of GSMS, is presented. Space Views is an object-oriented graphical spacecraft monitoring system that will become a standard component of Goddard Space Flight Center's Transportable Payload Operations Control Center (TPOCC).

Carlton, Douglas↗

Production of a long-term global water vapor and liquid water data set using ultra-fast methods to assimilate multi-satellite and radiosonde observations

There is a well-documented requirement for a comprehensive and accurate global moisture data set to assist many important studies in atmospheric science. Currently, atmospheric water vapor measurements are made from a variety of sources including radiosondes, aircraft and surface observations, and in recent years, by various satellite instruments. Creating a global data set from a single measuring system produces results that are useful and accurate only in specific situations and/or areas. Therefore, an accurate global moisture data set has been derived from a combination of these measurement systems. Under a NASA peer-reviewed contract, STC-METSAT produced two 5-yr (1988-1992) global data sets. One is the total column (integrated) water vapor data set and the other, a global layered water vapor data set using a combination of radiosonde observations, Television and Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Operational Satellite (TOVS), and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) data sets. STC-METSAT also produced a companion, global, integrated liquid water data set. The complete data set (all three products) has been named NVAP, an anachronym for NASA Water Vapor Project. STC-METSAT developed methods to process the data at a daily time scale and 1 x 1 deg spatial resolution.

Vonderhaar, Thomas H.↗

Passive and Active Detection of Clouds: Comparisons between MODIS and GLAS Observations

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), launched on board the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite in January 2003 provides space-borne laser observations of atmospheric layers. GLAS provides opportunities to validate passive observations of the atmosphere for the first time from space with an active optical instrument. Data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer aboard the Aqua satellite is examined along with GLAS observations of cloud layers. In more than three-quarters of the cases, MODIS scene identification from spectral radiances agrees with GLAS. Disagreement between the two platforms is most significant over snow-covered surfaces in the northern hemisphere. Daytime clouds detected by GLAS are also more easily seen in the MODIS data as well, compared to observations made at night. These comparisons illustrate the capabilities of active remote sensing to validate and assess passive measurements, and also to complement them in studies of atmospheric layers.

Mahesh, Ashwin↗

How Does Mediterranean Basin's Atmosphere Become Weak Moisture Source During Negative Phase of NAO: Use of AIRS, AMSR, TOVS, & TRMM Satellite Datasets Over Last Two NAO Cycles to Examine Governing Controls on E-P

The Mediterranean Sea is a noted 'concentration" basin in that it almost continuously exhibits positive evaporation minus precipitation (E - P ) properties -- throughout the four seasons and from one year to the next. Nonetheless, according to the ECMWF Era-40 48-year (1958-2005) climate reanalysis dataset, for various phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) when the pressure gradient between Portugal and Iceland becomes either very relaxed (large negative NAO-Index) or in transition (small positive or negative NAO-Index), the atmospheric moisture source properties of the basin become weak, at times even reversed for several months (i.e., negative E - P). This behavior poses numerous questions concerning how and why these events occur. Moreover, it begs the question of what it would take for the basin to reach its tipping point in which P would exceed E throughout the rainy season (some six months) on an annually persistent basis -- and the sea would possibly transform to a recurring "dilution" basin. This talk investigates these questions by: (1) establishing over a period from 1979 to present, based on detailed analyses of satellite retrieval products from a combination of NASA-AQUA, NOAA-LEO, NASA/JAXA Scatterometer, and NASA-TRMM platforms, plus additional specialized satellite data products and ancillary meteorological datasets, the actual observation-based behavior of E - P, (2) diagnosing the salient physical and meteorological mechanisms that lead to the weaker E - P events during the analysis period, partly based on analyzing surface and upper air data at discrete stations in the western and eastern Mediterranean -- while at the same time evaluating the quality of the ERA-40 data over this same time period, (3) conducting GCM and high-resolution regional modeling experiments to determine if perturbed but realistic meteorological background conditions could maintain Mediterranean as a "dilution" basin through the October to March rainy season on annually recurring basis, and (4) investigating how such conditions might modify important internal and external climatic processes known to be closely related to the dynamical, thermal, and hydrological properties of the basin (e.g., drought frequency over Iberian peninsula, rainfall accumulation within Sahel, alteration of Levantine branch of east-west aligned open thermohaline cell, and modification of warm-salty intermediate flow through Gibraltar straight into North Atlantic).

Smith, Eric A.↗

File Specification for GEOS-5 FP (Forward Processing)

The GEOS-5 FP Atmospheric Data Assimilation System (GEOS-5 ADAS) uses an analysis developed jointly with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), which allows the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) to take advantage of the developments at NCEP and the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA). The GEOS-5 AGCM uses the finite-volume dynamics (Lin, 2004) integrated with various physics packages (e.g, Bacmeister et al., 2006), under the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) including the Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM) (e.g., Koster et al., 2000). The GSI analysis is a three-dimensional variational (3DVar) analysis applied in grid-point space to facilitate the implementation of anisotropic, inhomogeneous covariances (e.g., Wu et al., 2002; Derber et al., 2003). The GSI implementation for GEOS-5 FP incorporates a set of recursive filters that produce approximately Gaussian smoothing kernels and isotropic correlation functions. The GEOS-5 ADAS is documented in Rienecker et al. (2008). More recent updates to the model are presented in Molod et al. (2011). The GEOS-5 system actively assimilates roughly 2 × 10(exp 6) observations for each analysis, including about 7.5 × 10(exp 5) AIRS radiance data. The input stream is roughly twice this volume, but because of the large volume, the data are thinned commensurate with the analysis grid to reduce the computational burden. Data are also rejected from the analysis through quality control procedures designed to detect, for example, the presence of cloud. To minimize the spurious periodic perturbations of the analysis, GEOS-5 FP uses the Incremental Analysis Update (IAU) technique developed by Bloom et al. (1996). More details of this procedure are given in Appendix A. The assimilation is performed at a horizontal resolution of 0.3125-degree longitude by 0.25- degree latitude and at 72 levels, extending to 0.01 hPa. All products are generated at the native resolution of the horizontal grid. The majority of data products are time-averaged, but four instantaneous products are also available. Hourly data intervals are used for two-dimensional products, while 3-hourly intervals are used for three-dimensional products. These may be on the model's native 72-layer vertical grid or at 42 pressure surfaces extending to 0.1 hPa. This document describes the gridded output files produced by the GMAO near real-time operational FP, using the most recent version of the GEOS-5 assimilation system. Additional details about variables listed in this file specification can be found in a separate document, the GEOS-5 File Specification Variable Definition Glossary. Documentation about the current access methods for products described in this document can be found on the GMAO products page: http://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/products/.

GSI↗

File Specification for GEOS-5 FP-IT (Forward Processing for Instrument Teams)

The GEOS-5 FP-IT Atmospheric Data Assimilation System (GEOS-5 ADAS) uses an analysis developed jointly with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), which allows the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) to take advantage of the developments at NCEP and the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA). The GEOS-5 AGCM uses the finite-volume dynamics (Lin, 2004) integrated with various physics packages (e.g, Bacmeister et al., 2006), under the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) including the Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM) (e.g., Koster et al., 2000). The GSI analysis is a three-dimensional variational (3DVar) analysis applied in grid-point space to facilitate the implementation of anisotropic, inhomogeneous covariances (e.g., Wu et al., 2002; Derber et al., 2003). The GSI implementation for GEOS-5 FP-IT incorporates a set of recursive filters that produce approximately Gaussian smoothing kernels and isotropic correlation functions. The GEOS-5 ADAS is documented in Rienecker et al. (2008). More recent updates to the model are presented in Molod et al. (2011). The GEOS-5 system actively assimilates roughly 2 × 10(exp 6) observations for each analysis, including about 7.5 × 10(exp 5) AIRS radiance data. The input stream is roughly twice this volume, but because of the large volume, the data are thinned commensurate with the analysis grid to reduce the computational burden. Data are also rejected from the analysis through quality control procedures designed to detect, for example, the presence of cloud. To minimize the spurious periodic perturbations of the analysis, GEOS-5 FP-IT uses the Incremental Analysis Update (IAU) technique developed by Bloom et al. (1996). More details of this procedure are given in Appendix A. The analysis is performed at a horizontal resolution of 0.625-degree longitude by 0.5-degree latitude and at 72 levels, extending to 0.01 hPa. All products are generated at the native resolution of the horizontal grid. The majority of data products are time-averaged, but four instantaneous products are also available. Hourly data intervals are used for two-dimensional products, while 3-hourly intervals are used for three-dimensional products. These may be on the model's native 72-layer vertical grid or at 42 pressure surfaces extending to 0.1 hPa. This document describes the gridded output files produced by the GMAO near real-time operational GEOS-5 FP-IT processing in support of the EOS instrument teams. Additional details about variables listed in this file specification can be found in a separate document, the GEOS-5 File Specification Variable Definition Glossary.

3D Var↗

Water Balance in the Amazon Basin from a Land Surface Model Ensemble

Despite recent advances in land surfacemodeling and remote sensing, estimates of the global water budget are still fairly uncertain. This study aims to evaluate the water budget of the Amazon basin based on several state-ofthe- art land surface model (LSM) outputs. Water budget variables (terrestrial water storage TWS, evapotranspiration ET, surface runoff R, and base flow B) are evaluated at the basin scale using both remote sensing and in situ data. Meteorological forcings at a 3-hourly time step and 18 spatial resolution were used to run 14 LSMs. Precipitation datasets that have been rescaled to matchmonthly Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) andGlobal Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) datasets and the daily Hydrologie du Bassin de l'Amazone (HYBAM) dataset were used to perform three experiments. The Hydrological Modeling and Analysis Platform (HyMAP) river routing scheme was forced with R and B and simulated discharges are compared against observations at 165 gauges. Simulated ET and TWS are compared against FLUXNET and MOD16A2 evapotranspiration datasets andGravity Recovery and ClimateExperiment (GRACE)TWSestimates in two subcatchments of main tributaries (Madeira and Negro Rivers).At the basin scale, simulated ET ranges from 2.39 to 3.26 mm day(exp -1) and a low spatial correlation between ET and precipitation indicates that evapotranspiration does not depend on water availability over most of the basin. Results also show that other simulated water budget components vary significantly as a function of both the LSM and precipitation dataset, but simulated TWS generally agrees with GRACE estimates at the basin scale. The best water budget simulations resulted from experiments using HYBAM, mostly explained by a denser rainfall gauge network and the rescaling at a finer temporal scale.

GPCP↗

Highly Resolved Mapping of NO 2 Vertical Column Densities From GeoTASO Measurements Over a Megacity and Industrial Area During the KORUS-AQ Campaign

The Korea–United States Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) campaign is a joint study between the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the South Korea National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) to monitor megacity and transboundary air pollution around the Korean Peninsula using airborne and ground-based measurements. Here, tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) slant column density (SCD) measurements were retrieved from Geostationary Trace and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (GeoTASO) L1B data during the KORUS-AQ campaign (2 May to 10 June 2016). The retrieved SCDs were converted to tropospheric vertical column densities using the air mass factor (AMF) obtained from a radiative transfer calculation with trace gas profiles and aerosol property inputs simulated with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and surface reflectance data obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). For the first time, we examine highly resolved (250 m × 250 m resolution) tropospheric NO 2 over the Seoul and Busan metropolitan regions and the industrial region of Anmyeon. We reveal that the maximum NO 2 vertical column densities (VCDs) were 4.94×10 16 and 1.46×10 17 molec. cm −2 at 09:00 and 15:00 LT over Seoul, respectively, 6.86×10 16 and 4.89×10 16 molec. cm −2 in the morning and afternoon over Busan, respectively, and 1.64×10 16 molec. cm −2 over Anmyeon. The VCDs retrieved from the GeoTASO airborne instrument were correlated with those obtained from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) (r=0.48), NASA's Pandora Spectrometer System (r=0.91), and NO 2 mixing ratios obtained from in situ measurements (r=0.07 in the morning, r=0.26 in the afternoon over the Seoul, and r>0.56 over Busan). Based on our results, GeoTASO is useful for identifying NO 2 hotspots and their spatial distribution in highly populated cities and industrial areas.

Gyo-Hwang Choo↗

Precipitation and Latent Heating Distributions from Satellite Passive Microwave Radiometry: Improved Method and Uncertainties - Part 1

A revised Bayesian algorithm for estimating surface rain rate, convective rain proportion, and latent heating profiles from satellite-borne passive microwave radiometer observations over ocean backgrounds is described. The algorithm searches a large database of cloud-radiative model simulations to find cloud profiles that are radiatively consistent with a given set of microwave radiance measurements. The properties of these radiatively consistent profiles are then composited to obtain best estimates of the observed properties. The revised algorithm is supported by an expanded and more physically consistent database of cloud-radiative model simulations. The algorithm also features a better quantification of the convective and nonconvective contributions to total rainfall, a new geographic database, and an improved representation of background radiances in rain-free regions. Bias and random error estimates are derived from applications of the algorithm to synthetic radiance data, based upon a subset of cloud-resolving model simulations, and from the Bayesian formulation itself. Synthetic rain-rate and latent heating estimates exhibit a trend of high (low) bias for low (high) retrieved values. The Bayesian estimates of random error are propagated to represent errors at coarser time and space resolutions, based upon applications of the algorithm to TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) data. Errors in TMI instantaneous rain-rate estimates at 0.5 -resolution range from approximately 50% at 1 mm/h to 20% at 14 mm/h. Errors in collocated spaceborne radar rain-rate estimates are roughly 50%-80% of the TMI errors at this resolution. The estimated algorithm random error in TMI rain rates at monthly, 2.5deg resolution is relatively small (less than 6% at 5 mm day.1) in comparison with the random error resulting from infrequent satellite temporal sampling (8%-35% at the same rain rate). Percentage errors resulting from sampling decrease with increasing rain rate, and sampling errors in latent heating rates follow the same trend. Averaging over 3 months reduces sampling errors in rain rates to 6%-15% at 5 mm day.1, with proportionate reductions in latent heating sampling errors.

Olson, William S.↗

Miniature Optical Communications Transceiver (MOCT)

This project will advance the technology readiness of the Miniature Optical Communications Transceiver (MOCT) from TRL 3 to TRL 4. MOCT consists of a novel software-defined pulse modulator (SDPM),integrated laser system, and avalanche photodetection system, and is designed for optical communications between small spacecraft, including CubeSats, using a pulse position modulation (PPM) scheme. PPM encodes data in the timing of optical pulses with respect to a set of timing windows known as slots. The MOCT design focuses on power-efficiency making it particularly interesting for small satellites. We have demonstrated in the laboratory that this technology can generate shorter than 1 nanosecond-wide 1550 nanometer (nm) optical pulses with better than 50 picosecond (ps) timing accuracy. The timing resolution of this system is roughly a factor of four better than previously flown systems, meaning that it can transmit more bits of data with each optical pulse. Because this technology can both generate and time stamp the arrival of short optical pulses with 50 ps precision, it simultaneously provides power efficient communications and relative ranging between small spacecraft at the centimeter (cm) level.

Small Spacecraft↗

Comparison of solar hard X-ray and UV line and continuum bursts with high time resolution

The close temporal correlation between the ultraviolet line emission from OV (lambda 1371A) and hard X-rays above 30 keV has been previously established from a comparison of data sets from the Ultraviolet Spectrometer and Polarimeter (UVSP) and Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer (HXRBS) instruments on Solar Maximum Mission (SMM). Corresponding features were found to be coincident to within 1 s. Following the SMM repair, similar measurements were made for a flare occurring on May 20, 1984, at 0259 UT, this time with UVSP observing in the continuum near 1600A with much higher time resolution (75ms). The simultaneity of several features in this flare were established to better than 0.1 s, thus reinforcing the close relationship between hard X-ray and UV emission. Following the repair of the UVSP wavelength drive, similar measurements were repeated for a flare occurring at 0148 UT on April 24, 1985. This event was observed simultaneously in the OV line, the UV continuum and in hard X-rays by the same SMM instruments. Temporal comparisons of the three data sets show that, for a few selected features, simultaneity of the hard X-ray and UV emissions does exist. However, cross-correlation analyses of the entire data sets indicate that there is a trend for the fastest OV emission features to be delayed with respect to the hard X-rays by approx. 260 ms. On the other hand the fast OV and UV continuum features are simultaneous to within the instrumental uncertainty. The combined results have established the close relationship of the impulsive phase hard X-ray and UV continuum and OV line emissions. They lend support to the argument that both the hard X-ray and UV radiations originate low in the solar atmosphere.

Orwig, L. E.↗

Remote Sensing from Geostationary Orbit: GEO TROPSAT, A New Concept for Atmospheric Remote Sensing

The Geostationary Tropospheric Pollution Satellite (GEO TROPSAT) mission is a new approach to measuring the critical constituents of tropospheric ozone chemistry: ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and aerosols. The GEO TROPSAT mission comprises a constellation of three instruments flying as secondary payloads on geostationary communications satellites around the world. This proposed approach can significantly reduce the cost of getting a science payload to geostationary orbit and also generates revenue for the satellite owners. The geostationary vantage point enables simultaneous high temporal and spatial resolution measurement of tropospheric trace gases, leading to greatly improved atmospheric ozone chemistry knowledge. The science data processing, conducted as a research (not operational) activity, will provide atmospheric trace gas data many times per day over the same region at better than 25 km ground footprint. The high temporal resolution identifies short time scale processes, diurnal variations, seasonal trends, and interannual variation.

Little, Alan D.↗

Simulation and analysis of support hardware for multiple instruction rollback

Recently, a compiler-assisted approach to multiple instruction retry was developed. In this scheme, a read buffer of size 2N, where N represents the maximum instruction rollback distance, is used to resolve one type of data hazard. This hardware support helps to reduce code growth, compilation time, and some of the performance impacts associated with hazard resolution. The 2N read buffer size requirement of the compiler-assisted approach is worst case, assuring data redundancy for all data required but also providing some unnecessary redundancy. By adding extra bits in the operand field for source 1 and source 2 it becomes possible to design the read buffer to save only those values required, thus reducing the read buffer size requirement. This study measures the effect on performance of a DECstation 3100 running 10 application programs using 6 read buffer configurations at varying read buffer sizes.

Alewine, Neil J.↗

Portable high-speed photometry systems for observing occultations

Because of their high spatial resolution, stellar occultations have proven extremely effective for learning about planetary upper atmospheres, asteroids, and planetary rings. The ring orbit studies for Uranus have been particularly fruitful because researchers have been able, through occultations, to obtain data of high spatial resolution (approximately 2 km) at the rate of 1 to 2 times per year. THe occultation program at M.I.T. involves: (1) identifying the scientific questions that can be answered by occultation events, (2) predicting the zone of visibilty for the useful events, (3) maintaining and improving a set of portable high-speed photometric systems, (4) obtaining the observations, and (5) reducing the data and interpreting the results. Accomplishments during the past year include: (1) a comprehensive analysis of stellar occultation data to obtain an oblateness for Uranus at the 10 ubar level of 0.0193 plus or minus 0.0010, a value consistent with the planet being in hydrostatic equilibrium and undergoing rotation at the period found by Voyger; (2) establishing an upper limit of 0.004 km on the equivalent depth of 1986U1R from 2.2 micrometer occultation data; (3) the discovery of low-amplitude waves on the edges of the epsilon ring of Uranus; and (4) the acquisition of several hundred charge coupled device strip scans of 6 weeks at Mauna Kea for the purpose of generating a prediction for the stellar occultation of Pluto.

Elliot, James L.↗

Development of a Real-Time Pulse Processing Algorithm for TES-Based X-Ray Microcalorimeters

We report here a real-time pulse processing algorithm for superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) based x-ray microcalorimeters. TES-based. microca1orimeters offer ultra-high energy resolutions, but the small volume of each pixel requires that large arrays of identical microcalorimeter pixe1s be built to achieve sufficient detection efficiency. That in turn requires as much pulse processing as possible must be performed at the front end of readout electronics to avoid transferring large amounts of data to a host computer for post-processing. Therefore, a real-time pulse processing algorithm that not only can be implemented in the readout electronics but also achieve satisfactory energy resolutions is desired. We have developed an algorithm that can be easily implemented. in hardware. We then tested the algorithm offline using several data sets acquired with an 8 x 8 Goddard TES x-ray calorimeter array and 2x16 NIST time-division SQUID multiplexer. We obtained an average energy resolution of close to 3.0 eV at 6 keV for the multiplexed pixels while preserving over 99% of the events in the data sets.

Tan, Hui↗

Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool

The Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool (PPET) is a set of algorithms implemented in MATLAB that estimates key vegetative phenological parameters. For a given year, the PPET software package takes in temporally processed vegetation index data (3D spatio-temporal arrays) generated by the time series product tool (TSPT) and outputs spatial grids (2D arrays) of vegetation phenological parameters. As a precursor to PPET, the TSPT uses quality information for each pixel of each date to remove bad or suspect data, and then interpolates and digitally fills data voids in the time series to produce a continuous, smoothed vegetation index product. During processing, the TSPT displays NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) time series plots and images from the temporally processed pixels. Both the TSPT and PPET currently use moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite multispectral data as a default, but each software package is modifiable and could be used with any high-temporal-rate remote sensing data collection system that is capable of producing vegetation indices. Raw MODIS data from the Aqua and Terra satellites is processed using the TSPT to generate a filtered time series data product. The PPET then uses the TSPT output to generate phenological parameters for desired locations. PPET output data tiles are mosaicked into a Conterminous United States (CONUS) data layer using ERDAS IMAGINE, or equivalent software package. Mosaics of the vegetation phenology data products are then reprojected to the desired map projection using ERDAS IMAGINE

McKellip, Rodney D.↗