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NASA NTRS2011

Disinfection of Spacecraft Potable Water Systems by Photocatalytic Oxidation Using UV-A Light Emitting Diodes

Ultraviolet (UV) light has long been used in terrestrial water treatment systems for photodisinfection and the removal of organic compounds by several processes including photoadsorption, photolysis, and photocatalytic oxidation/reduction. Despite its effectiveness for water treatment, UV has not been explored for spacecraft applications because of concerns about the safety and reliability of mercury-containing UV lamps. However, recent advances in ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs) have enabled the utilization of nanomaterials that possess the appropriate optical properties for the manufacture of LEDs capable of producing monochromatic light at germicidal wavelengths. This report describes the testing of a commercial-off-the-shelf, high power Nichia UV-A LED (250mW A365nnJ for the excitation of titanium dioxide as a point-of-use (POD) disinfection device in a potable water system. The combination of an immobilized, high surface area photocatalyst with a UV-A LED is promising for potable water system disinfection since toxic chemicals and resupply requirements are reduced. No additional consumables like chemical biocides, absorption columns, or filters are required to disinfect and/or remove potentially toxic disinfectants from the potable water prior to use. Experiments were conducted in a static test stand consisting of a polypropylene microtiter plate containing 3mm glass balls coated with titanium dioxide. Wells filled with water were exposed to ultraviolet light from an actively-cooled UV-A LED positioned above each well and inoculated with six individual challenge microorganisms recovered from the International Space Station (ISS): Burkholderia cepacia, Cupriavidus metallidurans, Methylobacterium fujisawaense, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Sphingomonas paucimobilis and Wautersia basilensis. Exposure to the Nichia UV-A LED with photocatalytic oxidation resulted in a complete (>7-log) reduction of each challenge bacteria population in <180 minutes of contact time. With continued advances in the design and manufacture of UV-A LEDs and semi-conducting photocatalysts, LED activated photochemical process technology promises to extend its application to spacecraft environmental systems.

Birmele, Michele N.↗
NASA NTRS2011

My Summer Internship at Kennedy Space Center

During my summer internship at Kennedy Space Center, I worked on several projects with my mentor Grace Johnson in the Education Programs Office. My primary project was the CubeSat project in which my job was to help mentor Merritt Island High School students in the building of a CubeSat. CubeSats are picosatellites that are used to carry out auxiliary missions; they "piggy back" into orbit on launch vehicles launching primary missions. CubeSats come in the sizes of 1U (10 by 10 by 10 cm) 2U (1Ux2) and 3U (1Ux3). The Cube Sats are housed in a protective deploying device called a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deplored (P-POD). I also participated in a Balloon Workshop with the MIHS students. This was an intense 4-day project in which we constructed a balloon satellite equipped with a camera whose main goal was to obtain video images of the curvature of the earth at high altitudes and relay it back down to our ground station. I also began developing my own science research program for minority serving institutions to be implemented when funding becomes available. In addition to the projects that I completed during my internship, I got the opportunity to go on various tours of the technological facilities here at Kennedy Space Center.

Philpott, Hobert Leon↗
NASA NTRS2004

Inflatable Emergency Atmospheric-Entry Vehicles

In response to the loss of seven astronauts in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, large, lightweight, inflatable atmospheric- entry vehicles have been proposed as means of emergency descent and landing for persons who must abandon a spacecraft that is about to reenter the atmosphere and has been determined to be unable to land safely. Such a vehicle would act as an atmospheric decelerator at supersonic speed in the upper atmosphere, and a smaller, central astronaut pod could then separate at lower altitudes and parachute separately to Earth. Astronaut-rescue systems that have been considered previously have been massive, and the cost of designing them has exceeded the cost of fabrication of a space shuttle. In contrast, an inflatable emergency-landing vehicle according to the proposal would have a mass between 100 and 200 kg, could be stored in a volume of approximately 0.2 to 0.4 cu m, and could likely be designed and built much less expensively. When fully inflated, the escape vehicle behaves as a large balloon parachute, or ballute. Due to very low mass-per-surface area, a large radius, and a large coefficient of drag, ballutes decelerate at much higher altitudes and with much lower heating rates than the space shuttle. Although the space shuttle atmospheric reentry results in surface temperatures of about 1,600 C, ballutes can be designed for maximum temperatures below 600 C. This allows ballutes to be fabricated with lightweight ZYLON(Registered TradeMark) or polybenzoxazole (PBO), or equivalent.

Jones, Jack↗
NASA NTRS2011

Assessment of Current Global and Regional Mean Sea Level Estimates Based on the TOPEX/Poseidon Jason-1 and 2 Climate Data Record

Recent developments in Precise Orbit Determinations (POD) due to in particular to revisions to the terrestrial reference frame realization and the time variable gravity (TVG) continues to provide improvements to the accuracy and stability of the PO directly affecting mean sea level (MSL) estimates. Long-term credible MSL estimates require the development and continued maintenance of a stable reference frame, along with vigilant monitoring of the performance of the independent tracking systems used to calculate the orbits for altimeter spacecrafts. The stringent MSL accuracy requirements of a few tenths of an mm/yr are particularly essential for mass budget closure analysis over the relative short time period of Jason-l &2, GRACE, and Argo coincident measurements. In an effort to adhere to cross mission consistency, we have generated a full time series of experimental orbits (GSFC stdlllO) for TOPEX/Poseidon (TP), Jason-I, and OSTM based on an improved terrestrial reference frame (TRF) realization (ITRF2008), revised static (GGM03s), and time variable gravity field (Eigen6s). In this presentation we assess the impact of the revised precision orbits on inter-mission bias estimates, and resultant global and regional MSL trends. Tide gauge verification results are shown to assess the current stability of the Jason-2 sea surface height time series that suggests a possible discontinuity initiated in early 2010. Although the Jason-2 time series is relatively short (approximately 3 years), a thorough review of the entire suite of geophysical and environmental range corrections is warranted and is underway to maintain the fidelity of the record.

Beckley, B. D.↗
NASA NTRS2003

UHF Microstrip Antenna Array for Synthetic- Aperture Radar

An ultra-high-frequency microstrippatch antenna has been built for use in airborne synthetic-aperture radar (SAR). The antenna design satisfies requirements specific to the GeoSAR program, which is dedicated to the development of a terrain-mapping SAR system that can provide information on geology, seismicity, vegetation, and other terrain-related topics. One of the requirements is for ultra-wide-band performance: the antenna must be capable of operating with dual linear polarization in the frequency range of 350 plus or minus 80 MHz, with a peak gain of 10 dB at the middle frequency of 350 MHz and a gain of at least 8 dB at the upper and lower ends (270 and 430 MHz) of the band. Another requirement is compactness: the antenna must fit in the wingtip pod of a Gulfstream II airplane. The antenna includes a linear array of microstrip-patch radiating elements supported over square cavities. Each patch is square (except for small corner cuts) and has a small square hole at its center.

Thomas, Robert F.↗
NASA NTRS2011

UAVSAR Active Electronically Scanned Array

The Uninhabited Airborne Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) is a pod-based, L-band (1.26 GHz), repeatpass, interferometric, synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) used for Earth science applications. Repeat-pass interferometric radar measurements from an airborne platform require an antenna that can be steered to maintain the same angle with respect to the flight track over a wide range of aircraft yaw angles. In order to be able to collect repeat-pass InSAR data over a wide range of wind conditions, UAVSAR employs an active electronically scanned array (AESA). During data collection, the UAVSAR flight software continuously reads the aircraft attitude state measured by the Embedded GPS/INS system (EGI) and electronically steers the beam so that it remains perpendicular to the flight track throughout the data collection

Sadowy, Gregory, A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Trapezoidal Wing Experimental Repeatability and Velocity Profiles in the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel

The AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Technical Committee sponsored a High Lift Prediction Workshop held in June 2010. For this first workshop, data from the Trapezoidal Wing experiments were used for comparison to CFD. This paper presents long-term and short-term force and moment repeatability analyses for the Trapezoidal Wing model tested in the NASA Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. This configuration was chosen for its simplified high-lift geometry, publicly available set of test data, and previous CFD experience with this configuration. The Trapezoidal Wing is a three-element semi-span swept wing attached to a body pod. These analyses focus on configuration 1 tested in 1998 (Test 478), 2002 (Test 506), and 2003 (Test 513). This paper also presents model velocity profiles obtained on the main element and on the flap during the 1998 test. These velocity profiles are primarily at an angle of attack of 28 degrees and semi-span station of 83% and show confluent boundary layers and wakes.

Hannon, Judith A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Rapid Parameterization Schemes for Aircraft Shape Optimization

A rapid shape parameterization tool called PROTEUS is developed for aircraft shape optimization. This tool can be applied directly to any aircraft geometry that has been defined in PLOT3D format, with the restriction that each aircraft component must be defined by only one data block. PROTEUS has eight types of parameterization schemes: planform, wing surface, twist, body surface, body scaling, body camber line, shifting/scaling, and linear morphing. These parametric schemes can be applied to two types of components: wing-type surfaces (e.g., wing, canard, horizontal tail, vertical tail, and pylon) and body-type surfaces (e.g., fuselage, pod, and nacelle). These schemes permit the easy setup of commonly used shape modification methods, and each customized parametric scheme can be applied to the same type of component for any configuration. This paper explains the mathematics for these parametric schemes and uses two supersonic configurations to demonstrate the application of these schemes.

Li, Wu↗
NASA NTRS2011

Lightning Initiation Forecasting: An Operational Dual-Polarimetric Radar Technique

The objective of this NASA MSFC and NOAA CSTAR funded study is to develop and test operational forecast algorithms for the prediction of lightning initiation utilizing the C-band dual-polarimetric radar, UAHuntsville's Advanced Radar for Meteorological and Operational Research (ARMOR). Although there is a rich research history of radar signatures associated with lightning initiation, few studies have utilized dual-polarimetric radar signatures (e.g., Z(sub dr) columns) and capabilities (e.g., fuzzy-logic particle identification [PID] of precipitation ice) in an operational algorithm for first flash forecasting. The specific goal of this study is to develop and test polarimetric techniques that enhance the performance of current operational radar reflectivity based first flash algorithms. Improving lightning watch and warning performance will positively impact personnel safety in both work and leisure environments. Advanced warnings can provide space shuttle launch managers time to respond appropriately to secure equipment and personnel, while they can also provide appropriate warnings for spectators and players of leisure sporting events to seek safe shelter. Through the analysis of eight case dates, consisting of 35 pulse-type thunderstorms and 20 non-thunderstorm case studies, lightning initiation forecast techniques were developed and tested. The hypothesis is that the additional dual-polarimetric information could potentially reduce false alarms while maintaining high probability of detection and increasing lead-time for the prediction of the first lightning flash relative to reflectivity-only based techniques. To test the hypothesis, various physically-based techniques using polarimetric variables and/or PID categories, which are strongly correlated to initial storm electrification (e.g., large precipitation ice production via drop freezing), were benchmarked against the operational reflectivity-only based approaches to find the best compromise between forecast skill and lead-time. Forecast skill is determined by statistical analysis of probability of detection (POD), false alarm ratio (FAR), Operational Utility Index (OUI), and critical success index (CSI).

Woodard, Crystal J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Directed Design of Experiments for Validating Probability of Detection Capability of a Testing System

A method of validating a probability of detection (POD) testing system using directed design of experiments (DOE) includes recording an input data set of observed hit and miss or analog data for sample components as a function of size of a flaw in the components. The method also includes processing the input data set to generate an output data set having an optimal class width, assigning a case number to the output data set, and generating validation instructions based on the assigned case number. An apparatus includes a host machine for receiving the input data set from the testing system and an algorithm for executing DOE to validate the test system. The algorithm applies DOE to the input data set to determine a data set having an optimal class width, assigns a case number to that data set, and generates validation instructions based on the case number.

Generazio, Edward R.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Navigation Doppler Lidar Sensor for Precision Altitude and Vector Velocity Measurements Flight Test Results

An all fiber Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) system is under development at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for precision descent and landing applications on planetary bodies. The sensor produces high resolution line of sight range, altitude above ground, ground relative attitude, and high precision velocity vector measurements. Previous helicopter flight test results demonstrated the NDL measurement concepts, including measurement precision, accuracies, and operational range. This paper discusses the results obtained from a recent campaign to test the improved sensor hardware, and various signal processing algorithms applicable to real-time processing. The NDL was mounted in an instrumentation pod aboard an Erickson Air-Crane helicopter and flown over vegetation free terrain. The sensor was one of several sensors tested in this field test by NASA?s Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project.

Pierrottet, Diego F.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Voluntary Consensus Organization Standards for Nondestructive Evaluation of Thin-Walled Metallic Liners and Composite Overwraps in Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels

NASA fracture control requirements outlined in NASA-STD-5009 and NASA-STD-5014 are predicated on the availability and use of sensitive nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods that can detect and monitor defects, thereby providing data that can be used to predict failure or reduce the risk of failure in fracture critical components. However, in the case of composite materials and components, including composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), the effect of defects is poorly understood, the NDE methods used to evaluate locate and size defects are typically at lower technical readiness level than analogous NDE methods used for metals, and demonstration studies to verify the probability of detection (POD) are generally lacking or unavailable. These factors together make failure prediction of fracture critical composite materials and components based on size, quantity, or orientation of defects nearly impossible. Also, when inspecting metal liners in as-manufactured COPVs, sensitivity is lost and only the inner surface of the liner is accessible. Also, NDE of COPVs as applied during manufacturing varies significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer and has not yet been standardized. Although requirements exist to perform NDE immediately after manufacturing to establish initial integrity of the parts, procedural detail for NDE of composites is still nonexistent or under development. For example, in practice, only a visual inspection of COPVs is performed during manufacturing and service, leaving in question whether defects of concern, for example, bridging, overwrap winding anomalies, impact damage below visible threshold, out-of-family strain growth, and liner buckling have been adequately detected and monitored. To address these shortcomings, in 2005 the NASA Nondestructive Evaluation Working Group (NNWG) began funding work to develop and adopt standards for nondestructive evaluation of aerospace composites in collaboration with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee E07 on Nondestructive Testing. Similarly, in 2006 the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) recommended that nondestructive evaluation methods that can predict composite failure in COPVs should be developed and verified, and integrated into the damage control plan for these vessels

Waller, Jess↗
NASA NTRS2012

Experimental Investigation of the Low-Speed Aerodynamic Characteristics of a 5.8-Percent Scale Hybrid Wing Body Configuration

A low-speed experimental investigation has been conducted on a 5.8-percent scale Hybrid Wing Body configuration in the NASA Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. This Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) configuration was designed with specific intention to support the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project goals of reduced noise, emissions, and fuel burn. This HWB configuration incorporates twin, podded nacelles mounted on the vehicle upper surface between twin vertical tails. Low-speed aerodynamic characteristics were assessed through the acquisition of force and moment, surface pressure, and flow visualization data. Longitudinal and lateral-directional characteristics were investigated on this multi-component model. The effects of a drooped leading edge, longitudinal flow-through nacelle location, vertical tail shape and position, elevon deflection, and rudder deflection have been studied. The basic configuration aerodynamics, as well as the effects of these configuration variations, are presented in this paper.

Gatlin, Gregory M.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Variability and Anomalous Trends in the Global Sea Ice Cover

The advent of satellite data came fortuitously at a time when the global sea ice cover has been changing rapidly and new techniques are needed to accurately assess the true state and characteristics of the global sea ice cover. The extent of the sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere has been declining by about -4% per decade for the period 1979 to 2011 but for the period from 1996 to 2010, the rate of decline became even more negative at -8% per decade, indicating an acceleration in the decline. More intriguing is the drastically declining perennial sea ice area, which is the ice that survives the summer melt and observed to be retreating at the rate of -14% per decade during the 1979 to 2012 period. Although a slight recovery occurred in the last three years from an abrupt decline in 2007, the perennial ice extent was almost as low as in 2007 in 2011. The multiyear ice, which is the thick component of the perennial ice and regarded as the mainstay of the Arctic sea ice cover is declining at an even higher rate of -19% per decade. The more rapid decline of the extent of this thicker ice type means that the volume of the ice is also declining making the survival of the Arctic ice in summer highly questionable. The slight recovery in 2008, 2009 and 2010 for the perennial ice in summer was likely associated with an apparent cycle in the time series with a period of about 8 years. Results of analysis of concurrent MODIS and AMSR-E data in summer also provide some evidence of more extensive summer melt and meltponding in 2007 and 2011 than in other years. Meanwhile, the Antarctic sea ice cover, as observed by the same set of satellite data, is showing an unexpected and counter intuitive increase of about 1 % per decade over the same period. Although a strong decline in ice extent is apparent in the Bellingshausen/ Amundsen Seas region, such decline is more than compensated by increases in the extent of the sea ice cover in the Ross Sea region. The results of analysis of MODIS, AMSR-E and SSM/I data reveal that the sea ice production rate at the coastal polynyas along the Ross Ice Shelf has been increasing since 1992. This also means that the salinization rate and the formation of bottom water in the region are going up as well. Simulation studies indicate that the stronger production rate is likely associated with the ozone hole that has caused a deepening of the lows in the West Antarctic region and therefore stronger winds off the Ross Ice Shelf. Stronger winds causes larger coastal polynyas near the shelf and hence an enhanced ice production in the region during the autumn and winter period. Results of analysis of temperature data from MODIS and AMSR-E shows that the area and concentration of the sea ice cover are highly correlated with surface temperature for both the Arctic and Antarctic, especially in the seasonal regions where the correlation coefficients are about 0.9. Abnormally high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and surface ice temperatures (SITs) were also observed in 2007 and 2011when drastic reductions in the summer ice cover occurred, This phenomenon is consistent with the expected warming of the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean on account of ice-albedo feedback. Changes in atmospheric circulation are also expected to have a strong influence on the sea ice cover but the results of direct correlation analyses of the sea ice cover with the Northern and the Southern Annular Mode indices show relatively weak correlations, This might be due in part to the complexity of the dynamics of the system that can be further altered by some phenomena like the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave and extra polar processes like the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (POD),

Comiso, Josefino C.↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Effect of Geocenter Motion on Jason-2 Orbits and the Mean Sea Level

We compute a series of Jason-2 GPS and SLR/DORIS-based orbits using ITRF2005 and the std0905 standards (Lemoine et al. 2010). Our GPS and SLR/DORIS orbit data sets span a period of 2 years from cycle 3 (July 2008) to cycle 74 (July 2010). We extract the Jason-2 orbit frame translational parameters per cycle by the means of a Helmert transformation between a set of reference orbits and a set of test orbits. We compare the annual terms of these time-series to the annual terms of two different geocenter motion models where biases and trends have been removed. Subsequently, we include the annual terms of the modeled geocenter motion as a degree-1 loading displacement correction to the GPS and SLR/DORIS tracking network of the POD process. Although the annual geocenter motion correction would reflect a stationary signal in time, under ideal conditions, the whole geocenter motion is a non-stationary process that includes secular trends. Our results suggest that our GSFC Jason-2 GPS-based orbits are closely tied to the center of mass (CM) of the Earth consistent with our current force modeling, whereas GSFC's SLR/DORIS-based orbits are tied to the origin of ITRF2005, which is the center of figure (CF) for sub-secular scales. We quantify the GPS and SLR/DORIS orbit centering and how this impacts the orbit radial error over the globe, which is assimilated into mean sea level (MSL) error, from the omission of the annual term of the geocenter correction. We find that for the SLR/DORIS std0905 orbits, currently used by the oceanographic community, only the negligence of the annual term of the geocenter motion correction results in a 4.67 plus or minus 3.40 mm error in the Z-component of the orbit frame which creates 1.06 plus or minus 2.66 mm of systematic error in the MSL estimates, mainly due to the uneven distribution of the oceans between the North and South hemisphere.

Melachroinos, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Development of Standards for Nondestructive Evaluation of COPVs Used in Aerospace Applications

Composite OverWrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs) are currently accepted by NASA based on design and qualification requirements and generally not verified by NDE for the following reasons: (1) Manufactures and end users generally do not have experience and validated quantitative methods of detecting flaws and defects of concern (1-a) If detected, the flaws are not adequately quantified and it is unclear how they may contribute to degradation in mechanical response (1-b) Carbon-epoxy COPVs also extremely sensitive to impact damage and impacts may be below the visible detection threshold (2) If damage is detected, this generally results in rejection since the effect on mechanical response is generally not known (3) NDE response has not generally been fully characterized, probability of detection (POD) established, and processes validated for evaluation of vessel condition as manufactured and delivered.

Waller, Jess M.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Development, Verification and Use of Gust Modeling in the NASA Computational Fluid Dynamics Code FUN3D

This paper presents the implementation of gust modeling capability in the CFD code FUN3D. The gust capability is verified by computing the response of an airfoil to a sharp edged gust. This result is compared with the theoretical result. The present simulations will be compared with other CFD gust simulations. This paper also serves as a users manual for FUN3D gust analyses using a variety of gust profiles. Finally, the development of an Auto-Regressive Moving-Average (ARMA) reduced order gust model using a gust with a Gaussian profile in the FUN3D code is presented. ARMA simulated results of a sequence of one-minus-cosine gusts is shown to compare well with the same gust profile computed with FUN3D. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) is combined with the ARMA modeling technique to predict the time varying pressure coefficient increment distribution due to a novel gust profile. The aeroelastic response of a pitch/plunge airfoil to a gust environment is computed with a reduced order model, and compared with a direct simulation of the system in the FUN3D code. The two results are found to agree very well.

Bartels, Robert E.↗
NASA NTRS2012

G-LiHT: Goddard's LiDAR, Hyperspectral and Thermal Airborne Imager

Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have developed an ultra-portable, low-cost, multi-sensor remote sensing system for studying the form and function of terrestrial ecosystems. G-LiHT integrates two LIDARs, a 905 nanometer single beam profiler and 1550 nm scanner, with a narrowband (1.5 nanometers) VNIR imaging spectrometer and a broadband (8-14 micrometers) thermal imager. The small footprint (approximately 12 centimeters) LIDAR data and approximately 1 meter ground resolution imagery are advantageous for high resolution applications such as the delineation of canopy crowns, characterization of canopy gaps, and the identification of sparse, low-stature vegetation, which is difficult to detect from space-based instruments and large-footprint LiDAR. The hyperspectral and thermal imagery can be used to characterize species composition, variations in biophysical variables (e.g., photosynthetic pigments), surface temperature, and responses to environmental stressors (e.g., heat, moisture loss). Additionally, the combination of LIDAR optical, and thermal data from G-LiHT is being used to assess forest health by sensing differences in foliage density, photosynthetic pigments, and transpiration. Low operating costs (approximately $1 ha) have allowed us to evaluate seasonal differences in LiDAR, passive optical and thermal data, which provides insight into year-round observations from space. Canopy characteristics and tree allometry (e.g., crown height:width, canopy:ground reflectance) derived from G-LiHT data are being used to generate realistic scenes for radiative transfer models, which in turn are being used to improve instrument design and ensure continuity between LiDAR instruments. G-LiHT has been installed and tested in aircraft with fuselage viewports and in a custom wing-mounted pod that allows G-LiHT to be flown on any Cessna 206, a common aircraft in use throughout the world. G-LiHT is currently being used for forest biomass and growth estimation in the CONUS and Mexico in support of NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) and AMIGA-Carb (AMerican Icesat Glas Assessment of Carbon). For NASA's CMS, wall-to-wall G-LiHT data have been acquired over intensive study sites with historic LiDAR datasets, dense inventory data, stem maps and flux tower observations. For AMIGA-Carb, G-LiHT transects have been acquired over ICESat tracks and USDA-FS inventory plots throughout the CONUS, and similar data will be acquired in Mexico during 2013. This talk will highlight recent science results from continental-scale transects landscape-scale deployments of G-LiHT, as well as seasonal forest dynamics from repeat pass G-LiHT acquisitions.

Cook, Bruce↗