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At least 667 records · Page 37

GPM Mission Overview

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational sensors to provide "next-generation" precipitation products. Relative to current global rainfall products, GPM data products will be characterized by: (1) more accurate instantaneous precipitation measurements (especially for light rain and cold-season solid/snow precipitation), (2) more frequent sampling by an expanded constellation of microwave radiometers that include operational humidity sounders over land, (3) inter-calibrated microwave brightness temperatures from constellation radiometers within a unified framework, and (4) physical-based precipitation retrievals from constellation radiometers using a common a priori cloud hydrometeor database derived from GPM Core sensor measurements. The cornerstone of the GPM mission is the deployment of a Core Observatory in a unique 65 degree non-Sun-synchronous orbit to serve as a physics observatory and a calibration reference to improve precipitation measurements by a constellation of dedicated and operational passive microwave sensors. The Core Observatory will carry a KulKa-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a multi-channel (10-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). The combined use ofDPR and GMI measurements will place greater constraints on possible solutions to radiometer retrievals to improve the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. As a science mission with integrated application goals, GPM is designed to (1) advance precipitation measurement capability from space through combined use of active and passive microwave sensors, (2) advance the knowledge of the global water/energy cycle and freshwater availability through better description of the space-time variability of global precipitation, and (3) improve weather, climate, and hydrological prediction capabilities through more accurate and frequent measurements of instantaneous precipitation rates and time-integrated rainfall accumulation. An overview of the GPM mission concept and science activities in the United States, together with an update on international collaborations in radiometer intercalibration and ground validation, will be presented.

Hou, Arthur Y.↗

OpenNEX: An open collaboration platform for the earth science community

Satellite data from the past several decades provide the most consistent record of land-surface processes that form the basis for scientific assessments of the impacts of climate variations and changes on the environment and human social-economical activities. During this time, scientific research on the characterization and assessment of environmental changes had tended to focus on large-scale land-surface changes with significant social-economic impacts. Increasingly, attention is shifting toward changes that occur more locally and that most directly relate to the everyday life of the majority of the population. In addition, there has been needs to develop management and policy decision support systems that are based on local environmental information. Almost at the same time, the advancement in sensor technology has allowed us to collect an unprecedented volume of environmental data. These data must be curated and analyzed to extract useful information for research and decision support purposes. Established in 2013 and funded by NASA, the Open NASA Earth eXchange (OpenNEX; https://opennex.org/ , Jia et al., 2019 ) project partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to make available a large amount of Earth observing data, modeling results, and analysis tools on the AWS. OpenNEX provides researchers, developers, educators, and ordinary users with easy access to an integrated Earth science computational and data platform, enabling citizen scientists and application developers to realize the full value of NASA data assets and software tools. To encourage the public's engagement in this project, NASA ran virtual workshops and prize competitions. The virtual workshops provided online lectures and tutorials about how prominent scientists used the data in their research and the tutorials gave examples how to use the tools to interrogate the data in the Amazon cloud. Finally, the prize competitions allowed much wider participation in the OpenNEX project and enable testing the non-traditional projects and out-of-box ideas. OpenNEX has continued to evolve and mature. Here, we highlight new features and functionalities available to the community.

Jian Zhang↗

TRMM Realtime Data Production, Transfer, and Future Plans

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, a joint US NASA and Japan NASDA mission, was launched on November 27, 1997 from Tanegashima Island, Japan on a NASDA provided H-II launch vehicle. The TRMM objectives are: to obtain and study multi-year science data sets of tropical and sub- tropical rainfall measurement; to understand how interactions between the sea, air, and land masses produce changes in global rainfall and climate; to help improve modeling of tropical rainfall processes; to test, evaluate, and improve the performance of satellite rainfall estimates measurements and techniques. The routine production and quick distribution of standard products provides an important underpinning to these objectives. The determination of standard TRMM algorithms and the requirements for routine production and distribution fall within the authority of the joint US-Japan Science Team. In April of 1998, the Joint TRMM Science team requested that TRMM data be made available in near real-time to approved international agencies and modelers. This request was an addition to the routine production of the standard TRMM data products. The science team requested that near-realtime products be as small as possible to facilitate their transfer via networks. Indeed, it was determined that only network transfer would be available. This presentation provides an overview of the type of products available from the realtime system and how the TRMM system was developed at the lowest cost in the shortest amount of time. It then describes the real-time data flow. The presentation also summarizes how the science quality of real-time data is maintained. It describes how interested groups can get access to this data and the importance of networks for the future of real-time data expansion. The presentation concludes real-time possibilities and improvements possible as part of the proposed Global Precipitation Mission. High speed network access availability is an important catalyst to real-time data flow during the proposed mission.

Stocker, Erich Franz↗

Satellites as Sentinels for Climate and Health

Remotely-sensed data and observations are providing powerful new tools for addressing climate and environment-related human health problems through increased capabilities for monitoring, risk mapping, and surveillance of parameters useful to such problems as vector- borne and infectious diseases, air and water quality,. harmful algal blooms, W radiation, contaminant and pathogen transport in air and water, and thermal stress. Remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIs), global positioning systems (GPS), improved computation capabilities, and interdisciplinary research between the Earth and health science communities, together with local knowledge, are being combined in rich collaborative efforts resulting in more rapid problem-solving, early warning, and prevention in global climate and health issues. These collaborative efforts are enabling increased understanding of the relationships among changes in temperature, rainfall, wind, soil moisture, solar radiation, vegetation, and the patterns of extreme weather events and health issues. This increased understanding and improved information and data sharing, in turn, empowers local health and environmental decision-makers to better predict climate-related health problems, decrease vulnerability, take preventive measures, and improve response actions. This paper provides a number of recent examples of how satellites - from their unique vantage point in space - can serve as sentinels for climate and health.

Maynard, Nancy G.↗

2021 NASA Ames Earth Science Division Seminar Series

The Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, CA, conducts research in various topics including theoretical and experimental research into radiative transfer, remote sensing, aerosols, clouds, and climate change, as well as ways in which this research can be applied for decision making. You can find out more about the division at: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/earthscience. The seminar series invites nationally and internationally recognized researchers to present their research. Seminars are held biweekly on Thursdays and are open to everyone int he Ames Science Directorate

Tushar Prabhakar↗

Long Day's Drive: An Alternative Paradigm for Martian Robotic Exploration

Long Day's Drive (LLD) will investigate the north polar layered deposits (PLD). The overarching science rationale for LDD is the belief that the PLD preserve within their stratigraphy an interpretable record of recent climate and geologic history for Mars. Our primary goal is to obtain data that can provide a basis for interpreting that record. In addition, we will test the hypothesis that the ice of the PLD contains organics at higher concentrations than the aeolian dust sampled at the two Viking sites. Finally, we seek to contribute to the understanding of Mars' total volatile inventory by detailed determination of the ice content of the PLD over the traverse.

Sims, M. H.↗

Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is currently under development and is on schedule to launch the 8th satellite in the Landsat series in December of 2012. LDCM is a joint project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). NASA is responsible for developing and launching the flight hardware and on-orbit commissioning and USGS is responsible for developing the ground system and operating the system onorbit after commissioning. Key components of the flight hardware are the Operational Land Imager (OLI), nearing completion by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp in Boulder, CO, the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), being built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the spacecraft, undergoing integration at Orbital Sciences Corp in Gilbert, Arizona. The launch vehicle will be an Atlas-5 with launch services provided by NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Key ground systems elements are the Mission Operations Element, being developed by the Hammers Corporation, and the Collection Activity Planning Element, Ground Network Element, and Data Processing and Archive System, being developed internally by the USGS Earth Resources Observations and Science (EROS) Center. The primary measurement goal of LDCM is to continue the global coverage of moderate spatial resolution imagery providing continuity with the existing Landsat record. The science goal for this imagery is to monitor land use and land cover, particularly as it relates to global climate change. Together the OLI and TIRS instruments on LDCM replace the ETM+ instrument on Landsat-7 with significant enhancements. The OLI is a pushbroom design instrument where the scanning mechanism of the ETM+ is effectively replaced by a long line of detectors. The OLI has 9 spectral bands with similar spatial resolution to ETM+: 7 of them similar to the reflective spectral bands on ETM+ and two new bands. The two new bands cover (1) the shorter wavelength blue part of the spectrum to help with coastal studies and aerosol analyses/atmospheric correction and (2) an atmospheric water absorption band, where the Earth surface is generally not visible, but Cirrus clouds are, to aid in cloud detection and screening. The radiometry of OLI benefits from improved SNR, dynamic range and quantization. OLI is undergoing system testing with a delivery scheduled for Spring 2011. The TIRS is also a pushbroom design and used QWIPS detectors that require cooling to 43K using a cryocooler. It.has two spectral bands, effectively splitting the ETM+ band 6 in half, that can be used as a split window to aid in atmospheric correction. It has nominally 100 m spatial resolution as opposed to the 60 m of Landsat-7 ETM+: TIRS has commenced integration and test, with a delivery to the spacecraft vendor scheduled for Winter 2011-2012. The Orbital spacecraft currently being integrated for LDCM will have improved capabilities for pointing over previous missions. These capabilities will allow the OLI and TIRS instruments to point off-nadir the equivalent of one WRS-2 path to increase the chances of coverage for high priority targets, particularly in the event of natural disasters. Also, the pointing capability will allow the calibration of the OLI using the sun (roughly weekly), the moon (monthly), stars (during commissioning) and the Earth (at 90 deg from normal orientation, a.k.a., side slither) quarterly. The solar calibration will be used for OLI absolute and relative calibration, the moon for trending the stability of the OLI response, the stars will be used for Line of Sight determination and the side slither will be an alternate OLI and relative gain determination methodology. The spacecraft is scheduled to begin integration with the OLI instrument in Summer 2011. The LDCM data processing and archive system (DPAS), located at USGS EROS, generates the products for distribution to users. Like Landsat-7 this includes an image assessment system for characrizing instrument performance and updating calibration parameters. Products will be generated that include the spectral bands from both instruments, terrain corrected and registered to the geoid. Also, like Landsat-7, data products will be distributed at no charge to the user. The current status and plans of the space and ground segments of the LDCM project will be presented along with performance predictions as available. More detailed information on the two instruments is intended to be presented in separate papers.

Markham, Brian↗

New and Improved GLDAS Data Sets and Data Services at NASA GES DISC

The goal of a Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) is to ingest satellite- and ground-based observational data products, using advanced land surface modeling and data assimilation techniques, in order to generate optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes data and, thereby, facilitate hydrology and climate modeling, research, and forecast. With the motivation of creating more climatologically consistent data sets, NASA GSFC's Hydrological Sciences Laboratory has generated more than 60 years (Jan. 1948-- Dec. 2008) of Global LDAS Version 2 (GLDAS-2) data, by using the Princeton Forcing Data Set and upgraded versions of Land Surface Models (LSMs). GLDAS data and data services are provided at NASA GES DISC Hydrology Data and Information Services Center (HDISC), in collaboration with HSL and LDAS.

Rui, Hualan↗

Using Docker Containers to Extend Reproducibility Architecture for the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX)

NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) is a data, supercomputing and knowledge collaboratory that houses NASA satellite, climate and ancillary data where a focused community can come together to address large-scale challenges in Earth sciences. As NEX has been growing into a petabyte-size platform for analysis, experiments and data production, it has been increasingly important to enable users to easily retrace their steps, identify what datasets were produced by which process chains, and give them ability to readily reproduce their results. This can be a tedious and difficult task even for a small project, but is almost impossible on large processing pipelines. We have developed an initial reproducibility and knowledge capture solution for the NEX, however, if users want to move the code to another system, whether it is their home institution cluster, laptop or the cloud, they have to find, build and install all the required dependencies that would run their code. This can be a very tedious and tricky process and is a big impediment to moving code to data and reproducibility outside the original system. The NEX team has tried to assist users who wanted to move their code into OpenNEX on Amazon cloud by creating custom virtual machines with all the software and dependencies installed, but this, while solving some of the issues, creates a new bottleneck that requires the NEX team to be involved with any new request, updates to virtual machines and general maintenance support. In this presentation, we will describe a solution that integrates NEX and Docker to bridge the gap in code-to-data migration. The core of the solution is saemi-automatic conversion of science codes, tools and services that are already tracked and described in the NEX provenance system, to Docker - an open-source Linux container software. Docker is available on most computer platforms, easy to install and capable of seamlessly creating and/or executing any application packaged in the appropriate format. We believe this is an important step towards seamless process deployment in heterogeneous environments that will enhance community access to NASA data and tools in a scalable way, promote software reuse, and improve reproducibility of scientific results.

earth exchange↗

Arctic Amplification: Process Drivers and Sources of Uncertainty

Arctic amplification (AA) is a coupled atmosphere-sea ice-ocean process. This understanding has evolved from the early concept of AA, as a consequence of snow ice line progressions, through more than a century of research that has clarified the relevant processes and driving mechanisms of AA. The predictions made by early modeling studies, namely the fall/winter maximum, bottom-heavy structure, the prominence of surface albedo feedback, and the importance of stable stratification have withstood the scrutiny of multi-decadal observations and more complex models. Yet, the uncertainty in Arctic climate projections is larger than in any other region of the planet, making the assessment of high-impact, near-term regional changes difficult or impossible. Reducing this large spread in Arctic climate projections requires a quantitative process understanding. This presentation synthesizes current knowledge of AA and describes a set of recommendations to guide future research. It briefly reviews the history of AA science, summarizes observed Arctic changes, discusses modeling approaches and feedback diagnostics, and assesses the current understanding of the most relevant feedbacks to AA. These sections culminate in a conceptual model of the fundamental physical mechanisms causing AA and a collection of recommendations to accelerate progress towards reduced uncertainty in Arctic climate projections. Our conceptual model highlights the need to account for local feedback and remote process interactions within the context of the annual cycle to constrain projected AA.

Patrick C Taylor↗

The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Mission: Status, Science, Advances

The PACE mission represents NASA’s next investment in ocean color, cloud, and aerosol data records to enable continued and advanced insight into oceanographic and atmospheric responses to Earth’s changing climate. The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission represents NASA’s next investment in satellite ocean color and the study of Earth’s ocean-atmosphere system, enabling new insights into oceanographic and atmospheric responses to Earth's changing climate. PACE objectives include extending systematic cloud, aerosol, and ocean biological and biogeochemical data records, making essential ocean color measurements to further understand marine carbon cycles, food web processes, and ecosystem responses to a changing climate, and improving knowledge of how aerosols influence ocean ecosystems and, conversely, how ocean ecosystems and photochemical processes affect the atmosphere. PACE objectives also encompass management of fisheries, large freshwater bodies, and air and water quality and reducing uncertainties in climate and radiative forcing models of the Earth system. PACE observations will provide information on radiative properties of land surfaces and characterization of the vegetation and soils that dominate their reflectance. The primary PACE instrument is a spectrometer that spans the ultraviolet to shortwave infrared, with a ground sample distance of 1-km at nadir. This payload is complemented by two multi-angle polarimeters with spectral ranges that span the visible to near-infrared region. Scheduled for launch in late 2022-to-early 2023, the PACE observatory will enable significant advances in the study of Earth’s biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, clouds, hydrosols, and aerosols in the ocean-atmosphere-land system. Here, we present an overview of the PACE mission, including its developmental history, science objectives, instrument payload, observatory characteristics, and data products.

P Jeremy Werdell↗

Remote Sensing and Modeling for Improving Operational Aquatic Plant Management

The California Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the hub for California’s water supply, conveying water from Northern to Southern California agriculture and communities while supporting important ecosystem services, agriculture, and communities in the Delta. Changes in climate, long-term drought, water quality changes, and expansion of invasive aquatic plants threatens ecosystems, impedes ecosystem restoration, and is economically, environmentally, and sociologically detrimental to the San Francisco Bay/California Delta complex. NASA Ames Research Center and the USDA-ARS partnered with the State of California and local governments to develop science-based, adaptive-management strategies for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The project combines science, operations, and economics related to integrated management scenarios for aquatic weeds to help land and waterway managers make science-informed decisions regarding management and outcomes. The team provides a comprehensive understanding of agricultural and urban land use in the Delta and the major water sheds (San Joaquin/Sacramento) supplying the Delta and interaction with drought and climate impacts on the environment, water quality, and weed growth. The team recommends conservation and modified land-use practices and aids local Delta stakeholders in developing management strategies. New remote sensing tools have been developed to enhance ability to assess conditions, inform decision support tools, and monitor management practices. Science gaps in understanding how native and invasive plants respond to altered environmental conditions are being filled and provide critical biological response parameters for Delta-SWAT simulation modeling. Operational agencies such as the California Department of Boating and Waterways provide testing and act as initial adopter of decision support tools. Methods developed by the project can become routine land and water management tools in complex river delta systems.

Agriculture↗

Adaptive Management Methods to Protect the California Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Water Resource

The California Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the hub for California's water supply, conveying water from Northern to Southern California agriculture and communities while supporting important ecosystem services, agriculture, and communities in the Delta. Changes in climate, long-term drought, water quality changes, and expansion of invasive aquatic plants threatens ecosystems, impedes ecosystem restoration, and is economically, environmentally, and sociologically detrimental to the San Francisco Bay/California Delta complex. NASA Ames Research Center and the USDA-ARS partnered with the State of California and local governments to develop science-based, adaptive-management strategies for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The project combines science, operations, and economics related to integrated management scenarios for aquatic weeds to help land and waterway managers make science-informed decisions regarding management and outcomes. The team provides a comprehensive understanding of agricultural and urban land use in the Delta and the major water sheds (San Joaquin/Sacramento) supplying the Delta and interaction with drought and climate impacts on the environment, water quality, and weed growth. The team recommends conservation and modified land-use practices and aids local Delta stakeholders in developing management strategies. New remote sensing tools have been developed to enhance ability to assess conditions, inform decision support tools, and monitor management practices. Science gaps in understanding how native and invasive plants respond to altered environmental conditions are being filled and provide critical biological response parameters for Delta-SWAT simulation modeling. Operational agencies such as the California Department of Boating and Waterways provide testing and act as initial adopter of decision support tools. Methods developed by the project can become routine land and water management tools in complex river delta systems.

Agriculture↗

Observed cloud reflectivities and liquid water paths: An update

The FIRE microwave radiometer observations of liquid water path from San Nicolas Island and simultaneous NOAA AVHRR observations of cloud reflectivity were used to test a relationship between cloud liquid water path and cloud reflectivity that is often used in general circulation climate models (Stephens, 1978). The results of attempts to improve the data analysis which was described at the previous FIRE Science Team Workshop and elsewhere (Coakley and Snider, 1989) are reported. The improvements included the analysis of additional satellite passes over San Nicolas and sensitivity studies to estimate the effects on the observed reflectivities due to: (1) nonzero surface reflectivities beneath the clouds; (2) the anisotropy of the reflected radiances observed by the AVHRR; (3) small scale spatial structure in the liquid water path; and (4) adjustments to the calibration of AVHRR.

Coakley, James A., Jr.↗

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2003 Strategic Plan

As the 21st century begins to unfold, NASA will focus, with renewed vigor, on the challenges and opportunities before us and on developing the unique capabilities that strengthen America and address our national needs. Our Mission is driven by science, exploration, and discovery, and it will be carried out with a firm commitment to fiscal responsibility. We will study climate change and the natural and human-induced hazards to Earth's ecosystem. We will help to counter the threat of international terrorism by developing technologies that can improve the security and safety of our air transportation system. We will lead the world into a new understanding of our planet, our solar system, and the universe around us, and in so doing, we will begin to understand whether life may have developed elsewhere in the cosmos. This strategic plan lays out our hopes for the future and the important things we seek to accomplish for America. We are privileged to be entrusted with these pursuits and thrilled to be able to carry them out. We invite you to join us on this great adventure. Releasing this strategic plan with our 2004 budget request represents our new commitment to the integration of budget and performance reporting. In this way, we will ensure that strategic priorities are aligned with and influence budget priorities. Our new Integrated Budget and Performance Document, a companion volume to this strategic plan, expands on the goals and objectives presented here and identifies the specific long-term and annual performance measures for which we will be held accountable.

STRATEGIC PLANNING↗

NASA GSFC's Role in the US Space Program

The paper discussss the GSFC research interests and how GSFC contributes to solve some of most basic questions Humans having been asking for thousands of years. How big is universe? How old is the universe? Will Humans and industrialization of the Earth change the climate significantly? Can Humans live in space? How does the Sun affect life on Earth? Goddard s role in Earth Science is very unique. We buy and build instruments that collect data about weather around the world. By flying those instruments on spacecraft, we have a unique vantage point to observe the weather patterns on a global scale. The best example is a satellite network called GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) which produces the weather pictures and videos you see on the nightly news and weather channel. Earth Science is another area of great interest to Goddard scientists and spacecraft designers. This photo of an oil fire in Iraq taken on March 2Ist of this year shows the down range effect pollution will have on entire region. Space Weather has become extremely important in the Space business. Satellites not only can become inoperable due to the occasional high level of radiation but astronauts can be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Space Weather is actually an issue when planning Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA). At Goddard, our operation of the Hubble Space Telescope has meant we have worked closely with several Shuttle crews over the years.

Simpson, James E.↗

GPM Constellation Reconfiguration and Mission Status

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission that uses combined active and passive remote sensing techniques to improve global precipitation measurements derived from dedicated and operational passive microwave sensors. GPM is a science mission with integrated applications goals to (1) advance the knowledge of precipitation physics and the global water cycle variability, and (2) improve weather, climate, and hydrological prediction capabilities through more accurate and frequent measurements of global precipitation and innovative application methods. The GPM Mission is currently a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), with opportunities for additional domestic and international partners in satellite constellation buildup and ground validation activities. The GPM concept is centered on employing a dualfrequency precipitation radar and a microwave radiometer with high-frequency capabilities on a core satellite to serve as a physics observatory and calibration standard to provide a consistent framework for unifying precipitation measurements from a heterogeneous constellation of passive microwave sensors. Building on the siccess of TRMM, GPM extends combined radadradiometer precipitation measurements into the mid and high latitudes, with new science foci on improved capabilities for light-rain and snowfall measurements, as well as more accurate precipitation retrievals over land. With recent studies indicating that AMSU-B rainfall estimates are comparable in quality to those derived from conically-scanning radiometers over land, it is envisioned that cross-track microwave sounders with high-frequency channels on operational satellites such as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), NOAA-N', and MetOp satellites can play a significant role in augmenting conically-scanning microwave radiometers to achieve better sampling and coverage over land. Plans to reconfigure the baseline GPM constellation to include cross-track microwave sounders over land and the status of other GPM mission elements such as snowfall algorithm development and ground validation plans will be presented

Hou, Arthur Y.↗