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All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2000

Compact Hyperspectral Mapper for Environmental Remote Sensing Applications (CHyMERA) End-of-phase Data Review Package

CHYMERA is an Instrument Incubator concept to design, build, and test an instrument that will reduce size, mass, and cost and increase science potential and flexibility for future atmospheric remote sensing missions within the focus of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE). The primary effort of the development plan will be on high spatial resolution ozone, N02, S02, aerosol, and cloud measurements, but it is hoped that the techniques developed will prove useful for other measurements as well. The core design will involve a high performance, wide field-of-view (FOV) front end telescope which will illuminate a filter/focal plane array (FFPA) package. The use of a non-dispersive optical configuration will reduce size, mass and complexity. The wide FOV optics will permit short duration global coverage (1-2 days) without the need for a scanner.

Janz, Scott J.↗

NASA NTRS1999

The Henry Cecil Ranson McBay Chair in Space Science

The goals and objectives of the Henry Cecil Ransom McBay Chair in Space Sciences were to: (1) provide leadership in developing and expanding Space Science curriculum; (2) contribute to the research and education endeavors of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program; (3) expand opportunities for education and hands-on research in Space and Earth Sciences; (4) enhance scientific and technological literacy at all educational levels and to increase awareness of opportunities in the Space Sciences; and (5) develop a pipeline, starting with high school, of African American students who will develop into a cadre of well-trained scientists with interest in Space Science Research and Development.

Bota, Kofi B.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Revitalization of the NASA Langley Research Center's Infrastructure

The NASA Langley Research Center (Langley) was founded in 1917 as the nation's first civilian aeronautical research facility and NASA's first field center. For nearly 100 years, Langley has made significant contributions to the Aeronautics, Space Exploration, and Earth Science missions through research, technology, and engineering core competencies in aerosciences, materials, structures, the characterization of earth and planetary atmospheres and, more recently, in technologies associated with entry, descent, and landing. An unfortunate but inevitable outcome of this rich history is an aging infrastructure where the longest serving building is close to 80 years old and the average building age is 44 years old. In the current environment, the continued operation and maintenance of this aging and often inefficient infrastructure presents a real challenge to Center leadership in the trade space of sustaining infrastructure versus not investing in future capabilities. To address this issue, the Center has developed a forward looking revitalization strategy that ties future core competencies and technical capabilities to the Center Master Facility Plan to maintain a viable Center well into the future. This paper documents Langley's revitalization strategy which integrates the Center's missions, the Langley 2050 vision, the Center Master Facility Plan, and the New Town repair-by-replacement program through the leadership of the Vibrant Transformation to Advance Langley (ViTAL) Team.

Weiser, Erik S.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA DEVELOP’s Approach to Co-Production and Collaborative STEM Engagement

The NASA DEVELOP Program conducts 50-60 projects each year with the goal of bringing the benefits of NASA Earth science to local decision-making challenges. DEVELOP, part of NASA’s Applied Sciences’ Capacity Building Program, connects end users with students, recent graduates, and early and transitioning career professionals through 10-week rapid feasibility studies. These projects are a collaboration between NASA, DEVELOP office host locations (universities and other federal installations), project partners (federal agencies, state and local governments, non-profit and for-profit organizations, and international organizations), and the project teams who conduct them. The projects take place under the guidance of science advisors from NASA, academia, and partner organizations, and introduces communities to new applications of NASA Earth observations data with the desired outcome of informed decision-making. This presentation will highlight the DEVELOP model of co-production and programmatic collaboration, lessons learned in partnering, and evaluation activities that look at the impact of the program’s efforts.

Capacity Building↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exploring Blockchain to Support Open Science Practices

Open science aims to foster transparent sharing of scientific processes including open access, incentivization, provenance, open source code and tools, metrics, and resource sharing. However, effective management of these processes remains a challenge. This paper explores the application of blockchain technology to address these key aspects of open science. Blockchain offers a decentralized and secureplatform for information exchange and verification. By leveraging blockchain, open science can enhance transparency and reproducibility. In this paper, we present an implementation of blockchain for Earth science data synchronization across organizations, enabling tracking of data copying, citation, anddownload. The findings highlight the potential of blockchain in supporting open science objectives.

Iksha Gurung↗

NASA NTRS2011

FASTSAT-HSV01 Thermal Math Model Correlation

This paper summarizes the thermal math model correlation effort for the Fast Affordable Science and Technology SATellite (FASTSAT-HSV01), which was designed, built and tested by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and multiple partners. The satellite launched in November 2010 on a Minotaur IV rocket from the Kodiak Launch Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. It carried three Earth science experiments and two technology demonstrations into a low Earth circular orbit with an inclination of 72deg and an altitude of 650 kilometers. The mission has been successful to date with science experiment activities still taking place daily. The thermal control system on this spacecraft was a passive design relying on thermo-optical properties and six heaters placed on specific components. Flight temperature data is being recorded every minute from the 48 Resistance Temperature Devices (RTDs) onboard the satellite structure and many of its avionics boxes. An effort has been made to correlate the thermal math model to the flight temperature data using Cullimore and Ring's Thermal Desktop and by obtaining Earth and Sun vector data from the Attitude Control System (ACS) team to create an "as-flown" orbit. Several model parameters were studied during this task to understand the spacecraft's sensitivity to these changes. Many "lessons learned" have been noted from this activity that will be directly applicable to future small satellite programs.

McKelvey, Callie↗

DOE OSTI2022

Spatially Averaged Ice Contents of Ice-Wedge Polygon Cross-Sections to 3-m Depth, July 2013, Utqiagvik, Alaska

This dataset contains spatially averaged estimates of ice content (volume percent) for two-dimensional cross-sectional profiles (from trough center to trough center to a depth of 3 meters) of low- and flat-centered ice-wedge polygons (three of each type) located near Utqiagvik, Alaska. A combination of soil pits, trenches, and cores were used to describe, sample, and map the cross-section stratigraphy of soil horizons and ice wedges for each polygon at 6 depth intervals. Observed soil horizons were assigned to four types with increasing amounts of organic components (mineral, mineral/organic, organic/mineral, and organic). The average ice contents of each soil horizon type below the permafrost boundary and wedge ice were weighted by their cross-sectional area fractions to calculate spatially averaged estimates of ice content for each polygon. In the active layer, spatially averaged estimates of volumetric water contents were similarly determined and reported here as “ice” content to enable estimates of the soil’s structurally competent porosity and excess ice in permafrost layers. In this dataset, the file AK13_ice_contents.csv includes cross-sectional area fractions and spatially averaged ice contents for soil layers and horizon types at the six depth intervals. The file AK13_permafrost_ice_fractions.csv contains the calculated partitioning of ice contents into pore ice and excess ice fractions for the three permafrost-dominated depth intervals. In addition, there is a data dictionary file for each of these data files and a file-level metadata file. These data were generated by the Department of Energy’s Soil Carbon Response to Environmental Change Scientific Focus Area and were used as inputs to model simulations examining the consequences of thaw-affected subsidence and microtopography change on active layer thickness of low-relief polygonal tundra landscapes in a warming Arctic.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1990

Lightning observations from space shuttle

The experimental program of the Earth Sciences and Applications Division at NASA/MSFC includes development of the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) for the NOAA Earth Observing System (EOS) Polar Platform. The research plan is to use existing lightning information to generate simulated data for the LIS experiment. Navigation algorithms were used to transform pixel locations to latitude and longitude values. The simulated data would then be used to test and develop algorithms for the analysis of LIS data. Individual frames of video imagery obtained from Space Shuttle Missions provide the raw data for the simulation. Individual video frames were digitized to get the pixel locations of lightning flashes. The pixel locations will be used to locate the geographical position of the event. Because of a lack of detailed knowledge of camera orientation with respect to the Space Shuttle, video scenes that contain identifiable city lights were chosen for analysis. A method for locating the payload bay camera axis was developed and tested. Two measurements are needed: the pixel location of the apparent horizon and a timed siting of a known location passing the principal line of the image. Individual video frames were navigated and lightning illuminated clouds were located on the map. Satisfactory agreement in location was achieved for cities and LLP lightning locations. Ground truth measurements were compared to satellite observations. A vertical lightning event was identified on the horizon. Very low frequency (VLF) transmission on this particular occassion shows a strong response to negative cloud to cloud flashes.

Boeck, William L.↗

NASA NTRS2012

A Dual-Polarized, Dual-Frequency, Corrugated Feed Horn for SMAP

SMAP will be the first Earth science mission to use a deployable 6m mesh reflector for both radar and radiometric measurements from low Earth orbit. The instrument antenna will spin at about 14 rpm, making the design of both reflector and feed more challenging. While the performance requirements imposed by the radar instrument are relatively benign, those pertinent to the radiometer are more difficult to meet. Extreme care was necessary in designing the feed, especially from a performance stability perspective. Thermal variations due to the spacecraft going in and out of eclipse during orbit and direct solar radiation into the horn are just two of the challenges faced during the design phase. In this paper, the basic concepts behind the design of SMAP's feed will be discussed. Each component of the feed will be analyzed in detail with particular emphasis on its impact on major RF requirements. Overall performance of the feed will also be discussed.

deployable reflector↗

NASA NTRS2014

Exploring NASA OMI Level 2 Data With Visualization

Satellite data products are important for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if the satellite data are well utilized and interpreted, such as model inputs from satellite, or extreme events (such as volcano eruptions, dust storms, etc.).Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite data products provided by NASA and other organizations. Such obstacles may be avoided by allowing users to visualize satellite data as images, with accurate pixel-level (Level-2) information, including pixel coverage area delineation and science team recommended quality screening for individual geophysical parameters. We present a prototype service from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) supporting Aura OMI Level-2 Data with GIS-like capabilities. Functionality includes selecting data sources (e.g., multiple parameters under the same scene, like NO2 and SO2, or the same parameter with different aggregation methods, like NO2 in OMNO2G and OMNO2D products), user-defined area-of-interest and temporal extents, zooming, panning, overlaying, sliding, and data subsetting, reformatting, and reprojection. The system will allow any user-defined portal interface (front-end) to connect to our backend server with OGC standard-compliant Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) calls. This back-end service should greatly enhance its expandability to integrate additional outside data-map sources.

Level 2↗

NASA NTRS2014

Exploring NASA OMI Level 2 Data With Visualization

Satellite data products are important for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if the satellite data are well utilized and interpreted, such as model inputs from satellite, or extreme events (such as volcano eruptions, dust storms,... etc.). Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite data products provided by NASA and other organizations. Such obstacles may be avoided by allowing users to visualize satellite data as "images", with accurate pixel-level (Level-2) information, including pixel coverage area delineation and science team recommended quality screening for individual geophysical parameters. We present a prototype service from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) supporting Aura OMI Level-2 Data with GIS-like capabilities. Functionality includes selecting data sources (e.g., multiple parameters under the same scene, like NO2 and SO2, or the same parameter with different aggregation methods, like NO2 in OMNO2G and OMNO2D products), user-defined area-of-interest and temporal extents, zooming, panning, overlaying, sliding, and data subsetting, reformatting, and reprojection. The system will allow any user-defined portal interface (front-end) to connect to our backend server with OGC standard-compliant Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) calls. This back-end service should greatly enhance its expandability to integrate additional outside data/map sources.

Aura↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Component Level Regression Testing in a Hierarchical Architecture

The Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) is an Earth system model consisting of a large suite of individual model components that can be coupled in a flexible manner to investigate a variety of Earth science issues. Specific GEOS model configurations are composed as a hierarchical collection of components based on the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF). Regression testing of GEOS is currently limited to (1) full system tests that are poor at isolating specific defects and (2) a suite of unit tests which have very limited coverage. As part of our approach to improve upon the current testing situation, we have prototyped the capability to perform regression tests on individual GEOS components by leveraging and extending existing checkpoint/restart capabilities. In our implementation, each ESMF component has 3 states: Import (what it needs to run), Export (which it needs to provide to other components), and Internal (the component state proper). By capturing, Import, Export and Internal states for a given component during a ull run of GEOS, a generic driver can then rerun the component offline and compare expected exports with those that have been saved. The hierarchical structure of GEOS introduces an interesting wrinkle when trying to test components that in turn drive interacting child components. To fully isolate a parent component, we use the approach of software mocks, in which the exports of children are also saved during the initial capture run of GEOS. Then when testing the parent component, the children components are replaced by a generic mock component that produces exports from the previously saved data and ensures that that all interdependencies among children components are satisfied.

Thomas Clune↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Component Level Testing in a Hierarchical Architecture

Tom Clune↗

NASA NTRS2022

Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Thermal Infrared (TIR) Free -Flyer Concept

Scientists and engineers from the United States and Italy are developing a thermal infrared (TIR) free-flyer concept that forms an essential element of the NASA Surface Biology & Geology (SBG) designated observable and the greater NASA Earth System Observatory (ESO), which also includes observations of aerosols, clouds, convection, and precipitation; mass change; and surface deformation & change.In response to the recommendations from the 2017 National Academies decadal survey for Earth science, NASA initiated the SBG designated observable with five key research and applications focus areas: ecosystems and natural resources, hydrology, weather, climate, and solid Earth. SBG includes spaceborne measurements of hyperspectral imagery in the visible to shortwave infrared (0.4-2.5 um) and multispectral imagery in the mid and thermal infrared (3-12 um) that provide the remote sensing data needed to inform each research and applications area. High-level TIR data products include Earth surface temperature & emissivity, evapotranspiration, substrate composition, volcanic plumes, and high-temperature features. While the science, applications, and technology build on prior mission studies conducted for more than a decade, it has only been recently that a joint team of scientists and engineers from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Istituto Nazionale Geofisica e Volcanologia (INGV), and the Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) have developed a compelling concept for a TIR free-flyer. In this concept, the TIR instrument is an eight-band radiometer. Seven of the bands are between 3 and 12 um with an additional band at 1.65 um. The instrument’s 68.8 deg total viewing angle and the free-flyer’s 665 km operational altitude results in a ground sampling distance (GSD) of <60 m at nadir, produces a swath width of 935 km, and allows for a 2-3-day revisit time. A two-band visible and near infrared (VNIR) camera, with <30 m GSD at nadir and 935 km swath width, will complement the TIR instrument. VNIR high-level data products include top & bottom of atmosphere reflectance and normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVI). The TIR instrument and VNIR camera will be mounted on a PLATiNO+ spacecraft, a multi-application, reconfigurable, and scalable platform. The launcher selected for the TIR free-flyer is the VEGA-C. To maximize the science and applications benefits the SBG-TIR free-flyer team are collaborating with personnel from the ESA Land Surface Temperature Monitoring mission (LSTM) as well individuals from the Thermal Infrared Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural resource Assessment (TRISHNA), a joint mission by CNES and ISRO. Pre-Phase A concept studies for the SBG-TIR free-flyer commenced in the spring 2021. This allows for the concept to be refined; for technical risks to be identified and mitigated, as necessary; and strategies for reducing the development schedule to be defined and assessed before conducting a NASA-ASI Mission Concept Review (MCR) in the spring of 2022 and a NASA Key Decision Point-A (KDP-A) as early as the summer of 2022. These are key milestones in being able to launch and begin operating the SBG-TIR free-flyer in the second half of the decade, so that many of the questions posed by the National Academies in the 2017 decadal survey can be answered.

Fabrizia-Buongiorno, Maria↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Improving Data Discovery, Analysis, and Visualizations With Cloud-Based User Services

The Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center (GHRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) is one of 12 DAACs managed by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) project [1]. GHRC and the other DAACs are designed to process, archive, document, and distribute NASA Earth-observing data, ranging from satellite missions to field campaigns [2]. A major goal of the DAACs is to enable science with these data. Science enabling can be difficult as datasets can be very large, use multiple formats, come from numerous platforms, and require three-dimensional visualization. GHRC is using its expertise with cloud-based technologies to develop open source and open science tools to empower users to explore, coincidentally visualize, and analyze multiple datasets. Being open source, the user community can develop visualizations for their own datasets. This presentation will expand on this objective and highlight the capabilities available to the international community now.

GHRC↗

NASA NTRS1992

Interactive interface for National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Graphics

NCAR Graphics is a FORTRAN 77 library of over 30 high-level graphics modules which are heavily used by science and engineering researchers at over 1500 sites world-wide including many universities and government agencies. These Earth science oriented modules now have a FORTRAN callable subroutine interface which excludes their use by non-programming researchers. This proposal outlines the development of a fully interactive 'point and click' menu-based interface using the prevailing toolkit standard for the X-window systems. Options for direct output to the display window and/or output to a Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) will be provided. X, PEX, and PHIGS will be implemented as the underlying windowing and graphics standards. Associated meteorological and geometric data sets would exploit the network extended NASA Common Data Format, netCDF.

Buzbee, William↗

NASA NTRS1994

NSSDC data listing

This document identifies, in a highly summarized way, all the data held at the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC). These data cover astrophysics and astronomy, solar and space physics, planetary and lunar, and Earth science disciplines. They are primarily but not exclusively from past and on-going NASA spaceflight missions. We first identify all the data electronically available through NSSDC's principal on-line (magnetic disk-based) and near-line (robotics jukebox-based) systems and then those data available on CD-ROM's. Finally, we identify all NSSDC-held data, the majority of which are still off line on magnetic tape, film, etc., but include the electronically accessible and CD-ROM-resident data of earlier sections. These comprehensive identifications are in the form of two listings, one for the majority of NSSDC-held data sets resulting from individual instruments flown on individual spacecraft and the other for the remainder of NSSDC-held data sets that do not adhere to this spacecraft/experiment/data set hierarchy. The latter listing is presented in two parts, one for the numerous source catalogs of the NSSDC-operated Astronomical Data Center and the other for the remainder.

Horowitz, Richard↗

NASA NTRS1993

Interactive interface for National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) graphics

NCAR Graphics is a FORTRAN 77 library of over 30 high-level graphics modules which are heavily used by science and engineering researchers at over 1500 sites world-wide including many universities and government agencies. These Earth science oriented modules now have a FORTRAN callable subroutine interface which excludes their use by non-programming researchers. This proposal outlines the development of a fully interactive 'point and click' menu-based interface using the prevailing toolkit standard for the X-Window System. Options for direct output to the display window and/or output to a computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) will be provided. X, PEX, and PHIGS will be implemented as the underlying windowing and graphics standards. Associated meteorological and geometric data sets would exploit the network extended NASA Common Data Format, netCDF.

Buzbee, William↗