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At least 217 records · Page 12

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↗

Monitoring the Chesapeake Bay using satellite data for Superflux III

The TIROS-N and NOAA-6, and GOES visible infrared satellite data were used to identify and locate surface oceanographic thermal fronts for the purpose of issuing daily and premission advisory briefings in support of the Superflux 3 in situ and remote sensing experiment in the Chesapeake Bay region. Satellite data were collected for the period 1 - 22 October 1980. A summary of that data is presented.

Vukovich, F. M.↗

Naval applications of a TAE-derived executive

Global Imaging introduced an interactive image processing system in 1985, featuring the Global Applications Executive (GAE) which is a modified Transportable Applications Executive (TAE) environment. The executive plus a large variety of image processing functions, known commercially as the System 9000, are designed to operate on the Hewlett-Packard as its standard desktop computer (NSDTC), the System 9000 has found easy acceptance for Naval image processing applications. The Department of Oceanography at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, has installed an NSDTC with an image processing upgrade. This interactive digital image processing workstation is used by the midshipmen and staff for training and research in remote sensing oceanography. The turn-key system provides the capability to process imagery from commonly used Earth observation spacecraft, in conjunction with in situ data sets. The Acoustic Group at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. has acquired its first System 9000 to interactively process ocean acoustic data gathered by shipboard sensors. Finally, the Naval Oceanographic Facility in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi has acquired a System 9000 to provide a second generation Tactical Environmental Support System (TESS 2) prototype with image processing capabilities. This will permit merging of conventional data with polar orbiting spacecraft imagery. A brief description of these applications and the TAE-derived system is presented.

Guberek, Michael↗

Earth Science Data Archive and Access at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC)

The Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), as an integral part of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), is the official source of data for several important earth remote sensing missions. These include the Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) launched in August 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) launched in November 1997, and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) scheduled for launch in mid 1999 as part of the EOS AM-1 instrumentation package. The data generated from these missions supports a host of users in the hydrological, land biosphere and oceanographic research and applications communities. The volume and nature of the data present unique challenges to an Earth science data archive and distribution system such as the DAAC. The DAAC system receives, archives and distributes a large number of standard data products on a daily basis, including data files that have been reprocessed with updated calibration data or improved analytical algorithms. A World Wide Web interface is provided allowing interactive data selection and automatic data subscriptions as distribution options. The DAAC also creates customized and value-added data products, which allow additional user flexibility and reduced data volume. Another significant part of our overall mission is to provide ancillary data support services and archive support for worldwide field campaigns designed to validate the results from the various satellite-derived measurements. In addition to direct data services, accompanying documentation, WWW links to related resources, support for EOSDIS data formats, and informed response to inquiries are routinely provided to users. The current GDAAC WWW search and order system is being restructured to provide users with a simplified, hierarchical access to data. Data Browsers have been developed for several data sets to aid users in ordering data. These Browsers allow users to specify spatial, temporal, and other parameter criteria in searching for and previewing data.

Leptoukh, Gregory↗

A multiprocessor airborne lidar data system

A new multiprocessor data acquisition system was developed for the existing Airborne Oceanographic Lidar (AOL). This implementation simultaneously utilizes five single board 68010 microcomputers, the UNIX system V operating system, and the real time executive VRTX. The original data acquisition system was implemented on a Hewlett Packard HP 21-MX 16 bit minicomputer using a multi-tasking real time operating system and a mixture of assembly and FORTRAN languages. The present collection of data sources produce data at widely varied rates and require varied amounts of burdensome real time processing and formatting. It was decided to replace the aging HP 21-MX minicomputer with a multiprocessor system. A new and flexible recording format was devised and implemented to accommodate the constantly changing sensor configuration. A central feature of this data system is the minimization of non-remote sensing bus traffic. Therefore, it is highly desirable that each micro be capable of functioning as much as possible on-card or via private peripherals. The bus is used primarily for the transfer of remote sensing data to or from the buffer queue.

Wright, C. W.↗

A biological and physical oceanographic remote sensing study aboard the Calypso

The paper discusses an oceanographic remote sensing program conducted aboard the R/V Calypso in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to provide information for correlating ocean measurements with remotely sensed observations. Remote sensors on satellites and aircraft are used as operations and experiment planning tools as well as for scientific data acquisition. Emphasis is on providing surface-truth measurements for OCS flights and on investigating the area of the Gulf affected by the outflow of the Mississippi River. The discussion covers the shipboard instrumentation, ocean color scanner data acquisition and results, NOAA/VHRR data analysis approach, and Landsat and APT/ATS as planning tools. The research effort has demonstrated the feasibility of using satellite data as a supportive method to aid an oceanographic research vessel on a near real-time basis.

Harlan, J. C.↗

Airborne measurements of laser backscatter from the ocean surface

The data are taken with three different pulsed laser sources, one each in the ultraviolet (337.1 nm), visible (532.1 nm) and infrared (9.5 microns). The principal instrument is the airborne oceanographic lidar of the NASA Wallops Flight Facility. The data on mean laser backscatter and its variation with angle off nadir are found to be consistent with previous analytical work and some previous experimental work. The absolute calibration of this backscatter in terms of an effective Lambertian reflectance is less precise, but the data support values near nadir of approximately 0.20 for low wind speeds. It is noted that these values are 1 order of magnitude larger than the Fresnel reflectance for an air/water discontinuity in the refractive index. Whereas the normalized standard deviation (modulation factor) of backscatter is less well understood analytically, it is defined by these measurements to range from a few percent to over 50 percent at nadir and to increase off nadir as the tangent of theta or faster. The data are uncertain beyond 15 deg off nadir owing to a dynamic range limitation.

Bufton, J. L.↗

Temporary BOMEX data archive

Environmental data service facility for dissemination of Barbados oceanographic and meteorological sea/air information

Source record↗

TOPEX/POSEIDON joint verification plan

TOPEX/POSEIDON is a satellite mission that will use altimetry to make precise measurements of sea level with the primary goal of studying global ocean circulation. The mission is jointly conducted by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the French space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The current plans call for a launch of the satellite in August 1992. The primary mission will last 3 years, and provisions were made to extend the mission for an additional 2 years. The mission was coordinated with a number of international oceanographic and meteorological programs, including the World Ocean Circulation Experiment and the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Program, both of which are sponsored by the World Climate Research Program. The observations of TOPEX/POSEIDON are timed to provide a global perspective for interpreting the in situ measurements collected by these programs and in turn will be combined with observations of other satellites to achieve a global, four-dimensional description of the circulation of the world's oceans. In the autumn of 1987, an international team of 38 Principal Investigators was selected to participate in the mission. These scientists have been working closely with the TOPEX/POSEIDON Project to refine the mission design and science plans. During the first 6 months after launch, a number of these investigators will join with the project to conduct a wide range of oceanographic and geophysical investigations using the TOPEX/POSEIDON data. The purpose of these investigations is to demonstrate the scientific utility of the mission to the international scientific community.

Source record↗

Biomass Burning Emissions in the Cerrado of Brazil Computed with Remote Sensing Data and GIS

Biomass burnin is a common force in much of the developing tropical world where it has wide-ranging environmental impacts. Fire is a component of tropical deforestation and is 0 p often used to clear broad expanses of land for shifting agriculture and cattle ranching. Frequent burning in the tropical savannas is a distinct problem from that of primary forest. In Brazil, most of the burning occurs in the cerrado which occupies approximately 1,800,000 km2, primarily on the great plateau in central Brazil. Wildland and agricultural fires are dramatic sources of regional air pollution in central Brazil. Biomass burning is an important source of a large number of trace gases including greenhouse gases and other chemically active species. Knowledge of trace gas emissions from biomass burning in Brazil is limited by a number of factors, most notably relative emission factors for gases from specific fire types/fuels and accurate estimates of temporal and spatial distribution and extent of fire activity. Estimates of trace gas emissions during September 1992 will be presented that incorporates a digital map of vegetation classes, pyrogenic emission factors calculated from ground and aircraft missions, and Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) fire products derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. The regional emissions calculated from National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) AVHRR estimates of fire activity will provide an independent estimate for comparison with results obtained by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Transport and Atmospheric Chemistry Near the Equator - Atlantic (TRACE-A) experiments.

Guild, Liane S.↗

Using NASA's Giovanni System to Simulate Time-Series Stations in the Outflow Region of California's Eel River

Oceanographic time-series stations provide vital data for the monitoring of oceanic processes, particularly those associated with trends over time and interannual variability. There are likely numerous locations where the establishment of a time-series station would be desirable, but for reasons of funding or logistics, such establishment may not be feasible. An alternative to an operational time-series station is monitoring of sites via remote sensing. In this study, the NASA Giovanni data system is employed to simulate the establishment of two time-series stations near the outflow region of California s Eel River, which carries a high sediment load. Previous time-series analysis of this location (Acker et al. 2009) indicated that remotely-sensed chl a exhibits a statistically significant increasing trend during summer (low flow) months, but no apparent trend during winter (high flow) months. Examination of several newly-available ocean data parameters in Giovanni, including 8-day resolution data, demonstrates the differences in ocean parameter trends at the two locations compared to regionally-averaged time-series. The hypothesis that the increased summer chl a values are related to increasing SST is evaluated, and the signature of the Eel River plume is defined with ocean optical parameters.

Acker, James G.↗

Preliminary Observing System Simulation Experiments for Doppler Wind Lidars Deployed on the International Space Station

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Software Systems Support Office (SSSO) is participating in a multi-agency study of the impact of assimilating Doppler wind lidar observations on numerical weather prediction. Funded by NASA's Earth Science Technology Office, SSSO has worked with Simpson Weather Associates to produce time series of synthetic lidar observations mimicking the OAWL and WISSCR lidar instruments deployed on the International Space Station. In addition, SSSO has worked to assimilate a portion of these observations those drawn from the NASA fvGCM Nature Run into the NASA GEOS-DAS global weather prediction system in a series of Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs). These OSSEs will complement parallel OSSEs prepared by the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation and by NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. In this talk, we will describe our procedure and provide available OSSE results.

Observing System Simulation↗

Solutions Network Formulation Report. Improving NOAA's Tides and Currents Through Enhanced Data Inputs from NASA's Ocean Surface Topography Mission

The Nation uses water-level data for a variety of practical purposes, including hydrography, nautical charting, maritime navigation, coastal engineering, and tsunami and storm surge warnings (NOAA, 2002; Digby et al., 1999). Long-term applications include marine boundary determinations, tidal predictions, sea-level trend monitoring, oceanographic research, and climate research. Accurate and timely information concerning sea-level height, tide, and ocean current is needed to understand their impact on coastal management, disaster management, and public health. Satellite altimeter data products are currently used by hundreds of researchers and operational users to monitor ocean circulation and to improve scientists understanding of the role of the oceans in climate and weather. The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Ocean Service has been monitoring sea-level variations for many years (NOAA, 2006). NOAA s Tides & Currents DST (decision support tool, managed by the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, is the portal to a vast collection of oceanographic and meteorological data (historical and real-time), predictions, and nowcasts and forecasts. This report assesses the capacity of NASA s satellite altimeter data to meet societal decision support needs through incorporation into NOAA s Tides & Currents.

Guest, DeNeice C.↗

Coral Reef Remote Sensing using Simulated VIIRS and LDCM Imagery

The Rapid Prototyping Capability (RPC) node at NASA Stennis Space Center, MS, was used to simulate NASA next-generation sensor imagery over well-known coral reef areas: Looe Key, FL, and Kaneohe Bay, HI. The objective was to assess the degree to which next-generation sensor systems the Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) might provide key input to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON)/Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) Decision Support Tool (DST). The DST data layers produced from the simulated imagery concerned water quality and benthic classification map layers. The water optical parameters of interest were chlorophyll (Chl) and the absorption coefficient (a). The input imagery used by the RPC for simulation included spaceborne (Hyperion) and airborne (AVIRIS) hyperspectral data. Specific field data to complement and aid in validation of the overflight data was used when available. The results of the experiment show that the next-generation sensor systems are capable of providing valuable data layer resources to NOAA's ICON/CREWS DST.

Estep, Leland↗

Coral Reef Remote Sensing Using Simulated VIIRS and LDCM Imagery

The Rapid Prototyping Capability (RPC) node at NASA Stennis Space Center, MS, was used to simulate NASA next-generation sensor imagery over well-known coral reef areas: Looe Key, FL, and Kaneohe Bay, HI. The objective was to assess the degree to which next-generation sensor systems-the Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM)- might provide key input to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON)/Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) Decision Support Tool (DST). The DST data layers produced from the simulated imagery concerned water quality and benthic classification map layers. The water optical parameters of interest were chlorophyll (Chl) and the absorption coefficient (a). The input imagery used by the RPC for simulation included spaceborne (Hyperion) and airborne (AVIRIS) hyperspectral data. Specific field data to complement and aid in validation of the overflight data was used when available. The results of the experiment show that the next-generation sensor systems are capable of providing valuable data layer resources to NOAA s ICON/CREWS DST.

Estep, Leland↗

Seasat data applications in ocean industries

It is pointed out that the world population expansion and resulting shortages of food, minerals, and fuel have focused additional attention on the world's oceans. In this context, aspects of weather prediction and the monitoring/prediction of long-range climatic anomalies become more important. In spite of technological advances, the commercial ocean industry and the naval forces suffer now from inadequate data and forecast products related to the oceans. The Seasat Program and the planned Navy-Remote Oceanographic Satellite System (N-ROSS) represent major contributions to improved observational coverage and the processing needed to achieve better forecasts. The Seasat Program was initiated to evaluate the effectiveness of the remote sensing of oceanographic phenomena from a satellite platform. Possible oceanographic satellite applications are presented in a table, and the impact of Seasat data on industry sectors is discussed. Attention is given to offshore oil development, deep-ocean mining, fishing, and marine transportation.

Montgomery, D. R.↗

Societal Benefits of Ocean Altimetry Data

The NASA/CNES Jason satellite, follow-on to the highly successful TOPEX/Poseidon mission, continues to provide oceanographers and marine operators across the globe with a continuous twelve-year, high quality stream of sea surface height data. The mission is expected to extend through 2007, when the NASA/NOAA/CNES follow-on mission, OSTM, will be launched with the wide-swath ocean altimeter on board. This unprecedented resource of valuable ocean data is being used to map sea surface height, geostrophic velocity, significant wave height, and wind speed over the global oceans. Altimeter data products are currently used by hundreds of researchers and operational users to monitor ocean circulation and improve our understanding of the role of the oceans in climate and weather. Ocean altimeter data has many societal benefits and has proven invaluable in many practical applications including; a) Ocean forecasting systems; b) Climate research and forecasting; c) Ship routing; d) Fisheries management; e) Marine mammal habitat monitoring; f) Hurricane forecasting and tracking; g) Debris tracking; and h) Precision marine operations such as cable-laying and oil production. The data has been cited in nearly 2,000 research and popular articles since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992, and almost 200 scientific users receive the global coverage altimeter data on a monthly basis. In addition to the scientific and operational uses of the data, the educational community has seized the unique concepts highlighted by these altimeter missions as a resource for teaching ocean science to students from grade school through college. This presentation will highlight societal benefits of ocean altimetry data in the areas of climate studies, marine operations, marine research, and non-ocean investigations.

sea surface height↗

AOIPS water resources data management system

A geocoded data management system applicable for hydrological applications was designed to demonstrate the utility of the Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System (AOIPS) for hydrological applications. Within that context, the geocoded hydrology data management system was designed to take advantage of the interactive capability of the AOIPS hardware. Portions of the Water Resource Data Management System which best demonstrate the interactive nature of the hydrology data management system were implemented on the AOIPS. A hydrological case study was prepared using all data supplied for the Bear River watershed located in northwest Utah, southeast Idaho, and western Wyoming.

Merritt, E. S.↗