Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Vegetable Production”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-CMW Charleston Mesquite Woodland

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-CMW Charleston Mesquite Woodland. This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-CMW Charleston Mesquite Woodland produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - Site is a riparian mesquite woodland located along an old alluvial terrace along the banks of the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona. Site climate is semiarid with monsoonal (Jul-Sep) rainfall. The mesquite trees access groundwater from an alluvial aquifer recharged elsewhere. Site water balance is not closed and ET greatly exceeds precipitation. The understory grasses and forbs are rainfall dependent. This groundwater-dependent ecosystem is far more ebulliant and productive than the upland vegetation around it (shrublands and grasslands).

Scott, Russell [USDA-ARS]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Estimating Switchgrass Biomass Yield and Lignocellulose Composition from UAV-Based Indices

Innovative methods for estimating commercial-scale switchgrass yields and feedstock quality are essential to optimize harvest logistics and biorefinery efficiency for sustainable aviation fuel production. This study utilized vegetation indices (VIs) derived from multispectral images to predict biomass yield and lignocellulose concentrations of advanced bioenergy-type switchgrass cultivars (“Liberty” and “Independence”) under two N rates (28 and 56 kg N ha –1 ). Field-scale plots were arranged in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) and replicated three times at Urbana, IL. Multispectral images captured during the 2021–2023 growing seasons were used to extract VIs. The results show that linear and exponential models outperformed partial least square and random forest models, with mid-August imagery providing the best predictions for biomass, cellulose, and hemicellulose. The green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI) was the best univariate predictor for biomass yield (R 2 = 0.86), while a multivariate combination of the GNDVI and normalized difference red-edge index (NDRE) enhanced prediction accuracy (R 2 = 0.88). Cellulose was best predicted using the NDRE (R 2 = 0.53), whereas hemicellulose prediction was most effective with a multivariate model combining the GNDVI, NDRE, NDVI, and green ratio vegetation index (GRVI) (R 2 = 0.44). These findings demonstrate the potential of UAV-based VIs for the in-season estimation of biomass yield and cellulose concentration.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1985

Modular plant culture systems for life support functions

The current state of knowledge with regard to culture of higher plants in the zero-G environment is assessed; and concepts for the empirical development of small plant growth chambers for the production of salad type vegetables on space shuttle or space station are evaluated. American and Soviet space flight experiences in gravitational biology are summarized.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1986

Operational development of small plant growth systems

The results of a study undertaken on the first phase of an empricial effort in the development of small plant growth chambers for production of salad type vegetables on space shuttle or space station are discussed. The overall effort is visualized as providing the underpinning of practical experience in handling of plant systems in space which will provide major support for future efforts in planning, design, and construction of plant-based (phytomechanical) systems for support of human habitation in space. The assumptions underlying the effort hold that large scale phytomechanical habitability support systems for future space stations must evolve from the simple to the complex. The highly complex final systems will be developed from the accumulated experience and data gathered from repetitive tests and trials of fragments or subsystems of the whole in an operational mode. These developing system components will, meanwhile, serve a useful operational function in providing psychological support and diversion for the crews.

Scheld, H. W.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Separability of boreal forest species in the Lake Jennette area, Minnesota

In order to exploit the use of thematic mapper (TM) data to obtain vegetation and net primary productivity maps in the boreal forest, three aircraft flights were undertaken over the area near Ely, MN, with the NS 001 Thematic Mapper Simulator. Attention is presently given to an analysis of these 1983 data, which attempted to separate coniferous trees from deciduous ones. Canopy reflectance models and measured optical properties of the scattering elements have been used to deepen understanding of this separability, and to relate the ratio of nadir view reflectances in TM bands 4 and 3 to the overstory leaf area index. A map that is proportional to the leaf area index for deciduous species is presented.

Shen, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Relating SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference to precipitation and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration - A reappraisal

The relations of Scanning Multi-channel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) 37 GHz polarization difference to precipitation and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations are reviewed. Annual precipitation data, a surrogate for green leaf vegetation density, are compared with the coincident SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference from arid and semi-arid West Africa for 1982-85. The SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference was found to be poorly correlated with precipitation in arid and semi-arid zones, contrary to previous reports. Coincident SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference and atmospheric CO2 concentration data from July 1981 to June 1983 are also reviewed. Previously suggested relations of the SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference to atmospheric CO2 concentrations were found to be heavily biased by winter conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. The use of the SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference for determining green leaf vegetation density, net primary production, atmospheric CO2 draw-down and related processes is questioned.

Tucker, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Implementation and Analysis of the Dual-channel Algorithm for the Retrieval of Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth for SMAP

In August 2020, SMAP released a new version of its soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical depth (VOD) products. In this work, we review the methodology followed by the SMAP regularized dual-channel (DCA) retrieval algorithm. We show that the new implementation generated SM retrievals that not only satisfy the SMAP accuracy requirements but also show a performance comparable to the single-channel algorithm that uses the V polarized brightness temperature (SCA-V). Due to a lack of in situ measurements we cannot evaluate the accuracy of the VOD, but in this work, we will show analysis with the intention of providing an understanding of the VOD product.

O’Neill, P.↗
NASA NTRS2024

The Economics of Farming Expansion in the Brazilian Cerrado Under Possible Effects of Climate Change

This analysis assesses the financial viability of legally investing in native Cerrado vegetation deforestation for crop production, considering climate change. The study uses data from twelve different crop models based on three different climate models to predict potential future crop yields in cleared land for growing soy and maize. The outcomes show that in many micro-regions, investments in clearing land for crop production would destroy economic value, that is, generate a negative net present value because of low/negative and volatile cashflows driven primarily by future yields as affected by climate. Our analysis was carried out based on present agricultural practices and technology. As climate changes, farmers may adapt their practices, which can lead to more resilient and productive crops, or grow different crops, which could provide better returns on investment in clearing land than the ones resulting from our analysis. Despite various uncertainties, farmers, policy makers and financial institutions should be aware of the climatic and financial risks associated with land clearing in Brazil, mainly in micro-regions in which all scenarios resulted in negative outcomes in the investment analysis.

agricultural expansion↗
NASA NTRS2021

Regularized Dual-Channel Algorithm for the Retrieval of Soil Moisture and Vegetation Optical Depth from SMAP Measurements

In August 2020, SMAP released a new version of its soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical depth (VOD) retrieval products. In this work, we review the methodology followed by the SMAP regularized dual-channel (DCA) retrieval algorithm. We show that the new implementation generates SM retrievals that not only satisfy the SMAP accuracy requirements but also show a performance comparable to the single-channel algorithm that uses the V polarized brightness temperature (SCA-V). Due to a lack of in situ measurements we cannot evaluate the accuracy of the VOD. In this work, we show analyses with the intention of providing an understanding of the VOD product. We compare the VOD results with those from SMOS. We also study the relation of the SMAP VOD with two vegetation parameters: tree height and biomass.

Julian Chaubell↗
NASA NTRS1990

Satellite remote sensing of primary production in the Sahel using NOAA AVHRR 1981-1988

Field measurements of primary production in semiarid grasslands in three Sahelian countries over a period of 8 years are analyzed in conjunction with multitemporal sums of vegetation indices derived from the NOAA spacecraft's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer. The results demonstrate that there is a strong linear relationship between the satellite observations of vegetation indices and the primary production in the range 0-3,000 kg/ha. The confidence intervals of estimation of production were in the range + or - 61-161 kg/ha.

Prince, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Usefulness of Skylab color photography and ERTS-1 multispectral imagery for mapping range vegetation types in southwestern Wyoming

The author has identified the following significant results. Aerial photography at scales of 1:43,400 and 1:104,500 was used to evaluate the usefulness of Skylab color photography (scales of 1:477,979 and 1:712,917) and ERTS-1 multispectral imagery (scale 1:1,000,000) for mapping range vegetation types. The project was successful in producing a range vegetation map of the 68,000 acres of salt desert shrub type in southwestern Wyoming. Techniques for estimation of above-ground green biomass have not yet been confirmed due to the mechanical failure of the photometer used in obtaining relative reflectance measurement. However, graphs of log transmittance versus above-ground green biomass indicate that production estimates may be made for some vegetation types from ERTS imagery. Other vegetation types not suitable for direct ERTS estimation of green biomass may possibly be related to those vegetation types whose production has been estimated from the multispectral imagery.

Gordon, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Assessing Vegetation Function with Imaging Spectroscopy

Healthy vegetation function supports diverse biological communities and ecosystem processes, and provides crops, forest products, forage, and countless other benefits. Vegetation function can be assessed by examining dynamic processes and by evaluating plant traits, which themselves are dynamic. Using both trait-based and process-based approaches, spectroscopy can assess vegetation function at multiple scales using a variety of sensors and platforms ranging from proximal to airborne and satellite measurements. Since spectroscopic data are defined by the instruments and platforms available, along with their corresponding spatial, temporal and spectral scales, and since these scales may not always match those of the function of interest, consideration of scale is a necessary focus. For a full understanding of vegetation processes, combined (multi-scale) sampling methodsusing empirical and theoretical approaches are required, along with improved informatics.

Gamon, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Southern Arizona riparian habitat: Spatial distribution and analysis

The objectives of this study were centered around the demonstration of remote sensing as an inventory tool and researching the multiple uses of riparian vegetation. Specific study objectives were to: (1) map riparian vegetation along the Gila River, San Simon Creek, San Pedro River, Pantano Wash, (2) determine the feasibility of automated mapping using LANDSAT-1 computer compatible tapes, (3) locate and summarize existing mpas delineating riparian vegetation, (4) summarize data relevant to Southern Arizona's riparian products and uses, (5) document recent riparian vegetation changes along a selected portion of the San Pedro River, (6) summarize historical changes in composition and distribution of riparian vegetation, and (7) summarize sources of available photography pertinent to Southern Arizona.

Lacey, J. R.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for Development of Vegetative Oil Sorghum: From Lab-to-Field

Biomass crops engineered to accumulate energy-dense triacylglycerols (TAG or ‘vegetable oils’) in their vegetative tissues have emerged as potential feedstocks to meet the growing demand for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Unlike oil palm and oilseed crops, the current commercial sources of TAG, vegetative tissues, such as leaves and stems, only transiently accumulate TAG. In this report, we used grain (Texas430 or TX430) and sugar-accumulating ‘sweet’ (Ramada) genotypes of sorghum, a high-yielding, environmentally resilient biomass crop, to accumulate TAG in leaves and stems. We initially tested several gene combinations for a ‘push-pull-protect’ strategy. The top TAG-yielding constructs contained five oil transgenes for a sorghum WRINKLED1 transcription factor (‘push’), a Cuphea viscosissima diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT; ‘pull’), a modified sesame oleosin (‘protect’) and two combinations of specialized Cuphea lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferases and medium-chain acyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterases. Though intended to generate oils with medium-chain fatty acids, engineered lines accumulated oleic acid-rich oil to amounts of up to 2.5% DW in leaves and 2.0% DW in stems in the greenhouse, 36-fold and 49-fold increases relative to wild-type (WT) plants, respectively. Under field conditions, the top-performing event accumulated TAG to amount to 5.5% DW in leaves and 3.5% DW in stems, 78-fold and 58-fold increases, respectively, relative to WT TX430. Transcriptomic and fluxomic analyses revealed potential bottlenecks for increased TAG accumulation. Overall, our studies highlight the utility of a lab-to-field pipeline coupled with systems biology studies to deliver high vegetative oil sorghum for SAF and renewable diesel production.

Biofuels↗
NASA NTRS2019

GEONEX Data Products: Geostationary Satellite Derived Land Surface and Atmospheric Public Data Products

The latest generation of geostationary satellites carry sensors such as the Advanced Baseline Imager (GOES-16/17) and the Advanced Himawari Imager (Himawari-8/9) that closely mimic the spatial and spectral characteristics of MODIS and VIIRS, useful for monitoring land surface conditions. The NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) team at Ames Research Center has embarked on a collaborative effort among scientists from NASA and NOAA exploring the feasibility of producing operational land surface products similar to those from MODIS/VIIRS. The team built a processing pipeline called GEONEX that is capable of converting raw geostationary data into routine products of Fires, surface reflectances, vegetation indices, LAI/FPAR, ET and GPP/NPP using algorithms adapted from both NASA/EOS and NOAA/GOES-R programs. The GEONEX pipeline will begin to produce provisional data products to be consumed by external collaborators and the academic community. In order to better inform and introduce the GEONEX products to the science community, the provisional products shall be distributed from the NAS data portal, located at data.nas.nasa.gov, and simple webpage at www.nasa.gov/geonex has been deployed, which describes any algorithms used in deriving the products, user manuals and data file information. We will also update the status of the data processing, on the website and provide links to the latest datasets, and use a geonex mailing list, using lists.nasa.gov.

Wang, Weile↗
NASA NTRS2014

A Web Architecture to Geographically Interrogate CHIRPS Rainfall and eMODIS NDVI for Land Use Change

Monitoring of rainfall and vegetation over the continent of Africa is important for assessing the status of crop health and agriculture, along with long‐term changes in land use change. These issues can be addressed through examination of long‐term precipitation (rainfall) data sets and remote sensing of land surface vegetation and land use types. Two products have been used previously to address these goals: the Climate Hazard Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) rainfall data, and multi‐day composites of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the USGS eMODIS product. Combined, these are very large data sets that require unique tools and architecture to facilitate a variety of data analysis methods or data exploration by the end user community. To address these needs, a web‐enabled system has been developed to allow end‐users to interrogate CHIRPS rainfall and eMODIS NDVI data over the continent of Africa. The architecture allows end‐users to use custom defined geometries, or the use of predefined political boundaries in their interrogation of the data. The massive amount of data interrogated by the system allows the end‐users with only a web browser to extract vital information in order to investigate land use change and its causes. The system can be used to generate daily, monthly and yearly averages over a geographical area and range of dates of interest to the user. It also provides analysis of trends in precipitation or vegetation change for times of interest. The data provided back to the end‐user is displayed in graphical form and can be exported for use in other, external tools. The development of this tool has significantly decreased the investment and requirements for end‐users to use these two important datasets, while also allowing the flexibility to the end‐user to limit the search to the area of interest.

Burks, Jason E.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Overview of Global Monitoring of Terrestrial Chlorophyll Fluorescence from Space

Despite the critical importance of photosynthesis for the Earth system, understanding how it is influenced by factors such as climate variability, disturbance history, and water or nutrient availability remains a challenge because of the complex interactions and the lack of GPP measurements at various temporal and spatial scales. Space observations of the sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) electromagnetic signal emitted by plants in the 650-850nm spectral range hold the promise of providing a new view of vegetation photosynthesis on a global basis. Global retrievals of SIF from space have recently been achieved from a number of spaceborne spectrometers originally intended for atmospheric research. Despite not having been designed for land applications, such instruments have turned out to provide the necessary spectral and radiometric sensitivity for SIF retrieval from space. The first global measurements of SIF were achieved in 2011 from spectra acquired by the Japanese GOSAT mission launched in 2009. The retrieval takes advantage of the high spectral resolution provided by GOSATs Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) which allows the evaluation of the in-filling of solar Fraunhofer lines by SIF. Unfortunately, GOSAT only provides a sparse spatial sampling with individual soundings separated by several hundred kilometers. Complementary, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) instruments onboard MetOp-A and MetOp-B enable SIF retrievals since 2007 with a continuous and global spatial coverage. GOME-2 measures in the red and near-infrared (NIR) spectral regions with a spectral resolution of 0.5 nm and a pixel size of up to 40x40 km2. Most recently, another global and spatially continuous data set of SIF retrievals at 740 nm spanning the 2003-2012 time frame has been produced from ENVISATSCIAMACHY. This observational scenario has been completed by the first fluorescence data from the NASA-JPL OCO-2 mission (launched in July 2014) and the upcoming Copernicus' Sentinel 5-Precursor to be launched in early 2016. OCO-2 and TROPOMI offer the possibility of monitoring SIF globally with a 100-fold improvement in spatial and temporal resolution with respect to the current measurements from the GOSAT, GOME-2 and SCIAMACHY missions. In this contribution, we will provide an overview of existing global SIF data sets derived from space-based atmospheric spectrometers and will demonstrate the potential of such data to improve our knowledge of vegetation photosynthesis and gross primary production at the synoptic scale. We will show examples of ongoing research exploiting SIF data for an improved monitoring of photosynthetic activity in different ecosystems, including large crop belts worldwide, the Amazon rainforest and boreal evergreen forests.

vegetation agriculture satellite↗
NASA NTRS2012

Net Primary Production of Terrestrial Ecosystems from 2000 to 2009

The CASA (Carnegie-Ames-Stanford) ecosystem model has been used to estimate monthly carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems from 2000 to 2009, with global data inputs from NASA's Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) vegetation cover mapping. Net primary production (NPP) flux for atmospheric carbon dioxide has varied slightly from year-to-year, but was predicted to have increased over short multi-year periods in the regions of the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere, South Asia, Central Africa, and the western Amazon since the year 2000. These CASA results for global NPP were found to be in contrast to other recently published modeling trends for terrestrial NPP with high sensitivity to regional drying patterns. Nonetheless, periodic declines in regional NPP were predicted by CASA for the southern and western Untied States, the southern Amazon, and southern and eastern Africa. NPP in tropical forest zones was examined in greater detail to discover lower annual production values than previously reported in many global models across the tropical rainforest zones, likely due to the enhanced detection of lower production ecosystems replacing primary rainforest.

Terrestiral ecosystems↗