Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “climate data”

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 271 records · Page 15

VIIRS On-Orbit Calibration for Ocean Color Data Processing

The NASA VIIRS Ocean Science Team (VOST) has the task of evaluating Suomi NPP VIIRS ocean color data for the continuity of the NASA ocean color climate data records. The generation of science quality ocean color data products requires an instrument calibration that is stable over time. Since the VIIRS NIR Degradation Anomaly directly impacts the bands used for atmospheric correction of the ocean color data (Bands M6 and M7), the VOST has adapted the VIIRS on-orbit calibration approach to meet the ocean science requirements. The solar diffuser calibration time series and the solar diffuser stability monitor time series have been used to derive changes in the instrument response and diffuser reflectance over time for bands M1-M11.

Eplee, Robert E., Jr.↗

Lessons Learned in Building Long-Term Multi-Satellite Global Precipitation Records

Efforts to construct long-term global precipitation data sets from the decades-long record of satellite (and other) data historically have fallen into one of two categories. Climate Data Records (CDR), such as the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP), prioritize homogeneity over fine-scale accuracy. On the other hand, High Resolution Precipitation Products (HRPP), such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), emphasize the use of data from all available satellites. For both types of products, experience has shown that it is critical to choose the appropriate reference standard to intercalibrate an ever-evolving constellation of satellite sensors. Towards this end, we have used passive microwave (PMW) in developing GPCP, and combined PMW-radar in TMPA.The launch of the TRMM follow-on Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission in 2014 gave birth to several nearly-global HRPP's, including the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). Our strategy in refining IMERG has been to first focus on the tropics and mid-latitudes, where we have relatively high confidence, and only more recently begin to expand into the lower-confidence high latitudes. Similarly, although GPCP has provided nearly-global estimates since its inception in the early 1990's, the advent of sensors such as CloudSat has facilitated new efforts to modernize its estimates at high latitudes.For each of these data sets, it is expected that the final merged estimate should tend to track along with its respective calibration standard. Time series depicting GPCP, TMPA, and IMERG will be presented, in order to demonstrate the extent to which this is so. Additionally, comparisons amongst the products will show areas of agreement and highlight areas where further improvements are needed.

Nelkin, Eric J.↗

Side-by-Side Comparison of Subhourly Clipping Models

Over the past several years there have been numerous attempts at quantifying the inherent power clipping of inverters due to sub-hourly irradiance variability that is not captured in hourly PV performance models. Different models have been proposed to correct for these clipping losses in PV performance estimates, including matrix lookup models, distribution modeling of the PV power performance within a given hour, and machine learning methods. To date, there have been few comprehensive quantitative comparisons of these inverter clipping correction modeling approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches in predicting the actual behavior of PV system inverter clipping. In this study, we perform such a comparison, evaluating the Allen and Walker correction loss modeling approaches recently implemented in the System Advisor Model (SAM) against clipping losses modeled with 1-minute climate data. These comparisons were performed across a variety of climate locations and inverter loading ratios to thoroughly analyze the effectiveness of these modeling approaches relative to each other. Results from this analysis reveal that both clipping correction approaches improve annual energy accuracy to within 2% of 1-minute modeled energy yield. The two models predict annual clipping loss more accurately than simple hourly power limit clipping, with the Allen method typically being slightly more accurate at typical ILR values and the Walker method often being slightly more accurate at high ILR values The models can improve accuracy over the status quo clipping approach up to 3 percentage points in systems with ILR of 2.0, showing the importance of this modeling factor in energy yield estimates.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,MATHEMATICS A↗

Ocean Surface Topography Data Products and Tools

The Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archiving Center (PO.DAAC), NASA's primary data center for archiving and distributing oceanographic data, is supporting the Jason and TOPEX/Poseidon satellite tandem missions by providing a variety of data products, tools, and distribution methods to the wider scientific and general community. PO.DAAC has developed several new data products for sea level residual measurements, providing a longterm climate data record from 1992 to the present These products provide compatible measurements of sea level residuals for the entire time series including the tandem TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason mission. Several data distribution tool. are available from NASA PO.DAAC. The Near-Real-Time Image Distribution Server (NEREIDS) provides quicklook browse images and binary data files The PO.DAAC Ocean ESIP Tool (POET) provides interactive, on-tine data subsetting and visualization for several altimetry data products.

Jason 1↗

The First Prediction of a Rift Valley Fever Outbreak

El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) related anomalies were analyzed using a combination of satellite measurements of elevated sea surface temperatures, and subsequent elevated rainfall and satellite derived normalized difference vegetation index data. A Rift Valley fever risk mapping model using these climate data predicted areas where outbreaks of Rift Valley fever in humans and animals were expected and occurred in the Horn of Africa from December 2006 to May 2007. The predictions were subsequently confirmed by entomological and epidemiological field investigations of virus activity in the areas identified as at risk. Accurate spatial and temporal predictions of disease activity, as it occurred first in southern Somalia and then through much of Kenya before affecting northern Tanzania, provided a 2 to 6 week period of warning for the Horn of Africa that facilitated disease outbreak response and mitigation activities. This is the first prospective prediction of a Rift Valley fever outbreak.

Anyamba, Assaf↗

Towards an Improved High Resolution Global Long-Term Solar Resource Database

This paper presents an overview of an ongoing project to develop and deliver a solar mapping processing system to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) using the data sets that are planned for production at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NCDC will be producing a long-term radiance and cloud property data set covering the globe every three hours at an approximate resolution of 10 x 10 km. NASA, the originators of the Surface meteorology and Solar Energy web portal are collaborating with SUNY-Albany to develop the production system and solar algorithms. The initial result will be a global long-term solar resource data set spanning over 25 years. The ultimate goal of the project is to also deliver this data set and production system to NREL for continual production. The project will also assess the impact of providing these new data to several NREL solar decision support tools.

Stackhouse, Paul W.↗

The NASA OBPG 2020 On-Orbit Calibration of SNPP VIIRS for Ocean Color Applications

The NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) has continued monitoring the SNPP VIIRS on-orbit calibration for bands M1-M11 over its mission to optimize the calibration for ocean color applications. The OBPG has recently implemented several changes to the calibration scheme: using solar-derived f-factors to detrend the lunar observations; using long-term exponentials of time as basis vectors (along with libration angles) for radiometric fits to any resulting lunar temporal drifts; deriving gain adjustments to the solar f-factors from these exponentials; and deriving gain adjustments due to modulated RSRs outside of the solar/lunar calibration using TOA reference spectra. These calibration changes minimize the impact of uncertainties in any one component of the calibration on the derived f-factors. The final f-factors incorporate VIIRS solar diffuser measurements, h-factor BRDF corrections, lunar-derived gains, and modulated RSR gains. The combined BRDF corrections, lunar gain adjustments, and mRSR gain adjustments define effective h-factors for each band. The improvements in the on-orbit calibration are validated by evaluation of globally-derived anomaly plots of remote sensing reflectance for the ocean color bands. The ultimate goal of the OBPG calibration effort is incorporation of a consistent SNPP VIIRS ocean color data set into the NASA multi-mission ocean color climate data record.

VIIRS↗

Side-by-Side Comparison of Subhourly Clipping Models: Preprint

Over the past several years there have been numerous attempts at quantifying the inherent power clipping of inverters due to inter-hourly irradiance variability that is not captured in hourly PV performance models. Different models have been proposed to correct for these clipping losses in PV performance estimates, including matrix lookup models, distribution modeling of the PV power performance within a given hour, and machine learning methods. To date, there have been few comprehensive quantitative comparisons of these inverter clipping correction modeling approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of said approaches in predicting the actual behavior of PV system inverter clipping. In this study, we perform such a comparison, evaluating two different clipping correction loss modeling approaches recently implemented in the System Advisor Model (SAM) against clipping losses modeled with 1-minute climate data. These comparisons will be performed across a variety of climate locations and inverter loading ratios to thoroughly analyze the effectiveness of these modeling approaches relative to each other. Results from this analysis reveal that both clipping correction approaches improve annual energy accuracy to within 2% of 1-minute modeled energy yield. The models can improve accuracy up to 3% in systems with ILR of 2.0, showing the importance of this modeling factor in energy yield estimates.

clipping↗

SRT Status and Plans for Version-7

The AIRS Science Team Version-6 retrieval algorithm is currently producing level-3 Climate Data Records (CDRs) from AIRS that have been proven useful to scientists in understanding climate processes. CDRs are gridded level-3 products which include all cases passing AIRS Climate QC. SRT has made significant further improvements to AIRS Version-6. Research is continuing at SRT toward the development of AIRS Version-7. At the last Science Team Meeting, we described results using SRT AIRS Version-6.19. SRT Version-6.19 is now an official build at JPL called 6.2. SRTs latest version is AIRS Version-6.22. We have also adapted AIRS Version-6.22 to run with CrISATMS. AIRS Version-6.22 and CrIS Version- 6.22 both run now on JPL computers, but are not yet official builds. The main reason for finalization of Version-7, and using it in the relatively near future for the future processing and reprocessing of old AIRS data, is to produce even better CDRs for use by climate scientists. For this reason all results shown in this talk use only AIRS Climate QC.

CDRs↗

Toward a Coherent Detailed Evaluation of Aerosol Data Products from Multiple Satellite Sensors

Atmospheric aerosols represent one of the greatest uncertainties in climate research. Although satellite-based aerosol retrieval has practically become routine, especially during the last decade, there is often disagreement between similar aerosol parameters retrieved from different sensors, leaving users confused as to which sensors to trust for answering important science questions about the distribution, properties, and impacts of aerosols. As long as there is no consensus and the inconsistencies are not well characterized and understood, there will be no way of developing reliable climate data records from satellite aerosol measurements. Fortunately, the most globally representative well-calibrated ground-based aerosol measurements corresponding to the satellite-retrieved products are available from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). To adequately utilize the advantages offered by this vital resource, an online Multi-sensor Aerosol Products Sampling System (MAPSS) was recently developed. The aim of MAPSS is to facilitate detailed comparative analysis of satellite aerosol measurements from different sensors (Terra-MODIS, Aqua-MODIS, TerraMISR, Aura-OMI, Parasol-POLDER, and Calipso-CALIOP) based on the collocation of these data products over AERONET stations. In this presentation, we will describe the strategy of the MA~SS system, its potential advantages for the aerosol community, and the preliminary results of an integrated comparative uncertainly analysis of aerosol products from multiple satellite sensors.

Ichoku, Charles↗

A Deterministic Annealing Approach to Clustering AIRS Data

We will examine the validity of means and standard deviations as a basis for climate data products. We will explore the conditions under which these two simple statistics are inadequate summaries of the underlying empirical probability distributions by contrasting them with a nonparametric, method called Deterministic Annealing technique

clustering↗

Appendix 2. Guide for Running AgMIP Climate Scenario Generation Tools with R in Windows, Version 2.3

This Guide explains how to create climate series and climate change scenarios by using the AgMip Climate team's methodology as outlined in the AgMIP Guide for Regional Assessment: Handbook of Methods and Procedures. It details how to: install R and the required packages to run the AgMIP Climate Scenario Generation scripts, and create climate scenarios from CMIP5 GCMs using a 30-year baseline daily weather dataset. The Guide also outlines a workflow that can be modified for application to your own climate data.

handbooks↗

The Use of Sage Water Vapor Data for Investigating Climate Change Issues

SAGE water vapor data has proven valuable for addressing several of the important issues in climate change research. It has been used to investigate how the upper troposphere water vapor responds to warming and convection, a key question in understanding the water vapor feedback to anthropogenic global warming. In the case of summer versus winter differences, SAGE results showed that the upper tropospheric relative humidity remained approximately constant; this result was in general agreement with how a GCM handled the seasonal difference, and gave credence to the argument that the GCM was not overestimating the water vapor feedback associated with convection. In addition, the convection-water vapor relationship was investigated further using SAGE water vapor and ISCCP cloud data. The results showed that upper tropospheric drying did appear to occur simultaneously with deep convective events in the tropics, only to be replaced by moistening a few hours later, associated (most likely) with the reevaporation of moisture from anvil clouds. The total effect was, again, a moistening of the upper troposphere associated with convection. Calculation of the actual trends in upper tropospheric moisture is a potential goal for SAGE data usage; trends calculated with radiosonde data, or instruments calibrated with radiosonde data have the problem of the effect of changing radiosonde instruments. SAGE data have in effect been used to compare different radiosondes through comparisons, and could continue to do so. SAGE 3 should also help clarify the absolute accuracy of SAGE retrievals in the troposphere. and its consequences. Model results show that water vapor increases can help explain the observations of stratospheric cooling, along with increasing C02 and ozone reduction. SAGE has been shown to provide trends similar to those of some other satellite and in situ retrievals, with increasing water vapor over time. However, SAGE is impacted by aerosol contamination which must be removed from the data; approaches used in the past will be reviewed. The SAGE water vapor errors, if taken literally, would make it hard to justify using SAGE data for such trends, and the error bars must be investigated. Stratospheric water vapor increases, like tropospheric increases, would lead to noticeable warming at the surface, and their changes must be quantified.

Rind, D.↗

Space-Based Ornithology - Studying Bird Migration and Environmental Change in North America

Natural fluctuations in the availability of critical stopover sites coupled with anthropogenic destruction of wetlands, land-use change, and anticipated losses due to climate change present migratory birds with a formidable challenge. Space based technology in concert with bird migration modeling and geographical information analysis yields new opportunities to shed light on the distribution and movement of organisms on the planet and their sensitivity to human disturbances and environmental changes. At the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, we are creating ecological forecasting tools for science and application users to address the consequences of loss of wetlands, flooding, drought or other natural disasters such as hurricanes on avian biodiversity and bird migration. We use an individual-based bird biophysical migration model, driven by remotely sensed land surface data, climate and hydrologic data, and biological field observations to study migratory bird responses to environmental change in North America. Simulation allows us to study bird migration across multiple scales and can be linked to mechanistic processes describing the time and energy budget states of migrating birds. We illustrate our approach by simulating the spring migration of pectoral sandpipers from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska. Mean stopover length and trajectory patterns are consistent with field observations.

Smith, James A.↗

Solar Forced Dansgaard/Oeschger Events?

Climate records for the last ice age (which ended 11,500 years ago) show enormous climate fluctuations in the North Atlantic region - the so-called Dansgaard/Oeschger events. During these events air temperatures in Greenland changed on the order of 10 degrees Celsius within a few decades. These changes were attributed to shifts in ocean circulation which influences the warm water supply from lower latitudes to the North Atlantic region. Interestingly, the rapid warmings tend to recur approximately every 1500 years or multiples thereof. This has led researchers to speculate about an external cause for these changes with the variable Sun being one possible candidate. Support for this hypothesis came from climate reconstructions, which suggested that the Sun influenced the climate in the North Atlantic region on these time scales during the last approximately 12,000 years of relatively stable Holocene climate. However, Be-10 measurements in ice cores do not indicate that the Sun caused or triggered the Dansgaard/Oeschger events. Depending on the solar magnetic shielding more or less Be-10 is produced in the Earth's atmosphere. Therefore, 10Be can be used as a proxy for solar activity changes. Since Be-10 can be measured in ice cores, it is possible to compare the variable solar forcing directly with the climate record from the same ice core. This removes any uncertainties in the relative dating, and the solar-climate link can be reliably studied. Notwithstanding that some Dansgaard/Oeschger warmings could be related to increased solar activity, there is no indication that this is the case for all of the Dansgaard/Oeschger events. Therefore, during the last ice age the Be-10 and ice core climate data do not indicate a persistent solar influence on North Atlantic climate.

Muscheler, R.↗

Hail Size Distribution Mapping

A 3-D weather radar visualization software program was developed and implemented as part of an experimental Launch Pad 39 Hail Monitor System. 3DRadPlot, a radar plotting program, is one of several software modules that form building blocks of the hail data processing and analysis system (the complete software processing system under development). The spatial and temporal mapping algorithms were originally developed through research at the University of Central Florida, funded by NASA s Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), where the goal was to merge National Weather Service (NWS) Next-Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) volume reflectivity data with drop size distribution data acquired from a cluster of raindrop disdrometers. In this current work, we adapted these algorithms to process data from a cluster of hail disdrometers positioned around Launch Pads 39A or 39B, along with the corresponding NWS radar data. Radar data from all NWS NEXRAD sites is archived at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). That data can be readily accessed at . 3DRadPlot plots Level III reflectivity data at four scan elevations (this software is available at Open Channel Software, ). By using spatial and temporal interpolation/extrapolation based on hydrometeor fall dynamics, we can merge the hail disdrometer array data coupled with local Weather Surveillance Radar-1988, Doppler (WSR-88D) radial velocity and reflectivity data into a 4-D (3-D space and time) picture of hail size distributions. Hail flux maps can then be generated and used for damage prediction and assessment over specific surfaces corresponding to structures within the disdrometer array volume. Immediately following a hail storm, specific damage areas and degree of damage can be identified for inspection crews.

Source record↗

Geostationary Satellite Observations Over Global Environmental Monitoring Sites

Globally, there are now hundreds of ground-based environmental monitoring stations routinely collecting data on a variety of earth-atmosphere interactions. Such observations are also being augmented with data from orbiting satellites. With the beginning of the EOS-era, the MODIS subset around flux towers has been frequently used for validating ecosystem models developed at flux towers and upscaling the observed flux data to regional scales. However, MODIS on the polar-orbiting satellites can observe target regions only once a day, while the Fluxnet eddy- covariance data are compiled as sub-hourly. Therefore, summarizing the sub-hourly flux data into daily statistics is necessary for the comparison between MODIS and Flux data. The new generation geostationary satellite sensors (GOES-16/17 ABI and Himawari-8/9 AHI) have capabilities similar to MODIS but collect data at 5-15 minute intervals. These high-frequency observations allow us to understand and scale diurnal fluxes. Some studies have already shown the effective utilization of time series of geostationary satellite data for ecosystem modeling. We are producing NEX Level-1G products, which are gridded Top-of-Atmosphere reflectance and brightness temperature data from geostationary satellite sensors. We cut out the NEX Level-1G data using the same file format with the MODIS subset except for the projection. The other data products (e.g., surface reflectance, land surface temperature, vegetation indices, and climate data) will be added upon their availability. Currently included networks are Fluxnet, PhenoCam, and AERONET. The NEX subset data will be provided through NASA NEX data portal.

Geostationary Satellites↗

GeoNEX-SUBSETS: Cutouts of geostationary satellite data over long-term monitoring sites

Satellite remote sensing data are important tool for extrapolating the knowledge obtained at the Fluxnet towers. We introduce our GEO-NEX geostationary satellite subset products, which make it easy to compare between ground observation and Geo-NEX products. The MODIS subset has been frequently used for validating ecosystem models developed at flux towers and upscaling the observed flux data to regional scales. However, MODIS on the polar orbiting satellites can observe target regions only once a day, while the Fluxnet eddy-covariance data are compiled as sub-hourly datasets. As a results, summarizing the sub-hourly flux data into daily statistics is necessary for the comparison between MODIS and Flux data. Here, the new generation geostationary satellite sensors (GOES-16/17 ABI and Himawari-8/9 AHI) has the high-frequent observation feature (10 minutes) in addition to similar spectral band and spatial resolution with MODIS. The high frequent observation allows us to compare the flux diurnal cycle with geostationary satellite sensor data. Some studies have already shown the effective utilization of time series of geostationary satellite data for ecosystem modeling. We are producing NEX Level-1G products, which is the gridded Top-of-Atmosphere reflectance and brightness temperature data of geostationary satellite sensors. We cut out the NEX Level-1G data using the same file format with the MODIS subset except for the projection. The other data products (e.g., surface reflectance, land surface temperature, vegetation indices and climate data) will be also added upon their availability. We selected the ground observation sites from Fluxnet, Phenocam, and AERONET networks. The NEX subset data will be provided through NASA NEX data portal.

GeoNEX↗