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At least 325 records · Page 18

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NASA NTRS1992

High altitude solar power platform

Solar power is a preeminent alternative to conventional aircraft propulsion. With the continued advances in solar cells, fuel cells, and composite materials technology, the solar powered airplane is no longer a simple curiosity constrained to flights of several feet in altitude or minutes of duration. A high altitude solar powered platform (HASPP) has several potential missions, including communications and agriculture. In remote areas, a HASPP could be used as a communication link. In large farming areas, a HASPP could perform remote sensing of crops. The impact of HASPP in continuous flight for one year on agricultural monitoring mission is presented. This mission provides farmers with near real-time data twice daily from an altitude which allows excellant resolution on water conditions, crop diseases, and insect infestation. Accurate, timely data will enable farmers to increase their yield and efficiency. A design for HASPP for the foregoing mission is presented. In the design power derived from solar cells covering the wings is used for propulsion, avionics, and sensors. Excess power produced midday will be stored in fuel cells for use at night to maintain altitude and course.

Bailey, M. D.↗

NASA NTRS2023

Flood Impacts on Net Ecosystem Exchange in the Midwestern and Southern United States in 2019

Climate extremes such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, frosts, and windstorms add considerable variability to the global year-to-year increase in atmospheric CO(2) through their influence on terrestrial ecosystems. While the impact of droughts on terrestrial ecosystems has received considerable attention, the response to flooding is not well understood. To improve upon this knowledge, the impact of the 2019 anomalously wet conditions over the Midwest and Southern US on CO(2) vegetation fluxes is examined in the context of 2017–2018 when such precipitation anomalies were not observed. CO(2) is simulated with NASA's Global Earth Observing System (GEOS) combined with the Low-order Flux Inversion, where fluxes of CO(2) are estimated using a suite of remote sensing measurements including greenness, night lights, and fire radiative power as well as with a bias correction based on insitu observations. Net ecosystem exchange CO(2) tracers are separated into the three regions covering the Midwest, South, and Eastern Texas and adjusted to match CO(2) observations from towers located in Iowa, Mississippi, and Texas. Results indicate that for the Midwestern region consisting primarily of corn and soybeans crops, flooding contributes to a 15%–25% reduction of annual net carbon uptake in 2019 in comparison to 2017 and 2018. These results are supported by independent reports of changes in agricultural activity. For the Southern region, comprised mainly of non-crop vegetation, annual net carbon uptake is enhanced in 2019 by about 10%–20% in comparison to 2017 and 2018. These outcomes show the heterogeneity in effects that excess wetness can bring to diverse ecosystems.

Nikolay Balashov↗

NASA NTRS2000

Matching Crew Diet and Crop Food Production in BIO-Plex

This paper matches the BIO-Plex crop food production to the crew diet requirements. The expected average calorie requirement for BIO-Plex is 2,975 Calories per crewmember per day, for a randomly selected crew with a typical level of physical activity. The range of 2,550 to 3,400 Calories will cover about two-thirds of all crews. The exact calorie requirement will depend on the gender composition, individual weights, exercise, and work effort of the selected crew. The expected average crewmember calorie requirement can be met by 430 grams of carbohydrate, 100 grams of fat, and 90 grams of protein per crewmember per day, for a total of 620 grams. Some fat can replaced by carbohydrate. Each crewmember requires only 2 grams of vitamins and minerals per day. Only unusually restricted diets may lack essential nutrients. The Advanced Life Support (ALS) consensus is that BIO-Plex should grow wheat, potato, and soybean, and maybe sweet potato or peanut, and maybe lettuce and tomato. The BIO-Plex Biomass Production System food production and the external food supply must be matched to the crew diet requirement for calories and nutritional balance. The crop production and external supply specifications can each be varied as long as their sum matches the required diet specification. We have wide flexibility in choosing the crops and resupply. We can easily grow one-half the crew calories in one BIO-Plex Biomass Production Chamber (BPC) if we grow only the most productive crops (wheat, potato, and sweet potato) and it we achieve nominal crop productivity. If we assume higher productivity we can grow a wider variety of crops. If we grow one-half of the crew calories, externally supplied foods can easily provide the other half of the calories and balance the diet. We can not grow 95 percent of the crew calories in two BPCs at nominal productivity while growing a balanced diet. We produce maximum calories by growing wheat, potato, and peanut.

Jones, Harry↗

DOE OSTI2021

Albedo-induced global warming impact of Conservation Reserve Program grasslands converted to annual and perennial bioenergy crops

Abstract Climate benefit assessments of bioenergy crops often focus on biogeochemical impacts, paying little if any attention to biogeophysical impacts. However, land conversions required for large-scale bioenergy crop production are substantial and may directly affect the climate by altering surface energy balance. In the US, such land conversions are likely to be met in part by converting Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grassland to bioenergy crops. Here, we converted three 22 year old CRP smooth brome grass fields into no-till corn, switchgrass, or restored prairie bioenergy crops. We assessed the biogeophysical climate impact of the conversions using albedo changes relative to unconverted reference CRP grassland. The corn and perennial fields had higher annual albedo than the grassland they replaced—causing cooling of the local climate. The cooling of the corn field occurred solely during the non-growing season—especially when surfaces were snow-covered, whereas the cooling of the perennial fields was more prominent during the growing season. Compared to biogeochemical impacts with fossil fuel offsets for the same land conversions over eight years, the annual albedo-induced climate benefits add ∼35% and ∼78% to the annual biogeochemical benefits provided from the switchgrass and restored prairie fields, respectively, and offset ∼3.3% of the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the corn field. We conclude that albedo-induced climate mitigation from conversion of CRP lands to perennial but not annual bioenergy crops can be substantial, and future climate impact assessments of bioenergy crops should include albedo changes in addition to GHG balances in order to better inform climate policies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1974

User oriented ERTS-1 images

Photographic reproduction of ERTS-1 images are capable of displaying only a portion of the total information available from the multispectral scanner. Methods are being developed to generate ERTS-1 images oriented towards special users such as agriculturists, foresters, and hydrologists by applying image enhancement techniques and interactive statistical classification schemes. Spatial boundaries and linear features can be emphasized and delineated using simple filters. Linear and nonlinear transformations can be applied to the spectral data to emphasize certain ground information. An automatic classification scheme was developed to identify particular ground cover classes such as fallow, grain, rape seed or various vegetation covers. The scheme applies the maximum likelihood decision rule to the spectral information and classifies the ERTS-1 image on a pixel by pixel basis. Preliminary results indicate that the classifier has limited success in distinguishing crops, but is well adapted for identifying different types of vegetation.

Shlien, S.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Remote sensing as a tool for estimating soil erosion potential

The Universal Soil Loss Equation is a frequently used methodology for estimating soil erosion potential. The Universal Soil Loss Equation requires a variety of types of geographic information (e.g. topographic slope, soil erodibility, land use, crop type, and soil conservation practice) in order to function. This information is traditionally gathered from topographic maps, soil surveys, field surveys, and interviews with farmers. Remote sensing data sources and interpretation techniques provide an alternative method for collecting information regarding land use, crop type, and soil conservation practice. Airphoto interpretation techniques and medium altitude, multi-date color and color infrared positive transparencies (70mm) were utilized in this study to determine their effectiveness for gathering the desired land use/land cover data. Successful results were obtained within the test site, a 6136 hectare watershed in Dane County, Wisconsin.

Morris-Jones, D. R.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Thailand national programme of the earth resources technology satellite

The author has identified the following significant results. Accomplishments include the identification of a series of active alluvial fans along the margins of the Central Plain, the compilation of crop resources maps of central and eastern Thailand, and evaluation of the Purdue/LARS printout using unsupervised mode of an area near Bangkok. Results from LANDSAT 1 imagery and ground truth survey showed that Thailand existing forest in 1973 covered an area of approximately 37% of total land area. The last countrywide survey using aerial photographs at 1:60,000 scale conducted in 1961 gave the figure of 58%. Experience has shown many advantages of LANDSAT imagery over the conventional aerial photography in locating faults and fractures in the preparation of tectonic maps. Several rock types can also be identified from LANDSAT imagery.

Sabhasri, S.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Next-Generation Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves for Diverse Land across the Continental United States

The current methods for designing hydrological infrastructure rely on precipitation-based intensity-duration-frequency curves. However, they cannot accurately predict flooding caused by snowmelt or rain-on-snow events, potentially leading to underdesigned infrastructure and property damage. To address these issues, next-generation intensity-duration-frequency (NG-IDF) curves have been developed for the open condition, characterizing water available for runoff from rainfall, snowmelt, and rain-on-snow. However, they lack consideration of land use land cover (LULC) factors, which can significantly affect runoff processes. We address this limitation by expanding open area NG-IDF dataset to include eight vegetated LULCs over the continental United States, including forest (deciduous, evergreen, mixed), shrub, grass, pasture, crop, and wetland. This NG-IDF 2.0 dataset offers a comprehensive analysis of hydrological extreme events and their associated drivers under different LULCs at a continental scale. It will serve as a useful resource for improving standard design practices and aiding in the assessment of infrastructure design risks. Additionally, it provides useful insights into how changes in LULC impact flooding magnitude, mechanisms, timing, and snow water supply.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1975

A study of atmospheric effects on pattern recognition devices

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 imagery can be applied in the broadscale assessment of forest resources as a supplement to aerial photography and field survey. There was no application to inventory of crop and pasture diseases mainly because of poor quality and low resolution, and unreliability of image acquisition. Inventory of soil erosion was satisfactory in humid eastern New South Wales, but not in semi-arid areas. Patterns of snow cover, areas of water in natural and artificial water bodies, extent of bushfires, and location of coastal mobile sand bodies were readily apparent. ERTS-1 imagery was judged to be a valuable addition to conventional techniques of regional small scale geological mapping. ERTS data was successfully used to map flooding and flood progression. The imagery was found suitable for mapping at 1:1,000,000 scale both on the mainland and in Antarctica, but did not meet accuracy specifications for 1:250,000 mapping.

Thomson, F. J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

State resource management and role of remote sensing

Remote sensing by satellite can provide valuable information to state officials when making decisions regarding resources management. Portions of California's investment for Prosperity program which seem likely candidates for remote sensing include: (1) surveying vegetation type, age, and density in forests and wildlife habitats; (2) controlling fires through chaparal management; (3) monitoring wetlands and measuring ocean biomass; (4) eliminating ground water overdraught; (5) locating crops in overdraught areas, assessing soil erosion and the areas of poorly drained soils and those affected by salt; (6) monitoring coastal lands and resources; (7) changes in landscapes for recreational purposes; (8) inventorying irrigated lands; (9) classifying ground cover; (10) monitoring farmland conversion; and (11) supplying data for a statewide computerized farmlands data base.

Johnson, H. D.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Mapping Surface Soil Organic Carbon for Crop Fields with Remote Sensing

The organic C concentration of surface soil can be used in agricultural fields to vary crop production inputs. Organic C is often highly spatially variable, so that maps of soil organic C can be used to vary crop production inputs using precision farming technology. The objective of this research was to demonstrate the feasibility of mapping soil organic C on three fields, using remotely sensed images of the fields with a bare surface. Enough soil samples covering the range in soil organic C must be taken from each field to develop a satisfactory relationship between soil organic C content and image reflectance values. The number of soil samples analyzed in the three fields varied from 22 to 26. The regression equations differed between fields, but gave highly significant relationships with R2 values of 0.93, 0.95, and 0.89 for the three fields. A comparison of predicted and measured values of soil organic C for an independent set of 2 soil samples taken on one of the fields gave highly satisfactory results, with a comparison equation of % organic C measured + 1.02% organic C predicted, with r2 = 0.87.

Chen, Feng↗

NASA NTRS2015

Reforestation and Crop Land Conversion Impacts on Future Regional Air Quality in the Southeastern U.S.

Land in the southeastern U.S. is expected to change, e.g., given the potential demand to develop forest-to-fuel technologies or, conversely, cropification of current forests to increase food production. Possible future PM(sub 2.5) and O3 air quality for two land use/land cover change (LULCC) scenarios, reforestation and cropland conversion, are compared to a reference case scenario for the year 2050 using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) models. Changes in air quality driven by changes in climate, deposition and emissions relating to the LULCC are investigated. Reforestation in the Southeast tends to decrease the ambient O3mixing ratio while slightly increasing summertime PM(sub 2.5) in the Southeastern U.S. Results of a climate and deposition (CD) sensitivity simulation are provided for the two alternative LULCC scenarios to isolate the impact of changing climate and deposition on PM(sub 2.5) and O3 air quality. The sensitivity results indicate that deposition and emissions changes associated with reforestation impact O3 and PM(sub 2.5concentrations as much as, and in most cases more than, changes in meteorology. Conversion of forest to cropland in the Southeast, on the other hand, tends to increase O3and increase PM(sub 2.5) year-round. Cropland conversion leads to increased NOX emissions and increases in the 4th highest maximum daily 8-h O3(MDA8) of the year by up to 10 ppb despite the tendency for increased deposition and decreased temperature to reduce the MDA8 mixing ratio. The results of this study show that O3and aerosol concentrations are sensitive to reforestation and cropland conversion in the Southeast and these land use changes should be considered in air quality management plans. Further, they show the sensitivity of such calculations to land cover properties.

deposition↗

DOE OSTI2024

BSEC VPRM 10m Hourly Biogenic Fluxes in Baltimore (2021)

Model outputs from the Vegetation Photosynthesis and Respiration Model (VPRM: version from Horne et al. in prep). Model remote sensing inputs come from Sential 2-derived EVI and LSWI. Model meteorological inputs for two-meter air temperature and shortwave incoming come from the BSEC WRF 2021 Control Run (Foust, W. 2023). Plant functional Types (PFTs) are spatially classified using the Chesapeake Bay Program 2018 land use land cover product. The final biogenic flux (µmol CO2 m^-2 s^-1) outputs of NEE, RESP, and GEE are a weighted average based on the portion of PFTs within the cell. Individual PFT outputs are saved inside PFT directories (e.g., Crops, Grass, etc.) inside the specific month directory. Model outputs are denoted as a negative flux into the land system (i.e., photosynthesis) and a positive flux as a net release into the overlying atmosphere. Respiration (RESP) fluxes are positive and combine heterotrophic (only soil) and autotrophic sources. Gross ecosystem exchange (GEE) is a negative flux driven by only photosynthetic activity from vegetation, and the Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) is the sum of the two (i.e., NEE=RESP+GEE). Data Characteristics Spatial Resolution: 10m Temporal Resolution: Hourly File Format: VPRM_ _BSEC. .tif (Hour is in UTC) For more information on the model results, please email Jason Horne (jph6488@psu.edu). References: Foust, W. (2023). BSEC WRF 2021 Control Run Output (v0.1.0) [Data set]. MSD-LIVE Data Repository. https://data.msdlive.org/records/m0e6m-vvq17

Baltimore↗

NASA NTRS1979

Microwave backscatter dependence on surface roughness, soil moisture, and soil texture. II - Vegetation-covered soil

Results are presented for an experimental investigation to determine the relationship between radar backscatter coefficient (sigma) and soil moisture for vegetation-covered soil. These results extend a previous report which showed the experimental relationship between sigma and soil moisture for bare soil. It is shown that the highest correlation between sigma and soil moisture is 0.92 for the combined response of four crop types measured at 4.25 GHz, 10 deg incidence angle, and HH polarization. Radar look direction, relative to the crop row direction, is shown to have an insignificant effect on soil-moisture estimation if the radar frequency is higher than 4 GHz. The dependence on soil type can be minimized by expressing soil moisture in units of percent of field capacity. The possibility of using a single radar for measuring soil moisture for both bare and vegetated fields is demonstrated with a linear estimation algorithm having an experimental correlation coefficinet of 0.8.

Ulaby, F. T.↗

NASA NTRS2011

A Proposed Extension to the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Level 2 Algorithm for Mixed Forest and Moderate Vegetation Pixels

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS)mission, launched in November 2009, provides global maps of soil moisture and ocean salinity by measuring the L-band (1.4 GHz) emission of the Earth's surface with a spatial resolution of 40-50 km.Uncertainty in the retrieval of soilmoisture over large heterogeneous areas such as SMOS pixels is expected, due to the non-linearity of the relationship between soil moisture and the microwave emission. The current baseline soilmoisture retrieval algorithm adopted by SMOS and implemented in the SMOS Level 2 (SMOS L2) processor partially accounts for the sub-pixel heterogeneity of the land surface, by modelling the individual contributions of different pixel fractions to the overall pixel emission. This retrieval approach is tested in this study using airborne L-band data over an area the size of a SMOS pixel characterised by a mix Eucalypt forest and moderate vegetation types (grassland and crops),with the objective of assessing its ability to correct for the soil moisture retrieval error induced by the land surface heterogeneity. A preliminary analysis using a traditional uniform pixel retrieval approach shows that the sub-pixel heterogeneity of land cover type causes significant errors in soil moisture retrieval (7.7%v/v RMSE, 2%v/v bias) in pixels characterised by a significant amount of forest (40-60%). Although the retrieval approach adopted by SMOS partially reduces this error, it is affected by errors beyond the SMOS target accuracy, presenting in particular a strong dry bias when a fraction of the pixel is occupied by forest (4.1%v/v RMSE,-3.1%v/v bias). An extension to the SMOS approach is proposed that accounts for the heterogeneity of vegetation optical depth within the SMOS pixel. The proposed approach is shown to significantly reduce the error in retrieved soil moisture (2.8%v/v RMSE, -0.3%v/v bias) in pixels characterised by a critical amount of forest (40-60%), at the limited cost of only a crude estimate of the optical depth of the forested area (better than 35% uncertainty). This study makes use of an unprecedented data set of airborne L-band observations and ground supporting data from the National Airborne Field Experiment 2005 (NAFE'05), which allowed accurate characterisation of the land surface heterogeneity over an area equivalent in size to a SMOS pixel.

Panciera, Rocco↗

NASA NTRS2023

The Extreme 2016 Wheat Failure in France

France suffered in 2016 the most extreme wheat yield decline in recent history, with some districts losing 55% yield. To attribute causes, we combined the largest coherent detailed wheat field experimental dataset with statistical and crop model techniques, climate information and yield physiology. The 2016 yield was composed of up to 40% fewer grains that were up to 30% lighter than expected across eight research stations in France. The flowering stage was affected by prolonged cloud cover and heavy rainfall when 31% of the loss in grain yield was incurred from reduced solar radiation and 19% from floret damage. Grain filling was also affected as 26% of grain yield loss was caused by soil anoxia, 11% by fungal foliar diseases and 10% by ear blight. Compounding climate effects caused the extreme yield decline. The likelihood of these compound factors recurring under future climate change is estimated to change with a higher frequency of extremely low wheat yields.

Extreme weather↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

American Society of Plant Biologists Plenary Symposium Overview Presentation

NASA’s Artemis program in collaboration with international space agencies, and various commercial partners, marks the return of humankind to the Moon. Unlike the Apollo lunar missions from fifty years ago, Artemis will set the stage for the continuous presence of humans on the Moon and pave a path for the journey to Mars and beyond. Plants will be an essential component of habitation systems that will enable humans to thrive on both the lunar and Mars surface, as well as space transit vehicles because of their nutritional and psychological benefits. Furthermore, plants will be valued in environmental control and life support systems because they generate oxygen, remove carbon dioxide, and recycle water and waste. However, an in-depth understanding of how plants and their associated microbial communities adapt to the harsh and confined environment of deep space is essential before they can be effectively used for long-duration space missions. This plenary symposium will address challenges and present potential solutions to growing plants in space. The four speakers will cover a broad range of topics, including mechanistic studies on fern resurgence after asteroid-triggered mass extinction events, artificial photosynthesis for space agriculture, and how the plant microbiome and an understanding of plant-pathogen dynamics in microgravity can guide crop production strategies in space.

Plant Space Biology↗

NASA NTRS1977

Landsat - Current and future capabilities for agriculture

The potential of the Landsat spacecraft in applications related to agriculture is demonstrated by the examples of assessing the damage to the Brazilian coffee crop due to freezing temperatures on July 17-18, 1975; and damage assessment in the state of Iowa, following a tornado which struck a corn and soybean producing region on June 13, 1976. Some techniques which have been used to measure snow covers on the basis of Landsat data are also noted. The advantages that are expected to accrue from the installation of sophisticated equipment on the third and fourth Landsat spacecraft, scheduled to be launched in 1978 and 1981, respectively, are reviewed.

Walter, L. S.↗