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NASA NTRS1984

1983 lightning, turbulence, wind shear, and Doppler radar studies at the National Severe Storms Laboratory

As part of continuing research on aviation related weather hazards, numerous experiments were incorporated into the 1983 Spring Observation Program. This year's program was an abbreviated one because of commitments made to the development of the Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD) project. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) P-3 Orion and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) RB-57B and U-2 were the main aircraft involved in the studies of lightning, wind shear, turbulence, and storm structure. A total of 14 flights were made by these aircraft during the period of May 16 through June 5, 1983. Aircraft instrumentation experiments are described, and resultant data sets available for research are detailed. Aircraft instrumentation and Doppler radar characteristics are detailed.

Lee, J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1999

NASA/NOAA: Earth Science Electronic Theater 1999

The Electronic Theater (E-theater) presents visualizations which span the period from the original Suomi/Hasler animations of the first ATS-1 GEO weather satellite images in 1966 to the latest 1999 NASA Earth Science Vision for the next 25 years. Hot off the SGI-Onyx Graphics-Supercomputer are NASA's visualizations of Hurricanes Mitch, Georges, Fran and Linda. These storms have been recently featured on the covers of National Geographic, Time, Newsweek and Popular Science. Highlights will be shown from the NASA hurricane visualization resource video tape that has been used repeatedly this season on National and International network TV. Results will be presented from a new paper on automatic wind measurements in Hurricane Luis from 1-min GOES images that appeared in the November BAMS. The visualizations are produced by the NASA Goddard Visualization and Analysis Laboratory (VAL/912), and Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS/930), as well as other Goddard and NASA groups using NASA, NOAA, ESA, and NASDA Earth science datasets. Visualizations will be shown from the Earth Science E-Theater 1999 recently presented in Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Sydney, Melbourne, Honolulu, Washington, New York, and Dallas. The presentation Jan 11-14 at the AMS meeting in Dallas used a 4-CPU SGI/CRAY Onyx Infinite Reality Super Graphics Workstation with 8 GB RAM and a Terabyte Disk at 3840 X 1024 resolution with triple synchronized BarcoReality 9200 projectors on a 60ft wide screen. Visualizations will also be featured from the new Earth Today Exhibit which was opened by Vice President Gore on July 2, 1998 at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum in Washington, as well as those presented for possible use at the American Museum of Natural History (NYC), Disney EPCOT, and other venues. New methods are demonstrated for visualizing, interpreting, comparing, organizing and analyzing immense HyperImage remote sensing datasets and three dimensional numerical model results. We call the data from many new Earth sensing satellites, HyperImage datasets, because they have such high resolution in the spectral, temporal, spatial, and dynamic range domains. The traditional numerical spreadsheet paradigm has been extended to develop a scientific visualization approach for processing HyperImage datasets and 3D model results interactively. The advantages of extending the powerful spreadsheet style of computation to multiple sets of images and organizing image processing were demonstrated using the Distributed image SpreadSheet (DISS). The DISS is being used as a high performance testbed Next Generation Internet (NGI) VisAnalysis of: 1) El Nino SSTs and NDVI response 2) Latest GOES 10 5-min rapid Scans of 26 day 5000 frame movie of March & April '98 weather and tornadic storms 3) TRMM rainfall and lightning 4)GOES 9 satellite images/winds and NOAA aircraft radar of hurricane Luis, 5) lightning detector data merged with GOES image sequences, 6) Japanese GMS, TRMM, & ADEOS data 7) Chinese FY2 data 8) Meteosat & ERS/ATSR data 9) synchronized manipulation of multiple 3D numerical model views; and others will be illustrated. The Image SpreadSheet has been highly successful in producing Earth science visualizations for public outreach. Many of these visualizations have been widely disseminated through the world wide web pages of the HPCC/LTP/RSD program which can be found at http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/rsd The one min interval animations of Hurricane Luis on ABC Nightline and the color perspective rendering of Hurricane Fran published by TIME, LIFE, Newsweek, Popular Science, National Geographic, Scientific American, and the "Weekly Reader" are some of the examples which will be shown.

Hasler, A. Fritz↗
NASA NTRS1999

NASA/NOAA: Earth Science Electronic Theater 1999. Earth Science Observations, Analysis and Visualization: Roots in the 60s - Vision for the Next Millennium

The Etheater presents visualizations which span the period from the original Suomi/Hasler animations of the first ATS-1 GEO weather satellite images in 1966, to the latest 1999 NASA Earth Science Vision for the next 25 years. Hot off the SGI-Onyx Graphics-Supercomputer are NASA''s visualizations of Hurricanes Mitch, Georges, Fran and Linda. These storms have been recently featured on the covers of National Geographic, Time, Newsweek and Popular Science. Highlights will be shown from the NASA hurricane visualization resource video tape that has been used repeatedly this season on National and International network TV. Results will be presented from a new paper on automatic wind measurements in Hurricane Luis from 1-min GOES images that appeared in the November BAMS. The visualizations are produced by the NASA Goddard Visualization & Analysis Laboratory, and Scientific Visualization Studio, as well as other Goddard and NASA groups using NASA, NOAA, ESA, and NASDA Earth science datasets. Visualizations will be shown from the Earth Science ETheater 1999 recently presented in Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Sydney, Melbourne, Honolulu, Washington, New York, and Dallas. The presentation Jan 11-14 at the AMS meeting in Dallas used a 4-CPU SGI/CRAY Onyx Infinite Reality Super Graphics Workstation with 8 GB RAM and a Terabyte Disk at 3840 X 1024 resolution with triple synchronized BarcoReality 9200 projectors on a 60ft wide screen. Visualizations will also be featured from the new Earth Today Exhibit which was opened by Vice President Gore on July 2, 1998 at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, as well as those presented for possible use at the American Museum of Natural History (NYC), Disney EPCOT, and other venues. New methods are demonstrated for visualizing, interpreting, comparing, organizing and analyzing immense HyperImage remote sensing datasets and three dimensional numerical model results. We call the data from many new Earth sensing satellites, HyperImage datasets, because they have such high resolution in the spectral, temporal, spatial, and dynamic range domains. The traditional numerical spreadsheet paradigm has been extended to develop a scientific visualization approach for processing HyperImage datasets and 3D model results interactively. The advantages of extending the powerful spreadsheet style of computation to multiple sets of images and organizing image processing were demonstrated using the Distributed Image SpreadSheet (DISS). The DISS is being used as a high performance testbed Next Generation Internet (NGI) VisAnalysis of: 1) El Nino SSTs and NDVI response 2) Latest GOES 10 5-min rapid Scans of 26 day 5000 frame movie of March & April 198 weather and tornadic storms 3) TRMM rainfall and lightning 4)GOES 9 satellite images/winds and NOAA aircraft radar of hurricane Luis, 5) lightning detector data merged with GOES image sequences, 6) Japanese GMS, TRMM, & ADEOS data 7) Chinese FY2 data 8) Meteosat & ERS/ATSR data 9) synchronized manipulation of multiple 3D numerical model views; etc. will be illustrated. The Image SpreadSheet has been highly successful in producing Earth science visualizations for public outreach.

Hasler, A. Fritz↗
NASA NTRS2013

Flight Deck Weather Avoidance Decision Support: Implementation and Evaluation

Weather related disruptions account for seventy percent of the delays in the National Airspace System (NAS). A key component in the weather plan of the Next Generation of Air Transportation System (NextGen) is to assimilate observed weather information and probabilistic forecasts into the decision process of flight crews and air traffic controllers. In this research we explore supporting flight crew weather decision making through the development of a flight deck predicted weather display system that utilizes weather predictions generated by ground-based radar. This system integrates and presents this weather information, together with in-flight trajectory modification tools, within a cockpit display of traffic information (CDTI) prototype. that the CDTI features 2D and perspective 3D visualization models of weather. The weather forecast products that we implemented were the Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) and the Convective Weather Avoidance Model (CWAM), both developed by MIT Lincoln Lab. We evaluated the use of CIWS and CWAM for flight deck weather avoidance in two part-task experiments. Experiment 1 compared pilots' en route weather avoidance performance in four weather information conditions that differed in the type and amount of predicted forecast (CIWS current weather only, CIWS current and historical weather, CIWS current and forecast weather, CIWS current and forecast weather and CWAM predictions). Experiment 2 compared the use of perspective 3D and 21/2D presentations of weather for flight deck weather avoidance. Results showed that pilots could take advantage of longer range predicted weather forecasts in performing en route weather avoidance but more research will be needed to determine what combinations of information are optimal and how best to present them.

CWAM↗
NASA NTRS2014

Automated Discovery of Flight Track Anomalies

As new technologies are developed to handle the complexities of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), it is increasingly important to address both current and future safety concerns along with the operational, environmental, and efficiency issues within the National Airspace System (NAS). In recent years, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) safety offices have been researching ways to utilize the many safety databases maintained by the FAA, such as those involving flight recorders, radar tracks, weather, and many other high- volume sensors, in order to monitor this unique and complex system. Although a number of current technologies do monitor the frequency of known safety risks in the NAS, very few methods currently exist that are capable of analyzing large data repositories with the purpose of discovering new and previously unmonitored safety risks. While monitoring the frequency of known events in the NAS enables mitigation of already identified problems, a more proactive approach of finding unidentified issues still needs to be addressed. This is especially important in the proactive identification of new, emergent safety issues that may result from the planned introduction of advanced NextGen air traffic management technologies and procedures. Development of an automated tool that continuously evaluates the NAS to discover both events exhibiting flight characteristics indicative of safety-related concerns as well as operational anomalies will heighten the awareness of such situations in the aviation community and serve to increase the overall safety of the NAS. This paper discusses the extension of previous anomaly detection work to identify operationally significant flights within the highly complex airspace encompassing the New York area of operations, focusing on the major airports of Newark International (EWR), LaGuardia International (LGA), and John F. Kennedy International (JFK). In addition, flight traffic in the vicinity of Denver International (DEN) airport/airspace is also investigated to evaluate the impact on operations due to variances in seasonal weather and airport elevation. From our previous research, subject matter experts determined that some of the identified anomalies were significant, but could not reach conclusive findings without additional supportive data. To advance this research further, causal examination using domain experts is continued along with the integration of air traffic control (ATC) voice data to shed much needed insight into resolving which flight characteristic(s) may be impacting an aircraft's unusual profile. Once a flight characteristic is identified, it could be included in a list of potential safety precursors. This paper also describes a process that has been developed and implemented to automatically identify and produce daily reports on flights of interest from the previous day.

Matthews, Bryan↗
NASA NTRS2011

Utilization of Ancillary Data Sets for Conceptual SMAP Mission Algorithm Development and Product Generation

The planned Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is one of the first Earth observation satellites being developed by NASA in response to the National Research Council's Decadal Survey, Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond [1]. Scheduled to launch late in 2014, the proposed SMAP mission would provide high resolution and frequent revisit global mapping of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state, utilizing enhanced Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) mitigation approaches to collect new measurements of the hydrological condition of the Earth's surface. The SMAP instrument design incorporates an L-band radar (3 km) and an L band radiometer (40 km) sharing a single 6-meter rotating mesh antenna to provide measurements of soil moisture and landscape freeze/thaw state [2]. These observations would (1) improve our understanding of linkages between the Earth's water, energy, and carbon cycles, (2) benefit many application areas including numerical weather and climate prediction, flood and drought monitoring, agricultural productivity, human health, and national security, (3) help to address priority questions on climate change, and (4) potentially provide continuity with brightness temperature and soil moisture measurements from ESA's SMOS (Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity) and NASA's Aquarius missions. In the planned SMAP mission prelaunch time frame, baseline algorithms are being developed for generating (1) soil moisture products both from radiometer measurements on a 36 km grid and from combined radar/radiometer measurements on a 9 km grid, and (2) freeze/thaw products from radar measurements on a 3 km grid. These retrieval algorithms need a variety of global ancillary data, both static and dynamic, to run the retrieval models, constrain the retrievals, and provide flags for indicating retrieval quality. The choice of which ancillary dataset to use for a particular SMAP product would be based on a number of factors, including its availability and ease of use, its inherent error and resulting impact on the overall soil moisture or freeze/thaw retrieval accuracy, and its compatibility with similar choices made by the SMOS mission. All decisions regarding SMAP ancillary data sources would be fully documented by the SMAP Project and made available to the user community.

freeze/thaw↗
NASA NTRS2012

On the Cloud Observations in JAXA's Next Coming Satellite Missions

The use of JAXA's next generation satellites, the EarthCARE and the GCOM-C, for observing overall cloud systems on the Earth is discussed. The satellites will be launched in the middle of 2010-era and contribute for observing aerosols and clouds in terms of climate change, environment, weather forecasting, and cloud revolution process study. This paper describes the role of such satellites and how to use the observing data showing concepts and some sample viewgraphs. Synergistic use of sensors is a key of the study. Visible to infrared bands are used for cloudy and clear discriminating from passively obtained satellite images. Cloud properties such as the cloud optical thickness, the effective particle radii, and the cloud top temperature will be retrieved from visible to infrared wavelengths of imagers. Additionally, we are going to combine cloud properties obtained from passive imagers and radar reflectivities obtained from an active radar in order to improve our understanding of cloud evolution process. This is one of the new techniques of satellite data analysis in terms of cloud sciences in the next decade. Since the climate change and cloud process study have mutual beneficial relationship, a multispectral wide-swath imagers like the GCOM-C SGLI and a comprehensive observation package of cloud and aerosol like the EarthCARE are both necessary.

satellite remote sensing↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Next Generation of Spaceborne Radars for Cloud and Precipitation Measurements

NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) is currently developing advanced instrument concepts and technologies for the next generation of spaceborne atmospheric radars for clouds and precipitation measurements. Two representative examples are the Radar in a CubeSat (RainCube) – a miniaturized Ka-band precipitation intensity profiling radar for operation on a 6U CubeSat bus; and the Multi-Application Smallsat Tri-band Radar (MASTR) – a Ku/Ka/W band, electronic scanning, and Doppler atmospheric radar. These radar concepts will be capable of providing information on both the state and the process of the atmospheric water (as opposed to just the state information provided by existing spaceborne radars) to fill the current observational gaps in the advancement of weather and climate models.

Im, Eastwood↗
NASA NTRS2012

GPM Mission Overview and U.S. Science Status

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational sensors to provide "next-generation" precipitation products [1-2]. Water is fundamental to life on Earth. Knowing where and how much rain and snow falls globally is vital to understanding how weather and climate impact both our environment and Earth's water and energy cycles, including effects on agriculture, fresh water availability, and responses to natural disasters. Since rainfall and snowfall vary greatly from place to place and over time, satellites can provide more uniform observations of rain and snow around the globe than ground instruments, especially in areas where surface measurements are difficult. Relative to current global rainfall products, GPM data products will be characterized by: (l) more accurate instantaneous precipitation measurements (especially for light rain and cold-season solid precipitation), (2) more frequent sampling by an expanded constellation of domestic and international microwave radiometers including operational humidity sounders, (3) intercalibrated microwave brightness temperatures from constellation radiometers within a unified framework, and (4) physical-based precipitation retrievals from constellation radiometers using a common a priori cloud/hydrometeor database derived from GPM Core sensor measurements. The cornerstone of the GPM mission is the deployment of a Core Observatory in a unique 65 non-Sun-synchronous orbit to serve as a physics observatory and a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements by a constellation of dedicated and operational passive microwave sensors. The design of the GPM Core Observatory is an advancement of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)'s highly successful rain-sensing package. The Core Observatory will carry a Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a multichannel (l0-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). Since light rain and falling snow account for a significant fraction of precipitation occurrence in middle and high latitudes, the GPM instruments extend the capabilities of the TRMM sensors to detect falling snow, measure light rain, and provide, for the first time, quantitative estimates of microphysical properties of precipitation particles. The combined use of DPR and GMI measurements will place greater constraints on possible solutions to radiometer retrievals to improve the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. The GMI uses 13 different microwave channels to observe energy from the different types of precipitation through clouds for estimating everything from heavy to light rain and for detecting falling snow. As the satellite passes over Earth, the GMI constantly scans a region 885 kilometers across. The Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation built the GMI under contract with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The DPR provides three-dimensional information about precipitation particles derived from reflected energy by these particles at different heights within the cloud system. The two frequencies of the DPR also allow the radar to infer the sizes of precipitation particles and offer insights into a storm's physical characteristics. The Ka-band frequen~y scans across a region of 125 kilometers and is nested within the wider scan of the Ku-band frequency of 245 kilometers. The Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) built the DPR. The Core Observatory satellite will fly at an altitude of 253 miles (407 kilometers) in a non-Sun-synchronous orbit that covers the Earth from 65 S to 65 N - from about the Antarctic Circle to the Arctic Circle. The GPM Core Observatory is being developed and tested at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Once complete, a Japanese H-lIA rocket will carry thPM Core Observatory into orbit from Tanegashima Island, Japan in 2014. The GPM constellation is envisioned to comprise 8 or more microwave sensors provided by partners, including both conical imagers and cross-track sounders. GPM is currently a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Additional partnerships are under development to include microwave radiometers on the French-Indian Megha-Tropiques satellite and U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, as well as humidity sounders or precipitation sensors on operational satellites such as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), NOAA-NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites, European MetOp satellites, and DMSP follow-on sensors. In addition, data from Chinese and Russian microwave radiometers may be available through international cooperation under the auspices of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and Group on Earth Observations (GEO). GPM's next-generation global precipitation data will lead to scientific advances and societal benefits in the following areas: (1) Improved knowledge of the Earth's water cycle and its link to climate change (2) New insights into precipitation microphysics, storm structures and large-scale atmospheric processes (3) Better understanding of climate sensitivity and feedback processes (4) Extended capabilities in monitoring and predicting hurricanes and other extreme weather events (5) Improved forecasting capabilities for natural hazards, including floods, droughts and landslides. (6) Enhanced numerical prediction skills for weather and climate (7) Better agricultural crop forecasting and monitoring of freshwater resources. An overview of the GPM mission concept and science activities in the United States, together with an update on international collaborations in radiometer intercalibration and ground validation, will be presented.

Hou, Arthur Y.↗
NASA NTRS2017

A Method for Estimating Meteorite Fall Mass from Weather Radar Data

Techniques such as weather RADAR, seismometers, and all-sky cameras allow new insights concerning the physics of meteorite fall dynamics and fragmentation during "dark flight", the period of time between the end of the meteor's luminous flight and the concluding impact on the Earth's surface. Understanding dark flight dynamics enables us to rapidly analyze the characteristics of new meteorite falls. This analysis will provide essential information to meteorite hunters to optimize recovery, increasing the frequency and total mass of scientifically important freshly-fallen meteorites available to the scientific community. We have developed a mathematical method to estimate meteorite fall mass using reflectivity data as recorded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Next Generation RADAR (NEXRAD) stations. This study analyzed eleven official and one unofficial meteorite falls in the United States and Canada to achieve this purpose.

Laird, C.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Visual Advantage of Enhanced Flight Vision System During NextGen Flight Test Evaluation

Synthetic Vision Systems and Enhanced Flight Vision System (SVS/EFVS) technologies have the potential to provide additional margins of safety for aircrew performance and enable operational improvements for low visibility operations in the terminal area environment. Simulation and flight tests were jointly sponsored by NASA's Aviation Safety Program, Vehicle Systems Safety Technology project and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to evaluate potential safety and operational benefits of SVS/EFVS technologies in low visibility Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) operations. The flight tests were conducted by a team of Honeywell, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and NASA personnel with the goal of obtaining pilot-in-the-loop test data for flight validation, verification, and demonstration of selected SVS/EFVS operational and system-level performance capabilities. Nine test flights were flown in Gulfstream's G450 flight test aircraft outfitted with the SVS/EFVS technologies under low visibility instrument meteorological conditions. Evaluation pilots flew 108 approaches in low visibility weather conditions (600 feet to 3600 feet reported visibility) under different obscurants (mist, fog, drizzle fog, frozen fog) and sky cover (broken, overcast). Flight test videos were evaluated at three different altitudes (decision altitude, 100 feet radar altitude, and touchdown) to determine the visual advantage afforded to the pilot using the EFVS/Forward-Looking InfraRed (FLIR) imagery compared to natural vision. Results indicate the EFVS provided a visual advantage of two to three times over that of the out-the-window (OTW) view. The EFVS allowed pilots to view the runway environment, specifically runway lights, before they would be able to OTW with natural vision.

Kramer, Lynda J.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Laboratory for Atmospheres 2008 Technical Highlights

The 2008 Technical Highlights describes the efforts of all members of the Laboratory for Atmospheres. Their dedication to advancing Earth Science through conducting research, developing and running models, designing instruments, managing projects, running field campaigns, and numerous other activities, is highlighted in this report. The Laboratory for Atmospheres (Code 613) is part of the Earth Sciences Division (Code 610), formerly the Earth Sun Exploration Division, under the Sciences and Exploration Directorate (Code 600) based at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. In line with NASA s Exploration Initiative, the Laboratory executes a comprehensive research and technology development program dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of the atmospheres of Earth and other planets. The research program is aimed at understanding the influence of solar variability on the Earth s climate; predicting the weather and climate of Earth; understanding the structure, dynamics, and radiative properties of precipitation, clouds, and aerosols; understanding atmospheric chemistry, especially the role of natural and anthropogenic trace species on the ozone balance in the stratosphere and the troposphere; and advancing our understanding of physical properties of Earth s atmosphere. The research program identifies problems and requirements for atmospheric observations via satellite missions. Laboratory scientists conceive, design, develop, and implement ultraviolet, infrared, optical, radar, laser, and lidar technology for remote sensing of the atmosphere. Laboratory members conduct field measurements for satellite data calibration and validation, and carry out numerous modeling activities. These modeling activities include climate model simulations, modeling the chemistry and transport of trace species on regional-to-global scales, cloud-resolving models, and development of next-generation Earth system models. Interdisciplinary research is carried out in collaboration with other laboratories and research groups within the Earth Sciences Division, across the Sciences and Exploration Directorate, and with partners in universities and other Government agencies. The Laboratory for Atmospheres is a vital participant in NASA s research agenda. Our Laboratory often has relatively large programs, sizable satellite missions, and observational campaigns that require the cooperative and collaborative efforts of many scientists. We ensure an appropriate balance between our scientists responsibility for these large collaborative projects and their need for an active individual research agenda. This balance allows members of the Laboratory to continuously improve their scientific credentials. Members of the Laboratory interact with the general public to support a wide range of interests in the atmospheric sciences. Among other activities, the Laboratory raises the public s awareness of atmospheric science by presenting public lectures and demonstrations, by making scientific data available to wide audiences, by teaching, and by mentoring students and teachers. The Laboratory makes substantial efforts to attract new scientists to the various areas of atmospheric research. We strongly encourage the establishment of partnerships with Federal and state agencies that have operational responsibilities to promote the societal application of our science products. This report describes our role in NASA s mission, gives a broad description of our research, and summarizes our scientists major accomplishments during calendar year 2008. The report also contains useful information on human resources, scientific interactions, and outreach activities.

Cote, Charles E.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Assessing Impact of Dual Sensor Enhanced Flight Vision Systems on Departure Performance

Synthetic Vision (SV) and Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (EFVS) may serve as game-changing technologies to meet the challenges of the Next Generation Air Transportation System and the envisioned Equivalent Visual Operations (EVO) concept - that is, the ability to achieve the safety and operational tempos of current-day Visual Flight Rules operations irrespective of the weather and visibility conditions. One significant obstacle lies in the definition of required equipage on the aircraft and on the airport to enable the EVO concept objective. A motion-base simulator experiment was conducted to evaluate the operational feasibility and pilot workload of conducting departures and approaches on runways without centerline lighting in visibility as low as 300 feet runway visual range (RVR) by use of onboard vision system technologies on a Head-Up Display (HUD) without need or reliance on natural vision. Twelve crews evaluated two methods of combining dual sensor (millimeter wave radar and forward looking infrared) EFVS imagery on pilot-flying and pilot-monitoring HUDs. In addition, the impact of adding SV to the dual sensor EFVS imagery on crew flight performance and workload was assessed. Using EFVS concepts during 300 RVR terminal operations on runways without centerline lighting appears feasible as all EFVS concepts had equivalent (or better) departure performance and landing rollout performance, without any workload penalty, than those flown with a conventional HUD to runways having centerline lighting. Adding SV imagery to EFVS concepts provided situation awareness improvements but no discernible improvements in flight path maintenance.

Kramer, Lynda J.↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission for Science and Society

Precipitation is a key source of freshwater; therefore, observing global patterns of precipitation and its intensity is important for science, society, and understanding our planet in a changing climate. In 2014, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory (CO) spacecraft. The GPM CO carries the most advanced precipitation sensors currently in space including a dual-frequency precipitation radar provided by JAXA for measuring the three-dimensional structures of precipitation and a well-calibrated, multifrequency passive microwave radiometer that provides wide-swath precipitation data. The GPM CO was designed to measure rain rates from 0.2 to 110.0 mm h1 and to detect moderate to intense snow events. The GPM CO serves as a reference for unifying the data from a constellation of partner satellites to provide next-generation, merged precipitation estimates globally and with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Through improved measurements of rain and snow, precipitation data from GPM provides new information such as details on precipitation structure and intensity; observations of hurricanes and typhoons as they transition from the tropics to the midlatitudes; data to advance near-real-time hazard assessment for floods, landslides, and droughts; inputs to improve weather and climate models; and insights into agricultural productivity, famine, and public health. Since launch, GPM teams have calibrated satellite instruments, refined precipitation retrieval algorithms, expanded science investigations, and processed and disseminated precipitation data for a range of applications. The current status of GPM, its ongoing science, and its future plans are presented.

Gail Skofronick-Jackson↗
NASA NTRS2012

Benefits of Sharing Information from Commercial Airborne Forward-Looking Sensors in the Next Generation Air Transportation System

The air transportation system of the future will need to support much greater traffic densities than are currently possible, while preserving or improving upon current levels of safety. Concepts are under development to support a Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) that by some estimates will need to support up to three times current capacity by the year 2025. Weather and other atmospheric phenomena, such as wake vortices and volcanic ash, constitute major constraints on airspace system capacity and can present hazards to aircraft if encountered. To support safe operations in the NextGen environment advanced systems for collection and dissemination of aviation weather and environmental information will be required. The envisioned NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW) infrastructure will be a critical component of the aviation weather support services, providing access to a common weather picture for all system users. By taking advantage of Network Enabled Operations (NEO) capabilities, a virtual 4-D Weather Data Cube with aviation weather information from many sources will be developed. One new source of weather observations may be airborne forward-looking sensors, such as the X-band weather radar. Future sensor systems that are the subject of current research include advanced multi-frequency and polarimetric radar, a variety of Lidar technologies, and infrared imaging spectrometers.

Schaffner, Philip R.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Assessing Dual Sensor Enhanced Flight Vision Systems to Enable Equivalent Visual Operations

Flight deck-based vision system technologies, such as Synthetic Vision (SV) and Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (EFVS), may serve as a revolutionary crew/vehicle interface enabling technologies to meet the challenges of the Next Generation Air Transportation System Equivalent Visual Operations (EVO) concept - that is, the ability to achieve the safety of current-day Visual Flight Rules (VFR) operations and maintain the operational tempos of VFR irrespective of the weather and visibility conditions. One significant challenge lies in the definition of required equipage on the aircraft and on the airport to enable the EVO concept objective. A motion-base simulator experiment was conducted to evaluate the operational feasibility, pilot workload and pilot acceptability of conducting straight-in instrument approaches with published vertical guidance to landing, touchdown, and rollout to a safe taxi speed in visibility as low as 300 ft runway visual range by use of onboard vision system technologies on a Head-Up Display (HUD) without need or reliance on natural vision. Twelve crews evaluated two methods of combining dual sensor (millimeter wave radar and forward looking infrared) EFVS imagery on pilot-flying and pilot-monitoring HUDs as they made approaches to runways with and without touchdown zone and centerline lights. In addition, the impact of adding SV to the dual sensor EFVS imagery on crew flight performance, workload, and situation awareness during extremely low visibility approach and landing operations was assessed. Results indicate that all EFVS concepts flown resulted in excellent approach path tracking and touchdown performance without any workload penalty. Adding SV imagery to EFVS concepts provided situation awareness improvements but no discernible improvements in flight path maintenance.

Kramer, Lynda J.↗
NASA NTRS2014

The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) and the Global Observing System for Total Lightning

for the existing GOES system currently operating over the Western Hemisphere. New and improved instrument technology will support expanded detection of environmental phenomena, resulting in more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings. Advancements over current GOES include a new capability for total lightning detection (cloud and cloud-to-ground flashes) from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), and improved temporal, spatial, and spectral resolution for the next generation Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). The GLM will map total lightning continuously day and night with near-uniform spatial resolution of 8 km with a product latency of less than 20 sec over the Americas and adjacent oceanic regions. This will aid in forecasting severe storms and tornado activity, and convective weather impacts on aviation safety and efficiency among a number of potential applications. The GLM will help address the National Weather Service requirement for total lightning observations globally to support warning decision-making and forecast services. Science and application development along with pre-operational product demonstrations and evaluations at NWS national centers, forecast offices, and NOAA testbeds will prepare the forecasters to use GLM as soon as possible after the planned launch and check-out of GOES-R in 2016. New applications will use GLM alone, in combination with the ABI, or integrated (fused) with other available tools (weather radar and ground strike networks, nowcasting systems, mesoscale analysis, and numerical weather prediction models) in the hands of the forecaster responsible for issuing more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings.

Goodman, Steven J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

The CHUVA Lightning Mapping Campaign

The primary science objective for the CHUVA lightning mapping campaign is to combine measurements of total lightning activity, lightning channel mapping, and detailed information on the locations of cloud charge regions of thunderstorms with the planned observations of the CHUVA (Cloud processes of tHe main precipitation systems in Brazil: A contribUtion to cloud resolVing modeling and to the GPM (GlobAl Precipitation Measurement) field campaign. The lightning campaign takes place during the CHUVA intensive observation period October-December 2011 in the vicinity of S o Luiz do Paraitinga with Brazilian, US, and European government, university and industry participants. Total lightning measurements that can be provided by ground-based regional 2-D and 3-D total lightning mapping networks coincident with overpasses of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and the SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager) on the Meteosat Second Generation satellite in geostationary earth orbit will be used to generate proxy data sets for the next generation US and European geostationary satellites. Proxy data, which play an important role in the pre-launch mission development and in user readiness preparation, are used to develop and validate algorithms so that they will be ready for operational use quickly following the planned launch of the GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) in 2015 and the Meteosat Third Generation Lightning Imager (LI) in 2017. To date there is no well-characterized total lightning data set coincident with the imagers. Therefore, to take the greatest advantage of this opportunity to collect detailed and comprehensive total lightning data sets, test and validate multi-sensor nowcasting applications for the monitoring, tracking, warning, and prediction of severe and high impact weather, and to advance our knowledge of thunderstorm physics, extensive measurements from lightning mapping networks will be collected in conjunction with electric field mills, field change sensors, high speed cameras and other lightning sensors, dual-polarimetric radars, and aircraft in-situ microphysics which will allow for excellent cross-network inter-comparisons, assessments, and physical understanding.

Goodman, Steven J.↗