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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Early Comparison of Ocean Analyses Using JEDI/SOCA 3 DVar vs. GEOS-S2S- 3 ODAS LETKF

At NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), data assimilation (DA) for the next-generation Goddard Earth Observing System Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (GEOS-S 2 S) coupled-model forecast system will transition to the Joint Effort for DA Integration (JEDI) system, which includes the marine DA component SOCA (Sea ice, Ocean, and Coupled Assimilation). It is envisioned that incorporating SOCA into GMAO Earth System Modeling will allow a more systematic approach to assimilating new data types (e.g., SWOT KaRIn), increasing resolution (e.g., 1/12°), and facilitating weakly (and eventually strongly) coupled DA (air-sea-ice, etc.). To prepare for this transition, testing is underway to compare SOCA results at high ocean resolution against the current GEOS-S 2 S Version 3 Ocean DA System (ODAS) 1 using similar initial conditions and observations.

David Russell↗
NASA NTRS1976

Seasat-A - An ocean observation satellite

Mission details, onboard equipment, and measurements to be taken are described for the Seasat-A global ocean monitoring satellite. The satellite is designed for mapping the global ocean geoid, charting ice fields and leads, precision measurement of sea surface topography, global monitoring of wave height and wave directional spectra, surface winds and wind direction, current patterns, and ocean temperature. Data handling subsystems, a compressed pulse radar altimeter, coherent synthetic aperture imaging radar, microwave wind scatterometer, scanning visible/IR radiometer, scanning multispectral (5 freq) microwave radiometer mounted on the satellite are described briefly.

Williams, F. L.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Visions of Our Planet's Atmosphere, Land and Oceans Electronic-Theater 2001

The NASA/NOAA/AMS Electronic Theater presents Earth science observations and visualizations in a historical perspective. Fly in from outer space to Fredericton New Brunswick. Drop in on the Kennedy Space Center and Park City Utah, site of the 2002 Olympics using 1 m IKONOS "Spy Satellite" data. Go back to the early weather satellite images from the 1960s and see them contrasted with the latest US and International global satellite weather movies including hurricanes & tornadoes. See the latest spectacular images from NASA/NOAA and Canadian remote sensing missions like Terra GOES, TRMM, SeaWiFS, Landsat 7, and Radarsat that are visualized & explained. See how High Definition Television (HDTV) is revolutionizing the way we communicate science in cooperation with the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. See dust storms in Africa and smoke plumes from fires in Mexico. See visualizations featured on Newsweek, TIME, National Geographic, Popular Science covers & National & International Network TV. New visualization tools allow us to roam & zoom through massive global images eg Landsat tours of the US, Africa, & New Zealand showing desert and mountain geology as well as seasonal changes in vegetation. See animations of the polar ice packs and the motion of gigantic Antarctic Icebergs from SeaWinds data. Spectacular new visualizations of the global atmosphere & oceans are shown. See massive dust storms sweeping across Africa. See vortexes and currents in the global oceans that bring up the nutrients to feed tiny plankton and draw the fish, whales and fisherman. See the how the ocean blooms in response to these currents and El Nino/La Nina climate changes. The demonstration is interactively driven by a SGI Onyx II Graphics Supercomputer with four CPUs, 8 Gigabytes of RAM and Terabyte of disk. With multiple projectors on a giant screen. See the city lights, fishing fleets, gas flares and bio-mass burning of the Earth at night observed by the "night-vision" DMSP military satellite.

Hasler, A. F.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Electronic-Theater 2001: Visions of Our Planet's Atmosphere, Land and Oceans

The NASA/NOAA/AMS Electronic Theater presents Earth science observations and visualizations in a historical perspective. Fly in from outer space to Wisconsin, Madison and the Monona Terrace Center. Drop in on the Kennedy Space Center and Park City Utah, site of the 2002 Olympics using I m IKONOS "Spy Satellite" data. Go back to the early weather satellite images from the 1960s pioneered by UW. Scientists and see them contrasted with the latest US and International global satellite weather movies including hurricanes & tornadoes. See the latest spectacular images from NASA/NOAA remote sensing missions like Terra GOES, TRMM, SeaWiFS, Landsat 7 that are visualized & explained. See how High Definition Television (HDTV) is revolutionizing the way we communicate science in cooperation with the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. See dust storms in Africa and smoke plumes from fires in Mexico. See visualizations featured on Newsweek, TIME, National Geographic, Popular Science covers & National & International Network TV. New visualization tools allow us to roam & zoom through massive global images eg Landsat tours of the US, Africa, & New Zealand showing desert and mountain geology as well as seasonal changes in vegetation. See animations of the polar ice packs and the motion of gigantic Antarctic Icebergs from SeaWinds data. Spectacular new visualizations of the global atmosphere & oceans are shown. See massive dust storms sweeping across Africa. See vortices and currents in the global oceans that bring up the nutrients to feed tiny plankton and draw the fish, whales and fisherman. See the how the ocean blooms in response to these currents and El Nina/La Nina climate changes. The demonstration is interactively driven by a SGI Onyx 11 Graphics Supercomputer with four CPUs, 8 Gigabytes of RAM and Terabyte of disk. With five projectors on a giant IMAX sized 18 x 72 ft screen. See the city lights, fishing fleets, gas flares and bio-mass burning of the Earth at night observed by the "nightvision" DMSP military satellite.

Hasler, Authur↗
NASA NTRS2002

Visions of our Planet's Atmosphere, Land & Oceans

The NASA/NOAA Electronic Theater presents Earth science observations and visualizations in a historical perspective. Fly in from outer space to South Africa, Cape Town and Johannesburg using NASA Terra MODIS data, Landsat data and 1m IKONOS "Spy Satellite" data. Zoom in to any place South Africa using Earth Viewer 3D from Keyhole Inc. and Landsat data at 30 m resolution. Go back to the early weather satellite images from the 1960s and see them contrasted with the latest US and international global satellite weather movies including hurricanes & "tornadoes". See the latest visualizations of spectacular images from NASA/NOAA remote sensing missions like Terra, GOES, TRMM, SeaWiFS, Landsat 7 including 1 - min GOES rapid scan image sequences of Nov 9th 2001 Midwest tornadic thunderstorms and have them explained. See how High-Definition Television (HDTV) is revolutionizing the way we present science to the public. See dust storms and flooding in Africa and smoke plumes from fires in Mexico. See visualizations featured on the covers of Newsweek, TIME, National Geographic, Popular Science & on National & International Network TV. New computer software tools allow us to roam & zoom through massive global images e.g. Landsat tours of the US, and Africa, showing desert and mountain geology as well as seasonal changes in vegetation. See animations of the north and south polar ice packs and with icebergs on the coasts of Greenland and off the coast of Antarctica. Spectacular new visualizations of the global land, atmosphere & oceans are shown. Listen to the pulse of our planet. See how land vegetation, ocean plankton, clouds and temperatures respond to the sun & seasons. See vortexes and currents in the global oceans that bring up the nutrients to feed tiny algae and draw the fish, whales and fisherman. See the how the ocean blooms in response to these currents and El Nino/La Nina climate changes. See the city lights, fishing fleets, gas flares and biomass burning of the Earth at night observed by the "night-vision" DMSP military satellite. The presentation will be made using the latest HDTV and video projection technology that is now done from a laptop computer through an entirely digital path.

Hasler, Arthur F.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Visions of our Planet's Atmosphere, Land and Oceans: NASA/NOAA E-Theater 2003

The NASA/NOAA Electronic Theater presents Earth science observations from space in a spectacular way. Fly in from outer space to the conference location as well as the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games using data from NASA satellites and the IKONOS "Spy Satellite". See HDTV movie Destination Earth 2002 incorporating the Olympic Zooms, NBC footage of the 2002 Olympics, the shuttle, & the best NASA/NOAA Earth science visualizations. See the latest US and international global satellite weather movies including hurricanes, typhoons & "tornadoes". See the latest visualizations from NASA/NOAA and International remote sensing missions like Terra, Aqua, GOES, GMS , SeaWiFS, & Landsat. Feel the pulse of our planet. See how land vegetation, ocean plankton, clouds and temperatures respond to the sun & seasons. See vortexes and currents in the global oceans that bring up the nutrients to feed tiny algae and draw the fish, whales and fisherman. See the how the ocean blooms in response to these currents and El Nino/La Nina climate changes. See the city lights, fishing fleets, gas flares and bio-mass burning of the Earth at night observed by the the "night-vision" DMSP satellite. The presentation will be made using the latest HDTV and video projection technology by: Dr. Fritz Hasler NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Hasler, Fritz↗
NASA NTRS2003

Visions of our Planet's Atmosphere, Land and Oceans: NASA/NOAA E-Theater 2003

The NASA/NOAA Electronic Theater presents Earth science observations from space in a spectacular way. Fly in from outer space to the conference location as well as the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games using data from NASA satellites and the IKONOS "Spy Satellite". See HDTV movie Destination Earth 2002 incorporating the Olympic Zooms, NBC footage of the 2002 Olympics, the shuttle, & the best NASA/NOAA Earth science visualizations. See the latest US and international global satellite weather movies including hurricanes, typhoons & "tornadoes". See the latest visualizations from NASA/NOAA and International remote sensing missions like Terra, Aqua, GOES, GMS, SeaWiFS, & Landsat. Feel the pulse of our planet. See how land vegetation, ocean plankton, clouds and temperatures respond to the sun & seasons. See vortexes and currents in the global oceans that bring up the nutrients to feed tiny algae and draw the fish, whales and fisherman. See the how the ocean blooms in response to these currents and El Nino/La Nina climate changes. See the city lights, fishing fleets, gas flares and bio-mass burning of the Earth at night observed by the "night-vision" DMSP satellite. The presentation will be made using the latest HDTV and video projection technology by: Dr. Fritz Hasler NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Hasler, Fritz↗
NASA NTRS2003

Visions of our Planet's Atmosphere, Land and Oceans: NASA/NOAA E-Theater 2003

The NASA/NOAA Electronic Theater presents Earth science observations from space in a spectacular way. Fly in from outer space to the conference location as well as the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games using data from NASA satellites and the IKONOS 'Spy Satellite". See HDTV movie Destination Earth 2002 incorporating the Olympic Zooms, NBC footage of the 2002 Olympics, the shuttle, & the best NASA/NOAA Earth science visualizations. See the latest US and international global satellite weather movies including hurricanes, typhoons & "tornadoes". See the latest visualizations from NASA/NOAA and International remote sensing missions like Terra, Aqua, GOES, GMS, SeaWiFS, & Landsat. Feel the pulse of OUT planet. See how land vegetation, ocean plankton, clouds and temperatures respond to the sun & seasons. See vortexes and currents in the global oceans that bring up the nutrients to feed tiny algae and draw the fish, whales and fisherman. See the how the ocean blooms in response to these currents and El Nino/La Nina climate changes. See the city lights, fishing fleets, gas flares and bio-mass burning of the Earth at night observed by the "night-vision" DMSP satellite. The presentation will be made using the latest HDTV and video projection technology by: Dr. Fritz Hasler NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

Hasler, Fritz↗
NASA NTRS1995

Statistical Performance of TOPEX/POSEIDON Prime Mission Ground and On-Board Ephemerides and Consequences for the Extended Mission

TOPEX/POSEIDON is a joint American/French ocean topography experiment currently in the last year of its nominal mission and soon to enter a three year extended mission. To meet science requirements, the satellite must point the altimeter antenna at the ocean local nadir with good accuracy. This paper discusses the pointing accuracy of the Operational Orbit Ephemeris and its Fourier power series representation in the On-Board Computer. The consequences for the extended mission due to this performance are also discussed.

TOPEX/POSEIDON↗
NASA NTRS1981

Drift and dispersion studies of ocean-dumped waste using Landsat imagery and current drogues

The drift and dispersion of industrial acid wastes dumped 64 km off the Delaware coast were investigated using 16 Landsat images. Waste plume drift velocities and spread rates were obtained, and principal component analysis was performed to discriminate the acid waste from other pollutants. Waste plumes averaged drifting rates from 0.59 km/hr to 3.39 km/hr into the southwest quadrant, and remained above the thermocline, which formed at depths ranging from 13 m to 24 m. Rapid waste movement toward shore occurred primarily during storms, although plumes were rapidly dispersed and diluted at spread rates in excess of 4 cm/sec. Landsat data analysis also indicates plume width increase of about 1.5 cm/sec during calm sea conditions, which is also in agreement with Falk's (1974) estimates of plume dilution.

Klemas, V.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Shuttle imaging radar-C science plan

The Shuttle Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) mission will yield new and advanced scientific studies of the Earth. SIR-C will be the first instrument to simultaneously acquire images at L-band and C-band with HH, VV, HV, or VH polarizations, as well as images of the phase difference between HH and VV polarizations. These data will be digitally encoded and recorded using onboard high-density digital tape recorders and will later be digitally processed into images using the JPL Advanced Digital SAR Processor. SIR-C geologic studies include cold-region geomorphology, fluvial geomorphology, rock weathering and erosional processes, tectonics and geologic boundaries, geobotany, and radar stereogrammetry. Hydrology investigations cover arid, humid, wetland, snow-covered, and high-latitude regions. Additionally, SIR-C will provide the data to identify and map vegetation types, interpret landscape patterns and processes, assess the biophysical properties of plant canopies, and determine the degree of radar penetration of plant canopies. In oceanography, SIR-C will provide the information necessary to: forecast ocean directional wave spectra; better understand internal wave-current interactions; study the relationship of ocean-bottom features to surface expressions and the correlation of wind signatures to radar backscatter; and detect current-system boundaries, oceanic fronts, and mesoscale eddies. And, as the first spaceborne SAR with multi-frequency, multipolarization imaging capabilities, whole new areas of glaciology will be opened for study when SIR-C is flown in a polar orbit.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2007

Solutions Network Formulation Report. The Potential Contribution of the Ocean Surface Topography Mission to the General NOAA Oil Monitoring Environment

Data collected by the OSTM could be used to provide a solution for the GNOME DST. GNOME, developed by NOAA?s Office of Response and Restoration Hazardous Materials Response Division, geospatially models oil spill trajectories using wind, current, river flow, and tidal data. Data collected by the OSTM would supply information about ocean currents and wind speeds. This Candidate Solution is in alignment with the Coastal Management, Water Management, Disaster Management, Public Health, Ecological Forecasting, and Homeland Security National Applications and will benefit society by improving the capabilities of emergency responders who evaluate an oil spill?s probable threat.

Hilbert, Kent↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Finer Details: Climate Modeling

If you want to know whether you will need sunscreen or an umbrella for tomorrow's picnic, you can simply read the local weather report. However, if you are calculating the impact of gas combustion on global temperatures, or anticipating next year's rainfall levels to set water conservation policy, you must conduct a more comprehensive investigation. Such complex matters require long-range modeling techniques that predict broad trends in climate development rather than day-to-day details. Climate models are built from equations that calculate the progression of weather-related conditions over time. Based on the laws of physics, climate model equations have been developed to predict a number of environmental factors, for example: 1. Amount of solar radiation that hits the Earth. 2. Varying proportions of gases that make up the air. 3. Temperature at the Earth's surface. 4. Circulation of ocean and wind currents. 5. Development of cloud cover. Numerical modeling of the climate can improve our understanding of both the past and, the future. A model can confirm the accuracy of environmental measurements taken. in, the past and can even fill in gaps in those records. In addition, by quantifying the relationship between different aspects of climate, scientists can estimate how a future change in one aspect may alter the rest of the world. For example, could an increase in the temperature of the Pacific Ocean somehow set off a drought on the other side of the world? A computer simulation could lead to an answer for this and other questions. Quantifying the chaotic, nonlinear activities that shape our climate is no easy matter. You cannot run these simulations on your desktop computer and expect results by the time you have finished checking your morning e-mail. Efficient and accurate climate modeling requires powerful computers that can process billions of mathematical calculations in a single second. The NCCS exists to provide this degree of vast computing capability.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2016

NASA's Orbital Debris Optical and IR Ground-Based Observing Program Utilizing the MCAT, UKIRT, and Magellan Telescopes

Characterizing debris in Earth-orbit has become increasingly important as the population growth rises steadily, posing greater and greater threats to active satellites with each passing year. Currently, the Joint Space Operations is tracking over 23,000 pieces of debris, ranging in size from 1-meter and larger in geosychronous orbits (GEO) to 10-cm and larger at low-Earth orbits (LEO). Model estimates suggest that there may be more than 500,000 pieces of spacecraft debris larger than 1 cm currently in orbit around the Earth. With such a small fraction of the total population being tracked, and new break-ups occurring in LEO, GEO, and Geo Transfer Orbits, new assets, techniques, and approaches for characterizing this debris are needed. With this in mind, NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office has actively tasked a suite of telescopes around the world. In 2015, the newly-built 1.3m optical Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) came on-line on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean and is currently in its commissioning phase. MCAT is designed to track Earth-orbiting objects above 200km, conduct surveys at GEO, and work in tandem with a newly-installed Raven-class commercial-off-the-shelf system, a 0.4-meter telescope co-located on Ascension with a field-of-view similar to MCAT's and research-grade instrumentation designed to complement MCAT for observations taken either simultaneously or in tandem. The 3.8m infrared UKIRT telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, has been heavily tasked throughout 2015 and into 2016, collecting data on individual targets as well as in survey modes to study both the general GEO population as well as an individual break-up event of a BRIZ-M Rocket body that occurred in January 2016. Data collected include photometry and spectroscopy in the near-Infrared (0.85-2.5 m) and the mid-infrared (8-16 m). Finally, the 6.5-m Baade Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile was used to collect optical photometric survey data in October 2015 of two GEO Titan breakups, focusing on locations of possible debris concentrations as indicated by the NASA standard break-up model.

Lederer, Susan↗
NASA NTRS1992

Data management for JGOFS: Theory and design

The Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), currently being organized under the auspices of the Scientific Committee for Ocean Research (SCOR), is intended to be a decade long internationally coordinated program. The main goal of JGOFS is to determine and understand on a global scale the processes controlling the time-varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements in the ocean and to evaluate the related exchanges with the atmosphere, sea floor and continental boundaries. 'A long-term goal of JGOFS will be to establish strategies for observing, on long time scales, changes in ocean biogeochemical cycles in relation to climate change'. Participation from a large number of U.S. and foreign institutions is expected. JGOFS investigators have begun a set of time-series measurements and global surveys of a wide variety of biological, chemical and physical quantities, detailed process-oriented studies, satellite observations of ocean color and wind stress and modeling of the bio-geochemical processes. These experiments will generate data in amounts unprecedented in the biological and chemical communities; rapid and effortless exchange of these data will be important to the success of JGOFS.

Flierl, Glenn R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Development of a high stability microstrip-based L-band radiometer for ocean salinity measurements.

The development of a microstrip-based L-band Dicke radiometer with the long-term stability required for future ocean salinity measurements to an accuracy of 0.1 psu is presented. This will require the L-band radiometer requirements and configuration to achieve this objective. System configuration and component performance have been evaluated with radiometer test beds at both JPL and GSFC. The GSFC testbed uses a cryogenic chamber that al-lows long-term characterization at radiometric temperatures in the range of 70 - 120 K. The research has addressed several areas including component characterization as a function of temperature and bias, system linearity, optimum noise diode injection calibration and precision temperature control of components. A breadboard radiometer, utilizing microstrip-based technologies, has been built to demonstrate this long-term stability. This system is partially polarimetric providing V, H, -45 and +45 signals. Test results are compared to current and future ocean salinity radiometer requirements to show that the desire performance is possible.

Tanner, Alan B.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Interactive Visualization of High-Dimensional Petascale Ocean Data

We describe an application for interactive visualization of 5 petabytes of time-varying multivariate data from a high-resolution global ocean circulation model. The input data are 10311 hourly (ocean time) time steps of various 2D and 3D fields from a 22-billion point 1/48- degree “lat-lon cap” configuration of the MIT General Circulation Model (MITgcm). We map the global horizontal model domain onto our 128-screen (8x16) tiled display wall to produce a canonical tiling with approximately one MITgcm grid point per display pixel, and using this tiling we encode the entire time series for multiple native and computed scalar quantities at a collection of ocean depths. We reduce disk bandwidth requirements by converting the model’s floating point data to 16-bit fixed point values, and compressing those values with a lossless video encoder, which together allow synchronized playback at 24 time steps per second across all 128 displays. The application allows dynamic assignment of any two encoded tiles to any display, and has multiple interfaces for quickly specifying various orderly arrangements of tiles. All subsequent rendering is done on the fly, with run time control of colormaps, transfer functions, histogram equalization, and labeling. The two data streams on each screen can be rendered independently and combined in various ways, including blending, differencing, horizontal/ vertical wipes, and checkerboarding. The two data streams on any screen can optionally be displayed as a scatterplot in their joint attribute space. All scatterplots and map-view plots from the same x/y location and depth are linked so they all show the current brushable selection. Ocean scientists have used the system, and have found previously unidentified features in the data.

Interactive↗