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Utilizing NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Data to Determine Ideal Planting Locations for Wetland Tree Species in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

St. Bernard Parish, in southeast Louisiana, is rapidly losing coastal forests and wetlands due to a combination of natural and anthropogenic disturbances (e.g. subsidence, saltwater intrusion, low sedimentation, nutrient deficiency, herbivory, canal dredging, levee construction, spread of invasive species, etc.). After Hurricane Katrina severely impacted the area in 2005, multiple Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have worked not only on rebuilding destroyed dwellings, but on rebuilding the ecosystems that once protected the citizens of St. Bernard Parish. Volunteer groups, NGOs, and government entities often work separately and independently of each other and use different sets of information to choose the best planting sites for coastal forests. Using NASA EOS, NRCS soil surveys, and ancillary road and canal data in conjunction with ground truthing, the team created maps of optimal planting sites for several species of wetland trees to aid in unifying these organizations, who share a common goal, under one plan. The methodology for this project created a comprehensive Geographic Information System (GIS) to help identify suitable planting sites in St. Bernard Parish. This included supplementing existing elevation data using LIDAR data and classifying existing land cover in the study area from ASTER multispectral satellite data. Low altitude AVIRIS hyperspectral imagery was used to assess the health of vegetation over an area near the intersection of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet Canal (MRGO) and Bayou la Loutre. Historic extent of coastal forests was mapped using aerial photos from USGS collected between 1952 and 1956. The final products demonstrated the utility of combining NASA EOS with other geospatial data in assessing, monitoring, and restoring of coastal ecosystems in Louisiana. This methodology also provides a useful template for other ecological forecasting and coastal restoration applications.

Reahard, Ross↗

Advanced Concepts

Before there is a funded space mission, there must be a present need for the mission. Space science and exploration are expensive, and without a well-defined and justifiable need, no one is going to commit significant funding for any space endeavor. However, as discussed in Chapter 1, applications of space technology and many and broad, hence there are many ways to determine and establish a mission need. Robotic science missions are justified by their science return. To be selected for flight, questions like these must be addressed: What is the science question that needs answering, and will the proposed mission be the most cost-effective way to answer it? Why does answering the question require an expensive space flight, instead of some ground-based alternative? If the question can only be answered by flying in space, then why is this approach better than other potential approaches? How much will it cost? And is the technology required to answer the question in hand and ready to use? If not, then how much will it cost and how long will it take to mature the technology to a usable level? There are also many ways to justify human exploration missions, including science return, technology advancement, as well as intangible reasons, such as national pride. Nonetheless, many of the questions that need answering, are similar to those for robotic science missions: Where are the people going, why, and will the proposed mission be the most cost-effective way to get there? What is the safest method to achieve the goal? How much will it cost? And is the technology required to get there and keep the crew alive in hand and ready to use? If not, then how much will it cost and how long will it take to mature the technology to a usable level? Another reason for some groups sending spacecraft into space is for profit. Telecommunications, geospatial imaging, and tourism are examples of proven, market-driven space missions and applications. For this specific set of users, the outstanding questions include: What is the product or service? Who will buy it? How can it be profitable? What is the most cost-effective solution to fielding the product or service? And, of course, is the technology in-hand or is there advanced development required? In order to answer these questions, the responsibility falls to a specially-skilled set of engineers and scientists who understand how to assess the readiness of new technologies.

Johnson, Les↗

Sensing and Virtual Worlds - A Survey of Research Opportunities

Virtual Worlds (VWs) have been used effectively in live and constructive military training. An area that remains fertile ground for exploration and a new vision involves integrating various traditional and now non-traditional sensors into virtual worlds. In this paper, we will assert that the benefits of this integration are several. First, we maintain that virtual worlds offer improved sensor deployment planning through improved visualization and stimulation of the model, using geo-specific terrain and structure. Secondly, we assert that VWs enhance the mission rehearsal process, and that using a mix of live avatars, non-player characters, and live sensor feeds (e.g. real time meteorology) can help visualization of the area of operations. Finally, tactical operations are improved via better collaboration and integration of real world sensing capabilities, and in most situations, 30 VWs improve the state of the art over current "dots on a map" 20 geospatial visualization. However, several capability gaps preclude a fuller realization of this vision. In this paper, we identify many of these gaps and suggest research directions

Moore, Dana↗

Shuttle Topography Data Inform Solar Power Analysis

The next time you flip on a light switch, there s a chance that you could be benefitting from data originally acquired during the Space Shuttle Program. An effort spearheaded by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in 2000 put together the first near-global elevation map of the Earth ever assembled, which has found use in everything from 3D terrain maps to models that inform solar power production. For the project, called the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), engineers at JPL designed a 60-meter mast that was fitted onto Shuttle Endeavour. Once deployed in space, an antenna attached to the end of the mast worked in combination with another antenna on the shuttle to simultaneously collect data from two perspectives. Just as having two eyes makes depth perception possible, the SRTM data sets could be combined to form an accurate picture of the Earth s surface elevations, the first hight-detail, near-global elevation map ever assembled. What made SRTM unique was not just its surface mapping capabilities but the completeness of the data it acquired. Over the course of 11 days, the shuttle orbited the Earth nearly 180 times, covering everything between the 60deg north and 54deg south latitudes, or roughly 80 percent of the world s total landmass. Of that targeted land area, 95 percent was mapped at least twice, and 24 percent was mapped at least four times. Following several years of processing, NASA released the data to the public in partnership with NGA. Robert Crippen, a member of the SRTM science team, says that the data have proven useful in a variety of fields. "Satellites have produced vast amounts of remote sensing data, which over the years have been mostly two-dimensional. But the Earth s surface is three-dimensional. Detailed topographic data give us the means to visualize and analyze remote sensing data in their natural three-dimensional structure, facilitating a greater understanding of the features and processes taking place on Earth."

Source record↗

NASA Tech Briefs, July 2013

Dielectrophoresis-Based Particle Sensor Using Nanoelectrode Arrays; Multi-Dimensional Damage Detection for Surfaces and Structures; ULTRA: Underwater Localization for Transit and Reconnaissance Autonomy; Autonomous Cryogenic Leak Detector for Improving Launch Site Operations; Submillimeter Planetary Atmospheric Chemistry Exploration Sounder; Method for Reduction of Silver Biocide Plating on Metal Surfaces; Silicon Micromachined Microlens Array for THz Antennas; Forward-Looking IED Detector Ground Penetrating Radar; Fully Printed, Flexible, Phased Array Antenna for Lunar Surface Communication, Battery Charge Equalizer with Transformer Array; An Efficient, Highly Flexible Multi-Channel Digital Downconverter Architecture; Dimmable Electronic Ballast for a Gas Discharge Lamp; Conductive Carbon Nanotube Inks for Use with Desktop Inkjet Printing Technology; Enhanced Schapery Theory Software Development for Modeling Failure of Fiber-Reinforced Laminates; High-Performance, Low-Temperature-Operating, Long-Lifetime Aerospace Lubricants; Carbon Nanotube Microarrays Grown on Nanoflake Substrates; Differential Muon Tomography to Continuously Monitor Changes in the Composition of Subsurface Fluids; Microgravity Drill and Anchor System; 20 Granular Media-Based Tunable Passive Vibration Suppressor; 21 Miga Aero Actuator and 2D Machined Mechanical Binary Latch; Micro-XRF for In Situ Geological Exploration of Other Planets; Hydrogen-Enhanced Lunar Oxygen Extraction and Storage Using Only Solar Power; Uplift of Ionospheric Oxygen Ions During Extreme Magnetic Storms; Miniaturized, High-Speed, Modulated X-Ray Source; Hollow-Fiber Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator 25 High-Power Single-Mode 2.65-micrometers InGaAsSb/AlInGaAsSb Diode Lasers; Optical Device for Converting a Laser Beam Into Two Co-aligned but Oppositely Directed Beams; A Hybrid Fiber/Solid-State Regenerative Amplifier with Tunable Pulse Widths for Satellite Laser Ranging; X-Ray Diffractive Optics; SynGenics Optimization System (SynOptSys); 29 CFD Script for Rapid TPS Damage Assessment; radEq Add-On Module for CFD Solver Loci-CHEM; Science Opportunity Analyzer (SOA) Version 8; 30 Autonomous Byte Stream Randomizer; Distributed Engine Control Empirical/Analytical Verification Tools; Dynamic Server-Based KML Code Generator Method for Level-of-Detail Traversal of Geospatial Data; Automated Planning of Science Products Based on Nadir Overflights and Alerts for Onboard and Ground Processing; Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit Navigation; Risk-Constrained Dynamic Programming for Optimal Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing; Scheduling Operations for Massive Heterogeneous Clusters; Deepak Condenser Model (DeCoM); Flight Software Math Library; Recirculating 1-K-Pot for Pulse-Tube Cryostats; 35 Method for Processing Lunar Regolith Using Microwaves; Wells for In Situ Extraction of Volatiles from Regolith (WIEVR); and Estimating the Backup Reaction Wheel Orientation Using Reaction Wheel Spin Rates Flight Telemetry from a Spacecraft.

Source record↗

Cloud-Based Data Sharing Connects Emergency Managers

Under an SBIR contract with Stennis Space Center, Baltimore-based StormCenter Communications Inc. developed an improved interoperable platform for sharing geospatial data over the Internet in real time-information that is critical for decision makers in emergency situations.

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Monitoring Regional Forest Disturbances across the US with near Real Time MODIS NDVI Products Resident to the ForWarn Forest Threat Early Warning System

Forest threats across the US have become increasingly evident in recent years. Sometimes these have resulted in regionally evident disturbance progressions (e.g., from drought, bark beetle outbreaks, and wildfires) that can occur across multiyear durations and have resulted in extensive forest overstory mortality. In addition to stand replacement disturbances, other forests are subject to ephemeral, sometimes yearly defoliation from various insects and varying types and intensities of ephemeral damage from storms. Sometimes, after prolonged severe disturbance, signs of recovery in terms of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can occur. The growing prominence and threat of forest disturbances in part have led to the formation and implementation of the 2003 Healthy Forest Restoration Act which mandated that national forest threat early warning system be developed and deployed. In response, the US Forest Service collaborated with NASA, DOE Oakridge National Laboratory, and the USGS Eros Data Center to build and roll-out the near real time ForWarn early warning system for monitoring regionally evident forest disturbances. Given the diversity of disturbance types, severities, and durations, ForWarn employs multiple historical baselines that are used with current NDVI to derive a suite of six forest change products that are refreshed every 8 days. ForWarn employs daily quarter kilometer MODIS NDVI data from the Aqua and Terra satellites, including MOD13 data for deriving historical baseline NDVIs and eMODIS 7 NDVI for compiling current NDVI. In doing so, the Time Series Product Tool and the Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool are used to temporally de-noise, fuse, and aggregate current and historical MODIS NDVIs into 24 day composites refreshed every 8 days with 46 dates of products per year. The 24 day compositing interval enables disturbances to be detected, while minimizing the frequency of residual atmospheric contamination. Forest change products are computed versus the previous 1, previous 3, and all previous years in the MODIS record for a given 24 day interval. Other "weekly" forest change products include one computed using an adaptive length compositing method for quicker detection of disturbances, two others that adjust for seasonal fluctuations in normal vegetation phenology (e.g., early versus late springs). This overall approach enables forest disturbance dynamics from a variety of regionally evident biotic and abiotic forest disturbances to be viewed and assessed through the calendar year. The change products are also being utilized for forest change trend analysis and for developing regional forest overstory mortality products. ForWarn's forest change products are used to alert forest health specialists about new forest disturbances. Such alerts are also typically based on available Landsat, aerial, and ground data as well as communications with forest health specialists and previous experience. ForWarn products have been used to detect and track many types of regional disturbances to multiple forest types, including defoliation from caterpillars and severe storms, as well as mortality from both biotic and abiotic agents (e.g., bark beetles, drought, fire, anthropogenic clearing). ForWarn offers products that could be combined with other geospatial data on forest biomass to assess forest disturbance carbon impacts within the conterminous US.

Spruce, Joseph P.↗

Space Archeology Overview at Gordion: 2010 to 2012

In fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012, Compton Tucker was the principal investigator of a NASA Space Archaeology project that worked at Gordion, in Central Turkey. Tucker was assisted by an excellent team of co-workers including Joseph Nigro and Daniel Slayback of Science Systems Applications Incorporated, Jenny Strum of the University of New Mexico, and Karina Yager, a post doctoral fellow at NASA/GSFC. This report summaries their research activities at Gordion for the field seasons of 2010, 2011, and 2012. Because of the possible use of our findings at Gordion for tomb robbing there and/or the encouragement of potential tomb robbers using our geophysical survey methods to locate areas to loot, we have not published any of our survey results in the open literature nor placed any of these results on any web sites. These 2010- 2012 survey results remain in the confidential archives of the University of Pennsylvania's University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the group that leads the Gordion Excavation and Research Project. Excavations are planned for 2013 at Gordion, including several that will be based upon the research results in this report. The site of Gordion in central Turkey, famous as the home of King Midas, whose father's intricately tied knot gave the site its name, also served as the center of the Phrygian kingdom that ruled much of Central Anatolia in Asia Minor during the early first millennium B.C. Gordion has been a University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology excavation project since 1950, yet the site is incompletely published despite six decades of research. The primary obstacles related to the site and its preservation were two problems that NASA technology could address: (1) critical survey errors in the hundreds of maps and plans produced by the earlier excavators, most of which used mutually incompatible geospatial referencing systems, that prevented any systematic understanding of the site; and (2) agricultural encroachment upon the site that was compromising its archaeological integrity. Our NASA Space Archaeology proposal was written to address both of these problems. When we started working at Gordion in 2010, we added a third objective, (3) ground penetrating radar and magnetic geophysical surveys of threatened areas. The first objective our NASA Space Archaeology Project was to provide the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology a system to rectify and incorporate all existing survey data from Gordion, including previous aerial photographs of the site, detailed site surveys, maps, and excavation plans, into a common mapping system. This was accomplished with a Geographic Information System (GIS) based upon a 60 cm Quickbird satellite image ortho-rectified using Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) 30 m digital elevation data and tied to a known datum at Gordion. This enabled the first accurate, multi-layer plan of this complex site, occupied almost continuously from the Bronze Age to the 1st millennium CE, and made possible Gordion's three-dimensional development for the first time.

Gordion↗

Mapping Impervious Surfaces Globally at 30m Resolution Using Global Land Survey Data

Impervious surfaces, mainly artificial structures and roads, cover less than 1% of the world's land surface (1.3% over USA). Regardless of the relatively small coverage, impervious surfaces have a significant impact on the environment. They are the main source of the urban heat island effect, and affect not only the energy balance, but also hydrology and carbon cycling, and both land and aquatic ecosystem services. In the last several decades, the pace of converting natural land surface to impervious surfaces has increased. Quantitatively monitoring the growth of impervious surface expansion and associated urbanization has become a priority topic across both the physical and social sciences. The recent availability of consistent, global scale data sets at 30m resolution such as the Global Land Survey from the Landsat satellites provides an unprecedented opportunity to map global impervious cover and urbanization at this resolution for the first time, with unprecedented detail and accuracy. Moreover, the spatial resolution of Landsat is absolutely essential to accurately resolve urban targets such a buildings, roads and parking lots. With long term GLS data now available for the 1975, 1990, 2000, 2005 and 2010 time periods, the land cover/use changes due to urbanization can now be quantified at this spatial scale as well. In the Global Land Survey - Imperviousness Mapping Project (GLS-IMP), we are producing the first global 30 m spatial resolution impervious cover data set. We have processed the GLS 2010 data set to surface reflectance (8500+ TM and ETM+ scenes) and are using a supervised classification method using a regression tree to produce continental scale impervious cover data sets. A very large set of accurate training samples is the key to the supervised classifications and is being derived through the interpretation of high spatial resolution (approx. 2 m or less) commercial satellite data (Quickbird and Worldview2) available to us through the unclassified archive of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). For each continental area several million training pixels are derived by analysts using image segmentation algorithms and tools and then aggregated to the 30m resolution of Landsat. Here we will discuss the production/testing of this massive data set for Europe, North and South America and Africa, including assessments of the 2010 surface reflectance data. This type of analysis is only possible because of the availability of long term 30m data sets from GLS and shows much promise for integration of Landsat 8 data in the future.

global land survey↗

Common Web Mapping and Mobile Device Framework for Display of NASA Real-time Data

Scientists have strategic goals to deliver their unique datasets and research to both collaborative partners and more broadly to the public. These datasets can have a significant impact locally and globally as has been shown by the success of the NASA Short‐term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center and SERVIR programs at Marshall Space Flight Center. Each of these respective organizations provides near real‐time data at the best resolution possible to address concerns of the operational weather forecasting community (SPoRT) and to support environmental monitoring and disaster assessment (SERVIR). However, one of the biggest struggles to delivering the data to these and other Earth science community partners is formatting the product to fit into an end user's Decision Support System (DSS). The problem of delivering the data to the end‐user's DSS can be a significant impediment to transitioning research to operational environments especially for disaster response where the deliver time is critical. The decision makers, in addition to the DSS, need seamless access to these same datasets from a web browser or a mobile phone for support when they are away from their DSS or for personnel out in the field. A framework has been developed for MSFC Earth Science program that can be used to easily enable seamless delivery of scientific data to end users in multiple formats. The first format is an open geospatial format, Web Mapping Service (WMS), which is easily integrated into most DSSs. The second format is a web browser display, which can be embedded within any MSFC Science web page with just a few lines of web page coding. The third format is accessible in the form of iOS and Android native mobile applications that could be downloaded from an "app store". The framework developed has reduced the level of effort needed to bring new and existing NASA datasets to each of these end user platforms and help extend the reach of science data.

Burks, Jason E.↗

SERVIR Town Hall - Connecting Space to Village

SERVIR, a joint NASA-USAID project, strives to improve environmental decision making through the use of Earth observations, models, and geospatial technology innovations. SERVIR connects these assets with the needs of end users in Mesoamerica, East Africa, and Hindu Kush-Himalaya regions. This Town Hall meeting will engage the AGU community by exploring examples of connecting Space to Village with SERVIR science applications.

Limaye, Ashutosh S.↗

Common Web Mapping and Mobile Device Framework for Display of NASA Real-time Data

Scientists have strategic goals to deliver their unique datasets and research to both collaborative partners and more broadly to the public. These datasets can have a significant impact locally and globally as has been shown by the success of the NASA Short‐term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center and SERVIR programs at Marshall Space Flight Center. Each of these respective organizations provides near real‐time data at the best resolution possible to address concerns of the operational weather forecasting community (SPoRT) and to support environmental monitoring and disaster assessment (SERVIR). However, one of the biggest struggles to delivering the data to these and other Earth science community partners is formatting the product to fit into an end user's Decision Support System (DSS). The problem of delivering the data to the end‐user's DSS can be a significant impediment to transitioning research to operational environments especially for disaster response where the deliver time is critical. The decision makers, in addition to the DSS, need seamless access to these same datasets from a web browser or a mobile phone for support when they are away from their DSS or for personnel out in the field. A framework has been developed for MSFC Earth Science program that can be used to easily enable seamless delivery of scientific data to end users in multiple formats. The first format is an open geospatial format, Web Mapping Service (WMS), which is easily integrated into most DSSs. The second format is a web browser display, which can be embedded within any MSFC Science web page with just a few lines of web page coding. The third format is accessible in the form of iOS and Android native mobile applications that could be downloaded from an "app store". The framework developed has reduced the level of effort needed to bring new and existing NASA datasets to each of these end user platforms and help extend the reach of science data.

Burks, Jason↗

Use of NASA Near Real-Time and Archived Satellite Data to Support Disaster Assessment

NASA's Short‐term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center partners with the NWS to provide near realtime data in support of a variety of weather applications, including disasters. SPoRT supports NASA's Applied Sciences Program: Disasters focus area by developing techniques that will aid the disaster monitoring, response, and assessment communities. SPoRT has explored a variety of techniques for utilizing archived and near real‐time NASA satellite data. An increasing number of end‐users - such as the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit (DAT) - access geospatial data via a Web Mapping Service (WMS). SPoRT has begun developing open‐standard Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data sets via WMS to respond to end‐user needs.

McGrath, Kevin M.↗

KINEROS2-AGWA: Model Use, Calibration, and Validation

KINEROS (KINematic runoff and EROSion) originated in the 1960s as a distributed event-based model that conceptualizes a watershed as a cascade of overland flow model elements that flow into trapezoidal channel model elements. KINEROS was one of the first widely available watershed models that interactively coupled a finite difference approximation of the kinematic overland flow equations to a physically based infiltration model. Development and improvement of KINEROS continued from the 1960s on a variety of projects for a range of purposes, which has resulted in a suite of KINEROS-based modeling tools. This article focuses on KINEROS2 (K2), a spatially distributed, event-based watershed rainfall-runoff and erosion model, and the companion ArcGIS-based Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool. AGWA automates the time-consuming tasks of watershed delineation into distributed model elements and initial parameterization of these elements using commonly available, national GIS data layers. A variety of approaches have been used to calibrate and validate K2 successfully across a relatively broad range of applications (e.g., urbanization, pre- and post-fire, hillslope erosion, erosion from roads, runoff and recharge, and manure transport). The case studies presented in this article (1) compare lumped to stepwise calibration and validation of runoff and sediment at plot, hillslope, and small watershed scales; and (2) demonstrate an uncalibrated application to address relative change in watershed response to wildfire.

Erosion↗

NASA Giovanni: A Tool for Visualizing, Analyzing, and Inter-comparing Soil Moisture Data

There are many existing satellite soil moisture algorithms and their derived data products, but there is no simple way for a user to inter-compare the products or analyze them together with other related data. An environment that facilitates such inter-comparison and analysis would be useful for validation of satellite soil moisture retrievals against in situ data and for determining the relationships between different soil moisture products. As part of the NASA Giovanni (Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure) family of portals, which has provided users worldwide with a simple but powerful way to explore NASA data, a beta prototype Giovanni Inter-comparison of Soil Moisture Products portal has been developed. A number of soil moisture data products are currently included in the prototype portal. More will be added, based on user requirements and feedback and as resources become available. Two application examples for the portal are provided. The NASA Giovanni Soil Moisture portal is versatile and extensible, with many possible uses, for research and applications, as well as for the education community.

soil moisture data↗

Assessing the Success of Postfire Reseeding in Semiarid Rangelands Using Terra MODIS

Successful postfire reseeding efforts can aid rangeland ecosystem recovery by rapidly establishing a desired plant community and thereby reducing the likelihood of infestation by invasive plants. Although the success of postfire remediation is critical, few efforts have been made to leverage existing geospatial technologies to develop methodologies to assess reseeding success following a fire. In this study, Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data were used to improve the capacity to assess postfire reseeding rehabilitation efforts, with particular emphasis on the semiarid rangelands of Idaho. Analysis of MODIS data demonstrated a positive effect of reseeding on rangeland ecosystem recovery, as well as differences in vegetation between reseeded areas and burned areas where no reseeding had occurred (P,0.05). We conclude that MODIS provides useful data to assess the success of postfire reseeding.

wildfire↗

Colombia Mi Pronostico Flood Application: Updating and Improving the Mi Pronostico Flood Web Application to Include an Assessment of Flood Risk

Colombia is a country with highly variable terrain, from the Andes Mountains to plains and coastal areas, many of these areas are prone to flooding disasters. To identify these risk areas NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) was used to construct a digital elevation model (DEM) for the study region. The preliminary risk assessment was applied to a pilot study area, the La Mosca River basin. Precipitation data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)'s near-real-time rainfall products as well as precipitation data from the Instituto de Hidrologia, Meteorologia y Estudios Ambientales (the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies, IDEAM) and stations in the La Mosca River Basin were used to create rainfall distribution maps for the region. Using the precipitation data and the ASTER DEM, the web application, Mi Pronóstico, run by IDEAM, was updated to include an interactive map which currently allows users to search for a location and view the vulnerability and current weather and flooding conditions. The geospatial information was linked to an early warning system in Mi Pronóstico that can alert the public of flood warnings and identify locations of nearby shelters.

Rushley, Stephanie↗

High-Resolution Satellite Data Open for Government Research

U.S. satellite commercial imagery (CI) with resolution less than 1 meter is a common geospatial reference used by the public through Web applications, mobile devices, and the news media. However, CI use in the scientific community has not kept pace, even though those who are performing U.S. government research have access to these data at no cost.Previously, studies using multiple CI acquisitions from IKONOS-2, Quickbird-2, GeoEye-1, WorldView-1, and WorldView-2 would have been cost prohibitive. Now, with near-global submeter coverage and online distribution, opportunities abound for future scientific studies. This archive is already quite extensive (examples are shown in Figure 1) and is being used in many novel applications.

Data↗