Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “surface product”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6

TROPOMI Geometry-dependent Lambertian-Equivalent surface Reflectivity (GLER) Product for Improved Trace-Gas Retrieval

Accurate information about the reflectivity of the Earth's surface is required for most satellite retrievals of atmospheric composition, and this information is generally taken from monthly surface reflectivity climatology that neglects angular dependence. Previously we introduced Geometry-dependent Lambertian-equivalent surface reflectivity (GLER) which captures solar and satellite viewing angle dependence as well as daily and seasonal changes. GLER is calculated from simulations of Rayleigh-only top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances over non-Lambertian surfaces. We use NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) product over land and the wind-dependent Cox–Munk wave-facet slope distribution including water-leaving radiance over water to accounts for surface BRDF. We have developed global GLER product, previously for the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and recently for Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) with several new improvements and updates. We have implemented the near real time daily V006 MODIS MCD43C1 BRDF data and gap-filled with a daily BRDF coefficient climatology created from 2002-2017 V006 MCD43GF data. The NASA’s Global Modelling Initiative hourly 0.25 x 0.25 deg Replay simulations are used for more accurate determination of pixel specific terrain pressure. To improve detection of seasonal snow/ice scenes, we use the 4-km snow cover product from the Interactive Multi-sensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS). Finally, we use an improved version of the vector linearized discrete ordinate radiative transfer (VLIDORT) for update of the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance look-up-tables (LUTs). We demonstrate how the use of GLER is beneficial to TROPOMI’s high spatial resolution (up to 3.5 km x 3.5 km) measurements to monitor atmospheric trace gas pollutants down to the sub-city scale.

TROPOMI↗

Method for Surface Texturing Titanium Products

The present invention teaches a method of producing a textured surface upon an arbitrarily configured titanium or titanium alloy object for the purpose of improving bonding between the object and other materials such as polymer matrix composites and/or human bone for the direct in-growth of orthopaedic implants. The titanium or titanium alloy object is placed in an electrolytic cell having an ultrasonically agitated solution of sodium chloride therein whereby a pattern of uniform "pock mark" like pores or cavities are produced upon the object's surface. The process is very cost effective compared to other methods of producing rough surfaces on titanium and titanium alloy components. The surface textures produced by the present invention are etched directly into the parent metal at discrete sites separated by areas unaffected by the etching process. Bonding materials to such surface textures on titanium or titanium alloy can thus support a shear load even if adhesion of the bonding material is poor.

Banks, Bruce A.↗

Relating Nimbus-7 37 GHz data to global land-surface evaporation, primary productivity and the atmospheric CO2 concentration

Global observations at 37 GHz by the Nimbus-7 SMMR are related to zonal variations of land surface evaporation and primary productivity, as well as to temporal variations of atmospheric CO2 concentration. The temporal variation of CO2 concentration and the zonal variations of evaporation and primary productivity are shown to be highly correlated with the satellite sensor data. The potential usefulness of the 37-GHz data for global biospheric and climate studies is noted.

Choudhury, B. J.↗

Using Polarized PCRTM-Solar Model to Validate EMIT Surface Reflectance L2A Product

Using the vector linearized discrete ordinate radiative transfer model (VLIDORT), a multiple-scattering multi-layer scattering code, coupled with a fast principal component (PC) radiative transfer model (PCRTM), we can simulate hyperspectral radiation fields from visible to shortwave infrared (VSWIR), i.e., 250 nm to 2500 nm. Since only limited accurate line-by-line calculation using VLIDORT is needed, this coupled PCRTM-VLIDORT approach is very efficient for simulating hyperspectral VSWIR spectra. These simulations incorporate accurately defined optical properties (gas absorptions, molecular and aerosol/cloud particle scattering) and detailed surface reflectance inputs. In this study we used the current L2A products of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) imaging spectrometer as the inputs to PCRTM-VLIDORT to simulate EMIT spectra. Comparing the simulated spectra with EMIT measurements provides an efficient method to validate the current EMIT product.

Xiaozhen Xiong↗

A GeoNEX-Based High-Spatiotemporal-Resolution Product of Land Surface Downward Shortwave Radiation and Photosynthetically Active Radiation

Surface downward shortwave radiation (DSR) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) play critical roles in the Earth’s surface processes. As the main inputs of various ecological, hydrological, carbon, and solar photovoltaic models, increasing requirements for high-spatiotemporal-resolution DSR and PAR es- timation with high accuracy have been observed in recent years. However, few existing products satisfy all of these requirements. This study employed a well-established physical-based lookup table (LUT) approach to the GeoNEX gridded top-of-atmosphere bidirectional reflectance factor data acquired by the Advanced Hi- mawari Imager (AHI) and Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) sensors. It produced a data product of DSR and PAR over both AHI and ABI coverage at an hourly temporal step with a 1 km spatial resolution. GeoNEX DSR data were validated over 63 stations, and GeoNEX PAR data were validated over 27 stations. The vali- dation showed that the new GeoNEX DSR and PAR products have accuracy higher than other existing prod- ucts, with root mean square error (RMSE) of hourly GeoNEX DSR achieving 74.3Wm−2 (18.0%), daily DSR estimation achieving 18.0 W m−2 (9.2 %), hourly GeoNEX PAR achieving 34.9 W m−2 (19.6 %), and daily PAR achieving 9.5 W m−2 (10.5 %). The study also demonstrated the application of the high-spatiotemporal- resolution GeoNEX DSR product in investigating the spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability of surface solar radiation. The data product can be freely accessed through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division GeoNEX data portal: https://data.nas.nasa.gov/geonex/geonexdata/GOES16/GEONEX-L2/DSR-PAR/ (last ac- cess: 12 March 2023) and https://data.nas.nasa.gov/geonex/geonexdata/HIMAWARI8/GEONEX-L2/DSR-PAR/ (last access: 12 March 2023) (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7023863; Wang and Li, 2022).

Surface downward shortwave radiation (DSR)↗

Spectroscopic evidence for aqueous alteration products on the surfaces of low-albedo asteroids

The spectral reflectances of primary components of the carbonaceous chondrite matrix materials (CCMM) and their secondary alteration products are compared with new observations of low-albedo asteroids. It is shown that the spectral differences between C-type asteroids and carbonaceous chondrites are consistent with differing degrees of aqueous alteration of CCMM.

Feierberg, M. A.↗

Spatially Complete Surface Albedo Data Sets: Value-Added Products Derived from Terra MODIS Land Products

Spectral land surface albedo is an important parameter for describing the radiative properties of the Earth. Accordingly it reflects the consequences of natural and human interactions, such as anthropogenic, meteorological, and phenological effects, on global and local climatological trends. Consequently, albedos are integral parts in a variety of research areas, such as general circulation models (GCMs), energy balance studies, modeling of land use and land use change, and biophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological studies. Recent observations of diffuse bihemispherical (white-sky) and direct beam directional hemispherical (black-sky ) land surface albedo included in the MOD43B3 product from MODIS instruments aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellite platforms have provided researchers with unprecedented spatial, spectral, and temporal characteristics. Cloud and seasonal snow cover, however, curtail retrievals to approximately half the global land surfaces on an annual equal-angle basis, precluding MOD43B3 albedo products from direct inclusion in some research projects and production environments.

Moody, Eric G.↗

Production of high-energy gamma rays by cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere and lunar surface

The production of gamma rays above 10 MeV by the interaction of cosmic rays in the atmosphere and the lunar surface is simulated using Monte Carlo methods. The calculation incorporates a new model of high-energy nucleon-nucleus interactions based on empirical fits to inclusive cross sections for the production of pions and nucleons. The atmospheric gamma ray flux is calculated as a function of direction, energy, and atmospheric depth. These calculations are compared with observations from balloons and from the SAS 2 satellite. Estimates of the flux of earth albedo electrons produced by cosmic ray interactions are presented. The lunar gamma ray albedo is calculated and compared with an upper limit based on SAS 2 measurements.

Morris, D. J.↗

Low Be-10 and Al-26 contents of ureilites - Production at meteoroid surfaces

The Be-10 contents of 22 ureilites and the Al-26 contents of 18 ureilites are reported. When corrected for exposure age, where known, and for composition, the results give production rate, P that are on average 20 percent lower than values typical of other meteorite classes. This depression of production rates, the weak correlations of both P26 and P10 with Ne-22/Ne-21 and the generally high He-3/Ne-21 and Ne-22/Ne-21 ratios in urelities all suggest that many of the samples occupied near-surface locations in their parent meteoroids. A reduced flux of cosmic rays does not by itself explain the elevated Ne-22/Ne-21 ratios and appears inconsistent with a proposed source for ureilites in the inner asteroid belt. Cosmogenic radionuclide data do not support the tentative pairing of ALHA 78019 with ALHa 78262 proposed on the basis of mineralogical similarities. The high Al-26 content of LEW 85440 may be the result of irradiation by solar cosmic rays.

Aylmer, D.↗

The effect of Mars surface and Phobos propellant production on Earth launch mass

Fuel and oxidizer produced on the surface of Mars and on the Martian Moon Phobos can reduce the cumulative mass of fuel and oxidizer which must be launched to low Earth orbit for Mars exploration missions. A scenario in which ten conjunction class trajectory missions over a twenty year period land a surface base and propellant production facilities on the Martian surface and on Phobos was examined. Production of oxygen on Phobos provides the greatest benefit. If all the propellant for Mars operations and Earth return is produced at Phobos and on Mars, a 30% reduction in cumulative low Earth orbit mass can be achieved at the end of the 20 year period.

Gus R Babb↗

The Validation of the GEWEX SRB Surface Shortwave Flux Data Products Using BSRN Measurements: A Systematic Quality Control, Production and Application Approach

The NASA/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) project has produced a 24.5-year continuous record of global shortwave and longwave radiation fluxes at TOA and the Earth's surface from satellite measurements. The time span of the data is from July 1983 to December 2007, and the spatial resolution is 11 latitude11 longitude. The inputs of the latest version (Release 3.0) include the GEOS Version 4.0.3 meteorological information and cloud properties derived from ISCCP DX data. The SRB products are available on 3-hourly, 3-hourly-monthly, daily and monthly time scales. To assess the quality of the product, we extensively validated the SRB data against 5969 site-months of groundbased measurements from 52 Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) stations. This paper describes first the characteristics of the BSRN data and the GEWEX SRB data, the methodology for quality control and processing of the shortwave BSRN data, and then the systematic SRB-BSRN comparisons. It is found that, except for occasional extreme outliers as seen in scatter plots, the satellite-based surface radiation data generally agree very well with BSRN measurements. Specifically, the bias/RMS for the daily and monthly mean shortwave fluxes are, respectively, -3.6/35.5 and -5.2/23.3W1 m2 under all-sky conditions.

Zhang, Taiping↗

SAIL Field Campaign X-Band Precipitation Radar Seasonal Surface Hydrometeor Phase Classification Value-Added Product Report

The Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) campaign generated an unprecedented, multisensory record of cold-season precipitation in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB). To complement the Surface Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (SQUIRE) snow water equivalent (SWE) product derived from the Colorado State University (CSU) X-band radar, a hydrometeor phase classification data set was developed to systematically identify phase of the near-surface precipitation. The algorithm uses Corrected Moments in Antenna Coordinates (CMAC) fields with semi-supervised classification (SSC) and fuzzy-logic hydrometeor classification (FHC) methods and maps hydrometeor classes to a compact set of phase classes suitable for Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) and hydrologic applications. We used SQUIRE grid projections to mitigate beam-blockage issues by selecting the near-surface gates for each beam as well as to make it directly usable for the QPE products.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Production of Mg and Al Auger electrons by noble gas ion bombardment of Mg and Al surfaces

Relative production efficiencies of Mg and Al Auger electrons by He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe ion bombardment are reported as a function of ion energy for energies not exceeding 3 keV. The experimental apparatus employed consisted of a LEED-Auger system equipped with an ion gun and a four-grid retarding-potential analyzer. It is found that: (1) the shape of the ion-excited Auger signal was independent of the rare gas and quite symmetric; (2) the Al signal was about an order of magnitude smaller than the Mg signal for a given bombarding species and ion-gun voltage; (3) no signal was observed for He(+) bombardment under any of the experimental conditions; (4) signal strengths were independent of temperature and ion dose; (5) the Auger production efficiencies differed by no more than a factor of two among the different gases - except for He(+) - on a given metal; (6) all the signal strengths increased with increasing ion-gun voltage, with no maximum exhibited; and (7) the apparent threshold energy for the Al signal was higher than that for the Mg signal. The differences between the results for the two metals are attributed to the fact that the Al 2p orbital lies deeper in energy and closer to the nucleus than the corresponding Mg orbital.

Ferrante, J.↗

Validation of the ASTER Thermal Infrared Surface Radiance Data Product

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is a 14 channel high spatial resolution instrument selected for flight on the EOS AM-1 platform...To provide an objective assessment of the validity of the atmospheric correction, in situ measurements of water surfaces under a variety of atmospheric conditions will be used to estimate the surface leaving radiance at the scale of an ASTER pixel... These measurements and the spectral emissivity of the water will be combined with the relative system spectral response to provide and estimater of thermal infrared surface leaving radiance for each ASTER thermal channel. An example of this approach using a multichannel thermal aircraft scanner as a stand in for ASTER will be described.

ASTER↗

Ocean Surface Topography Data Products and Tools

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

Jason 1↗

The SMAP and Copernicus Sentinel 1A/B Microwave Active-Passive High Resolution Surface Soil Moisture Product and Its Applications

SMAP project released a new enhanced high-resolution (3km and 1 km) soil moisture active-passive product. This product is obtained by combining the SMAP radiometer data and the Sentinel-1A and -1B Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. The approach used for this product draws heavily from the heritage SMAP active-passive algorithm. Modifications in the SMAP active-passive algorithm are done to accommodate the Copernicus Program's Sentinel-1A and -1B multi-angular C-band SAR data. Assessment of the SMAP and Sentinel active-passive algorithm has been conducted and results show feasibility of estimating surface soil moisture at high-resolution in regions with low vegetation density (~< 3 kg/sq.m). A new version of this product is released to public in May 2018. This high resolution (3 km and 1 km) soil moisture product with reasonable accuracy of 0.05 m3/m3 is useful for agriculture, flood mapping, watershed/rangeland management, and ecological/hydrological applications.

microwave remote sensing↗

Synthesis of ARM User Facility Surface Rainfall Datasets to Construct a Best Estimate Value Added Product (PrecipBE)

Surface precipitation measurements are essential for Earth system model (ESM) evaluation and understanding cloud processes. An ever-growing need for robust, temporally evolving, and easy-to-use statistical datasets provides motivation for a baseline ground-based precipitation properties data product. The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility operates an extensive suite of precipitation instruments with various sensitivities and operating mechanisms, which render the decision of which instrument to use based on one or more fixed thresholds challenging and prone to errors and bias. Using a long-term instrument inter-comparison from a unique per-precipitation event perspective, rather than instantaneous sample comparison, we demonstrate that ARM rainfall-measuring instruments are generally consistent with each other at the statistical level. Inter-instrument deviations at the single event level can be large, especially for specific rainfall event properties such as maximum precipitation rates. A machine-learning (ML) analysis using a random forest regressor indicates that in some cases, depending on instrument, local site climatology, and/or specific deployment configuration, certain atmospheric state variables influence the measured quantities in an unpredictable manner. Thus, a-priori weighting of different instruments does not necessarily lead to more accurate and less biased synthesis of instrument data. These results motivate the design of the ARM precipitation best-estimate (PrecipBE) value-added product, which incorporates all valid precipitation data while considering data quality and other instrument limitations. PrecipBE consists of time series and tabular statistics datasets in an easy-to-use and insightful per-precipitation event format. It provides a large set of precipitation event properties supplemented with ancillary data from ARM datasets that correspond to the detected precipitation events. We describe the PrecipBE algorithm and demonstrate its use via the examination of a single-day output as well as a long-term trend analysis of precipitation events at the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site, covering more than 30 years of data. The trend analysis tentatively suggests a long-term temporal tendency for mainly shorter and less intense precipitation events at the SGP site, but a long-term increase in annual rainfall by more than 36 mm (5 %) per decade. This rainfall trend is catalyzed primarily by more extreme event properties of relatively rare, intense precipitation events, with event total and 1 min maximum precipitation rate at a 1 year timeframe increasing up to 5 mm and 9 mm h −1 (several percent) per decade, respectively. While the currently available PrecipBE datasets (at https://adc.arm.gov/discovery/, last access: 8 December 2025) cover rainfall from multiple ARM deployments up to March 2025, PrecipBE is planned to be expanded to include solid-phase precipitation and will soon become an operational product with a several-day lag from real-time. We invite the ARM user community to leverage this new product and welcome user feedback to further enhance the dataset.

Silber, Israel [Pacific Northwest National Laborat↗

The Use of Multi-Source Satellite and Geospatial Data to Study the Effect of Urbanization of Primary Productivity in the United States

Data from two different satellites, a digital land cover map, and digital census data were analyzed and combined in a geographic information system to study the effect of urbanization on photosynthetic vegetation productivity in the United States. Results show that urbanization can have a measurable but variable impact on the primary productivity of the land surface. Annual productivity can be reduced by as much as 20 days in some areas, but in resource limited regions, photosynthetic production can be enhanced by human activity. Overall, urban development reduces the productivity of the land surface and those areas with the highest productivity are directly in the path of urban sprawl.

Imhoff, M. L.↗