o b s e r vings a r t h y s t e e the earth observer...category of the magazine’s annual awards...

Ear

thObserving System

THE EARTH OBSERVER

November/December 2002, Vol. 14, No. 6

In this issue ...Meeting/Workshop Summaries

CERES Science Team Meeting ......... 9

Aura Science and Validation TeamMeeting ........................................ 13

International Workshop on SurfaceAlbedo Product Validation .......... 17

GOFC/GOLD Regional Workshop . 19SAFARI 2000 Synthesis Workshop. 24Alaska SAR Facility User Working

Group ........................................... 26DAAC Alliance Data Interoperability

Workshop ..................................... 27

Other Items of Interest

An Overview of ICESat .................... 3

Joanne Simpson Honored ................ 16

Mous Cahine Honored ..................... 23

An Overview of SEEDS .................. 30

Thirty Years of Airborne Research at theUniversity of Washington ............ 35

The “Firemapper” Airborne Sensorand Flight Plans to SupportValidation of MODIS Fire Productsover Brazil ................................ 38

Kudos ................................................ 42Shifts in Rice Farming Practices in

China Reduce Methane Emis-sions ..................................... 43

Regular Features

EOS Scientists in the News ............. 44

Earth Science Education ProgramUpdate ......................................... 46

Science Calendars ............................ 47

The Earth Observer Information/Inquiries ........................ Back Cover Continued on page 2

EDITOR’S CORNER

Michael King

EOS Senior Project Scientist

I’m pleased to share with you news that NASA was nominated for and haswon three of Popular Science magazine’s “Best of What’s New” awards for2002. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the Aquamission, and the Mars Odyssey mission were chosen in the Aviation/Spacecategory of the magazine’s annual awards program. The December 2002 issueof Popular Science features 100 winners in 10 categories. The winners areconsidered the best among thousands of new and innovative products andservices reviewed annually by the magazine, and represent significantadvancements in their categories.

Of the three NASA missions, two are within the Earth Science Enterprise(ESE). GRACE is nine months into its mission to precisely measure the Earth’sshifting water masses and map their effects on the Earth’s gravity field. Aglobal gravity field map created from just 14 days of GRACE data is provingto be substantially more accurate than the combined results of more thanthree decades of satellite and surface measurements collected before GRACE(see map on next page). These new gravity maps provide unprecedentedinsight into variations in the weight of the Earth’s oceans and polar ice sheets,which will greatly advance studies of ocean circulation and ice sheet mass.GRACE is a joint partnership between NASA and the German AerospaceCenter. The University of Texas Center for Space Research has overall missionresponsibility, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the U.S. portion ofthe project for NASA.

Aqua is the latest in a series of larger EOS spacecraft dedicated to advancingour understanding of climate and global change. As its name implies, Aqua’sinstruments are primarily designed to gather information on the Earth’swater cycle. Aqua is enabling greatly improved understanding of the globalwater cycle and its influence on the Earth’s climate system. All of Aqua’s six

THE EARTH OBSERVER • November/December 2002 Vol. 14 No. 6

2

instruments are performing exception-ally well and are beginning to providevalidated data products and excitingnew science discoveries. In addition,data gathered from the MODIS andCERES instruments on Aqua arecomplemented by identical instru-ments on Aqua’s sibling satellite Terra,effectively doubling the data archivefrom these instruments, and enablingthe generation of valuable blendeddata products. Aqua is also a jointinternational project among NASA, theNational Space Development Agencyof Japan, and Brazil.

I am pleased to be associated with theseprestigious awards, and I hope youshare with me the sense of contributionand excitement that they bring.Together with several other importantoperational and future EOS missions,these recent accomplishments highlightthe significant scientific and societalcontributions of NASA’s Earth scienceprogram.

The EOS Investigators Working Groupmeeting was held November 18-20 atthe Turf Valley Resort and ConferenceCenter in Ellicott City, MD. The IWG

meeting is the primary forum forsharing information on the latest EOSprogram and science activities, and thisyear focused on new science resultsfrom Aqua and other recently launchedmissions, including Jason-1, GRACE,and SAGE III.

Aqua Project Scientist Claire Parkinsonchaired a session on new science resultsfrom Aqua, and Terra Project ScientistJon Ranson chaired a similar session onTerra. Both sessions emphasizedintegrated data sources from multiplemissions. There was also a specialsession on Earth science applications,chaired by Ron Birk, Director of theNASA Headquarters ApplicationsDivision, which included severalpresentations by program managersleading the 12 specific NASA themesinvolving human health and theenvironment, community growthmanagement, public health, air andwater quality, and others.

Finally, I’m happy to report theappointment of Steven Platnick as theAqua Deputy Project Scientist. Platnickrecently joined Goddard Space FlightCenter after having been a ResearchAssociate Professor at the University ofMaryland, Baltimore County for thepast 6 years. Platnick received hisPh.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from theUniversity of Arizona and his M.S. andB.S. degrees in Electrical Engineeringfrom Duke University and the Univer-sity of California-Berkeley, respectively.He has had considerable experiencewith remote sensing of cloud opticalproperties using MODIS, AVHRR, andMODIS Airborne Simulator data, andhas participated in numerous satellitevalidation airborne field campaigns. Ilook forward to his participation inAqua validation and related activities.

5040302010 0GRAVITY EFFECT SENSED BY GRACE IN MICROMETERS

First Data from GRACE. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment was selected byPopular Science magazine as one of three NASA recipients of “The Best of What’s New” award.The image above is a grayscale version of a color graphic depicting the sensitivity of the twoGRACE satellites to changes in the Earth’s gravity field. The changes are measured using the K-band Ranging system onboard GRACE, which is sensitive to changes in distance down to one-tenththe width of a human hair. The influence of larger scale spatial features on gravity has been removedfor this calculation so that smaller scale changes in gravity can be highlighted. The GRACE ScienceTeam will process this and similar images and expects to have a preliminary map of the Earth’sgeoid—mean gravity field—by the Spring. Byron Tapley, GRACE Project Scientist, says, “ In 30days, the GRACE mission has exceeded the information gained [about Earth’s gravity field] in over30 years of previous study!”

THE EARTH OBSERVER • November/December 2002 Vol. 14, No. 6

3

“Possible changes in the mass balance of

the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are

fundamental gaps in our understanding

and are crucial to the quantification and

refinement of sea-level forecasts.”

—Sea-Level Change Report, NationalResearch Council (1990)

“In light of…abrupt ice-sheet changes

affecting global climate and sea level,

enhanced emphasis on ice-sheet character-

ization over time is essential.”

—Abrupt Climate Change Report,National Research Council (2002)

Introduction to ICESat

Are the ice sheets that still blanket theEarth’s poles growing or shrinking?Will global sea level rise or fall?NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise (ESE)has developed the Ice Clouds and landElevation Satellite (ICESat) mission toprovide answers to these and otherquestions - to help fulfill NASA’smission to understand and protect ourhome planet. The primary goal ofICESat is to quantify ice sheet massbalance and understand how changesin the Earth’s atmosphere and climate

An Overview of the Ice Clouds andland Elevation Satellite (ICESat)— Jay Zwally, [email protected], NASA/Goddard Space Flight

Center, ICESat Project Scientist— Christopher Shuman, [email protected], NASA/Goddard

Space Flight Center, ICESat Deputy Project Scientist— Waleed Abdalati, [email protected], NASA Headquarters, ICESat

Program Scientist— Bob Schutz, [email protected], University of Texas, ICESat

Science Team Leader— Jim Abshire, [email protected], NASA/Goddard Space

Flight Center, ICESat Instrument Scientist— Jim Watzin, [email protected],

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, ProjectManager

FIGURE 1: The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on the Ice, Clouds, andland Elevation Satellite (ICESat) spacecraft immediately following its initial mechanicalintegration on June 18, 2002. Note that ICESat’s solar arrays have not yet been attached.Left – Gordon Casto, NASA/GSFC. Right – John Bishop, Mantech. Photo Credit:Courtesy of Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.


4

affect the polar ice masses and globalsea level.

The ICESat satellite, part of NASA’sEarth Observing System (EOS), hasbeen shipped to Vandenberg AFB,Lompoc, CA, and is scheduled tolaunch in December 2002 on a BoeingDelta II rocket (Figure 1). The Geo-science Laser Altimeter System (GLAS),ICESat’s scientific instrument, willspend years measuring ice sheetelevations and their change throughtime, heights of clouds and aerosols,land elevations and vegetation cover,and approximate sea ice thickness.Together with other elements ofNASA’s ESE and current and plannedEOS satellites, the ICESat mission willenable scientists to study the Earth’sclimate and, ultimately, predict how icesheets and sea level will respond tofuture climate change.

Are The Greenland and AntarcticIce Sheets Growing or Shrinking?

This question lies at the heart ofNASA’s rationale for the ICESatmission. The Greenland and Antarctic

ice sheets are an average of 2.4 km(7900 ft) thick, cover 10% of the Earth’sland area, and contain 77% of theEarth’s fresh water (33 million km3 or 8million mi3 ). If their collective storedwater volume were released into theocean, global sea level would rise byabout 80 m (260 ft). Their vast size andinhospitable environment makesatellites one of the most appropriatemeans for monitoring their changes.

ICESat is designed to detect changes inice sheet surface elevation as small as1.5 cm (0.6 in) per year over areas of100 km by 100 km (62 mi by 62 mi).Changes in ice sheet thickness arecalculated from elevation changes bycorrecting for small vertical motions ofthe underlying bedrock. Elevationtime-series constructed from ICESat’scontinuous observations throughout its3- to 5-year mission will detect seasonaland interannual changes in the massbalance, caused by short-term changesin ice accumulation and surfacemelting, as well as the long-term trendsin the net balance between the surfaceprocesses and the ice flow.

How Fast is Sea Level Rising?

Fifteen thousand years ago, vast icesheets covered much of North Americaand parts of Eurasia. In Antarctica, theice sheet reached to the edge of thecontinental shelf, as much as 200 km(125 mi) farther out to sea than today.As the climate warmed during the endof the last Ice Age, much of the Earth’sice cover melted. Global sea level roserapidly by almost 100 m (330 ft)between 14,000 and 6,000 years ago.

The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets(Figure 2 shows Greenland), which arethe most significant remnants of thatperiod, are currently reacting to presentand past climate changes. Global sea

level is believed to be rising about 2 cm(0.8 in) every 10 years, less rapidly thanat the end of the ice age, but stillsignificantly. Thermal expansion as theoceans warm accounts for 25% of theobserved sea level rise, and another25% is attributed to the melting ofsmall glaciers around the world. Theremaining 50% could be due to ice lossfrom Greenland and Antarctica, but ouruncertainty concerning their actualcontributions (plus or minus) is as largeas the total rise in recent decades. Ofparticular concern is the “marine” icesheet in West Antarctica, much ofwhich is grounded on bedrock andsediment below sea level. Someresearchers believe that WestAntarctica’s ice could thin rapidly andimpact global sea level dramaticallywith continued climate warming.ICESat’s multi-year elevation-changedata, combined with other satellite,atmospheric, oceanic, and ice flowdata, should enable more accuratepredictions of ice-sheet changes thatcould impact sea level.

How do Clouds and AerosolsAffect Climate?

The distribution of atmospheric cloudsand aerosols is one of the most impor-tant factors in global climate. Cloudscan cool the Earth’s surface by reflect-ing solar radiation or warm the surfaceby trapping its radiated heat. Lowclouds are typically more reflectivethan the Earth’s surface, and primarilyreflect solar radiation and causerelative cooling. High, thin clouds, onthe other hand, are usually lesseffective at reflecting solar radiationbut effectively trap outgoing infraredheat radiation. Accurate knowledge ofthe type and height of clouds is thusvery important for climate studies. Likeclouds, aerosols tend to cool the Earth’ssurface and heat the atmosphere by

FIGURE 2: This 1-km resolution image ofclouds and sea ice around northern Greenlandwas obtained by the Moderate ResolutionImaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onNASA’s Aqua satellite on July 13, 2002.ICESat will greatly enhance our understandingof the role these important phenomena play inregulating Earth’s climate. Image Credit:Aqua MODIS Science Team.


5

scattering and absorbing solar radia-tion. In general terms, aerosols aredistinguished from clouds by existingat humidity levels below saturationand by a particle size which is typically10 to 100 times smaller than the size ofcloud droplets.

The laser-profiling measurements fromGLAS are a fundamentally new way tostudy the atmosphere from space. Tobetter understand climate, scientistsneed to distinguish the multiple cloudand aerosol layers that typically exist inthe atmosphere. Other satellite remote-sensing techniques currently in use arelimited to passive observations, i.e., thesensor images the Earth at a givenwavelength but views all atmosphericlayers simultaneously. Another issue isthat such passive instruments cannotmeasure the height of layers suffi-ciently to fully understand the role ofclouds in global climate change. TheGLAS instrument on ICESat will enablethe accurate, multi-year height profil-ing of atmospheric cloud and aerosollayers directly from space for the firsttime.

Measuring Earth’s Land Surfaceand Vegetation

The topography and vegetation coverof the Earth’s land surface form acomplex mosaic. The landscape we seetoday is the cumulative result of theinteraction of those many formativeprocesses through time. Measurementof landscape properties, includingelevation, slope, roughness, andvegetation height and density, is anecessary step toward understandingthe interplay between formativeprocesses and better modeling of futurechanges. Knowledge of these proper-ties and their changes with time isimportant for resource management,land use, infrastructure development,

navigation, and forecasting theoccurrence and impact of naturalhazards such as volcanic eruptions,landslides, floods, and wild fires.

The ICESat elevation profiles willprovide a global sampling of theEarth’s land surface at unprecedentedaccuracy. This globally-consistent gridof high-accuracy elevation data will beused as a reference framework toevaluate and improve the accuracy oftopographic maps acquired by otherairborne and space-based methodssuch as conventional stereo-photo-grammetry and radar interferometry. Inparticular, ICESat profiles will becombined with the near-global map-ping accomplished by the ShuttleRadar Topography Mission to greatlyimprove our knowledge of the Earth’stopography.

In addition to acquiring elevation data,ICESat’s measurement of the laserpulse return shape provides uniqueinformation about the height distribu-tion of the surface features within eachlaser footprint. In areas lackingvegetation cover, this is a measure ofrelief (ground slope and roughness), anindication of the intensity of geomor-phic processes. In vegetated areas oflow relief, the elevation of the groundand the height and density of thevegetation cover can be inferred fromthe return pulse. The vegetationobservations enable estimation ofabove-ground biomass and its loss dueto deforestation, an important compo-nent of the carbon cycle.

How Will ICESat Measure Earth’sIce, Clouds, Oceans, Land, andVegetation?

The GLAS instrument on ICESat willdetermine the distance from thesatellite to the Earth’s surface and to

intervening clouds and aerosols(Figures 3a and 3b). It will do this byprecisely measuring the time it takesfor a short pulse of laser light to travelto the reflecting object and return to thesatellite. Although surveyors routinelyuse laser methods, the challenge forICESat is to perform the measurement40 times a second from a platformmoving 26,000 km (16,000 mi) per hour.ICESat will be about 600 km above theEarth and the precise locations of thesatellite in space and the laser beam onthe surface below must be determinedat the same time. The GLAS instrumenton ICESat will measure precisely howlong it takes for photons from a laser topass through the atmosphere, reflect offthe surface or clouds, return throughthe atmosphere, collect in the GLAStelescope, and trigger photon detectors.After halving the total travel time andapplying corrections for the speed oflight through the atmosphere, thedistance from ICESat to the laserfootprint on Earth’s surface will beknown. The GLAS receiver uses a 1-m(3-ft) diameter telescope to collect thereflected laser light. A digitizer recordseach transmitted and reflected laserpulse with 1 nanosecond (ns) resolu-tion. When each pulse is fired, ICESatwill collect data for calculating exactlywhere it is in space using on-board GPS(Global Positioning System) receiversaugmented by a network of groundGPS receivers and satellite laserranging stations. The angle at whichthe laser beam points relative to starsand the center of the Earth will bemeasured precisely with a star-trackingcamera that is integral to GLAS. Thedata on the distance to the laserfootprint on the surface, the position ofthe satellite in space, and the pointingof the laser are all combined to calcu-late the elevation and position of eachpoint measurement on the Earth.


6

FIGURE 3: These two line drawings show two perspectives of the GLAS instrument. The topdrawing (a) presents a nadir (pointing down toward earth) view, while the bottom drawing (b)presents a zenith (pointing upward toward space) view. Image Credit: Jason Budinoff, NASA/GSFC and the GLAS Instrument Team.

GLAS measures continuously alongground tracks (Figure 4) defined by thesequence of laser spots as ICESat orbitsthe Earth. The GLAS laser pulses areemitted at a rate of 40 per second fromthe Earth-facing (nadir) side of ICESat.

This produces a series of approximately70 m (230 ft) diameter spots on thesurface that are separated by nearly 170m (560 ft) along track. These tracks willbe repeated every 8 days during theinitial calibration-validation phase of

the mission and every 183 days duringthe main portion of ICESat’s multi-yearmission. Elevation-change data sets canbe analyzed along repeat ground tracksas well as at orbital crossover points. Inaddition, ICESat has the ability to pointGLAS off-nadir to repeatedly measureareas of interest such as an eruptingvolcano or a collapsing ice shelf.ICESat will also provide detailedinformation on the global distributionof clouds and aerosols. To do this,GLAS emits laser energy at both 1064nm and 532 nm, as this allows co-located elevation and atmospheric datato be obtained simultaneously. This willalso aid precise determination of thedistance between ICESat and the Earth,as it is important to know if the laserpulses have traveled through cloudand aerosol layers—such phenomenacan diffuse the laser energy andthereby extend the distance the laserlight travels.

Land, vegetation, and ocean elevationdata will also be obtained around theglobe along ICESat’s ground tracks.Data on elevation of the world’s oceansand ice-free landforms is expected to beof great interest to the broader scientificcommunity. The recently launchedGravity Recovery and Climate Experi-ment (GRACE) satellite will enhancethe ICESat mission by mapping theEarth’s gravitational field in unprec-edented detail. The GRACE data, inconjunction with ICESat results, willenable a greater understanding of anychanges in the distribution of snow, ice,and water around the globe.

ICESat Mission Summary

The overall mission is composed of theGLAS instrument, the ICESat space-craft, the launch vehicle, missionoperations, and the science team.Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

(b)

(a)


7

staff developed the GLAS instrumentin partnership with university andaerospace industry personnel. BallAerospace & Technologies Corp. inBoulder, CO, developed the ICESatspacecraft. NASA Kennedy SpaceCenter is providing the expendableBoeing Corporation Delta II launchvehicle (Figure 5). The science team iscomposed of researchers from universi-ties, GSFC staff, and supportingindustry personnel. They are develop-ing the science algorithms and isresponsible for all science data process-ing, as well as the generation of sciencedata products.

Once ICESat is on orbit, missionoperations will be conducted by twoorganizations. The Earth Science Dataand Information System (ESDIS)Project at GSFC will provide space andground network support. The Univer-sity of Colorado’s Laboratory forAtmospheric and Space Physics(LASP), teamed with Ball Aerospace,will provide mission operations and

FIGURE 5: Photo of a Delta IIlaunch and illustration of theICESat launch sequence. Photo/Illustration Credit: DeborahMcLean and Boeing Corporation.

FIGURE 4: Illustration of ICESat’s 8-day repeat ground track relative to thecontinental area of Antarctica. Note the convergence of the ground tracks around theSouth Pole. Coverage will be much denser in the 183-day repeat orbit. ICESat’s orbitwas designed to maximize coverage over the polar ice sheets. The pattern is similarover the northern polar region. Credit: Bob Schutz.


8

flight dynamics support. The ICESatScience Investigator Processing System(I-SIPS) at GSFC will conduct dataprocessing and generation of productswith support from the Center for SpaceResearch (CSR) at the University ofTexas, Austin. The National Snow andIce Data Center (NSIDC), located at theUniversity of Colorado in Boulder, willarchive and distribute ICESat dataproducts to the scientific communityand other users.

In the 60 days following launch, ICESatwill undergo a series of tests toestablish that all systems are function-ing as expected in the orbital environ-

ment. This commissioning phase willbe followed by a period of intenseactivity to verify the performance ofGLAS and all related systems. Theobjective of this intense calibration/validation (cal/val) period, is to helpinsure that geophysical interpretationscan be drawn from the data products.Cal/val includes evaluation of theGLAS measurements against groundtruth observations. A variety ofinstrumented and precisely mappedground-truth sites will be used,including dry lakebeds, landscapeswith undulating surface topography,and the ocean, all of which will beperiodically scanned.

More information on the ICESatmission can be found aticesat.gsfc.nasa.gov, as well as links tomany other supporting sites related tothis and other NASA EOS satellitemissions.

MODIS Views MidwestSnow. The Moderate ResolutionImaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) on the Aqua spacecraftacquired this image of the MidwestU.S. on December 6, 2002. From leftto right, a swath of snow is clearlyvisible across southern Kansas andnorthern Oklahoma, southernMissouri and northern Arkansas,southern Illinois, southern Indiana,Kentucky, and southern Ohio.Another streak of snow runs fromnorthern Ohio into Michigan,northern Indiana, northernIllinois,Wisconsin, and easternMinnesota. The southern end ofLake Michigan is visible at the topof the image (partially covered byclouds), the western tip of Lake Erieis just visible at the top right corner,and the Gulf of Mexico is visible atthe bottom of the image. Credit:Image Courtesy of JacquesDescloitres—MODIS RapidResponse Team and text taken fromthe Earth Observatory website andmodified.


9

The 27th Clouds and the Earth’sRadiant Energy System (CERES)Science Team meeting was hosted byLeo Donner at the NOAA GeophysicalFluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) inPrinceton, NJ, on September 17-19,2002. The meeting focused on the statusof new Tropical Rainfall MeasuringMission (TRMM) and Terra dataproducts, Aqua instrument calibration,and Science Team results. The nextCERES Science Team Meeting isplanned for Spring 2003 near Langley.

CERES on NPP and NPOESS

Bruce Wielicki (Langley ResearchCenter [LaRC]) noted that a clearerpicture of whether or not a CERESinstrument will be included on theNational Polar-orbiting OperationalEnvironmental Satellite System(NPOESS) is not expected to emerge forperhaps 4-6 months. NPOESS isworking on major cost and schedulestartup issues with the major imagerand sounder instruments, and sinceCERES has flown before, it is on theback burner for now.

There will be an October meeting of theNASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE)Program Management Council todecide whether to add a CERESinstrument on the NPOESS PreparatoryProject (NPP) to fill the anticipated gapin the radiation budget data recordbetween Aqua and NPOESS.

Data Products Approved

The Science Team approved productionprocessing of the validated Terra singlescanner footprint (SSF) data product,this is a major step as this is theintegrated MODIS/CERES (MODIS isthe Moderate Resolution ImagingSpectroradiometer) cloud-aerosol-radiation Level 2 data product. Twoyears of data will be processed byFebruary 2003 and will be used todevelop and validate the new Terraangular distribution models (ADMs) byAugust 2003. The early-validated SSFproduct will take advantage of theTRMM CERES ADMs at low andmiddle latitudes. Early looks at nightpolar clouds and surface fluxes indicatesome remaining problems and userswill be cautioned in the data-qualitysummary about polar-night cloudproperties and surface longwave (LW)fluxes. Polar top-of-atmosphere (TOA)flux accuracies will also be in questionuntil the new Terra angular models areproduced.

The Science Team also approvedEdition 2 of the validated Terra Level1b Bidirectional-Scan (BDS) data andthe ERBE-like (ERBE is the EarthRadiation Budget Experiment) TOAflux Levels 2 and 3 data products.These new products correct all knownchanges in ground to in-orbit calibra-tion as well as the small gain drifts seenin one of the channels on the FlightModel 2 (FM2) instrument.

The Science Team tentatively approvedthe TRMM-validated Surface RadiationBudget Average (SRBAVG) Level 3gridded and time averaged (monthly)data products. These are the first of thenew generation of CERES Level 3 dataproducts that improve diurnal sam-pling and reduce time interpolationerrors. The team accepted the TOAfluxes in these products, but finalverification of the new surface fluxesrequires further analysis. Integratingthe 3-hourly diurnal sampling ofgeostationary satellite data with thebroadband calibrated CERES dataimproves diurnal sampling error in theCERES TRMM data by a factor of 2,and even larger improvements areexpected in future Terra versionsbecause of the systematic diurnalsampling of the Terra sun-synchronousorbit.

The Science Team approved thevalidated TRMM Cloud and RadiationSwath (CRS) data product. This is thefirst CERES data product to includeradiative fluxes at the surface, in theatmosphere, and at the TOA. Thisproduct constrains the surface andatmosphere flux estimates to beconsistent with state-of-the-art radia-tive transfer theory as well as theCERES TOA flux measurements foreach field of view. It is our best view ofthe atmospheric-column radiativeheating/cooling.

Instrument Working Group

Kory Priestley (LaRC) reported oncalibration and validation for theCERES instruments. Terra and AquaCERES instruments continue tofunction nominally. Work is continuingon early calibration and consistency-check studies of the Aqua CERESinstruments. Four of the six channelsappear nominal (in-orbit versus groundcalibration). Two others differ from

Minutes of the CERES Science TeamMeeting— Gary G. Gibson, [email protected], NASA Langley Research

Center— Shashi K. Gupta, [email protected], NASA Langley Research

Center


10

ground calibration by 2% and 4%,respectively, and a coding error issuspected. (NOTE: Shortly after themeeting, the Instrument WorkingGroup found the Aqua instrument codebug that caused the large 6-7% differ-ences in three-channel-consistency testsshown at the meeting.) The InstrumentGroup has an action item to make thefirst validated Aqua Level 1b radiancesand ERBE-like Levels 2 and 3 TOA fluxproducts available by late December2002.

SARB and Surface-only WorkingGroups

The Surface and Atmospheric Radia-tion Budget (SARB) Working Groupand Surface-Only Working Groupmeeting was jointly chaired by Thomas

Charlock and David Kratz (both fromLaRC). Charlock led the discussionsand invited those in the audience tomake use of the validation data setsand the coupled ocean-atmosphereradiative transfer model available atthe CERES/Atmospheric RadiationMeasurement (ARM) ValidationExperiment (CAVE) web site.Zhonghai Jin (Analytical Services &Materials, Inc. [AS&M]) presented adiscussion of the many issues related tothe presence of snow and ice at thesurface and their considerable impor-tance to CERES processing and otherradiation and climate studies. Jin alsodiscussed the microphysical andoptical properties of snow/ice that arerelevant to radiative transfer models.David Kratz examined the effect of theevolving versions of the HITRANdatabase on the results obtained fromthe Fu-Liou radiative transfer code,which is used as the primary processorfor CERES/SARB. Results showed thatwindow fluxes and broadband infrared(IR) fluxes at the TOA and surface werenot affected significantly by either the

changes of the HITRAN database orthe continuum, but the continuum hada large effect on broadband shortwave(SW) fluxes.

The SARB group has the followingaction items:

• Complete the TRMM CRS Edition2B data quality summary so thedata products can be released.

• Test the Terra beta CRS includingimproved Fu-Liou code andMODIS aerosols over land withmonthly aerosol backgroundmaps.

CERES ADM Working Group

Norman Loeb (Hampton University[HU]) led the ADM working groupmeeting with a general overview ofcritical ADM/inversion research issues.Konstantin Loukachine (ScienceApplications International Corporation[SAIC]) presented an overview of aneural network scheme for TOA fluxestimation that relates measuredCERES SW and LW radiances directlyto anisotropic factors for TOA fluxestimation. Nitchie Manalo-Smith

(AS&M) presented preliminary resultsof LW ADMs for clear and overcastconditions using four months ofCERES/Terra measurements. Arvind

Gambheer (AS&M) presented anupdate of a study on the azimuthal-angle dependence of LW radiancesover land. Seiji Kato (HU) presented aprogress report on ADM developmentover snow. Wenbo Sun (HU) presentedan overview of a technique for infer-ring optical depth, asymmetry factor,and albedo for ice clouds using multi-angle measurements. Lin Chambers

(LaRC) presented early results of atheoretical study that examines howsigmoidal fits to CERES radiances as afunction of imager-derived cloudproperties can be used to develop

CERES/Terra ADMs in cloudy condi-tions.

Cloud Working Group

Patrick Minnis (LaRC) summarizedthe activities of the CERES CloudWorking Group. Minnis and Xiquan

Dong (University of North Dakota)presented recent efforts to validatecloud properties from both the Visibleand Infrared Scanner (VIRS) andMODIS instruments. There are instru-ment problems with the 1.6-µmchannel, so the group discussed thepossibility of allowing a differentversion of the cloud algorithm forMODIS on Terra with 2.13 µm replac-ing the unreliable channel. The groupdiscussed the effects of relatively lowvertical resolutions, particularly nearthe surface, in both Goddard DataAssimilation Office (DAO) andEuropean Centre for Medium-rangeWeather Forecasts (ECMWF) sound-ings.

The Cloud Working Group has severalaction items:

• Complete Terra SSF data-qualitysummary in October so that thenew Terra Edition 1 SSF processingcan be released to the public.

• Test early Aqua MODIS data.• Advance the next critical step in

matching CERES cloud propertiesto surface ARM-based estimates byusing wind speed/direction at thedominant cloud layer.

Time Interpolation SpatialAveraging (TISA) Working Group

The TISA Group has the followingaction items:

• Complete validation of 3-hourlyand monthly mean surface-fluxproducts in TRMM SRBAVG byearly October.

• Complete data quality summary


11

for TRMM SRBAVG so final dataproducts can be released.

• Begin testing Terra gridded betaproducts and development ofSynoptic and AVG products.

• Add daily means to futureSRBAVG products.

Invited Presentations

Roger Davies (JPL) summarized earlyMulti-angle Imaging SpectroRadiom-eter (MISR) spectral albedo results. Heand Norm Loeb are now ready to beginmore detailed comparisons of theCERES broadband and MISR narrowband angular results.

Paul Stackhouse (LaRC) summarizedthe newly available 1-degree griddedSurface Radiation Budget (SRB) dataproducts for 1985-1995 using Interna-tional Satellite Cloud ClimatologyProject (ISCCP) clouds and GoddardEarth Observing System (GEOS-1)meteorological input and multiple SWand LW algorithms. Stackhouseincluded comparisons to Global EnergyBalance Archive (GEBA) and BaselineSurface Radiation Network (BSRN)surface data. He also ran 1998 datausing the same ECWMF input asCERES to allow direct comparisons ofSRB and CERES data products. Theseresults will be available soon.

Investigator PresentationHighlights

David Kratz (LaRC) presented resultson the validation of surface SW and LWfluxes from Terra SSF for November2000 to July 2001. These fluxes werederived from the surface-only algo-rithms, which are based on fastradiation parameterizations or TOA-to-surface transfer algorithms. Surfacemeasurements for validation wereobtained from three ARM sites. Clear-sky SW comparisons at most sites

showed a negative bias. Clear-sky LWfluxes showed good agreement as didall-sky fluxes for one LW model.

Robert Cess (State University of NewYork at Stony Brook) compared thedramatic CERES cloud-radiativeforcing (CRF) ratio changes found inthe tropics at the peak of the 1998 ElNiño (but absent in the 1987 El Niño) tocurrent climate-model simulationsfrom the National Center for Atmo-spheric Research (NCAR) CommunityClimate Model (CCM). The simulationssuggest that the model is not respond-ing correctly to the El Niño sea surfacetemperature (SST) forcing (cloudresponse is too weak). The focus is ondeep convective and marine boundarylayer cloud modeling. This dramaticsignal will be used as a metric to testimproved cloud models.

Leo Donner (GFDL) presented resultsfrom a study of closures for cumulusparameterizations and examined theconditions for equilibrium in deepcumulus convection. The closurescurrently utilized relate cumulusintensity to the properties of resolvedflow in the model, e.g., the convectiveavailable potential energy (CAPE) orthe cloud work function (CWF). Theseclosures are widely used in the generalcirculation models (GCMs), yet there islittle observational evidence that theyare realistic. Donner concluded thatcumulus intensity was not related toCAPE or CWF in a simple way, andthat CAPE evolution under deepcumulus convection was drivenprimarily by large changes in theplanetary boundary layer.

Xiquan Dong compared cloud proper-ties derived from satellite data withground measurements at the ARMSouthern Great Plains (SGP) site forNovember 2000 to June 2001. LaRC

retrievals of cloud height from MODISshowed good agreement with grounddata during daytime, but overestima-tion at night. Stratus retrievals fromMODIS with LaRC and GSFC algo-rithms agreed well with each other andwith ground data, but cirrus retrievalsneed more work.

Gerald Mace (University of Utah)analyzed the errors incurred inretrievals of cirrus cloud propertiesusing an estimation-theory algorithmframework. Errors in retrievals aregenerally related to instrumentcalibration problems, assumptionsmade in the models, and specificationsof model parameters. Mace alsopresented comparisons of TOA SW andLW parameters derived using cloudproperties and other data availablefrom ground-based measurements atthe ARM sites and those derived fromCERES observations. He concludedthat the integrated systems developedand deployed at the ARM sites aresufficient to provide TOA fluxes andCRF.

Taneil Uttal (NOAA EnvironmentalTechnology Laboratory) reported onground-based Arctic cloud validationdata sets obtained at the ARM NorthSlope of Alaska (NSA) site and severalground-satellite comparisons. Shereported good progress on retrievalsfor water and ice clouds but limitedprogress with mixed-phase clouds.

Bing Lin (LaRC) examined cloud-liquid-water feedback in the tropics,midlatitude, and polar regions. Hefound negative feedback in polarregions, but positive in mid and lowlatitudes.

Qingyuan Han (University of Alabama- Huntsville [UAH]) presented a studyof ice-crystal shapes using CERES/


12

TRMM data obtained in the rotatingazimuth plane scanner (RAPS) mode.Han recommended that CERES shoulduse polycrystal phase functions in theretrieval of cloud properties and fluxes.

Ron Welch (UAH) reported on thevalidation of satellite-derived cloudmasks using data obtained fromground-based instruments. Thesesatellite cloud masks were derivedfrom MODIS data using neuralnetwork methodology. Comparisonswith different ground-based instru-ments provided differing degrees ofagreement. Welch concluded thatmultiple instruments should be usedfor validating satellite retrievals.

Robert Kandel (Laboratoire deMeteorologie Dynamique [LMD]France) reported on the effort at theLMD to derive broadband SW fluxesusing Meteosat-5 visible counts overthe Indian Ocean Experiment(INDOEX) region during March 2000.Kandel also gave a presentation on theEarth Clouds, Aerosols, and RadiationExplorer (EarthCARE) project, which iscurrently in planning stages at theEuropean and Japanese Space Agen-cies.

Nicolas Clerbaux (Royal Meteorologi-cal Institute of Belgium [RMIB]) gave astatus report on the GeostationaryEarth Radiation Budget (GERB) dataprocessing system. The GERB instru-ment was launched onboard theMeteosat Second Generation satellite inAugust 2002 and is currently awaitingcommissioning.

Lou Smith (Virginia Tech) made apresentation on the status of the GERBinstrument and on the cooperativeactivities between GERB and CERESprojects. CERES and GERB ADMs will

be compared by analyzing matchedfootprints. The 15-minute temporalresolution of GERB measurements willbe utilized to validate CERES time-interpolation schemes.

F. Li and Anand Inamdar (both fromScripps Institute of Oceanography)presented studies of radiative forcingof TOA SW and LW radiation bySaharan and Arabian dust aerosolsusing CERES and MODIS data fromTerra.

Alexander Ignatov (NOAA NationalEnvironmental Satellite, Data andInformation Service [NESDIS])compared aerosol properties fromTerra/SSF derived using the VIRS-likesingle-channel algorithm to thosederived with the MODIS multi-channelalgorithm as provided by the MODISprocessing system. Aerosol opticaldepth values from the two algorithmsfor those footprints were in goodagreement suggesting that the differ-ences between VIRS-like and MODISretrieval algorithms were not signifi-cant.

Tom Zhao (NESDIS) presentedcomparisons of aerosol properties fromCERES SSF derived from VIRS andMODIS radiances. The objective of thecomparisons was to assess the consis-tency of aerosol data sets as transitionoccurs from VIRS-based to MODIS-based products.

Tom Charlock (LaRC) comparedCERES/SARB surface albedos fromSSF data with those derived fromhelicopter measurements made at theARM SGP site. The objective of thisexperiment was to survey the surfacealbedo of an area about the size of aCERES footprint centered on the SGPsite and then compare satellite retriev-

als with these and other ground-basedmeasurements.

Shi-Keng Yang (NOAA NationalCenters for Environmental Prediction[NCEP]) presented comparisons ofradiative fluxes from the globalensemble forecast model runs at theNCEP. He showed that ensembleforecasts provide very valuableinformation for numerical weatherprediction but less so for climate runs.The forecast skill of the ensemble meanwas much higher than for a singlecontrol run. He stressed that ensembleforecasts do not resolve model biases,and the spread among members showsthe degree of agreement betweenmembers and not the degree ofconfidence in predictability.

David Randall (Colorado StateUniversity [CSU]) discussed a newradiation parameterization schemebeing developed at the CSU by GraemeStephens and colleagues. This param-eterization is currently being tested inthe CSU GCM and CAM2, the latest inthe series of NCAR CommunityClimate Models (CCMs). It is beingtested to test the feasibility of using itto replace the old parameterization (byHarshvardhan) in the above GCMsbecause it provides better spectralaccuracy in both SW and LW andincludes aerosols. Also, it has a linearscaling with the number of layerswhich makes it very efficient even witha high vertical resolution.


13

The Earth Observing System’s (EOS)Aura Science and Validation Teammeeting took place at the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research inBoulder, CO, September 17-20, 2002.The meeting had two goals:

1. Develop an implementationstrategy for validation of Aurameasurements as described inVersion 1.0 of the Aura validationdocument (available from the Aurawebsite at eos-aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/

mission/validation.html).2. Develop the basis for the Aura

Science Plan. This plan encom-passes the science goals of theAura mission and includesexpanded science goals associatedwith sub-orbital measurements. Aseries of presentations demon-strated how the Aura observationswill be combined with the aircraftmissions to address the primaryquestions facing Earth Scientists(www.earth.nasa.gov).

Aura Validation

Aura validation will include observa-tions from existing ground- andballoon-based networks and from newaircraft missions designed to investi-gate specific chemistry issues. Theaircraft missions will be planned sothat both satellite-validation and

mission-science requirements are met.Examples of missions are the Intercon-tinental Chemical Transport Experi-ment (INTEX), planned for Summer2004 and Spring 2006, and several otherproposed missions including theTropical Composition and ClimateCoupling Experiment (TC3), a relatedmission called Cirrus Regional Study ofTropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers -Tropical Western Pacific (CRYSTAL-TWP), and a polar mission. Aircraftobservations in the tropical westernPacific during the northern hemispherewinter for TC3/TWP would provideconstituent observations for compari-son with satellite observations wherethe atmosphere is coldest. Suchmeasurements will be most valuablefor validation if coincidence criteria aremet, and the aircraft flight path followsthe satellite line of sight. A polarmission would also provide importantvalidation for the High ResolutionDynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) in aregion of very low temperature. Polarobservations of Nitric Acid (HNO3) willalso test the satellite observationsunder extreme conditions. In addition,Chlorine Nitrate (ClONO2) is expectedto be high in the collar region of thepolar vortex and there should be stronggradients in Hydrochloric Acid (HCl),Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and Methane(CH4). In situ measurements in this

region would test the HIRDLS mea-surements of ClONO2 and CH4 andalso test the Microwave LimbSounder’s (MLS) measurements of HCland N2O.

It is anticipated that observations fromhigh altitude balloons will be requiredto provide correlative data for theentire suite of Aura constituents. Jim

Margitan provided a summary ofballoon capability. The instruments areavailable to meet all requirements, andit will be possible to achieve coinci-dence with the Aura flight track towithin 2° latitude and 15° longitudeand less than 1 day, criteria that haveproven adequate for stratosphericobservations (depending somewhat onmeteorology). Possible sites includeFairbanks, AK, in the U.S., Kiruna,Brazil, and a site in Costa Rica.

Rich Stolarski stressed the role of theOzone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) incontinuing the global total ozonerecord from space. Overlaps do notnecessarily provide the whole storywhen developing a trend quality dataset. He stressed the need for theNetwork for Detection of StratosphericChange (NDSC), Dobson/Brewer,sondes, and lidar ozone observationsfor the duration of the mission.Calibration of Dobsons is necessaryperiodically; the intercomparisonexercises are not expensive (though notfree) and will require leadership andplanning

Ozone (O3) and its precursors in thetroposphere are highly variable due tometeorology and spatial variability inthe sources and sinks of pollution.Validation of these species is one of themajor challenges facing the Auracommunity. The Tropospheric EmissionSpectrometer (TES) will retrieve ocean

Minutes from the Aura Science andValidation Team Meeting— Anne Douglass, [email protected], NASA Goddard Space

Flight Center


14

scenes first because the surfaceemissivity is known over the ocean.Thus correlative data over the ocean isneeded for TES validation soon afterlaunch. Pierternel Levelt describedhow OMI will provide very highspatial resolution observations andemphasized that validation is neededfor measurements in the lower tropo-sphere, tropospheric profiles, and inboth polluted and clean conditions.

Kaley Walker described the Atmo-spheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE)instrument on the Canadian SCISAT.ACE will provide satellite-to-satellitevalidation for Aura. The primaryinstrument is a high-resolution Fouriertransform infrared spectrometer (ACE-FTS) with two-channel near infrared(NIR)/visible/ultraviolet (UV) imager.A dual channel spectrograph calledMeasurements of Aerosol Extinction inthe Stratosphere and TroposphereRetrieved by Occultation (MAESTRO)will provide coverage in the visible andnear UV spectral regions. ACE willprovide sunrise and sunset measure-ments mainly at high latitudes that willbe useful for comparison with Aurastratospheric observations. David Lary

showed how similar observations fromthe Atmospheric Trace MoleculeSpectroscopy Experiment on Spacelab(ATMOS) could be assimilated withphotochemical and transport models toaccount for the lack of spatial andtemporal coincidence with Auraobservations.

Much of the validation of Aurameasurements will rely on routineobservations of ozone and temperature,observations from other satelliteplatforms including the Upper Atmo-sphere Research Satellite (UARS),ENVISAT, and SCISAT, and ground-based observations from NDSC. Bojan

Bojkov and Lucien Froidevaux

discussed possibilities for a data centerto facilitate access to these data andalso possible requirements for docu-mentation and format of validationdata. Ozonesonde data will be key tovalidation of OMI and TES observa-tions; thus it will be necessary todevelop procedures to obtain coinci-dent launches and to ensure observa-tions in different conditions. Sam

Oltmans presented observations fromthe Southern Hemisphere AdditionalOzonesondes (SHADOZ) network;such measurements will play a key rolein validation of Aura measurements inthe tropical troposphere. Jay Herman

presented a proposal for a mobile suiteof ground-based instruments forvalidation of OMI measurements. Mike

Newchurch showed the capabilities ofthe Regional Atmospheric ProfilingCenter for Discovery (RAPCD).RAPCD should provide continuousmeasurements of ozone and complexinformation on aerosols and thusinformation on short temporal scalesthat is needed for Aura validation.Information in this talk was supple-mented by several posters.

Aura Science

Thorough understanding of the role ofwater vapor in the upper tropicaltroposphere and lower stratosphere iskey to prediction of global climatechange. As a consequence, this topicoccupied a prominent location on themeeting program. Andy Dessler

showed satellite and in situ observa-tions to argue that the monsoon doesnot play a role in producing the “taperecorder” as observed in tropical watervapor. Eric Jensen used back trajecto-ries to show the dependence of cirrusformation on dehydration, ice nucle-ation, thermodynamics, cloud proper-ties, and the ice-crystal-size distribu-

tion. Hugh Pumphrey showed that theMicrowave Limb Sounder (MLS)instrument flying on Aura will producea much better data set for lowerstratospheric/ upper troposphericwater than UARS MLS. There will bemore than twice as many profiles perday, with much better vertical resolu-tion. Bill Read argued that MLS ozoneand water measurements could be usedto test whether convective dehydrationor cold-trap dehydration is responsiblefor low stratospheric water. Ozone andwater should be correlated if theconvective dehydration is dominant,but not if cold-trap dehydrationpredominates. Mark Schoeberl pointedout the possibility that the AtmosphericInfrared Sounder (AIRS) on Aquacould provide information for an MLSanalysis such as this. Bob Harwood

discussed possible mechanisms toproduce a trend in stratospheric waterthat would not rely on a trend in thetropopause temperature. For example,El Niño does not significantly impacttropopause temperature, but it doesalter the location of the most intenseconvection. Dong Wu discussed theMLS ice-cloud measurements andimplications for water vapor transportnear the tropopause. There are threesteps that must be followed to retrievecloud ice. In step one, the radiancesmust be identified that are not withinclear sky limits. In step two, the ice-water path must be determined. Stepthree requires conversion to cloudproperties. Both steps two and threehave large errors. This work will beenhanced by cooperation withCloudSat (both Aura and CloudSat aremembers of the A-Train satelliteformation), and could profit fromcorrelative observations of total-watercontent. Liz Moyer showed resultsfrom a mission flown in Costa Ricaduring the summer of 2001. Her results


15

suggest that convection can hydrate ordehydrate the upper troposphere,depending upon the ambient state ofthe air into which the cirrus remnant ofconvection is injected. Bill Randel

showed an analysis of the thermalvariability of the Tropical TransitionLayer (TTL) using Global PositioningSatellite (GPS) data. The variabilitycould be related to the outgoinglongwave radiation.

The Aura platform brings new capabil-ity to tropospheric chemical measure-ments. Analysis of these new measure-ments will lead to improved under-standing of the sources and distribu-tion of pollution. Dylan Jones showedthat it should be possible to use TESdata to constrain the sources of CarbonMonoxide (CO) by deriving a TES-likedata set from the Harvard Three-Dimensional Tropospheric Chemistryand Transport Model (known as GEOS-CHEM) simulation, and inverting thissimulated data set to obtain the originalsources. This work shows how INTEXaircraft data will be complemented bydata from Aura. The former willprovide high-resolution measurementsof outflow from the North Americancontinent, and the latter will providethe global coverage necessary toconstrain the CO sources. Both sets ofobservations will be interpreted usingthe same global model. Lucien

Froidevaux discussed MLS measure-ments of Ozone (O3), Carbon Monoxide(CO), Methyl Cyanide (CH3CN) andCyanide (HCN) in the upper tropo-sphere. Since the latter two constituentsare associated with biomass burning,these observations may be used todecouple biomass burning from fossilfuel burning, further constraining thesources. Reggie Newell reminded theteam that atmospheric layers areubiquitous, as shown by observations

from various aircraft. Layers of about 1-km vertical extent can be characterizedas elevated in ozone and depleted inwater (or vice versa), giving clues totheir origin. These layers will impactAura tropospheric observations eventhough the layers cannot be resolved.

The Aura platform will provide newinformation on aerosols that can beused with observations from otherplatforms to understand their effect onclimate. Steve Massie showed resultsfor aerosols from the ModerateResolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) on Terra, the second Strato-spheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment(SAGE II), and the Total OzoneMonitoring Spectrometer (TOMS).Sulfate can be distinguished from dustand smoke using the aerosol index inthe visible and a near UV index. Smokeand dust show different indices formuch of the range; it may therefore bepossible for OMI to distinguish dustfrom smoke as well. The HCN andCH3CN from MLS may also be usefulto distinguish dust from smoke. Simon

Carn gave an overview of TOMS workon volcanic clouds. Strong eruptionsare important, and some volcanoessuch as Nyranuregira in the Demo-cratic Republic of the Congo eruptcontinuously for weeks at a time everyyear or two. In addition, some volca-noes “de-gas passively” nearlyconstantly. Because of its small pixelsize, OMI should detect such volca-noes. Pepijn Veelfkind suggested thatground-based monitoring of the singlescattering albedo for a long time wouldbe useful to OMI validation. This workwould define the direct effect ofaerosols. Randall Martin showedresults from the Global Ozone Monitor-ing Experiment (GOME) as a preludefor OMI. Biomass burning aerosolsreduce the sensitivity of GOME to

tropospheric ozone by up to 50%,whereas scattering aerosols increase thesensitivity to tropospheric ozone by10% or more. These results may explainwhy GEOS CHEM differs from GOMEin different directions for variouspolluted regions in the U.S.

The Aura platform will also provideunique information about stratosphericcomposition and processes to under-stand long-term changes in ozone.Michelle Santee provided an overviewof the details concerning polar pro-cesses that will be clarified usingobservations from EOS MLS and itssuperior observations of nitric acid,water, and Chlorine Monoxide (ClO)relative to those obtained by UARS. Aclimatology of UARS MLS ClO waspresented in a poster. Gloria Manney

described information expected fromAura MLS and HIRDLS that can beused to assess aspects of polar vortexbehavior such as mesospheric descentthat are not well understood. The sixyears of measurements expected fromAura will be used to evaluate variabil-ity in water vapor that is inferred usingpotential vorticity mapping from PolarOzone and Aerosol Measurement(POAM) data, as such variability isimportant to polar processes involvingPolar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs).Limitations to determining ozone lossfrom constituent correlations werepresented in a poster (Gloria Manney),as were techniques for identifyingozone laminae (Hope Michelson). EOSMLS will provide information to makemore detailed assessment of contribu-tions of chemical loss and dynamics tointerannual variability in lower-stratospheric high-latitude ozoneduring northern hemisphere spring(Gloria Manney). These discussionscan be used to develop a proposal forthe polar mission mentioned below.


16

Such a mission is needed in order tovalidate MLS and also can provideadditional information about particles.

Validation and Science

The document , Aura Collaborative

Science - The Union of Missions, willserve to merge these concepts. Satelliteobservations, ground based observa-tions, and in situ and remote measure-ments from aircraft will be broughttogether with meteorological informa-tion using global and regional chemis-

try and transport models and modernassimilation techniques to bringunprecedented power to both interpre-tation of observations as well as toaircraft mission planning. An outline ofthis document and the personsresponsible for developing the varioussections are available on the Aura website. A draft of this document isexpected by January 2003. Furtherdevelopment of these concepts willtake place at the next Aura ScienceTeam Meeting planned for March 18-21, 2003.

Although some progress was madetowards development of an implemen-tation plan for Aura validation duringthis meeting, many important detailsremain to be resolved. These will beconsidered through the validation-working group chaired by Lucien

Froidevaux and Anne Douglass, withassistance provided by representativesof each instrument and by programmanagers at NASA Headquarters.

Joanne Simpson Honored by the World Meteorological Organization

NASA research scientist Joanne Simpson has been awarded the prestigious International MeteorologicalOrganization Prize by the Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the firstwoman ever to win this prize.

Simpson, internationally acclaimed for her 54 years of pioneering work on cloud modeling, observationalexperiments on convective cloud systems and hurricane research, is being honored for her role as aleading participant in the aircraft aspects of several WMO Global Atmospheric Research Programme(GARP) experiments and for helping to establish a basic understanding of tropical circulation and heatbalance.

The IMO Prize originates from WMO’s predecessor body, the International Meteorological Organization(IMO), founded in 1873. The award is presented annually and consists of a gold medal, a sum of moneyand an official citation.

Simpson is currently chief scientist for Meteorology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,Md. Previously, she served as the project scientist for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)Observatory. Simpson is the first woman to ever receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, which she obtained at theUniversity of Chicago in 1949.


17

Introduction and Overview

Boston University hosted the Commit-tee on Earth Observation Satellites/Working Group on Calibration andValidation (CEOS/WGCV) LandProduct Validation (LPV) Workshop onSurface Albedo October 23-24, 2002.The international workshop was heldin association with the ModerateResolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) Radiation Products OutreachWorkshop, and marked the fourth LPVtopical workshop (following assemblieson Leaf Area Index, Fire/Burn Scar,and Land Cover). About 25 experts insatellite-product development, fieldmeasurements, and process modelingparticipated.

With Aqua and ENVISAT joining Terrain space this year, the volume ofoperational land products has becomeimmense by traditional standards. Eachnew product has unique characteristics,the performance and accuracy of whichcan only be determined throughpostlaunch data analysis. To allowcredible and responsible product use,these characteristics must be deter-mined and described to the usercommunity as quickly as possible. The

LPV Subgroup of the CEOS/WGCVhelps coordinate researchers andactivities to achieve these goals moreeffectively and economically.

MODIS Albedo Product Accuracy

The albedo workshop included bothplenary presentations and breakoutgroup discussions. Crystal Schaaf andYves Govaerts briefed participants onthe MODIS and METEOSAT albedoproducts, respectively, and theirevaluation activities to date. Otherresearchers described their approachesto measuring plot-level albedo andcomparing field-derived and airbornedata to the MODIS product.

Collectively, the researchers found thatthe mean accuracy of the MODISbroadband (visible, near-infrared andshortwave) products is about 0.02(absolute) over vegetated areas. A back-up algorithm (“Magnitude Inversion”),used when an insufficient number ofindependent cloud-free samples areavailable in a 16-day compilationwindow, produces consistent resultsrelative to the main algorithm. Thecurrent broadband product appears to

be systematically underestimatingcompletely snow-covered areas,although it appears to handle mixturesof canopy and snow competently. Ingeneral, the MODIS algorithm appearsto be robust for missing data (fewcloud-free samples), but is sensitive tonoise in data. Thus, subpixel clouds orgeolocation errors can diminishaccuracy. Impacts of sensor degrada-tion with time (e.g., decreasing signal-to-noise) have yet to be determined.

Key Issues

Breakout groups, focused on site-levelmeasurements and product developers’validation needs, met on both days.The site-level group developed aprioritized list of challenges, includingscaling point measurements to valuescommensurate with product cell sizes,instrument calibration, aircraft-baseddata, “footprint” analysis and stan-dards, and cloud-filtering.

The group emphasized the validationof broadband (vs. spectral) productsdue to the relative maturity andprevalence of the associated fieldinstrumentation and satellite algo-rithms. Some science networks, e.g., theBaseline Surface Radiation Network(BSRN), have developed error budgetsfor point-scale broadband measure-ments. At present, however, the variousdata validation chains to scale up fielddata (from point to satellite-productcell size) are relatively complex andinvolve many stages. It is not clearwhich are the critical elements in termsof error sources (e.g., radiometriccalibration of the ground-basedinstrumentation, atmospheric correc-tion of the intermediate spatial resolu-tion image data, application of plant-growth models (where appropriate),spatial aggregation, or narrow-to-broad-band conversion of satellite

Summary of the InternationalWorkshop on Surface AlbedoProduct Validation— Jeffrey L. Privette, [email protected], NASA/Goddard Space

Flight Center— Crystal B. Schaaf, [email protected], Boston University— Alan Strahler, [email protected], Boston University— Rachel T. Pinker, [email protected], University of Maryland,

College Park— Michael J. Barnsley, [email protected], University of Wales,

Swansea— Jeffrey T. Morisette, [email protected], NASA/Goddard

Space Flight Center


18

data). Guidelines for field instrumentheight relative to surface-heterogeneityscale are also not established. Partici-pants agreed that a rigorous, statisticalerror-budget analysis is required, andthis could be achieved through acommunity effort including aircraft-based pyranometers.

Group members also noted that a widerange of field instrumentation iscurrently used to acquire field albedodata. The significance of differencesbetween the values from these instru-ments, variations from manufacturer tomanufacturer, or variations betweensimilar instruments produced by thesame manufacturer, are currentlyunknown. In part, this arises fromvarying practices relating to theabsolute radiometric calibration of theinstruments by the manufacturers andthe users. To resolve some of theseissues, participants suggested acoordinated field-measurement andcalibration campaign or a “roundrobin” approach using a reference-calibration instrument passed betweenuser sites. This effort could be sup-ported by a national standards orinstrument vendor calibration labora-tory.

The product developer subgroup notedthat product accuracy is estimatedthrough a convergence of evidence,including that from site, aircraft, andother satellite product comparisons.Global validation priorities, particu-larly the number and spatial distribu-tion of sites, remained unresolved,pending further analysis of the MODISand other satellite products. Climatemodelers in attendance advocatedcloser ties between their communityand product validation scientists suchthat regional albedo outliers foundthrough modeling studies could be

rapidly addressed and resolved viacampaigns. This would complementlong-term monitoring sites required forannual cycles.

Next Steps

The final session was dedicated todeveloping a research agenda anddiscussing albedo community coordi-nation. The Oak Ridge NationalLaboratory (ORNL) DAAC accepted anaction to create and distribute 7-km x 7-km ASCII-formatted subsets of theMODIS albedo product over more than200 sites involved in various sciencenetworks (e.g., FLUXNET, BSRN, EOSCore Sites). The data will complementother MODIS product subsets currentlyavailable through the DAAC (seepublic.ornl.gov/fluxnet/modis.cfm). Theaction will be expedited such thatsubsets are generated for the completeMODIS Collection 4 reprocessing,slated to begin in November 2002. Alan

Strahler proposed that participantsmeet again in about one year to discussevolving priorities, including coordi-nated activities, as validation extentand quality mature.

Details of the workshop, includingcopies of presentations and breakoutgroup recommendations, will beavailable through the LPV web site(modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/MODIS/LAND/VAL/

CEOS_WGCV/surfrad.html). BostonUniversity will host an LPV-sponsoredland-cover-validation workshop inDecember 2002. The next meeting ofthe CEOS WGCV will be in Hobart,Australia on February 12-14, 2003.

Acknowledgement

The NPOESS Integrated ProgramOffice (S. Mango) provided travelfunding for some participants. We aregrateful for this support.


19

Introduction

The boreal forests of Siberia and the FarEast (Siberia/Far East) stretch from theUral Mountains of Russia on the westacross northern Asia to the PacificOcean on the east; and from thenorthern reaches of Central Asia andChina on the south to the reaches of thetundra on the north. For the NASA ESE(Earth Science Enterprise) to complete aglobal picture of carbon dynamics,knowledge of this region is increas-ingly important. The boreal forest ofSiberia/Far East is the world’s largestforest. In addition, this region is one ofthe greatest global stores of carbon, is adynamic fire-dominated landscape, isgrowing in importance—and risk—inregional (Russia-China-Japan) timber-based economics, and may alreadyshow early effects of global warming.

A deeper ESE scientific understandingof the boreal forest and carbon dynam-ics of this region is also increasinglypossible. In 1991, the new RussianFederation and the Russian Academyof Sciences opened the doors for muchgreater international scientific coopera-

tion. In 1994, the NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Change (LCLUC) programbegan supporting research projects inthe region. In 2000, the Global Observa-tion of Forest Cover/Global Observa-tion of Land Dynamics (GOFC/GOLD)program, which is part of the GlobalTerrestrial Observing System (GTOS),began holding regional workshopsaddressing development of, and accessto, remotely sensed data sets for global-change science and natural-resourcemanagement. This internationalprogram recognizes the need forimproved coordination with respect toground and satellite observations and isbeing implemented through a series ofregional networks. The NorthernEurasian Earth Science PartnershipInitiative (NEESPI), coordinated atNASA by Garik Gutman and Don

Deering, is aimed at developing a newscience program that will identifycritical science and applicationsquestions and coordinate research onthe state and dynamics of terrestrialecosystems in northern Eurasia andtheir interactions with Earth’s climatesystem (neespi.gsfc.nasa.gov). Develop-

ment of regional networks in northernEurasia under the GOFC/GOLDprogram will provide support toNEESPI infrastructure and NEESPIprojects relevant to GOFC/GOLD goalswill feed in the necessary science to thenewly emerging networks.

The purpose of this article is to reporton an important element of thisgrowing program, the GOFC/GOLDSiberia/Far East Regional InformationNetwork (SFERIN) and the recentworkshop that established this net-work. The great geographic extent andthe constant dynamics of the Siberian/Far East boreal forest make good accessto remotely-sensed data an increasingadvantage in forest science and forestmanagement of the region. Therefore,the GOFC/GOLD Siberia/Far Eastregional workshop was held at the V.N.Sukachev Institute of Forest,Krasnoyarsk, Russia August 7-8, 2002.The theme for the workshop wasGOFC/GOLD Satellite InformationProducts for Forest and Land Manage-ment in Siberia/Far East. Eugene

Vaganov (Russia) and Kathleen Bergen

(U.S.A.) co-organized the workshop.The workshop was held in conjunctionwith the International Boreal ForestResearch Association (IBFRA) confer-ence that took place August 5-8, andattendance at the workshop andconference included 150 scientists fromRussia and the international commu-nity. The website for the SFERINnetwork (www.snre.umich.edu/

ruworkshop/index.htm) is hosted jointlyby the V. N. Sukachev Institute ofForest and the University of Michigan.

Role of GOFC/GOLD

The goals of the GOFC/GOLDprogram are to coordinate ongoingspace-based and in situ observations offorests, to facilitate sustainable man-

Summary of the GOFC/GOLDRegional Workshop: InformationProducts for Forest and LandManagement in Siberia/Far East

— Kathleen M. Bergen, [email protected], School of Natural Resourcesand Environment, University of Michigan

— Eugene Vaganov, [email protected], V.N. Sukachev Institute ofForest, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch

— Garik Gutman, [email protected], Land Cover-Land Use ChangeProgram, NASA HQ, Code YS

— Chris Justice, [email protected], Department of Geogra-phy, University of Maryland


20

agement of terrestrial resources, and toobtain an accurate understanding ofthe terrestrial carbon budget. Regionalmeetings, leading to regional networks,act as a mechanism for achieving theseobjectives. The Siberia/Far Eastworkshop was the third in a series ofGOFC/GOLD workshops in Russia,including the Global Observation ofForest Cover Boreal Forest InitiativeWorkshop held in Novosibirsk, Russiain August 2000, and the WesternRussia/Fennoscandia Workshop heldin St. Petersburg, Russia in June 2001.The first workshop recommended thatregional workshops and networks beformed. The Siberia/Far East region isdistinguished by the remoteness andinaccessibility of large amounts of theforested area; the significance, size,number of forest fires and managementchallenges in monitoring and manag-ing them; the proximity to neighboringwood-consuming countries of China,Japan, and other Asia-Pacific econo-mies; and strong regional forest-scienceand remote sensing institutions.

Siberia/Far East Workshop Goals

The goals of the GOFC/GOLD Siberia/Far East regional workshop were to:

1. Discuss and define the criticalboreal forest science and resourcemanagement issues.

2. Discuss and define the priorityGOFC/GOLD informationproducts and network needs.

3. Establish the components of aregional GOFC/GOLD network.

4. Plan and implement the next stepsin the new regional network.

Schedule and Venue

The GOFC/GOLD 2002 workshopincluded: 1) overview presentationson the GOFC/GOLD program, 2) one-

half day of invited formal presentationsfocused on science and managementissues concerning the dynamics of theSiberian/Far Eastern forest, 3) one-halfday of invited formal presentationsfocused on satellite information needsand GOFC/GOLD informationproducts, and 4) one-half day ofparticipatory discussion time. Inaddition, participants were exposed tothe IBRFA conference science papers.Kathleen Bergen moderated thesessions.

Summary of Invited Presentations

A successful workshop necessitated asound understanding of the aims ofGOFC/GOLD and its programmaticcontext. Chris Justice (U.S.A.), theGOFC/GOLD representative at themeeting, delivered the followingpresentations.

• Global Observations of ForestCover/Global Observations ofLand Cover Dynamics (GOFC/GOLD): An International Pro-gram for Improved Observationsand Monitoring.

• GOFC/GOLD Priorities forDevelopment of a Global Forestand Land Cover Characteristicsand Changes Observatory.

• GOFC/GOLD-Fire: A Mechanismfor International Coordination onFire Observations and Their Use.

Following these GOFC overviews, aseries of invited presentations summa-rized important issues in forest scienceand management in the Siberia/FarEast region. Abstracts are available andselected papers will be published.

• Shvidenko et al. (Austria/IIASAand international). An IntegratedApproach to Assessing the MajorGreenhouse Gases Budget of

Northern Eurasia Forests.• Sheingauz (Russia). Forest Cover

Dynamics in the Russian Far East:Trends, Factors, Method Difficul-ties.

• Belov et al. (Russia). SatelliteMonitoring of Forest Fires in theTomsk Region of Boreal Forests ofWestern Siberia.

• Blam et al. (Russia). TimberIndustry Complex in Siberia -Strategies of Survival and Devel-opment.

Papers that provided an overview ofdata and information managementissues and needs followed.

• Isaev and Bartalev et al. (Russia,Italy) A Land-Cover Database forForest and Land Management inNorthern Eurasia. (SPOT-VGTclassification).

• Bergen et al. (U.S.A.). UsingHeterogeneous Landsat ETM+,TM, and MSS for Land-CoverChange Detection in the SiberianBoreal Forest.

• Mironov et al. (Russia). Micro-wave Methods in Airborne RemoteSensing of Eurasian Boreal ForestAreas.

• Vekshin et al. (Russia). Problemsof Forest Management in Siberia.

• Malykh and Faleychik (Russia).GIS for Environmental Investiga-tions of Nature-Protected Forestsof Chita Oblast.

Because the GOFC/GOLD Siberia/FarEast Regional Network should coordi-nate with other existing networks orprojects, reports were solicited provid-ing overviews of these other programs.

• Erickson (Germany) gave anupdate on the SIBERIA project inthe absence of project coordinatorSchmullius.


21

• Krankina and Isaev (U.S.A./Russia) reviewed the GOFC/GOLD Western Russia/Fennoscandia Regional Network.

• Gutman and Deering (U.S.A.)introduced the Northern EurasianEarth Science Partnership Initiative(NEESPI).

• Efremov (Russia) discussed issuesand data needs in the Siberian FarEast

• Dye (Japan) reported on twoprograms concerning the Far Easthosted in Japan: the FrontierResearch Program (FRSGC) andthe MODIS station at the Univer-sity of Tokyo.

Discussion andRecommendations

An open discussion session was heldon the second day of the workshop.The topics included: 1) Users andParticipants, 2) Science and Manage-ment Priorities, 3) Computer Networks,and 4) Data Integration and NetworkOrganization.

Users and Participants: Discussion

A key question for all GOFC/GOLDnetworks concerns identification of thedata users and their informationrequirements. Representatives from themajor forest administrative units inSiberian Russia, including Tomsk

Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Chita

Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, and otherswere present. Scientists from theinstitutes of the Russian Academy ofScience (RAS) dominated the numberspresent; however, there were alsorepresentatives from national andregional government, non-governmen-tal organizations (NGOs), and develop-ment organizations. Alexander Isaev

(Russia) summarized the main users ofGOFC/GOLD network data in Russia.

In the Russian Federation there is amultilevel system of government:regional, national, and federal; allrequire information products. Thefederal and national level includes theForest Protection Service, governmentalland-surveys, and weather services. Anew component of interested usersincludes new commercial wood andmining companies. Finally, thisinformation is critical for ecological-monitoring specialists who are nowincreasing in number across Russia.The need for satellite and in situ

information products will increase inthe near future in both government andprivate sectors. Other participantsnoted that training would be neededfor the most fruitful application of thedata.

Users and Participants:Recommendations

• There should be one internationalSiberian/Far East network forGOFC/GOLD rather than splittingit into two Russian and non-Russian networks. Future meetingsof the network should be hosted indifferent centers in the region.

• In addition to scientists repre-sented by the RAS institutes, it willbe important to include local andregional government and the non-science community in setting theinformation requirements and inthe evaluation and use of emergingdata and information products.

• Data should be made available butshould be translated into efficientapplications products for newusers. The information productsshould be considered as a compo-nent to decision and resource-management-support systemswithin the region.

Science and Management Priorities:Discussion

Alexander Isaev (Russia) summarizedthe five main science and managementpriorities in the region for the productsand services to be provided by theregional network. The first includesforest fire extent, behavior, manage-ment, and control. Russian scientistshave considerable experience in theseareas and there is already much intereston a national level, indicating goodgovernmental support. From theworkshop it is clear that the same canbe expected from other countries in theregion.

The second area is carbon. Thisincludes the mapping of forest cover;estimation of carbon pools, emissions,and carbon balance; adherence toKyoto protocol standards; and eco-nomic implications of forest and carbonmanagement.

Forest pests are a third priority. Insectoutbreaks in Siberia are often extensiveand cause considerable economicdamage. The future goal is to recordoutbreaks across the region in a similarway to which fire is currently beingdetected and monitored by satellite.

These are the three main areas; thefourth area is related to monitoring thelocation and extent of logging andcontrol of illegal cutting, and the fifthto monitoring industrial pollution.

Science and Management Priorities:Recommendations

• In its initial phase, the Siberia/FarEast Network should provide dataand services that emphasize thethree areas: 1) fire, 2) carbon, and3) insect outbreaks.

• The Siberia/Far East Networkshould provide data and servicesthat secondarily emphasize the


22

following areas: 1) logging, and2) industrial pollution effects.

Computer Networks: Discussion

Good data and network capabilities forGOFC/GOLD depend on two things:1) network technology and organiza-tion, and 2) funding. In terms oftechnology, Internet access and high-speed networks are inconsistent inRussia and across the region. Thetechnology exists; however, services areoften limited at the local level and thisneeds to be addressed. Susan Conard

(U.S.A.) noted that there are often high-speed cables to important locations inRussia such as Krasnoyarsk, but theproblem is that there is often no moneyfor the service and that this is a majorobstacle to accessing the existing datasets. Thus, it is important that thosewho manage institutes understand thateach project needs the data manage-ment component to be supportedfinancially. Alexander Isaev (Russia)and Garik Gutman (U.S.A.) noted thatnew computer networks are emergingin Russia. For example, Tomsk Oblast isbuilding a well-equipped computercenter. There are also plans to buildsimilar computer centers inNovosibirsk and other cities.

Don Deering provided a summary ofthe Fast-Net project underway begin-ning September 2002. This is a jointNASA-Russian Ministry of Scienceproject that could include an activity totransfer MODIS fire data processed inthe U.S. to Russia. The organizers arediscussing the way that data could betransferred to Moscow and on tolocations such as Tomsk and Irktusk,where the data could be used by fire-monitoring specialists. Peter

Schlesinger (U.S.A.) noted that datatransfer is currently possible on asmaller scale; it is also possible to

access Landsat, ASTER scenes andsimilar data via FTP for locations suchas Krasnoyarsk.

Computer Networks:Recommendations

• It is important that individualprojects that rely on products andnetwork services need to have adata-support component writteninto the implementation plan orproposal.

• As the network begins hostingdata associated with researchprojects, there needs to be amechanism in place to host andmaintain the data once individualresearch projects are finished.

• There needs to be an increasedemphasis on metadata and controlon data and product quality.

Data Integration and NetworkOrganization: Discussion

Data requirements need to be identifiedbased on the regional-science andresource-management prioritiesoutlined above. Common themes anddata requirements between projectsindicate one basis for prioritizingregional data sets. Anatoly Shvidenko

(Austria/IIASA) identified the need forfocal points responsible for dataintegration, especially for Siberia, andsuggested that such a focal point couldbe located somewhere within thePresidium of the Siberian Branch of theRussian Academy of Sciences. At theregional level of the Siberia/Far Eastnetwork, most participants agreed thatdata integration is a group effort. Chris

Justice (U.S.A.) offered examples fromother GOFC/GOLD regional networks.There was a discussion about generat-ing a form to send out to all partici-pants at the workshop. It was sug-gested that the host institute for awebsite be in the region. Eugene

Vaganov (Russia) explained that theSukachev Institute has had similarprior experience working with theEuropean Commission. Participantssuggested that if the Sukachev iswilling to host the network, otherinstitutions could help support the datahosting. Those who agreed to coordi-nate this were Eugene Vaganov

(Russia), Dennis Dye (Japan),Kathleen Bergen (U.S.A.), and Anatoly

Shvidenko (Austria/IIASA).

Data Integration and NetworkOrganization: Recommendations

• The first step is to send a form toall potential participants to listtheir completed, ongoing, andplanned projects and data sets,plus data needs and point ofcontact.

• This list should be analyzed anddata sets key to several projectsshould be given priority.

• The priority data sets should begenerated and hosted by thenetwork.

• The Sukachev Institute andEugene Vaganov (Russia) shouldbe the Russian host for the Siberia/Far East Network. Several interna-tional partners includingShvidenko (Austria), Bergen

(U.S.A.), and Dye (Japan) shouldalso assist with organization.

• During the workshop a smallregional network subgroup wasdeveloped focused on fire. Thegroup led by Evgeny Loupian

(Russia) consists of scientists anddata providers across the regiondeveloping and using satellite-based fire information. A smallfollow-up workshop on firemonitoring and use is planned for2003. It is hoped that otherthematic groups will self-organize


23

around the priority themesidentified above.

Acknowledgments

NASA ESE provided support forworkshop planning. START (Amy

Freise, U.S.A.), with funding fromNASA, provided support for some ofthe regional scientists to participate inthis workshop. Elena Muratova

(Russia) and Mike Apps (Canada)successfully integrated the IBFRAconference and the GOFC workshop.Julia Gorbunova (Russia), Lara

Peterson, Bryan Emmett, and Tingting

Zhao (University of Michigan, U.S.A.)assisted in activities during theworkshop and afterwards. We thankthe Sukachev Institute of Forest of theSiberian Branch of the Russian Acad-emy of Sciences and all of the Russianand international presenters whotraveled to this meeting to share theirwork.

References

Gutman, G., O. Krankina, and J.Townshend, 2001: RemoteSensing of Forest Cover in WesternRussia and Fennoscandia. The

Earth Observer, 13:5, pp. 23-24, 26.

Kasischke, E., G. Gutman, and T.Perrott, 2000: The CEOS GlobalObservation of Forest Cover BorealForest Initiative Summary ofAugust 25-September 1 Workshop.The Earth Observer, 12:5, p. 29.

Mous Chahine Honored at International Space Congress

At the International Space Congress in Houston October 10-19, MousChahine (pictured above) AIRS Science Team Leader, was awarded theNordberg Medal from COSPAR for “distinguished contributions to theapplication of space science to the study of the environment.” TheNordberg Medal is named for William Nordberg (1930-1976), a GoddardSpace Flight Center pioneer in using remote sensing for Earth observa-tions. Chahine has worked on the Advanced Microwave Souding Unit(AMSU) and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB) as well as theAtmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instruments on Aqua from thebeginning and, most notable, the retrieval techniques for the AIRS/AMSU/HSB system are based in part on the relaxation inversionalgorithm proposed by Chahine back in 1968 in an article in the Journal of

the Optical Society of America entitled “Determination of the temperatureprofile in an atmosphere from its outgoing radiance.”

The Earth Observer staff and the entire EOS community wishes to con-gratulate Chahine on this outstanding achievement, and thank him forhis contributions to the success of the EOS program.


24

Introduction

The Southern African Regional ScienceInitiative (SAFARI 2000) SynthesisWorkshop, held in Charlottesville,Virginia, from October 7 - 11, 2002, wasfocused on the analyses, results, andworking group discussions of the keySAFARI findings to date. The work-shop provided an opportunity forscientists involved with both theSAFARI 2000 Wet Season Campaign [1]

and the Dry Season Campaign [2] tointeract and to make key contacts withrespect to developing Phase II sciencequestions (i.e., post-data collection andinitial analysis into synthesis activities).

Approximately 110 registrants,comprised of scientists, students, andprogram officers, participated in theworkshop. Nearly 40 of the participantscame from southern Africa. NASA’sTerra mission was well representedwith workshop participants from theModerate Resolution ImagingSpectroradiometer (MODIS), theMultiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer(MISR) and the Measurement ofPollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT)science teams. There was also represen-tation from a number of U.S. govern-mental agencies such as Department ofState, U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID), and National

Science Foundation (NSF).

More than three-fourths of the presen-tations focused on science, with theremainder addressing highly appliedor policy-related topics. This was inresponse to the overall objectives ofSAFARI 2000 to produce science that isrelevant to the needs of societies in theregion [3]. Along those lines, theSAFARI 2000 community was chal-lenged both by Diane Wickland,NASA Research and Analysis ProgramManager and by Rejoice Mabudafhasi,Deputy Minister of EnvironmentalAffairs and Tourism of South Africaand Chair of the African Process, tocontinually relate in plain terms theSAFARI agenda and accomplishmentswith respect to the goals of programmanagers, government administrators,and other policy makers, both region-ally and internationally. Mabudafhasiemphasized the relevance and timeli-ness of this facet of SAFARI researchwith clear ties to the outcomes of theWorld Summit on Sustainable Develop-ment that was recently hosted by theRepublic of South Africa inJohannesburg.

Thematically, the plenary sessions wereorganized around the followingprogression:

• Relevance of SAFARI 2000 Scienceto national and internationalprogram goals;

• aircraft science to date;• examples of SAFARI science

synthesis components;• ecosystem and land processes;• fuel, fires, and emissions; and• atmospheric processes and

transport.

Nearly 70 oral and poster presentationswere given during the first three daysof the workshop on topics that in-cluded improved Terra algorithmdevelopment; use of Terra fire productsfor improved assessment of economiclosses in farming; use of airborneremote sensing data to monitordrainage from mine tailings; biogenicproduction of trace gases; regionalmodels on fire-fuel-load production;how SAFARI 2000 results can feed theAir Pollution Information Network inAfrica (APINA); inter-comparisons ofground-based, in situ and remotelysensed data; and the determination ofpreliminary regional emissionsestimates. Students gave a significantnumber of these presentations (nearly20).

The SAFARI 2000 Data Team unveiledand distributed the second volume inthe CD-ROM Series of SAFARI 2000data (5 disk set). Through the work-shop, the team solicited further dataand metadata to be included in thethird and final volume in the series(expected in late 2003).

The working groups focused on thefollowing issues:

• What do we know now as a resultof SAFARI 2000 that we didn’tknow before?

• What currently funded analytical

Summary of the SAFARI 2000Synthesis Workshop

— R.J. Swap, [email protected], University of Virginia


25

efforts are underway regardingSAFARI 2000 and what types ofproducts are expected?

• What next science efforts areneeded over the next 12 months orso to enable project-wide synthe-sis?

• What can the SAFARI 2000community say that relates toissues of natural resource manage-ment, air quality, and fire manage-ment in southern Africa?

• What can be done to keep south-ern African scientists plugged intolarger international programsduring the post-field-campaignphase of SAFARI 2000?

Participants broke into one of threelarge working groups: 1) Fire, Fuel,and Emissions; 2) Ecosystem Processes;and 3) Aerosols, Trace Gases, Clouds,and Radiation. Summary reports fromthe groups indicated that much hadbeen learned about the physical,chemical and biological characteriza-tion of their respective systems alonggradients of ecosystem and land-usetypes in southern Africa since theprevious large-scale science initiative in1992 (The Southern Africa Fire-Atmosphere Research Initiative -SAFARI-92). Participants stressed theneed for a greater involvement of theatmospheric chemistry modelingcommunity and their interfacing withcurrent SAFARI 2000 modelingactivities to aid in the drive towardsproject synthesis.

Way Forward

Although the field component ofSAFARI 2000 has ended, participantsindicated that SAFARI 2000 coordina-tion should continue in terms ofoverseeing, guiding, and facilitating theanalytical and synthesis efforts, thedissemination of information, and the

collection and archiving of metadata,data, and scientific products. Consen-sus was reached on several synthesisobjectives during the closing plenarysession. Regarding the integrative,interdisciplinary science efforts thatneed to occur before complete projectsynthesis can take place, participantsagreed to start by following a set ofevents. First, the group proposed ananalysis of the Timbavati controlledburn on Sept. 7, 2000 from vegetationto fuel-load production to determina-tion of emissions from in situ samplingto the use of remotely sensed data tothe modeling of that system from theempirical evidence. Second, the “Riverof Smoke” event that occurred roughlyfrom August 29 to September 7 overmuch of southern Africa must befurther studied, with emphasis onusage of field, laboratory, in situ,remotely sensed, and modeled datapertaining to fuel, fire, and emissions.And finally, participants suggestedextensive analysis of the emissions thatoccurred during the SAFARI 2000period from mid-August to the end ofSeptember 2000.

To address policy maker needs, bothregionally and internationally, it wasagreed that SAFARI 2000 will helpfacilitate the production of fact sheetsthat deal with issues such as: Fire inAfrica; Trans-boundary Air Pollution;Global Change and Radiative Forcing;Rural and Urban use of biofuels; andRemote Sensing of the Environment.Representatives from APINA and theMiombo Network agreed to work withSAFARI 2000 leadership to helpdistribute this information to theappropriate people involved withenvironmental policy making bothnationally and regionally in southernAfrica. As a project, SAFARI 2000 willtake steps to more actively communi-

cate with in-region science-to-policy/science-to-management efforts such asAPINA, Miombo Network, and theSouthern African Fire Network(SAFNET).

Several avenues were recommended asa lasting legacy for SAFARI 2000activities, data, and results. The first isthe completion of the third volume inthe SAFARI 2000 CD-ROM seriescomposed of newly emerging data sets.Accordingly, the SAFARI Data Team iscurrently developing this CD-ROM inconcert with the needs of the largerSAFARI community. The volumeshould be ready for release in late 2003to coincide with the public release ofthe entire SAFARI 2000 data archive.The second focus, again coordinated bythe SAFARI Data Team, is the push forthe continued population of theSAFARI 2000 metadata and dataarchive to serve the broader commu-nity in the future. The third focus is oncompilation of relevant information inthe form of one to two books. A needwas articulated by the southern Africanparticipants, in particular, to produce abook that presents an overview of whatis known to date about the operation ofthe southern African biogeophysicalsystem and that can be used by upper-level undergraduate and enteringgraduate students, as well as policymakers, as a desk reference for interdis-ciplinary information. It was agreedthat much of the information for suchan effort already exists and thatSAFARI 2000 should go forward with aproposal to produce and publish thiscontribution. During the concludingplenary session, it was also agreed thatwhile a book representing the synthesisof SAFARI 2000 is needed, publicationshould await the next set of integrative,interdisciplinary studies that have beenidentified for SAFARI Phase II.


26

For more details on the SAFARI 2000Synthesis Workshop program, ab-stracts, presentations, and summary,please visit www.safari.gecp.virginia.edu.Interested readers can also watch forspecial issues dedicated to SAFARIwork in four journals: J. Geophysical

Research, J. Arid Environments, Int. J.

Remote Sensing, and Global Change

Biology. Each is currently in the reviewphase.

References

[1] Otter, L.B., R.J. Scholes, P. Dowty, J.Privette, K. Caylor, S. Ringrose, M.Mukelabai, P. Frost, N. Hanan, O.Totolo and E.M. Veenendaal, 2002:The Southern African RegionalScience Initiative (SAFARI 2000):wet season campaigns. South

African Journal of Science, 98:3-4, pp.131-137.

[2] Swap, R.J., Annegarn H.J., SuttlesJ.T., Haywood J., Helmlinger M.C.,Hely C., Hobbs P.V., Holben B.N.,Ji J., King M.D., Landmann T.,Maenhaut W., Otter L., Pak B.,Piketh S.J., Platnick S., Privette J.,Roy D., Thompson A.M., Ward D.,Yokelson R., 2002: The SouthernAfrican Regional Science Initiative(SAFARI 2000): overview of thedry season field campaign. South

African Journal of Science, 98:3-4, pp.125-130.

[3] Swap R.J., H.J. Annegarn, and L.Otter, 2002: Southern AfricanRegional Science Initiative(SAFARI 2000) summary of scienceplan. South African Journal of

Science, 98:3-4, pp. 119-124, 2002.

Summary of the Alaska SAR FacilityUser Working Group Meeting— Harry Stern, [email protected], University of Washington,

Seattle

The Alaska SAR Facility (ASF) UserWorking Group (UWG) met in SeattleOctober 28-29, 2002. A brief summaryof the meeting follows.

Nettie LaBelle-Hamer was appointedDirector of ASF in September. TheUWG expressed their approval of thenew appointment and their confidencein the new Director.

ASF is doing very well with datadelivery and customer service. Theyreceived praise from representatives ofthe National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA), the RadarsatGeophysical Processor System (RGPS),and Level 0 data users.

ASF has established closer ties with theGeophysical Institute at the Universityof Alaska/Fairbanks, and plans tointeract more with other units oncampus and externally. The UWGencourages ASF to make these connec-tions.

A new five-year contract betweenNASA and ASF will be in place byMarch 2003. The contract will preservefunding for core functions such as datareception, processing, distribution, andarchiving, but science activities willhave to compete for new fundingthrough research announcements fromNASA and other agencies.

The Japanese Advanced Land Observ-ing Satellite (ALOS) is scheduled forlaunch in 2004. ASF, in partnershipwith NOAA, will become the ALOSAmericas Data Node. A formalagreement between the University of

Alaska and NOAA was recently signed.The Memorandum of Understandingbetween NOAA and the National SpaceDevelopment Agency (NASDA) ofJapan will be in place by April 2003.ASF will pay royalties to NASDA andwill receive (by tape from Japan) all thedata collected over North and SouthAmerica. ASF will then distribute thedata to American users for the cost ofreproduction. ASF is hosting the fifthALOS Data Node meeting in Fairbanksin March 2003.

Among the recommendations made bythe UWG to ASF and NASA are:

• ASF should coordinate the writingof a science plan for ALOS data ofthe Americas.

• ASF should try to negotiateadvance agreements for bulkpurchase of ALOS data byinterested government agenciesand organizations.

• The UWG encourages NASA topursue agreements with theEuropean Space Agency inconnection with ENVISAT data,and with the Canadian SpaceAgency in connection withRadarsat-2 data.

ASF has compiled an on-line SARbibliography with over 1700 entries.See asfbd.asf.alaska.edu/sarweb.html. TheUWG is seeking new members—contact Harry Stern if interested. Moreinformation, including notes from pastmeetings, is available atpsc.apl.washington.edu/ASFUWG.


27

Summary of the DAAC Alliance DataInteroperability Workshop— Bob Chen, [email protected], Socioeconomic Data and

Applications Center (SEDAC)

The Distributed Active Archive Center(DAAC) Alliance held a DAACAlliance Data Interoperability (DADI)workshop at the Socioeconomic Dataand Applications Center (SEDAC) inPalisades, New York on August 13-15,2002. The overall purpose of theworkshop was to assess the usefulnessof emerging standards for spatial datainteroperability for providing access todifferent types of Earth Science data forresearch and applications. All nineDAAC Alliance members wererepresented at the workshop, alongwith representatives from the NASAGeospatial Interoperability Office(GIO), the ESDIS Science OperationsOffice (SOO), and the Open GISConsortium (OGC). More detailedinformation, including workshoppresentations and related materials areavailable online at:nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/0int/dadi/.

Participants recognized the importanceof exploring new interoperabilityapproaches in order to meet emerginguser needs, improve data flow bothwithin the NASA Earth ObservingSystem Data and Information System(EOSDIS) and between EOSDIS andexternal data sources, and assess waysto reduce costs, improve system reuse,and allow for evolution. Specificbenefits for DAAC involvement in

interoperability activities include:

• boosting the Alliance’s overallcapabilities to share and dissemi-nate data from different disci-plines;

• responding more flexibly andquickly to user needs; and

• adopting new open standards andtechnologies as they becomeavailable.

Moreover, it is important for theAlliance to ensure that it remains at thecutting edge in terms of data manage-ment and user support within NASA,across the larger Earth Science datacommunity, and in the context of theNational Spatial Data Infrastructure(NSDI) and the Federal GeospatialOne-Stop Initiative. This includes directinvolvement in developing, testing,and implementing emerging data-management standards.

During the workshop, it became clearthat a number of Alliance members arealready heavily involved in developingnew data services based on openstandards, such as those underdevelopment by the OGC. For example,both the Global Hydrology ResourceCenter (GHRC) and SEDAC have beeninvolved in recent OGC Open WebServices testbeds, and the Jet Propul-

sion Laboratory (JPL) Physical Ocean-ography DAAC (PO.DAAC) andSEDAC have lead roles in NASA’sFederation of Earth Science Informa-tion Partners (ESIPs) InteroperabilityCommittee and GIS Services Cluster.However, these efforts by individualAlliance members have not generallybeen coordinated across the Allianceand for the most part address differentapplications and user groups.

Therefore, the workshop participantsagreed that coordinated developmentof one or more interoperability proto-types would be beneficial to theAlliance as a whole, to individualAlliance members, and, in the long run,to the general user community. Thegroup identified a number of specificcriteria for selecting prototypes,including:

• the existence of a clear need andidentifiable user community;

• the applicability of data frommultiple Alliance members to theneed;

• the potential evolvability of aprototype into one or more usefuloperational services; and

• the degree to which a prototypemight facilitate external collabora-tion through open standards.

Certainly, the lack of interoperability ofcurrent data sets and data systemsmust be one of the chief limiting factorsin more widespread use of EOS andother data by a specific user commu-nity. The data interoperability andintegration promoted by a prototypemust also have a sound scientific basis.

The group also recognized thatdevelopment of multiple prototypesmay be desirable, if these are selectedin a way to cover the range of desired


28

goals in a complementary way. Forexample, it may be sensible to select atleast one prototype focused on sciencecommunity needs, e.g., a field experi-ment or science issue, and another onan application area, e.g., a decision-support problem. Similarly, it may bedesirable to explore a mix of lower-risk,more mature technologies and higher-risk, more experimental approaches, arange of open standards, and adiversity of data types and sources.Some prototypes may scale up from aspecific location or region to the globeand others from a narrow topic, e.g., asingle hazard to a broad set of relatedtopics, e.g., multiple hazards. Someprototypes may be relatively quick toimplement with only modest addi-tional effort, whereas others mayrequire more time and extra resourcesto develop. However, the latter moreexpensive alternative may do a betterjob of demonstrating the long-termpotential using these approaches toscale up to fully operational systems.

Workshop participants considered anumber of interoperability specifica-tions under development by the OGC,such as the Web Map Service (WMS),the Web Feature Service (WFS), theWeb Coverage Service (WCS), and theCoverage Portrayal Service (CPS).These are in different stages of imple-mentation, ranging from fairly maturespecifications with numerous imple-mentations by commercial andnoncommercial organizations to earlydraft specifications with rapidlyevolving implementations by a limitednumber of groups. Also important toconsider are standards and specifica-tions emerging from the sciencecommunity such as the Earth ScienceMarkup Language (ESML) and theDistributed Oceanographic System(DODS) Data Access Protocol, as well

as standards for metadata and dataregistry functions. Using a mix ofspecifications is clearly required giventhe diversity of data types held by theDAAC Alliance members, and it will beimportant to ensure compatibility andconsistency among prototypes as theseevolve into operational systems.

The workshop highlighted the widerange of questions and issues sur-rounding the emerging set ofinteroperability approaches, includingtheir short- and long-term costs,possible performance opportunitiesand limitations, and their scalability.The implications of current and futurerequirements relating to metadata,billing and accounting, metrics,software reuse, privacy, and securityhave not yet been addressed in detail.Workshop participants discussed someof the pros and cons of open sourceversus proprietary versus custom-coding approaches, and recognizedthat a key issue is how to shareknowledge and learning experiences topromote efficient and effective collabo-ration and data integration. Forexample, most ongoing interoperabilityefforts have not explicitly dealt withunderlying data projection issues thatmust be carefully addressed in order tosupport high quality co-registration ofdifferent data sets, accurate spatialsearch functions, and appropriate datavisualization and analysis.

Through a set of working groupdiscussions, workshop participantsidentified four candidate prototypes:Southern California Coast, Volcanoes,Environmental Features, and ColdLand Processes. Each is discussedbelow.

Southern California Coast: TheSouthern California Coast prototype

would expand on a JPL initiative tomeet the data needs of both researchersand decision makers concerned withhuman-environment interactions in theSouthern California “bight,” the coastalwaters and region extending fromPoint Conception (just west of SantaBarbara) past Los Angeles and south toSan Diego. With more than 20 millionpeople in the region, recognition of theneed for spatial data integratedseamlessly across the coastal land/ocean boundary is growing. Satellitedata on surface ocean conditions, landcover, hydrology, and atmosphericparameters are applicable to a varietyof coastal issues, but must be accessedin conjunction with a diverse set of insitu environmental measurements andsocioeconomic data. Alliance memberscould make a wide range of region-specific data holdings accessiblethrough open interfaces, building onJPL’s initial development of a userinterface.

Volcanoes: A prototype focused onvolcanoes would capitalize on theEarth Science Enterprise’s substantialfocus on mapping and monitoringvolcanoes using visible, near-infrared,and thermal sensors. Data from Terraand Aqua (e.g., MISR, CERES, MODIS,and ASTER), Earth Probe (TOMS), andLandsat 7 are being used to assessthermal hot spots, lava flow, volcanicash, volcanic clouds, and other volcanicactivity. These data could be mademore accessible on an ongoing basis inconjunction with georeferenced data onhuman settlements, infrastructure, andland use. An initial prototype wouldlikely focus on a few selected volcanicareas and attempt to demonstrate thepotential for development of a near-real-time service for deliveringintegrated volcano-related data toselected user groups, e.g., emergency


29

managers and local municipal officials.

Environmental Features: Medium-to-high-resolution data from various EOSsatellites may be useful in identifyingand characterizing certain environmen-tal features such as large piles ofdiscarded tires, landfills, and wetlands.For some local and regional govern-ments, identifying and monitoringthese features across large land areascan be a difficult and costly task. Thisprototype effort would exploredevelopment of algorithms for identify-ing environmental features of interestfrom EOS data and make derivedproducts available throughinteroperable interfaces in combinationwith other relevant spatial data.

Cold Land Processes: The Cold LandProcesses mission is a NASA ESEactivity within the Land SurfaceHydrology Program designed tointegrate microwave observations fromspace within an Earth System Sciencemodeling framework. A mesoscale fieldexperiment is being conducted in 2002and 2003 in the Colorado Rockies thatinvolves intensive collection andanalysis of active and passive micro-wave data, ground- and aircraft-basedsnow and soil observations, and opticaland radar remotely sensed data. Someof these data have already beenorganized into a Geographic Informa-tion System (GIS) database. A proto-type system would attempt to make awide range of relevant Alliance datasets available for the specific field sitesthrough an integrated interface tailoredto the needs of the science team.

The workshop did not attempt to makea final selection of which prototypeefforts to pursue, since this is depen-dent on a number of different factorsincluding staff availability, user

feedback, e.g., from the relevant scienceteams and incremental resources.Moreover, it was recognized that theseinitial ideas need to be fleshed out inmore detail before firm decisions can bemade. It was agreed that subgroups ofworkshop participants would takeresponsibility for writing up moredetailed prototype-planning docu-ments. Leads for the four groups are:Rob Raskin (JPL) for the SouthernCalifornia coast; Sue Heinz (JPL) forvolcanoes; Bruce Barkstrom (LaRC) forenvironmental features; and Ron

Weaver (NSIDC) for cold land pro-cesses.

An important short-term need is toexplore the interest of key user groupsand get their feedback on specificprototype ideas. In parallel, it may beworthwhile to explore potential cross-prototype functions that should bedeveloped regardless of the finalselection of prototype efforts.

Last but not least, it is important toexplore sources of additional supportfor these prototype efforts, as not allDAAC Alliance members will be ableto contribute actively solely from theircurrent resource base. Possible sourcesinclude the Data System Enhancementprojects sometimes funded by theESDIS Project and a new GIO testbedactivity under development in conjunc-tion with the OGC. Collaboration withthe Synergy Project, especially withrespect to the current development andimplementation of data pools andassociated interfaces, needs to beexplored. Alliance members may alsoneed to consult with their UserWorking Groups concerning user needsrelative to the various possible proto-types and the relative priority to begiven to these efforts. It was envisionedthat these initial follow-on activities

could be completed before the end of2002 and that the DAAC Alliance as awhole would consider going aheadwith specific prototype efforts in early2003.


30

Introduction

NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise (ESE)has had a number of initiatives toadvance its data systems and deliverdata products and results to the Nation.First, it initiated a multiyear EarthScience Information Partner (ESIP)Experiment that formed a federation ofcompetitively-selected data centers toexplore the issues associated withdistributed, heterogeneous data andinformation systems and serviceproviders. Second, the EOSDISarchitecture evolved to accommodatethe generation of data products byexternal processing systems developedunder the direction of the EOS instru-ment teams. Third, the ESE chartered astudy team called New Data andInformation Systems and Services, or“NewDISS,” to capture and consolidatethe input from the community in aseries of recommendations (seelennier.gsfc.nasa.gov/seeds for this andother SEEDS documentation referred tothroughout the article). SEEDS is anoutcome of this study, leveraging thelessons learned from earlier efforts. Itspurpose is to establish a strategy andcoordinating program to evolve theEarth Science Enterprise network ofdata systems and service providersfrom 2004 to 2010. What follows is abrief history of Earth Science data

systems; an overview of SEEDS,Formulation Team findings andrecommendations; and suggestions forhow you, the user, can be involved.

The Context

The acquisition of more data frompublic and commercial systems—datawith better spectral and spatialresolution than ever before—presents achallenge to government and com-merce to make those data and dataproducts readily available to the usercommunity, to extract the informationand knowledge content from these richobservations, and assimilate the dataand knowledge into decision-supportsystems.

The central element of NASA’sresponse to the challenge is the EarthObserving System Data and Informa-tion System (EOSDIS). EOSDISarchives, distributes, and manages dataand information from ESE activitiesand other data required for productionand effective use of Earth observations.A set of discipline-oriented DistributedActive Archive Centers (DAACs)provides production, distribution, anduser services to members of thecommunity.

Concurrent with the implementation ofthe DAACs, ESE has sponsored

projects to facilitate use of the ESE datafor specialized research communityneeds and to support broader usercommunity access to the data and dataproducts from the ESE missions. Theseprojects included Pathfinder data sets,the Regional Earth Science ApplicationsCenters (RESACs), the ApplicationsResearch Centers (ARCs), Earth ScienceInformation Partners (ESIPs), and theSynergy Program.

Pathfinder data sets date back to 1991.They were compiled and releasedunder the EOS Program to provideresearch-quality, consistently calibratedand processed data sets to the commu-nity prior to the availability of datafrom the EOS satellites. The Pathfinderdata sets focused initially on long-term,calibrated and validated data sets forstudying climate change. In 1995,additional types of data products wereadded along with reprocessing of someearlier product sets and the develop-ment of new data-processing algo-rithms.

In 1995, the National Research Councilrecommended that NASA shiftappropriate functions of its EOSDISimplementation to a federation ofcompetitively selected ESIPs. Threetypes of ESIPs were defined. Type 1ESIPs are responsible for standard dataand information products and associ-ated services whose productionrequires considerable emphasis onreliability and disciplined adherence toschedules. While the DAACs providesome processing, much of the produc-tion for EOS Standard Products hasshifted to Science Investigator-ledProcessing Systems (SIPS). Type 2ESIPs are responsible for data andinformation products and services insupport of global change research

An Overview of SEEDS: TheStrategic Evolution of the EarthScience Enterprise’s Data Systems— Kathy Fontaine, [email protected], NASA/Goddard Space

Flight Center


31

(other than those provided by the Type1 ESIPs) that are developmental orresearch in nature and where emphasison flexibility and creativity is key tomeeting the advancing research needs.Type 3 ESIPs provide data and infor-mation products and services to usersbeyond the ESE science researchcommunity.

The RESACs, established in 1998, focusNASA’s Earth science research onapplications of regional significance,integrate remote sensing and itsattending technologies into the localdecision-making processes, andsupport regional assessments associ-ated with the U.S. global changeresearch. Through the ARCs, NASAencourages partnerships between U.S.companies and university affiliates towork on commercialization of informa-tion technologies, including spatialinformation technologies, remotesensing, geographic informationsystems, and the Global PositioningSystem. The ARCs help projectparticipants become familiar withremote sensing technologies, and theinformation provided by the technolo-gies.

The ESIPs federated in 1998 as part ofthe NASA-assigned prototypingactivities and in recognition that afederation would assist its members inmeeting project objectives. The existingFederation has embraced the nomen-clature of ESIPs, and has grown toinclude new non-NASA-fundedmembers. The existing Federationencourages and establishes the use ofbest science practices in the productionof high-quality data, information,products, and services; ensures thatdata and information are readilyaccessible and easily exchanged so thatEarth science data products can be

developed readily; contributes to thedevelopment of an Earth scienceinformation economy through thecomprehensive consideration ofapplications, research, and commerce;and increases the diversity and breadthof users and uses of Earth science data,information, products, and services.

In 1999, the Pathfinder Program alsofocused on understanding criticalinteractions and feedback mechanismsamong physical, chemical, andbiological processes. In order to studythese processes, a more regional focuswas required, with combined data setsconsisting of the available satellite andairborne remote sensing data alongwith relevant in situ data for tuningalgorithms and validating results.

The ESE recognizes its responsibility toassure that all the information, knowl-edge, and capabilities derived from itsresearch programs achieve maximumusefulness in research, applications,and education. ESE is evolving itsscience data and information systemstowards a more open, distributed set ofdata systems and service providers.This approach will capitalize on theexpertise and resources of the commu-nity of providers and facilitate innova-tion. Implementation of this approachrelies, in part, on leveraging informa-tion technologies from the commercialsector, such as web-based techniquesfor data discovery and access, andinvolving the end-user community intechnology assessment and evolution.The SEEDS effort is the embodiment ofthis approach.

SEEDS

The guiding principles of SEEDS weredefined in the NewDISS StrategyDocument. SEEDS starts from thepremise that systems and services must

be informed by, and supportive of,science concerns and questions. It isalso recognized that individualscientists and disciplinary communitiesof scientists are both consumers andproducers of data products and derivedinformation and therefore must bepartners. Other principles relate to theissue of immediate and long-termservices for a highly distributed andheterogeneous user base in the face ofrapid technological change. Theseprinciples are summarized as follows:

1. Science questions and prioritiesmust determine the design andfunction of systems and services.

2. Future requirements will be drivenby a high data volume, a broaderuser base and increasing demandfor a variety of data and dataproducts.

3. Technological change will occurrapidly: systems and servicesmust be able to take advantage ofthese changes.

4. Competition is a key NASA toolfor selection of NewDISS compo-nents and infrastructure.

5. Principal Investigator (PI) process-ing and PI data management willbe a significant part of futuremissions and science.

6. Long-term stewardship andarchiving must occur.

7. NewDISS evolutionary designmust move beyond data andinformation and towards knowl-edge-based systems.

The objective of the SEEDS Formula-tion is to recommend a framework andmanagement strategy to enableevolution of ESE data systems towardsa future network of ESE data systemsand providers that:

• Leverages the capabilities andlessons learned from the EOSDIS


32

and other ESE data-systemsefforts.

• Encourages development andevolution of heterogeneoussystems and services.

• Gives systems and service provid-ers appropriate local control overdata-system design, implementa-tion, and operation.

• Leverages competition, technologyinfusion, and reuse to improvesystem effectiveness.

• Ensures that products and servicesmeet norms for utility andaccessibility.

• Ensures that systems and productsmeet NASA security and surviv-ability requirements.

• Monitors collective performance inmeeting the Enterprise objectivesand goals.

• Maintains sufficient organizationalstructure to allow effectiveresource management andimplementation for NASA to carryout its science mission.

Formulation Approach

To achieve its objective, the SEEDSFormulation Team has set up studyteams to investigate specific subjects ofconcern to SEEDS and make recom-mendations. Currently there are sevenstudy teams with members fromgovernment agencies, universities, andindustry. The seven study teams andtheir tasks are described below.

Standards for Near-Term Missions:The tasks of the team include consider-ing ESE’s near-term systematic-measurement missions; recommendingscience data, metadata, andinteroperability standards for applica-tions; and incorporating advice andexperience of the mission-sciencecommunity in making recommenda-tions.

Levels of Service, Benchmarks, and

Cost Estimation: This study team willwork with the research and applica-tions communities to develop theminimum and recommended levels ofservice for core data sets and servicesrequired from ESE data-management-service providers. It will determine,from benchmarking, what data-management services should cost, anddevelop a capability to perform end-to-end cost estimates for ESE data-management services.

Standards and Interfaces Processes:This study team will define a processfor SEEDS to develop, adopt, evolve,and maintain standards and interfacesfor data and information systems andservices across the Earth ScienceEnterprise. The process shouldcapitalize on the methods and experi-ence of existing relevant data-systemsstandards bodies (e.g., ISO, OGC) andNASA programs (e.g., EOSDIS, ESIPFederation).

Data Life Cycle and Long-Term

Archive: The tasks of this study teamare to ensure safe handling of SEEDS-era data products as they migrate fromdata providers to active archive andlong-term archive (LTA), even asnumerous individuals and institutionstake responsibility for the productduring its life cycle.

Reference Architecture and Reuse

Assessment: This study team aims toanswer the following questions:

• Should NASA/SEEDS invest in asoftware-and-component reuseeffort?

• Should NASA/SEEDS invest indeveloping a reference architec-ture?

• If NASA/SEEDS should invest ineither of these efforts (i.e., reuseand/or a reference architecture),what is the best method to assureeffective and accountable commu-nity involvement; what is the besttechnical approach?

Criteria for judging, in order of priority,were determined to be cost savingsover time; increasing flexibility/responsiveness to new missions andincreasing use of NASA data forresearch/applications; and promotingan increase in effective and accountablecommunity participation.

Metrics Planning and Reporting: Thisstudy team will define appropriatemetrics and reporting requirements forthe participants in ESE Data Manage-ment Activities and demonstrate thatthe proposed SEEDS organizationstructure can provide adequateaccountability.

Technology Needs and Infusion Plans:This study team will determineprocesses by which technology needsare identified and technology invest-ments are infused into the evolvingNewDISS. New strategies for technol-ogy infusion are being explored for theSEEDS initiative to address the gap fortechnology development beyond theresearch stage and into the mid-technology readiness levels. The studyteam will recommend ways for SEEDSto leverage the processes of the NASAEarth Science Technology Office’s(ESTO) Advanced Information SystemTechnologies (AIST) Program, involvethe ESE user community, and designateroles of AIST and SEEDS with regard toprototyping needs.

Over the past decade, NASA ESE hasmade a substantial investment in thedevelopment of data and information


33

systems. This is most evident in theEOSDIS Core System (ECS) but alsoincludes unique components devel-oped by the DAACs, data processingsystems developed by the instrumentteams, and a variety of other capabili-ties that are still actively used andmaintained as a result of heritagemissions and initiatives. SEEDS is notintended to be a replacement of thesecapabilities but rather the evolution ofexisting systems, through improvedeffectiveness and efficiency of opera-tion, and services to maximize thereturn on those previous investments.

The SEEDS Formulation effort hasbeen, and will continue to be, outwardlooking and inclusive. Whereverappropriate, the SEEDS studies areaddressing as wide a range of relatedactivities as possible, within govern-ment, industry, and academia in theU.S. and abroad. By taking a broadview, it is expected that the recommen-dations that emerge from the SEEDSstudies will capitalize on the extendedexperience base and the best practicesand latest technical approachesavailable to achieve maximum effec-tiveness and efficiency in developmentand operation of the NASA EarthScience data and information manage-ment system.

SEEDS continues to seek the active andsubstantial involvement of users andproviders of Earth Science data andservices in the definition and executionof the SEEDS processes, practices, andpolicies. A number of the study teamshave representatives of these communi-ties either as members or consultants,and all of the teams individually andcollectively are making every effort tointeract with the community throughinterviews, meetings, and workshops.

Preliminary Findings andRecommendations

The SEEDS Formulation Team ispresently assembling and integratingits separate study-team recommenda-tions into a single document. Simulta-neously, these findings are beingcirculated among various groups,including NASA Code Y advisorygroups (through presentations at theirmeetings), the data provider andscience communities (through articlesand workshops), and other interestedusers (through talks at conferences andother venues). What follows are, at ahigh level, the initial SEEDS findingsand recommendations.

Programmatic:• In order to effectively govern the

processes in the SEEDS era, thereshould be a SEEDS ProgramOffice: Scope, location, and otherdetails still to be determined.

• In order for the processes them-selves to work, there must becommunity participation to themaximum extent possible in eachprocess.

• Accountability and authorityshould be pushed down to themost appropriate level, even as theSEEDS Program Office is coordi-nating efforts.

• Working groups will be estab-lished to implement several of themajor processes developed duringthe study phase (initially forstandards, metrics, reuse, andtechnology infusion.)

Levels of Service/Cost Estimation:• A comprehensive list of Levels of

Service has been compiled, byfunction, and is available forreview in Working Paper 5,available on the SEEDS website.

• An initial cost-estimation model byanalogy derived from those levelsof service will be completedduring fiscal year 2003, but theinitial database will be small.

• Levels of service and cost-estima-tion information should be builtinto future funding documents.

• A parallel effort to model costsfrom the PI point of view is underdevelopment.

Standards and Interfaces:• Common standards and interfaces

are critical to the effective ex-change of data and informationbetween and among data provid-ers and users.

• In general, standards processesshould: be open; encourage wideparticipation (users, other agen-cies, entities, standards bodies,etc.); encourage use of existingstandards where applicable; makespecific recommendations (stillunder review) concerning datainterface, packaging, distribution,and interchange formats, andmetadata and documentationstandards; and provide a processfor evolving and/or adoptingstandards

• A draft standards review/approval/adoption process hasbeen developed (see the SEEDSsite for further information)

Data Life Cycle and Long-Term

Archive:• Balance must be struck between

‘save it all no matter what’ and‘save only what we can affordright now.’

• Considerations of data life-cycleissues should be built into theentire process, but not be consid-ered expendable when budgetsdecline.


34

• Complete documentation is vital towhatever is archived, no matterwhere it is archived.

• Missions should have a ‘data pointof contact’ for questions about thedata.

• Many internal and interagencyissues must still be resolved.

Technology Infusion:• Develop a 10+ year SEEDS

capabilities vision to aid incommunity understanding andguide technology-infusion efforts.

• Develop a technology-infusionprocess modeled after successfulcommercial/academia/govern-ment cooperative processes (e.g.,World Wide Web Communications[W3C], Open GIS Consortium[OGC]).

Metrics Planning and Reporting:• Current funding activities are

adequate to address metrics andreporting issues; current metricsare useful.

• Metrics and reporting require-ments should be explicitlyrequested in future solicitations,and costed in responding propos-als.

• Outcome metrics are needed, arecurrently lacking, and should bedeveloped.

Reuse and Reference Architecture:• ESE should actively support reuse

through “improved clone-and-own” and “open source” ap-proaches.

• Mission-critical environmentsshould have a different approachthan mission-success environ-ments.

• Mission-critical environments aredefined as driven by launchschedules and a need for daily,

highly reliable production orarchiving needs.

• Mission-success environments aredefined as driven by need forresearch and innovation in science,applications, or informationsystems.

• ESE should develop a “coarse-grained,” notional referencearchitecture, with concrete detailsin a limited set of functional areas.

What’s Next?

For the moment, the SEEDS team isconcentrating its effort on refining anddisseminating study findings bycompiling a draft study-phase-findingsreport, presenting SEEDS recommenda-tions in user forums and conferences,and iterating the recommendationsbased on inputs received.

Over the course of fiscal year 2003, theFormulation Team will be developing atransition plan to define how therecommendations are to be imple-mented. This entails establishingworking groups, working throughallocation of roles and responsibilities,and integrating study-phase recom-mendations.

In the near term, we will be charteringthe working groups and defining theirinitial set of activities, and gatheringcomments from the community. As ofthis writing, we are planning the nextpublic workshop for February in theAnnapolis area.

How Can You Contribute?

SEEDS is, by definition, an ongoingevolutionary process. Although there isno end point per se, we seek tomaximize and balance both theeffectiveness of ESE data systems andthe involvement of its users. It is

important to note here that SEEDS isnot in the business of defining anoverall system architecture a laEOSDIS. We will, however, provide acoordinating role for ESE data systemsconsistent with the principles outlinedabove, and with the needs of both theEnterprise and the science community.

As such, we need feedback from you,the science user. We invite you to lookat the information on the SEEDSwebsite and comment. We encourageyou to attend the SEEDS workshopsthat are held roughly twice per year. Aswe present to various User WorkingGroups, we encourage challengingquestions about relevant issues.

And, as the SEEDS Working Groups arechartered and populated, we encourageyou to become involved in thoseprocesses and provide your expertise inmetrics development, reuse and open-source issues, technology-infusionprocesses, and standards and interfaceissues.

Note: This article has been compiledfrom existing presentations, docu-ments, and notes written for variouspurposes by members of the SEEDSFormulation Team. Please feel free tocontact the author of this article withquestions, concerns, or commentsabout SEEDS.


35

Thirty Years of Airborne Research atthe University of Washington— Tim Suttles, [email protected], Science Systems & Applications,

Inc.— Michael D. King, [email protected], EOS Senior Project

Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

After more than 30 years of airborne

studies, the Cloud and Aerosol Research

Group (CARG) at the University of

Washington has flown its last research

flight. The CARG, under the direction of

Professor Peter Hobbs, has owned and

instrumented three aircraft for atmospheric

research purposes. From a research

standpoint, the unique feature of all three

aircraft was that they were equipped with

state-of-the-art instrumentation for the

measurement of aerosols, trace gases, cloud

structures, and radiation. This made it

possible for the CARG and its collaborators

to carry out pioneering studies in many

areas of atmospheric sciences.

Brief History

In the early 1960s, the research work ofthe CARG revolved around laboratorysimulations and theoretical studies ofcloud processes. In the late 1960s, theCARG started to do ground-based fieldstudies of aerosols and clouds, includ-ing measurements from a field stationnear 8000 ft. on Mt. Olympus in theOlympic National Park.

In 1970, the CARG obtained its firstresearch aircraft, a World War-IIDouglas B-23, previously owned byHoward Hughes (Figure 1a). Between1970 and 1984 the CARG flew 3400hours on the B-23. Data collected on

these flights provided the basis forsome 80 scientific papers and 30student theses on subjects ranging fromatmospheric aerosol and cloud chemis-try to cloud physics and mesoscalemeteorology. Large field projects ofnote were: the Cascade Project (1970-1974), in which the structures of cloudsand the formation of precipitation overthe Cascade Mountains, and theirmodification by cloud seeding, werestudied; and, the Cyclonic ExtratropicalStorms (CYCLES) Project (1973-1986),which was concerned with cloudmicrophysics and the mesoscaleorganization of rainfall in cyclonicstorms in the Pacific Northwest. Thedemonstration that color-displayDoppler radars can be used to trackmesoscale cloud and rainfall featureswas first shown in the CYCLES Project,some 20 years before it was to be usedroutinely by television weatherforecasters. The B-23 was also used insome of the first airborne studies ofvolcanic effluents: Mt. Baker (in 1975),several volcanoes in Alaska and, mostspectacularly, Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

In 1984, the B-23 was replaced by theconsiderably larger Convair C-131A(Figure 1b), which the CARG fittedwith state-of-the-art instruments forstudying atmospheric aerosols, clouds,atmospheric chemistry and radiation.

Studies with the Convair C-131A overthe next 12 years focused on thestructures of clouds (with emphasis onice in clouds), the effects of clouds onsolar radiation, pollution in the Arctic,the properties of smoke and its effectson climate, the chemistry of the marineatmosphere, and aerosol-cloudinteractions. Of particular note werethe CARG’s studies of smoke from the1991 Kuwait oil fires, extensive study ofsmoke from biomass burning in theAmazon Basin as part of the SmokeClouds and Aerosol—Brazil (SCAR-B)experimental campaign in 1995, andstudies of cloud structures and theorganization of precipitation on theEast Coast and in the Central UnitedStates. The latter studies led to a newconceptual model known as theStructurally Transformed by Orogra-phy Model (STORM) for cyclones westof the Rockies. Some other studies withthe C-131A include the Monterey AreaShip Track (MAST), the Arctic Radia-tion Measurement in Column Atmo-sphere-surface System (ARMCAS), andthe Tropospheric Aerosol RadiativeForcing Observational Experiment(TARFOX).

In March 1997 the CARG obtained aConvair-580 aircraft (Figure 1c). Withina year of receiving the Convair-580 theCARG had modified it for researchpurposes, transferred to it some of theresearch instrumentation from theConvair C-131A, and added newinstruments. This made it one of thebest equipped aircraft in the world formeasurements of trace gases, atmo-spheric aerosols, clouds, and radiation.

Recent Research

The first field project with the Convair-580 was the First International SatelliteCloud Climatology Project [ISCCP]Regional Experiment—Arctic Clouds


36

FIGURE 1:These photographs show thethree different aircraft that have beenemployed by the Cloud and Aerosol ResearchGroup (CARG) at the University ofWashington. These include: (a) A World War-II era Douglas B-23, previously owned byHoward Hughes—Photo Credit: Universityof Washington Clouds and Aerosol ResearchGroup (CARG); (b) a considerably largerConvair C-131A—Photo Credit: CARG;and (c) a Convair-580 aircraft. Each wasmodified to be equipped with scientificinstrumentation for studying clouds andaerosols—Photo Credit: NASA DrydenFlight Research Center.

(a)

(c)

(b)


37

Experiment/Surface Heat Budget ofthe Arctic Ocean (FIRE-ACE/SHEBA)in the Arctic in the spring of 1998. Inthis large cooperative project, theConvair-580 flew 23 flights over theArctic Ocean, many above a researchship frozen into the Arctic ice. Themeasurements obtained from theConvair-580 are being compared toremote sensing measurements from theship, satellites, and the NASA ER-2high-altitude aircraft. Extensivemeasurements were also obtained fromthe Convair-580 on aerosols and cloudstructures in the Arctic, and thereflectivity properties of various icesurfaces. These data are being used toincrease understanding of aerosol-cloud-climate interactions in the Arctic.

In 1999, the Convair-580 was used tostudy convective clouds over thewestern tropical Pacific Ocean in theKwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX), andto determine how well precipitationfrom these clouds can be monitoredfrom the Tropical Rainfall MonitoringMission (TRMM) satellite.

Summer 2000 saw the Convair-580 insouthern Africa for the South AfricanRegional Science Initiative—2000(SAFARI 2000) field project. Thirty-oneresearch flights were carried out in fivecountries for the purpose of obtainingin situ measurements of aerosols andtrace gases for comparison with remotesensing measurements from the NASATerra satellite, ER-2 aircraft, andground-based instruments; to measureemissions from biomass burning andindustries; to study regional hazes; andto investigate cloud structures off thewest coast of southern Africa.

In the winter of 2000-2001, the CARGcarried out the first phase of theImprovement of MicrophysicalParameterizations through Observa-

tional Verification Experiments(IMPROVE) field project. The goalswere to obtain measurements of themicrophysical structures of precipitat-ing systems within a dynamicalframework for the purpose of improv-ing the representation of cloud andprecipitation processes in mesoscalemodels. IMPROVE-1 concentrated onfrontal systems off the coast of Wash-ington State. During the winter of 2001-2002, IMPROVE-2 studied orographicsystems over the Oregon Cascades.

The CARG, with the Convair-580,participated in the ChesapeakeLighthouse and Aircraft Measurementsfor Satellites (CLAMS) field study offthe Delmarva Peninsula, USA, in thesummer of 2001. Airborne measure-ments were made to validate NASAEOS-Terra data products.

CARG’s Legacy

After more than 30 years of sciencemissions, the CARG closed down itsaircraft flight facility at the end of 2001.The productivity and value of theCARG’s work over the past 30 years isprobably best indicated by its over 300publications, the more than 60 graduatestudents who have received their M.S.or Ph.D. degrees for research carriedout in the CARG, and its training ofmany scientists in airborne research(both the current and former Directorof the National Center for AtmoshpericResearch’s (NCAR’s) aviation facility,and the current Director of the NationalScience Foundation (NSF)/NCAR’sHigh-performance InstrumentalAirborne Platform for EnvironmentalStudies (HIAPER) Project Office, are allformer CARG students). Although theCARG has flown its last aircraft, itsresearch will continue, concentratingon the analyses of the many large datasets collected in recent years.


38

In the context of the joint NASA-

Ministry of Science and Technology of

Brazil’s Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere

Experiment in Amazônia (LBA), a

validation campaign has been designed to

address MODIS (Moderate Resolution

Imaging Spectroradiometer) fire-product

quality over the Amazon basin. To

accomplish this task, data from both high-

resolution Earth Observing System (EOS)

spaceborne sensors, such as the Advanced

Spaceborne Thermal Emission and

Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and

Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper

Plus (ETM+), and airborne missions will

be used. The airborne instrument, called

Firemapper™, comprises two digital

cameras and an infrared sensor based on

an uncooled detector array. Five primary

areas were chosen as potential core sites;

these were areas with the highest fire

frequency during previous years. Flight

lines will be planned to match coincident

satellite overpasses, providing high-spatial

-resolution data (down to 1.5 m @ 10000-

feet flight altitude). This article describes

the Firemapper™ instrument and its

current flight plans.

Introduction

Satellite monitoring of vegetation firesover the Brazilian Amazon forest hasproven to be of exceptional value in thepast decade. Given the large aerialextent and the limited number of roadsin the region, observations from aboveare the only practical way to track land-cover dynamics in the Amazon basin.As a result, satellite data from NOAA’sAdvanced Very High ResolutionRadiometer (AVHRR) have been usedeffectively since the 1980´s by thenational fire-monitoring facility of theBrazilian Institute for the Environmentand Natural Renewable Resources(IBAMA). During this time, a numberof aircraft-based validation campaignswere conducted in cooperation withthe U.S. Forest Service (USFS) toaddress satellite data quality and otherfire-related issues such as emissionfactors and area burned (Riggan et al.,1993; Miranda et al., 1996; Miranda etal., 1997).

With the launch of the ModerateResolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

(MODIS) sensor onboard the Terra andAqua spacecraft, a new set of satellitederived fire products became available(Justice 2002). In order for IBAMA toexplore these data sets to their fullextent and use them operationally, it isnecessary to validate these products.With this purpose in mind, a coopera-tive group from NASA Goddard SpaceFlight Center, University of Maryland,and IBAMA was established toquantify the uncertainty in satellite-derived active fire and burn-scarproducts concentrating primarily onnew MODIS fire products. The groupwill also investigate land-cover-changedynamics and their relations with fire.This work is part of the LBA-EcologyPhase II program. The fundamentaldata set for this study will be theairborne Firemapper™ imagery.

The Firemapper™ System

IBAMA, through a cooperativeagreement with the USFS, has beenparticipating in different airborne data-acquisition campaigns flown overBrazil since the very early stages of thedevelopment of that nation’s nationalfire-monitoring system. Many airbornecampaigns have been scheduled andflown since 1991, when the cooperativeagreement between IBAMA and USFSwas first signed. During this time, avariety of airborne configurationsystems were used, from small twin-engine propeller aircraft (like the USFSPiper Navajo) to high-speed-high-altitude jet aircraft (like the BrazilianAir Force Learjet). These flights haveinvolved various imaging sensors,including NASA’s Airborne InfraredDisaster Assessment System (AIRDAS),a four-band cryogenic-cooled infraredsensor, and most recently the SIVAM (aBrazilian program for monitoring theAmazon Forest) multi-spectral scanner(MSS) mounted on a Brazilian Air

The “Firemapper™” AirborneSensor and Flight Plans to SupportValidation of MODIS Fire Productsover Brazil— Wilfrid Schroederl, [email protected], Brazilian Institute for the

Environment and Natural Renewable Resources— João A. Raposo Pereira, [email protected], Brazilian Institute for

the Environment and Natural Renewable Resources— Jeffrey Morisette, [email protected], NASA/Goddard Space

Flight Center— Ivan Csiszar, [email protected], University of Maryland,

College Park— Philip Riggan, [email protected], United States Forest Service -

Pacific Southwest Research Station— James W. Hoffman, [email protected], Space Instruments, Inc.


39

Force EMBRAER-145 regional jetaircraft.

The experience gained during previousairborne campaigns helped bothIBAMA and the USFS address the mostimportant aspects of the science behindairborne-data acquisition. As a result,in 1998 the USFS - Pacific SouthwestResearch Station, started working onthe development of an instrumentcalled Firemapper™. This instrumentwas designed to have the majorcharacteristics needed to accuratelysense active fires and land-coverconditions associated with burning,deforestation and selective harvesting.Firemapper™ was designed andfabricated by Space Instruments, Inc.,of Encinitas, CA, with funding from theU.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA).

Firemapper™ is made of two sensorcomponents: a 3-band microbolometerinfrared sensor and a pair of visible/NIR digital cameras (details of thesecomponents are given below). Thesystem includes a server for dataacquisition and recording during flight.The Firemapper™ infrared sensordesign was based on a microbolometer

sensor built previously by SpaceInstruments for NASA. This spacesensor called Infrared Spectral ImagingRadiometer (ISIR) was flown success-fully by NASA as an experiment onshuttle mission STS-85 in 1997. Duringthis mission, over 50 hours of multi-spectral data were collected at 240-meter spatial resolution (Hoffman etal., 1998). ISIR was the first demonstra-tion of an uncooled microbolometersensor in space.

The Firemapper™ sensors coverapproximately 35 degrees in the cross-flight direction and map contiguouslyin the direction of flight in all 5 spectralbands. The 16-bit dynamic rangeallows accurate fire-intensity measure-ments to be made without saturation.An internal calibration system providesaccurate absolute calibration of theentire optical, detector, and electronicstrain. A photograph of theFiremapper™ airborne system isshown in Figure 1.

Visible Bands - Digital Cameras

The visible bands of the Firemapper™were designed based on two KodakMegaplus 1.6i digital cameras, eachcontaining 1.6 million pixels. Triggeringcan be selected at frame intervals downto 1.5 seconds to obtain desired imageoverlap in the flight direction. Cameraintegration is also selectable down to 1msec to accommodate a wide range ofscene conditions. The InstantaneousField of View (IFOV) of the digitalcameras is 0.375 mrad, and thecrosstrack field of view is 32.8º. Giventhese characteristics, the total numberof usable pixels per image frame is 1528rows x 1024 columns. This configura-tion produces the curves shown inFigure 2, from which ground-pixel areaand total frame swath can be calculatedaccording to flight conditions. The two

digital cameras have spectral filters at615-685 nm and 815-885 nm to obtainNormalized Difference VegetationIndex (NDVI) maps of the vegetationand allow the detection of vegetation-cover disturbance.

The cameras are mounted on analuminum base plate fixed to theaircraft’s bottom compartment,specially designed for receiving theinstrument. Both cameras are con-trolled by software installed in theFiremapper™ server, where theoperator can set different parameters toadjust image acquisition for frameexposure, gain and trigger timing(among others), depending on flightaltitude and desired image overlap-ping. The in-flight operator can modifyany of the parameters for best resultsand highlight frames containing specialfeatures during image acquisition,facilitating the job of image selectionafter landing.

IR Sensor

The microbolometer is based on theconcept of an uncooled-detector array.This technology eliminates the need ofcryogenic cooling, making operationsimpler and reducing instrument totalweight. The infrared bands utilize asingle uncooled microbolometerdetector array and operate withoutmechanical scanning. The detectorarray features an internal calibrationsystem and automatic drift correctionto obtain stable, highly calibratedradiometric measurements. The threeinfrared spectral bands are separated asfollows: (i) 8.2 to 9.0 µm (to line upwith MODIS band 29 at 8.55 µm); (ii)11.5 to 12.5 µm (to match AVHRRchannel 5 and MODIS band 32); and(iii) 8.0 to 12.5 µm (for wideband,maximum sensitivity imaging). Flametemperatures and radiant intensities

FIGURE 1: This is a photograph of theFiremapper(tm) airborne system. The systemconsists of two visible/near-infrared digitalcameras and an infrared microbolometersensor.


40

can be calculated from the 8.5-µm and12-µm band data. The instrument field-of-view (IFOV) of this sensor is 1.85mrad and the crosstrack field of view is34.7º. Total number of usable pixelsamounts to 327 rows x 245 columns. Asin the case of the visible bands, thesystem operator controls imageparameters (frame rate in hertz, scanmode, filter selection, among others),data recording, and management.

Airborne Data Acquisition System

The Firemapper™ onboard systemcontrol is accomplished by a MicronNetFrame server mounted in theaircraft’s passenger compartment. Theequipment can hold up to six 18 GByteremovable hard disks of high-speeddata-recording capacity. These diskscan be taken out of the aircraft fortransfer to another computer, erasedand reused in another flight.

A real-time display of any of thespectral images is available to the in-flight operator through a flat-screenLCD monitor. The operator can controlimage display features (color palette),zooming, and make all modificationsregarding flight parameters. All of thefive spectral images are automaticallytagged with a header containing GPScoordinates, flight speed, and acquisi-tion parameters.

Software has been specifically designedfor visualizing and preprocessingFiremapper™ images. The softwareperforms image selection, andresampling, and creates images instandard formats that can be exportedto other image-processing software.

Individual image referencing isaccomplished through an 8-channelXTS/III Motorola ONCORETM GPSreceiver that is integrated to the

Firemapper™ system’s operatingserver. Information on frame acquisi-tion date, time, central latitude andlongitude, aircraft speed and headingare automatically fed into the fileheader where it can be used for post-flight image georeferencing.

An Example of Firemapper™Observations

Firemapper™ was completed inAugust 2000 and taken to Brazil inSeptember 2000 for flight demonstra-tions over the Amazon region. TheFiremapper™ imagery was collectedcoincident with IBAMA field experi-ments, flown in a Piper Navajoresearch aircraft owned and operatedby the Pacific Southwest ResearchStation of the USFS. Several fires andagricultural areas in the Amazon regionwere mapped in these initial flightexperiments.

GROUNDRESOLUTION

(meters)

GROUNDSWATHWIDTH

ALTITUDE(meters)

FIGURE 2: This graph shows Firemapper(tm) image acquisitionproperties for different flight altitudes.

IR RES VIS RES VIS SW IR SWLEGEND:


41

Figure 3 shows images of a fire at theBrazilian Institute of National Statisticsand Geography (IBGE) EcologicalReserve in Brasília taken on September19, 2000, with the Firemapper™system. The infrared imagery illustratesthe capability to detect temperaturevariations within the flames. Thevisible imagery is not able to resolvewithin-flame variability, but clearlyshows the location of the most intenseflames and the smoke plume.

Planned Flight Areas

Having over 60% of its continental areaoriginally covered by the AmazonForest, Brazil plays a major role intropical land-cover dynamics. Thislarge extent of forested areas, togetherwith the widespread use of fire as amechanism for land managementresults in a high number of vegetationfires being observed every year(www2.ibama.gov.br/proarco). This isparticularly true for the Arc of Defores-tation, a 1.6 million-km2 area separat-ing the dense Amazon forest from thesurrounding cerrado (savanna)vegetation. In this area, thousands ofvegetation fires are detected every yearfrom June to October, when thecombination of reduced rainfall, hightemperatures, and low air humiditycreates ideal conditions for fire to

spread. Out of the seven Brazilianstates covered by the Arc of Deforesta-tion, Pará is most impacted. Three sitesin Pará appear as the leading locationsin terms of the number of vegetationfires detected and are thus included inthis study. Furthermore, there are twodistinct fire seasons in Brazil; thesecond affects the state of Roraimaduring the months of Decemberthrough March every year. Thus, afourth site was chosen in Roraima. Thisalso feeds the study with a more-periodic flow of data.

Following the hot spot frequency mapsderived from NOAA/AVHRR detec-tion during the last four years (July1998 - July 2002), four potential areaswere selected for the study. These are:

1. Santa Maria das Barreiras, state ofPará: central coordinate 50º 48'00"W, 08º 30' 00"S;

2. São Felix do Xingu, state of Pará:central coordinate 51º 36' 00"W, 06º12' 00"S;

3. Marabá, state of Pará: centralcoordinate 49º 12' 00"W, 05º 24'00"S;

4. Boa Vista, state of Roraima: centralcoordinate 60º 54' 00"W, 02º 42'00"N.

A related LBA investigation comprisesFoster Brown’s et al. sites in the state of

Acre (lba-ecology.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/

web/investigations/inv_abstracts.pl),located in the western-most region ofthe Arc of Deforestation, where somecomplementary studies on vegetationfire research are being carried out. Ifbudget and time allows, Firemapper™imagery will be acquired over Acre tocomplement the work of Brown et al.

The aircraft selected for use during theLBA airborne campaigns is aBandeirante-EMB 110 owned andoperated by the National Institute forSpace Research (INPE) in Brazil. Theaircraft is specially designed for remotesensing activities with its originalframe modified to accommodate avariety of instruments. The base platewhere both visible and IR sensors aremounted is fixed to the bottom of theaircraft.

For all sites, data acquisition requestswill be submitted to obtain coincidentTerra/ASTER and Landsat/ETM+imagery as well as data from theexperimental fire satellite Bi-spectralInfrared Detection (BIRD) –spacesensors.dlr.de/SE/bird/).

References

Hoffman, J. W., K. Cashman, R. Grush,K. Manizade, J. Spinhirne, 1998:ISIR (Infrared Spectral ImagingRadiometer) flight results fromshuttle mission STS-85. SPIE

Optical Science & Instrumentation

’98 Symposium.Justice, C. O., L. Giglio, S. Korontzi, J.

Owens, J.T. Morisette, D. Roy, J.Descloitres, S. Alleaume, F.Petitcolin, and Y. Kaufman, 2002:The MODIS Fire Products. Remote

Sensing of Environment.

FIGURE 3: The above images of a fire at the IBGE EcologicalReserve in Brasília, Brazil were acquired September 19, 2000, usingFiremapper™. The 8.5-µm image is on the left, the visible band isin the center, and the 12-µm image is on the right.

See FIREMAPPER; page 45


42

Kudos

Vince Salomonson Receives Nordberg Award

The William Nordberg Memorial Award for Earth Sciences is given each year to anOutstanding Leader in NASA’s Earth Observing System. Salomonson, a seniorscientist for NASA’s Earth Science Directorate and team leader for the ModerateResolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on both Terra andAqua, was the 2002 recipient. The award was presented at the November 15 Scien-tific Colloquium during the William Nordberg Memorial Lecture presented by EricG. Adelberger from the University Of Washington. Salomonson is the ninth recipi-ent since the Goddard honor was first introduced in 1994.

NASA and Department of Interior (DOI) Honor Achievements in Remote Sens-ing

NASA and DOI officials presented the 2001 and 2002 William T. Pecora award, aprestigious federal award given to individuals and groups for contributions inremote sensing at a ceremony in Denver, Colorado.

The 2001 award winners were:

• Ronald J. P. Lyon• The Landsat 7 Team

The 2002 award winners were:

• Ichtiaque Rasool• The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite Team.

Mary Cleave, Deputy Associate Administrator for Earth Science (Advanced Plan-ning) in the NASA Office of Earth Science, and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)Regional Director Tom Casadevall, representing the DOI, presented the award atthe annual Pecora 15/Land Satellite Information IV Symposium.

The award, sponsored jointly by NASA and the DOI, recognizes outstanding con-tributions to the understanding of the Earth by means of remote sensing. It hasbeen presented annually since 1974 in memory of William T. Pecora, whose earlyvision and support helped establish what we know today as the Landsat satelliteprogram. Pecora was Director of the USGS from 1965-71, and later served asUndersecretary, Department of the Interior, until his death in 1972.

The Earth Observer staff congratulates these individuals and teams for their achieve-ments.


43

Shifts in Rice Farming Practices inChina Reduce Methane Emissions— Krishna Ramanujan, [email protected], NASA Goddard

Space Flight Center— Sharon Keeler, [email protected], University of New Hampshire

Excerpts taken from Press Release No. 02-

172. For more information and full release,

please see www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/

2002/1204paddies.html.

Changes to farming practices in ricepaddies in China may have led to adecrease in methane emissions, and anobserved decline in the rate thatmethane has entered the Earth’satmosphere over the last 20 years, aNASA-funded study finds.

Changsheng Li, a professor of naturalresources in the University of NewHampshire’s Institute for the Study ofEarth, Oceans, and Space, and leadauthor of the study, notes that in theearly 1980s Chinese farmers begandraining their paddies midwaythrough the rice growing season whenthey learned that replacing a strategy ofcontinuous flooding would in factincrease their yields and save water. Asan unintended consequence of thisshift, less methane was emitted out ofrice paddies.

Methane is 21 times more potent as agreenhouse gas than carbon dioxide(CO2) over 100 years. At the same time,since 1750, methane concentrations inthe atmosphere have more thandoubled, though the rate of increasehas slowed during the 1980s-90s.

“There are three major greenhousegases emitted from agricultural lands—carbon dioxide, methane and nitrousoxide,” said Li. “Methane has a much

greater warming potential than CO2,but at the same time, methane is verysensitive to management practices.”Currently, about 8 percent of globalmethane emissions come from theworld’s rice paddies.....

..... The researchers have spent morethan 10 years developing a bio-geochemical model, called the Denitri-fication-Decomposition (DNDC)model, which handles all the majorfactors relating to methane emissionsfrom rice paddies. These factorsincluded weather, soil properties, croptypes and rotations, tillage, fertilizerand manure use, and water manage-ment. The model was employed in thestudy to scale up the observed impactsof water management from the localsites to larger regional scales. Remotelysensed data from the NASA/U.S.Geological Survey Landsat ThematicMapper (TM) satellite were utilized tolocate the geographic distributions andquantify the acreage of all the ricefields in China. A Geographic Informa-tion System data base amended withthis Landsat data was constructed tosupport the model runs at the nationalscale and to predict methane emissionsfrom all rice fields in the country.

The researchers adopted 1990 as amean representative year as they haddetailed, reliable data for that year, andthen ran the model with two watermanagement scenarios to cover thechanges in farming practices from 1980

to 2000. The two scenarios includedcontinuous flooding over each season,and draining of paddy water threetimes over the course of each season.

When the two model runs werecompared, the researchers found thatmethane emissions from China’s paddyfields were reduced over that timeperiod by about 40%, or by 5 millionmetric tons per year, an amountroughly equivalent to the decrease inthe rate of growth of total globalmethane emissions.

“The modeled decline in methaneemissions in China is consistent withthe slowing of the growth rate ofatmospheric methane during the sameperiod,” Li said. “Still, more work willbe needed to further verify the relation-ship demonstrated in this study withlimited data points.”

Demand for rice in Asia is projected toincrease by 70% over the next 30 years,and agriculture currently accounts forabout 86% of total water consumptionin Asia, according to a recent reportfrom the International Rice ResearchInstitute. Changes to managementpractices like this will be more impor-tant and likely in the future as theworld’s water resources becomeincreasingly limited, Li said.

“Just like the Chinese farmers did, iffarmers around the world changemanagement practices, we can increaseyields, save water and reduce methaneas a greenhouse gas,” Li said. “That’s awin-win situation.”

The study, which appears in the printversion of Geophysical Research Letters inlate December, was funded by NASAthrough grants from the multi-agencyTerrestrial Ecosystems and GlobalChange Program, and also NASA’sEarth Science Enterprise.


44

— Robert Gutro, [email protected],nasa.gov, NASAEarth Science News Team.

Measurements in Lake Pontchartrain,Nov. 28; Times-Picayune. Richard Miller

(NASA Stennis) is using remote sensingto measure the incidence and causes ofre-suspension in Louisiana’s LakePontchartrain.

The Arctic Perennial Sea Ice Could Be

Gone By End Of The Century, Nov. 27;CBS Evening News, CNN, CBS

Newspath. Estimated audience for thestory so far is 14 million. Josefino

Comiso (NASA Goddard) found thatperennial sea ice in the Arctic is meltingfaster than previously thought—at arate of 9 percent per decade. If thesemelting rates continue for a few moredecades, the perennial sea ice willlikely disappear entirely within thiscentury, due to rising temperatures andinteractions between ice, ocean, and theatmosphere that accelerate the meltingprocess.

NASA Maps Lewis and Clark’s Trails,Nov. 26, NASA Commercial Technology

Network. Marco Giardino (NASAStennis) directed a project using remotesensing to create precision 3-D mapsand visualizations of Lewis and Clark’strail and campsites. The projectcoincides with the upcoming Lewisand Clark bicentennial commemorationand examines how the ecosystem haschanged in the last 200 years.

Study Shows Global Warming Will

Devastate Water in West, Nov. 21;CNN. Global warming will have adevastating effect on water availabilityin the Western United States over thenext 25 to 50 years, a new nationalclimate forecasting effort says. Dennis

Lettenmaier (U-WA) and Bill Patzert

(JPL) were quoted.

Scientists Dismiss ‘Chemical Trail’

Theories, Nov. 18; Durango, CO Herald.Paul Newman (NASA Goddard) andB. Owen Toon (U-CO-Boulder) saidthere is nothing dangerous about thewhite contrails from aircraft that a NewMexico scientist and some Durango-area residents say are causing sicknessand drought around the county.

NASA Satellite Flies High to Monitor

Sun’s Influence on Ozone, Nov. 15;Spacedaily, Comsiverse, UPI. Gary

Rottman (U-CO) and Charles Jackman

(NASA Goddard) explained that inOctober, the Upper AtmosphereResearch Satellite (UARS) completedthe first measurement of the solarultraviolet radiation spectrum over theduration of an 11-year solar cycle, aperiod marked by cyclical shifts in theSun’s activity.

New Method Strikes an Improvement

in Lightning Predictions, Nov. 7,

Cosmiverse, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Der

Wissenschaft (Scientific Germany),

ScienceDaily, The Weather Channel,

Village 2 on-line (42 Canadian Newspa-

pers). Steve Businger and Robert

Mazany (both U-HI), discuss a newlightning index that uses measure-ments of water vapor in the atmo-sphere from Global PositioningSystems and has improved the lead-time for predicting the first lightningstrikes from thunderstorms.

Ocean Temperatures Affect Intensity

of South Asian Monsoons, Nov. 7;UPI, SpaceDaily, Cosmiverse. Man Li Wu

(NASA Goddard) says warmer orcolder sea surface temperatures affectthe Madden-Julian Oscillation, a large-scale atmospheric circulation thatregulates rainfall associated with SouthAsian and Australian monsoons.

Transition from El Niño to La Niña

Affected Vegetation, Nov. 6,ScienceDaily, Cosmiverse. Compton

Tucker, Assaf Anyamba and Bob

Mahoney (all NASA Goddard) haveused satellite data to show that shifts inrainfall patterns from one of thestrongest El Niño events of the centuryin 1997 to a La Niña event in 2000significantly changed vegetationpatterns over Africa.

Changing Rain Patterns Could Ruin

Crops, Oct. 31, Weather Channel, Der

Wissenschaft Scientific Germany, Edie.

com, Environment News Service, UPI.Cynthia Rosenzweig and Francesco

Tubiello, (NASA Goddard Institute forSpace Studies and Columbia Univ.)found that an increased frequency ofextreme precipitation events has beenobserved over the last 100 years in theUnited States. Using computer climateand crop-model simulations, theypredict that U.S. agricultural produc-


45

tion losses due to excess rainfall maydouble in the next 30 years, resulting inan estimated $3 billion per year indamages.

NASA Joins International Ozone

Study in Arctic, Oct. 31,Cosmiverse.com, Spaceflightnow.com, US

Global Change Research Program. NASAresearchers will join more than 350scientists from the United States, theEuropean Union, Canada, Iceland,Japan, Norway, Poland, Russia, andSwitzerland this winter to measureozone and other atmospheric gasesusing aircraft, large and small balloons,ground-based instruments, andsatellites.

NAUTILUS Project, Oct. 15,Spacedaily.com. Rodney McKellip

(NASA Stennis) is managing a RegionalEarth Science Applications Centersproject, the Northeast Application ofUsable Technology in Land Planningfor Urban Sprawl, or NAUTILUS,developed to make data from satellitessuch as Landsat 7, Terra, Aqua, andJason-1 available to decision makers atthe local level.

NASA Developing Tools to Track and

Predict West Nile Virus, Oct. 7;Ananova, CNN, Spacedaily, CBS, NBC,

ABC news and many more. 175 totalstories were picked up in the top 200markets; 20 live television interviews.Audience estimate: 12 million viewers.Robert Venezia (NASA HQ), programmanager for NASA’s Public HealthApplications Program, said NASAresearchers are developing tools thatmay one day allow public healthofficials to better track and predict thespread of West Nile Virus. NASA hopesto provide people on the front lines ofpublic health with innovative technolo-gies, data, and a unique vantage point

from space through satellites, alltailored into useful maps and databasesfor streamlining efforts to combat thedisease.

Land Use Alters Climate, Oct. 2, 2002;BBC, CNN, Coloradoan Newspaper,

Cosmiverse, Der Wissenschaft Germany,

Earthwatch Radio, Environment News

Service, Washington Times, and many

more. A study by Roger Pielke, Sr., anatmospheric scientist at Colorado StateUniversity, Fort Collins, CO, points tothe importance of also includinghuman-caused land-use changes as amajor factor contributing to climatechange.

Ozone Hole Splits in Half, Sept. 30,ABC, CBS, CNN Newssource, Australian

Broadcasting, Ananova, Canadian

Broadcasting Corp., Chicago Sun Times,

Discovery Channel, Fox News, India

Times, MSNBC, Newsday, NY Times,

Philadelphia Inquirer, Reuters, The

Weather Channel., and many more. Thestory ended up in virtually every top 20U.S. media market. Estimated totalaudience between 25-30 million. Paul

Newman (NASA Goddard) andscientists from the CommerceDepartment’s National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA)have confirmed that the ozone holeover the Antarctic this past Septemberwas not only much smaller than it wasin 2000 and 2001, but has split into twoseparate “holes.”

Miranda, A. C.; H. S. Miranda, J. Grace,J. Lloyd, J. McIntyre, P. Meier, P. J.Riggan, R. N. Lockwood, and J. A.Brass, 1996: Fluxes of CO2 over aCerrado sensu stricto in CentralBrazil. In. Amazonian Deforestation

and Climate. J. H. Gash; C. A.Nobre; J. M. Roberts and R. L.Victoria (Eds.). John Wiley andSons, Chichester, 353-363.

Miranda, A.C.; H. S. Miranda, J. Lloyd,J. Grace, J. A. Francey, J. McIntyre,P. Meir, P. J. Riggan, R. N.Lockwood, and J. A. Brass, 1997:Fluxes of carbon, water and energyover Brazilian cerrado: an analysisusing eddy covariance and stableisotopes. Plant, Cell and Environ-

ment, 20:315-328.Riggan, P. J., J.A. Brass, R. N.

Lockwood, 1993, Assessing FireEmission from Tropical Savannaand Forests of Central Brazil.Photogrammetric Engineering &

Remote Sensing, 59:6.

Firemapper™Continued from page 41


46

Earth Science Education ProgramUpdate— Blanche Meeson, [email protected], NASA Goddard Space

Flight Center— Theresa Schwerin, [email protected], IGES

PUMAS—Practical Uses of MathAnd Science: The On-LineJournal of Math and ScienceExamples for Pre-CollegeEducation

Here’s an opportunity to make a high-impact contribution to K-12 educationwith a relatively small investment oftime and effort. PUMAS is an on-linejournal of brief examples illustratinghow math and science concepts taughtin pre-college classes are actually usedin everyday life. PUMAS examplesmay be activities, anecdotes, descrip-tions of “neat ideas,” formal exercises,puzzles, or demonstrations, writtenprimarily by scientists, in any style thatserves the material well. They areintended mainly to help K-12 teachersenrich their presentation of science andmath in the classroom. All examples aredistributed via the PUMAS web site.

All submissions are peer-reviewed byat least one scientist with a relevantbackground, and at least one teacher atan appropriate grade level. Onceaccepted, an example is a citablereference in a refereed science educa-tion journal, and may be listed in yourresume. Teachers can search thePUMAS collection based on curriculumtopic, grade level, or subject. They canselect relevant examples and developideas of their own about how to

integrate the material into their lessonplans.

Interested in participating? Theexamples are available to everyone viathe PUMAS web site—pumas.jpl.

nasa.gov. Teachers at all grade levels,scientists, and engineers are needed toserve as volunteers for the pool ofPUMAS reviewers. Good examples ofthe Practical Uses of Math And Scienceare always welcome.

Sun-Earth Day 2003: Live fromthe Aurora

Students and educators are invited to“Join the Search” in February inpreparation for NASA’s Sun-Earth Day2003. There are many exciting opportu-nities for both formal and informaleducation communities leading to Sun-Earth Day on March 18th. For example,a documentary, “Auroras—Living witha Star,” will air on February 11 and willbe divided into short video segmentsby topic and placed online. Each topicwill be supported with a series ofactivities including a web quest. Sun-Earth Day 2003 will introduce educa-tors to a new and exciting method toinvolve students with real NASA datacalled the Student ObservationNetwork. To learn more about these, aswell as the many other exciting events,

programs, activities, and resourcesleading up to Sun-Earth Day 2003, visitsunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov.

ChemMatters Magazine: SpecialIssue on NASA’s EOS AuraMission

ChemMatters is an award-winningquarterly magazine for high schoolchemistry students. Each issue includesarticles that reveal chemistry at work ineveryday life. A teacher’s guide isavailable which provides additionalinformation on articles, follow-uphands-on activities, classroom demon-strations, and additional resources. TheSeptember 2002 issue is the second in aseries designed to tell the story ofNASA’s Aura mission, which willstudy the chemistry of our changingatmosphere. This issue focuses onpeople: the fascinating stories of thescientists and engineers behind themission. It is downloadable as a PDFfile with an accompanying teachers’guide at www.chemistry.org/portal/.Simply search on EOS Aura (top left)and you will be directed to the propersites.

Science and Applications News

For the latest NASA Earth ScienceEnterprise news, visit the NASA EarthObservatory (earthobservatory.nasa.gov),or Science@NASA (science.nasa.gov).


47

EOS Science Calendar

Global Change Calendar

January 29-30

CERES Data Products Workshop, Norfolk,VA. Contact: Shannon Lynch, Email:[email protected], URL: asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/ceres/DP_wkshp/.

February 12-14

Committee on Earth Observation Satellites(CEOS) Working Group on Calibration andValidation (WGCV)—Plenary 20, Hobart,Australia. Contact: Jeffrey Privette, Email:[email protected], URL:www.wgcvceos.org/index1.htm.

February 25-28

2003 AVIRIS Earth Science andApplications Workshop, Pasadena, CA.Contact: Robert Green, Email:[email protected].

March 18-20

3rd SEEDS Public Workshop, Annapolis,MD. Contact: Kathy Fontaine, Email:[email protected], URL:www.westoverconferences.com.

March 18-21

Aura Science Team Meeting, Greenbelt,MD. Contact: Anne Douglass, Email:[email protected].

February 9-13

American Meteorological Society AnnualMeeting, Long Beach, CA.Email:[email protected], URL:ametsoc.org/AMS/.

February 13-18

AAAS Annual Meeting, Denver, CO. URL:www.aaas.org/meetings/.

March 11-13

Eleventh Annual Workshop on AdaptiveSensor Array Processing (ASAP 2003),Boston, MA. Contact: James Ward, Email:[email protected], URL: www.ll.mit.edu/asap.

March 31-April 2

Challenging Times:Towards an operationalsystem for monitoring, modeling, andforecasting of phenological changes andtheir socio-economic impacts, Wageningen,The Netherlands. Contac: Mark Grutters,Email [email protected], URL:www.dow.wau.nl/msa/epn/challengingtimes/

April 6-11

AGU/European Geographical Society (EGS)/European Union of Geosciences (EUG)Joint Spring Meeting, Nice, France.Email:[email protected], URL:www.copernicus.org/EGS/egsga/nice03/.

May 7-9

American Society of Photgrammetry andRemote Sensing, Anchorage, AK. Contact:Thomas Eidel, Email:[email protected], URL:www.asprs.org/alaska2003/.

June 2-3

16th Annual Geographic InformationSciences Conference, Towson University,Baltimore, MD. Contact John Morgan, tel.(410) 704-2964, Fax: (410) 704-3888,Email: [email protected], URL:cgis.towson.edu/tugis2003.

May 5-8

Final Open Science Conference, "A Sea ofChange: JGOFS Accomplishments and theFuture of Ocean Biogeochemistry.,”Washington, DC. URL: usjgofs.whoi.edu/osc2003.html

June 4-6

Oceanology International (OI) Americas,New Orleans, LA. URL:www.oiamericas.com.

June 30-July11

International Union of Geodesy andGeophysics 2003, Saporo, Japan. Email:[email protected], URL:www.jamstec.go.jp/jamstec-e/iugg/index.html.

July 21-25

IGARSS 2003, Toulouse, France. Email:[email protected], URL: www.igarss03.com.

August 30-September 6

Second International Swiss NCCR ClimateSummer School: “Climate Change –Impacts of Terrestrial Ecosystems.”Grindelwald, Switzerland. Contact: KasparMeuli, Email: [email protected],URL: www.nccr-climate.unibe.ch.

September 8-10

Sixth Baiona Workshop on SignalProcessing in Communications, Baiona,Spain. Contact Carlos Mosquera, Email:[email protected], URL:www.baionaworkshop.org

September 23-26

Oceans ‘03, San Diego, CA. Contact: BrockRosenthal, Email: [email protected],Tel: (858) 454 4044, URL: www.o-vations.com.

November 10-14

30th International Symposium on RemoteSensing of Environment, Honolulu, HI.Email: [email protected], URL:www.symposia.org.

Code 900National Aeronautics andSpace Administration

Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbelt, Maryland 20771

Official BusinessPenalty For Private Use, $300.00

Printed on Recycled Paper

PRSRT STDPostage and Fees PaidNational Aeronautics andSpace AdministrationPermit G27

The Earth Observer

The Earth Observer is published by the EOS Project Science Office, Code 900, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, telephone (301) 614-5559, FAX (301) 614-6530, and is available on the World Wide Web ateos.nasa.gov/ or by writing to the above address. Articles, contributions to the meeting calendar, and suggestions arewelcomed. Contributions to the calendars should contain location, person to contact, telephone number, and e-mailaddress. To subscribe to The Earth Observer, or to change your mailing address, please call Hannelore Parrish at (301)867-2114, send message to [email protected], or write to the address above.

The Earth Observer Staff:

Executive Editor: Charlotte Griner ([email protected])Technical Editors: Bill Bandeen ([email protected])

Jim Closs ([email protected])Reynold Greenstone ([email protected])Tim Suttles ([email protected])

Design and Production: Alan Ward ([email protected])Distribution: Hannelore Parrish ([email protected])

o b s e r vings a r t h y s t e e the earth observer...category of the magazine’s annual awards...

Documents