The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) surveys federal civilian agencies biennially to identify their high-priority Earth observation data needs. After receiving survey responses, NASA-led assessment teams collaborate with other satellite Earth science data providers NOAA and USGS to pinpoint solutions that could potentially resolve these data gaps. The implementation of SNWG solutions is overseen by the SNWG Management Office at NASA's Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) and by other entities within NASA's Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program. Solutions from past SNWG survey cycles that are now operational are described below. Toggle the tabs above to view solutions that are currently in implementation and formulation.
- Access to DESIS data
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Background
NASA received limited access to imagery from the DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS), a commercial hyperspectral instrument on the International Space Station, in 2020, and an analysis by NASA's Commercial Smallsat Data Analysis (CSDA) program found that DESIS imagery had scientific value in the visual to near-infrared spectrum (400 to 1000 nm). The unique orbit and highly detailed surface reflectance spectrum offers opportunities to test and develop new algorithms focused on land surface vegetation, water quality, and others. The SNWG Assessment Process found that over half of the agencies that submitted surveys would benefit from DESIS products.
Proposed Activity
Renew DESIS License. The current International Space Station cooperative agreement with Teledyne Brown Engineering that provides data to the U.S. Government ends in August 2021. NASA and Teledyne Brown would need to renew this agreement to provide uninterrupted access to DESIS data across the U.S. Government.
This continues to provide U.S. Government scientific, non-commercial use of DESIS imagery with a resolution of 30 m, 1024 spectral bands.
Update
DESIS license renewed.
Thematic Areas
Disaster Response, Land Cover and Land Use, Solid Earth, Water
Relevant Link(s)
Commercial Datasets available via NASA's CSDA program
Characteristics
Satellite Geographic Domain DESIS-on-ISS Global - Airborne Data Management Group (ADMG)
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Background
ADMG was established within IMPACT to address faster access to NASA airborne and field campaign data. ADMG's NASA Earth science-wide approach to airborne data management and stewardship works with Earth Venture Suborbital (EVS) teams and NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) aiding communication and data transfer to ensure quicker and more effective data archival and distribution.
Status
160 past and current NASA airborne and field campaigns have been identified by ADMG. That number increases as historical information is located. Data from 42 campaigns need to be assigned to a DAAC. The ADMG built the Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth science Investigations (CASEI) which provides cross-DAAC discovery and understanding of all NASA airborne and field activities.
On the Horizon
About 45% of the campaigns have had detailed metadata added and are searchable in CASEI. More will be added to CASEI in 2022.
Thematic Areas
Atmospheric Composition, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Land Cover and Land Use, Ocean and Cryosphere, Solid Earth, Water, Weather
Relevant Link(s)
- Broader Access to Planet Data
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Background
NASA’s CSDA program provides NASA-affiliated scientists and funded research partners with access to imagery from Planet including PlanetScope, RapidEye, and SkySat. These constellations provide high spatial resolution imaging with an increased temporal resolution when clear sky conditions prevail. SNWG submissions express widespread interest in obtaining access to commercial imagery through NASA’s agreement(s), reducing latency in acquisition, developing new research and operational products, generating digital elevation models (DEMs), and exploring new opportunities for research and applications.
Proposed Activity
"Uplift” Planet End User License Agreement (EULA) to the Government EULA tier for U.S. Government-wide access and distribution.
This provides U.S. Government access for scientific, non-commercial use with a 30-day delay for PlanetScope and RapidEye; NASA does not intend to include SkySat in the uplift request. Planet will provide low-latency imagery with justifications, i.e., disaster response.
Update
Planet License Uplifted to U.S. Government-wide access and distribution.
Thematic Areas
Atmospheric Composition, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Disaster Response, Land Cover and Land Use, Ocean and Cryosphere, Solid Earth, Water, Weather
Relevant Link(s)
Commercial Datasets available via NASA's CSDA program
Characteristics
Satellites Geographic Domain PlanetScope, RapidEye Global - Broader Access to Spire Data
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Background
Global Positioning System-Radio Occultation (GPS-RO) data were evaluated by NASA’s CSDA program and were found to provide value in a number of areas including data assimilation and numerical weather prediction. They also enhanced atmospheric temperature and moisture content vertical profiles when combined with hyperspectral sounder information. SNWG agencies requested access to GPS-RO data to further explore the value of GPS-RO data to meet their needs. The SNWG-2020 Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) Global Navigation Satellite System-RO (GNSS-RO) Activity will combine Spire and NASA GPS/GNSS-RO data with atmospheric sounder measurements for a global PBL Product.
Proposed Activity
”Uplift” Spire End User License Agreement (EULA) to the U.S. Government EULA tier. This would provide U.S. Government scientific, non-commercial use only with a 30-day delay for access to the Spire Earth science and heliophysics data catalog.
Update
Spire uplifted to U.S. Government EULA Tier.
Thematic Areas
Weather
Relevant Link(s)
Commercial Datasets available via NASA's CSDA program
Characteristics
Satellite Geographic Domain Spire Global - Data Curation for Discovery
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Background
The Data Curation for Discovery (DCD) team assists other agencies in incorporating NASA Earth observation data into their workflows. The DCD team improves discoverability and supports the accurate publication of NASA Earth science data and other curated Earth observation data in catalogs and platforms such as data.gov and geoplatform.gov.
Status
The DCD team is refreshing outdated information on GeoPlatform and updating broken links and resources throughout the Resilience Community content. The team is also collaborating with NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems Geographic Information Systems Team (EGIST) to establish best practices for managing and tagging geospatial services through online catalogs.
Thematic Areas
Atmospheric Composition, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Disaster Response, Land Cover and Land Use, Ocean and Cryosphere, Solid Earth, Water, Weather
Relevant Link(s)
- EarthDEM 2.0 m Elevation Mosaic and Strip Products
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Background
Digital elevation models (DEMs) provide a high-resolution depiction of the land surface and are important to update in regions that change frequently. Volcanoes, geohazards, mining, subsidence, urban growth, and more all contribute to rapid changes in local topography. High-resolution DEMs have been requested in every SNWG Assessment Cycle because they provide fundamental topographic underpinning for the processes that each land monitoring agency track. Agencies in the 2020 Assessment cycle expressed the need to track changes in topography over time: dynamic topography.
Proposed Activity
Produce and distribute two 2.0 m DEM products: a near-Global Mosaic EarthDEM and DEM strips where new data were acquired for detailed change detection. The Global Mosaic EarthDEM product will be updated annually when new data are acquired. The DEM strips are at locations where NASA Worldview collected stereo imagery. The two data products will be made available to U.S. Government agencies as per the licensing agreement.
Update
The NGA NextView License allows NASA to distribute the Polar Geospatial Center 2 m EarthDEM products to U.S. Government-funded researchers. EarthDEM products are available through NASA's CSDA program to U.S. Federal employees, U.S. Federal contractors, and U.S. Government-funded researchers. This includes National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientists. EarthDEM is a 2 m product that covers land surface between 60°N and 60°S. Polar data are openly available and can be found on the REMA (Antarctica) and ArcticDEM webpages. Note: This update provides access to the EarthDEM data and does not generate the annual/global mosaics that were identified in the proposed SNWG-2020 activity.
Thematic Areas
Disaster Response, Land Cover and Land Use, Solid Earth
Relevant Link(s)
Commercial Datasets available via NASA's CSDA program
Characteristics
Parent Satellites Temporal Frequency Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Worldview-1, Worldview-2, Worldview-3, GeoEye-1 Varies 2 m Global - Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS)
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Background
HLS is derived from re-projecting top-of-atmosphere reflectance from Landsat 8, Landsat 9, and Sentinel-2 A/B onto a common grid, resulting in two surface reflectance products (L30=Landsat and S30=Sentinel-2, 30m products). Science-quality products for HLS v2.0 were released in August 2021.
Status
Historical processing is ongoing to extend the archive back to December 2015 for HLS S30 and to April 2013 for HLS L30 products. HLS products are generated as cloud optimized GeoTIFFs, with supporting tutorials offered by NASA's Land Processes DAAC (LP DAAC). HLS also supports other SNWG 2018 and SNWG 2020 solutions.
On the Horizon
- HLS L30 data archival processing completed; record is 2013-present.
- HLS S30 data are currently available from October 2020; archival processing is anticipated to finish in Q4 2022 (2015-present).
- Landsat 9 data are planned for inclusion into HLS L30 in Q2 2022.
- HLS false color composite imagery (Beta version) has been integrated into NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS)
Thematic Areas
Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Disaster Response, Land Cover and Land Use, Solid Earth, Water
Relevant Link(s)
Characteristics
Parent Satellites Temporal Frequency Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Latency Spectral Band Sentinel-2 A, Sentinel-2 B, Landsat 8, Landsat 9 2-3 days 30 m Global 2-4 days VIS, NIR, SWIR - NGA Product Support
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Background
NASA support to the user community for U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) products was requested by agencies in the 2016 cycle, including the user services and distributing products.
Status
NASA supports users requesting archived data as well as new acquisitions provided through NGA's NextView license. Per agreement with NGA, NASA researchers can only access certain datasets via NASA's CSDA program. Other agencies may still need to access data such as Maxar through NGA-provided interfaces. All users who request products via CSDA are vetted to ensure they are legitimate and understand the license restrictions. NASA's commercial archive is being moved to the cloud. Specific information can be found on CSDA's website.
NGA, NSF, and NASA support the Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) at the University of Minnesota to produce DEM products (ArcticDEM and EarthDEM) generated from NASA Worldview stereo imagery for U.S. Government use with NGA’s NextView license. CSDA augmented PGC’s processing capability to improve DEM generation in regions with vegetation and is striving to improve data distribution of EarthDEM via NASA’s Earthdata Cloud. NASA is also providing Amazon Web Services (AWS) storage for EarthDEM’s 50 cm products (~6 PB of data).Thematic Areas
Atmospheric Composition, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Land Cover and Land Use, Ocean and Cryosphere, Solid Earth, Water, Disaster Response, Weather
Relevant Link(s)
- Sea Ice from Sea Surface Salinity
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Background
NASA supports production of two sea surface salinity products from the Aquarius and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) missions. One is produced at JPL called the Combined Active-Passive algorithm (CAP); another is produced by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) called Salinity-RSS. Both products are distributed via NASA's Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC). The retrieval and validation algorithms are different, and both are used for cross-calibration. NOAA requests an additional flag to be included in the Salinity-RSS product to get closer to the sea ice edge, rather than the current approach of masking and removing the value. This article further describes the data product.
Proposed Activity
Implemented outside of the SNWG with data distribution through PO.DAAC. NASA will continue to produce a salinity value close to the sea ice edge and will include a variable/flag that states the number of pixels that are ice vs. ocean. This will enable the end user to select the Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) value based on the sea ice percentage in the measurement.
Status
NASA has facilitated discussions between the requesting agency and the data producer (Ocean Salinity Science Team) to further refine requirements and delivery schedule. Plans are being made to include flags in the next release of NASA's sea surface salinity and sea ice data products.
Thematic Areas
Ocean and Cryosphere
Relevant Link(s)
RSS SMAP Sea Surface Salinity, RSS SMAP SSS Earthdata Search
Characteristics
Parent Satellites Temporal Frequency Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Aquarius, SMAP 3 days 60 - 100 km Global - Water Quality Product
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Background
NASA's Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) has developed Level 2 and Level 3 analysis ready data products from Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) data. In addition, ocean color data processing software has been updated to minimize bias across harmonized ocean color data products and supports the integration of OLCI data into the SeaDAS software package.
Status
Level 2 and Level 3 ocean color processing capability for ocean color products using standard NASA algorithms has been implemented. Vicarious calibration has been generated for OLCI on Sentinel-3 A/B using a climatology of in situ radiometry at the NOAA-funded Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY). The combination of vicarious calibration and common algorithms minimizes bias between OLCI products and the standard NASA ocean color time-series derived from Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Production and distribution of Sentinel 3A and 3B OLCI Level 2 and Level 3 products is underway.
Thematic Areas
Ocean and Cryosphere, Water
Relevant Link(s)
Characteristics
Parent Satellites Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Spectral Band Sentinel-3 A, Sentinel-3 B 300 m Global VIS, NIR, SWIR
The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) surveys federal civilian agencies biennially to identify their high-priority Earth observation data needs. After receiving survey responses, NASA-led assessment teams collaborate with other satellite Earth science data providers NOAA and USGS to pinpoint solutions that could potentially resolve these data gaps. The implementation of SNWG solutions is overseen by the SNWG Management Office at NASA's Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) and by other entities within NASA's Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program. Solutions from past SNWG survey cycles that are in implementation are described below. Toggle the tabs above to view solutions that are currently operational and in formulation.
- Animal Tracking - "Internet of Animals" (IoA)
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Background
Researchers requested improved ability to track animals from sizes of songbirds to bison to understand their movements in relation to other environmental observations and modeling data. NASA has partnered with Germany’s Max Planck Institute to advance the miniaturization of the ICARUS tracking tag to approach the 1 gram weight, allowing tracking of smaller species. Further, NASA will study the potential for a CubeSat or other small satellite tracking capability for global coverage.
Status
Coordination and partnerships have been formed with Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior and Yale, USGS, and NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley,
California. Given the political impact to ICARUS on the Russian Segment of the International Space Station, the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior is planning to launch one or more CubeSat replacements and this should minimize impacts to the IoA. A feasibility assessment was planned for the summer of 2022 regarding the possibility of using upcoming radar missions such as the NASA/Indian Space Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) for passive tagging. There will be an IoA workshop at Yale in the early Fall 2022.Thematic Areas
Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Land Cover and Land Use, Water
Characteristics
Parent Satellite Geographic Domain ISS Global - Discover and Access NASA Commercial Data
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Background
Agencies are able to discover both NASA and commercial data with the same search tool (the Earthdata search website) as of Fiscal Year 2022. Planet-acquired commercial data will be available first, with other data holdings to follow. Access to commercial data is subject to the terms of the EULA.
Thematic Areas
Atmospheric Composition, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Disaster Response, Land Cover and Land Use, Ocean and Cryosphere, Solid Earth, Water, Weather
Relevant Link(s)
Characteristics
Satellites PlanetScope, RapidEye, SkySat, Spire, Worldview-1, Worldview-2, Worldview-3, GeoEye-1, QuickBird, IKONOS, Worldview-4, DESIS, EarthDEM - Freeboard and Ice Thickness over the Great Lakes
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Background
SNWG agencies mentioned that they would benefit more significantly from reduced latency observations from ICESat-2; efforts here focus on products for the Great Lakes, reducing latency to three days from the original 45-day wait.
Status
The team has operationally released reduced-latency versions of existing products for ICESat-2 and analyzed the uncertainty of these products. This has been a necessary step toward the capability for a low-latency lake ice freeboard thickness product. The five expedited products are now discoverable in NASA's Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) and are already available at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Higher quality, longer-latency products remain available in the permanent data archive. The team has begun investigating a new algorithm approach for the proposed lake ice thickness data product.
Thematic Areas
Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Land Cover and Land Use, Water
Relevant Link(s)
Specific Products
- Sea Ice Height Quick Look (ATL07QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL07QL.005)
- ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land and Vegetation Height Quick Look (ATL08QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL08QL.005)
- Calibrated Backscatter Profiles and Atmospheric Layer Characteristics Quick Look (ATL09QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL09QL.005)
- Sea Ice Freeboard Quick Look (ATL10QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL10QL.005)
- Along Track Inland Surface Water Data Quick Look (ATL13QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL13QL.005)
Characteristics
Parent Satellite Temporal Frequency Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Latency Spectral Band ICESat-2 Multiple times per week 20 m - 150 m The Great Lakes 3 days VIS - NISAR downlink
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Background
The SNWG Augmentation added 9 Tbits/day of downlink capacity for NISAR by adding a new downlink station that will enable the collection of high-resolution (40 MHz, 7x7 m) imagery with greater polarimetric diversity (Quad-Pol) over North America.
Downlink Status
NASA’s Near Earth Network (NEN) is installing a new downlink station at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, to support SNWG activities.
Quad-pol Status
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) did not approve NISAR’s proposed quad-pol frequency at the 40 MHz power levels. The NISAR Science Team held a virtual workshop with SNWG agencies in July 2020 to discuss alternate collection strategies. The SNWG community and NISAR Science Team concluded that higher quality dual-pol data collected at 40 MHz resolution would have greater scientific benefit than the degraded quad-pol collection mode approved by NTIA.
SNWG-2018 Global Soil Moisture Product Status
The added downlink capacity enables NISAR to generate global products because areas such as the Sahara were not included in the original mission plan.
Thematic Areas
Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Disaster Response, Land Cover and Land Use, Solid Earth, Water
Relevant Link(s)
Characteristics
Parent Satellite NISAR - Observational Products for End Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA)
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Background
The Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California was selected in 2020 to oversee and implement three SNWG-2018 activities: Global Surface Water Extent, Global Land Surface Disturbance and Change Detection, and Land Surface Deformation for North America and U.S. Territories. These activities utilize common satellite data (Landsat, Sentinel-2, NISAR, Sentinel-1, and Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT)). OPERA has five planned product releases scheduled between February 2023 and September 2025 with data products to be hosted by three NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs).
Status
For more information on the anticipated product release schedule, visit OPERA’s website.
Thematic Areas
Disaster Response, Land Cover and Land Use, Water, Solid Earth
Relevant Link(s)
OPERA, OPERA DIST product page, OPERA DIST Earthdata Search, OPERA SWE Earthdata Search
Characteristics
Product Name Parent Satellites Temporal Frequency Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Latency Spectral Band Global Surface Water Extent (GSWE) product Landsat 8, Landsat 9, Sentinel-2 A, Sentinel-2 B, Sentinel-1 A, Sentinel-1 B, NISAR, SWOT Sub-weekly <= 30 m Global < 72 hours VIS, NIR, SWIR, MW, L-Band, S-Band, C-Band, K-Band, Ka-Band Global Land Surface Disturbance and Change Detection Landsat 8, Landsat 9, Sentinel-2 A, Sentinel-2 B, Sentinel-1 A, Sentinel-1 B, NISAR Sub-weekly 10 m - 30 m Global < 72 hours VIS, NIR, SWIR, MW, L-Band, S-Band, C-Band Land Surface Deformation for North America and U.S. Territories Sentinel-1 A, Sentinel-1 B, NISAR Weekly <= 30 m North America, U.S. Territories 2-3 days MW, L-Band, S-Band, C-Band
The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) surveys federal civilian agencies biennially to identify their high-priority Earth observation data needs. After receiving survey responses, NASA-led assessment teams collaborate with other satellite Earth science data providers NOAA and USGS to pinpoint solutions that could potentially resolve these data gaps. The implementation of SNWG solutions is overseen by the SNWG Management Office at NASA's Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) and by other entities within NASA's Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program. Solutions from past SNWG survey cycles that are in formulation are described below. Toggle the tabs above to view solutions that are currently operational and in implementation.
- Air Quality Forecasts and Distributed Pandora Sensors
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Background
Global-scale modeling of air quality and trace gases provides key information in data-sparse regions of importance to the U.S. Department of State, EPA, USDA, DOE, and NOAA. The Department of State requests air quality forecasts for health and safety decisions for U.S. embassies in countries with the poorest air quality. EPA and USDA seek air quality (i.e., nitrogen dioxide (NO2)) measurements in agriculture and rural regions: current in-situ networks are in urban centers. There is a multi-agency need to improve the U.S. Government's ability to detect and forecast crucial air quality parameters in poorly sampled domestic and international locations.
Proposed Activity
Expand the Pandora air quality sensors network to include selected U.S. embassies in countries that have significant air quality issues and in agricultural/rural sites in the U.S. NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) will integrate the Pandora data into the Goddard Earth Observing System-Composition Forecast (GEOS-CF) model with downscaling approaches used for more precise air quality forecasts at USDA and Department of State sites of interest. Sensor outputs and model data will be available online through the existing visualization platform.
Thematic Areas
Atmospheric Composition
Relevant Link(s)
NASA Pandora Project, Access Pandora data
Characteristics
Parent Satellites Temporal Frequency Geographic Domain Latency Pandora Project, GEOS-CF and GEOS-FP model output, Suomi NPP Hourly Select U.S. Embassies and agricultural sites 1-4 hours - Atmospheric Composition using GEOS-5
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Background
Aerosol and trace gas concentrations observed by satellites and ground stations will be assimilated in the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model. This will provide global, three-dimensional gridded atmospheric composition distributions for the period 2008-2018. Fields for 2008-2018 will be provided, based on the GEOS-CF system.
Status
The GEOS-CF modeling system is being enhanced before use in this project. The improvements include the most recent version of the GEOS model, with upgraded atmospheric transport and deposition algorithms, an upgraded time-dependent pollutant emissions dataset, and the assimilation of space-borne observations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) alongside aerosols, ozone (O3), and carbon monoxide (CO). NASA Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and other infrared radiance observations have been added to the data constraining O3. The system is presently undergoing evaluation, testing, and tuning for this product. Other ongoing activities include the acquisition and quality control of all relevant input observations.
Thematic Areas
Atmospheric Composition
Relevant Link(s)
Characteristics
Temporal Frequency Geographic Domain Hourly Global - HLS-derived Vegetation Indices
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Background
The SNWG-2016 process supported the production of a global Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) surface reflectance product, reducing differences between each sensor and providing global observations on a common set of grids to expedite processing and analysis. Surface reflectance information is routinely used to assess vegetation type, long-term changes in land use, disasters, and season health as inferred through vegetation greenness. This information is obtained through vegetation indices that relate multiple HLS bands to specific parameters of interest as an instantaneous value, time series, or anomaly. The following indices are sought by the SNWG agencies: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), modified soil adjusted vegetation index (MSAVI), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), normalized burn ratio (NBR), NBR2, and triangular vegetation index (TVI).
Proposed Activity
The proposed SNWG-2020 Vegetation Suite of indices would be generated for the HLS archive (December 2015 for Sentinel-2 and April 2013 for Landsat) and would continue forward with future HLS acquisitions as part of the HLS production system thereby increasing overall product efficiency while decreasing product latency. The SNWG-2020 Vegetation Suite of indices will reduce duplicative processing efforts across the US Government.
Thematic Areas
Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Land Cover and Land Use, Solid Earth, Water
Characteristics
Parent Satellites Temporal Frequency Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Latency Spectral Band Landsat 8, Landsat 9, Sentinel-2 A, Sentinel-2 B 2-3 days 30 m Global 2-3 days VIS, NIR, SWIR - Merged GNSS-RO/Atmospheric Sounder Measurements for Planetary Boundary Layer Products
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Background
The Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) is the interface between Earth’s surface and lowermost 2-3 km of atmosphere. Knowing its highly dynamic properties is vital to understand the diurnal, seasonal, and climate-scale variations of Earth’s atmospheric processes and is key to cloud formation and pollution dispersal. Hyperspectral sounders and related parameter retrievals measure the temperature, moisture, and other variables throughout the atmosphere (~1km vertical and ~13km horizontal resolution). GNSS-Radio Occultations (GNSS-RO) also measure temperature and moisture throughout the atmosphere (~100m vertical and ~100km horizontal resolution). Combining hyperspectral sounder data with GNSS-RO data into a merged global product will advance PBL process science and will improve weather forecasting applications. The 2017 Decadal Survey identified PBL as an Instrument Incubator Program activity that seeks to identify and develop new technology to improve our understanding of the exchanges between the biosphere and the atmosphere along with the air-sea exchanges of chemical and energy fluxes. The proposed SNWG-PBL activity would provide a needed low-resolution dataset with current capabilities for requesting agencies as new technical capabilities mature.
Proposed Activity
This effort will use a consistent and modern hyperspectral sounding retrieval process to create vertical profiles of atmospheric variables, complemented by new retrievals built from NASA, NOAA, and commercial GNSS-RO data (Spire). The PBL activity will generate higher-level science products that are projected to a common grid for the requesting SNWG agencies.
Thematic Areas
Weather
- NISAR Soil Moisture Product
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Background
The global NISAR soil moisture product will provide a well-calibrated and validated soil moisture product with global 200 meter resolution (approximately 400 m for the Sahara due to challenges of measuring soil moisture in dry sand). There will be a minimum of 2 products every 12 days from both ascending and descending orbits, with more frequent observations at higher latitudes as the orbits begin to converge closer to the poles.
Status
Product formulation began in Fiscal Year 2020 to align with the NISAR launch. Four new members were added to the NISAR Science Team to lead the algorithm development. They are evaluating several soil moisture retrieval approaches with an emphasis on agricultural regions and forests, which are expected to be the most challenging land cover types. Preliminary results are excellent and within 6% of the in-situ measurements collected during the SMAPVEX12 exercise. Algorithm selection was scheduled to follow Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) review in the summer of 2022.
Thematic Areas
Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Land Cover and Land Use, Solid Earth, Water
Relevant Link(s)
Characteristics
Parent Satellite Temporal Frequency Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Latency Spectral Band NISAR Twice every 12 days 200 m (400 m in Sahara Desert) Global 72 hours MW, L-Band, S-Band - Radiation and Clouds - SatCORPS
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Background
NASA will enhance processing and storage capabilities at the Satellite Cloud and Radiation Property retrieval System (SatCORPS), develop algorithms to ingest observations from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and calculate ice and liquid water quantities in liquid clouds. Data will be produced over the globe at 3 km spatial and hourly temporal resolution.
Status
The team has developed a global deployment template for high-resolution satellite data processing with cloud computing. This system has been optimized to quickly produce and composite full spatial resolution data products derived from MODIS, VIIRS, Meteosat-8/11, GOES-16/17, and Himawari-8 that provide global coverage on a 3 km global grid. Numerous algorithm updates were developed that improve cross-platform consistency of derived products at all times of day.
The first test dataset comprising up to one month of global hourly 3 km data products is produced and undergoing final refinements to optimize the compositing decision logic, fill remaining gaps, and complete implementation of all cloud retrieval algorithm enhancements before soliciting user feedback.
Thematic Areas
Weather
Relevant Link(s)
NASA Langley Research Center SatCORPS
Characteristics
Temporal Frequency Horizontal Resolution Geographic Domain Hourly 3 km Global - TEMPO/GOES-NRT and Enhanced Products
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Image
Background
The upcoming launch of the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution (TEMPO) mission will provide key air quality measurements of trace gas constituents over North America from a geostationary orbit. These observations are important to the air quality forecasting and regulatory communities. Survey respondents requested that some of the currently planned TEMPO products be expedited to near real-time (NRT) availability to assist in forecasting and modeling efforts. Other products are requested to be added using robust science algorithms adapted from other sensors with similar capabilities.
Proposed Activity
The proposed effort would develop new hourly, NRT air quality products from TEMPO (nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), sulfur dioxide (SO2)) and regridded, complementary products from GOES missions necessary for supporting NRT production. This proposed activity will also adapt established science algorithms from NASA’s Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) to produce additional trace gas measurements from TEMPO (diatomic oxygen (O2-O2), glyoxal (CHOCHO), water (H2O), SO2, ultraviolet b (UVB), and hypobromite (BrO)).
Potential for enhanced operational joint activity with NOAA
TEMPO is a cost cap Earth Venture Instrument (EVI) mission. Discussions are ongoing with NOAA to support this activity.
Thematic Areas
Atmospheric Composition
Relevant Link(s)
