This summer, participants in the NASA DEVELOP National Program used geospatial technologies to investigate and analyze drought, water resources, agriculture, ecosystem health, and disasters across the world. Each project that a DEVELOP team completes is conducted in partnership with agencies or organizations local to the study area to ensure that the project outcomes or observations will have an impact. Fundamental to the analysis and geospatial component of each of these projects is NASA Earth science remote sensing data. Many of these projects use data distributed by NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) and collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument onboard NASA’s Aqua and Terra platforms, Terra's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), and derived data from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).

All the projects conducted in the Summer term, as well as in past terms, can be found in the DEVELOP archive.

Featured Project: Drought Monitoring Tool

One of the interesting projects conducted during the Summer Term focused on agriculture in southeastern Asia. In an effort to improve climate resilience for agriculture in the Mekong River Basin (MRB), one of the teams located at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center used data from three different missions.

Instruments and Techniques Used

Using precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) platforms, as well as land surface temperature and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from Terra and Aqua MODIS, the team calculated a Scaled Drought Condition Index (SDCI). The SDCI is an example of an index that can be used to measure agricultural drought.

Major Findings

Using the index to create a time series of drought conditions, the team developed a near real-time monitoring tool for Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia in the MRB region to understand the impact of drought and devise mitigation plans to avoid long-term effects. This work was conducted in partnership with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center through the SERVIR Mekong Hub. 

About the NASA DEVELOP National Program 

The DEVELOP National Program is part of NASA’s Applied Sciences Program. Participants from around the country join the DEVELOP program for 10-week terms to apply data acquired by NASA Earth-observing satellites to bridge the gap between science and society. DEVELOP participants work with local, state, and federal partners to create maps and other products in nine focus areas including Agriculture, Climate, Disasters, Ecological Forecasting, Energy, Health and Air Quality, Oceans, Water Resources, and Weather.

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Publication References

Mekong Basin Agriculture Team, NASA DEVELOP National Program, 2016, Mekong River Basin Agriculture - NASA DEVELOP Summer 2016 @ Marshall Space Flight Center, accessed October 24, 2016, https://youtu.be/PvDemQSpQgg?list=PLL8pCbx5gnDYUM084cxFpmidjGJJ1bOwf (link removed by source).

Winstead, D.A., Rakumthong, W., Raksaphaeng, P., Daniel, A., 2016, Oh Me! Oh My! These Rice Paddies are Dry!, accessed October 24, 2016, https://earthzine.org/2016/08/11/oh-me-oh-my-these-rice-paddies-are-dry/ (link removed by source).

Winstead, D.A., Rakumthong, W., Raksaphaeng, P., Daniel, A., 2016, Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Enhance Drought Management Decisions within the Mekong River Basin's Agricultural Fields, accessed October 24, 2016.