PDF_9_29_2015_complete_Arc_crest_2014_AK_final

ANNUAL REPORT
2014
625 Second St., Suite 209, Petaluma, CA 94952
(707) 938-9387
www.baeri.org
Ames Research Center: Cooperative Research in Earth Science and Technology

Letter from the Director
I am pleased to present the annual report for the Ames Research Center Cooperative for Research in Earth Science and Tech-
nology (ARC-CREST). NASA awarded the ARC-CREST cooperative agreement to the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute
(BAERI), the California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and the National Suborbital Education and Research Center
at the University of North Dakota (NSERC/UND) in 2012. This report covers the performance period March 1, 2014 to February
28, 2015.
During the period of performance, ARC-CREST staff from the partner institutions worked side by side with their collabora-
tors at NASA Ames Research Center on 39 separate Earth Science research, research support, and education or outreach
projects. This report summarizes their accomplishments during that time. Through their hard work and commitment, the
ARC-CREST team made many significant achievements to support NASA’s Earth Science mission goals. In 2014, ARC-CREST
researchers,engineers, staff, and students contributed to the success of over 10 airborne field campaigns, gave presentations
to the White House Office and Science and Technology Policy and U.S. Global Change Research Program, conducted three large
scale student outreach and education programs, were featured in the award-winning documentary Years of Living
Dangerously, and provided key research to California officials dealing with the drought, to name just a few accomplishments.
Congratulations and thank you to the ARC-CREST team and our NASA partners for another great year in this exciting
partnership!
Dr. Robert Bergstrom
Director
2 www.baeri.org ARC-CREST 2014 Annual Reportwww.arc-crest.org

Table of Contents
Introduction
ARC-CREST Partners
ARC-CREST Staff
Earth Science Focus Areas
Atmospheric Composition
4STAR and Satellite Data Analysis
Alpha Jet Atmospheric Experiment (AJAX)
Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) Errors
Indianapolis Flux Experiment (INFLUX) and Total Carbon
Column Observing Network (TCCON)
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES)
Climate Variability and Change
Arctic Radiation-Ice Bridge Sea Ice Experiment (ARISE)
Earth System Data Records (ESDR)
Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research
Environments (MEaSUREs)
NASA Earth Exchange (NEX)
Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems
Carbon Monitoring Systems (CMS)
Plant Physiology
Terrestrial Ecosystem and Carbon Simulation Modeling
Coastal Ocean Biology
Earth Science Applied Sciences Program
Disasters
Disaster Management
6
7
8
10
13
14
16
18
21
22
24
25
31
33
34
37
39

Table of Contents
Ecological Forecasting
Climate Adaptation Science Investigators (CASI)
Health and Air Quality
Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events Mission
(GEO-CAPE)
Agriculture, Health and Marine Studies
Water Resources
Water Quality Monitoring for National Geospatial Agency
Water Resources Program
Heliophysics
Heliophysics
Collaborative Space Weather Modeling
Heliophysics Modeling and Simulation
Solar Physics Modeling
Biology
Biology
Synthetic Biology
Airborne Science and Mission Support
Airborne Science and Mission Support
Atmospheric Chemistry Data Analysis
Airborne Science Advanced Planning
Earth Science Project Office (ESPO)
Meteorological Measurement Systems (MMS)
Meteorological Support
NSERC Mission Operations

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44
45
46
48
49
51
52
53
54
56
58
60
62
64
65

Table of Contents
Program Management Analysis
Earth Science Division Support
Education and Outreach Activity
Education and Outreach
Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET)
CSUMB Educational Program
DEVELOP
Early Career Collaborators
Earth Science Division Outreach
FrankenEye
Student Airborne Research Program (SARP)
Publications and Presentations
Acronyms
67
68
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
86

introduction
NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) awarded Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) and partners
(University of North Dakota and California State University at Monterey Bay) the ten-year, Ames Research Center
Cooperative for Research in Earth Science and Technology (ARC-CREST) in March 2012.NASA ARC-CREST scientists
and staff, in collaboration with NASA and other investigators, work cooperatively with NASA -ARC’s Earth Science
Division (Code SG) to achieve NASA’s strategic Earth Science objectives. These objectives include:
1) the conduct of research into fundamental questions related to the atmosphere, the oceans, the biosphere,
and Earth’s land masses;
2) the use of informational and computational sciences to visualize,analyze,and interpret Earth Science data;
3) the application of technology necessary for Earth Science research; and
4) the provision of outreach and education to the general public regarding Earth Science.
This document describes the progress and achievements made in 2014 of the 39 research, education and support
projects within the ARC-CREST cooperative agreement.
For more information please contact Dr. Robert Bergstrom, ARC-CREST Director (bergstrom@baeri.org), or Mark
Sittloh, ARC-CREST Business Manager (msittloh@baeri.org).

ARC-CREST PARTNERS
1. Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI)
http://baeri.org/
2. Department of Science and Environmental Policy at California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB)
https://csumb.edu/sep/research-partnerships
3. National Suborbital Education and Research Center (NSERC) at the University of North Dakota (UND-
NSERC)
http://www.nserc.und.edu/
4. Earth Science Division (Code SG) at NASA Ames Research Center
https://earthscience.arc.nasa.gov/
7 www.baeri.org ARC-CREST 2014 Annual Reportwww.arc-crest.orgwww.baeri.org

ARC-CREST STAFF
BAERI
Allison, Quincy
Basu, Saikat
Bouret, Gailynne
Boyda, Ed
Camacho, Chris
Chang, Cecilia
Chiang, Felicia
Chirica, Dan
Choi, Sungho
Czech, Erin
Dean-Day, Jon
Esswein, Bob
Finch, Patrick
Ganguly, Sangram
Hartlep, Thomas
Herman, Michaela
Hillyard, Patrick
Humphrey, Justin
Instrella, Ronnie
Isaac, Nikki
Justice, Erin
Kacenelenbogen, Meloe
Kelly, Maggi
Kenworthy, Jennifer
Kotov, Dmitry
Kulawik, Susan
Kumler, Andrew
Kuss, Amber
Mancinelli, Rocco
Maurer, Ed
McFadden, Susan
McKie, Bill
Mueller, Chase
Myneni, Ranga
Nag, Sreeja
Nottage, Julie
O’Dell, Chris
Olson, Daniel
Rajkumar, Abishek
Segal-Rozenhaimer, Michal
Schlick, Greg
Schmidt, Cindy
Schoenung, Susan
Shinozuka, Yohei
Teluguntla, Pardha
Thrasher, Bridget
Todorov, Steven
Torres-Perez, Juan
Tolley, Sue
Waring, Lise
Weber, Jim
Wilson, Dave
Zhang, Hengyue
Zhang, Gong
Zhang, Qin
CSUMB
Alexander, Susan
Ambrosia, Vincent
Dahlgren, Robert
Genovese, Vanessa
Guzman, Alberto
Hamblin, David
Harlen, Ian
Hashimoto, Hirofumi
Keefauver, Shane
Klooster, Steven
Johnson. Lee
Li, Shuang
Lund, Christopher
Melton, Forrest
Michaelis, Andrew
Miller, Gwen
Post, Kirk
Rosevelt, Carolyn
Shupe, John
Stanfield, Erin
Teaby, Aimee
Urness, John
Votava, Petr
Wang, Weile
Weinstock, Kenneth
Windell, Sean
University of North Dakota
Buzay, Eric
Delaney, Michael
Katrinak, Karen
Peterson, Jane
Schaller, Emily
Shetter, Rick
Stith, Eric
Van Gilst, David
Webster, Adam

Earth Science
Focus Areas

The Ames 4STAR (Sky-scanning, Sun-tracking Atmospheric
Research) project uses ground and airborne sun-photometer
instruments to study aerosol radiative properties and mea-
sure atmospheric trace gases. Instruments currently in use
include: the recently developed 4STAR ground and 4STAR
air instruments and the Ames Airborne Tracking Sun-pho-
tometer (AATS-14). The 4STAR group analyzes these mea-
surements to yield atmospheric aerosol optical depth and
extinction spectra, aerosol size distributions, H2
O(g) columns
and profiles, and O3
columns. They also have used the data
to validate measurements from 12 different satellite in-
struments, two airborne simulators of satellite instruments,
and several airborne and ground-based lidars. Data taken
using the AATS instrument have also been used in studies
of aerosol radiative forcing of climate, aerosol light absorp-
tion spectra, and consistency (closure) between in situ and
radiometric measurements. The 4STAR and Satellite Data
Analysis project also analyzes data from prior field missions
as well as various satellite data products to better under-
stand global aerosol optical properties and climate forcing.
Figure 1: Optical thickness along the flight track for one
science flight during the ARISE mission. Optical thickness is
determined from direct sun measurements made by the 4STAR
instrument. Results are preliminary.
The team has recently been working on the development
of the next generation of the AATS instrument, the 4STAR
ground, and 4STAR air instruments. The 4STAR instruments
broaden the types of aircraft on which the instrument
can be deployed, improve the wavelength resolution and
introduce a sky-scanning capability. In 2014 the 4STAR
instrument flew in a major field campaign, ARISE (Arctic
Radiation –Ice-Bridge, Sea and Ice Experiment), with great
success. The 4STAR team operated the instrument during
approximately 60 science flight hours. Through analysis of
the 4STAR data and comparisons with co-located satellite
observations (MODIS and CALIPSO), the team is learning
more about the properties of thin cirrus clouds in the Arctic
and their relationship to Earth’s radiative balance.
2014 Accomplishments
• The 4 STAR and Satellite Data Analysis team
made improvements in calibration, algorithms,
and error reduction in the 4STAR retrievals, espe-
cially for trace gases. They applied the new algo-
rithms to previous aerosol optical property and
trace gas datasets obtained during the SEAC4RS
and TCAP field campaigns and provided contin-
ued support to the scientific community using the
SEAC4RS datasets.
• The team completed detailed comparisons
between Aqua version 5 and the newly released
Aqua version 6 parameters. Various aerosol opti-
cal property datasets for 2007 were updated to
version 6.
• The 4STAR instrument was successfully deployed
during the ARISE mission. The team installed the
instrument on the C-130 aircraft, operated the
instrument in-flight, and developed new MATLAB
code for more efficient data processing. As one
of 4STAR’s initial deployments, this deployment
required immediate processing of 4STAR data in
order to identify instrument problems prior to the
next flight.
4STAR and Satellite Data Analysis
NASA: Jens Redemann, Phil Russell
BAERI: Michal Segal Rosenhaimer, Meloe Kacenelenbogen, Yohei Shinozuka, Qin Zhang

Russell, P. B. et al A Multi-Parameter Aerosol Classification Method and its Application to Retrievals from Spaceborne
Polarimetry, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 119, doi:10.1002/2013JD021411, 2014.
Kacenelenbogen, M. et al, An evaluation of CALIOP/CALIPSO’s aerosol-above-cloud (AAC) detection and retrieval capability.
2014. J. Geophys. Res., 119 (1): 230-244. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013JD020178/full
Livingston, J. et al (Redemann J., Shinozuka, Y., Zhang, Q. among 11 authors). 2014. Comparison of MODIS 3 km and 10 km
resolution aerosol optical depth retrievals over land with airborne sun photometer measurements during ARCTAS summer
2008. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14: 2015-2038. doi: 10.5194/acp-14-2014-2014
Segal-Rosenheimer, M. et al. 2014. Tracking elevated pollution layers with a newly developed hyperspectral Sun/Sky
spectrometer (4STAR): Results from the TCAP 2012 and 2013 missions. J. Geophys. Res: Atmospheres, 119 (5): 2611-2628; doi:
10.1002/2013JD020884 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013JD020884/full
Kacenelenbogen, M.“Aerosol type classification inferred by remote sensing during SEAC4RS”, (presented at SEAC4RS Science
Team Meeting, Boulder, CO, April 15, 2014).
Segal Rosenhaimer, M.“Implementation of advanced Multi-parameter techniques in formulating a link between Remote
Sensing and In-situ measurements of various pollution plumes during SEAC4RS”, (presented at SEAC4RS Science Team
Meeting, Boulder, CO, April 15, 2014).
Segal Rosenhaimer, M.” Determination of airmass types based on sky radiance and solar direct beam measurements using
the newly developed Spectrometer for SkyScanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research(4STAR)”, (presented at the 10th
International Symposium on Advanced Environmental Monitoring and Modeling, Berkeley, CA, August 11-12, 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M.“Inferring aerosol optical property and height above clouds from clear-sky satellite observations”,
(presented at Meeting of the American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA, 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M.“Use of AATS-14 measurements during COAST for HQ2O atmospheric correction”, (presented at the High-
Quality Optical Observations (HQ2O) instrument workshop, NASA AMES, Moffett Field, CA, September 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M.“Satellite remote sensing of aerosols and ground-based air quality”, (presented at the University of Hawaii
(UH), Honolulu, HI, September, 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M.“Use of combined A-Train satellite observations for global aerosol typing in clear-sky and above clouds”,
(presented at the CALIPSO/CloudSat Science team meeting, Washington, D.C., November, 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M. et al “Global aerosol typing from a combination of A-Train satellite observations in clear-sky and above
clouds” (A21F-3098), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA., December 15-19, 2014).
Segal Rosenhaimer, M.“Effects of urban and biomass burning sources on downwind aerosol and ozone distributions: regional
scale simulations combined with airborne remote sensing measurements during TCAP and SEAC4RS and their link to
spaceborne observations”, presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA., December 15-19,
2014).
Russell, P.B. et al.“In-situ and RemoteSensing data fusion using machine learning techniques to infer urban and fire related
pollution plumes”, (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting,San Francisco,CA., December 15-19, 2014).
Chatfield, R., Segal Rosenhaimer, M. , and SEAC4RS, DC3, and ARCTAS Science Teams,“Revised (Mixed-Effects) Estimation for
Forest Burning Emissions of Gases and Smoke, Fire/Emission Factor Typologies, and Potential Remote Sensing Classification
of Types for Use in Ozone and Absorbing-Carbon Simulation”, (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San
Francisco, CA., December 15-19, 2014).
LeBlanc, S. et al, (Redemann, J. , Russell, P.B. , Segal Rosenhaimer, M. , Kacenelenbogen,, M. Shinozuka, Y. among 10 authors),
“Cloud properties retrieved from airborne measurements of transmitted and reflected shortwave spectral radiation”,
(presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA., December 15-19, 2014).

Redemann, J. et al.“Aerosol properties derived from airborne sky radiance and direct beam measurements in recent NASA and
DoE field missions”, (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA., December 15-19, 2014).
Russell, P.B.“A multi-parameter aerosol classification method and its application to retrievals from spaceborne polarimetry”
(Invited oral), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Knobelspiesse, K. and Redemann, J.“Comparisons of Level 1 Polarimeter Measurements”, (presented at the Aerosol/Cloud/
Ecosystems (ACE) Science Working Group (SWG) Workshop, Greenbelt, MD, June 9-11, 2014).
Redemann, J.“Aerosol, cloud and trace gas observations derived from airborne hyperspectral radiance and direct beam
measurements in recent field missions”, (presented at American Meteorological Society’s 14th Conference on Atmospheric
Radiation, Boston, MA, July 7-11, 2014).
Redemann, J.“Determination of aerosol properties and airmass types based on sky radiance and solar direct-beam
measurements during SEAC4RS”, (presented at the SEAC4RS Science Team Meeting, Boulder, CO, April 15-18, 2014).
Redemann, J.“Direct aerosol radiative forcing based on combined A-Train observations: towards all sky estimates and
attribution to aerosol type”, (presented at European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April 27-May 2,
2014).
Redemann, J. , Y. Shinozuka, M. Kacenelenbogen, P. B. Russell, and M. Vaughan,“Direct aerosol radiative forcing based
on combined A-Train observations - towards all sky estimates and attribution to aerosol type”, (presented at European
Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April 27-May 2, 2014).
Shinozuka, Y.“4STAR aerosol optical depth”, (presented at SEAC4RS Science Team Meeting, Boulder, CO, April 15-18, 2014).
Shinozuka,Y. et al.“Aircraft- and ground-based assessment of the CCN-AOD relationship and implications on model analysis of
ACI and underlying aerosol processes” (A43N-06), presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco,
CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Dunagan, S. et al. (J. Redemann, P. B. Russell, M. Segal Rosenhaimer, and Y. Shinozuka among 12 authors),“Spectrometers for
Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (4STAR) upgrade to full sun-sky-cloud-trace gas spectrometry capability for
airborne science” (A21D-3068), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-
19, 2014).
Jethva, H. et al. (J. Redemann, Y. Shinozuka, M. Kacenelenbogen, and M. Segal Rosenhaimer among 9 authors)“Validating
abovecloud aerosol optical depth retrieved from MODIS using NASA Ames airborne suntracking photometric and
spectrometric (AATS and 4STAR) measurements” (A12A-06), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San
Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Song, S. et al. ( J. Hair, J. Redemann and M. Segal Rosenhaimer among 10 authors)“Understanding the combined cloudaerosol
radiative effect for heterogeneous scenes” (A41B-3035), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San
Livingston. J. et al ( J. Redemann, Y. Shinozuka, M. Kacenelenbogen, P. B. Russell, among 15 authors).“Direct aerosol radiative
forcing from combined ATrain observations – Preliminary comparisons with AeroCom models and pathways to observationally
based all-sky estimates” (A21F-3103), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA,
December 15-19, 2014).
Knobelspiesse, K. and J. Redemann,“Airborne polarimeter intercomparison for the NASA Aerosols-Clouds-Ecosystems (ACE)
mission” (A21D-3055), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19,
2014).

The Alpha Jet Atmospheric Experiment (AJAX) project at
NASA-ARC makes in situ measurements of the important
greenhouse gases, CO2
, CH4
, and O3
as well as associated
meteorological measurements during flight. Using a jet
aircraft, the project routinely collects vertical profiles of
3-D wind speeds and gas concentrations from near the
surface up to ~ 27,000 ft. and over locations such as: the
California Central Valley, Edwards Air Force Base, Railroad
Valley, NV, and over the Pacific Ocean. Boundary layer
measurements like these can indicate surface sources of
greenhouse gases such as fires, oil and gas infrastructure,
livestock, and urban pollution.
AJAX project goals are to: 1) study local photochemical
smog production, 2) provide data for long-term studies of
Pacific transport of pollution, and 3) support the observa-
tion of greenhouse gases from satellites through in situ
validation measurements. Because of the jet’s range and
fuel load, measurements are focused along the Califor-
nia coast and locations in the far western United States.
However, NASA’s flexible relationship with the aircraft
provider together with the aircraft’s base at Moffett Field
allow the AJAX team to collect data on a bi-weekly basis
over multiple seasons, and often on demand for specific
events such as California wildfires. Further, the long-term
and dedicated availability of this platform provides for
long term in situ data collection, a unique complement to
surface and tower-based observations in the region. Vali-
dation data for satellite sensors can also be obtained over
months and years with this platform to help assess sensor
health and calibration.
AJAX supports NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-
2) Science Team and is developing collaborations with
NASA-ARC personnel in the areas of instrument develop-
ment, systems engineering, science mission development,
and project management.
Alpha Jet Atmospheric Experiment (AJAX)
NASA: Warren Gore, Laura Iraci, Max Loewenstein
BAERI: Quincy Allison, Steven Todorov, Emma Yates, Chris Camacho
Figure 3: The King fire, burning in El Dorado National
Forest as captured by Landsat-8 on September 19, 2014.
ARC-CREST researchers measured CO2
and CH4
in the King
fire plume from the Alpha Jet platform.
Figure 2: A view of the Alpha Jet research platform, based
at NASA-ARC. Instruments are housed in specially
designed wing pods.
• The team completed 31 scientific flights targeting
airborne observations of urban outflow, validation of
satellite and ground-based remote sensing tech-
niques, emissions from dairies, wildfires and oil fields
as well as high altitude flights (to 45, 000 feet) with
scientific payloads.
• In coordination with JAXA and NASA-JPL, the team
conducted the Railroad Valley vicarious calibration
mission and the CO2
and CH4
experiment (COMEX);
• Working with NOAA researchers, the team con-
tinued development of the “AirCore” which takes a
sample of air during aircraft descents that can be
analyzed in the laboratory post-flight.“AirCore” will
be installed with the AJAX instrument payload in
2015.
• The team made flight day determinations of
tropopause height using radiosondes and conducted
research on historical tropopause heights in the
California-Nevada flight areas.

ARC-CREST researchers, Susan Kulawik and Chris O’Dell,
together with other members of the Orbiting Carbon
Observatory-2 (OCO-2) Errors science team, are developing
algorithms for analyzing the data from the OCO-2 instru-
ment that is aboard a satellite in Earth orbit. The instrument,
consisting of three high resolution grating spectrometers, is
acquiring precise measurements of atmospheric CO2
, at high
spatial and temporal resolution and with global coverage.
OCO-2 was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California on a dedicated Delta II rocket in July 2014. OCO-2
has a planned operational life of two years and is taking
measurements crucial to checking scientists’ understand-
ing of the carbon cycle. For example, comparison of OCO-2’s
measurements of atmospheric CO2
with carbon model
outputs will allow scientists to verify the magnitude of
the carbon sink in tropical forests or the amount of carbon
released by forest fires.
OCO-2 is unprecedented not only in the sheer number of
atmospheric CO2
measurements it can take each day (~ 1
million measurements across a single swath) but also in
the precision of the measurements. OCO-2 acquires data
in three different measurement modes. In Nadir Mode, the
instrument views the ground directly below the spacecraft.
In Glint Mode, the instrument tracks near the location where
sunlight is directly reflected on the Earth’s surface. Glint
Mode enhances the instrument’s ability to acquire highly
accurate measurements, particularly over the ocean. In
Target Mode, the instrument views a specified surface target
continuously as the satellite passes overhead.
Target Mode is especially important to data processing
because it provides the capability to collect a large num-
ber of measurements over sites where ground-based and
airborne instruments also measure atmospheric CO2
and the
satellite and ground-based measurement can be compared.
Because the changes in atmospheric CO2
that OCO-2 seeks
to measure are so small, the science team takes unusual
precautions to ensure the measurements are free of errors.
Comparison to ground-based sites such as the Total Carbon
Column Observatory network (TCCON), which is fully cali-
brated and extremely accurate, and an extensive algorithm
development and testing process, are critical to ensuring
that the Observatory’s measurements are error-free. This
essential work is currently ongoing and the first maps of
global CO2
developed from OCO-2 measurements were
released in December of 2014.
Orbiting Carbon Observatory – 2 (OCO-2) Errors
NASA: Steve Hipskind
BAERI: Susan Kulawik
Colorado State University: Chris O’Dell
Figure 4: Image Credit: NASA-JPL
The image shows measurements of
CO2
levels over the northern LA Basin
on September 5, 2014 made by OCO-2.
Each dot is a single CO2
measurement
made during the satellite’s 5-minute over
-flight of the area. These measurements
compared very well to those made by the
ground-based TCCON instrument located
in Pasadena, CA (402 ppm vs. 399ppm).

• The team ran a series of OCO-2 simulations to test
the predicted OCO-2 errors. Through these retrievals,
they found that the predicted and actual sensitivities
were validated by varying the a priori values for CO2
.As
part of this exercise, the team characterized the non-
linearity of the retrieval system by comparing the re-
sults using different initial state values. In total, they
performed 16 different kinds of retrievals,involving dif-
ferent prior CO2
covariance matrices and different first
guess CO2
states, for a total of ~ 752 retrieval-orbits or
roughly 400,000 individual retrievals.
• The simulation series described above was further
updated by the team to test the propagated errors from
aerosols, albedo, and other parameters.
• The NASA-ARC based OCO-2 researchers also coordi-
nated closely with the rest of the OCO-2 team, located
at NASA-JPL, on modifications to the retrieval code as
necessary.
Kulawik, S. et al. 2014. Estimating biases and errors of CO2
from satellites (AIRS, GOSAT, SCIAMACHY, TES, OCO-2) and models
(CarbonTracker, MACC). 10th International Workshop on Greenhouse Gas Measurements from Space, ESA/ESTEC, May 5-7,
Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
Kulawik, S. et al. 2014. Multi-mission validation and bias results. OCO-2 Science Team Meeting, Jan. 28-30, Pasadena, CA.
Kuze, A., H. Suto, K. Shiomi, S. Kawakami, F. Schwandner, C. Bruegge, T. Taylor, D. Crisp, L. Iraci, and T. Tanaka,“CO2
observation
from space from two complementary spectrometers; OCO-2 and GOSAT” (A41H-3150). Presented at American Geophysical
Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Kulawik, S. et al.“Lower Tropospheric CO2 from OCO-2” (A41I-3188). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual
Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.

The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) is a
network of ground-based Fourier Transform Spectrometers
that record spectra of the sun at the Earth’s surface in the
near-infrared wavelengths. From these spectra, accurate and
precise column-averaged abundances of atmospheric con-
stituents including CO2
, CH4
, N2
O, HF, CO, H2
O(g), and HDO,
are retrieved. Begun in 2004, TCCON provides important
information about regional and global atmospheric levels
of carbon-containing gases from many stations worldwide.
Measurements of atmospheric gases made by the TCCON
instruments are considered to be a highly accurate and thor-
oughly calibrated dataset and are often used as a standard
in inter-comparison studies with other measurements.
As part of the TCCON network, ARC-CREST researchers and
NASA-ARC partners deploy a Fourier Transform Spectrom-
eter at NASA-AFRC. The NASA-ARC-based team remotely
monitors, assesses, and maintains the hardware deployed at
NASA-AFRC and also processes data according to the TCCON
protocol, making it available to the scientific community. The
TCCON team at NASA-ARC also supports the OCO-2 team
by providing critical measurements at the ground-based
targets needed for inter-comparison and calibration of the
satellite instrument.
The Indianapolis Flux Experiment (INFLUX) was a green-
house gas quantification experiment that focused on the
“urban plume” emanating from the city and that utilized one
of the TCCON Fourier Transform Spectrometers. This instru-
ment was installed by ARC-CREST researchers and NASA-
ARC partners in Indianapolis and acquired daily CO2
column
measurements through the summer and fall of 2012. The
INLFUX team combined these measurements and others
with “bottom-up” inventories of CO2
and CH4
from urban
sources with the goal of evaluating these approaches and
measurements in their ability to accurately quantify green-
house gas emissions from urban sources. Remote sensing of
atmospheric greenhouse gases is likely to be an important
tool in monitoring global greenhouse gas budgets, including
urban emissions.
The TCCON instrument used during INFLUX was re-deployed
to NASA-AFRC in late 2012 by the NASA-ARC-based team
for continued use in OCO-2 data calibration/validation and
other missions. Analysis of the INFLUX data is on-going.
• The team completed analysis of all greenhouse gas
data collected with the TCCON instrument during the
fall 2012 field campaign and posted to the INFLUX/
TCCON international data archive.
• With these datasets and in collaboration with other
universityand government scientists,the team studied
changes in greenhouse gases around an urban center.
•ARC-CRESTresearchers supporting theTCCON instru-
ment,located at NASA-AFRC,conducted many tasks re-
latedtothesupportandmaintenanceoftheinstrument
and access and reliability of the TCCON data. In addi-
tion to regular communication and coordination with
the TCCON science team, in 2014 project researchers:
o Maintained and managed the Linux workstation
that is used for TCCON data processing and
storage;
o Downloaded the data from NASA-AFRC, con-
ducted quality control and quality assurance, and
processed it according to the TCCON protocol in
order to compare the data to other instruments in
the network;
Indianapolis Flux Experiment (INFLUX) and Total Carbon Column
Observing Network (TCCON)
NASA: Laura Iraci, Jim Podolskie
BAERI: Patrick Hillyard
Figure 5: Column averaged, mole fractions of CH4
in parts per
million as measured by the TCCON instrument deployed at
NASA-AFRC over the period July 2013 – November 2014.
Daily averages are shown in black.

Shepson, P. et al. (L. Iraci, P. Hillyard, and J. Podolske among 27 authors)“Progress and Developments in the Indianapolis Flux
Experiment (INFLUX)” (A52D-01, Invited). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.
Hardesty, R. et al. (P. Hillyard, and J. Podolske among 24 authors),“One year of Doppler Lidar observations characterizing
boundary layer wind, turbulence, and aerosol structure during the Indianapolis Flux Experiment” (A51O-03). Presented at
American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Miles, N. et al. (P. Hillyard and J. Podolske, among 20 authors) “Greenhouse gas emissions of Indianapolis using a high-density
surface tower network and an atmospheric inversion” (A51O-05). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting,
December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Butterfield, Z. et al. (J. Podolske, L. Iraci, and P. Hillyard, among 10 authors)“Compact Solar Spectroscopic Column CO2, CH4,
H2O and HOD Observations: Performance Evaluation at TCCON Sites” (A41I-3174), (presented at American Geophysical Union
Annual Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Hillyard, P. et al “Calibration of a TCCON FTS at Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) Using Multiple Airborne Profiles”
(A41I-3173), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 1519, 2014).
Kawakami, S. et al. (P. Hillyard, J. Podolske, L. Iraci, among 9 authors)“The total column of CO2 and CH4 measured with a
compact Fourier transform spectrometer at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and Railroad Valley, Nevada, USA” (A41I-
3171), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
o Transferred all complete datasets to California
Institute of Technology and archived completed
datasets at NASA-ARC; and
o Reprocessed all data taken with this instrument
to be consistent with the new TCCON software
release (GGG2014);
• With the launch of the OCO-2 satellite instrument
in mid-2014, the TCCON instrument began service
as a key calibration and validation point for OCO-2.
To support calibration and validation of OCO-2 with
TCCON, the team:
o Performed close monitoring of the instrument
in order to ensure it was operating properly dur-
ing the OCO-2 inter-comparison, typically with
less than 24 hour notice;
o Completed very rapid processing of data fol-
lowing OCO-2 targets for delivery to California
Institute of Technology (a total of 7 targets since
launch in July 2014); and
o Completed comparisons of TCCON profiles with
those obtained from aircraft also being used for
calibration and validation (Alpha Jet, DC-8, and
ER-2);
• The team examined the ability of TCCON measure-
ments to be used for urban air quality monitoring
using data taken during the INFLUX experiment.

The Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) is an infrared
spectrometer flying aboard the Aura satellite, currently
in Earth orbit. Its high spectral resolution enables it to
measure concentrations of many chemical constituents in
our atmosphere including: ozone (O3
), carbon monoxide (CO),
water vapor (H2
O), peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), formic acid
(CH2
O2
), methanol (CH3
OH), methane (CH4
), and other gases.
Measurements made by TES advance our understanding of
the atmosphere’s chemistry, knowledge that is a prerequisite
to addressing air pollution and climate change. TES focuses
on the troposphere, the layer of atmosphere that stretches
from the ground to approximately 32,000 ft. TES can dis-
tinguish concentrations of gases at different altitudes, a key
factor in understanding their behavior and impact. It is the
first orbiting instrument able to measure ozone profiles, a
very important chemical with regard to both global warm-
ing and air pollution.
ARC-CREST researchers and their partners at NASA-JPL are
analyzing and interpreting TES data, making high quality
TES data products available to the scientific community.
Their work requires close coordination with the NASA
Distributed Active Archive Center where these large datasets
are hosted. Further, they work closely with the TES science
team to expand the retrieval algorithms to capture addi-
tional atmospheric gas concentrations, to improve existing
algorithms by reducing or better quantifying errors, and to
conduct comparisons with other satellite or ground-based
retrievals.
Publications
Kulawik, S. et al. 2014. Estimating biases and errors of CO2
from satellites (AIRS, GOSAT, SCIAMACHY, TES, OCO-2) and
models (CarbonTracker, MACC). 10th International Workshop
on Greenhouse Gas Measurements from Space, ESA/ESTEC,
May 5-7, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES)
NASA: John Worden
Figure 6: An example of data
collected by the TES instrument.
The figure is a global image
of the total column density of
ozone for the month of March in
2011. The ARC-CREST members
of the TES team work to continu-
ally improve and expand the
retrieval algorithms for TES data
products.

• The TES team, led by Dr. Susan Kulawik, imple-
mented and supported the development and launch
of several new TES products or capabilities. In 2014,
the NASA-ARC-based TES team:
o Implemented a new capability within the TES
production code to process data from different
and multiple satellites;
o Validated absorption coefficient updates for
v005 release;
o Supported OCS and PAN development through
prototype runs;
o Tested and evaluated the TES+OMI and AIRS +
OMI ozone products;
o Oversaw the implementation of new OCS,
HCOOH, and CH3
OH TES products;
o Worked with the software team to transition TES
Lite products to produce these for hosting at the
DAAC; and
o Contributed to the TES science team with a
particular focus on CO2
.

Climate Variabilty
and change

The ARISE mission used aircraft and surface-based sensors
to understand the relationship between changes in Arctic
ice and regional energy budgets as influenced by clouds.
Based out of Eielson Air Force Base, Fairbanks, Alaska, the
NASA C-130 completed more than 28 science flights and
registered over 200 science flight hours between August
and October 2014. The mission had two science teams:
1) a radiation team to measure outgoing and incoming solar
and thermal energy and 2) the IceBridge team to meas-
ure sea ice coverage and surface albedo (reflectivity). The
IceBridge team simultaneously fulfilled requirements of the
on-going Operation Ice Bridge (OIB) campaign while also
contributing to the ARISE science mission.
Instruments deployed on the C-130 during ARISE were: the
Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR); the Broad-Band
Radiometer (BBR); the Spectrometer for Sky-scanning, Sun-
tracking Atmospheric Research (4STAR); the Land,
Vegetation and Ice Sensor (LVIS); a geo-located digital cam-
era; the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental
Satellite System Airborne Sounder Test bed (NAST-I); and
various in situ probes.
This scientific payload measured spectral and broadband ra-
diative flux profiles, quantified surface characteristics, cloud
properties, and other atmospheric state parameters under a
variety of Arctic atmospheric and surface conditions (includ-
ing open water, sea ice, and land ice) and coinciding with
satellite overpasses when possible. Long-term monitoring
stations, research vessels, and other surface and aircraft
in-situ measurement missions providing information on sur-
face conditions, radiation, cloud properties, and atmospheric
state were used to complement the data collected by the
NASA C-130. ARC-CREST researchers deployed the 4STAR
instrument on all science flights and are currently working
with the rest of the ARISE science team on data archiving,
analysis and interpretation.
• The ARISE team at NASA-ARC collected aerosol opti-
cal property and trace gas data during more than 60
hours of science flight time. During the mission the
team performed instrument preparation and calibra-
tion, real-time data analysis and development of op-
erational codes.
• The method of comparing thin cirrus retrievals from
sun photometers developed by Segal Rosenhaimer et
al.,2013 was applied to the 4STAR datasets to produce
preliminary cirrus optical depth during ARISE.
• New retrieval algorithms of cloud phase and cloud
properties were also applied to the 4STAR measure-
ments taken during ARISE. The team began develop-
ment of a methodology and framework to perform
cloud radiative forcing calculations under the vari-
ous conditions observed in ARISE. This includes open
ocean and sea ice conditions as well as a method to
generalize cloud phase derivation from hyperspectral
zenith spectra taken by the 4STAR instrument.
• The team continues to coordinate with and provide
support to the scientific community utilizing ARISE
data products from the 4STAR instrument.
Arctic Radiation-IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE)
NASA: Jens Redemann
BAERI: Michal Segal-Rozenheimer, Yohei Shinozuka
Figure 8: The C-130 lands at Eielson Air Force base in
Fairbanks Alaska after completing a science flight during the
ARISE mission in September 2014.

The ESDR project supports the NASA Earth Science Data
Systems Program. The Program’s mission is to both manage
and expand the many Earth science data records obtained
from NASA satellites, airborne platforms, ground stations
and other sources. Management of these datasets includes
archiving, algorithm development, calibration and valida-
tion, processing, quality control, and continued support to
the user community. One component of the ESDR Program,
the Earth System Data Records Uncertainty Analysis, seeks
to extend and enhance Earth system data records used by
NASA communities, including climate data records, through
rigorous estimation of errors. Projects under the Earth
System Data Records Uncertainty Analysis umbrella increase
the scientific value of the measurements by identifying and
validating systematic uncertainties in input data and physi-
cal models and improving error estimations.
ARC-CREST scientists are working on developing and vali-
dating long-term records of atmospheric trace gases, includ-
ing CO2
. They are using multiple remote sensing derived
data products, as well as airborne and ground-based data
to create long-term, consistent data records of atmospheric
CO2
and other trace constituents. This data can be used for
mitigation of natural hazards, K-12 science education, and
other societal benefits.

• The ESDR team, led by Dr. Susan Kulawik, compared
measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2
) as measured
from satellites (TES,AIRS, GOSAT) and estimated from
models (Carbon Tracker, and MACC) to aircraft data,
starting with comparisons to the HIAPER Pole to Pole
Observations (HIPPO).
• In connection with the work above, the team updat-
ed comparisons between SCIAMACHY, GOSAT, MACC,
and Carbon Tracker to TCCON to the latest data ver-
sions available, with a manuscript in preparation.This
next year will focus on additional aircraft sets, includ-
ing sets co-located at TCCON sites and integrating
OCO-2 into the analysis.
• Dr. Susan Kulawik presented at the OCO-2 science
meetings (January 28-30, 2014, Pasadena, CA) and IW-
GGMS-10 (May 5-7, Noordwijk, Netherlands).
Earth Science Data Records (ESDR)
Figure 9: The ARC-CREST ESDR team is
working with multiple measurements
of CO2
, seeking to optimize the
processing of this data for minimum
error. In the plot above, the team is
comparing the standard deviation
in measurements of CO2
in parts per
million from GOSAT satellite to that
of those from the TCCON ground
network (red) and predictions from the
CarbonTracker model (green). This plot
shows that averaging only 3 GOSAT
observations results in greatly reduced
error.

Jiang, X. et al. (Susan Kulawik, among 7 authors). “CO2 Annual and Semiannual Cycles from Satellite Retrievals and Models”
(A41H-3164). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Oetjen, H. et al. (Susan Kulawika among 10 authors). “Extending the Satellite Data Record of Tropospheric Ozone Profiles
from Aura-TES to MetOp-IASI” (A33I-3313). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.
Fu, D. et al. (Susan Kulawik among 16 authors). “Improved Ozone Profile Retrievals Using Multispectral Measurements from
S-NPP and NASA“A Train” Satellites” (IN13C-3664). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19,
San Francisco, CA.
Deng, F. et al. (Susan Kulawik among 7 authors). “Quantifying Regional Sources and Sinks of CO2
Using Data From GOSAT and
TES” (A41G-3141). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Luo, M. et al. (Susan Kulawik among 9 authors). “Introducing and Validating the New Aura CO Product Derived from Joined
TES and MLS Measurements” (A33I-3319). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.
Kuai, L., John Worden, Meemong Lee, J Elliott Campbell, Susan Kulawik, Richard Weidner. “Optimal Estimation of the Carbonyl
Sulfide Surface Flux Through Inverse Modeling of TES Observations” (A13L-3334). Presented at American Geophysical Union
Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.

The MEaSUREs project is also is part of NASA’s Earth Sci-
ence Data Systems Program, the mission of which is to both
manage and expand the many Earth science data records
obtained from NASA satellites, airborne platforms, ground
stations, and other sources. The MEaSUREs project monitors
global croplands to ensure sustainable water and food se-
curity. Development and maintenance of these data records
are important to climate scientists, agricultural scientists,
farmers, natural resource managers, and national leaders.
The currently available cropland products suffer from major
limitations such as:
• Absence of precise spatial location of the cropped areas;
• Coarse resolution of the map products with significant
uncertainties in areas, locations, and detail;
• Uncertainties in differentiating irrigated areas from rain-
fed areas;
• Absence of crop types and cropping intensities; and
• Absence of a dedicated web/data portal for the dissemina-
tion of cropland products.
Using MODIS data, Landsat data and three different crop-
land mapping algorithms to create the Global Cropland Area
Database at a nominal spatial resolution of 30m (GCAD30)
products, ARC-CREST researchers working on the MEaSUREs
project are closing these gaps by producing four products:
1) Cropland extent/area, 2) Crop types with focus on 8 crops
that occupy 70% of the global cropland areas, 3) Irrigated
versus rain fed areas, and 4) Cropping intensities: single,
double, triple, and continuous cropping.
The data and products will be disseminated through the
USGS Powell Center Global Croplands Working Group web
portal (https://my-beta.usgs.gov/wggc/). The MEaSUREs
team is also creating GCAD products for 1990 and will
characterize global cropland dynamics since the 1980s us-
ing AVHRR, MODIS and other available data. Similar to the
ESDR project, MEaSUREs has a strong focus on assessing the
accuracy and uncertainties of the data products.
MEaSUREs, through creation of the GCAD30 database, is
making significant contributions to Earth System Data
Records, the Group on Earth Observations, Agriculture and
Water Societal Beneficial Areas, the Global Agricultural
Monitoring Initiative, and the recent “Big Data” initiative by
the White House. The project has the support of USGS Work-
ing Group on Global Croplands.
Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments
(MEaSUREs)
NASA: Cristina Milesi
BAERI: Pardha Teluguntla
• The team produced the first Global Cropland Extent
(v1) maps at a nominal 1 km resolution and released
the maps through Google Earth Engine and through
the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center.
• The team began work, focusing on Australia, on ver-
sion 2 of the Global Cropland Extent (GCE) maps at a
higher resolution of 250 m. The team began develop-
ment of the Automated Cropland Classification Algo-
rithm for Australia and completed an extensive field
campaign in Australia to collect Ground Reference
data points for different crop types.
• The team presented methods and approaches for
mapping GCEV1.0 and GCEV2.0 at conferences in
Menlo Park, CA and Sioux Falls. IA.

Under the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) project (Nemani et
al., 2011), ARC-CREST scientists and software engineers col-
laborated with scientists and engineers in the NASA Ames
Earth Science Division and the NASA Advanced Supercom-
puting (NAS) Division to implement a first of its kind, col-
laborative supercomputing environment for global change
research.
ARC-CREST researchers support the further development
of NEX. They build and incorporate new technologies and
extend NEX capabilities for research and applied science.
Since its inception in 2011, the NEX project has evolved
from having a single focus on ecological forecasting to pro-
viding access to large datasets, supercomputing capability,
and the support of online collaborative space, thereby maxi-
mizing the scientific output of NASA’s satellite data products
and climate models and greatly facilitating collaboration
in a way that was not previously possible. NEX maintains
a large set of satellite observation and climate model data
for use by NASA-supported researchers who are tackling
science questions over large regional or global areas. NEX
brings the Earth science community members into a virtual
collaborative, where scientists can process large data sets,
run model codes, and share the results and knowledge. As
the data products and models available within NEX and the
community utilizing NEX grow, the support needed to main-
tain this unique collaborative environment also grows.
ARC-CREST researchers collaborate closely with scientists
in NASA Ames Earth Science Division, as well as the broader
NASA Earth science community to apply NEX capabilities
in assessing long-term and emerging trends in ecosystem
conditions, conduct simulations of climate and land use
change impacts on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, map
patterns in biodiversity, and monitor biomass at local to
continental scales. The NEX team also supports applied sci-
ence activities, such as development of indicators of climate
change impacts for Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
and NASA Centers, development of information products to
support land managers, agricultural producers, and water
managers throughout the U.S. NEX also supports monitor-
ing and modeling of natural disasters and emerging public
health threats.
NEX is currently funded by NASA as an “Enabling Tool” to
support the National Climate Assessment (related research
and “Sustained Assessment” activities). NEX is now also part
of the Big Data and Climate Data initiatives that aim to
promote the use of government data for creating new solu-
tions for climate change. The OpenNEX initiative, a collabo-
ration between NASA and Amazon Web Services, develops
cloud-hosted tools and solutions for dealing with satellite
and climate data (e.g. virtual labs) and also climate science
through lectures by experts and challenges. Development
of these tools and maintenance and administration of the
OpenNEX platform are also done by ARC-CREST researchers.
Additional information about NEX can be found at: https://
nex.nasa.gov/nex/
NASA Earth Exchange (NEX)
NASA: Rama Nemani
BAERI: Sangram Ganguly, Gong Zhang, Abishek Rajkumar, Lisa Waring, Parker Abercrombie, Ed Maurer, Bridget Thrasher, Ed
Boyda, Hengyue Zhang, Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Ranga Myneni, Andrew Kumler and Felicia Chiang
CSUMB: Forrest Melton, Petr Votava, Alberto Guzman, Hirofumi Hashimoto, Andrew Michaelis, John Shupe, Weile Wang
University of California, Berkeley: Maggi Kelly,
Figure 10: The NEX community of users has grown
substantially over the past 3 years. ARC-CREST researchers
now provide support for over 1300 projects and nearly 600
users. NEX is a one of its kind virtual platform for studying and
collaborating on Earth science projects.

• ARC-CREST researchers working on the NEX project
launched the OpenNEX2014 Virtual Workshop and
OpenNEX2014 Virtual Challenge. For the workshop
and challenge, the team created original web content
in three areas, all centered on the Open-access NEX
datasets, which are housed on the Amazon Web Ser-
vice. The team created:
1. Keynote lectures given by over 10 experts in the
field and speaking on various aspects of climate
change assessments and data analyses;
2. A series of six hands-on labs, equipped with
video instructions and companion Amazon Web
Service virtual computers; the labs demonstrate
how to access Open NEX datasets and computa-
tional tools;
3. A two-phase (ideation and implementation, re-
spectively) competition or ‘challenge’ inviting the
National Climate Assessment (NCA) community as
well as the general public (“citizen scientists”) to
compete for prizes by designing and implementing
solutions for climate assessment applications,new
data access technology, or data visualization tools.
Since the launch of the workshop on June 21st,
2014, the team’s video lectures and virtual labs
have attracted more than 4,000 viewers and more
than 500 registered participants for the OpenNEX
challenges. The winners were announced at the
annual AGU meeting in December 2014.
• The team expanded the climate downscaling ca-
pability of NEX by building a set of on-demand
downscaling tools that allow users to interactively
produce daily climate projections based on CMIP5
simulations for any grid point or region over the co-
terminous United States at a 1km spatial resolution.
• The team collaborated with Showtime, Google, and
the University of Maryland to film an episode of the
Emmy-winning Showtime series “Years of Living
Dangerously” (http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/).
NEX datasets were featured in the first episode of the
8-part series.
• Under the newly awarded NASA ACCESS project, the
team set up a prototype analytics infrastructure us-
ing SciDB (an array database developed by Paradigm
4) and started testing the system using MODIS and
AVHRR datasets on OpenNEX.
• In collaboration with HabitatSeven,NEX team mem-
bers developed visualization tools for NEX-Down-
scaled Climate Predictions at 30m resolution (NEX-
DCP30). Each projection includes monthly averaged
maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and
precipitation for the periods from 1950 through 2005
(Retrospective Run) and from 2006 to 2099 (Prospec-
tive Run). HabitatSeven and NEX team members were
invited to the White House to present the interface to
the OSTP and the USGCRP;
• In collaboration with researchers at University of
Maryland, College Park, the team developed a physi-
cal algorithm for large-scale retrieval of leaf area
index (LAI) and Vertical Foliage Profile from the Spa-
ceborne Waveform Lidar (GLAS/ICESat);
• In support of the North American Carbon Program’s
North American Forest Dynamics project and in col-
laboration with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture (USDA) and the University of
Maryland (Goward et al., 2008 and Goward et al.
2012) the team produced time series maps of forest
disturbance and regrowth in 55 unique areas in the
U.S. Data products produced from this project http://
dx.doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1077;
• The team participated in an international effort to
compare various models to better understand global
carbon cycling at various temporal and spatial scales
(Huntzinger et al. 2013; Zscheischler et al. 2014);
• The team continued to support the NEX platform
and growing NEX community through the following
activities:
1. Organized three NEX User Working Group meet-
ings;
2. Completed the NEX data management plan;
3. Integrated the new provenance capture system
with NEX and made it accessible to all supercom-
puting users at NASA;
4. Completed two rounds of NEX data system re-
quirements;

5. Continued testing of the new web portal and
content moderation component for the portal;
6. Built a complete Landsat data processing
pipeline and completed the first 3-year epoch of
global Landsat products under the WELD (Web-
enabled Landsat Data) project together with our
collaborators from South Dakota State University
and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS);
7. Completed testing of the interface between
Pleiades computer nodes and NEX database in-
frastructure;
8. Continued development of ticketing user sup-
port system for NEX that is integrated with NAS
user support services; and
9. Supported 181 active NEX science platform
users (up from 158 in FY13, and 503 registered
members for the NEX portal (up from 420).
Figure 11: A screenshot of the OpenNEX Challenge portal. The Chal-
lenge conducted and completed in 2014, provided virtual lectures by
climate experts, computational tools and virtual labs for using and
accessing data and a challenge inviting participants to compete for
prizes designing and implementing solutions for climate change im-
pacts. Winners were announced at the Fall AGU Meeting in December
2014.
Figure 12: A map showing global drought for July 2012 as indexed by the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index Anomaly or
NDVI Anomaly. NDVI is determined from measurements made by the satellite-based AVHRR instrument. Red areas indicate areas
with lower than normal growing conditions, most likely due to drought. This image, developed by the NEX team, was featured in
the Showtime Movie, ‘Years of Living Dangerously’.

Jagermeyr, J., D. Gerten, W. Lucht, P. Hostert, M. Migliavacca, and. R. Nemani. 2014. A high-resolution approach to estimating
ecosystem respiration at continental scales using operational satellite data. Global Change Biology, 20 (4): 1191-1210. http://
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12443/full
Zhang, G. et al. 2014. Estimation of forest aboveground biomass in California using canopy height and leaf area index estimated
from satellite data. Remote Sensing of Environment. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2014.01.025
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425714000558
Book chapter
Ganguly, S. et al. 2014.“Green Leaf Area and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation Absorbed by Vegetation.” In
Biophysical Applications Satellite Remote Sensing. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. 43-61. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-25047-
7_2. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-25047-7_2
Nemani, R., Tsengdar Lee, Andrew Michaelis, Sangram Ganguly, and Petr Votava.“Open NASA Earth Exchange (OpenNEX): A
Public-Private Partnership for Climate Change Research” (U24A-02). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual
Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Michaelis, A. et al.“Open NASA Earth Exchange (OpenNEX): Strategies for enabling cross organization collaboration in the earth
sciences” (IN43A-3683). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Votava, P., Andrew Michaelis, Sangram Ganguly, and Ramakrishna Nemani.“Using Analytics to Support Petabyte-Scale Science
on the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX)” (IN53A-3788, Invited). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, San
Francisco, CA.
Milesi, C. et al.“Mapping Urban Expansion Across North America Using Multi-Temporal Landsat and Nighttime Lights Data”
(B43E-0286). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Ganguly, S., Ramakrishna Nemani, Saikat Basu, Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Andrew Michaelis, and Petr Votava.“Large-Scale
Image Analytics Using Deep Learning” (IN53A-3791, Invited). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Kumar, U. et al.“On the Use of FOSS4G in Land Cover Fraction Estimation with Unmixing Algorithms” (IN22A-04). Presented at
American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Dungan, J., Sangram Ganguly, Forrest Melton, John Shupe, and Ramakrishna Nemani.“Preliminary vegetation index products
from Suomi NPP VIIRS illuminate the California drought” (GC23C-0653). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual
Mukhopadhyay, S., Subhajit Sidhanta, Samrat Ganguly, Sangram Ganguly, and Ramakrishna Nemani.“Cost Optimal Elastic
Auto-Scaling in Cloud Infrastructure” (IN31B-3719B, Invited). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
December 15-19, San Francisco, CA
Saatchi, S. et al. (Sangram Ganguly, Ramakrishna Nemani, and Gong Zhang among 13 authors).“Geography of Global Forest
Carbon Stocks & Dynamics” (B54G-02). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.
Boyda, E. et al. “A Semi-Automated Machine Learning Algorithm for Tree Cover Delineation from 1-m Naip Imagery Using a High
Performance Computing Architecture” (IN21A-3698). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December
15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Boyda, E., Saikat Basu, Sangram Ganguly, Andrew Michaelis, and Ramakrishna Nemani.“Quantum Boosting and Fast Classical
Metrics for Tree Cover Detection in Remote Sensing Data” (IN13D-08). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual
Ganguly, S., et al.“Long-Term Data Records of Biophysical Parameters from Multiple Satellite Systems” (B53G-01, Invited).
Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.

Xu, L., Sassan Saatchi, Yan Yang, Ranga Myneni, Christian Frankenberg, and Diya Chowdhury.“Spatial Patterns of Carbon
Exchange Seasonality in Amazonian Forest” (B11G-0110). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Poulter, P. et al, (Ranga Myneni among 12 authors).“The contribution of semi-arid ecosystems to interannual global carbon
cycle variability” (A53R-07, Invited). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.
Choi, S., Taejin Park, Jian Bi, Yuri Knyazikhin, and Ranga Myneni.“Satellite lidar data do not show static greenness in wet
equatorial Amazonian rainforests” (B11G-0111). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December
Knyazikhin, Y., Jian Bi, Sungho Choi, Taejin Park, and Ranga Myneni.“Monitoring Seasonality in Phenology of Amazonian
Rainforests Using MISR and MODIS Data” (GC51E-0476). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Schleeweis, K. et al. (A. Michaelis and N. Ramakrishna, among 11 authors).“Using NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) to develop
annual US Forest Disturbance products” (B53B-0189). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Huang, C. et al. (R. Nemani among 11 authors) ,“A Quarter-Century U.S. Forest Disturbance History Mapped from Landsat”
(B51L-05). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Mithal, V., A. Khandelwal, G. Nayak, V. Kumar, R. Nemani, and N. Oza,“Spatio-temporal data mining approach to global scale
burned area monitoring” (IN53A-3786).Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.
Oza, N. et al. (R. Nemani, A. Michaelis, and P. Votava, among 11 authors) “Integrating parallel and distributed data mining
algorithms into the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX)” (IN53A-3794). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual
Sasai, T., D. Sugiyama K. Murakami, Y. Setoyama, S. Watanabe, and R. Nemani,“Impact of cumulated CO2 emission on air
temperature: Millennial-scale prediction” (GC41C-0571). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Wang, W., R. Nemani, and H. Hashimoto,“Variability of Global Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations over Interannual to Multi-
Decadal Timescales: A Linear Approximation” (B33A-0162). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,

Carbon cycle
and ecosystems

The NASA CMS program, initiated and directed through a
2010 Congressional Appropriation, is a forward-looking
initiative, the goal of which is to make significant contri-
butions in characterizing, quantifying, understanding, and
predicting the evolution of global carbon sources and sinks
through improved monitoring of carbon stocks and fluxes.
Accurate monitoring of carbon sources and sinks from
space-borne measurements and modeling techniques is key
to reducing carbon emissions and abating climate change
due to carbon-induced warming of the atmosphere.
A major piece of the larger CMS program is the quantifica-
tion of regional-to-continental forest Aboveground Biomass
(AGB) and forest canopy height using a host of satellite-de-
rived data, ground data, and physical models. Forest canopy
height and AGB are key biophysical parameters needed to
understand local, regional, and global carbon cycles and
serve as an important input to a variety of climate and
ecosystem models. Satellite-based observation and/or geo-
spatial predictors (e.g., climate variables) represent a vast
improvement over existing AGB and forest canopy height
datasets derived from ground measurements. Because these
measurements are extremely labor-intensive to make, they
are limited in spatial and temporal coverage and impractical
for large-scale monitoring.
ARC-CREST and NASA researchers are estimating forest
cover for the continental U.S. at spatial resolution of 1-m,
greatly reducing uncertainties in the AGB estimation. The
team is using a state-of-the art machine learning algorithm
and segmentation algorithms to delineate tree cover from
the USDA National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP)
Imagery. The generated 1-m forest cover map will be aggre-
gated to the Landsat spatial grid to demonstrate differences
in AGB estimates (pixel-level AGB density, total AGB at ag-
gregated scales like eco-regions and counties) when using
a native 30 m forest cover map versus a 30 m map derived
from a higher resolution dataset. A LiDAR-derived AGB
estimate at the 30 m scale is being used to aid in true vali-
dation. This work is necessary for quantifying errors and un-
certainties in NASA CMS products. This work is an extension
of previous CMS Phase II work which demonstrated the use
of Landsat-based estimates of Leaf Area Index and ICESat
Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) derived canopy
heights for estimating AGB at a 30 m spatial resolution and
which compared relatively well with inventory-based plot
level (ground-based) estimates.
• The team developed a first of its kind map of above-
ground carbon stocks for California at 30 m spatial res-
olution. The team used a combination of remote sens-
ing products combined with ground inventory data to
create and share the map via the NEX platform.
• The team developed additional map products show-
ing the change in carbon stocks in California from
2001 to the present, primarily using MODIS time series.
Unique to this analysis was the construction of a paral-
lel computing framework to accommodate the massive
time series analysis. With this framework the team de-
tected the magnitude of disturbance in forested pixels
and estimated the corresponding date of disturbance
for two golden tiles covering the east coast and the
west coast of the coterminus United States.
• Using the Allometric Scaling and Resource Limita-
tions model, the team developed theoretical relation-
ships between tree height and available, evaporative,
and basal metabolic flow rates. These relationships
were then used to generate predictions of maximum
forest height for forested areas across the continental
U.S. and to compare them to actual reference height
data by region and accounting for forest age.
Carbon Monitoring Systems (CMS)
NASA: Rama Nemani
BAERI: Sangram Ganguly, Sungho Choi

Figure 13: Maps of above-ground forest biomass like the one on the right for the state of California are created by the CMS
team using data products from several satellite based sensors shown above.
Zhang, G. et al. 2014. Estimation of forest aboveground biomass in California using canopy height and leaf area index
estimated from satellite data. Remote Sensing of Environment. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2014.01.025.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425714000558
Tang, H., Ralph Dubayah, Sangram Ganguly, and Gong Zhang.“First Near-Continental Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Vertical Foliage
Profile (VFP) Product from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS)” (B43H-03). Presented at American Geophysical
Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Zhang,G., Sangram Ganguly, Ramakrishna Nemani, Cristina Milesi, Saikat Basu, and Uttam Kumar.“Reducing Uncertainties in
Satellite-derived Forest Aboveground Biomass Estimates using a High Resolution Forest Cover Map” (B53C-0199). Presented
at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Image Analytics Using Deep Learning” (IN53A-3791, Invited). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Boyda, E. et al. “A Semi-Automated Machine Learning Algorithm for Tree Cover Delineation from 1-m Naip Imagery Using a
High Performance Computing Architecture” (IN21A-3698). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Boyda, E., Saikat Basu, Sangram Ganguly, Andrew Michaelis, and Ramakrishna Nemani.“Quantum Boosting and Fast Classical
Metrics for Tree Cover Detection in Remote Sensing Data” (IN13D-08). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual

ARC-CREST researchers on the Plant Physiology team are
studying the ecophysiology of biological systems in both
synthetic and natural environments. In natural environ-
ments, the team is investigating how plants respond to
environmental toxicity, bioremediation, and adaptation
to climate change, as well as how invasive plant species
impact ecosystem functions. This is especially important as
the range of many plant species is expected to change with
changing climate and associated changes in resource avail-
ability. As the climate changes, different types of plants may
be co-located that were not historically within the same
ecosystem.
The team uses a variety of techniques including: forward
osmosis for determining toxicity thresholds; growth cham-
bers and experiments to induce phenology changes; and
soil water dynamic studies and remote sensing techniques
(e.g. hyper-spectral imaging to view accumulation of toxins).
These techniques are also used to investigate carbon flux
and plant physiology.
Finally, the Plant Physiology team is developing “Sustain-
able, Closed Ecology Systems” to provide life support for
space travel and other planetary habitats. Using plants to
produce food, oxygen, and water while removing CO2
from
the air and recovering nutrients from wastes is important to
achieving sustainable, self-sufficient human settlements in
space or on other planets.
• Continuing work begun in 2013 to set up and initi-
ate this project,the team built culture tanks for native
and invasive aquatic plants from the Sacramento/San
Joaquin Delta region and developed culture tech-
niques for these species.
• In support of the Controlled Ecological Life Sup-
port System Antarctic Analog Project, the team began
retrofiting large walk-in chamber for aquatic plant
culture and for use in spectral analysis.The team also
tested and identified water quality issues affecting
aquatic plant culture in the new chamber.
• The team worked with California Boating and Wa-
terways personnel to map and identify regions of
aquatic plant populations in an 8-mile tract area and
collected multiple species of plants, including plants
of primary interest, Egeria densa and Potamogeton
crispus.
Plant Physiology
NASA: Dave Bubenheim
BAERI: Dave Wilson, Greg Schlick
Figure 14: Potamegon crispus, or
curlyleaf pondweed is an invasive spe-
cies in California and can become prob-
lematic in managed waterways such as
irrigation canals. The team worked with
California officials in 2014 to map areas
of this and other invasives.
Image Credit: Chris Evans, Illinois Wild-
life Action Plan, Bugwood.org

The ARC-CREST Terrestrial Ecosystem and Carbon Simulation
Modeling group studies the movement of carbon through,
and the storage of carbon within terrestrial ecosystems. The
primary goal of this research is the accurate quantification
of the carbon fluxes and storage pools under current condi-
tions and how they might change in response to external
forcing such as global climate warming, and changing land
use patterns. The NASA-CASA Ecosystem modeling frame-
work, developed by this research group, has been imple-
mented to estimate historical as well as current monthly
patterns in plant carbon fixation, living biomass increments,
and long-term decay of woody (slash) pools before, during,
and after land cover disturbance events such as fire or clear-
ing for agriculture.
The team also supports the SilvaCarbon program, the United
States’ contribution to the Global Earth Observation System
of Systems (GEOSS). GEOSS is a U.S.-led technical assistance
program for resource managers, decision makers, and emer-
gency managers around the world and provides data and
information about a variety of Earth observations.
The ARC-CREST team is also involved in the U. S. Agency
for International Development’s Forest Carbon, Markets and
Communities (FCMC) program. This program’s core mission
is to build technical capacity by developing tools and train-
ing that support USAID and SilvaCarbon contributions to the
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (REDD+) program. The team provides technical
support to users of SilvaCarbon and FCMC by posting user
guides (in English and Spanish) on their website accompa-
nied by methods for using the CASA-CQUEST model’s annual
change in forest carbon. This model output defines the
upper limit for the amount of harvested wood products that
can be removed and still avoid degradation (net loss) of the
total wood carbon stock over that same time period. One of
the first products the team developed was used for a REDD+
project in Borneo, Indonesia.
The ARC-CREST Terrestrial Ecosystem and Carbon Simulation
Modeling group has also been working for the past 3 years
under the federally funded National Climate Assessment
project. As part of this assessment the team is determining
which variables are most closely associated with high sus-
tained forest production and CO2
sinks in the U.S. over the
past decade and which variables are most closely associated
with unsustainable forest production and large annual CO2
emissions. Also, in support of the National Climate Assess-
ment, the CASA model is being used to predict changes
in forest net primary productivity and to quantify annual
carbon sinks or source fluxes from all forested lands in the
continental U.S. This work is important for an accurate
United States’ greenhouse gas inventory and understanding
the potential for forest carbon sequestration within the U.S.
Terrestrial Ecosystem and Carbon Simulation Modeling
NASA: Chris Potter
CSUMB: Steven Klooster; Vanessa Brooks Genovese, John Shupe
Figure 15: The team provides support to users of SilvaCarbon, a technical assistance program sponsored by U.S. agencies and
intended for forest managers around the world who use SilvaCarbon’s models and outputs to understand changes in forest
carbon.

• The team improved the NASA-CASA model algo-
rithms, allowing a more accurate representation
of environmental processes in specific regions of
interest.
• For the SilvaCarbon project, the team continued
to evaluate degradation of the forests in Vietnam,
Indonesia, Peru, and Gabon using Landsat 8 imagery
inputs to the CASA model.
• Landsat ETM+ images for the study sites were
processed and region-wide estimates of forest
net primary production (NPP) at 30 meters spatial
resolution were generated, also for the SilvaCarbon
project.
• The team continued their support of the National
Climate Assessment, updating the results of this
analysis with the recent years’ satellite data.
• For the National Climate Assessment, the team ran
the model with several different scenarios repre-
senting a “normal” scenario and a “removal” scenario
where the forests are harvested and removed and
the by-products are spatially redistributed.
• The team completed several computer server
updates and development projects such as adding
additional data output options to the CASA model
like GeoTIFF.
Potter, C.”Ten years of forest cover change in the Sierra Nevada detected using Landsat satellite image analysis”, Interna-
tional Journal of Remote Sensing 35 (2014):7136–7153.
Potter, C.“Geographic analysis of burn severity for the 2013 California Rim Fire”, Natural Resources 5 (2014): 597-606;
doi:10.4236/nr.2014.511052. http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=48894#.VCnozSj_Qso
Potter, C.“Global assessment of damage to coastal ecosystem vegetation from tropical storms”, Remote Sensing Letters 5
(2014): 4, 315–322, doi:10.1080/2150704X.2014.902546. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/.VCnpvSj_Qso
Potter, C.“Microclimate influences on vegetation water availability and net primary production in coastal ecosystems of
Central California”, Landscape Ecology 29 (2014): 4, 677-687, doi: 10.1077/s10980-014-002-6.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-014-0002-6

Potter, C.“Regional analysis of MODIS satellite greenness trends for ecosystems of interior Alaska”, GIScience & Remote
Sensing 51(2014): 4, 390-402. http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=49169#.VCnrCyj_Qso
Potter, C.“Regional analysis of NASA satellite greenness trends for ecosystems of arctic Alaska”, International Journal of
Geosciences 5 (2014): 997-1006.
Potter, C.“Regional analysis of NASA satellite greenness trends for ecosystems of arctic Alaska”, Intl. Journal of Geosciences
5(2014): 997-1006.http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ijg.2014.59085
Potter, C., J. Melack, and D. Engle,”Modeling methane emissions from Amazon floodplain ecosystems”, Wetlands 34 (2014): 3,
501-511, doi: 10.1007/s13157-0140516-3. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-014-0002-6
Shupe, J. and C. Potter,“Modeling Discharge Rates Using a Coupled Modeled Approach for the Merced River in Yosemite
National Park”, J. American Water Resources Assn. 50 (2014): 1, 153-162, doi: 10.1111/jawr.12124.

The Coastal Ocean Biology project is using remote sensing
tools and analysis techniques to assess the health of coastal
and marine ecosystems (CMEs) in Puerto Rico. The CMEs in
Puerto Rico have been severely impacted in recent decades
by human activities including: the construction of river
dams; urban expansion, continuing agricultural activities,
intensive deforestation, and sand extraction. These activities
affect the supply of sediment, nutrients, and contaminants
to coastal waters. In particular, the coverage of mangroves
that provide a variety of critical ecosystem services has
diminished.
ARC-CREST researchers are using remote sensing capabili-
ties to define the changes in CME spatiotemporal distribu-
tion over the period 1936-2015. Airborne and satellite sen-
sors (multi and hyperspectral) used include: Landsat ETM+,
Landsat 8 OLI, MODIS, AVIRIS, and HICO. The goals of this
research are: 1) to conduct an interdisciplinary study using
sound mapping technologies and hydrological modeling in
order to infer how anthropogenic activities related to land
cover/land use changes have modified riverine inputs into
the CMEs of two priority watersheds located on the north
and south coasts of Puerto Rico and 2) to combine outputs
from field measurements within CMEs, ecological modeling,
and economic valuation methods to assess the degradation
of the selected watersheds.
Coastal Ocean Biology
NASA: Liane Guild
BAERI: Juan Torres-Perez, Sherry Palacios
Figure 16: ARC-CREST researcher Dr. Juan Torres-Perez takes
measurements of corals off of Puerto Rico’s south coast to better
understand changes to this environment from riverine inputs.
• ARC-CREST staff person and Coastal Ocean Biology
projects team lead, Dr. Juan Torres-Perez got the pro-
ject off to a successful start by: 1) leading monthly
coordination meetings with University of Puerto Rico
collaborators; 2) creating schedules and staffing ma-
trices for field work and other major deliverables as
well as other project management tools for the team;
3) presenting the project in the annual Biodiversity
and Ecological Forecasting/Ocean Color Research
Team meeting in Washington DC; 4) connecting with
teams of other related, NASA-funded research projects
and 5) establishing collaborations with NGOs and
other federal agencies at the 32nd US Coral Reef Task
Force Meeting in Maui.
• The team collected benthic coral reef data for mul-
tiple sites on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico and
installed multiple underwater sediment traps at the
study sites.
• The team collected around 3,000 photo grids, char-
acterizing six different reefs along the southwest
coast of Puerto Rico.
• For the HyspIRI Preparatory Mission in Monterey Bay,
the team collected field spectral information at Pinto
Lake in Watsonville and at a white target site in Moss
Landing for the validation of airborne images ob-
tained with the AVIRIS and MASTER sensors on-board
the ER-2 aircraft.

Liu, G. et al. ( L. S. Guild,among 16 authors). 2014. Reef-Scale Thermal Stress Monitoring of Coral Ecosystems: New 5-km
Global Products from NOAA Coral Reef Watch. Remote Sensing, 6: 11579-11606; doi: 10.3390/rs61111579.
Torres-Perez, J. L., R. A. Armstrong, and Y. Detres. 2014.“Impacts of UV radiation on Caribbean coastal marine ecosystems.” In UV
Radiation: Properties, Effects, and Applications, edited by J. Radosevich. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 37-77.
Guild, L. et al.“NASA COAST and OCEANIA airborne missions support ecosystem and water quality research in the coastal
zone” (OS44A-05). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Palacios, S. et al. “Bringing the ocean into finer focus through the NASA COAST, HyspIRL and OCEANIA suborbital missions”
(OS41A-1176). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.

NASA and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) have collaborated
since the 1990’s in the development and use of unmanned
aircraft systems (UAS) and improved remote sensing systems
to better support the observations of wildfires. ARC-CREST
researchers are part of this on-going collaboration. Over the
past decade, the team has progressed from mission design
concepts to conducting actual UAS emergency support data
collection flights over wildfires in California and the western
US in 2006-2009. During these flights, NASA and USFS
successfully demonstrated the UAS as a wildfire sensing
platform, and the payload and associated data analysis and
communications suite as a much improved tool for wildfire
decision support.
Since 2010, this work has evolved with the primary objective
of NASA and ARC-CREST researchers being to improve how
remote sensing data is used and to analyze data acquired
by manned aircrafts and UASs for environmental monitoring
and management.
Disaster Management
NASA: Jim Brass
CSUMB: Vince Ambrosia, Robert Dahlgren
Figure 17: At the October 2014 Tactical Fire Re-
mote Sensing Advisory Committee Meeting, CalFire
representatives reported that California Fire Agencies
used remote sensing on 55 incidents in 2014 with
348 flights. Remote sensing data for the King Fire in
September 2014 is shown above.
• The team made recommendations to the NASA
Applied Science Program for 9 Phase II wildfire
projects. These projects, if conducted, would build
upon highly successful Phase I work where ARC-
CREST scientists and NASA partners developed
payloads for measuring and imaging forest fires
from an airborne platform and demonstrated the
use of UAS to gather, analyze, and display fire data
in real time to fire fighters on the ground. To make
recommendations, the team organized and man-
aged a two-day peer review panel of 13 members
from the fire science community.
• The team attended the NASA Wildfire Program
meeting,made presentations,and worked to devel-
op collaborations for future wildfire focused pro-
jects between NASA, other government agencies,
and NGO’s (such as the Joint Fire Science Program,
National Research Council, OSTP Sub-Committee
on Disasters, and others).
• The team organized and led two meetings in May
2014 (NASA-Ames Research Park) and October
2014 (Reno, NV) of the Tactical Fire Remote Sens-
ing Advisory Committee. The meetings included
participation from various fire management agen-
cies and focused on facilitating improved observa-
tional capabilities for wildfire occurrences;

Dahlgren, R.P., Johnston, M.J.S., Vanderbilt, V.C, and Nakaba, R.N.’ Comparison of the stress-stimulated current of dry and fluid
saturated gabbro samples, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 104, p2662-2672 (2014).
Schroeder, W. et al.(Ambrosia among 9 authors). (2014). Integrated Active Fire Retrievals and Biomass Burning Emissions Using
Complementary Near-Coincident Ground, Airborne and Spaceborne Sensor Data, Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 140, pp.
719–730.
Hinkley, E.A., V.G. Ambrosia, S. Wegener (2014),“Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Environmental Monitoring Applications,” In W.
Messnew (Ed.), Autonomous Technologies: Applications That Matter, Society of American Engineers International, Warrendale,
PA., Chapter 8, pp. 138-156.
Ambrosia, V. G. and T. Zajkowski (2014), Selection of Appropriate Class UAS / Sensors to Support Fire Monitoring, Real-Life
Experiences In the U.S. Ed: K.P. Valavanis and G.J. Vachtsevanos (Eds.), Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Springer
Netherlands, Dordrecht, Chapter 113, pp. 2723-2754.
Ambrosia, V.G.“UAV Flight Opportunities” in EAR to the * Ground, the NSF Geosciences Directorate quarterly newsletter (Spring
2014, p5-6).
Ambrosia, V.G. 2014. Ikhana and Other UAS Technologies for Real-Time Monitoring of Wildfires. USGS Innovation Center for
Earth Sciences Workshop, Fall 2014: A World of Natural Hazards, Menlo Park, CA. 12 December 2014.
Ambrosia, V. G., A. Soja, L. Friedl, 2014. NASA and Wildfires: Driving Research to Operations. 7th International Conference on
Forest Fire Research, Coimbra, Portugal, 17-21 November 2014.
• The team participated and/or represented NASA-
ARC at the following events in the wildfire science
community: 1) International Union of Forest Re-
search Organizations (IUFRO) in Salt lake City, UT,
Oct. 2014; 2) Pecora Conference, Denver, CO, Nov.
2014 (special session on NASA Wildfire Applica-
tions); 3) NASA Wildfire program on Interagency
Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC), Wildfire
Implementation Team; 4) American Society of Pho-
togrammetry and Remote Sensing UAS for Natural
Resources Workshop, Reno, NV (Oct. 2014) and 5)
USGS Innovation Center for Earth Sciences Work-
shop.
• The team, now recognized for excellence in wild-
fire science applications, served on the follow-
ing review panels: National Science Foundation,
International Journal of Remote Sensing, Remote
Sensing of Environment Journal, Remote Sensing
Journal, IGARSS-TGRS Journal, Journal of Field Ro-
botics, Geocarto International Journal,AIAA Journal
of Aircraft, NASA SBIR Proposals, and USDA SBIR
Proposal,as well as NASA Peer Review Science Pro-
gram Panels.Figure 18: Pre-flight checks on the DataHawk UAS being
conducted at Crows Landing, California.

Ambrosia, V.G., A. Soja, and L. Friedl, 2014. NASA Applied Science Program – Wildland Fire: Driving Research to Operations.
Pecora 19, Sustaining Land Imaging: UAS to Satellites, Denver, CO., 17-20 November 2014.
Ambrosia, V.G., 2014. Drones: Capabilities and Uses. California Emergency Services Association (CESA) Southern Chapter 2014
Fall Workshop: Unmanned Aerial vehicles (Drones) and The 2014 San Diego Wildfires, Cerritos, CA, 14 August 2014.
Ambrosia, V.G. 2014. NASA / USFS Collaboration: Advances in Wildfire Observations With UAS. Applications of UAS to Land
and Natural Resource Management Workshop, Argonne, IL, 16-17 July 2014.
Carlson, G.G., Dahlgren, R.P., Vanderbilt, V.C., Johnston, M.J.S, Dunson, J.C, Gray, A.L., and Freund, F.T. Stress-dependent voltage
offsets from polymer insulators used in rock mechanics and material testing, AGU Fall Meeting (2013). Poster Presentation.
Green, J., B. Quayle, J. Johnson, E. A. Hinkley, V.G. Ambrosia, 2014. Operational Test Results and Technical Description of the
Xiomas Airborne Wide Area Imager. Conference Proceedings of the Large Wildland Fires: Social, Political and Ecological
Effects Conference, Missoula, MT, 19-23 May 2014.
Soja, A. and V.G. Ambrosia, 2014. Earth Science Serving Society: NASA Earth Science Applications Program – Wildland Fire. 5th
Joint Fire Science Program Knowledge Exchange Consortia Meeting, Tucson, AZ, 6-7 May 2014.
Ambrosia, V.G. 2014. NASA and Wildfires: Science and Technology Supporting the Nation. Future of Wildfires Futurecasting
Summit, U.S. Air Force Academy, CO. Springs, CO., 13-14 February 2014.
Ambrosia, V.G. 2014. UAV Remote Sensing Platforms for Emergency Response and Management. 53rd Annual Geomatics
Engineering Conference, Fresno State University, Clovis, CA, 24-25 January 2014.
Ambrosia, V.G. 2014. NASA / USFS Collaboration: Advances in Wildfire Observations With UAS. USFS Aerial Survey Working
Group (ASWG) Meeting, NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA., 22-23 January 2014.
Ambrosia, V.G., R. Dahlgren, A. Watts, and T. Ball. A23B-3221. UAS Developments in Supporting Wildfire Observations. Presented
at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Koltunov, A., B. Quayle, E. Prins, V. Ambrosia, and S. Ustin. IN41D-02. From Data to Knowledge - Faster: GOES Early Fire
Detection System to Inform Operational Wildfire Response and Management. Presented at American Geophysical Union
Ambrosia, V.G., L. Friedl, and A. Soja. NASA HyperWall Presentation, NASA Exhibit Booth, NASA and Wildfires. Presented at
Dahlgren, R. P., M. Johnston, and V. Vanderbilt. NH31B-3867. Stress-stimulated Current of Dry Rocks with Constant Clamping
Stress. Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Vanderbilt, V., C. Daughtry, L. Biehl, and R. Dahlgren.B51F-0078. Optical Polarization of Light from a Sorghum Canopy
Measured under both a Clear and an Overcast Sky. Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-
19, San Francisco, CA.

Climate variability and climate change pose a range of
hazards, including rise in sea level, increased frequency
and intensity of wildfire, increased duration and intensity
of drought in some regions, changes in precipitation pat-
terns in other regions, increased frequency and duration of
extreme heat events and changes in the ranges of flora and
fauna. Many of these climate impacts will impede or greatly
challenge federal agencies in fulfilling their missions. In
2009, President Obama issued an executive order to federal
agencies to develop Agency Adaptation Plans to evaluate
the most significant climate change related risks to, and
vulnerabilities in, agency operations and missions, both
short term and long term. The Climate Adaptation Science
Investigators (CASI) Workgroup, a partnership between Earth
scientists and institutional stewards, is tasked to assist in
the development of Climate Change Adaptation strategies
for NASA and for individual NASA Centers.
In addition to working on the most recent release of the
NASA Climate Risk Management Plan (http://www.nasa.gov/
sites/default/files/files/NASA_2014_Climate_Risk_Mgmt_
Plan.pdf) , ARC-CREST researchers on the CASI Workgroup
are working on the following: developing climate projec-
tions with associated uncertainties for each Center; invento-
rying climate data, climate impact data and climate project
activities within NASA; assessing adaptation approaches
and Center level planning strategies; making recommen-
dations for future research initiatives that fill gaps; and
leading thematic, region specific workshops. At NASA-ARC,
some of this work builds on previous work conducted by
ARC-CREST scientists showing the potential for using the
Northern Oscillation Index (NOI) as a predictor of drought
for California and the larger Southwest region. In California,
a large fraction of annual precipitation arrives in just a few
storms (generally, fewer than 10 storms per year). Therefore,
the ability to predict storm likelihood and by proxy drought,
would be a very powerful management tool affecting mil-
lions of people.
• The CASI team continued to build and improve their
model that predicts extreme precipitation events and
storm water runoff in California using NOI and Spe-
cific Atmospheric Humidity (HUS) as predictors. They
completed a variety of statistical analyses on precipi-
tation data and model return values.
• The team examined differences in model output
when using precipitation data downscaled using ei-
ther the BCCA (Bias-Correction Constructed Analogs)
or BCSD (Bias Correction Spatial Disaggregation)
downscaling method.
• The team presented these analyses at the Bay Delta
Science Conference in October 2014. The Bay Delta
Science Conference is a forum for presenting techni-
cal analyses and results relevant to managing the San
Francisco Bay and San Joaquin and Sacramento River
Delta using the best possible science. The goal of the
conference is to provide new information and synthe-
ses to the broad community of scientists, engineers,
resource managers, and stakeholders working on this
unique, vulnerable and vitally important ecosystem.
Changes in precipitation are especially important to
the health and management of this resource.
• ARC-CREST Researchers and their NASA counter-
parts on the CASI team continue to support the fulfill-
ment of Executive Order 13514 Federal Leadership in
Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance. In
October 31, NASA’s 2014 Climate Risk Management
Plan was released. The CASI team has begun related
work in sea-level rise impacts at NASA-ARC.
Climate Adaptation Science Investigators (CASI)
NASA: Cristina Milesi, Max Loewenstein
BAERI: Felicia Chiang

Cristina, M. Comparison of Downscaled CMIP5 Precipitation Datasets for Projecting Changes in Extreme Precipitation in the
San Francisco Bay Area. Presented at the 2014 Bay Delta Science Conference, Sacramento California.
Rath, J., M. Costa-Cabral, W. Mills, P. Bromirski, C. Milesi, S. Roy, and R. Coats,“The Northern Oscillation Index as a predictor of
precipitation in California” (GC51A-0387). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.
Chiang, F., C. Milesi, M. Costa-Gabral, J. Rath, W. Wang, and J. Podolske,“Extreme Precipitation in the San Francisco Bay Area:
Comparing Downscaling Methodologies’ Skill in Representing Extreme Precipitation in Hindcasts and Differences in Their
Projections” (GC51A-0390). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Figure 19: Projected high tide
water levels in south San
Francisco Bay with a 50cm
rise in global mean sea level
rise. The NASA-ARC facility can
be identified by the airfield (2
runways oriented vertically)
located just left of center.

The Ecological Forecasting program is one sub-program
within NASA’s Applied Science Program whose larger goal is
to advance innovative and practical uses of Earth observa-
tions and modelling in order to enhance stewardship of
natural resources and decision making of public and private
organizations. The Program, new to the ARC-CREST coopera-
tive agreement in 2014, solicits proposals and includes a
portfolio of projects in the Ecological Forecasting area. ARC-
CREST staff are managing the Program, reviewing proposals
and will be working with the research teams that submit
successful proposals in coming years.
The project manager is responsible for overseeing the fol-
lowing projects, selected in 2014:
• Bayesian Data-Model Synthesis for Biological Conserva-
tion and Management in Antarctica. Project PI: Dr. Heather J.
Lynch (Stony Brook University)
• Snapshot Wisconsin: Bringing wildlife management into
focus through integration of camera traps, remote sensing
and citizen science to improve population modeling. Project
PI: Dr. Philip A. Townsend (University of Wisconsin)
• Projecting Effects of Climate Change on River Habitats
and Salmonid Fishes: Integrating remote sensing, genom-
ics and demography to inform conservation. Project PI: Dr.
Gordon Luikart, Flathead Lake Biological Station, University
of Montana
• Snow, Montane Wildflowers and Citizen Scientists. Project
PI: Dr. Janneke Hille Ris Lambers (University of Washington)
• As director of the Ecological Forecasting Program,
Cindy Schmidt managed the conduct of the program
by:
1) attending bi-weekly conference calls to discuss
project progress as well as strategies for the pro-
gram;
2) reviewing and approving required reports from
project PIs;
3) presenting project summaries at the bi-monthly
NASA Applied Science Program reviews; and
4) communicating frequently with principal inves-
tigators of projects within the program to ensure
projects are making adequate progress.
NASA: Jim Brass
BAERI: Cindy Schmidt

The GEOstationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-
CAPE) mission was recommended by the National Research
Council’s Earth Science Decadal Survey to measure tropo-
spheric trace gases and aerosols as well as coastal ocean
phytoplankton, water quality and biogeochemistry from geo-
stationary orbit. Multiple observations per day are required
to determine tropospheric composition and air quality over
spatial scales ranging from urban to continental, and over
temporal scales ranging from diurnal to seasonal. High
frequency satellite observations are also critical to studying
and quantifying biological, chemical, and physical processes
within the coastal ocean and beyond.
ARC-CREST researchers are involved in mission plan-
ning and the development of instrument concepts for this
upcoming satellite mission. GEO-CAPE is planned to be
in orbit in the 2020 time frame. At this preliminary stage,
several instrument concepts are being studied to ensure
that a range of potential instruments can meet GEO-CAPE
requirements.
• In support of the alternative mission implemen-
tation concepts, the team simulated multi-spectral
ozone retrievals. They ran 4,050 simulations for 17
different surface sites, with different wavelengths and
with different netcdf products. The team was then
able to characterize sensitivity as a function of the
atmospheric state for different simulated instruments.
Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events Mission (GEO-CAPE )
NASA: Laura Iraci
Figure 20: ARC-CREST researchers are contributing to the planning and development of the GEO-CAPE Mission. Planned to be
in orbit ~ 2020, GEO-CAPE will measure tropospheric trace gases and aerosols and coastal ocean phytoplankton, water quality
and biogeochemistry from geostationary orbit, providing multiple daily observations within the field of view.

Agriculture, Health and Marine Studies encompass various
efforts by ARC-CREST researchers that fall within NASA’s
Applied Sciences Program. These projects generally apply
NASA Earth observations and remote sensing technologies
to improve understanding of environmental conditions and
ecological processes that affect agriculture, public health
and vector borne disease, and marine ecosystems. The goal
is for these observations to enhance policy and decision-
making capabilities. ARC-CREST researchers are working
mainly on agricultural issues, promoting innovation in public
and private sector organizations by bringing NASA satellite
data, model products, and scientific findings to agricultural
management and policy activities. Currently, ARC-CREST
researchers are working with the California Department of
Water Resources and farmers throughout California to sup-
port decision making associated with the severe drought.
They are creating maps, projections, and tools that can be
used for water and agriculture management using satel-
lite and airborne-based data. Communication with the
management and policy community as well as mentoring of
students are also critical to this work.
•Researchers developed algorithms for mapping
drought impacts on agricultural production and land
fallowing due to drought in California. They demon-
strated the ability to deliver this type of data monthly
with a time lag of 1-2 weeks and with an accuracy of
better than +/-15%.
• The team delivered data of this type to the Califor-
nia Department of Water Resources (CDWR), the Cali-
fornia Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA),
and the CA Governor’s Drought Task Force for the
months of April through October in 2014.
• Data from the Fallowed Area Mapping project was
featured in National Geographic magazine in the
pullout map in the October 2014 issue on Drought in
the West available at http://www.nationalgeographic.
com/west-snow-fail/draining-california/index.html
• The Satellite Irrigation Management System (SIMS)
data processing system underwent continued devel-
opment on the NEX,including prototype web and mo-
bile interfaces and gathering feedback from growers
in California using this data.
• The team presented results of the use and utility of
the SIMS system to CDWR and expanded the network
of growers using the system in Fresno and Salinas
Valley.
Agriculture, Health and Marine Studies
NASA: Jim Brass
CSUMB: Forrest Melton, Lee Johnson, Alberto Guzman, David Hamblin, Gwen Miller, Andrew Michaelis, Kirk Post, Carolyn Ro-
sevelt, John Shupe, Aimee Teaby, Sean Windell
Figure 21: Fallowed crop areas in California’s Central
Valley during summer 2014. Fallowed areas were deter-
mined from measurements made by various vegetation
mapping instruments on board the Landsat 7 ,Landsat 8,
Terra and Aqua satellites and are being used by Califor-
nia water managers as one drought monitoring index.

Johnson, L., M. Cahn, F. Martin, F. Melton, S. Benzen, B. Farrara, and K. Post. Evapotranspiration-based irrigation scheduling of
lettuce and broccoli. HortScience (in prep).
AghaKouchak, A. et al. (Melton, F.S. among 7 authors) Remote Sensing of Drought: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities.
Geophysical Research Letters, (in review).
Medellin-Azuara, J. et al (Melton, F. among 10 authors) Hydro-economic analysis of groundwater pumping for California’s
Central Valley irrigated agriculture. Hydrogeology (in review).
Wu, Z. et al. (F. Melton, L. Johnson, and C. Rosevelt among 10 authors). 2014. Seasonal cropland mapping using the Automated
Cropland Classification Algorithm (ACCA). J. Applied Rem. Sens. 8(1):083685. doi:10.1117/1.JRS.8.083685.
Johnson, L. et al. 2014. Results from 2012-2013 Salinas irrigation trials – further development of decision support tools for
cool season vegetable production. Proceedings, US Committee on Irrigation & Drainage, Water Management Conference, 4-7
March, Sacramento.
Melton, F. et al. 2014. Remote Sensing of California Agriculture for Drought Impact Assessment and Mitigation, Sustainable
Water Resources Roundtable Meeting, 20 Nov 2014, Mountain View, CA.
Melton, F. et al. 2014. Satellite Mapping of Agricultural Water Requirements in California. Amer. Soc. Agric. Bio. Engrs.,
Evapotranspiration Conference, 7-11 April, Raleigh, NC.
Post, K., Melton, F., Lund, C., and Johnson, L. 2014. A Sensor Network Application for Measuring Crop Evapotranspiration in
California’s Central Valley. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International Meeting 2-5 Nov 2014. Long Beach, CA.
Melton, F. et al. 2014. Satellite Mapping of Agricultural Water Requirements in California. USCID Water Management
Conference, U.S. Committee on Irrigation & Drainage, 4-7 March, 2014, Sacramento, CA.
Post, K. et al. 2014. Application of a prototype system for irrigation scheduling based on satellite mapping of agricultural
water requirements in California vineyards. Annual ASEV Meeting, 23-27 June 2014, Austin, Texas.
Melton, F., L. Johnson, K, Post, et al., 2014. Satellite Mapping of Agricultural Water Requirements in California. UC Water
Resources Law Symposium, 8 Feb 2014, San Francico, CA.
Johnson, L. and F. Melton, 2014. Satellite-based Calculator for Estimation of Crop Consumptive Use Fraction, USCID Water
Management Conference, U.S. Committee on Irrigation & Drainage, 2-5 Dec., Phoenix, AZ.
Johnson, L., F. Cassel-Sharma, D. Goorahoo, and F. Melton, 2014. Landsat-based calculation of agricultural water use fractions
in California. 19th
ASPRS 18th
William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium, 17-20 Nov., Denver, CO.
Johnson, L. 2014. Remote sensing of crop development and evapotranspiration. 22nd
Annual Fertilizer Research & Education
Program Conference, 29-30 Oct., Modesto, CA (invited).
Johnson, L., F. Cassel-Sharma, D. Goorahoo, and F. Melton, 2014. Calculator for water sustainability metrics in California
Agriculture, Amer. Soc. Civil Engrs, World Environmental & Water Resources Congress, 1-5 June, Portland, OR.
Melton, F. et al.“Mapping drought impacts on agricultural production in California’s Central Valley” (Invited). Presented at
Johnson, L., F. Cassel-Sharma, D. Goorahoo, and F. Melton,“Calculator for evaluation of crop water use fractions in California”
(Poster). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Goorahoo, D., F. Cassel-Sharma, L. Johnson, and F. Melton,“An integrated lysimeter and satellite imagery approach for
estimating crop evapotranspiration” (Poster). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.

This NGA project is creating water quality geospatial prod-
ucts of the Niger River Basin. The project involves three
phases: creation of the dataset, validation of the dataset
and sharing via the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX). As part of
this work, ARC-CREST and NASA scientists are using remote
sensing data including land cover, climate, topography, and
soils, as well as demographic and socio-economic data for
the region. The team is also evaluating existing tools and
models for water quality assessments and needs for new
functionalities. By using an analog river site, researchers
will define and create the method for producing the tempo-
ral maps of water quality in the Niger basin. Data products
will ultimately be prepared in a format suitable to be incor-
porated in the NGA online hydro visualization tool and also
shared via the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX).
Water Quality Monitoring for National Geospatial Agency (NGA)
NASA: Jim Brass
BAERI: Cindy Schmidt, Chase Mueller
Figure 22: The Niger River Basin in West Africa from high-
lands in Guinea, through Mali, Niger and Nigeria. ARC-CREST
researchers are evaluating remote sensing data and available
tools and models for assessing water quality in the region.
Data products will eventually be shared via the NEX platform.
• The team completed several activities directly re-
lated to the project kick-off meeting held in Novem-
ber in Washington, D.C. These were:
1. Held several project meetings with the NGA PI;
2. Prepared maps of land cover, tree cover,
evapotranspiration, temperature, irrigation, water
management, water withdrawal, population,
cattle distribution, and infrastructure within
the Niger River Basin and surrounding areas for
presentation at the kick-off meeting;
3. Established chlorophyll, turbidity, temperature,
and salinity as the target indicators of water
quality going forward and presented these at the
kick-off meeting;
4. Determined to expand the study area to Lake
Chad and identified a U.S. analog study area to be
presented at the kick-off meeting;
5. Completed initial literature reviews of data and
models available for water quality research in the
study area to be presented at the kick-off meeting;
and
6. Tested the current limits of the GEO narrative
dashboard created by RadiantBlue and identified
areas requiring future work for presentation at the
kick-off meeting.
• The team acquired Aqua MODIS products for
temperature, chlorophyll a, colored dissolved organic
matter, and the absorption coefficient for dissolved
and detrital material for the Gulf of Guinea. The
team also acquired cloud free Landsat 8 - OLI data
to analyze the temperature, Floating Algal Index, and
turbidity of the Kainji Reservoir.
• The team re-charted Flood Observatory data
to allow a customized display of the Niger River
discharge data.
• Crop and vegetation tolerances to salinity within
the Inland Niger Delta were investigated as an
alternative way of tracking salinity.
• For the collaboration with the DEVELOP program
which will be working at the U.S. analog site at Lake
Erie, target deliverables were laid out.

ARC-CREST researchers working on water resources projects
apply NASA satellite data to improve the decision sup-
port tools of the various user groups that manage water
resources in the U.S. and elsewhere. Projects within the
water resources program address key concerns in the deci-
sion making processes surrounding water availability, water
forecast, and water quality. The projects bring together
Federal agencies, academia, private firms, and international
organizations and are organized into several categories:
water quality, water delivery and irrigation, flow and flood
forecasting, drought, snowpack, and climate and water
resources. ARC-CREST staff oversee the program, complet-
ing the following general activities: 1) tracking a portfolio
of NASA ASP funded projects, including the project progress
and funding status; 2) enhancing coordination among
funded projects and enhancing communication with project
partners and stakeholders in the water resource manage-
ment community; and 3) planning and convening work-
shops, meetings, and workshop sessions to enhance visibility
of the program’s projects and activities.
Publications
AghaKouchak, A. et al. (Melton, F.S. among 7 authors). Hain,
C.R. Remote Sensing of Drought: Progress, Challenges, and
Opportunities. Geophysical Research Letters, (in review).
• CSUMB staff Forrest Melton did the following in 2014:
1. Organized the annual NASA Applied Sciences Pro-
gram - Water Resources PI meeting held at the Na-
tional Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, NE and
helped organize the 2015 PI meeting held in March
in Washington, DC;
2. Developed and authored the Applied Science Pro-
gram Water Resources website http://c3.nasa.gov/
water;
3. Tracked and coordinated 10 Applied Science Pro-
gram Water Resources projects including monitor-
ing financial and technical progress, engaging with
partners and stakeholders, communicating regularly
with project PIs to identify and resolve issues, and
reporting progress during 6 Program Reviews.
• Forrest Melton worked with the Bureau of Reclama-
tion,NOAA,USGS,and EPA to organize a 2015 workshop
on climate change and water resources and organized
a joint workshop and press conference between NASA
and the CDWR on the subject of Applications of Re-
mote Sensing for Drought Monitoring and Mitigation.
The workshop was covered by Sacramento and Bay
Area television stations, multiple radio stations, and
national print media.
• Forrest Melton jointly organized and chaired 3 hy-
drology sessions (H33P, H34D, H41E) at the 2014 Fall
AGU Meeting on Remote Sensing Applications for Wa-
ter Resources Management and delivered a hyper wall
presentation for the NASA booth at AGU with Dr. Brad-
ley Doorn, the program manager for Water Resources.
• In collaboration with other scientists in the NASA Ap-
plied Sciences Program, Melton authored a review of
Remote Sensing Applications of Drought, published in
the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Water Resources Program
NASA: Jim Brass
CSUMB: Forrest Melton

Heliophysics

Figure 23: Magnetic field lines of
an emerging Omega-loop. Color
indicates magnetic field mag-
nitude with scale on the right
in kG. Gray scale image at the
top is the surface continuum
radiation intensity showing the
granulation pattern. Convec-
tion shreds the magnetic field
into multiple filaments, but also
confines the large-scale loop
topology. The length of the loop
is that of a typical supergranule
diameter. The team is now work-
ing on modeling a larger version
of the image above (only 48 Mm
wide with weak 1 kG horizontal
input magnetic field at 20 Mm
depth).
The Collaborative Space Weather Modelling project is one
of three projects under the ARC-CREST umbrella that sup-
port NASA’s larger Heliophysics Modeling and Simulation
(HMS) and Living With a Star (LWS) initiatives. ARC-CREST
researchers working on the Collaborative Space Weather
Modeling project are focused on building a high-fidelity,
physics-based model of solar flux and transport. Models
like these provide a predictive understanding of the Sun’s
system, specifically of the space weather conditions near
Earth and in the interplanetary medium. Space weather
affects the Earth’s geophysical systems and technological
infrastructure. For example, many power-grid disturbances,
satellite anomalies, and positioning errors are attributable
to the coupling of solar magnetic activity into the electri-
cal, electronic, or electromagnetic components of modern
everyday life.

•As part of the larger collaborative Heliophysics Mod-
eling and Simulation community, the NASA-ARC based
team continued to work towards an accurate, physics-
based model of solar magnetic flux and transport.
•In 2014, ARC-CREST researchers were succeeding
in conducting model runs of over 83 solar hours and
achieving near constant entropy. However, the model
did not accurately capture solar flux.
•The team continues to work on this issue within the
model.
Collaborative Space Weather Modeling
NASA: Jeff Scargle, John Marmie, Nagi Mansour
BAERI: Jean Paul Rabanal, Bob Stein, Thomas Hartlep

The Heliophysics Modeling and Simulation (HMS) project is
the second of three projects under the ARC-CREST umbrella
that support NASA’s larger Heliophysics Modeling and
Simulation (HMS) and Living With a Star (LWS) initiatives.
This team is developing and conducting numerical simula-
tions of the 3-D helioseismic wave field in the whole solar
interior and under the influence of magnetic fields, flows,
and thermal perturbations. They are generating synthetic
data to test and calibrate helioseismology methods. The
team seeks to advance our understanding of detection and
measurement of large-scale magnetic structures in the deep
solar convection zone and also to determine thresholds on
detectable magnetic fields. Together with other projects
within NASA’s HMS/LWS program, models like these advance
our progress towards a predictive understanding of the Sun-
Earth system..
Presentations
Kitiashvili, I., Alexander G Kosovichev, Nagi N Mansour, Alan
A Wray. Multiscale Properties of the Local Dynamo on the
Sun (224). Presented at American Astronomical Society
Meeting. June 2014.
Zhao, J., Ruizhu Chen, and Thomas Hartlep.“Detection of
Fast-Moving Waves Propagating from Penumbra to Outside
of Sunspots in the Photosphere” (SH41B-4138). Presented
at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, San
Francisco, CA.
Hartlep, T. and Jeffrey Cuzzi.“Statistical modeling of pref-
erential concentration of heavy particles in turbulence”
(A21I-3135). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014
Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
• As part of the larger collaborative HMS community,
a second of three NASA-ARC-based team continued
to work towards an accurate, physics-based model of
solar magnetic flux and transport.
• In 2014, the team made progress on development
of a new non-linear force free field extrapolation
method, a new technique allowing for modeling the
entire sphere and not just small sections of the co-
rona.
• The team collaborated with Dr. Junwei Zhao at
Stanford University on possible explanations for re-
cent observations of fast moving waves originating
from sunspots as observed using Solar Dynamics Ob-
servatory Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (SDO/
HMI) data.
• ARC-CREST researchers working on this aspect of
HMS developed a numerical code for computing
acoustic wave propagation in the sun and in the ray
approximation that takes sound speed and magnetic
fields into account.The code uses a numerical model
of a sunspot (developed by Dr. Matthias Rempel), and
propagated rays through this model to test different
hypotheses of where the fast waves observed at the
surface could have originated.
Heliophysics Modeling and Simulation (HMS)
NASA: Nagi Mansour
BAERI: Thomas Hartlep

The Solar Physics Modeling project is the third of three
projects under the ARC-CREST umbrella that support NASA’s
larger Heliophysics Modeling and Simulation (HMS) and Liv-
ing With a Star (LWS) initiatives.This team is using numerical
simulations to better understand the following: (a) magnetic
reconnection in the sun and its effect on the structure of the
solar wind, (b) interaction of the solar wind and the Earth’s
magnetic field and (c) formation of planetesimals in proto-
planetary disks. Accurate and reliable modeling and simula-
tion are the primary tools available for studying solar physics
and for predicting associated geophysical phenomena. High
performance computing employing the proper numerical
methods is a very powerful complement to theory and obser-
vation. However, one of the important challenges involved
is the sensitivity and stability of the numerical simulation to
the accuracy of the numerical scheme employed. ARC-CREST
researchers working on the Solar Physics Modeling project
and their NASA-ARC collaborators are building on previous
work showing that high order non-linear filter schemes can
improve the accuracy and stability of the computations in-
volving both gas dynamics and MHD governing equations.
Kotov, D., H. C. Yee, A. Hadjadj, A. Wray, and B. Sjogreen.
High-order numerical methods for LES of turbulent flows
with shocks. Annual Research Briefs, Center for Turbulence
Research, Stanford, 2014.
Kotov, D., H. C. Yee, A. Wray, and B. Sjogreen. On LES of low-
speed flows by high-order shock capturing schemes with
flow sensors. Annual Research Briefs, Center for Turbulence
Research, Stanford, 2014.
Kotov, D., H. C. Yee, A. Wray, and B. Sjogreen. Numerical
dissipation control in high order shock capturing schemes
for LES of low speed flows. In Proceedings of the ICOSAHOM
14. Salt Lake City, UT, USA, June 23-27 2014.
Kotov, D., H. C. Yee, A. Hadjadj, A. Wray, and B. Sjogreen. High
order numerical methods for LES of turbulent flows with
shocks. In Proceedings of the ICCFD8. Chengdu, Sichuan,
China, July 14-18, 2014.
• As part of the larger collaborative HMS community, a
third of three NASA-ARC-based team continued to work
towards an accurate,physics based model of solar mag-
netic flux and transport.
• In 2014, ARC-CREST researcher Dmitry Kotov exam-
ined the performance of the Yee & Sjogreen scheme
for Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) and Large Eddy
Simulation (LES) of low-speed flows.
• Dr. Kotov performed a comparative study of the DNS
and LES to reduce the loss of accuracy at the shock
within the framework of the model using a canonical
shock-turbulence interaction problem and confirmed
the loss of accuracy within the model.
• Dr. Kotov then began development of a new method
for solving one-sided filtered governing equations in
the vicinity of the shock based on sub-cell resolution
approach.
Solar Physics Modeling
NASA: Helen Yee
BAERI: Dmitry Kotov

ARC-CREST researchers are studying the function and
response of the nitrogen cycle, fundamental to life pro-
cesses here on earth, under different gravity conditions. This
research furthers basic understanding of the nitrogen cycle,
but is also affiliated with the German Aerospace Center’s
(DLR’s) Eu:CROPIS Mission. The Eu:CROPIS mission will put a
lightweight greenhouse satellite into low earth orbit, repli-
cating lunar and Martian gravity conditions.
In the Eu:CROPIS satellite greenhouse, combined life-support
systems will utilize waste products to manufacture fertilizer
and help grow tomatoes for a lunar and Mars habitat, as well
as for long duration missions.ARC-CREST researchers’ exami-
nation of the effects of gravity on the nitrogen cycle are part
of mission planning and buildup and the results relevant to
the ability to support life whether it is on Earth,in space,or on
other planets or moons. This important work contributes to
NASA’s larger SynBio efforts.SynBio technologies could allow
space travelers to use microbes to produce their own fuel,
food, medicines and building materials from raw feedstock
readily available on Mars or the moon, instead of carrying all
supplies aboard the spacecraft or making them at the destina-
tion with conventional methods. Scientists calculate that
using biological production could reduce the mass of supplies
and equipment sent with the expedition by between 26
and 85 percent, depending on the application, which would
significantly reduce the cost of the mission.
Publications
Mancinelli, R. L. The effect of the space environment on
the survival of Halorubrum chaoviator and Synechococcus
(Nägeli): data from the Space Experiment OSMO on EX-
POSE-R. International Journal of Astrobiology, available on
CJO2014. doi:10.1017/S147355041400055X.
• The team successfully demonstrated Euglena growth
on NO3- as well as on NH4+ and also demonstrated
Euglena growth on NH4+ produced by cyanobacteria in
co-culture and on 2 different media types.
• The team completed colorimetric assays for the vari-
ous nitrogen species, and based on these results decid-
ed to use ion-chromatography for the ground controls
and flight experiment; the team also confirmed the de-
cision to use gas sensors to measure atmospheric gases
in the primary payload instead of a gas chromatograph.
• The team developed the first phase of a computer
model to simulate the microbial and nitrogen species
changes in the Eu: CROPIS system.
Synthetic Biology
NASA: Michael Flynn
BAERI: Rocco Mancinelli

Airborne Science
and
Mission Support

This project, composed of two research teams, utilizes
airborne-, ground-, and satellite based measurements to
understand aspects of atmospheric chemistry and transport.
The first team, led by NASA scientist Dr. Robert Chatfield, is
examining tropospheric O3
production in urban and remote
areas, with a special focus on the Western U.S., as well as
emissions of chemical constituents from forest fires. The
second team led by Hanwant Singh is focused on chemistry
and transport of PAN, CH4
and other short lived constitu-
ents. The work done by these teams is unique because it
improves the utility of NASA satellite measurements in
the understanding of global tropospheric O3
and aerosols,
including their precursors and transformation processes in
the atmosphere. Further, the researchers study air quality
and oxidation efficiency in the troposphere, how pollution-
sourced aerosols affect cloud properties, stratospheric
chemistry, and O3
depletion, and the very important interac-
tions between atmospheric chemistry and climate. Multivari-
ate and time-series statistical analysis, primarily of retrieved
satellite data and aircraft exploratory missions are used as
well as various atmospheric chemical and transport models.

• Researchers created a merged dataset of measure-
ments taken from the Dragon aircraft, the AERONET
network, and the MODIS-MAIAC satellite instrument.
This merged dataset was used to calculate column
H2
O, PM2.5 AOD, and PBL height for selected sites, in-
cluding those in the San Joaquin Valley.
• SSFR data taken during the SEAC4RS mission was
processed for select atmospheric constituents and pa-
rameters.
• The team created an R-HDF interface in Linux to ac-
commodate updated MAIAC data and made numerical
fits to MODIS data.
Atmospheric Chemistry Data Analysis
NASA: Hanwant Singh, Bob Chatfield
BAERI: Bob Esswein, Dan Olsen

Fischer, E. et al. (H. Singh, among 12 authors). 2014. Atmospheric peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN): a global budget and source
attribution. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14: 2679-2698. doi: 10.5194/acp-14-2679-2014.
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/14/2679/2014/acp-14-2679-2014.html
Law, K. et al. (H. Singh, among 15 authors). 2014. Arctic Air Pollution: New Insights from POLARCAT-IPY. Bull. American
Meteorological Soc. In Press.
Wells, K. et al. (H.B. Singh. among 10 authors) 2014. Quantifying global terrestrial methanol emissions using observations
from the TES satellite sensor. Atmos. Chem. and Physics, 14: 2555-2570; doi:10.5194/acp-14-2555-2014. http://www.atmos-
chem-phys.net/14/2555/2014/acp-14-2555-2014.html
Liss, P. et al. (H. Singh, among 14 authors). 2014.“Short-lived trace gases in the surface ocean and the atmosphere.” In Ocean-
Atmosphere Interactions of Gases and Particles. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. 1-54. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-25643-
1_1. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-25643-1_1
Singh, H. 2014.“Tropospheric Composition and Analysis: Peroxyacetyl Nitrate.” In Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences, 2nd
Edition, edited by G. North, J. Pyle, F. Zhang. Oxford: Academic Press.
Chatfield, R. and R. F. Esswein. 2014. True Emission factors for western forest fires: Better estimation and usage. Air and Waste
Management Association Annual Conference, June 24-26, Long Beach, CA. 1-5. http://www.eventscribe.com/2014/AWMA/
assets
Chatfield, R. 2014. True Emission Factors for SEAC4RS Smoke and Gases Compared to OLD NERM (difference/Regression)
estimate, SEAC4RS Science Team Meeting, Apr. 15-18, Boulder, CO.
Chatfield, R. B., Michal Segal-Rosenheimer, and SEAC4RS, DC3, and ARCTAS Science Teams,“Revised (Mixed effects) estimation
for forest burning emissions of gases and smoke, fire/emission factor typologies, and potential remote sensing classification
of types for use in ozone and absorbing-carbon simulation” (A33G-3281). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual
Singh, H. 2014. SEAC4RS 2013 airborne mission: biogenic and wildfire emissions and oxidation products over continental
United States. 4th Integrated Land Ecosystem – Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS) Science Conference, May 12-16
Nanjing, China.

The NASA Airborne Science Program (ASP) conducts on the
order of 30 missions per year utilizing a fleet of manned and
unmanned aircraft. ARC-CREST staff support the Program by
maintaining and updating the 5-year mission plan for the
ASP fleet used by NASA’s Earth Science community. Sched-
uling and maintenance of the airborne research assets is
extremely complex as the fleet is utilized to its maximum
extent, used for a variety of scientific research missions,
and at numerous remote locations. Costs associated with
aircraft operations can quickly build and impact scientific
budgets if scheduling and operations are not optimized.
Missions are planned over the course of several years and
involve hundreds of scientists and technical staff.
The ASP Advanced Planning team, composed in part by
ARC-CREST staff, communicates with the NASA Earth Sci-
ence program scientists to discuss upcoming and chang-
ing requirements for NASA assets, including aircraft and
supporting infrastructure. The team includes representatives
from the six R&A science areas, the Earth Science Technol-
ogy Office, and the Applied Science Program. They attend
project team meetings for field and space missions, maintain
the Science Operations Flight Request System, give briefings
on the ASP capabilities, and prepare the ASP newsletter and
annual report. The ASP Advanced Planning team provides
ongoing support to scientists utilizing assets for science
presentations and proposals. Additionally, the team provides
specialized electrical and mechanical support for aircraft
as needed, specifically for development of new UAV assets
based at NASA-ARC.
Publications
NASA Airborne Science Program 2013 Annual Report. Avail-
able at: https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/
documents/ASP13_AnnualRept_v8.pdf
NASA Airborne Science Program Fall 2014 Newsletter.
Available at: https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/sites/default/
files/documents/ASP_Fall2014_nsltr_v3.pdf
• ARC-CREST staff updated the ASP mission plan and
the briefing materials related to the capabilities for
the ASP fleet of manned and unmanned aircraft used
by NASA’s Earth Science community.
• The team communicated regularly with the NASA
Earth Science program scientists (across six R&A
areas), ESTO, and the Applied Science Program to dis-
cuss upcoming and changing requirements for NASA
assets, including aircraft and supporting infrastruc-
ture.
• The team created and distributed monthly newslet-
ters and the 2014 ASP Annual Report as well as a new
briefing highlighting how ASP supports NASA Earth
satellites by collecting data for algorithm develop-
ment, collecting data for satellite instrument cal/val
activities, providing test flight opportunities for new
instruments in development, and carrying out com-
plementary field missions.
• The team attended meetings with all Earth Science
and Space Science project teams to gather informa-
tion on upcoming requirements and needed access
to ASP assets.
• The NASA-ARC based ASP Advanced Planning team
participated in and made presentations at the annual
Applied Sciences Missions Applications review and at
IGARRS.
Airborne Science Advanced Planning
NASA: Matt Fladeland
BAERI: Susan Schoenung, Gailynne Bouret, Pat Finch, Justin Humphrey

Figure 24: The NASA Airborne Science Program An-
nual Report details the activities and achievements of
the many manned and un-manned aircraft in NASA’s
research fleet. The report is available at https://air-
bornescience.nasa.gov/
Figure 25: Pre-flight checks are completed on the
SIERRA aircraft, one of several UAS managed by the
Airborne Science Advanced Planning team.

Figure 27: The NASA P3-B aircraft
and Operation IceBridge (OIB) team in
Thule Greenland during the OIB field
campaign.
The Ames Earth Science Project Office (ESPO) provides
project management for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
field research. ESPO provides planning, implementation,
and post-mission support for large, complex, multi-agency,
national and international field missions, especially airborne
missions. ESPO has a long history of managing successful
field missions, beginning in 1987 with the Stratosphere-
Troposphere Exchange Project and the Airborne Antarctic O3
Expedition experiments. More recently, ESPO’s NASA custom-
ers have included the Atmospheric Chemistry and Modeling
Analysis Program, the Tropospheric Chemistry Program, the
Radiation Sciences Program, Atmospheric Dynamics and
Remote Sensing, the Suborbital Science Program, and the
EOS satellite validation program. Annually, the ESPO team
manages the deployment of between six and ten major field
missions and continues to provide support to the science
team, airplane team, and the larger scientific community
for previous years’ missions. Finally, the ESPO team plays a
critical role in planning for future missions, interfacing with
NASA Headquarters, NASA and university scientists, crew
members of airborne platforms, local support staff, and the
larger scientific community. The unique work done by the
ESPO team makes NASA Earth Science’s core mission of
collecting Earth Science data from airborne platforms with
global coverage possible.
Earth Science Project Office (ESPO)
NASA: Mike Craig, Marilyn Vasques
BAERI: Erin Czech, Dan Chirica, Erin Justice, Michaela Herman, Quincy Allison, Sue Tolley, Steven Todorov
Figure 26: The RV Endeavor departing Narragansett, RI for
the SABOR Mission.

Figure 28: 2014 Missions supported by the NASA-ARC based ESPO team
• For many of these missions, ESPO provided program-
ming and IT support such as: provided in-field IT sup-
port for website, system and network setup, printer
access, local ISPs, and user support for deployments;
created new websites for missions beginning in 2014;
improved or added features to existing websites in-
cluding ESPO, ESD,ASP and SOFRS; processed requests
through SOFRS; maintained archives of all older web-
sites; stayed abreast of internet technologies and secu-
rity options for deployment sites.
• For many of these missions, ESPO provided educa-
tion, outreach, and communications support including:
attending conferences, supporting sat communications
between teachers and in-flight scientists; supporting
open-house events at facilities hosting field deploy-
ments.
• Due to the nature of the field missions, the ESPO
team participates in advance planning for missions oc-
curring several years out in the future. In support of
this effort the ESPO team did the following: assumed
management of the SUAS program (Summer 2015)
and supported the CARTA project; provided full logisti-
cal support for ATom; assisted AFRC with badging for
the ATTREX mission and contributed to early planning
meetings for the KORUS-AQ mission.
• In 2014, the NASA-ARC-based ESPO team supported
10 NASA-funded, air or ship-based, field missions.
ESPO supported the following missions:
1. OIB (Spring 2014 Thule, Greenland)
2. OIB (Fall 2014 Punta Arenas, Chile)
3. ARISE (Summer 2014 Thule, Greenland)
4. ATTREX (Winter 2014 Guam)
5. DISCOVER-AQ (Summer 2014, Colorado)
6. HS3 (Summer and Fall 2014, Wallops Island, VA)
7. SABOR (Summer 2014 Narragansett, RI)
8. COMEX (Summer 2014 Bakersfield, CA)
9. ORACLES (planning phase)
10. AJAX (Ongoing, Moffett Field, CA)
• For each of these missions, ESPO provided logisti-
cal support for the deployment including: managed
deployment sites (facilities, lodging, transport, Cus-
toms); interfaced between mission managers, instru-
ment teams, NASA Program Managers, and aircraft
crew; coordinated all shipping of equipment and
materials (NASA-ARC shipping, university shipping,
freight forwarders, customs, local transportation); and
deployment setup and on-site support for duration of
mission.
• For select missions, the ESPO team provided addi-
tional and specialized support related to instrument
integration and operation, data systems support, and
communications support for mission teams.

The Meteorological Measurement System (MMS), developed
at NASA-ARC, is a proven airborne instrument package for
measuring high resolution in situ state parameters like pres-
sure, temperature, turbulence index, and 3-dimensional wind
vectors. Accurate measurements of these quantities from
a variety of airborne platforms require judicious choices
of sensor locations, repeated laboratory calibrations, and
proper corrections for compressibility, adiabatic heating, and
flow distortion.
The MMS is used to investigate atmospheric mesoscale
phenomena (gravity and mountain lee waves) as well as
microscale phenomena (turbulence). An accurate characteri-
zation of the turbulence phenomenon is important for
the understanding of dynamic processes in the atmosphere,
such as the behavior of buoyant plumes within cirrus clouds,
diffusion of chemical species within wake vortices
generated by jet aircraft, and microphysical processes in
breaking gravity waves. Additionally, the MMS is deployed
in conjunction with other airborne, or satellite-based sen-
sors so that the MMS data can provide a critical piece of the
data interpretation. ARC CREST researchers supporting the
MMS system provide on-going support to the scientific
community accessing these measurements. The MMS team
also works with scientists developing new instruments or
payloads to modify the MMS system for each new platform
and mission.
=
Meteorological Measurement Systems (MMS)
NASA: Thaopaul Bui
BAERI: Jon Dean-Day, Cecilia Chang
• The MMS team maintained the MMS payload on the
Alpha Jet and Global Hawk airborne platforms.
• The team provided field support for AJAX science
flights in California and ATTREX science flights in
Guam.
• The team performed MMS data processing and ar-
chiving for all AJAX science flights in California and
ATTREX science flights in Guam including calibrations
and decoding of the Alpha Jet’s internal Garmin for
comparison.
• By simulating the Alpha Jet’s flight system in the
laboratory, the team was able to greatly improve the
MMS on this unique platform.
• For the 4STAR Instrument, the MMS team developed
new LabVIEW based acquisition system to allow for
rapid viewing of field of view (FOV) data and also de-
veloped LabVIEW acquisition system for the ground-
based instrument.
• In continued support of the SEAC4RS mission, the
MMS team: calibrated, revised, and archived various
datasets from the DC-8, devised methods to correct for
high frequency analog noise, remove cold spike errors
in the temperature data, and adjusted altitude angle
offsets.
Figure 29: An MMS payload is installed on the DC-8.

Ueyama, R., Eric J. Jensen, Leonhard Pfister, Glenn S. Diskin, T. P. Bui and Jonathan M. Dean-Day. Dehydration in the tropical
tropopause layer: A case study for model evaluation using aircraft observations. Journal of Geophysical Research –
Atmospheres, 119 (9). May 2014.
Rollins, A., T. Thornberry, R.-S. Gao, S. Woods, T. Bui, and D. Fahey,“Relative humidity distributions in the Tropical Tropopause
Layer measured during NASA ATTREX” (A42D-02). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-
Wolfe, G. et al. (Thaopaul Bui among 15 authors).“Airborne Eddy Covariance Fluxes Provide Novel Constraints on Sources
and Sinks of Reactive Gases in the Planetary Boundary Layer” (A32A-08). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual
Bergman, J., Eric Jensen, Leonhard Pfister, Thaopaul Bui.“Trajectory dispersion by unresolved wind variability in the UTLS”
(A32K-3396). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Thornberry, T., Andrew Rollins, Ru-Shan Gao, David Fahey, Thaopaul Bui, Sarah Woods.“In Situ Observations of Water Vapor
and Cirrus IWC in the Pacific TTL During ATTREX” (A23L-3417). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting,

The NASA-ARC-based Meteorological Support group pro-
vides meteorological support during planning, execution
and research phases of NASA airborne missions in both the
troposphere and stratosphere. This support covers a range
of forecasting tasks such as preparing historical climatologi-
cal and meteorological summaries for proposed airborne
mission field sites, providing detailed flight day forecasts,
and creating specific meteorological data products during
and post mission. This support needs to be coincident to
a specific place and time of scientific measurements and
requires forecasting knowledge, familiarity with meteorolog-
ical data archives, and attendance at mission planning meet-
ings and during field missions. It also requires continual
interfacing and support to scientists in the community uti-
lizing mission data in the years following the mission. The
ability to provide these met-based mission tools in a timely
manner is critical to mission success.

Meteorological Support
NASA: Leonhard Pfister
BAERI: Patrick Hillyard, Bill McKie
100mb February, 2001-2014
100mb February, 2014
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
Frac Incidence, Brightness T < 200 K
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
Frac Incidence, Brightness T < 200 K
• In 2014, the team of Dr. Patrick Hillyard and Bill Mc
Kie provided meteorological support to 4 NASA fund-
ed field missions: ATTREX, SEAC4RS, OIB, and ARISE.
For these missions, the team did the following:
1. Analyzed and plotted meteorological forecast
data from NCEP GFS and NASA GEOS-5 model
products multiple times per day;
2. Managed websites for meteorological data dis-
persal including integration of satellite data and
from multiple instrument groups;
3. Visualized data from multiple satellites (as rel-
evant to the particular mission) and data analysis
from the missions, including visible, IR, and water
vapor imagery and made it available to the mission
community;
4. Visualized data from multiple satellites, relevant
to both the ATTREX-2 and ATTREX-3 missions and
data analysis from the missions, including visible,
infrared, and water vapor imagery.
Figure 30: The ARC-CREST team prepared detailed mete-
orological products specific to the needs of the ATTREX
field campaign in 2014. The figure compares the fractional
incidence when the brightness temperature is less than 200K
for an average time period (2001-2014) to the time of the
ATTREX mission. Also shown are temperatures and winds at
the 100 mbar level where the ATTREX aircraft sampled.

The University of North Dakota’s National Suborbital Educa-
tion and Research Center (NSERC) is a partner in the ARC-
CREST cooperative agreement. NSERC works with the NASA
Airborne Science Program and is responsible for two tasks:
Task 1: Science Mission Operations and
Task 2: Education and Training
In support of Task 1, NSERC addresses all data, satellite com-
munications, engineering and maintenance needs for the
following manned NASA airborne science platforms: DC-8,
C-130, B-200, ER-2 and P3-B. In addition, in 2014, NSERC
supported the following field missions: ATTREX,
DISCOVER-AQ, HS3, GHOC, OIB, ASCENDS, SARP, HyspIRI,
and ARISE. Accomplishments related to specific airborne
platforms are listed. NSERC accomplishments specific to
missions are discussed in their respective sections in this
document.
In support of Task 2, the NSERC team conducts education
and training activities around select fields. Separately, the
NSERC team leads outreach programs missions designed to
build capacity with science students and teachers. In 2014,
NSERC conducted the following education and training
activities: SARP, HS3 Outreach, ATTREX Outreach, Ice Bridge
Outreach, outreach to K-12 science teachers, and general
outreach. The latter two are described below. SARP and
mission-specific education and outreach are discussed in
their respective sections.

Figure 31 : DC-8
• The NSERC team provided critical data,satellite com-
munications, and engineering maintenance and sup-
port to the DC-8, ER-2, C-130 and B-200 aircrafts, mak-
ing the conduct of airborne scientific measurement
and experiment possible. For all aircraft, the team
provides engineering for payload integration, data
display and networking support, and instrumentation
permanent to the platform. Each aircraft encounters
different maintenance issues from year to year. Data,
satcom, and engineering highlights are listed by air-
craft below .
DC-8
• The team supported the DC-8 Heavy Check in
Roswell, NM, by creating design drawings for many
permanent installations and completing wiring for
various components.
• For the Air Force, the team prepared a summary brief
of the DC-8’s capabilities to measure cloud microphys-
ics as a potential support partner for the Air Force’s
Airborne Icing Tanker Program.
• The team finalized the mechanical design of the sec-
ond generation Multi-Channel assembly, modified the
new Multi-Channel computers with locking UNC heli-
coil mounting, replaced the tapped aluminum metric
holes and assembled the bulk of the new Multi-Chan-
nel enclosure for the DC-8.
• The team designed, fabricated, and installed the new
integration of tablets on the yokes; and set up the new
cockpit tablet PC’s with VNC, Falconview Firefox, and
Xchat.
National Suborbital Education and Research Center (NSERC) Mission
Operations
UND/NSERC: Rick Shetter, Adam Webster, David Van Gilst, Eric Stith, Michael Delaney, Eric Buzay, Karen Katrinak, Emily Shaller,
Jane Petersen

ER-2 Aircraft
• The team worked with the NASA Alaska Satellite Fa-
cility (ASF) to identify and correct the causes of per-
sistent problems with the INMARSAT communications
package on board the ER-2. To address this problem,
the team worked closely with the INMARSAT electrical
systems team to design, fabricate, and install replace-
ment components on the aircraft.
• Also, in cooperation with the ASF team, NSERC staff
designed and installed a Wi-Fi system for the ER-2.
C-130
• In 2014, the NSERC team worked closely with NA-
SA-WFF on a variety of tasks related to bringing the
C-130 up to the standards required for a science-class
platform including: identifying and obtaining quotes
for all hardware needs; working with manufacturers to
obtain specifications and drawings on certain existing
aircraft components; configuring various IT items and
developing needed software; and testing iridium and
GPS systems.
B-200
•The NSERC team designed and fabricated a new opti-
cal window adaptor and re-assembled and tested the
new optical window. The team prepared the stress
analysis report for this B-200/DC-8 window installa-
tion and submitted to Code RS for review.
• For specific airborne science missions in any given
year, the NSERC team provides critical data, satellite
communications and engineering support unique to
the payloads and purpose for that mission. The team
is on-site at each field mission, and does everything
from setting up ground-based networks, to fabricat-
ing components for inlet repair or instrument inte-
gration. The team is integral in developing the data
communication capabilities between instrument pay-
loads to allow for real-time viewing of various data
products by the entire science team. The NSERC team
are invaluable to scientists in developing the mission
payloads. They provide drawings, specifications and
other engineering data needed for fabrication of pay-
load components. In 2014, the team supported the
following airborne science missions: ATTREX (Guam),
OIB (Greenland), ASCENDS (Virginia), HyspIRI (Califor-
nia),ARISE (Alaska), DISCOVER-AQ (Colorado), and HS3
(Virginia).
• For each of the airborne science missions, the NSERC
team also coordinates education and outreach activi-
ties around the missions. In 2014, these activities in-
cluded: regular updates to mission websites,blogs and
twitter feeds; staffing the NASA booth at the National
Science Teachers’ Association Annual Meeting and the
AGU Annual Meeting; The team gave giving presenta-
tions to science teachers during summer workshops;
giving a total 41 presentations to K-12 students; the
team coordinatinged in-flight chats with classrooms
reaching over 3200 students; collected video footage
for documentaries; and also produced a 3 minute vid-
eo on upcoming missions.
• The team provides support throughout the year to all
science teams preparing proposals for upcoming air-
borne missions.The NSERC team is a partner in design,
concept, and feasibility of all airborne science experi-
ments proposed.
Figure 32: ER-2 Figure 33: B-200

ARC-CREST staff are conducting a management analysis
of the ASP at NASA-ARC. This includes an assessment of
current and historical staff skill sets, major achievements,
and major challenges of the program. The team is conduct-
ing interviews with NASA and NASA partners involved with
the program since its inception. A summary report and all
documentation of the program assessment will be delivered
to NASA HQ. As a second task, ARC-CREST staff are also act-
ing as liaison between NASA-ARC Applied Science Program
and national and international governmental and non-gov-
ernmental organizations such as the International Society of
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, The Group on Earth
Observations, The Committee on Earth Observations, as well
as U.S. and foreign space science and applications agencies.

• In 2014, Jim Weber completed interviews with the
following senior NASA staff: Andrew Roberts (Former
Pilot and Director of ASP); Frank Newman (Former
Mission Manager at NASA-JSC); Steve Hipskind (For-
mer Earth Sciences Division Director at NASA-ARC);
and Jarrell Priess (Current Flight Operations Engineer
at NASA-JSC)
• Jim Weber participated in the following coordination
meetings:
1.Washington, D.C., NASA Headquarters (Director of
the Office of Applied Science);
2. San Francisco, CA.,Annual meeting of AGU (Presi-
dent of the International Center for Remote Sens-
ing of Environment);
3. Denver, Colorado (Secretary General of the Inter-
national Society of Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing), Berlin and Oberfaffenhofen, Germany
(Chairman of the International Committee on Re-
mote Sensing of Environment and the German
Space Agency or DLR);
4. Paris, France (Director of the Division of Ecology
and Earth Sciences of UNESCO).
Program Management Analysis of Airborne Science Program (ASP)
BAERI: Jim Weber

ARC-CREST staff are providing a variety of data systems and
communication support to the Earth Science Division and
more specifically to the Airborne Science Program at NASA-
ARC. Much of this work involves research and development
of the electronics, computing, and communications systems
needed for tracking of airborne platforms, including UAS.
ARC-CREST staff also interface with numerous investigators
and support many different instruments utilizing a variety of
airborne platforms.

In 2014, the team provided critical and ‘one of its
kind’ type electronics, satellite communications, en-
gineering and data support to existing and new ASP
assets, including:
1. Assumed control and managements of all ASP
tracking devices;
2. Deployed one of the ASP trackers, for the first
time, on a research ship in the Atlantic;
3. Developed a system for receiving data from dis-
parate trackers over low bandwidth;
4. Wrote servo-control software for the SIERRA-B
UAS;
5. Provided on-site support during the HS-3 mis-
sion;
6. Set up streaming services for ASP video; and
7. Acquired, tuned, and integrated an after-market
fuel injection system in one of NASA-ARC UAS en-
gines and completed engine testing on a custom-
built engine stand.
Earth Science Division Support
BAERI: Patrick Finch

Education and
Outreach Activity

NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training program (ARSET)
in NASA’s Applied Sciences program provides professional
training in the application of NASA Earth Science data for
water resources, disaster, and land and air quality manage-
ment. ARSET builds the skills needed to integrate NASA
Earth Science into national and international organizational
decision-making activities. The program staff work directly
with governmental and non-governmental end users to
develop courses that teach end users how to access, visual-
ize, and apply NASA Earth Science data in their professional
area. Course modules are publicly available on the program
website. The program has reached over 1,600 participants
world-wide using the combined online and interactive ap-
proach.
ARC-CREST staff conducts online webinars entitled “Intro-
duction to Remote Sensing for Conservation Management”
and “Introduction to Remote Sensing for Wildfire Manage-
ment.”. The staff also conducts wildfire training at Idaho
State University and collaborates with Navajo Nation repre-
sentatives on water resources and land management issues.
Presentations
Prados, A., P. Gupta, A. Mehta, C. Schmidt, B. Blevens, A.
Carelton-Hug and D. Barbato.“ A Multi-step Approach to
Improving NASA Earth Science Data Access and Use for
Decision support through Online and Hands-on Training.”
(GC53A-0510). Presented at American Geophysical Union
• ARC-CREST researchers working on the ARSET pro-
ject produced webinars in Ecoforecasting and Disaster
Management areas and created live demonstration
videos for the webinars.
• From November 3rd to December 1, 2014, the team
hosted the Land Management webinar series (5
weeks) for over 300 attendees. For this series the team
implemented webcasting software Adobe Connect to
set up the event, manage participants, and upload and
broadcast content.
• The team updated all user instructions, datasets, and
outreach materials to better engage audiences.
• The team further coordinated with the Navajo Na-
tion on joint projects including on-site meetings with
professors and students at Navajo Technical University
and governmental personnel at the Navajo Nation De-
partment of Water Resources.
• To increase awareness of the ARSET program and
better serve its user community, the team did the
following: conducted outreach to target audiences;
gave presentations at professional conferences; sent
over 400 invites to agency land managers and aca-
demics; and interfaced with state, federal, NGO, and
academic institutions to identify the needs of the user
community.
Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET)
NASA: Jim Brass, Ana Prados (GSFC)
BAERI: Cindy Schmidt, Amber Kuss

The Division of Science and Environmental Policy at CSUMB
offers a Bachelor of Science degree program in Environmental
Science, Technology, and Policy and a Master of Science de-
gree program in Applied Marine and Watershed Science.ARC-
CRESTstaff workcloselywith CSUMB staff to support students
and mentors associated with this program, particularly in the
area of technology.
Advanced technology training is integrated throughout
the applied environmental science and policy curriculum
emphasizing professional skill sets that will distinguish
students as they enter the workforce, including: advanced
technologies for acquiring, analyzing, modeling, and visual-
izing spatially explicit environmental data; professional and
scientific communication; scientific ethics; and environmen-
tal economics and policy analysis. Professional internships
enhance the skills learned in the classroom. The program
satisfies a demand for highly skilled professionals within en-
vironmental technology and applied science-based compa-
nies, governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations.
The team supports the program by: providing hardware/
software technical support to visiting scientists, including
summer faculty; providing hardware/software technical
support to students during the DEVELOP program; coordi-
nating production of video and graphic displays of research
conducted by students for presentation at conferences;
facilitating internships and collaborations between students
and ARC-CREST senior scientists that develop advanced
skills in remote sensing, image processing, geographical
information systems, computer modeling, simulation and
analyses, data acquisition and visualization, and communica-
tions technology.
• CSUMB AMWS Master’s Student Sean Castorani com-
pleted his thesis under the direction of Lee Johnson at
NASA Ames Research Center.
• CSUMB AMWS students (or recent graduates) David
Hamblin, Shane Keefauver, Gwen Miller, Erin Stanfield,
Aimee Teaby,John Urness,and Sean Windell conducted
research under the mentorship of Forrest Melton.
• CSUMB AMWS students David Minovitz and Aimee
Teaby participated in the NASA DEVELOP student in-
ternship program at Ames Research Center in summer
2014.
• AMWS student Gwen Miller participated in the NASA
DEVELOP student internship program at JPL in sum-
mer and fall 2014.
• Through this program, CSUMB Faculty member Dr.
Dan Fernandez collaborated with NASA PI Dr. Chris
Potter on local fog research.
California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB) Educational
Program
NASA: James Brass
CSUMB: Susan Alexander, Kenneth Weinstock
Figure 34: CSUMB students in the Environmental Science,
Technology and Policy Department survey wetlands in the
Elkhorn Slough area, near Monterey California.
Photo credit: CSUMB Environmental Science, Technology and
Policy Department

The DEVELOP National Program is a capacity building
internship sponsored by NASA’s Applied Sciences Program
that provides young professionals and interns the oppor-
tunity to learn about NASA Earth Science and the practical
applications of Earth observations. The two main activities
of this project are to provide in-person and on-line courses,
workshops ,and other capacity building activities throughout
the year and to disseminate via the web course materials
and other information to enable training in applied air qual-
ity and remote sensing.
Project courses are a combination of lectures and computer
hands-on activities that teach professionals how to access,
interpret, and apply NASA aerosol and trace gas data at re-
gional and global scales with an emphasis on case studies.
Course topics include (1) Case studies in air quality analysis
tailored to end-user needs, such as urban air pollution, dust,
and fires; (2) Satellite aerosol and trace gas products, their
application and relationship to in situ monitoring of data;
(3) long-range Transport of atmospheric aerosols (or particu-
late matter) and trace gases; and (4) satellite and regional
air quality model comparisons.
Skills taught include:
• Search, access, and download of NASA data products and
imagery;
• Appropriate use and interpretation of satellite imagery;
• Visualization and analysis of NASA imagery using NASA,EPA,
and NOAA web tools and other resources such as Google
Earth, Panoply, RSIG, HDFLook, and MISRView.
• The DEVELOP team, led by Cindy Schmidt, inter-
viewed over 50 students, selected from an applicant
pool of hundreds, and selected 20 students for the
summer 2014 program.
• The team created 3 distinct summer projects for stu-
dents: 1) Climate change in the Great Basin; 2) Water
quality and coral reef health in American Samoa; and
3) Developing a web-based decision support tool for
the Region 5 USFS for forest health assessment.
• In addition to conducting the program, including co-
ordination between universities and federal agencies,
the DEVELOP team mentored students throughout the
program until final presentations at NASA Ames Re-
search Center.
• The DEVELOP team traveled to the Navajo Reser-
vation in New Mexico and Arizona to develop a re-
lationship with the Navajo Technical University in
Crownpoint, New Mexico, the Navajo Water Resources
Department in Fort Defiance, Arizona, and the NASA
DEVELOP program.
DEVELOP
NASA: James Brass
BAERI: Cindy Schmidt

Early career researchers are conducting specialized projects
in collaboration with NASA civil servants, ARC-CREST staff
and/or agency and university staff on topics directly related
to NASA’s Mission. These collaborations provide mentoring
for early career scientists working on cutting edge projects
while at the same time injecting new talent and energy into
the NASA work force. Furthermore, early career collabora-
tions initiate new and strengthen existing ties between
NASA scientists and the broader research community where-
by unique NASA assets such as remote sensing data prod-
ucts, airborne assets or super-computing can be accessed
and leveraged for maximum scientific return. Collaborations
are currently focused on projects that integrate fluid lens-
ing cameras to airborne platforms, design distributed small
satellite systems, and examine applications of small satellite
systems to earth monitoring and measurement.

• In 2014, early career collaborator Sreeja Nag, worked
with NASA-ARC scientists in the Earth Science Division
and Mission Design Center to examine the feasibility
of using small satellite constellations for certain types
of Earth Science observations:
1. Developed software for analyzing the imaging
modes for multiple satellites in a multi-angular
mission;
2.Developed software for analyzing maintainability
of a satellite constellation; and
3. Developed software for generating architectures
for a satellite cluster in formation flight.
• An early career collaborator, Ronnie Instrella, worked
with NASA Pathways intern Dr.Ved Chirayath to devel-
op fluid lensing algorithms, determine effective meth-
ods to correct for image distortions observed through
fluid surfaces and enhance these images for making
Earth observations. Ronnie Instrella and Ved Chiray-
ath made progress on creating visualizations of coral
reefs with this technique from aerial footage captured
from a UAS and collaborated with a team at the Uni-
versity of Miami on ongoing research on stromatolite
taxonomy.
-
Early Career Collaborators
BAERI: Sreeja Nag, Ronnie Instrella
Figure 35: An example of a 3D visualization of a coral reef
created by the team from geo-referenced aerial data, fluid
lensing and various software techniques. The goal is to gain
a basic understanding of the types of fluid distortions seen
along shallow coastlines so that scientists can better interpret
remotely sensed data.

The Division Outreach project provides a broad range of
both internal research support and external communica-
tions activities for the Earth Sciences Division at NASA-ARC.
The team provides specialized research support to civil
servant and ARC-CREST researchers at NASA-ARC and their
collaborators. The team interfaces with Center management,
Division leadership, Headquarters, ARC-CREST partners, the
media, and the general public.

• The Division Outreach team provides various types of
support to the Earth Sciences Division at NASA-ARC.
Major accomplishments in 2014 included but were not
limited to:
1. Completing a major overhaul of the Division’s
website and movement to a cloud based system;
2. Providing support to staff as they updated web
content;
3. Managing travel and conference requests and at-
tendance for Division staff;
4. Organizing several conferences hosted by the
Earth Science Division including lodging, meals,
badging, programs and registration;
5. Producing weekly news highlights for the Divi-
sion.
Earth Science Division Outreach
NASA: Steve Hipskind, Michael Bicay, Jim Brass, Warren Gore
BAERI: Julie Nottage, Nikki Issac, Jennifer Kenworthy, Gailynne Bouret, and Michaela Herman

The FrankenEye program provides summer students and
interns the opportunity to design, build, and test new UAS
platforms for scientific use. In 2014, the project team used
3D printers at NASA-ARC and Stanford University to cre-
ate prototypes and make conceptual models. They also
custom-built aircraft by repurposing surplus UAS. The name
FrankenEye is a reference to “Frankenstein” ; the student
teams participating in summer activities harvested parts
from surplus aircraft and re-animated those parts using
new 3D printed parts with the goal of increasing payload
capacity and endurance in Earth Science missions. Students
conducted test flights of the Frankeneye aircraft at Crows
Landing flight facility in August of 2014.

FrankenEye
NASA: Jim Brass
CSUMB: Robert Dahlgren
• Mentoring 10 NASA summer intern students, the
ARC-CREST team led by Robert Dahlgren repurposed
several surplus UAVs for scientific experiments.
• The team and the summer interns demonstrated
design-to-flight of 2 aircraft in 6 weeks, including air-
worthiness certification and completed 9 flights of the
“FrankenEye” aircraft at Crow’s Landing, California.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjuq9XertJ4
http://www.nasa.gov/ames/its-alive-ames-engineers-
harvest-and-print-parts-for-new-breed-of-aircraft/
• In support of this project, the team constructed a
UAS stress-testing frame, a test stand, a UAS catapult
carriage, and a propeller dynamometer in a machine
shop.
Figure 36: Students in the FrankenEye program used the
DragonEye aircraft shown above as a basis for design. Stu-
dents modified and reassembled DragonEye UAS, including
newly designed pieces. The DragonEye has proven a useful
and robust UAS platform for dangerous environments such as
volcanoes and fires.

The Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) is an eight-
week summer program for junior and senior undergraduate
and early graduate students to acquire hands-on research
experience in all aspects of a scientific mission using NASA’s
DC-8 or P-3 airborne science laboratories. The DC-8 and P-3
are major NASA resources for studying Earth system pro-
cesses, calibration/validation of space-borne observations,
and prototyping instruments for possible satellite missions.
Participants assist in the operation of instruments on board
the aircraft to sample atmospheric chemicals and to image
land and water surfaces in multiple spectral bands.
Along with airborne data collections, students participate
in taking measurements at field sites. The program culmi-
nates with formal presentations of research results and
conclusions. Students participating in the program have a
strong academic background in disciplines relevant to the
Earth system, including the physical, chemical, or biological
sciences or engineering. Many have experience with image
processing and GIS systems.

• The UND-based team reviewed over 200 applica-
tions in 2014 and selected 32 students and also se-
lected the top presentations to be presented at the
AGU Annual Meeting.
• The team provided all logistics including travel,
lodging, final graduation meeting, laptop use and re-
turn, science flights, lectures, and final student evalu-
ations.
• The team produced the 2015 SARP recruiting video,
sent the 2015 recruiting flyer to over 1000 colleges
and universities, and organized the 2014 Reunion Din-
ner.
Student Airborne Research Program (SARP)
NASA: Jack Kaye
UND/NSERC: Rick Shetter, Emily Schaller, Jane Peterson, and Karen Katrinak
Figure 37: 2014 SARP students with the DC-8.

Publications and presentations
AghaKouchak, A. et al. (Melton, F.S. among 7 authors) Remote Sensing of Drought: Progress, Challenges, and
Opportunities. Geophysical Research Letters, (in review).
Ambrosia, V. G. and T. Zajkowski (2014), Selection of Appropriate Class UAS / Sensors to Support Fire Monitoring, Real-Life
Experiences In the U.S. Ed: K.P. Valavanis and G.J. Vachtsevanos (Eds.), Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Springer
Netherlands, Dordrecht, Chapter 113, pp. 2723-2754.
Ambrosia, V.G.“UAV Flight Opportunities” in EAR to the * Ground, the NSF Geosciences Directorate quarterly newsletter
(Spring 2014, p5-6).
Ambrosia, V. G.“Ikhana and Other UAS Technologies for Real-Time Monitoring of Wildfires”, (presented at USGS Innovation
Center for Earth Sciences Workshop, Fall 2014: A World of Natural Hazards, Menlo Park, CA, December 12, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. G., A. Soja, L. Friedl,“NASA and Wildfires: Driving Research to Operations”, (presented at the 7th International
Conference on Forest Fire Research, Coimbra, Portugal, November 17-21, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. G., A. Soja, and L. Friedl,“NASA Applied Science Program – Wildland Fire: Driving Research to Operations”,
(presented at Pecora 19, Sustaining Land Imaging: UAS to Satellites, Denver, CO., 17-20 November, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. G.“Drones: Capabilities and Uses”, (presented at California Emergency Services Association (CESA) Southern
Chapter 2014 Fall Workshop: Unmanned Aerial vehicles (Drones) and The 2014 San Diego Wildfires, Cerritos, CA, August
14, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. G.“NASA / USFS Collaboration: Advances in Wildfire Observations With UAS”, (presented at Applications of
UAS to Land and Natural Resource Management Workshop, Argonne, IL, July 16-17, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. G.“NASA and Wildfires: Science and Technology Supporting the Nation”, (presented at Future of Wildfires
Futurecasting Summit, U.S. Air Force Academy, CO. Springs, CO., February 13-14, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. G.“UAV Remote Sensing Platforms for Emergency Response and Management”, (presented at 53rd Annual
Geomatics Engineering Conference, Fresno State University, Clovis, CA, January 24-25, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. G.“NASA / USFS Collaboration: Advances in Wildfire Observations With UAS”, (presented at USFS Aerial
Survey Working Group (ASWG) Meeting, NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA., January 22-23, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. and R. Dahlgren, A. Watts, and T. Ball,“UAS Developments in Supporting Wildfire Observations” (A23B-3221),
(presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Ambrosia, V. G., A. Koltunov, B. Quayle, E. Prins and S. Ustin,“From Data to Knowledge - Faster: GOES Early Fire Detection
System to Inform Operational Wildfire Response and Management” (IN41D-02), (presented at American Geophysical
Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Bergman, J., Eric Jensen, Leonhard Pfister, Thaopaul Bui.“Trajectory dispersion by unresolved wind variability in the UTLS”
(A32K-3396). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Boyda, E. et al. “A Semi-Automated Machine Learning Algorithm for Tree Cover Delineation from 1-m Naip Imagery Using
a High Performance Computing Architecture” (IN21A-3698). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual
Boyda, E., Saikat Basu, Sangram Ganguly, Andrew Michaelis, and Ramakrishna Nemani.“Quantum Boosting and Fast
Classical Metrics for Tree Cover Detection in Remote Sensing Data” (IN13D-08). Presented at American Geophysical
Butterfield, Z. et al. (J. Podolske, L. Iraci, and P. Hillyard, among 10 authors)“Compact Solar Spectroscopic Column CO2, CH4,
H2O and HOD Observations: Performance Evaluation at TCCON Sites” (A41I-3174), (presented at American Geophysical
Union Annual Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Carlson, G.G., Dahlgren, R.P., Vanderbilt, V.C., Johnston, M.J.S, Dunson, J.C, Gray, A.L., and Freund, F.T. Stress-dependent
voltage offsets from polymer insulators used in rock mechanics and material testing, AGU Fall Meeting (2013). Poster

Presentation.
Chatfield, R. and R. F. Esswein. 2014. True Emission factors for western forest fires: Better estimation and usage. Air and
Waste Management Association Annual Conference, June 24-26, Long Beach, CA. 1-5. http://www.eventscribe.com/2014/
AWMA/assets
Chatfield, R. 2014. True Emission Factors for SEAC4RS Smoke and Gases Compared to OLD NERM (difference/Regression)
estimate, SEAC4RS Science Team Meeting, Apr. 15-18, Boulder, CO.
Chatfield, R., Segal Rosenhaimer, M. , and SEAC4RS, DC3, and ARCTAS Science Teams,“Revised (Mixed-Effects) Estimation
for Forest Burning Emissions of Gases and Smoke, Fire/Emission Factor Typologies, and Potential Remote Sensing
Classification of Types for Use in Ozone and Absorbing-Carbon Simulation”, (presented at American Geophysical Union
Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA., December 15-19, 2014).
Chiang, F., C. Milesi, M. Costa-Gabral, J. Rath, W. Wang, and J. Podolske,“Extreme Precipitation in the San Francisco Bay
Area: Comparing Downscaling Methodologies’ Skill in Representing Extreme Precipitation in Hindcasts and Differences
in Their Projections” (GC51A-0390). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San
Francisco, CA.
Choi, S., Taejin Park, Jian Bi, Yuri Knyazikhin, and Ranga Myneni.“Satellite lidar data do not show static greenness in
wet equatorial Amazonian rainforests” (B11G-0111). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Dahlgren, R.P., Johnston, M.J.S., Vanderbilt, V.C, and Nakaba, R.N.’ Comparison of the stress-stimulated current of dry and
fluid saturated gabbro samples, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 104, p2662-2672 (2014).
Dahlgren, R.P., M. Johnston, and V. Vanderbilt. NH31B-3867. Stress-stimulated Current of Dry Rocks with Constant
Clamping Stress. Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Deng, F. et al. (Susan Kulawik among 7 authors).“Quantifying Regional Sources and Sinks of CO2 Using Data From GOSAT
and TES” (A41G-3141). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Dunagan, S. et al. (J. Redemann, P. B. Russell, M. Segal Rosenhaimer, and Y. Shinozuka among 12 authors),“Spectrometers
for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (4STAR) upgrade to full sun-sky-cloud-trace gas spectrometry
capability for airborne science” (A21D-3068), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco,
CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Dungan, J., Sangram Ganguly, Forrest Melton, John Shupe, and Ramakrishna Nemani.“Preliminary vegetation index
products from Suomi NPP VIIRS illuminate the California drought” (GC23C-0653). Presented at American Geophysical
Fischer, E. et al. (H. Singh, among 12 authors). 2014. Atmospheric peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN): a global budget and source
attribution. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14: 2679-2698. doi: 10.5194/acp-14-2679-2014. http://www.atmos-chem-phys.
net/14/2679/2014/acp-14-2679-2014.html
Fu, D. et al. (Susan Kulawik among 16 authors).“Improved Ozone Profile Retrievals Using Multispectral Measurements
from S-NPP and NASA “A Train” Satellites” (IN13C-3664). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting,
Ganguly, S. et al.“Long-Term Data Records of Biophysical Parameters from Multiple Satellite Systems” (B53G-01, Invited).
Image Analytics Using Deep Learning” (IN53A-3791, Invited). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual
Goorahoo, D., F. Cassel-Sharma, L. Johnson, and F. Melton,“An integrated lysimeter and satellite imagery approach for
estimating crop evapotranspiration” (Poster). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19,
San Francisco, CA.

Green, J., B. Quayle, J. Johnson, E. A. Hinkley, V.G. Ambrosia, 2014. Operational Test Results and Technical Description of the
Xiomas Airborne Wide Area Imager. Conference Proceedings of the Large Wildland Fires: Social, Political and Ecological
Effects Conference, Missoula, MT, 19-23 May 2014.
Guild, L. et al.“NASA COAST and OCEANIA airborne missions support ecosystem and water quality research in the coastal
zone” (OS44A-05). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Hardesty, R. et al.(P. Hillyard, and J. Podolske among 24 authors),“One year of Doppler Lidar observations characterizing
boundary layer wind, turbulence, and aerosol structure during the Indianapolis Flux Experiment” (A51O-03). Presented at
Hartlep, T. and Jeffrey Cuzzi.“Statistical modeling of preferential concentration of heavy particles in turbulence” (A21I-
3135). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Hillyard, P. “Calibration of a TCCON FTS at Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) Using Multiple Airborne Profiles”
(A41I-3173), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 1519, 2014).
Hinkley, E.A., V.G. Ambrosia, S. Wegener (2014),“Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Environmental Monitoring Applications,”
In W. Messnew (Ed.), Autonomous Technologies: Applications That Matter, Society of American Engineers International,
Warrendale, PA., Chapter 8, pp. 138-156. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013JD020884/full
Huang, C. et al. (R. Nemani among 11 authors) ,“A Quarter-Century U.S. Forest Disturbance History Mapped from Landsat”
(B51L-05). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Jagermeyr, J., D. Gerten, W. Lucht, P. Hostert, M. Migliavacca, and. R. Nemani. 2014. A high-resolution approach to
estimating ecosystem respiration at continental scales using operational satellite data. Global Change Biology, 20 (4):
1191-1210. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12443/full
Jethva, H. et al. (J. Redemann, Y. Shinozuka, M. Kacenelenbogen, and M. Segal Rosenhaimer among 9 authors)“Validating
abovecloud aerosol optical depth retrieved from MODIS using NASA Ames airborne suntracking photometric and
spectrometric (AATS and 4STAR) measurements” (A12A-06), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting,
San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Jiang, X. et al. (Susan Kulawik, among 7 authors).“CO2 Annual and Semiannual Cycles from Satellite Retrievals and
Models” (A41H-3164). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Johnson, L. et al. 2014. Results from 2012-2013 Salinas irrigation trials – further development of decision support
tools for cool season vegetable production. Proceedings, US Committee on Irrigation & Drainage, Water Management
Conference, 4-7 March, Sacramento.
Johnson, L. et al. Evapotranspiration-based irrigation scheduling of lettuce and broccoli. HortScience (in prep).
Johnson, L., F. Cassel-Sharma, D. Goorahoo, and F. Melton, 2014. Calculator for water sustainability metrics in California
Agriculture, Amer. Soc. Civil Engrs, World Environmental & Water Resources Congress, 1-5 June, Portland, OR.
Johnson, L., F. Cassel-Sharma, D. Goorahoo, and F. Melton,“Calculator for evaluation of crop water use fractions in
California” (Poster). Presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 15-19, San Francisco, CA.
Johnson, L. and F. Melton, 2014. Satellite-based Calculator for Estimation of Crop Consumptive Use Fraction, USCID
Water Management Conference, U.S. Committee on Irrigation & Drainage, 2-5 Dec., Phoenix, AZ.
Johnson, L., F. Cassel-Sharma, D. Goorahoo, and F. Melton, 2014. Landsat-based calculation of agricultural water use
fractions in California. 19th ASPRS 18th William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium, 17-20 Nov., Denver, CO.
Kacenelenbogen, M.“Inferring aerosol optical property and height above clouds from clear-sky satellite observations”,
(presented at Meeting of the American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA, 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M.“Use of AATS-14 measurements during COAST for HQ2O atmospheric correction”, (presented at the
High-Quality Optical Observations (HQ2O) instrument workshop, NASA AMES, Moffett Field, CA, September 2014).

Kacenelenbogen, M.“Satellite remote sensing of aerosols and ground-based air quality”, (presented at the University of
Hawaii (UH), Honolulu, HI, September, 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M.“Use of combined A-Train satellite observations for global aerosol typing in clear-sky and above
clouds”, (presented at the CALIPSO/CloudSat Science team meeting, Washington, D.C., November, 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M. et al “Global aerosol typing from a combination of A-Train satellite observations in clear-sky and
above clouds” (A21F-3098), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA., December 15-
19, 2014).
Kacenelenbogen, M. et al. An evaluation of CALIOP/CALIPSO’s aerosol-above-cloud (AAC) detection and retrieval
capability. 2014. J.Geophys. Res., 119(1): 230-244. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013JD020178/full
Kawakami, S. et al. (P. Hillyard, J. Podolske, L. Iraci, among 9 authors)“The total column of CO2 and CH4 measured with a
compact Fourier transform spectrometer at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and Railroad Valley, Nevada, USA”
(A41I-3171), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Kitiashvili, I., Alexander G Kosovichev, Nagi N Mansour, Alan A Wray. Multiscale Properties of the Local Dynamo on the
Sun (224). Presented at American Astronomical Society Meeting. June 2014.
Koltunov, A., B. Quayle, E. Prins, V. Ambrosia, and S. Ustin. IN41D-02. From Data to Knowledge - Faster: GOES Early Fire
Detection System to Inform Operational Wildfire Response and Management. Presented at American Geophysical Union
Kotov, D., H. C. Yee, A. Hadjadj, A. Wray, and B. Sjogreen. High-order numerical methods for LES of turbulent flows with
shocks. Annual Research Briefs, Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford, 2014.
Kotov, D., H. C. Yee, A. Wray, and B. Sjogreen. On LES of low-speed flows by high-order shock capturing schemes with flow
sensors. Annual Research Briefs, Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford, 2014.
Kotov, D., H. C. Yee, A. Wray, and B. Sjogreen. Numerical dissipation control in high order shock capturing schemes for LES
of low speed flows. In Proceedings of the ICOSAHOM 14. Salt Lake City, UT, USA, June 23-27 2014.
Kotov, D., H. C. Yee, A. Hadjadj, A. Wray, and B. Sjogreen. High order numerical methods for LES of turbulent flows with
shocks. In Proceedings of the ICCFD8. Chengdu, Sichuan, China, July 14-18, 2014.
Knobelspiesse, K. and J. Redemann,“Airborne polarimeter intercomparison for the NASA Aerosols-Clouds-Ecosystems
(ACE) mission” (A21D-3055), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-
19, 2014).
Knobelspiesse, K. and J. Redemann,“Comparisons of Level 1 Polarimeter Measurements”, (presented at the Aerosol/Cloud/
Ecosystems (ACE) Science Working Group (SWG) Workshop, Greenbelt, MD, June 9-11, 2014).
Knyazikhin, Y., Jian Bi, Sungho Choi, Taejin Park, and Ranga Myneni.“Monitoring Seasonality in Phenology of Amazonian
Rainforests Using MISR and MODIS Data” (GC51E-0476). Presented at American Geophysical Union 2014 Annual Meeting,
Kuai,L., J. Worden, M. Lee, J. Campbell, S. Kulawik, R. Weidner,“Optimal Estimation of the Carbonyl Sulfide Surface Flux
Through Inverse Modeling of TES Observations” (A13L-3334), (presented at American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting,
San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014).
Kulawik, S. et al. 2014. Estimating biases and errors of CO2 from satellites (AIRS, GOSAT, SCIAMACHY, TES, OCO-2) and
models (CarbonTracker, MACC). 10th International Workshop on Greenhouse Gas Measurements from Space, ESA/ESTEC,
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Francisco, CA.=

4STAR Sky-scanning, Sun-tracking Atmospheric
Research
AATS-14 Ames Airborne Tracking Sun-photometer
AERONET Aerosol Robotic Network
AIRS Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
AGB Aboveground biomass
AGU American Geophysical Union
AJAX Alpha Jet Atmospheric Experiment
AIAA American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics
AMWS Applied Marine and Watershed Science
Program at CSUMB
ARISE ArcticRadiation,IceBridge,SeaandIce
Experiment
ARC-CREST Ames Research Center Cooperative for
Research in Earth Science and Technology
ARSET Applied Remote Sensing Training
ASCENDS Active Sensing of CO2
Emissions over
Nights, Days and Seasons
ASP Airborne Sciences Program
ATom Atmospheric Tomography Mission
AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radar
AVIRIS Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spec-
trometer
BBR Broadband Radiometer
BCCA Bias-correction Constructed Analogs
BCSD Bias-correction Spatial Disaggregation
CARB California Air Resources Board
CALIPSO Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared
Pathfinder Satellite Observation
CARTA Costa Rican Airborne Research and
Technology Application
CASI Climate Adaptation Science Investigators
CDFA California Department of Food and
Agriculture
CDWR California Department of Water Resources
CH2
O2
Formic acid
CH3
OH Methanol
CH4
Methane
CMEs Coastal Marine Ecosystems
CMIP5 Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project5
CMS Carbon Monitoring System
COMEX Carbon dioxide and methane experiment
CO2
Carbon dioxide
CSUMB California State University at Monterey
Bay
DAAC Distributed Active Archive Center
DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und-
Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center)
DNS Direct Numerical Simulation
EOS Earth Observing System
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
ESDR Earth Science Data Records
ESD Earth Science Division Database
ESPO Earth Science Project Office
Eu:CROPIS Euglena: Closed Regenerative Organic
ACronyms

FCMC Forest Carbon, Markets, and
Communities
GCAD Global Cropland Area Database
GCAD30 Global Cropland Area Database at 30 m
resolution
GCE Global Cropland Extent
GCM Global Climate Model
GEO-CAPE Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution
Events
GEOS-5 Global Earth Observing System Model
version 5
GEOSS Global Earth Observation System of
Systems
GFS Global Forecast System
GOSAT Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite
H2
O(g) Water vapor
HDO(g) Deuterium substituted water vapor
HDF Hierarchical Data Format
HIAPER High-performance Instrumented Air-
borne Platform for Environmental
Research
HICO Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal
Ocean
HIPPO HIAPER pole to pole observations
HMS Heliophysics Modeling and Simulation
HUS Specific Atmospheric Humidity
IGARSS International Geoscience and Remote
Sensing Symposium
INFLUX INdianapolis FLUx eXperiment
IWGGMS International Workshop on Greenhouse
Gas Measurements from Space
KORUS-AQ International Cooperative Air Quality
Field Study in Korea
Landsat ETM+ Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper +
Landsat 8 OLI Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager
LES Large Eddy Simulation
LVIS Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor
MACC Monitoring Atmospheric Composition
and Climate
MAIAC Mulit-angle implementation of atmos-
pheric correction for MODIS
MASTER MODIS/ASTER Simulator (Advanced
Spaceborne Thermal Emission and
Reflection Radiometer)
MEaSUREs Making Earth System data records for
Use in Research EnvironmentS
MMS Meteorological Measurement Systems
MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro
radiometer
MODIS-MAIAC Multi-angle implementation of
atmospheric correction for MODIS data
N2
O Nitrous oxide
NASA-AFRC NASA Armstrong Flight Research Facil-
ity
NASA-ARC NASA Ames Research Center
NASA-CASA NASA Carnegie Ames Stanford Ap-
proach
NASA-JPL NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NAST-I National Polar Orbiting Operational
Environmental Satellite System Air-
borne Sounder Testbed
NCA National Climate Assessment
NCEP National Center for Environmental
Prediction
NEX NASA Earth Exchange
NGA National Geospatial Agency
ACronyms

NO3
-
Nitrate
NOAA National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration
NOI Northern Oscillation Index
NSERC National Suborbital Education and
Research Center
OCO-2 Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2
OCS Carbonyl sulfide
OIB Operation Ice Bridge
OMI Ozone Monitoring Instrument
OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy
(White House)
PAN Peroxyacetyl nitrate
R R is a free, open-source programming
language and software environment for
statistical computing, bioinformatics and
graphics
REDD+ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
and Forest Degradation (REDD+)
RSIG Remote Sensing Information Gateway
SARP Student Airborne Research Program
SBIR Small Business Innovation and Research
SCIAMACHY Scanning Imaging Absorption
Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartogra-
phy
SEAC4RS Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric
Composition, Clouds and Climate
Coupling by Regional Surveys
SIERRA Sensor Integrated Environmental Remote
Research Aircraft
SIMS Satellite Irrigation Mapping System
SOFRS Science Operations Flight Request
System
SSFR Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer
SUAS Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
TCAP Two Column Aerosol Project
TCCON Total Carbon Column Observing Network
TES Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer
TGARS Transactions on Geoscience and Remote
Sensing
UAS Unmanned aircraft systems
UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle
UND University of North Dakota
UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organization
USDA United States Department of Agriculture
USCRTF United State Coral Reef Task Force
USGCRP United States Global Climate Research
Program
USFS United States Forest Service
USGS United State Geological Survey
ACronyms

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