National Aeronautics And Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory Research Articles

Investigation of seasonal variability of atmospheric columnar CO2 over India in relation to environmental parameters using OCO-2 observation and vertical redistribution model

ABSTRACT This work re-explores the seasonal change of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, a subject of renewable interest over half a century, in both time and frequency domain and identifies the atmospheric surface pressure and the surface air temperature as key factors for the temporal variation. The annual variability of CO2 dry-air mole fraction derived from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA-JPL) Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) database for the region bounded by 22° N to 23° N and 86° E to 89° E was found to increase in summer, to decrease in winter and to exhibit a tendency of increase at the end of the year consistently for the years 2016 and 2017 whereas the corresponding variations of solar-induced fluorescence, surface pressure and air temperature showed partial consistency with that. The trends of these findings were cross-checked with the long-time gross variations of CO2, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, surface pressure and surface temperature for 25 urban regions within approximately 20° N to 29° N and 69° E to 89° E obtained from NASA-Giovanni database for a period of 2010 to 2017. The periodic variations of these parameters were pin-pointed by Fourier transform. Field measurements were carried out for ground level and column-averaged CO2 concentrations in parts per million (ppm) at the region around Kolkata city (22.55° N, 88.35° E). Based on the above findings, a simple atmospheric model is developed for vertical redistribution of CO2 molecules under changed temperature and pressure causing a changed atmospheric path for radiation absorption and an apparent change in the gas concentration at any specific altitude.

A Ground Support Biobarrier (GSB) for recontamination prevention

Planetary Protection organizations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and other space agencies around the world are charged with protecting icy moons and Mars Special Regions, areas that carry an increased potential for life, from Earth biological contamination. During the spacecraft assembly process subsystems undergo functional testing, a task that verifies critical components can survive from launch through the duration of the mission. Despite efforts to keep spacecraft clean during these ground testing operations, as well as during transportation, recontamination frequently occurs and results in the need to re-clean the spacecraft, putting stress on the spacecraft assembly critical path. In response, the Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group (BPPG) at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has designed a Ground Support Biobarrier (GSB) capable of protecting flight hardware continuously from an up-to 150 °C Heat Microbial Reduction (HMR) sterilization through hardware integration with the spacecraft, itself. The biobarrier consists of aluminum brackets bolted together and covered with thin aluminum sheets sealed via epoxy. The base plate of the biobarrier contains bolt connections and a gasket to ensure that all venting is through the HEPA-filtered vent when the biobarrier is closed. Additionally, the GSB allows for vapor hydrogen peroxide (VHP) sterilization as well as the ability to functionally test hardware without opening the barrier. The GSB provides a safety-net against microbiological re-contamination during critical functional testing, decreasing the need for re-cleaning and reducing schedule impact risk.

Direct Insertion of NASA Airborne Snow Observatory‐Derived Snow Depth Time Series Into the iSnobal Energy Balance Snow Model

AbstractAccurately simulating the spatiotemporal distribution of mountain snow water equivalent improves estimates of available meltwater and benefits the water resource management community. In this paper we present the first integration of lidar‐derived distributed snow depth data into a physics‐based snow model using direct insertion. Over four winter seasons (2013–2016) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) performed near‐weekly lidar surveys throughout the snowmelt season to measure snow depth at high resolution over the Tuolumne River Basin above Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The modeling component of the ASO program implements the iSnobal model to estimate snow density for converting measured depths to snow water equivalent and to provide temporally complete snow cover mass and thermal states between flights. Over the four years considered in this study, snow depths from 36 individual lidar flights were directly inserted into the model to provide updates of snow depth and distribution. Considering all updates to the model, the correlation between ASO depths and modeled depths with and without previous updates was on average r2 = 0.899 (root‐mean‐square error = 12.5 cm) and r2 = 0.162 (root‐mean‐square error = 41.5 cm), respectively. The precise definition of the snow depth distribution integrated with the iSnobal model demonstrates how the ASO program represents a new paradigm for the measurement and modeling of mountain snowpacks and reveals the potential benefits for managing water in the region.

The Combined ASTER MODIS Emissivity over Land (CAMEL) Part 1: Methodology and High Spectral Resolution Application

As part of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) MEaSUREs (Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments) Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity project, the Space Science and Engineering Center (UW-Madison) and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) developed a global monthly mean emissivity Earth System Data Record (ESDR). This new Combined ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Emissivity over Land (CAMEL) ESDR was produced by merging two current state-of-the-art emissivity datasets: the UW-Madison MODIS Infrared emissivity dataset (UW BF) and the JPL ASTER Global Emissivity Dataset Version 4 (GEDv4). The dataset includes monthly global records of emissivity and related uncertainties at 13 hinge points between 3.6–14.3 µm, as well as principal component analysis (PCA) coefficients at 5-km resolution for the years 2000 through 2016. A high spectral resolution (HSR) algorithm is provided for HSR applications. This paper describes the 13 hinge-points combination methodology and the high spectral resolutions algorithm, as well as reports the current status of the dataset.

Feature selection and weighted SVM classifier-based ship detection in PolSAR imagery

Target decomposition is an important method for ship detection in polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. Parameters such as the polarization entropy and alpha angle deduced from the coherency matrix eigenvalue decomposition capture the differences between the target and background from different views separately. However, under the conditions of a relatively high resolution and a rough sea, the contrast between ship and sea reduces in the aforementioned space. Based on the analyses of target decomposition theory and the target’s scattering mechanism, multi-polarization parameters can be used to characterize different scattering behaviours of the ship target and sea clutter. Moreover, each parameter has its own diverse significance in the practical detection problem. This article proposes a feature selection and weighted support vector machine (FSWSVM) classifier-based algorithm to detect ships in polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) imagery. First, the method constructs a feature vector that consists of multi-polarization parameters. Then, different polarization parameters are refined and weighted according to their significance in the support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Finally, ships are classified from the sea background and other false alarms by the classifier. The validation results on National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) airborne synthetic aperture radar (AIRSAR) and Radarsat-2 quad polarimetric data illustrate that the method detects ship targets more precisely and reduces false alarms effectively.

Three-Component Power Decomposition for Polarimetric SAR Data Based on Adaptive Volume Scatter Modeling

In this paper, the three-component power decomposition for polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) data with an adaptive volume scattering model is proposed. The volume scattering model is assumed to be reflection-symmetric but parameterized. For each image pixel, the decomposition first starts with determining the adaptive parameter based on matrix similarity metric. Then, a respective scattering power component is retrieved with the established procedure. It has been shown that the proposed method leads to complete elimination of negative powers as the result of the adaptive volume scattering model. Experiments with the PolSAR data from both the NASA/JPL (National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Airborne SAR (AIRSAR) and the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) ALOS-PALSAR also demonstrate that the proposed method not only obtains similar/better results in vegetated areas as compared to the existing Freeman-Durden decomposition but helps to improve discrimination of the urban regions.

A Prototype Radio Transient Survey Instrument for Piggyback Deep Space Network Tracking

Traditional astronomy has focused on properties of the steady-state universe. Recent discoveries of strong, isolated radio pulses have, however, invigorated interest in transient phenomena. These radio transient events are rare, necessitating long observing times to give reasonable statistics. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) Deep Space Network (DSN) tracks spacecraft continuously with several large antennas having low system noise temperature. The DSN also returns substantial predetection bandwidth from the antennas (400 MHz at X-band), currently processing only a fraction of that band for spacecraft tracking. This unused wideband capability is ideal for study of the radio transient sky. Here we describe and show initial performance results of a prototype receiver to search for such transients. This prototype is implemented as a firmware change in an operational DSN tracking receiver and can thus run in parallel with operational spacecraft tracks using existing spare receiver hardware. An operational version of this system could be deployed throughout the DSN to acquire data over extended periods and substantially improve the statistics of rare radio transient events.

Joint detection of roads in multifrequency SAR images based on a particle filter

A new method is proposed for joint detection of roads in multifrequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. First, a multisegmented polyline model was introduced to provide a more accurate description of a road curve. Then, the roads in the SAR images were extracted in a Bayesian tracking framework, and a particle filtering algorithm used to implement the tracking. Finally, a joint detection method based on the maximum likelihood (ML) criterion was proposed to determine the optimal weights of the particles. Using multifrequency SAR data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR), the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by experimental extraction results for a single road as well as for a road network, and it is validated that the joint detection method leads to a larger detection probability than the single detection method.

DEM Generation Combining SAR Polarimetry and Shape-From-Shading Techniques

Estimation of the polarization orientation angle shifts induced by terrain azimuth slope variations is a recently developed application in radar polarimetry. In general, without any prior knowledge on the terrain, two polarimetric SAR (POLSAR) flight passes are required to derive terrain slopes in perpendicular directions for digital elevation model (DEM) generation. Moreover, we note that SAR intensity is a strong indicator of the range component of the terrain slopes. In this letter, we developed a method for DEM generation requiring only one POLSAR flight pass, by combining orientation angle estimation and a shape-from-shading technique. In particular, when limited POLSAR data are available, this POLSAR technique provides an alternative way for DEM generation. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) AIRSAR L-band POLSAR data over Camp Roberts, California, is used to demonstrate the results of the method proposed in this letter, and a DEM derived from simultaneously measured C-band interferometric SAR from NASA/JPL topographic SAR instrument is selected as the comparative ground truth to validate the effectiveness of this single POLSAR method. Analyses and discussions are also included in this letter.

Huygens probe entry and descent trajectory analysis and reconstruction techniques

Cassini/Huygens is a joint National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/European Space Agency (ESA)/Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) mission on its way to explore the Saturnian system. The ESA Huygens Probe is scheduled to be released from the Orbiter on 25 December 2004 and enter the atmosphere of Titan on 14 January 2005. Probe delivery to Titan, arbitrarily defined to occur at a reference altitude of 1270 km above the surface of Titan, is the responsibility of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). ESA is then responsible for safely delivering the probe from the reference altitude to the surface. The task of reconstructing the probe trajectory and attitude from the entry point to the surface has been assigned to the Huygens Descent Trajectory Working Group (DTWG), a subgroup of the Huygens Science Working Team. The DTWG will use data provided by the Huygens Probe engineering subsystems and selected data sets acquired by the scientific payload. To correctly interpret and correlate results from the probe science experiments and to provide a reference set of data for possible “ground-truthing” Orbiter remote sensing measurements, it is essential that the trajectory reconstruction be performed as early as possible in the post-flight data analysis phase. The reconstruction of the Huygens entry and descent trajectory will be based primarily on the probe entry state vector provided by the Cassini Navigation Team, and measurements of acceleration, pressure, and temperature made by the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI). Other data sets contributing to the entry and descent trajectory reconstruction include the mean molecular weight of the atmosphere measured by the probe Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) in the upper atmosphere and the Surface Science Package (SSP) speed of sound measurement in the lower atmosphere, accelerations measured by the Central and Radial Accelerometer Sensor Units (CASU/RASU), and the probe altitude by the two probe radar altimeters during the latter stages of the descent. In the last several hundred meters, the altitude determination will be constrained by measurements from the SSP acoustic sounder. Other instruments contributing data to the entry and descent trajectory and attitude determination include measurements of the zonal wind drift by the Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE), and probe zonal and meridional drift and probe attitude by the Descent Imager and Spectral Radiometer (DISR). In this paper, the need for and the methods by which the Huygens Probe entry and descent trajectory will be reconstructed are reviewed.

Physical optics analysis of four-reflector antenna

A four-reflector physical optics analysis procedure is presented. Theoretical characteristics of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) 64 m antennas computed from this procedure were found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. The <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">S</tex> -band horn fields will subsequently be carried through all four reflectors (resulting in a transmission viewpoint of final antenna system beams) to account fully for all nearfield, cross polarization, and higher order mode generation effects caused by various intentional asymmetries in geometry. This appears to be the first time such a complete and rigorous analysis has been performed on such a complex antenna system. The analysis techniques presented are useful in many ongoing ground station antenna research and development efforts, including high-efficiency shaped reflector and beam waveguide feed designs and microwave metrology (holography) applied to large reflector surface measurements.