From Launch Pad to
Laptop: Accessing and
Using Data from NASA's
Earth Observing System
Forrest Melton
CSU Monterey Bay, Seaside, CA
Ecological Forecasting Lab
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
With contributions from:
Rama Nemani, Petr Votava, Andrew Michaelis, Christina
Milesi, Hirofumi Hashimoto, Weile Wang
Support provided by:
NASA Applied Sciences Program
Terra Launch, Dec. 18, 1999
Harvard Remote Sensing Technology & Applications Workshop
Cambridge, MA, Feb. 16, 2007
1
Outline
- NASA Earth Observing System (EOS)
- Satellites
- Instruments
- Applications
- EOS Data Information System
- Accessing data
- Data formats
- Viewing and utilizing data
- Future NASA satellite missions
- Integrating satellite data with in-situ
observations and ecosystem models
- Terrestrial Observation & Prediction
System
Northeastern U.S., January 25, 2005
Credit: MODIS Rapid Response Team
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A Skyful of Satellites
3,100 orbiting satellites
Over 845 844 active satellites
Credit: Union of Concerned Scientists
Credit: New York Times, 2/6/2007
Union of Concerned Scientists, Satellite Database
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/space_weapons/whats-in-space.html
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Earth Observing Satellites
NASA
NOAA
USGS
Brazilian Space
Agency (INPE)
Canadian Space
Agency
Centre National
d'Etudes spatiales
(CNES, France)
Chinese National
Space Admin.
European Space
Agency (ESA)
Japan Aerospace
Exploration
Agency (JAXA)
Indian Remote
Sensing Agency
Commercial
satellites and
many others
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NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS)
EOS is collecting
Earth remote
sensing data for a
15 year global
change research
program
Phase II began in
December 1999
with the launch of
the first EOS
satellite, Terra
Integrated Earth
observations to
advance
understanding of
Earth System
http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/
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Multiple Instruments per Mission
Example: MODIS on Terra & Aqua
Terra Satellite
Launched Dec. 18,
1999 with five
instruments (ASTER,
CERES, MISR,
MODIS, MOPITT)
Aqua Satellite
Launched May 4,
2002 with six
instruments (AIRS,
AMSR-E, AMSU,
CERES, HSB,
MODIS)
MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
Orbit: 705 km, 10:30 a.m. descending node (Terra) or
1:30 p.m. ascending node (Aqua), sun-synchronous,
near-polar, circular
Swath Dimensions: 2330 km (cross track) by 10 km
(along track at nadir)
Data Rate:10.6 Mbps (peak daytime); 6.1 Mbps (orbital
average)
Spatial Resolution: 250 m (bands 1-2), 500 m (bands
3-7), 1000 m (bands 8-36)
Design Life: 6 years
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EOS / Sensor Web Overview
NASA Satellites
UAV/Aircraft
Ground Sensors
EOS Users
Fire / Event
EOSDIS /
DAACs
Ancillary Data
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EOS Science Focus Areas
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EOS Atmospheric Measurements
A-Train Satellite
Constellation
Collects nearly simultaneous
measurements of:
• aerosols
• clouds
• temperature
• relative humidity
• radiative fluxes
Credit: Langley Research Center
Mission
Aura
PARASOL
CALIPSO
Cloudsat
Aqua
OCO
Instruments
HIRDLS
MLS
OMI
TES
POLDER
CALIOP
IIR
WFC
Cloud
profiling
radar
AIRS/AMSU-A/
HSB
AMSR-R
CERES
MODIS
3 grating
spectrometers
Primary
Observations
Atmospheric
pollutants and
greenhouse
gases
Aerosols and clouds;
distinguish natural vs
anthropogenic aerosols
Aerosols
and clouds
Cloud
properties
Atmospheric
water vapor
Carbon dioxide
concentrations
http://www-calipso.larc.nasa.gov/about/atrain.php
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EOS Atmospheric Measurements
Measurement
Sensors
Cloud Properties (amount, optical properties,
height)
MODIS, GLAS, AMSR-E, MISR, AIRS,
ASTER, SAGE III
Radiative Energy Fluxes (top of atmosphere,
surface)
CERES, ACRIM III, MODIS, AMSR-E, GLAS,
MISR, AIRS, ASTER, SAGE III
Precipitation
TMI/VIRS, AMSR-E
Tropospheric Chemistry (ozone, precursor
gases)
TES, MOPITT, SAGE III, MLS, HIRDLS, LIS
Stratospheric Chemistry (ozone, ClO, BrO,
OH, trace gases)
MLS, HIRDLS, SAGE III, OMI, TES
Aerosol Properties (stratospheric,
tropospheric)
SAGE III, HIRDLS, MODIS, MISR, OMI,
GLAS
Atmospheric Temperature
AIRS/AMSU-A, MLS, HIRDLS, TES, MODIS
Atmospheric Humidity
AIRS/AMSU-A/HSB, MLS, SAGE III, HIRDLS,
Poseidon 2/JMR/DORIS, MODIS, TES
Lightning (events, area, flash structure)
LIS
EOS Project Science Office
http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/for_scientists/index.php
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EOS Atmospheric Measurements: Aerosol monitoring
TOMS
MODIS Rapid Response
Credit: NASA
MODIS MOD04 Aerosol Optical Depth
Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA GSFC
Credit: K. Mubenga
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EOS Cryosphere / Solar Radiation Measurements
Terra / Aqua
ICESat
JASON-I
LANDSAT 7
ACRIMSAT
Measurement
Sensors
Cryosphere
Land Ice (ice sheet topography, ice sheet
volume change, glacier change)
GLAS, ASTER, ETM+
Sea Ice (extent, concentration, motion,
temperature)
AMSR-E, MODIS, ASTER, Jason-1
(Poseidon 2/JMR/DORIS), ETM+
Snow Cover (extent, water equivalent)
MODIS, AMSR-E, ASTER, ETM+
SORCE
Solar Radiation
Total Solar Irradiance
ACRIM III, TIM
Solar Spectral Irradiance
SIM, SOLSTICE
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EOS Cryosphere: Monitoring Ice Sheets and Glaciers
Jan. 31, 2002
Mar. 5, 2002
GLAS onboard ICESat will extend NASA airborne
instrument record to track changes in ice sheet
extent and thickness.
Larsen B Ice Shelf Collapse, 2002
Credit: NSIDC
MODIS, ETM+, and ASTER can be used to
monitor extent of glaciers and ice sheets.
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EOS Land and Ocean Measurements
Measurement
Sensors
Land Cover & Land Use Change
ETM+, MODIS, ASTER, MISR
Vegetation Dynamics
MODIS, MISR, ETM+, ASTER
Land Surface Temperature
ASTER, MODIS, AIRS, AMSR-E, ETM+
Fire Occurrence (extent, thermal anomalies)
MODIS, ASTER, ETM+
Volcanic Effects (frequency of occurrence,
thermal anomalies, impact)
MODIS, ASTER, ETM+, MISR
Surface Wetness
AMSR-E
Ocean Surface Temperature
MODIS, AIRS, AMSR-E
Phytoplankton & Dissolved Organic Matter
MODIS
Surface Wind Fields
SeaWinds, AMSR-E, Poseidon 2/JMR/DORIS
Ocean Surface Topography (height, waves,
sea level)
Poseidon 2/JMR/DORIS
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EOS Measurements: Fire & Vegetation Monitoring
MODIS MOD14 Southeast Asia Thermal Anomalies,
January 28, 2007
Credit: MODIS Rapid Response
Tracking vegetation condition with MODIS EVI
in the Amazon Basin
Credit: Huete et al. 2006. GRL 33.
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EOS Measurements: Tracking Landscape Change in Mato Grasso
ASTER
Credit: Morton et al. 2006. PNAS, 103(39).
MODIS
Credit: MODIS Rapid Response Team
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NASA Sub-orbital Science Program
15 aircraft platforms supporting
satellite missions, field
campaigns, disaster response,
and science missions
A range of sensors, including:
• AVIRIS (Airborne Visible Infrared
Imaging Spectrometer)
• AIRDAS (Airborne Infrared
Disaster Assessment System)
• HyMap
• LIDAR and many others
AVARIS Data Cube
http://suborbital.nasa.gov/index.html
NASA AVIRIS, Dec. 2005 Mosaic, Buck Island, St.
Croix, USVI Credit: Dr. Liane Guild, NASA ARC
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EOS Data Information System (EOSDIS)
• EOSDIS is the comprehensive
ground system for processing,
archiving, and distributing data from
all the EOS spacecraft
• Data processed, archived and
distributed from nine distributed
active archive centers, each with its
own focus
• Accepts, process, and archives 3+
TB per day of data from EOS
• > 4 petabytes of data archived
• 2.3 TB of user data requests per day
fulfilled
• Also provides mission operation
systems that perform command and
control of the spacecraft and
instruments, health and safety
monitoring, mission planning and
scheduling, initial data capture, and
Level 0 processing.
http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/about.html
http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/data_services.php
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EOS Standard Data Products: Processing Levels
Data Processing Level
Description
Level 0
Reconstructed, unprocessed instrument and payload
data at full resolution, with any and all communications
artifacts removed.
Level 1A
Reconstructed, unprocessed instrument data at full
resolution, time-referenced, and annotated with
ancillary information, including radiometric and
geometric calibration coefficients and georeferencing
parameters (e.g., platform ephemeris) computed and
appended but not applied to the Level 0 data.
Level 1A data that have been processed to sensor
units (not all instruments have Level 1B data).
Derived geophysical variables at the same resolution
and location as Level 1 source data.
Level 1B
Level 2
Level 3
Variables mapped on uniform space-time grid scales,
usually with some completeness and consistency.
Level 4
Model output or results from analyses of lower level
data (e.g., variables derived from multiple
measurements).
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MODIS Level 0
through Level 4
data products
Data Access: EOS Data Gateway
•
EOS data access provided by
EOS Data Gateway (EDG)
http://delenn.gsfc.nasa.gov/~imswww/p
ub/imswelcome/
(http://eos.nasa.gov/imswelcome)
•
•
•
•
Integrated search interface for all
EOS data products
Facilitates search by data set,
sensor, data type, location, and
date
On-line manual and tutorial
provided
NOAA Data Access
–
•
USGS Data Access
–
•
CLASS,
http://www.class.ncdc.noaa.gov/n
saa/products/welcome
Earth Resources Observation
Systems (EROS) Data Center
(EDC), http://edc.usgs.gov/
Access to some datasets requires
NASA / NOAA / USGS
collaboration
EDG Data Query Interface
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EDG Data Listing
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EOS Standard Products: Data Format
HDF (Hierarchical Data Format)
• Designed at NCSA to facilitate sharing of scientific data
• Embedded metadata for units, labels, other descriptors
• Platform independent
• User extendible
• Supports multidimensional array, text, table, raster image, and palette
HDF-EOS (HDF for the Earth Observing System
• Implemented as a C library extension of the standard HDF library
• Adds support for grid, point, and swath formats to standard HDF objects
• Allow file contents to be reference to Earth coordinates and time
• Contains EOS Core System (ECS) core metadata essential for ECS search
services (if the product contains ECS metadata, it is a valid HDF-EOS file)
• Can be read by any tool that processes standard HDF files
http://science.hq.nasa.gov/research/earth_science_formats.html
http://hdfeos.org/; http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/HDFEOS/
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Other Common Data Formats
GeoTIFF, http://remotesensing.org/geotiff/spec/geotiffhome.html
•
Public domain metadata standard that allows georeferencing information to be embedded within a TIFF
•
The potential additional information includes projections, coordinate systems, ellipsoids, datums, and
everything else necessary to establish the exact spatial reference for the file.
Network Common Data Form (netCDF), http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/
•
Interface for array-oriented data access and a freely distributed collection of software libraries for C,
FORTRAN, C++, Java, and Perl that provide implementations of the interface
•
Many of the same features and advantages of HDF: (1) self-describing; (2) architecture-independent; (3)
directly readable
•
Widely used for climate data, climate modeling, and other applications with multidimensional gridded
datasets
National Land Archive Processing System (NLAPS) Data Format (NDF), and Level 1 Product
Generation System (LPGS), http://eros.usgs.gov/products/satellite/landsat7.html#processing
•
NLAPS and LPGS and Landsat data processing systems; image data are in GeoTIFF
Flexible Image Transport System (FITS), http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/
•
Used by astronomy research community (and the TRMM VIRS fire product)
•
Header records in ASCII text format, followed by data records, consisting of a byte stream.
National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF) 2.1 / 2.0
•
Used by Intelligence and Defense community (and Quickbird)
Binary (flt / hdr) and American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
http://science.hq.nasa.gov/research/earth_science_formats.html
http://outreach.eos.nasa.gov/EOSDIS_CD-03/docs/data_formats.htm
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Other U.S. Sources of Satellite Data: NOAA & DMSP
NOAA National Environmental Satellite,
Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)
•
NESDIS, GOES, POES, METEOSAT,
AVHRR
Data access via the NOAA
Comprehensive Large Array-data
Stewardship System (CLASS)
http://www.osd.noaa.gov/class/
Data formats: GeoTIFF, HDF, Binary,
shapefile
Also provides access to the Defense
Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)
Archive
•
•
•
NESDIS data organized by four data centers:
•
Climate Data Center
•
Geophysical Data Center
•
Ocean Data Center
•
Coastal Data Center
http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/
http://www.noaa.gov/satellites.html
25
Other U.S. Sources of Satellite Data: USGS
USGS maintains data for
Landsat 1-7 missions and
archive of aerial photography
Data Access via EDC
• http://landsat.usgs.gov/data_p
roducts/ordering_data.php
• Earth Explorer
• GloVis
• IGS Network
Progression of deforestation in Bolivia from 1975 to 2000. The MSS
image on the left was acquired on June 17, 1975; the middle TM
image on July 10, 1992; and the right ETM+ image on August 1,
2000. Credit: USGS
Landsat 7 SLC failure on May 31,
2003 continues to be problematic
Agriculture in Nevada. Scan
Line Corrector anomaly creates a
zigzag pattern along satellite
ground track. Image acquired
August 28, 2003. Credit: USGS
http://landsat.usgs.gov/project_facts/files/landsat_fact_sheet_20023-03.pdf
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Viewing and Analyzing Data
Multiple commercial tools for viewing and analyzing commercial data:
Application
Description
RSI ENVI/IDL
Geospatial Image Processing
http://www.rsinc.com/
ERDAS Imagine
Geospatial Image Processing
http://gis.leica-geosystems.com/
PCI Geomatics
(eCognition)
Geospatial Image Processing
http://www.pcigeomatics.com/
Idrisi
Geospatial Image Processing
http://www.clarklabs.org/
ERMapper
Geospatial Image Processing
http://www.ermapper.com/
Matlab
Technical Computing & Image
Processing
http://www.mathworks.com/
HDF Explorer Pro
Data Visualization
http://www.space-research.org/
http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/landdaac/tools/hdf/tools_table.asp
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Viewing and Analyzing Data
Open Source Remote Sensing Applications
• RemoteSensing.org, http://remotesensing.org/Home.html
Application
Description
MultiSpec
Multispectral Image Data Analysis
http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~biehl/MultiSpec/
MSPHINX
Satellite Process Handling Images
uNder Xwindow
http://www-loa.univ-lille1.fr/Msphinx/Msphinx_gb.html
MODIS Reprojection
Tool
Projection/Format Conversion
http://lpdaac.usgs.gov/landdaac/tools/modis/index.asp
MRT – Swath
Swath-to-Grid Conversion
http://lpdaac.usgs.gov/landdaac/tools/mrtswath/index.asp
LDOPE Tools
MODLAND Quality Assessment
http://lpdaac.usgs.gov/landdaac/tools/ldope/index.asp
MODIS Swath-to-Grid
IDL-Based Conversion
http://nsidc.org/data/modis/ms2gt/
Cube Visualization
(CV)
Data Visualization
http://isis.astrogeology.usgs.gov/Isis2/isis-bin/isis.cgi/
WebWinds
Data Visualization/Processing
http://www.openchannelsoftware.com/projects/WebWinds/
WinVicar
Windows-Based Image Processing
http://www.openchannelsoftware.com/projects/WINVICAR/
HEW
Web-based HDF-EOS Subsetter
http://subset.itsc.uah.edu/hew2k/
NCSA HDF Tools
HDF Utilities
http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/hdftools.html
http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/landdaac/tools/hdf/tools_table.asp
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Viewing and Analyzing Data: HDF Tools
HDF-EOS Tools & Libraries, http://www.hdfeos.org/software.php
• Provide functionality for viewing, analyzing, and converting HDF to other formats
Examples
Binary_Dumper -- dumps HDF-EOS objects in binary format
EOSVIEW -- displays and verifies HDF and HDF-EOS files
HDFExplorer -- visualization program that reads HDF, HDF-EOS and HDF5 files
HDFView -- a visual tool for browsing and editing NCSA HDF4 and HDF5 files
HE5View -- a file viewing tool for examining and verifying HDF-EOS 5.x files
HEG -- converts HDF-EOS to GeoTIFF
HEMU -- a tool to update metadata inside an HDF-EOS file
HMR -- reads metadata from HDF-EOS file and writes to a text file
HMU -- updates the metadata embedded in an HDF-EOS file
MS2GT -- reads HDF-EOS files containing MODIS swath data and produces flat binary files
containing gridded data
PGS_Toolkit -- a set of tools to manage the metadata that are generated with each EOS product
PHDIS -- reads any HDF-EOS file containing data gridded in the Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area
projection
hdf2bin -- converts HDF or HDFEOS file into plain binary file
hdfeos-netcdf -- converts HDF-EOS4/5 files to netCDF
view_hdf -- a visualizationtool for accessing data stored in HDF and HDF-EOS files
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Current NASA Satellite Missions
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Future NASA Satellite Missions
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Future NASA Satellite Missions: 2008
Ocean Surface
Topography Mission
(OSTM)
Glory
Orbiting Carbon
Observatory
(ESSP / OCO)
May 2008
December 2008
September 2008
Continue Jason and
TOPEX/Poseidon Missions.
Determine ocean surface
topography to study ocean
circulation and its
environmental applications
(cooperative with France,
EUMETSAT, and NOAA).
Continue SORCE
Mission. Determine
atmospheric aerosol
properties from the
polarization of
backscattered solar
radiation, and
measure total solar
irradiance.
Provide spacebased observations
of atmospheric
carbon dioxide
(CO2).
Earth System
Science Pathfinder
(ESSP) Program
ESSP missions
address unique,
specific, highly-focused
requirements in Earth
science research.
Primarily low to
moderate cost, small to
medium sized missions
that are capable of
being built, tested and
launched in a short
time interval.
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Future NASA Satellite Missions: 2009-2010
LDCM
ESSP
Aquarius
NPOESS Preparatory Project
(NPP) Mission
Global Precipitation
Measurement (GPM)
Mission
Landsat Data
Continuity Mission
March 2009
September 2009
TBD
TBD
Measure global
sea surface
salinity
(cooperative
mission with
Argentina).
Extend key measurements in
support of long-term monitoring
of climate trends and global
biological activity (joint NOAADoD-NASA mission). NPP
extends the measurement
series being initiated with EOS
Terra and Aqua by providing a
bridge between NASA’s EOS
missions and NPOESS,
scheduled to replace the
separate NOAA and DoD
operational systems in ~2010.
Measure global
precipitation with
improved temporal
resolution and spatial
coverage .
Extend the Landsat
record of
multispectral, 30-m
resolution, seasonal,
global coverage of
Earth’s land surface
(joint with USGS).
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NASA Applied Sciences
NASA Applied Sciences Application Plan, http://science.hq.nasa.gov/strategy/AppPlan.pdf
34
Applying EOS Data: TOPS
Monitoring
Developing a
Common
Modeling
Framework
Modeling
Forecasting
Use of ecosystem
models to
integrate satellite
observations,
climate data, and
other groundbased
observations and
produce
ecological
forecasts.
Multiple scales
Predictions are based on
changes in biogeochemical
cycles
http://ecocast.arc.nasa.gov/
Nemani et al., 2003, EOM
White & Nemani, 2004, CJRS
35
TOPS California Ecological Daily Nowcasts at 1km
Climate + Satellite
T
Carbon and water cycles
P
GPP
0
Biome-BGC
RAD
Simulation models
ET
5
2.5
GPP (gC/m2/d)
ET (mm/d)
Outputs include plant growth, irrigation demand, streamflow
Salt water incursion, water allocation, crop coefficients
36
Near Real-time Monitoring of global NPP anomalies
Mapping changes in global net primary production
near real-time depiction of the droughts in the Amazon and Horn of Africa, May 2005
Running et al., 2004, Bioscience, 54:547-560
37
Lots of Data, One Laptop
Data issues to
consider:
Spatial scale
Temporal scale
Cost
Availability
Data quality
Length of data
record
Resources
available for
data analysis
38
Resources
NASA Earth Science Reference Handbook
http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/for_scientists/data_products/refbook2006.php
EOS Data Products Handbook Vol. 1 (2004) and Vol. 2 (2000)
http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/for_scientists/data_products/vol1.php
Finding Data
EDG:
http://delenn.gsfc.nasa.gov/~imswww/pub/imswelcome/
DAACs:
http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/search.html
EOSDIS: http://spsosun.gsfc.nasa.gov/eosinfo/Welcome/index.html
EOS-WEBSTER: http://eos-webster.sr.unh.edu/about.jsp
EOS Imagery
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/
EOS Missions
Mission Overviews: http://science.hq.nasa.gov/missions/earth.html
Missions Profiles: http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/mission_profiles/index.php
Instruments:
http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/directory/instrument/index.php
Further Resources
NASA Remote Sensing Tutorial: http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/
GIS Cafe Forums: http://www10.giscafe.com/wwwthreads-5.3/wwwthreads.php
Instrument Science Teams
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