The Earth Observer. September
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Earth Observer. September - October 2018. Volume 30, Issue 5. Editor’s Corner Steve Platnick EOS Senior Project Scientist Continuing a busy year of launches for NASA’s Earth Science Division,1 the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:02 AM PDT (9:02 AM EDT) on September 15, aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket—the final launch of the Delta II. About 75 minutes after launch, ground stations in Svalbard, Norway acquired signals from the spacecraft. The Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), the lone instrument on ICESat-2, successfully fired its laser on September 30 after the mission operations team completed testing of the spacecraft and opened the door protecting the optics. The primary science mission for ICESat-2 is to gather enough observations to estimate the annual height change of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to within four millimeters. ICESat-2 continues the record of ice height measurements started by NASA’s original ICESat mission, which operated from 2003 to 2009. ICESat’s ice height measurements were continued by the agency’s annual Operation IceBridge airborne flights over the Arctic and Antarctic, which began in 2009 and continue to the present. The next round of deployments to Chile and Argentina are now underway, and will run through mid-November. Data from ICESat-2 will be available to the public through the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Engineers at NASA Goddard built and tested the ATLAS instrument, and manage the ICESat-2 mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Northrop Grumman designed and built the spacecraft bus, installed the instru- ment, and tested the completed satellite. 1 So far this year, in addition to ICESat-2, NASA has launched GRACE-FO, ECOSTRESS, as well as NOAA’s GOES-S (17) mission. The three previous 2018 launches have been discussed in the Editorials in the last three issues of The Earth Observer [Volume 30, Issues 2, 3 and 4]. GEDI is currently scheduled for a November 2018 launch. continued on page 2 the earth observer The international Afternoon Constellation includes the A-Train satellites (OCO-2, GCOM-W1, Aqua, and Aura) as well as the C-Train satellites (CALIPSO and CloudSat). Image credit: NASA www.nasa.gov 02 The Earth Observer September - October 2018 Volume 30, Issue 5 In This Issue Editor’s Corner Front Cover In the News NASA Assists in Efforts to Contain California Feature Article Wildfires 47 ICESat-2: Measuring the Height of Ice Expedition Probes Ocean’s Smallest Organisms from Space 4 for Climate Answers 49 NASA’s DEVELOP Program Recognizes NASA Investment in Cholera Forecasts Helps 20 Years of Science Serving Society 11 Save Lives in Yemen 51 Meeting Summaries Regular Features An Overview of USGS-NASA Landsat Science NASA Earth Science in the News 53 Team Activities During 2018 19 Earth Science Meeting and 2018 CLARREO Science Definition Team Workshop Calendar 55 Meeting Summary 27 Summary of the Third Surface Water and Reminder: To view newsletter images in color, visit Ocean Topography Science Team Meeting 31 eospso.nasa.gov/earth-observer-archive. editor's corner Summary of the 2018 NASA LCLUC–SARI International Regional Science Meeting 35 Summary of 2018 ASTER Science Team Meeting 42 “With this mission we continue humankind’s exploration The Earth Observer has also been following the details of the remote polar regions of our planet and advance of CloudSat’s departure from the A-Train, after techni- our understanding of how ongoing changes of Earth’s cal issues that potentially affected the satellite’s maneu- ice cover at the poles and elsewhere will affect lives vering capability. From September 13-20, CALIPSO around the world, now and in the future,” said Thomas executed a series of maneuvers to join CloudSat. As Zurbuchen [NASA Headquarters (HQ)—Associate depicted in the front cover graphic, the international Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate]. Afternoon Constellation now includes the A-Train satellites (OCO-2, GCOM-W1, Aqua, and Aura) as Turn to page 4 to learn more about the ICESat-2 well as the C-Train satellites (CALIPSO and CloudSat). mission and the ATLAS instrument. All of the satellites are in a sun-synchronous polar orbit, crossing the equator in an ascending (northbound) direc- We previously reported on the successful launch of tion at about 1:30 PM local time. The C-Train, however, ECOSTRESS, and its subsequent installation on the flies 16.5 km (~10 mi) below the A-Train and there- Japanese Experiment Module – Exposed Facility (JEM- EF) fore follows a slightly different ground track, though of the International Space Station.2 The instrument it intersects the A-Train ground track about every 20 began science operations on August 20, 2018 and has days, allowing for regular simultaneity between A-Train published its first images, including a map of California and C-Train instrument observations. CloudSat will fires, and a map of urban heat in Los Angeles.3 resume its prior role of maintaining its position behind ECOSTRESS data is planned for public availability no CALIPSO. The two satellites have an along-track sepa- later than six months after the start of science opera- ration of approximately 55 seconds. Since CALIPSO tions. An early adopter program will soon begin,4 with experiences about twice as much drag as CloudSat, early access to data. Interested users can sign up at the CloudSat will conduct periodic orbit lower maneuvers ECOSTRESS website at https://ECOSTRESS.jpl.nasa.gov. to maintain a 100 second or less along-track offset with 2 See the Editorial of the July–August 2018 issue of The Earth respect to CALIPSO. This positioning will be main- Observer [Volume 30, Issue 4, p. 1] for details. tained within about +/- 8.5 seconds, or about 4 km 3 To view these images, visit https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2775/ (~2.5 mi) of ground track offset, from CALIPSO. This nasas-space-botanist-observes-california-nevada-wildfires and is similar to the ground track offset while both satel- https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2802/ecostress-maps-las-hot-spots. 4 ECOSTRESS is following the template of early adopters set lites were in the A-Train. by other NASA missions, e.g., SMAP (https://smap.jpl.nasa. gov/science/early-adopters) and ICESat-2 (https://icesat-2.gsfc. With regard to future missions, NASA made five selec- nasa.gov/early_adopters). tions in response to its Earth Venture Suborbital-3 The Earth Observer September - October 2018 Volume 30, Issue 5 03 (EVS-3) Announcement of Opportunity.5 These new of the International Space Station (ISS) as an Earth- aircraft expeditions will begin taking flight in 2020. observing platform. Having overseen 16 major mission The winning investigations, their lead investigators, and and instrument launches and 8 CubeSat/small-satellite research focus are as follows: launches, Freilcih leaves a lasting legacy for his succes- sor. I add my own note of appreciation, along with • Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation those coming in from many others, to Mike for his for Atlantic-Coast-Threatening Snowstorms—led decade-plus sustained energy and leadership, and I wish by Lynn McMurdie [University of Washington]— him all the best in his retirement from NASA.7 focusing on intense snowstorms along the East Coast of the U.S.; Also, on June 20, 2018, Scott Braun [GSFC] became the Project Scientist (PS) for the GPM mission. Upon • Aerosol Cloud Meteorology Interactions over the taking on this new role, Braun stepped down as the Western Atlantic Experiment—led by Armin GOES Flight PS, a position he held since succeeding Sorooshian [University of Arizona]—focusing on Dennis Chesters [GSFC, emeritus] in late 2017. Braun, aerosols changing the properties of clouds over the who has been at GSFC since 1997, has previously Western Atlantic; served as a GOES Deputy PS, the TRMM PS, and was PI for the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) • Delta-X—led by Marc Simard [JPL]—focusing Earth Venture Suborbital investigation. He currently on the Mississippi River Delta to study processes serves as PS for the upcoming TROPICS mission (an that maintain and build land in major river deltas Earth Venture Instrument mission). editor's corner threatened by rising seas; Gail Skofronick–Jackson • Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Braun replaces [NASA HQ] who became the ESD Atmospheric Dynamics Program Stratosphere—led by Kenneth Bowman [Texas Manager and serves as Program Scientist for GPM, A&M University] focusing on the impact of strong Aqua, and CYGNSS.8 She served as GPM Deputy PS summer thunderstorms over North America on the starting in 2006 and as GPM PS from 2014–2018. stratosphere; and Following Braun’s transition, Joel McCorkel [GSFC] • Submesoscale Ocean Dynamics and Vertical was named the GOES Flight PS. McCorkel, the Transport Investigation—led by Thomas Farrar Deputy PS for the GOES Flight Project since 2015, is [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute]—focusing an expert in imager calibration and the deputy instru- on an area 200 miles off the coast of San Francisco, ment scientist for TIRS-2 on Landsat 9. We wish every- CA, to examine the potentially large influence that one well in their new positions. small-scale ocean eddies have on the exchange of Finally, NASA’s DEVELOP National Program, part of heat between the ocean and the atmosphere. the Applied Sciences Program, is celebrating its twen- Congratulations to the PIs and their teams.6 tieth anniversary this year. What began with three student interns in 1998 has evolved into a national Turning to personnel news, Michael Freilich [NASA program engaging hundreds of participants and part- HQ—Director of the Earth Science Division (ESD)] has ners each year.