ANNUAL REPORT 2019–2020 ANNUAL Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research Studies and Investigations GESTAR STAFF Jentoft-Nilsen, Marit Privé, Nikki Technical Editor Jepson, Katherine Radcliff, Matthew Amy Houghton Abed-Elmdoust, Jethva, Hiren Resende de Sousa, Armaghan Jin, Daeho Celio Graphic Designer Amatya, Pukar Jo, MinJeong Rousseaux, Cecile Retrofit Design Anderson, Daniel Johnson, Leann Sanjuan Calzado, Violeta Andrew, Andrea Karpowicz, Bryan Sayer, Andy Anyamba, Assaf Kekesi, Alex Schindler, Trent Armstrong, Amanda Keller, Christoph Seadler, Abigail Aurin, Dirk Kim, Dongchul Seegers, Bridget Badger, Andrew Kim, Dongjae (Krystofer) Selkirk, Henry Barker, Ryan Kim, Hyokyung Shi, Jainn J. (Roger) Beck, Jefferson Kim, Min-Jeong Singh, Alka Bell, Benita Kim, Rhae Sung Smith, Christopher Bennett, Douglas Kim, Sang-Wan Soebiyanto, Radina Bensusen, Sally Knowland, Emma Sokolowsky, Eric Bishnoi, Bhaskar Kolassa, Jana Soldo, Yan Boukachaba, Niama Korkin, Sergey Soto Ramos, Inia Bridgman, Tom Kostis, Helen-Nicole Southard, Adrian ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Brucker, Ludovic Kowalewski, Matthew Stanley, Thomas Buchard, Virginie Kucsera, Tom Starr, Cynthia Cetinić, Ivona Ladd, David Steenrod, Stephen Chang, Yehui Lamsal, Lok Strahan, Susan Chatterjee, Abhishek Lange, Priscila Strode, Sarah Cho, Naeyong Lawford, Richard Swanson, Andrew Collow, Allison Lee, Dong Min Swarnalingam, Nimalan Colombo, Oscar Lee, Eunjee Taha, Ghassan Craig, Susanne Lentz, Michael Tan, Jackson Damoah, Richard Li, Feng Tao, Zhining de Matthaeis, Paolo Li, Xiaowen Teinturier, Samuel DeMink, Jacquelyn Liao, Jin Thomas, Natalie Delgado-Bonal, Alfonso Liao, Liang Trapp, Cindy DesRocher, Bailee Lim, Young-Kwon Tubbs, Heidi Durham, Kevin Lipschultz, Fredric Unninayar, Sushel Eck, Thomas Liu, Fei Van Oevelen, Peter Elders, Akiko Liu, Junhua Vervoort, Fernande Elkins, Kelly Longo, Karla Ward, Alan Engelmann-Suissa, Lyu, Cheng Hsuan Ward, Lauren Gabrielle (Joseph) Warren, Adam Errico, Ronald Malanoski, Mark Weir, Brad Fauchez, Thomas Marchant, Benjamin Wen, Guoyong Fitzgibbons, Ryan McGrath-Spangler, Erica Wiessinger, Scott Flower, Verity McLean, Debbi Wilk, Elizabeth Follette-Cook, Melanie Mersmann, Kathryn Wright, Ernie Freitas, Saulo Miller, Kevin Wrzesien, Melissa Gallagher, Dan Mohammed, Priscilla Zhang, Qingyuan Ganeshan, Manishan Moran, Amy Ziemke, Jerald Garner, Robert Morris, Paul Gatebe, Charles Ng, Joy Gong, Jie Norris, Peter ADMINISTRATIVE Graham, Steven North, Jonathan STAFF Grecu, Mircea Nowottnick, Ed Gutierrez Manrique, Oda, Tomohiro Berard, Russell Adriana Pallandt, Martijn Espiritu, Angelita Han, Mei Patadia, Falguni Gardner, Jeanette Handleman Seff, Patel, Kiran Houghton, Amy Michelle Paynter, Ian Kuehn, Carol Hanson, Heather Peng, Jinzheng Nourieh, Carine Humberson, Winnie Potter, Gerald Samuel, Elamae 2 | GESTAR Annual Report 2019 – 2020 TABLE of CONTENTS TABLE Letter from the GESTAR Director . 5 The GESTAR Team . 6 Technical Research . 7 Code 555: Microwave Instrument Technology Branch......................................7 Code 610: Earth Sciences Division .....................................................9 Code 610.1: Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) . .11 Code 612: Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory .................................32 Code 613: Climate and Radiation Laboratory............................................36 Code 614: Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory ..............................42 Code 615: Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory . 58 Code 616: Ocean Ecology Laboratory ..................................................60 Code 617: Hydrological Sciences Laboratory............................................65 Code 618: Biospheric Sciences Laboratory . .75 Code 699: Planetary Environments Laboratory ..........................................82 Delivering The Message . 85 Code 130 (Sponsor: W. Sisler) ........................................................85 Code 606.4 (Sponsor: H. Mitchell) ...................................................107 Science Support Office (SSO) (Sponsor: S. Platnick) . .117 USRA Funding Opportunities . 129 Products . 131 Maniac Talks .................................................................... 131 NASA Viz........................................................................ 131 Student Engagements And Education/Public Outreach . 133 Student Engagement ............................................................. 133 Education and Public Outreach . 133 Awards and Recognition . 137 Acronyms List . 139 In 2020, NASA celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has provided unprecedented views of the universe and spectacular images. Paul Morris edited and produced an hour-long documentary about HST, which aired on NASA TV on April 24th, the date of its initial launch. The video is available to view on hulu and is available here: “NASA’s Incredible Discovery Machine: The Story of the Hubble Space Telescope” https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Lo43Gq_Xe1M. (Provided by P. Morris.) GESTAR Annual Report 2019– 2020 | 3 Image from “Why NASA is sending rockets into Earth’s leaky atmosphere.” (Provided by J. Ng.) Joy Ng was a video producer of “Why NASA is sending rockets into Earth’s leaky atmosphere,” which discusses the phenomenon that occurs in the Arctic: “In the tiny Arctic town of Ny-Ålesund, where polar bears outnumber people, winter means three months without sunlight. The unending darkness is ideal for those who seek a strange breed of northern lights, normally obscured by daylight. When these unusual auroras shine, Earth’s atmosphere leaks into space. NASA scientists traveled to Ny-Ålesund to launch rockets through these auroras and witness oxygen particles right in the middle of their escape. Piercing these fleeting auroras, some 300 miles high, would require strategy, patience — and a fair bit of luck. This was NASA’s VISIONS-2 mission, and this is their story. VISIONS-2 was just the first of many. Over the coming months, rocket teams from all over the world will launch rockets into this region as part of the Grand Challenge Initiative— Cusp, an international collaboration to study the mysteries of the polar atmosphere.” The Goddard YouTube version of this video, “Launching Rockets Through the Leak in Earth’s Atmosphere” at https://youtu.be/bSt5peITUBo, was announced as a finalist in the Professional Documentary category at the Raw Science Film Festival. 4 | GESTAR Annual Report 2019 – 2020 Letter from the GESTAR Director This report is the ninth NASA Goddard Earth Sciences, Technology and Research (GESTAR) cooperative agreement annual Report, encompassing the period 11 May 2019 - 10 May 2020. GESTAR continues to be led by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), with Morgan State University (MSU), the Global Science and Technology (GST), the I.M. Systems Group (IMSG), and The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) as current partners. All members of the team continue to contribute very effectively to the success of the NASA mission. This report summarizes the accomplishments and activities of GESTAR Earth and Planetary scientists, model and algorithm developers, engineers, media specialists, video producers, science data visualizers, conceptual animators. Contributions by students, visitors and staff are also included. The research by GESTAR scientists spans a very broad range of fields, predominantly within the Earth Sciences Division, encompassing global modeling and data assimilation, mesoscale meteorology, climate and radiation, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, cryospheric sciences, ocean ecology, hydrology and land surface processes, biosphere sciences and ecological modeling, geodesy and geophysics. Several GESTAR scientists also contribute to the Solar System Exploration Division, particularly in the fields of planetary atmospheres modeling and Mars exploration. The centrality of remotely sensed NASA data in all these fields of research, and the focus on the success of NASA’s mission, is a crucial aspect of all GESTAR activities. In addition, part of the GESTAR effort focuses on the dissemination of NASA achievements through high-level videos, documentaries, and social media content. Aside from the research and communication accomplishments, this report contains sections pertaining to educational activities, awards, and public outreach. A separate Appendices report contains publications, presentations, proposals and grants. This year, as in previous years, and in spite of the hardship caused by the pandemic, GESTAR has continued to strive for excellence, has kept producing outstanding achievements, and has dedicated itself to NASA’s goal of expanding the horizons of human knowledge. Oreste Reale Director GESTAR Annual Report 2019 – 2020 | 5 The GESTAR Team 7178 Columbia Gateway Drive Columbia, MD 21046 410-730-2656 https://www.usra.edu https://gestar.usra.edu Founded in 1969, Universities Space Research Association researchers and support scientists in the Satellite Applications (USRA) is an independent nonprofit research corporation that Research Center and the NWS Environmental Modeling Center. conducts basic and applied research and operates programs and national facilities for government and industry, many of which are Global Science & Technology, Inc. (GST) was founded by in support of NASA. USRA currently manages 20 programs and three business associates; two of the founders remain with facilities that employ more than 400 scientific, technical, and the company today. They believed that hiring the right people professional