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NASA’s Earth Science Update

Dr. Jack Kaye,Associate Director for Research

Earth Science DivisionScience Mission Directorate

NASA Headquarters

ESIP Federation Meeting: January 9 - January 10, 2008

Washington, DC

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NASA’s Mission and Vision

NASA will continue the objectives for space exploration established in the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.

To pioneer the future in space exploration,Scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.

NASA has embraced President George W. Bush’s directive, A Renewed Spirit of Discovery: The President’s Vision for Space Exploration, as the Agency’s Vision.• Explore the solar system and beyond;• Return humans to the Moon in the next decade; • Ultimately send humans to Mars and beyond;• Enhance understanding of the planets; and• Ask new questions and answer questions as old

as humankind.

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NASA’s Strategic Goals: 2006 Through 2016

Strategic Goal 1: Fly the Shuttle as safely as possible until its retirement, not later than 2010.Strategic Goal 2: Complete the International Space Station in a manner consistent with NASA’s International Partner commitments and the needs of human exploration.Strategic Goal 3: Develop a balanced overall program of science, exploration, and aeronautics consistent with the redirection of the human spaceflight program to focus on exploration.

• Study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs. (Earth Science)

Strategic Goal 4: Bring a new Crew Exploration Vehicle into service as soon as possible after Shuttle retirement.

Strategic Goal 5: Encourage the pursuit of appropriate partnerships with the emerging commercial space sector.

Strategic Goal 6: Establish a lunar return program having the maximum possible utility for later missions to Mars and other destinations.

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Broader Governmental Context for Earth Science

• NASA Earth Science Supports Multiple Presidential Initiatives• Climate Change Science Program• Earth Observations• Ocean Action Plan

• Congressional Direction Addresses Several Aspects, most notably linkage between NASA and NOAA, but also other areas (ozone, land cover)

• NASA is part of NPOESS program, in particular through the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) mission

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SMD Program Summary

$5.4B/YEAR BUDGET. LARGE EARTH SCIENCE, HELIOPHYSICS,

PLANETARY SCIENCE, & ASTROPHYSICS PROGRAMS. 53 FLIGHT MISSIONS IN OPERATION. 41 FLIGHT MISSIONS IN DEVELOPMENT. 3000+ ACTIVE R&A GRANTS.

THESE NUMBERS EXCEED THE COMBINED EFFORTS OF ALL OTHER SPACE SCIENCE PROGRAMS WORLD WIDE.

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SMD Leadership Team

Chief Scientist (J. Mather)DCS for ES (Randy Friedl) DCS for SS (Andy Cheng)

Management &Policy DivisionDir. (R. Maizel)

Deputy (Vacant)

HeliophysicsDivision

Dir. (R. Fisher)Deputy (V. Elsbernd-Act)

AstrophysicsDivision

Dir. (J. Morse)Deputy (R. Howard)

Planetary ScienceDivision

Dir. (J. Green)Dep. (J. Adams)

Associate Administrator (AA) (Alan Stern)Deputy AA (Colleen Hartman)*

Deputy AA for Programs(Todd May - Detailee)

Senior Advisor for R & A (Yvonne Pendleton)

Earth ScienceDivision

Dir. (M. Freilich)Deputy (B. Cramer)

Dep - Programs (M. Luther)

Budget (C. Tupper)

Policy & Administration (G. Williams- Act) Applied Science

(T. Fryberger)

Research (J. Kaye)

Flight (S. Volz)

Mars Program(D. McCuistion)

Draft: November 29, 2007

Senior Advisor for Science Process & Ethics

(Paul Hertz)Chief of Staff

(Jens Feeley - Act)

Chief Engineer (K. Ledbetter)

Safety & Mission Assurance(P. Martin)

Special Asst for NEOs and Exploration (Dan Durda)

AAA for Strategy, Policy & International(Marc Allen)

Blue dashed boxes denote individuals who report to other organizations, but support SMD

*Going out on IPA 1/08

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New Horizons

ST-5

STEREO

Cloudsat

CALIPSO

GOES-N

ST-6

TWINS-A

Hinode

THEMIS

AIM

Phoenix

Dawn

TWINS-B

GLAST

IBEX

SDO

OCO

Glory

HST SM-4

OSTM

GOES-O

CINDI

Chandrayan 1

Herschel

Planck

NPP

SOFIA*

MSL

WISE

Kepler

GOES-P

NOAA-N’

ST-7 Aquarius

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

NASA Mission on STS

DoD Mission with Substantial NASA Contribution

International Mission with Substantial NASA Contribution

Joint NASA - International Partner Mission

Reimbursable for NOAA

SMD LAUNCH CALENDAR

2011

NuSTAR

Juno

LDCM

Mars Scout 2

20132012

SMEX-12

RBSP

RBSP MOO

Discovery 11

SMEX-13

MSO

GPM Core

JWST

As of 11/16/07

MMS

GPM Const

ES Decadal-1

Discovery-12

2014

= Successfully launched to date

* = Shared risk science flight

NASA Mission on US ELV

ExoMars

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Earth Science Opportunities in ROSES 2007

Appendix  Science Program Element (Ann Fund $) NOI/Step-1* Due  Proposal Due

A.2 Land Cover/Land Use Change (~$3.5M) 6/11/2007  10/1/2007 A.3 Carbon Cycle Science (~$7M-$9M) 4/6/2007 6/6/2007A.4 Terrestrial Ecology ($2M-$3M) 6/15/2007 9/20/2007A.5 Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry (TBD) TBD TBDA.6 Physical Oceanography (~$2M) 4/27/2007 6/18/2007A.7 Ocean Surface Topography Science Team (~$4.5M) 8/31/2007 10/31/2007A.8 Cryospheric Science (~$3M) 5/15/2007 8/16/2007A.9 NASA Energy and Water Cycle Study (~$1.5M) 4/18/2007 TBDA.10 Terrestrial Hydrology (~$1M) 8/1/2007 TBDA.11 Atmospheric Composition: Aura Science Team (~$5.5M) 4/15/2007 6/15/2007A.12 Atmospheric Composition: Science Advisory Group for Glory (~$0.6M) NA 5/1/2007A.13 Tropospheric Chemistry: ARCTAS (~$6M-$8M) 4/16/2007 6/15/2007A.14 Wind Lidar Science (~$1M) 3/16/2007 5/16/2007A.15 Accelerating Operational Use of Research Data (<$2M) 7/6/2007 9/18/2007A.16 Earth Surface and Interior (~$3.5M) 5/25/2007 10/25/2007A.17 EarthScope: the INSAR and Geodetic Imaging Component (~$1.8M) 6/8/2007 119/2007A.18 Airborne Instrument Technology Transition ($2.5M->$1M) 3/16/2007 5/16/2007A.19 Space Archaeology (~$0.5M) 5/15/2007 7/25/2007 A.20 Decision Support Through Earth Science Research ($5M-$12.5M) 3/15/2007 5/25/2007A.21 New Investigator Program in Earth Science (~$2M) 6/29/2007 8/31/2007A.22 Advancing Collaborative Connections in Earth System Sci. 3/15/2007 6/1/2007A.26 Instrument Incubator 10/12/07 11/12/07

Primary Funding Lines:R&AMission Science TeamEOS ScienceR&A-like (includes tech., Appl. Sci., EPO, Data )

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NPOESS Preparatory Project^Strategic mission - Systematic measurement

Required for continuity of several key climate measurements between EOS and NPOESS

Landsat Data Continuity MissionStrategic mission - Systematic measurement

Required for continuity of long-term global land cover change data; plan for post-LDCM acquisition operational agency in work

Ocean Surface Topography Mission*^Strategic mission - Systematic measurement

Required for continuity ocean altimetry; planned as part of a transition to operational agencies

GloryStrategic

Addresses high priority objective of the US Climate Change Science Program

Orbiting Carbon Observatory Competed mission - Earth System Science Pathfinder

First dedicated global measurement of CO2 from space

Aquarius*Competed mission - Earth System Science Pathfinder

First dedicated global measurement of sea surface salinity from space

Global Precipitation Measurement*Initializes a systematic measurement

Extend spatial coverage to global and temporal coverage to every 3 hours with constellation

Earth Science Mission Priorities and Rationale

* Represents International Partnership

^ Represents Interagency Partnership

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Decadal Survey Recommendations

• Overarching Recommendation- The U.S. government, working in concert with the private sector,

academe, the public, and its international partners, should renew its investment in Earth observing systems and restore its leadership in Earth science and applications.

• NOAA and NASA should undertake a set of 17 recommended missions, phased over the next decade

• NOAA research to operations- Vector ocean winds- GPS radio occultation temperature, water vapor and electron density

profiles- Total solar irradiance/and Earth Radiation (NPP) and restored to

NPOESS

• NASA- 15 missions in small, medium and large categories- Also need to invest in R&A, applied sciences, technology, ground

networks

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Decadal Survey Mission Mission Description Orbit Instruments

$ Estimate

Timeframe 2010 – 2013, Missions listed by cost

CLARREO (NASA portion)

Solar and Earth radiation: spectrally resolved forcing and response of the climate system

LEO, Precessing

Absolute, spectrally-resolved interferometer

$200 M

SMAP Soil moisture and freeze/thaw for weather and water cycle processes

LEO, SSO

L-band radarL-band radiometer

$300 M

ICESat-II Ice sheet height changes for climate change diagnosis

LEO, Non-SSO

Laser altimeter $300 M

DESDynI

Surface and ice sheet deformation for understanding natural hazards and climate; vegetation structure for ecosystem health

LEO, SSO

L-band InSARLaser altimeter

$700 M

Timeframe: 2013 – 2016, Missions listed by cost

HyspIRI Land surface composition for agriculture and mineral characterization; vegetation types for ecosystem health

LEO, SSO

Hyperspectral spectrometer

$300 M

ASCENDS

Day/night, all-latitude, all-season CO2 column integrals for climate emissions

LEO, SSO

Multifrequency laser

$400 M

SWOT Ocean, lake, and river water levels for ocean and inland water dynamics

LEO, SSO

Ka-band wide swath radarC-band radar

$450 M

GEO-CAPE

Atmospheric gas columns for air quality forecasts; ocean color for coastal ecosystem health and climate emissions

GEO High and low spatial resolution hyperspectral imagers

$550 M

ACE Aerosol and cloud profiles for climate and water cycle; ocean color for open ocean biogeochemistry

LEO, SSO

Backscatter lidarMultiangle polarimeterDoppler radar

$800 M

17 Missions (Pink = <$900 M; Green = $300-$600 M; Blue = <$300 M)

1212 *Cloud-independent, high temporal resolution, lower accuracy SST to complement, not replace, global operational high-accuracy SST measurement

Timeframe: 2016 -2020, Missions listed by cost

LIST Land surface topography for landslide hazards and water runoff

LEO, SSO

Laser altimeter $300 M

PATH High frequency, all-weather temperature and humidity soundings for weather forecasting and SST*

GEO MW array spectrometer

$450 M

GRACE-II

High temporal resolution gravity fields for tracking large-scale water movement

LEO, SSO

Microwave or laser ranging system

$450 M

SCLP Snow accumulation for fresh water availability

LEO, SSO

Ku and X-band radarsK and Ka-band radiometers

$500 M

GACM Ozone and related gases for intercontinental air quality and stratospheric ozone layer prediction

LEO, SSO

UV spectrometerIR spectrometerMicrowave limb sounder

$600 M

3D-Winds(Demo)

Tropospheric winds for weather forecasting and pollution transport

LEO, SSO

Doppler lidar $650 M

17 Missions (Pink = <$900 M; Green = $300-$600 M; Blue = <$300 M)

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Decadal Survey Ongoing Actvities

• Completing “building block” calibrations of NRC missions– Ensure consistent, rational basis for costs– Full (LCC) mission cost (including NASA science teams/analyses, mission extension)– 2 additional independent cost-estimation efforts (Aerospace, LaRC IPAO)

• Developing joint (with NOAA) mitigation strategies for NPOESS climate sensors– NASA-NOAA study for OSTP– NRC/SSB Workshop (science impacts, priorities, approaches)

• Discussions with International Partners (Spring/Summer 07)– Determine common interests, complementary capabilities– JAXA/METI, CNES, CSA, ESA, CEOSS, WMO/SP, DLR meetings held

– Bilateral new mission working groups initiating (CNES, JAXA, DLR) • Implementing “Early Mission” workshops

– Confirm/refine match between science objective and notional mission– Determine necessary “context” measurements for science objective– Community involvement, HQ lead– Late June--late July for SMAP, CLARREO, ICESat-II, DESDynI - reports under

development• Developing integrated NASA mission plan

– Revised NASA Earth Science Plan– Identify specific near-term missions to be initiated – Mature plan to be coordinated with NOAA

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Continuity for Current Measurements

o NPOESS has key role to play in continuing current measurement capability, although significant climate-related capability was lost with the Nunn-McCurdy certification while continuity with operational sensors was protected

– Terra/Aqua imaging/sounding to be continued with - NPP, C1, … (but note loss of MODIS-class imagery in AM orbit)

– Aura ozone column - NPPo Climate Observing Capability lost with N-M process:

– SORCE Total Solar Irradiance - TSIS (but NASA has Glory for 2008)– CERES Earth Radiation Budget - ERBS (last NASA CERES instrument to fly

aboard C-1, likely with gap from Aqua) but consider changes (e.g., CERES FM-5 on NPP)

– Ozone vertical profile - OMPS limb instrument (restored to NPP)– Jason/OSTM Sea Surface Altimetry - ALT (gap after OSTM in 2008)– QuikScat Ocean Surface Winds - CMIS instrument to be replaced by MIS

starting on C-2; expect passive wind sensing capability– Aerosol Polarimetry - APS (no follow-on to Glory)

o OSTP has asked NASA (with NOAA) to prepare white paper on climate impact of N-M certification - this was briefed to them and agencies are evaluating potential implementation approaches, as well as what is needed for successful development of Climate Data Records (CDRs) for climate-related environmental variables

o NRC group is addressing climate observations with workshop report released in late 2007

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NASA’s Earth Science Data Centers

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EOSDIS Key Metrics

EOSDIS Metrics (Oct 1, 06 to Sept 30, 07)

Unique Data Products >2700

Distinct Users at Data Centers ~3.0M

Daily Archive Growth 3.2 TB/day

Total Archive Volume 4.9 PB

End User Distribution Products >100M

End User Daily Distribution Volume

4.2 TB/day

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ESDIS Project Supports

Science System Elements

Data Centers 11

SIPS 14

Interfaces Interface Control Documents 41

PartnershipsUS 8

International 18

Missions

Science Data Processing 7

Archiving and Distribution 51

Instruments Supported 75

Products DeliveredUser Accesses

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MEaSUREs Making Earth System data records for Use in Research Environments

• Overall objective of MEaSUREs is to select projects to provide Earth science data products and services driven by NASA’s Earth science goals and contributing to advancing Earth system “missions to measurements” concept.

• For creating these basic records, a science measurement focus brings together expertise in multiple instrument characterization and calibration, data processing, science-based product generation and distribution, science tools, and interactive relationships with the broader science community.

• MEaSUREs may also solicit infusion or deployment of applicable science tools that contribute to data product quality improvement, consistency, merging or fusion, or understanding.

• Initial MEaSUREs solicitation focused on the creation of Earth System Data Records (ESDRs), including Climate Data Records. An ESDR is defined as a unified and coherent set of observations of a given parameter of the Earth system, which is optimized to meet specific requirements in addressing science questions.

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MEaSURES Awards - 2007

• NASA received a total of 86 proposals in response to the solicitation and selected 29 for funding in October 2007 (15M/year).

• Selection Category– Atmospheric Dynamics 9– Carbon and Ecosystems 11– Oceans, Ice & Solid Earth 10

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ACCESSAdvancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science

• The objective of NASA’s Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS) program is to enhance and improve existing components of the distributed and heterogeneous data and information systems infrastructure that support NASA’s Earth science research goals. The Program also seeks to:

– … increase the interconnectedness and reuse of key information technology software and services in use across the broad spectrum of Earth system science investigations.

– … enable the freer movement of data and information within a distributed environment of providers and users, and the exploitation of needed tools and services to aid in measurable improvements of Earth science data access and data usability.

• A 2007 call resulted in 30 proposals of which 10 were selected for funding (~3.5M/year).

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Technology Program Objectives Reduce risk, cost, size, and development time of space and

ground based information systems Increase access and use of Earth science data Enable new Earth observation measurements and information

products

• Solicits component, subsystem or system technologies in the development range of ~ TRL1(basic research) to TRL6 (system prototype)

• Research topics tied to Earth Science research requirements (NASA science plan, 2007 NRC decadal survey), technology needs and gaps.

• Three year awards: new solicitation every 3 years. To date, four AIST solicitations have been released. Next AIST call in ROSES-08 (spring/summer 2008)

esto.nasa.gov

Advanced Info Systems Technology (AIST)

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NASA’s Applied Sciences Program

• Program Goals:

– Extend NASA Earth science capabilities and results by

addressing issues with substantial social and economic

benefits.

– Enhance decision making through the incorporation of

NASA capabilities - observations, measurements,

predictive models and Earth science research results

into operational decision support systems.

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Applications Areas - NASA, NRC and GEOSS

NASA ASP NRC Decadal Survey GEOSSAgricultural Water Resources AgricultureAir Quality Climate BiodiversityAviation Human Health ClimateCarbon Management & Security DisastersCoastal Management Weather EcosystemsDisaster Management Solid Earth Hazards, EnergyEcological Forecasting resources, & HealthEnergy Management dynamics WaterHomeland Security Land-use change, WeatherInvasive Species ecoystem dynamicsPublic Health & biodiversityWater Management

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SERVIR

• Mesoamerican Data • Online Maps • Decision Support • Visualizations

Mesoamerican Regional Visualization and Monitoring System

SERVIR provides easy access to a range of thematic products based on NASA data and models, as well as tools for visualization and analyses, all for the general benefit of society.

Utilizing a variety of NASA data assets, SERVIR publishes a rich suite of decision support tools for policy makers and other entities. Algae bloom maps guide fleets toward a healthy catch. Fire maps show hot spots in remote areas. Basic weather products fill data gaps and assist day-to-day forecasting. Change detection allows analysis of natural and anthropogenic modifications of the land surface.

The SERVIR web site makes available a variety of spatial data sets. Building upon NASA’s WorldWind, the SERVIR Viz toolkit provides sophisticated data display and integration on a global canvas.

During natural disasters, all aspects of SERVIR can be brought to bear. SERVIR facilities serve as a nerve center for response efforts. Custom data and synthesized products facilitate the decision process.

Panamanian President Martin Torrijos