ARSET

NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Education and Training Program

Richard KleidmanScience Systems and Applications, Inc.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Ana PradosJoint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET)University of Maryland Baltimore County

NASA and Earth ScienceApplied Sciences Program

Ecological Forecasting

AgriculturalEfficiency

Air Quality

Weather (Aviation)

Climate

WaterResources

Disaster Management

Public Health

Applications to Decision Making: Eight Thematic Areas

Remote Sensing and Air Quality

NASA’sApplied Remote Sensing Education and Training

Our Current Focus:

ARSET Program Motivation

NASA data products are underutilized

Barriers to Remote Sensing Data Utilization

1. Lack of knowledge.

1. Too much information to digest.

Barriers to Remote Sensing Data Utilization

1. Lack of knowledge.

a) So much was promised at the beginning of the satellite era. What can the satellite data really do for us?

Current Application Areas of NASA Remote Sensing Data

Not a comprehensive list• Long Range Transport of air pollution (regional

scale). Attainment is a combination of local and upwind sources

Long Range Transport of Air Pollution

October 20, 2007 October 21, 2007 October 22, 2007

October 23, 2007 October 24, 2007 October 25, 2007

Current Application Areas of NASA Remote Sensing Data

Not a comprehensive list

Relating Satellite Column Measurements to Ground Concentrations

June 13, 2008

Figure courtesy, A. HuffFigure courtesy, A. Huff

Current Application Areas of NASA Remote Sensing Data

Not a comprehensive list

Exceptional Event Submittals Long range transport of air pollution

Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina

Current Application Areas of NASA Remote Sensing Data

Not a comprehensive list• Long Range Transport of air pollution (regional

scale). Attainment is a combination of local and upwind sources

• Improve data coverage and knowledge of air pollution trends where monitor data are lacking (e.g. forecasting).

• Exceptional Event analysis: allows states to obtain an exclusion for a NAAQS exceedance

• Trace Gas Emissions Inventories and regulatory effectiveness: (U.S and China Coal Plants)

Earth Satellite ObservationsAdvantages and Limitations

Earth Satellite ObservationsAdvantages and Limitations

Air Quality/Pollution • Advantages

– Adds value when combined with surface monitor and models

– Provides coverage where there are no ground monitors– Synoptic and transboundary view (time and space)– Visual appeal– Qualitative assessments and indications of long range

transport– Emerging Application areas

Earth Satellite ObservationsAdvantages and Limitations

Air Quality/Pollution

• Limitations– Lack of specificity about pollutants type – Resolution and temporal scales sometimes too coarse– Vertical distribution often unknown (sum over column of air)– Satellite data cannot be used quantitatively for

enforcement purposes such as for example to determine whether a region is in attainment or not (Hoff and Christopher 2009).

Remote Sensing and Air Quality

NASA’sApplied Remote Sensing Education and Training

Aerosol Products Trace Gas Products

Fire Products

Applied Remote Sensing Education and Training

Workshops and materials are designed to help overcome many of the barriers to proper utilization of remote sensing data.

Training Philosophy- at the heart of facilitating proper data usage

• Training is the transmitting of experience not just knowledge.

• People learn best when they are actively engaged through hands-on activities.

• Training activities must be tailored to the target audience therefore trainers must have the skills and resources to be flexible.

• Workshops alone are insufficient to transmit the experience needed to build expertise and capacity.

Negotiating the maze of information overload

Sources for MODIS atmospheric products

Ladsweb – NASA archive site (3 interfaces plus ftp)iCARE – French CNES archive siteLANCE – NASA real time dataGiovanni – NASA on-line analysis tool (6 different instances)NEO – NASA Earth Observations

Negotiating the maze information overload

Sources for MODIS images

MODIS Rapid ResponseNASA’s Earth ObservatoryNASA’s Visible EarthMODIS todayMODIS-atmos websiteNaval Research Lab

Just one among many products!

NASA Satellite Products for Air Quality Applications

• Particulate Pollution (dust, haze, smoke) - Qualitative: Visual imagery - Quantitative*: Column Products and vertical extinction profiles• Fire Products: Fire locations or ‘hot spots’• Trace Gases - Quantitative*: Column Products - Vertical profiles: mostly mid-troposphere

25

Barriers to Remote Sensing Data Utilization

2. Too much information to digest. a) Too many new developments to keep track of them all.

b) Too steep a learning curve.

Barriers to NASA Data Utilization

3. Institutional: prioritization, lack of man-power and needed technical expertise.

4. Access to research results: - Policy-relevant research remains largely inaccessible

beyond the relatively small research community - cost of journals - knowledge gaps about data sets and their

application to air quality management activities

Methodology- Our philosophy in practice

Provide context for the overwhelming mass of satellite data.

- lectures, comparison charts, and materials archive.

“Directed Messing Around”

We use the benefit of our experience to create hands on exercises to facilitate directed exploration of the most pertinent sources of information for the needs of our audience.

An example of “Directed Messing Around”

The MODIS-atmos site. The most important reference site for MODIS atmospheric products.

Products Images ToolsReference

Brief and complete descriptions of all the Atmosphere productsas well as processing and other information.

A complete image archive of Aqua and Terra true color images for all 5minute granules as well as samples of other types of images.Brief descriptions of, and links to, important tools for MODIS analysis.All tools listed on this page are free.•A searchable data base of many important articles related to MODISAtmosphere products.

•ATBD (algorithm theoretical basis documents) available for downloadThese are complete and very detailed descriptions of the algorithmsused to create the MODIS level 2 products.

•Several Power Point presentations are also available for download.

Training Philosophy• Training is the transmitting of experience not just

knowledge.

NASA’s Giovanni is one of the most user friendly on-line tools for remote sensing data analysis.

It’s ease of use makes it extremely useful and frequently cited.

All data sets must be well understood to draw proper conclusions.

We use our experience to stress the proper understanding and use of remote sensing data.

Evaluating Remote Sensing Data

Or

How to AvoidMaking Great Discoveries by Misinterpreting

Data

Richard Kleidman

ARSET

Applied Remote Sensing Education and Training

A project of NASA Applied Sciences

AquaDaily Overpass ~ 1:30 PM local time

TerraDaily Overpass ~ 10:30 AM local time

MODIS1 x 1 Degree Data from the on-line Giovanni tool

Possible ways to interpret these differences

• Real world differences

• Differences due to other factors- Sensor error- Algorithm error- Sampling error.

Training Philosophy

• Training is the transmitting of experience not just knowledge.

• People learn best when they are actively engaged through hands-on activities.

• Training activities must be tailored to the target audience therefore trainers must have the skills and resources to be flexible.

• Workshops alone are insufficient to transmit the experience needed to build expertise and capacity.

Methodology- Our philosophy in practice

Provide context for the overwhelming mass of satellite data. - lectures, comparison charts, and materials archive.

Hands-on activities to explore individual sources of data - Directed messing around

Overview and Review - Bringing it all together with case studies.

Case Studies and Hands-On Activities Air Quality Event Template with step-

by-step instructions: 1) Access to imagery 2) Access to meteorological, model

or other information 3) Utilization of image analysis

tools 4) Air Quality Assessment: -Type of event: smoke, dust ? -Where is the pollution coming from?

-Potential health impacts University of North Carolina, October 2009

Visualization Tools:May 16th, 2007: Global View of Transported Dust and Regional Smoke

DustSmoke

Source: NASA MODIS Giovanni Image on Google Earth

Case Study Analysis

Image from one of the training Case Studies showing MODIS fire locations and True Color Imagery – dust and smoke. Google imagery provided by the NRL Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (Flambé) Program.

Image from one of the training Case Studies, showing MODIS fire locations and modeled pollution – dust and smoke - from the NRL Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (Flambe) Program, which incorporates NASA Satellite real-time observations in its model predictionss. .

Who are we training ? Expertise

• Air Quality Managers and Regulators

EPA, state and local regulatory agencies, US Forest Service

• Scientists/Technical: Meteorologists, air quality forecasters and modelers, health scientists, AQ researchers

• Other/public: project managers, reps. from health agencies, World Bank

ANY Audience can span a large range in expertise:

- No background in remote sensing and little science background

- No background in remote sensing and some science background

- Introductory expertise with satellite data

- Moderate expertise with satellite data

Workshop Goals

• Teach appropriate use of remote sensing data• Navigate the maze of information sources• Collaborate with applied end-users to: - Identify areas that can benefit from inclusion of remote sensing data - Plan future training activities

Workshops

• Range from 1 day overview to 4 day in depth presentations.

• Provide a framework and structure that can be applied to other remote sensing products.

- Focus on relatively few products.• Work with target audience and sponsors to design

content and length.

Typical Content of Remote Sensing Workshops

• Basics of remote sensing: instruments, orbits, product overview, data formats• Critical Thinking of Remote Sensing: Strengths and caveats in the data products, retrieval characteristics• Visualization Tools: online tools and visualization via Google Earth: greatly improved access to NASA Earth Science Data !!• Case Studies and Hands-on Activities

Accomplishments• Developed a set of re-usable instructional modules • Conducted 16 national and international training activities

reaching several hundred participants since January 2009.• Built a project website that provides NASA Earth Science

Data users and potential trainers with free access to air quality training modules

• Developed a Case Study Inventory

Workshop Attendees: Local, Regional Federal Policy-makers Air Quality Professionals and Managers Students and Researchers

7 SEAS Workshop, Singapore

Training Schedule for 2011Slots are still available – ask about scheduling a training

Host Location Dates

Griffith University Gold Coast, Australia April 4 – 7, 2011

NASA ARSET Training for EPA Region 4

Appalachian State University North Carolina

June 2011

Community Modeling and Analysis (CMAS)

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Sept. - Oct. 2011

International Society of Exposure Science Pre-Conference Workshop

Baltimore, Maryland October 23, 2011

Air and Waste Management Association

Montreal, Canada November 2011

NASA ARSET Training for EPA Region 6

TBDTexas

TBDOctober - December

California Air Resources Board (Basic and Advanced Courses)

Sacramento, California December 2011

What’s new in 2011 and beyond• Application-specific training modules and

workshops - Biomass burning and dust events - Satellite/model comparisons - Health (e.g. PM2.5) - Exceptional event case studies for EPA area 6.• Expanded products and topics for inclusion - Aerosols: CALIPSO, MISR, AIRS - Trace Gases - European Data Sets

Acknowledgements

Lawrence Friedl Director NASA Applied Sciences Program, for

providing funding for past and ongoing NASA Satellite training activities

For More Information

Richard.Kleidman@nasa.govAna.I.Prados@nasa.gov

http://ARSET.GSFC.NASA.GOV

Extras

Van Donkelaar et al. relate satellite-based measurements of aerosol optical depth to PM2.5 using a global chemical transport model

Approach

Estimated PM2.5 = η· τ Combined MODIS/MISRAerosol Optical Depth

GEOS-Chem

Following Liu et al., 2004:

• vertical structure• aerosol type• meteorological effects• meteorology• diurnal effects

η

van Donkelaar et al., EHP, in press

MODIS and MISR AOD

MODIS AOD• 1-2 days for global coverage• Requires assumptions about

surface reflectivity

MISR AOD• 6-9 days for global coverage• Simultaneous surface

reflectance and aerosol retrieval

Mean τ 2001-2006 at 0.1º x 0.1º

0 0.1 0.2 0.3τ [unitless]

MIS

RM

OD

IS

r = 0.40vs. in-situ PM2.5

r = 0.54vs. in-situ PM2.5

van Donkelaar et. at.

Satellite vs. ARONET: Varies with surface type

9 surface types, defined by monthly mean surface albedo ratios, evaluation against AERONET AOD

MODIS

MISR

Jul

y

van Donkelaar et. at.

Combining MODIS and MISR improves agreement with PM2.5

MODISr = 0.40

(vs. in-situ PM2.5)

MISRr = 0.54

(vs. in-situ PM2.5)

CombinedMODIS/MISR

r = 0.63 (vs. in-situ PM2.5)

0.3

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0

τ [u

nitle

ss]

van Donkelaar et. at.

Global CTMs can directly relate PM2.5 to AOD

• Detailed aerosol-oxidant model

• 2º x 2.5º• 54 tracers, 100’s reactions• Assimilated meteorology

• Year-specific emissions• Dust, sea salt, sulfate-

ammonium-nitrate system, organic carbon, black carbon, SOA

GEOS-Chem

η[ug/m]

van Donkelaar et. at.

Significant agreement with coincident ground measurements over NA

SatelliteDerived

In-situSat

ellit

e-D

eriv

ed

[μg/

m3]

In-situ PM2.5 [μg/m3]

Ann

ual M

ean

PM

2.5 [

μg/

m3]

(200

1-20

06)

r

MODIS τ 0.40

MISR τ 0.54

Combined τ 0.63

Combined PM2.5 0.78

van Donkelaar et. at.