Earth Sciences - Goddard Instruments

Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) is a twelve-channel, six-frequency, total power passive-microwave radiometer system. It measures brightness temperatures at 6.925, 10.65, 18.7, 23.8, 36.5, and 89.0 GHz. Vertically and horizontally polarized measurements are taken at all channels. The Earth-emitted microwave radiation is collected by an offset parabolic reflector 1.6 meters in diameter that scans across the Earth along an imaginary conical surface, maintaining a constant Earth incidence angle of 55° and providing a swath width array of six feedhorns which then carry the radiation to radiometers for measurement. Calibration is accomplished with observations of cosmic background radiation and an on-board warm target. Spatial resolution of the individual measurements varies from 5.4 km at 89.0 GHz to 56 km at 6.9 GHz.

Airborne Cloud Physics Lidar

The Cloud Physics Lidar is an airborne lidar system designed specifically for studying clouds and aerosols using the ER-2 High Altitude Aircraft. Because the ER-2 typically flies at 65,000 feet (20 km), its instruments are above 94% of the earth's atmosphere, thereby allowing ER-2 instruments to function as spaceborne instrument simulators. The Cloud Physics Lidar provides a unique tool for atmospheric profiling and is sufficiently small and low cost to include in multiple instrument missions.

Airborne Earth Science Microwave Imaging Radiometer

The Airborne Earth Science Microwave Imaging Radiometer (AESMIR) is a passive microwave airborne imager covering the 6-100 GHz bands that are essential for observing key Earth System elements such as precipitation, snow, soil moisture, ocean winds, sea ice, sea surface temperature, vegetation, etc.

Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites

The Arctic is undergoing significant environmental changes related to global climate change. Now, NASA is extensively studying the role of air pollution in this climate-sensitive region as part of the ARCTAS field campaign, the largest airborne experiment ever to do so.

Atmospheric Lidar for Validation, Interagency Collaboration and Education

ALVICE (Atmospheric Lidar for Validation, Interagency Collaboration and Education) is a ground based mobile lidar that is a roving transfer standard within the Network for the Detection for Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). The lidar measurements are water vapor mixing ratio, aerosol backscatter, extinction, depolarization, cloud liquid and ice water and rotational Raman temperature measurements. In addition to these lidar-based measurements additional equipment is carried in the trailer to provide balloon borne measurements (Vaisala RS-92 and Cryogenic Frostpoint hygrometer), surface reference measurements of pressure, temperature and RH as well as total column water using GPS.

Atmospheric Radiation Measurements

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility is a U.S. Department of Energy scientific user facility for the study of global climate change by the national and international research community.

Cloud Absorption Radiometer

The Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) was conceived and developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to study cloud radiative properties at selected wavelengths in the visible and near-infrared, and to acquire imagery of cloud and Earth surface features. In the early years the focus was on measurements of the angular distribution of scattered radiation deep within a cloud layer. In later years, the focus shifted to the bidirectional reflectance properties of various surfaces (ocean, sea ice, vegetation, etc.).

Cloud Radar System

The CRS is a 94 GHz (W-band; 3 mm wavelength) Doppler radar developed for autonomous operation in the NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft and for ground-based operation. It will provide high-resolution profiles of reflectivity and Doppler velocity in clouds and it has important applications to atmospheric remote sensing studies. The CRS was designed to fly with the Cloud Lidar System (CLS), in the tail cone of an ER-2 superpod. There are two basic modes of operation of the CRS: 1) ER-2 with reflectivity, Doppler, and linear-depolarization measurements, and 2) ground-based with full polarimetric capability.

Combined Radar/Radiometer (ComRAD) Instrument System

The Combined Radar/Radiometer (ComRAD) is a ground-based microwave instrument system mounted on a 19-m hydraulic boom truck. This instrument package is an outgrowth of a network analyzer-based L, C, and X band polarimetric radar system developed jointly by NASA/GSFC and George Washington University which has provided reliable calibrated radar data in soil moisture field campaigns across the United States since the early 1990s.

Costa Rica-Aura Validation Experiment

The Costa Rica Aura Validation Experiment (CR-AVE) is a mission designed to explore the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) and to provide information for comparison to satellite observations. The tropical region between 30 N and 30 S comprises half of the Earth's surface, yet is relatively unsampled in comparison to the mid-latitude of the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, observations above typical aircraft altitudes (40,000 feet or 12 km) are even less frequent, making the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere one of the most sparsely sampled regions of our atmosphere.

Disdrometer and Radar Observations of Precipitation facility

Home based at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), DROP provides ground-based measurements of hydrometeor properties including size, number concentration, shapes, fall speeds, and water contents for both liquid (e.g., rain) and frozen (e.g., snow) hydrometeors. DROP instrument assets include the following: 5 Two Dimensional Video Disdrometers (2DVDs), 24 Parsivel Disdrometers, >100 Tipping Bucket Raingauges, including a high density autonomous network being deployed on the Delmarva Peninsula, 3 Micro Rain Radars, 9 Pluvio weighing gauges, 7 Yankee Environmental Hot Plate sensors, and Snow Video Imagers. These assets are combined with WFF polarimetric radar assets (e.g, NPOL) measurements to provide detailed physical characteristics of precipitation in the atmospheric column.

Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar

The D3R is a fully polarimetric, scanning weather radar system operating at the nominal frequencies of 13.91 GHz and 35.56 GHz covering a maximum range of 30 km.

EDOP: ER-2 Doppler radar

The NASA ER-2 high-altitude (20 km) aircraft that emulates a satellite view of precipitation systems carries a variety of passive and active (lidar) remote sensing instruments. A new Doppler weather radar system at X band (9.6 GHz) called the ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP) has been developed and flown on the ER-2 aircraft.

Goddard Lidar Observatory for Wind

It is a mobile Doppler lidar system based on double edge direct detection technology. It consists of a molecular system at 355nm and a aerosol system at 1064nm.

High Altitude Wind and Rain Profiling Radar

The High Altitude Wind and Rain Profiling Radar (HIWRAP) is a dual-frequency (Ka- and Ku-band), dual-beam (30 and 40 degree incidence angle), conical scan, solid-state transmitter-based system, designed for operation on the high-altitude (20 km) Global Hawk UAV.

Holographic Airborne Rotating Lidar Instrument Experiment

The HARLIE transceiver is based on a volume phase holographic optical elements (HOE) made in dichromated gelatin (DCG) sandwiched between 2 layers of high quality float glass. It demonstrates the practical application of this technology to a compact scanning lidar system at 1064 nm wavelength. The HOE has the ability to withstand moderately high laser power and energy loading and is of sufficient optical quality for most direct detection systems,and overall efficiency rivaling conventional receivers. It's size and weight are approximately half of similar performing scanning systems using reflective optics.

IDS - The Global Aerosol System

The project seeks to characterize the Global Aerosol System using a combination of satellite observations and chemical transport models. The end goal is to understand and quantify aerosol effects and aerosol forcing on global and regional climate.

Micro-pulse Lidar Network

The NASA Micro-Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET) is a federated network of Micro-Pulse Lidar (MPL) systems designed to measure aerosol and cloud vertical structure continuously, day and night, over long time periods required to contribute to climate change studies and provide ground validation for satellite sensors in the Earth Observing System (EOS) and related aerosol modeling efforts. Most MPLNET sites are co-located with sites in the NASA Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). These joint super sites provide both column and vertically resolved aerosol and cloud data, such as: optical depth, single scatter albedo, size distribution, aerosol and cloud heights, planetary boundary layer (PBL) structure and evolution, and profiles of extinction and backscatter.

Miniaturized Laser Heterodyne Radiometer

The mini-LHR is a suitcase-sized instrument that measures greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Targeted gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrous oxide (N2O), as well as oxygen (O2) for a measure of atmospheric pressure. These low-cost instruments will ultimately form a global network of ground sensors that can provide column concentrations as well as altitude profiles.

−/+ Key Staff

- Project Scientist: MATTHEW MCLINDEN
- Principal Investigator: EMILY STEEL
- Project Scientist: Hilary Melroy
- Project Scientist: LESLEY OTT
- Project Scientist: Gregory Clarke
- Project Scientist: Graham Allan

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is an earth-viewing sensor that flies on the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra and Aqua satellites, launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively. MODIS scans a swath width of 2330 km that is sufficiently wide to provide nearly complete global coverage every two days from a polar-orbiting, sun-synchronous, platform at an altitude of 705 km. MODIS provides images in 36 spectral channels between 0.414 and 14.235 micrometers with spatial resolutions of 250 m (two bands), 500 m (five bands) and 1000 m (29 bands).

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Rapid Response)

The MODIS Rapid Response system has been developed to provide rapid access to MODIS data globally, with initial emphasis on 250m color composite imagery and active fire data. The experience gained during the Montana fires of 2000, when the MODIS team was asked to provide active fire information to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), has led to the improvement and automation of several of the steps involved in MODIS rapid data provision. Imagery and data are now being provided to a number of users such as the USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC), the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), the U.N. Global Fire Monitoring Center, and NASA's Earth Observatory. Incremental improvements are planned both for the user interface and the selection of products available from this site.

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer

No instrument like MISR has flown in space before. Viewing the sunlit Earth simultaneously at nine widely spaced angles from the Terra spacecraft, MISR provides ongoing global coverage with high spatial detail. Its imagery is carefully calibrated to provide accurate measures of the brightness, contrast, and color of reflected sunlight.

MISR provides new types of information for scientists studying Earth's climate, such as the partitioning of energy and carbon between the land surface and the atmosphere, and the regional and global impacts of different types of atmospheric particles and clouds on climate. The change in reflection at different view angles affords the means to distinguish different types of atmospheric particles (aerosols), cloud forms, and land surface covers. Combined with stereoscopic techniques, this enables construction of 3-D models and estimation of the total amount of sunlight reflected by Earth's diverse environments.

NASA Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar

NPOL is a research grade S-band, scanning dual-polarimetric radar first developed in 2001 by a research team from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. It is used to make accurate volumetric measurements of precipitation including rainfall rate, particle size distributions, water contents and precipitation type.

Ocean Surface Topography Mission

The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 is an international satellite mission that will extend into the next decade the continuous climate record of sea surface height measurements begun in 1992 by the joint NASA/Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) Topex/Poseidon mission and continued in 2001 by the NASA/CNES Jason-1 mission. This multi-decadal record has already helped scientists study global sea level rise and better understand how ocean circulation and climate change are related.

−/+ Key Staff

- Chief Scientist: Stavros Melachroinos

Raman Airborne Spectroscopic Lidar

RASL was developed under the first NASA Instrument Incubator program. The first laboratory measurements with RASL were taken in September 2002. The first flights were in 2007 as a part of the WAVES_2007 campaign that was hosted at the Howard University Beltsville Campus. During that campaign, RASL demonstrated the first simultaneous airborne lidar measurements of water vapor mixing ratio and aerosol extinction. In addition, retrievals of cloud liquid water, droplet radius and number density were demonstrated. Other measurements included aerosol depolarization.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center

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