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Petrov Explains Polar Nights
2024.11.18
Leonid Petrov (61A) was interviewed by Time magazine and was asked to explain why polar nights happen, how long they last, and why polar night duration depends on location.
Dr. Richard Ray Named Recipient of 2025 William Nordberg Memorial Award for Earth Science
2024.10.03
We are thrilled to announce the selection of Dr. Richard Ray as the 2025 William Nordberg Memorial Award for Earth Science recipient.
Dr. Ray is being recognized for his foundational advances in sea surface change, Earth’s rotation, oceanic and atmospheric tides, and securing Goddard leadership in satellite geodesy.
Dr. Ray’s research includes studies of sea surface change, Earth rotation, and ocean and atmospheric tides. His innovative work has led to numerous advancements in the understanding of these important geophysical processes and has been instrumental to the scientific achievements of some of NASA’s leading Earth science missions, including TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, Jason-3, SWOT, GRACE, and GRACE-FO. Of seminal importance to Goddard and NASA satellite geodesy, and to the world of physical oceanography, is Richard’s development of the Goddard Ocean Tide model. First published in 1999, he has continued to enhance its accuracy and resolution, and maintain its international status as a state-of-the-art global tide model. In addition, Richard’s extensive contributions to understanding the Earth system include: quantifying variations in the Earth’s rotation rate induced by oceanic tides, quantifying tidal energy dissipation in the solid earth and deep ocean, detection of internal tides in the deep ocean, and the first global mapping of the third-degree ocean tide. His research contributions have been critical to the successes of the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team, the NASA Sea Level Science Team, GRACE & GRACE-FO Science Teams, and the SWOT Science Team.
Dr. Ray became a civil servant in the Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory in 1998 and has been part of the Geodesy and Geophysics Laboratory since its inception in 2016. His outstanding work has previously been recognized with his selection as the American Geophysical Union Bowie Lecturer (2006), a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (2007), the recipient of the American Meteorological Society Suomi Award (2007), a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2009), and a two-time recipient of the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (2018 and 2022). He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Hamburg University in 2008 in recognition of his distinguished scientific contributions.
Earth Day Toolkit Available
2024.04.18
NASA’s fleet of satellites see the whole Earth, every day. This year, you can celebrate Earth Day with NASA wherever you are! Host your own Earth Day event—supported by NASA science—with activities, demonstrations, handouts, posters, videos, and more.
2023 Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HBG) Awards Announced
2023.10.20
It is a pleasure to announce the selections for the 2023 Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HBG) Annual Peer Awards!
Administrative/Business Support
• Deborah Brasel – Code 610HBG
• Kitty Sanchez – Code 616
• Kathy Regul – Code 617
• Kishawn Sutton – Code 617
• Sandra Bussard – Code 618
• Barret Einfalt – Code 618
• Amy Scully – Code 618
• Shina Dave – Code 61A
Career Achievement
• Jan McGarry – Code 61A
Outreach
• Sara Blumberg – Code 616
• Ian Carroll – Code 616
• Genevieve de Messieres – Code 618
• Ayia Lindquist – Code 618
• Nyssa Rayne – Code 618
Scientific Achievement
• Rachel Tilling – Code 615
• Andrew Sayer – Code 616
• Weston Anderson – Code 617
• Augusto Getirana – Code 617
• Goutam Konapala – Code 617
• Timothy Lahmers – Code 617
• Bailing Li – Code 617
• Fadji Maina – Code 617
• Elijah Orland – Code 617
• Thomas Stanley – Code 617
• Carrie Vuyovich – Code 617
• Shane Coffield – Code 618
• Liz Hoy – Code 618
• Elisabeth Larson – Code 618
• Tempest McCabe – Code 618
Scientific/Technical Support
• Rodney Coleman – Code 610
• Charlie Seljos – Code 610
• Jeff Lee – Code 615
• LeeAnne Roberts – Code 615
• Christine Sadlik – Code 615
• Patricia Vornberger – Code 615
• Albert Wu – Code 615
• Sean Bailey – Code 616
• Ivona Cetinic – Code 616
• David Norris – Code 616
• Emerson Sirk – Code 616
• OCI Technical Leadership Team – Code 616
- Gerhard Meister (Team Lead), Joseph Knuble, Leland Chemerys, Ulrik Gliese
• PACE SDS Prelaunch Data Processing Team – Code 616
- John Wilding (Team Lead), Joel Gales, Liang Hong, Tommy Owens, Don Shea, Fred Patt
• Hiroko Beaudoing – Code 617
• Rajat Bindlish – Code 617
• Abheera Hazra – Code 617
• Thomas Holmes – Code 617
• Eric Kemp – Code 617
• Justin Pflug – Code 617
• Melissa Wrzesien – Code 617
• Emery Bacon – Code 618
• Boryana Efremova – Code 618
• Nathan Kelley – Code 618
• Jason Kraft – Code 618
• Aaron Pearlman – Code 618
• Timothy Shuman – Code 618
• Jennifer Beall – Code 61A
• Marshall Finch – Code 61A
• Evan Hoffman – Code 61A
• Joseph Nicholas – Code 61A
• Katherine Pazamickas – Code 61A
• Xu Yang – Code 61A
Best Publication – First Author Civil Servant
• Brooke Medley – Code 615 – for the October 2022 publication – “Simulations of firn processes over the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets: 1980-2021”
Best Publication – First Author Non-Civil Servant
• Anthony Campbell – Code 618 – for the November 2022 publication – “Global hotspots of salt marsh change and carbon emissions”
Croteau Named Outstanding Reviewer
2023.10.06
Mike Croteau (61A) was named as one of AGU’s Outstanding Reviewers of 2022 for his contributions to the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.
Goddard Monitors Smoke from Canada Wildfires
2023.06.07
An unusually intense start to Canada’s wildfire season filled skies with smoke in May 2023. Then, at the beginning of June, scores of new fires raged in the eastern Canadian province of Quebec. NASA’s Aqua satellite, operated at Goddard, has captured imagery of the smoke. The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) based at Goddard has computed models of where the smoke may travel in coming days.
Terra, Aqua, and Aura Data Continuity Workshop Dates Announced and Questions and Answers Posted
2023.04.03
NASA’s Terra, Aqua, and Aura Data Continuity Workshop will be held virtually on May 23-25, 2023. Sessions will run daily from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time/10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Central Time/8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time. The NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) has posted a questions and answers document on the Request for Information’s (RFI) Landing Page. When they become available following the close of the RFI, NSPIRES will post on the RFI’s landing page under “Other Documents” 1) a Workshop Agenda, 2) Registration link and 3) Webex Information. Agenda suggestions and additional questions or comments may be emailed to david.b.considine@nasa.gov; please include "NNH23ZDA010L" in the subject line. Request for Information: NASA’s Terra, Aqua, and Aura Data Continuity Workshop Number: NNH23ZDA010L Release Date: March 1, 2023 Response Date: April 4, 2023 Short Direct URL to the RFI: https://go.nasa.gov/TAARFI4VCW
Geodesy Technology Innovation
2022.08.25
The Summer 2022 issue of CuttingEdge (A NASA GSFC periodical dedicated to emerging technologies) features work by Scott Luthcke (61A) and partners on the gravity-measuring Atom Interferometer Gravity Gradiometer (AIGG) in an article entitled "Satellite Geodesy – Innovation Born at Goddard" (pp. 7–9).
The Atom Interferometer Gravity Gradiometer, developed in partnership with the Fremont, California-based AOSense, offers the potential for accurate, direct, real-time measurement of Earth’s gravitational field and its changes over time. Scott Luthcke and Goddard physicist Babak Saif (Code 551) led development of the gravity-measuring technology, which works by pulsing a laser through a cloud of super-cooled atoms. Measuring the laser’s interaction with the atoms creates an interference pattern. Scientists know how the atoms should be-have at a quantum level, so the interference serves as a real-time measurement of gravity’s pull on the atoms.
Shortest Day Gets Attention
2022.08.23
Stephen Merkowitz (61A) was recently interviewed by media outlets such as the Associated Press, The World on Public Radio, and Verify for articles about the recent shortest length of day on record. Measurements of the Earth’s length of day are performed daily by the Space Geodesy Project as part of NASA’s participation in the National Earth Orientation Service.
NASA Space Geodesy Project Hosts Summer Interns
2022.08.19
The NASA Space Geodesy Project hosted seven interns over the summer: two high school students, four undergraduates, and one graduate student. Six interns were partly or completely virtual, one was onsite; These interns worked with different scientists and engineers of the of the Space Geodesy Project over the summer (June - August 2022) on projects related to Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) or Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR).
The interns and their projects were:
- Josh Wu ( Texas Academy of Math & Science ). Project: “Modeling RF Notch Filter to Predict 20K Insertion Loss and Rejection”. NASA Mentors: Lawrence Hilliard (NASA SGP VLBI Technologist) & Jeffrey Dorman (NASA SGP Operations Manager).
- Joseph Conaty ( Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Greenbelt, Maryland ). Project: “Cryo STEM: Radio Frequency Monitoring System (RFMS) Graphical User Interface (GUI).” NASA Mentors: Lawrence Hilliard (NASA SGP VLBI Technologist) & Jeffrey Dorman (NASA SGP Operations Manager).
- Simon Matin (University of New Mexico). Project: “Avoiding Spaceborne Radio Frequency Interference for Astronomical Observations”. NASA mentors: Dr. Nlingi Habana (SAIC@ Code 61A) & Lawrence Hilliard (NASA SGP VLBI Technologist).
- Joshua Batstone ( University of Maryland, College Park ) Project: "Star image Analysis for Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR)" Worked both virtually and onsite with NASA Mentor Evan Hoffman (Code 61A), and Dr. Russet Macmillan ( Apache Point LLR Observatory, New Mexico) to develop improved software to aid in the calibration of star images for use at Apache Point during LLR.
- Joseph Skeens. ( University of Texas at Austin): Project: “Automated detection of spurious signals in VLBI phase calibration data”. Worked onsite with NASA mentor, VLBI scientist Leonid Petrov (Code 61A) as an SAIC summer intern. Joe is a Ph.D Student at the University of Texas at Austin, and his advisor is Dr. Srinivas Bettadpur.
- Ludvig Rodung & Tuss Anzelius ( Chalmers University, Sweden), hosted in Greenbelt by NVI inc. Project: “Deriving gaussian models for (radio) sources”. Worked with John Gipson (NVI @ Code 61A, NASA GSFC), IVS Analysis Coordinator and leader of the NVI VLBI group for the NASA Space Geodesy Project.
NASA GLOBE Land Cover Challenge 2022: Land Cover in a Changing Climate
2022.07.26
The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program invites you to take part in our upcoming Land Cover Challenge: “Land Cover in a Changing Climate.”
The photos you take using The GLOBE Program’s GLOBE Observer app document the current land cover and may also show evidence of land cover or land use change in the area. We especially encourage you to look for places you know have changed (or where you know change is coming), and put any information about the reasons or timing for that change in the field notes section. While existing land cover databases (such as the 50-year record from the Landsat satellite) may be able to indicate where change is happening, they don’t always include the reasons why those changes occurred, so any local, on-the-ground knowledge you share with us can be especially helpful.
Loomis Recognized for Excellence
2022.07.08
Bryant Loomis (61A) was awarded the AGU 2021 Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for outstanding service to the authors and readers of JGR: Solid Earth.
SLAP in Spain for LIAISE Field Campaign
2021.07.16
Goddard's Scanning L-band Active Passive (SLAP) airborne soil moisture sensor is participating in the European Land surface Interactions with the Atmosphere over the Iberian Semi-arid Environment (LIAISE) campaign, with applications to Planetary Boundary Layer and related science. Ed Kim (617), Hessam Izadkhah (617/Aerotek), Albert Wu (61A/ATA Aerospace), and NASA Langley's B200 aircraft are currently in Spain for the campaign.
Habana Authors Article for The Orbital Index
2021.05.26
The Orbital Index’s latest issue featured a guest article, “GRACE, the bumpy road so far,” by Nlingi Habana (61A/SSAI) highlighting some of the role and some of the main findings of the GRACE mission and those of its successor, GRACE-FO.
Space Geodesy Project Hosts Tour
2021.03.05
The Space Geodesy Project (SGP) hosted NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk, Associate Administrator for Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen, and the NASA Goddard Executive Council for a tour of the geodetic stations at the Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory (GGAO). Stephen Merkowitz (61A), Jan McGarry (61A), Evan Hoffman (61A), Mark Clampin (600), Jim Irons (610), and several other members of SGP supported the tour. The clear sky that evening provided excellent viewing of the laser from the MOBLAS-7 Satellite Laser Ranging Station as seen in this tweet by Dr. Zurbuchen.
NCSA Science Story Features SAA Work
2021.02.03
National Center for Super Computing Applications (NCSA) featured a science story on geomagnetic South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) prediction results from 61A's Geomagnetic Group.
Kuang, Sabaka, and Tangborn Highlight the SAA
2020.12.21
Weijia Kuang (61A), Terence J. Sabaka (61A) and Andrew Tangborn (UMBC) contributed texts and figures of South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) to the EOS Science News article entitled “The Herky-Jerky Weirdness of Earth’s Magnetic Field” by J. Duncombe.
CNN Article Mentions GEDI and SED Scientists
2020.08.18
Change in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) was the subject of the CNN article 'A growing dent in Earth's magnetic field could impact satellites and spacecraft.' Highlighted in the article was the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission, laboratory members Bryan Blair, Terry Sabaka, Weijia Kuang, and Andrew Tangborn, as well as Shri Kanekal from GSFC's Heliospheric Physics Laboratory (672).
Coronavirus Impacts Field Work
2020.03.27
Goddard Space Flight Center airborne campaigns are highlighted in a recent Capital Weather Gang article in The Washington Post. The article describes the novel coronavirus's impact on scientific research and field campaigns.
NASA Code61A personnel received Honor Awards in 2019
2019.12.23
Bryan Blair (Code 61A)
David Rowlands (Code 61A) received NASA Honor awards in 2019. Carey Noll received an SLR Pioneer Certificate from the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS). David Gordon received the Peter McGregor Prize of the Astronomical Society of Australia, as part of the DiFX Collaboration.
Bryan Blair (Code 61A) received the
NASA Honor Award - Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal, with the citation: "For pioneering development of waveform lidar sensor technology for land surface characterization, vegetation structure, biomass, and mapping land and sea ice change. "
David Rowlands (Code 61A) received the NASA Honor Award - Exceptional Service Medal, with the citation, "For nearly four decades of sustained exemplary performance delivering technical innovations and capabilities that have advanced numerous NASA Earth and planetary missions."
Dr. Toshimichi Otsubo, Chair of the International Laser Ranging Service (LRS), presented Carey Noll (Code 61A) with a "Pioneer Certificate" at the 2019 SLR Technical Workshop in Stuttgart, Germany (Oct. 21-24, 2019), "In recognition of her dedication, vision and creativity in supporting all aspects of the ILRS".
David Gordon (NVI @ Code 61A, NASA GSFC) received the Peter McGregor Prize of the Astronomical Society of Australia as part of the DiFX Collaboration (an international team) for contributing to the development of the DiFX software with the following Citation:
"The Distributed FX Correlator (DiFX) is a software package that contains tools necessary to turn an array of radio telescope signals into a functioning radio interferometer. The DiFX has contributed significantly to reducing the barrier to entry and play a major role in radio astronomy research internationally. The system has enabled a wide range of science, as testified by the very high number of references to the key technical papers. The open-access nature of the software has put a new tool in the hands of astronomers, with demonstrated positive results. Its scalability and adaptability has and continues to enable researchers to tailor its behaviour and pursue what would otherwise be difficult science goals." The members of the DiFX collaboration include: Adam Deller (Leader, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia), Walter Alef (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, Germany),
James Anderson (GFZ/Potsdam, Germany),
Matthias Bark (NRAO, USA), Matthew Bailes (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia),
Walter Brisken (NRAO, USA).
Roger Cappallo (MIT Haystack Observatory, USA),
Geoff Crew (MIT Haystack Observatory, USA),
Richard Dodson (The University of Western Australia),
David Gordon (NVI @ Code 61A, NASA GSFC),
Zheng Meyer-Zhao (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, The Netherlands), John Morgan (Curtin University, Australia),
Chris Phillips (CSIRO Australia), Cormac Reynolds (CSIRO Australia), Jon Romney (NRAO, USA),
Helge Rottman (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, Germany), John Spitzak (US Naval Observatory),
Matteo Stagni (National Institute for Astrophysics, Italy),
Steven Tingay (Curtin University, Australia),
Jan Wagner (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, Germany), Mark Wainright (NRAO, USA)
Randall Wayth (Curtin University, Australia).
Proceedings of the 2018 IVS General Meeting in Longyearbyen (Svalbard) are now available online
2019.12.20
The "Proceedings of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry 2018 General Meeting, Global Geodesy and the Role of VGOS–Fundamental to Sustainable Development”, has been published and is available online as a NASA Conference Publication: NASA/CP–2019-219039 . The document was edited by Dirk Behrend, Kyla Armstrong and Karen Baver of NVI @ Code 61A, NASA GSFC. The volume includes 59 papers covering the following topics:
1. Building the VGOS Network.
2. VGOS Technique and Observation.
3. Legacy S/X and Mixed Legacy/VGOS Operations.
4. VLBI Core Products and Their Improvements.
5. Extending the Scope of VLBI Usage/Applications.
The full document is available at the following URL
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20190030365.pdf . (Size ~130 MB).
Code 61A authors Contribute to Special Issue of the Journal of Geodesy on Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR)
2019.12.19
The NASA Space Geodesy Project team members from the Geodesy and Geophysics Laboratory, contributed to the Journal of Geodesy special issue on Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) , formally published as J. Geodesy, Volume 93, Number 11, November 2019. SGP team members contributed to ten of the twenty papers in the special issue as authors. The special issue highlights the current state of the technique, the science and operational products that are being delivered, and the future technological evolution of the space geodesy technique.
Some of the papers include:
Preface to the second special issue on Laser Ranging, Pavlis, E.C., Luceri, V., Otsubo, T., Schreiber, U. J Geodesy (2019) 93: 2159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-019-01305-2 .
The ILRS: approaching 20 years and planning for the future, Pearlman, M.R., Noll, C.E., Pavlis, E.C., Lemoine, F.G., Combrink, L., Degnan J.J. , Kirchner, G., Schreiber, U. J Geodesy (2019) 93: 2161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-019-01241-1.
Laser geodetic satellites: a high-accuracy scientific tool, Pearlman, M., Arnold, D., Davis, M. et al. J Geod (2019) 93: 2181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-019-01228-y.
Information resources supporting scientific research for the international laser ranging service, Noll, C.E., Ricklefs, R., Horvath, J. et al. J Geodesy (2019) 93: 2211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-018-1207-2.
NASA’s satellite laser ranging systems for the twenty-first century, McGarry, J.F., Hoffman, E.D., Degnan, J.J. et al. J Geod (2019) 93: 2249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-018-1191-6.
Modernizing and expanding the NASA Space Geodesy Network to meet future geodetic requirements, Merkowitz, S.M., Bolotin, S., Elosegui, P. et al. J Geodesy (2019) 93: 2263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-018-1204-5.
Transitioning the NASA SLR network to Event Timing Mode for reduced systematics, improved stability and data precision, Varghese, T., Ricklefs, R.L., Pavlis, E.C., Kuzmicz-Cieslak, M., Merkowitz, S.M. J Geodesy (2019) 93: 2345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-019-01326-x.
Systematic errors in SLR data and their impact on the ILRS products, Luceri, V., Pirri, M., Rodríguez, J., Appleby, G., Pavlis, E.C., Müller, H. J Geod (2019) 93: 2357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-019-01319-w
Time and laser ranging: a window of opportunity for geodesy, navigation, and metrology , Exertier, P., Belli, A., Samain, E., Meng, W., Zhang, H., Tang, K., Schlicht, A., Schreiber, U., Hugentobler, U., Prochàzka, I., Sun, X., Mcgarry, J.F., Mao, D., Neumann, G.A. J Geodesy (2019) 93: 2389. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-018-1173-8.
Rapid response quality control service for the laser ranging tracking network, Otsubo, T., Müller, H., Pavlis, E.C. et al. J Geodesy (2019) 93: 2335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-018-1197-0.
Smithsonian's Air & Space features Space Geodesy
2019.09.01
The September issue of the Smithsonian's Air & Space magazine describes how space geodesy is tracking the effects of global change down to the millimeter and highlights the Space Geodesy Project’s (SGP) new station in Texas. Several laboratory members were quoted in the article.
New NASA VGOS Antenna Installed and Passes Site Acceptance Test at McDonald Observatory
2019.03.06
The NASA Space Geodesy Project (SGP) has taken the next step in expanding the NASA Space Geodesy Network (NSGN) with the procurement of a VLBI Global Observing System (VGOS) 12-m radio telescope for a new core site located at the McDonald Observatory, near Fort Davis, Texas. Intertronic Solutions Inc. completed the installation of the antenna early in February 2019. An engineering room-temperature feed, developed and installed by MIT/Haystack Observatory, was used to support the pointing tests. On February 15, 2019 several extragalactic sources were observed. The antenna successfully passed the Site Acceptance Test (SAT) on February 20, 2019. A cryogenic, broad-band signal chain will be installed in April 2019. Afterwards the station will begin commissioning activities, and later in the year will being participating in VGOS test sessions, organized in coordination with the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS).
Contact Stephen Merkowitz (Stephen.M.Merkowitz@nasa.gov) for more information.
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