Principal Investigator

Ian Lauer

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Estimating Soil Moisture in Semi-arid Sagebrush Steppe Utilizing NASA Earth Observations

Soil moisture is a critical component of ecosystem health, particularly in semi-arid landscapes where seasonal and infrequent precipitation is one of the primary controls on vegetative health. Current land management practices of soil moisture data collection rely on costly and time-consuming field sampling or on...

Principal Investigator

Kaitlynn Hietpas

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NDVI-processed imagery using Lansdat 8 data (2020), blended with a true color band combination (4,5,6). Fairfax County located in east Virginia is displayed. The NDVI highlights vegetation and impervious surfaces which were utilized for flood susceptibility modeling.  Keywords: NDVI, Urban Tree Canopy, Impervious Surface, Susceptibility

Between 2000 and 2020, Fairfax County, Virginia experienced extreme weather events that caused severe flooding and degradation of roads, businesses, and other public property. A single flood event on July 8th, 2019 resulted in $14.8 million in damages. These flood...

Principal Investigator

Dean Berkowitz

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CALIPSO CALIOP aerosol point data rendered in 3D at nighttime from a transect intersecting a smoke plume in northern Idaho on August 19, 2018. Aerosols are symbolized by altitude, with cooler colors representing lower elevations and warmer colors representing higher elevations. Using LiDAR to reveal the vertical structure of wildfire smoke plumes, CALIOP enables the National Weather Service to evaluate the accuracy of mixing height forecasts.  Keywords: CALIPSO, LiDAR, air pollution, wildfire smoke, mixing height

Wildfires in the western United States have caused immense infrastructure damage and loss of human life in recent years. Wildfire smoke, which travels far from its original source, is also harmful to human health. Mixing height, which acts as a...

Principal Investigator

Justine Spore

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NASA DEVELOP

The Tonlé Sap Lake and river basin in central Cambodia provide critical ecosystem services to the region, including fisheries, agricultural irrigation, hydropower, and biodiverse habitats. Deforestation, increased pumping for farming, and effects of climate change such as droughts and forest...

Principal Investigator

Nicole Ramberg-Pihl

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Coastal turbidity map of Central Java, Indonesia, using Landsat 8 OLI data from June 25th, 2019. The atmospheric correction and Dogliotti turbidity algorithm were processed in ACOLITE and data visualization was completed in SeaDAS. Darker red areas indicate higher turbidity and lighter blue areas represent lower turbidity.  As a trend, turbidity increases close to the shore and near the mouth of notable rivers.  Keywords: Turbidity, Inundation, Indonesia

Extreme tidal inundation events resulted in wide-ranging damage to the densely populated coastline of Central Java, Indonesia. Central Java Province is vulnerable to extreme tidal inundation and severe fluxes in marine turbidity due to a combination of factors, including storm...

Principal Investigator

Marshall Worsham

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This is an EVI-processed image obtained from Landsat 8 OLI on August 12th, 2018, with a band combination of band 2, 5,and 4. Displayed is the Conecuh National Forest in southern Alabama. Warmer red-colored areas display areas of less dense vegetation, while blue-cooler colored areas display more dense vegetation in the area. Obtaining knowledge on the density of the vegetation allows the US Forest Service to better inform its conservation efforts for the gopher frog.

The gopher frog (Lithobates capito) is an endangered species facing extinction within the next century due to loss and alteration of its habitat. With limited active gopher frog habitats in Alabama, it is crucial to maintain these areas. The Gopher...

Principal Investigator

Ian Lauer

Imagen
Evaluating Evapotranspiration and Water Budget Components in Semi-Arid Sagebrush Steppe

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a vital component of the hydrologic cycle, especially in semi-arid environments; water availability can have a substantial impact on ecosystem services, such as grazing patterns of native and domesticated animal populations, vegetation health, and fire susceptibility. Current practices to measure ET rely...

Principal Investigator

Carl Jurkowski

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Evapotranspiration (ET) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) processed imagery using 2019 Landsat 8 OLI and TIRS data through the EEFlux model for the region of Paranà, Argentina. Relatively warmer pixels of red in the upper right corner and green in the lower left corner represent higher values of ET and NDVI respectively. ET values allow users to determine water availability while NDVI values reveal vegetation richness.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key indicator of hydrological balance across different ecosystems. Water availability is a vital ecosystem service for biota and communities. The transpiration and evaporation of water from vegetation and soil can be estimated through in situ ET...

Principal Investigator

Anna McGarrigle

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Evaluating Fuel Loading at a Landscape-Scale in High Elevation Alpine Forests of Lassen Volcanic National Park

The disruption of natural fire regimes caused by fire suppression policies, coupled with drought and changing climate conditions, allow fuel loads to grow in the absence of naturally occurring, low intensity surface fires. Within the mixed conifer forests of the Cascades, catastrophic wildfires challenge forest...

Principal Investigator

Katherine Hess

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Evaluating Grassland Conversion and the Related Likelihood of Fire Disturbance to Enhance Fire Monitoring and Management in the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Spruce beetle-induced (Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby)) mortality on the Kenai Peninsula has heightened local wildfire risk as canopy loss facilitates the conversion from blank to fire-prone grassland. We collected images from NASA Earth observations to visualize land cover succession at roughly five-year intervals following a...