Principal Investigator

Katie Lange

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NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can be used to evaluate groundwater depletion and land subsidence. Groundwater storage change, calculated from GRACE, and land surface subsidence, calculated from Sentinel-1 C-SAR, from March 2015 to August 2019 are shown in the California Central Valley. Redder shades indicate greater groundwater storage loss detected by GRACE. Sentinel-1 data shown in blue, illustrates greater land subsidence in darker blue.   Keywords: GRACE, InSAR, land subsidence, groundwater storage, California, Central Valley, Kathleen Lange, James Kitchens, Vanessa Valenti, Elizabeth Perez

California’s Central Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the United States, producing a fourth of the nation’s food supply. The water demand in this region is heavily dependent on groundwater resources, resulting in over pumping of...

Principal Investigator

Ryan Slapikas

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Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager multi-year composite 2017 to 2019. The false color band combination 4, 3, 2 shows land cover distinctions of Southern Panay Island in the Philippines. Primary Forest is represented by the darker red shade along the center. Lighter shades of red indicate Secondary Forest cover. Distinct shades of brighter blue characterize urban areas of the island. Displaying differences in land cover can assist with identifying favorable habitats for endemic species.  Keywords: Visayan Islands Ecological Forecasting

The islands of Negros and Panay in the Philippines contain the last existing habitat for the critically endangered Visayan spotted deer (Rusa alfredi) and Visayan warty pig (Sus cebifrons). NASA DEVELOP partnered with the Arizona Center for Nature Conservation –...

Principal Investigator

Robert Cecil Byles

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A 30-meter resolution map from a 4/26/2019 Landsat 8 OLI image with a tasseled cap brightness transformation overlaid on a solar insolation map derived from a 9/23/2014 DEM created with the SRTM C-Band. Lawrence, Kansas, is featured here. Bright yellow signifies areas with high surface reflectance, indicating bare soil and rooftop areas ideal for solar panels. Darker purple signifies areas of low surface reflectance, indicating forest and wetland locations not ideal for solar panels.

The City of Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas, are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve 100 percent renewable energy. The NASA DEVELOP team used Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and LiDAR elevation data along with Landsat 8 Operational...

Principal Investigator

Kate Markham

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The Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) quantifies vegetation greenness over a dense canopy section of Southern Costa Rica using a Landsat 8 OLI composite from 11-01-2018 through 12-31-2019. The coral to pink hues indicate healthier vegetation, the orange to gray indicate less healthy vegetation. The black indicates the absence of vegetation and the river is rendered in aqua. This image illustrates the variability of vegetation health to allow stakeholders to identify areas of sparse vegetation.  Keywords: Eder Hernandez, Sharifa Karwandyar, Kate Markham, Teodora Mitroi, EVI, Landsat 8 OLI, Southern Costa Rica

Seven percent of all scientifically known life forms lie within the 202,230 square miles of Central America, making this area ecologically unique and increasing the need for environmental management. The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor forms a conservation partnership throughout Central America...

Principal Investigator

Zac Peloquin

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Assessing and Assisting Monitoring Efforts of Water Clarity to Identify Potential Areas of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) in the Chesapeake Bay

Bromus tectorum, otherwise known as cheatgrass, is an invasive grass from Europe that has increased its presence all over the world by out-competing native grasses due to its adaptability and lifecycle. During the end of its life cycle, typically occurring in the summer, its flammable...

Principal Investigator

Li-Wei Lin

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Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) calculated from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager(OLI) in 2019.  Central New York is a high production region for maple syrup. Purple pixels indicate urban or highly developed areas, black pixels indicate water, and darker green pixels represent highly vegetated areas. Areas of higher vegetation will be more suitable for sugarbush locations. This will help maple producers identify suitable sugar maple tree habitats.  Keywords: EVI, Landsat 8 OLI, sugarbush, New York

Variable climate, anomalous weather conditions, and other environmental stressors impact sugar maples (Acer saccharum), the main source of maple syrup in the Northern Forest region. Maintaining sugar maple health and current syrup production levels is vital for the region’s cultural...

Principal Investigator

Samantha Trust

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Solar insolation levels collected by Terra/Aqua Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) in 2019 were used as inputs for solar suitability and environmental sensitivity conflict maps to inform solar developers of overlap between areas desirable for solar farms and nearly threatened species habitats. The darkest magenta designates the most environmentally sensitive areas, the darkest shade of blue indicates the highest level of solar suitability, while levels of conflict are shown in shades of purple.   Keywords: LUCIS, CERES, Solar Energy, Georgia, Samantha Trust​

The rapid expansion of the solar industry across the state of Georgia has a detrimental effect on the habitats of keystone and threatened species, such as the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) and the American black bear (Ursus...

Principal Investigator

Jacob Arndt

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Identifying Methane Emissions Patterns from Dairy Farms Using Aircraft Remote Sensing Observations and Image Classification

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with a lifetime of less than 10 years and a global warming potential that is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 100 year time period. Between the energy, industrial processes and product use, agriculture...

Principal Investigator

Man Kumari Giri

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Identifying Optimal Regions within New Jersey's Pine Barrens Forest for Urban Development Based on Wildfire Risk and the Wildland-Urban Interface Theory

As New Jersey's population increases, more of this population is relocating to the wildland-urban interface (WUI) of the south-central Pinelands region. Due to this increase in human activity coupled with local environmental conditions, local authorities are concerned about an increased possibility of wildfires that could...

Principal Investigator

Kara Cassano

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Identifying Optimal Site Locations for Wind Energy Farms Considering Ecological and Social Impacts

With the increasing cost and declining availability of fossil fuels, renewable energy, specifically wind power, has become one of the fastest growing sources of energy in New Mexico. To assist with the goals set by the state's Renewables Standard Portfolio established in 2004, the NASA...