Identifying drought-prone areas and developing an early warning system for crop damage. Protecting biologically diverse areas of the National Park System with a trail monitoring tool. Confirming flooded areas to better inform decision-makers during a disaster.
Each program area supports a variety of projects that utilize Earth observations to identify challenges around the world and create innovative solutions. Our portfolio demonstrates the benefits of using NASA Earth observations to enhance decision-making and improve life on Earth.
Sort by program area to find specific projects or explore them all below.
antarpreet jutla
Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection, caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with Vibrio cholerae. It remains a significant global health risk, where 40-80 million people are living in cholera hotspots in Africa. The real burden of cholera, which is...
Victor Gutierrrez-Velez
Earth Observations data and products represent great potential for understanding, managing, and conserving biodiversity. The project developed a Decision Support System (DSS) for Biodiversity Conservation and Management in Colombia to integrate, process and analyze Earth observations in one platform, to inform biodiversity decision-making. The...
Howard Epstein
GEO BON aims to identify Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs), of which a category is Ecosystem Function. This effort developed a classification of Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs), to characterize the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of ecosystem functioning (regardless of similarities or differences in ecosystem structure), based...
Karl Rittger
This project developed a suite of satellite-based Essential Water Variables (EWVs) for improved near-real-time streamflow predictions using the ParBal surface energy balance model in the Indus River basin. The snowmelt predictions are fed into USACE's HEC-HMS model system to provide reservoir inflow hydrographs for HEC-ResSim...
Austin Troy
This work, led by Austin Troy of the University of Colorado, Denver, uses Earth observation data and modeling to develop ecosystem accounts at the national and subnational scale for the U.S. End-users of this work include USGS and other Federal agencies who support the integration...
Gregory Okin
Mary Blair
Effective policy responses to changes in biodiversity are only possible with adaptable analytic tools that leverage the influx of data from biodiversity observation systems. The analytic tools must be streamlined and readily mastered by researchers making scientific recommendations. This projected created two new software packages...
Luigi Boschetti
Since year 2000, satellite observations are the primary data source for monitoring fire activity globally. The NASA MODIS MCD64 Global Burned Product is sufficiently mature to support policy making (i.e., national and subnational fire activity reporting and carbon inventories) but at the time our project...
Alyssa Whitcraft
The objectives of this project are to: enhance national and regional capacity to monitor food supply using Earth observations; empower science-based decision making related to food security & agriculture; increase regional collaboration and cooperation around agriculture monitoring; create a sustainable model for within-region collaboration; and...
Maria Kavanaugh
More information: Ocean Observing System OL3
The GEO-BON Thematic Marine Biodiversity Observing Network (MBON) supports the operational monitoring of marine biodiversity, defined broadly as the variety of life at the gene, species and ecosystem levels. Understanding how biodiversity changes across these levels provides insight to...