Office of the Administrator Awarded Contracts - cloud | Federal Compass

Office of the Administrator Awarded Contracts - cloud

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80TECH21DA002 - ADVANCED ENTERPRISE GLOBAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CONTRACT. AS THE AGENCY WIDE COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES CONTRACT, AEGIS IS THE AGENCY SOLUTION FOR PROVING TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES, CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICES AND DATA CENTER SERVICES.
IDC - 541512 Computer Systems Design Services
Contractor
Leidos (LEIDOS, INC.)
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator»NASA Office of the Chief Information Officer»Information Technology Procurement Office
Effective date
06/25/2021
Obligated Amount
$573.9M
80HQTR17C0023 - THIS AWARD FOR SUPPORT PROVIDED UNDER PROPOSAL TITLED POLAR CAP'S TOPSIDE IONOSPHERIC RESPONSE TO STORMS: DATA UPGRADE TO ISIS-II TOPSIDE SOUNDER DEVICE. THIS IS FOR THE DATA UPGRADE TO THE POLAR CAP'S TOPSIDE IONOSPHERIC RESPONSE TO STORMS TO ISIS-II TOPSIDE SOUNDER DATA. THE PRESENT PROPOSAL SEEKS TO CONVERT THIS EXISTING DIGITIZED IONOGRAM SET INTO THE COMMON DATA FORMAT (CDF) USED BY THE NASA SPACE PHYSICS DATA FACILITY (SPDF), INCLUDING RANGE, FREQUENCY, TIME, AND LOCATION COORDINATES. ELECTRON DENSITY PROFILES INCLUDING UNCERTAINTY ESTIMATES WILL BE GENERATED FOR THE IONOGRAMS. ALL DIGITAL PRODUCTS WILL BE UPLOADED TO SPDF. THIS EFFORT ADDRESSES THE TASK OF INVERTING OVER 5500 ISIS-II DIGITIZED FILM IONOGRAMS INTO TOPSIDE ELECTRON DENSITY PROFILES (EDP'S). THESE IONOGRAMS WERE RECORDED IN CANADA AND ARE FROM HIGH POLAR LATITUDES AND SPAN 8 LARGE GEOMAGNETIC STORMS. EACH STORM PERIOD INCLUDES ONE OR TWO QUIET DAYS PRIOR TO OR IN THE RECOVERY PHASE OF THE STORM. THE TOPSIDE EDP'S WILL PROVIDE UNIQUE EVIDENCE ON HOW M-I COUPLING RESPONDS DURING MAJOR GEOMAGNETIC STORMS. A BROAD COMMUNITY OF BOTH MAGNETOSPHERIC AND IONOSPHERIC RESEARCHERS WILL HAVE ACCESS TO GROUND TRUTH STORM DYNAMICS THAT IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. DURING THE PRIOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOPSIDE INVERSION TECHNIQUES, ANOMALOUS PROFILES WERE DETECTED THAT MAY PROVIDE THE COMMUNITY WITH THE PROMISING STORM-TIME RESEARCH FOCUS. THIS EFFORT WILL LEVERAGE THESE NEWLY DEVELOPED FILM RECOVERY PROCEDURES TO SIGNIFICANTLY EXPAND THE TOPSIDE SOUNDER EDP DATA BASE ARCHIVED AT THE SDPF. IN ADDITION, IT WILL ENABLE THE ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE 8 LARGE GEOMAGNETIC STORMS.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
SPACE ENVIRONMENT CORPORATION
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
09/25/2017
Obligated Amount
$50k
80HQTR17C0013 - DATA UPGRADE OF VOYAGER LECP COUNT RATE DATA PRODUCTS.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
FUNDAMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
09/14/2017
Obligated Amount
$50k
80HQTR17C0011 - UNDER THIS EFFORT, BOEING WILL TEAM WITH THE NANOFABRICATION GROUP AT THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TO PERFORM THE FOLLOWING EFFORTS RELATIVE TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FIELD EMISSION VACUUM ELECTRONIC DEVICES FOR OPERATION ABOVE 500 DEGREES CELSIUS. (1) DEMONSTRATE NANOTRIDE DEVICES BASED ON FIELD EMISSION VACUUM (FEV) ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY; (2) DESIGN AND FABRICATE SMALL INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (OSCILLATOR FOR FREQUENCIES CORRESPONDING TO S-BAND, 2GHZ); (3) VERIFY THE OPERATION OF DEVICES AND OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT AT 500 C IN VACUUM, FOR OVER 1,500 HOURS (60 DAYS). MOST SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES OPERATE UP TO 250 C. RECENT ADVANCES IN CARBIDE AND NITRIDE SEMICONDUCTORS HOLD PROMISE FOR HIGHER TEMPERATURES, YET ARE ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH R&D COSTS. THERE IS A NEED FOR TECHNOLOGY WITH THE SIMPLICITY OF VACUUM TUBES AND WITH MICRON SIZES. THIS CONTRACT IS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND FABRICATION OF FIELD EMISSION VACUUM (FEV) DEVICES AND AN OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT FOR 2 GHX (S-BAND). IMPLEMENTATION WILL BE COMPLIMENTED BY THEORETICAL/SIMULATION ANALYSIS OF THE PATH TO X-BAND. ADDITIONALLY, THE EFFORT WILL INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING (1) DEVELOPMENT OF A DEVICE MODEL FOR HSPICE CIRCUIT SIMULATIONS; AND (2) SIMULATION USING FIRST-PRINCIPLES MODELING TOOLS, OF METAL MIGRATION FOR TUNGSTEN AND DERIVATIVES AT HIGH TEMPERATURES.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
Boeing (BOEING COMPANY, THE)
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
09/01/2017
Obligated Amount
$599.6k
NNH17CY05C - THIS CONTRACT IS A RESULT OF A NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT AWARD. THE INVESTIGATION TO BE CONDUCTED UNDER THIS CONTRACT IS A CONTINUATION OF THE GMI INVESTIGATION THAT WAS FUNDED THROUGH ROSES 2013: PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY SOLICITATION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE INVESTIGATION IS TO CONTINUE THE PRODUCTION, VALIDATION, AND UTILIZATION OF THE GEOPHYSICAL RETRIEVALS FROM THE GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT MISSION (GPM) MICROWAVE IMAGER (GMI), WHICH WAS LAUNCHED IN FEBRUARY 2014. THE GMI OBSERVATIONS ARE BEING USED TO PRODUCE SETS OF FIVE AIR-SEA (AS) VARIABLES, ALL OF WHICH ARE CLASSIFIED AS ESSENTIAL CLIMATE VARIABLES (ECV) BY THE GLOBAL OBSERVING SYSTEM FOR CLIMATE (GCOS): 1. SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST, C), (MICROWAVE THROUGH-CLOUD RETRIEVALS) 2. NEAR-SURFACE OCEAN WINDS (M/S) 3. TOTAL WATER VAPOR ABOVE THE OCEAN (MM) 4. TOTAL CLOUD WATER ABOVE THE OCEAN (MM) 5. SEA-SURFACE RAIN RATE (MM/HR) HEREIN, THESE DATA PRODUCTS ARE REFERRED TO AS AS-ECV. THE GMI AS-ECV HAVE BEEN INTERCALIBRATED WITH SIMILAR RETRIEVALS FROM 3 OTHER MICROWAVE IMAGERS (TMI, AMSR-2, AND WINDSAT) AND ARE NOW AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF THE 30-YEAR AS CLIMATE DATA RECORD (AS-CDR). GMI HAS AN ADVANCED ON-BOARD CALIBRATION SYSTEM, AND ITS INCLINED ORBIT PROVIDES PRECISE COLLOCATIONS WITH THE OTHER MICROWAVE IMAGERS (MI). ACCORDINGLY, WE EXPECT GMI WILL BE THE ABSOLUTE CALIBRATION REFERENCE FOR THE AS-CDR FOR THE NEXT 1 TO 2 DECADES. THE AS-ECV FROM GMI AND ALL THE OTHER MIS ARE FREELY AVAILABLE VIA THE INTERNET. THIS EFFORT PROPOSES THE FOLLOWING IMPROVEMENTS TO THE GMI PROCESSING ALGORITHMS, WHICH WILL BE IMPLEMENTED TOWARDS THE END OF THE INVESTIGATION: 1. MITIGATION OF SUN GLITTER CONTAMINATION 2. FURTHER MITIGATION OF RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE 3. ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR BARS TO AS-ECV 4. EXTENDING THE AS-ECV CLOSER TO LAND (EXPERIMENTAL) A UNIQUE FEATURE OF GMI (AND ITS PREDECESSOR TMI) IS THAT IT SAMPLES THE ENTIRE 24-HOUR DIURNAL CYCLE OF AIR-SEA INTERACTIONS. THE PROPER CHARACTERIZATION OF DIURNAL VARIABILITY IS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE PLANET'S MOST FUNDAMENTAL HARMONIC. THE ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF THE COUPLING OF THE OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE CONTINUES TO BE A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR CLIMATE MODELS. THE AS-CDR IS PARTICULARLY WELL SUITED FOR STUDYING THESE ISSUES BECAUSE IT PROVIDES UNIQUE INFORMATION ON THE AIR-SEA EXCHANGE OF MOMENTUM, ENERGY, AND MOISTURE OVER THE LAST 3 DECADES.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
06/01/2017
Obligated Amount
$626.3k
NNH17CV05C - NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT AWARD UNDER NRA NNH16ZDA001N-WEATHER MULTISCALE INVESTIGATIONS AND ANALYSIS OF TROPICAL CONVECTIVE PROCESSES DURING CPEX USING DAWN AND NUMERICAL MODELS. UNDER THIS CONTRACT, THE CONTRACTOR WILL DESIGN AIRBORNE DOPPLER WIND LIDAR MISSIONS TO STUDY THE CONVECTIVE PROCESSES, THEIR INTERACTIONS ON DIFFERING SCALES AND AT DIFFERING TIMES WITHIN THEIR LIFE CYCLE (INITIATION, GROWTH, ORGANIZATION AND DISRUPTION) IN THE TROPICS ON HORIZONTAL SCALES RANGING FROM THE CLOUD SCALE, THROUGH THE MESO AND SCALE AND ON TIME SCALES OF SECONDS TO SEVERAL DAYS, INCLUDING NIGHTTIME. MEASUREMENTS WILL BE TAKEN UNDER A VARIETY OF CONVECTIVE CONDITIONS, INCLUDING: 1) SUPPRESSED CONDITIONS WITH LITTLE CONVECTION AND ONLY ISOLATED TRADE WIND CU 2) ORGANIZED TRADE WIND CU WITH SOME PENETRATING CU 3) TOWERING CU-CB 4) ORGANIZED MESO-SCALE TO SYNOPTIC SCALE THE CONTRACTOR WILL INVESTIGATE THE PBL STRUCTURE, AEROSOLS AND CIRCULATIONS WITHIN THE LOWER TROPICAL TROPOSPHERE UNDER ALL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING THE PRESENCE OF THE SAL OR SYNOPTIC SCALE DISTURBANCES. A SPECIAL FOCUS WILL BE ON STUDYING THE EXISTENCE OF BOUNDARY LAYER ROLLS AND THE DISPARITY OF PBL DEPTH AS DEFINED BY MIXING, WIND PROFILE, AEROSOL CONCENTRATIONS OR MOISTURE/DENSITY. COMPARISONS WITH SATELLITE DERIVED PBL HEIGHTS WILL BE MADE WHEN POSSIBLE WITH REGARDS TO ORBIT AND CLOUDS. THE EFFORT WILL INCLUDE SEVERAL NUMERICAL MODELS AND DATA ASSIMILATION TECHNIQUES TO IDENTIFY THE BETTER DATA ASSIMILATION METHOD FOR DAWN WIND PROFILE DATA ASSIMILATION. THE COMMUNITY MESOSCALE WILL BE USED FOR WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING, THE NCEP OPERATIONAL HURRICANE MODEL AND THE NCEP GRIDPOINT STATISTICAL INTERPOLATION-BASED HYBRID ENSEMBLE VARIATIONAL TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT OF ASSIMILATING THE DETAILED WIND PROFILES FROM DAWN (AND OTHER CPEX MEASUREMENTS) ON NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS. THIS WILL INCLUDE THE IMPACT ON OVERALL FORECAST, IMPROVED REPRESENTATION OF LOW TO MID-LEVEL WIND FIELDS, THE ACCURACY OF CONVECTIVE INITIATION, EVOLUTION AND DISSIPATION FORECAST, THE ROLE OF VERTICAL SHEAR ON CONVECTIVE EVOLUTION AND THE INFLUENCE OF THE SAL. DAWN FLIGHTS WILL BE SIMULATED FOR POST LAUNCH ADM CAL/VAL BY INVESTIGATING HOW ESA'S ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS MISSION WIND LIDAR WILL PERFORM IN THE TROPICS, PARTICULARLY DURING CLOUDY OR NON-CLOUDY CONDITIONS. A SPECIAL FOCUS WILL BE PLACE UPON DAWN PERFORMANCE IN THE PRESENCE OF HIGH CIRRUS CLOUDS DURING HIGH ALTITUDE FERRY FLIGHTS.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
SIMPSON WEATHER ASSOCIATES INC
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
05/22/2017
Obligated Amount
$514k
NNH16CY04C - NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT AWARD THIS CONTRACT IS FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF AEROSOL-CLOUD INTERACTIONS AND THE AEROSOL INDIRECT EFFECT IN MARINE LOW CLOUDS BY COMBINING AEROSOL EXTINCTION DERIVED FROM CALIOP WITH COLLOCATED CLOUD PROPERTIES DERIVED FROM THE MODERATE RESOLUTION IMAGING SPECTRORADIOMETER (MODIS). THE SPECIFIC FOCUS WILL BE ON THE AEROSOL VERTICAL STRUCTURE AND THE ATMOSPHERIC FACTORS THAT MODIFY THE CLOUD-AEROSOL RELATIONSHIP IN DIFFERENT REGIONS. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO EVALUATE NEW METHODS TO COMBINE CALIOP AEROSOL PRODUCTS WITH OTHER A-TRAIN DATASETS. THE OBSERVATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS WILL BE FURTHER UTILIZED TO CALCULATE THE CLOUD ALBEDO SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CHANGES IN THE AEROSOL EXTINCTION COEFFICIENT BY MEANS OF RADIATIVE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE CLOUDSAT AND EARTH RADIANT ENERGY SYSTEM (CERES) AND RADIATIVE TRANSFER SIMULATIONS. NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS WITH THE HIGH-RESOLUTION WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING MODEL COUPLED WITH CHEMISTRY MODULE (WRF-CHEM) WILL BE CONDUCTED TO PROVIDE THE PHYSICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE OBSERVED CORRELATIONS AND EVALUATE THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF FREE TROPOSPHERIC AND BOUNDARY LAYER AEROSOLS. PARTICULAR EMPHASIS WILL BE GIVEN TO THE AEROSOL VERTICAL VARIABILITY, AEROSOL HUMIDIFICATION AND ENTRAINMENT RATE. OVERALL, THIS ANALYSIS WILL LEAD TO A MORE ACCURATE QUANTIFICATION OF THE AEROSOL INDIRECT EFFECTS AS WELL AS A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIASES ASSOCIATED WITH ACI ESTIMATES BASED ONLY ON PASSIVE SATELLITE SENSORS.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
Science Systems and Applications Inc (SCIENCE SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS, INC.)
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
09/30/2016
Obligated Amount
$365.1k
NNH16CT01C - NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT AWARD. REGIONAL SEA LEVEL REFLECTS OCEANIC HEAT, MASS, AND FRESHWATER CONTENT INTEGRATED OVER THE WATER COLUMN, AND IS THUS AN INFORMATIVE INDEX OF OCEAN CIRCULATION AND CLIMATE. SEA LEVEL RISE (SLR) IS ALSO A SIGNIFICANT RISK TO COASTAL COMMUNITIES AND ECOSYSTEMS -- THROUGH, FOR EXAMPLE, INUNDATION, FLOODING, EROSION, AND SALTWATER INTRUSION. THIS RISK IS GEOGRAPHICALLY VARIABLE, AS BOTH THE RATE OF SLR AND SOCIOECONOMIC EXPOSURE VARY WITH LOCATION. BECAUSE REGIONAL SEA LEVEL IS A VALUABLE TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING AND MONITORING CLIMATE, AND BECAUSE OF ITS ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS, MANY RECENT GOVERNMENT REPORTS HAVE UNDERSCORED THE NEED FOR A STANDARDIZED SET OF REGIONAL SEA LEVEL INDICATORS. HOWEVER, THE OPTIMAL NUMBER AND SPATIAL SCALE OF SUCH INDICATORS, AND THUS THE INFORMATION BEST USED TO MONITOR AND PROJECT THEM, REMAINS UNCLEAR. FURTHERMORE, THE UNDERLYING GAP BETWEEN REGIONAL AND COASTAL SEA LEVEL VARIABILITY CLOUDS THE RELEVANCE OF REGIONAL INDICATORS TO LOCAL DECISION-MAKING. THIS EFFORT WILL IMPROVE THE UTILITY OF REGIONAL SEA LEVEL INDICATORS BY: 1) OBJECTIVELY DEFINING THE NUMBER OF INDICATORS, AND THEIR SPATIAL SCALE, USING ALTIMETER AND CLIMATE MODEL OUTPUT; AND 2) RELATING REGIONAL SEA LEVEL INDICATORS TO LOCAL SEA LEVEL AT COASTAL SITES, USING ALTIMETER AND TIDE GAUGE OBSERVATIONS. THIS TWO-PRONG APPROACH WILL PROVIDE: THE OPTIMAL SPATIAL SCALES AT WHICH TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL AND INTERPRET CLIMATE MODEL PROJECTIONS, MAXIMAL USE OF NASA DATA IN REGIONAL SEA LEVEL INDICATORS, A MEANS TO CAPTURE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEA LEVEL AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS, AND AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE COHERENT SCALES OF SEA LEVEL VARIABILITY IN OBSERVATIONS AND CLIMATE MODELS.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
ATMOSPHERIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, INC.
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
04/18/2016
Obligated Amount
$333.1k
NNX16AF86G - ANALYSIS OF SOME OBSERVATIONS WITH ANTENNAS IN THE SOLAR WIND A PROPOSAL IN THE BROAD CATEGORY: DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. PROPOSAL SUMMARY: THE RESEARCH TOPICS TO BE ADDRESSED INCLUDE: ELECTRON TEMPERATURE FROM PLASMA WAVES THE PART OF IMPACT ON STEREO WHICH WAS DESIGNED TO RETURN THE IN-SITU TEMPERATURE OF THE SOLAR WIND CORE COMPONENT CANNOT DO SO BECAUSE OF PROBLEMS DUE TO UNEXPECTED BEHAVIOR OF SOME COMPONENTS AT LOW TEMPERATURES. WE BELIEVE THAT THE ELECTRON TEMPERATURE CAN BE DETERMINED FROM THE RADIO NOISE SPECTRUM ON THE STEREO ANTENNAS DURING QUIET TIMES WHEN THERE IS NO OTHER ACTIVITY. THIS WILL BE INVESTIGATED. METHOD: MODIFY AN EXISTING WARM PLASMA DISPERSION RELATION CALCULATION AND USE IT TO CALCULATE SIGNALS ACCORDING TO KELLOGG, PHYSICS OF FLUIDS 23, 735M 1981. WORK PLAN: RUN MANY PARAMETERS TO ACQUIRE SOME UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATION BETWEEN SPECTRA AND PLASMA PARAMETERS AND THEN VARY PARAMETERS TO FIT OBSERVATIONS. SOME PLASMA PARAMETERS WILL BE OBTAINED FROM SPDF. THE RADIO SPECTRAL DATA ARE ARCHIVED IN OUR LABORATORY. RELEVANCE: THIS RESEARCH BEARS ON THE GOAL: DETERMINE THE INTERACTION OF THE SUN WITH THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM; MUCH OF THIS INTERACTION IS INVESTIGATED AND PREDICTED USING MHD PROGRAMS, ESPECIALLY FOR UNDERSTANDING SOLAR WEATHER. FOR WHICH THE EQUATION OF STATE OF THE SOLAR WIND DEPENDS ON THE ELECTRON TEMPERATURE, AND FOR WHICH CALCULATIONS BASED ON STEREO DATA LACK AN IMPORTANT PARAMETER. SOME UNDERSTUDIED ELECTRIC SIGNALS. A LARGE FRACTION OF THE ELECTRIC SIGNALS RETURNED BY THE WIND AND STEREO TIME DOMAIN SAMPLERS HAVE NOT BEEN ADEQUATELY STUDIED. THESE INCLUDE ION SOUND WAVES, SOME BIPOLAR WAVEFORMS, AND OTHER WAVEFORMS. THESE SIGNALS FORM THE MOST COMMON EVENTS RETURNED BY THE TIME DOMAIN SAMPLERS ON STEREO AND WIND. EARLY ON, ION SOUND WAVES WERE INVESTIGATED USING SPECTRAL DATA, ESPECIALLY ON THE HELIOS SPACECRAFT, BUT LITTLE WORK HAS BEEN DONE WITH TIME DOMAIN DATA. AS THE SPECTRA ARE OFTEN QUITE BROAD, THEY ARE NOT RELIABLY IDENTIFIED FROM SPECTRAL DATA. METHOD: IT SHOULD BE CLEAR THAT THE INVESTIGATION OF THESE PROBLEMS IS NOT AS CUT AND DRIED AS FOR THE OTHER TOPICS AND THAT THE METHOD AND WORK WILL EVOLVE IN RESPONSE TO RESULTS OBTAINED. FOR STARTS, HOWEVER: OBTAIN ALPHA PARTICLE SPEED AND TEMPERATURE FROM SPDF AND COMMUNICATION WITH JUSTIN KASPER, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, WHO HAS CARRIED OUT THE MOST ACCURATE ANALYSIS OF WIND ION DATA FROM THE SWE EXPERIMENT. WORK PLAN: FOR THE ALPHA PARTICLE CONNECTION, SEE ABOVE. FOR OTHER SIGNALS, MAKE A CATALOG OF SIGNALS OF VARIOUS TYPES, OBTAIN MAXIMUM VARIANCE DIRECTION AND OTHER PROPERTIES OF SIGNALS, OBTAIN MAGNETIC FIELD AND SOLAR WIND VELOCITY FROM SPDF. PLOT HODOGRAMS IN PROMISING CASES. FIND RELATIONS BETWEEN THE VARIOUS OBSERVATIONS. RELEVANCE: THESE ARE THE MOST COMMON SIGNALS SEEN ON THE WIND TDS AND IMPORTANT ON STEREO. WE OUGHT TO KNOW WHY. THE STRUCTURE AND PHYSICS OF DUST IMPACT SIGNALS. DETECTION OF INTERPLANETARY AND INTERSTELLAR DUST BY THE SIGNALS FROM DUST IMPACTS HAS NOW BEEN DEMONSTRATED ON SEVERAL SPACECRAFT. IT IS CLEAR THAT TEMPORAL PULSE SHAPES CONTAIN INFORMATION ON THE DUST THAT WE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO INTERPRET. IT WILL BE ATTEMPTED TO UNDERSTAND THE TIME EVOLUTION OF A DUST CLOUD AND THE ASSOCIATED SPACECRAFT POTENTIAL. METHOD: SOME SIMPLE CHARACTERISTICS WILL BE WORKED OUT, SUCH AS THE TIME AND POSITION OF THE EMITTED MATERIAL WHEN IT BECOMES COLLISIONLESS, WHEN IT BECOMES SMALLER THAN ITS OWN DEBYE LENGTH, WHAT FRACTION OF ELECTRONS ARE ATTRACTED BACK TO THE SPACECRAFT, ETC. WORK PLAN: COMPARE CALCULATIONS WITH DUST OBSERVATIONS FROM WIND. RELEVANCE: EXPERIMENTS ON THE FUTURE MISSIONS SOLAR ORBITER AND SOLAR PROBE PLUS ARE ATTEMPTING DUST MEASUREMENTS. THIS WORK WILL ALLOW BETTER INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS.
Grant for Research
Contractor
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Mission Support Directorate»NASA Shared Services Center
Effective date
03/11/2016
Obligated Amount
$40k
NNX16AB45G - EXPLORING COOL AND HAZY EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES IN THE LAB SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ALTHOUGH IT HAS LONG BEEN POSTULATED THAT CLOUDS AND HAZES WERE IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES, IT IS ONLY RECENTLY THAT OBSERVATIONS HAVE SUBSTANTIATED THEIR EXISTENCE. CLOUDS AND/OR HAZES HAVE BEEN DETECTED AT HIGH SIGNIFICANCE IN THE ATMOSPHERES OF THE SUPER-EARTH GJ1214B TEQ~600 K, NEPTUNE-MASS GJ436B TEQ~800 K, AND HOT-JUPITER KEPLER-7B TEQ~1700 K. IN THE CASE OF KEPLER-7B IN THE HIGH TEMPERATURE REGIME, EQUILIBRIUM SILICATE CLOUDS PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE MATCH TO THE OBSERVE VARIATIONS IN THE PLANETARY ALBEDO AS A FUNCTION OF ORBITAL PHASE. THE NATURE OF THE CLOUDS/HAZES IN THE ATMOSPHERES OF GJ1214B AND GJ436B ARE MORE UNCERTAIN, AS THICK EQUILIBRIUM CLOUD SPECIES ARE NOT EXPECTED TO FORM THIS TEMPERATURE REGIME. THUS FAR THERE ARE NO OBSERVATIONAL INDICATIONS THAT PHOTOCHEMISTRY EITHER HAZE FORMATION OR DISEQUILBRIUM CHEMISTRY STRONGLY AFFECTS PLANETS HOTTER THAN 1200 K. IT IS EXPECTED THAT PHOTOCHEMISTRY WILL PLAY A MUCH GREATER ROLE IN THE ATMOSPHERES OF PLANETS WITH AVERAGE TEMPERATURES BELOW 1000 K, ESPECIALLY THOSE PLANETS THAT MAY HAVE ENHANCED ATMOSPHERIC METALLICITY AND/OR C/O RATIOS SUCH AS SUPER-EARTHS AND NEPTUNE-MASS PLANETS. THE KEPLER MISSION HAS SHOWN THAT THE MOST POPULOUS TYPE OF PLANETS ARE THOSE FOR WHICH WE HAVE NO SOLAR SYSTEM ANALOGS, SUPER-EARTHS 1.25 REARTH<RP<2.0 REARTH AND MINI-NEPTUNES 2.0 REARTH<RP<4.0 REARTH. THE TESS MISSION WILL SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF SUPER-EARTHS AND MINI-NEPTUNES ON WHICH ATMOSPHERIC CHARACTERIZATION STUDIES CAN BE CONDUCTED. HOWEVER, THESE STUDIES WILL REQUIRE IMPROVED EXPERIMENTAL CONSTRAINTS ON PHOTOCHEMICAL PROCESSES IN THESE COOLER METALRICH PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES. ALTHOUGH MODELS OF ATMOSPHERIC PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND HAZE OPTICAL PROPERTIES PROVIDE GOOD FIRST ESTIMATES, THEY ARE INCOMPLETE AND BIASED BY AVAILABLE SOLAR SYSTEM DATA. LABORATORY PRODUCTION OF EXOPLANET HAZES IS A CRUCIAL NEXT STEP IN OUR ABILITY TO PROPERLY CHARACTERIZE THESE PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES. THE PROPOSED STUDY WOULD REPRESENT THE FIRST LABORATORY TESTS OF HAZE FORMATION IN EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES IN THIS IMPORTANT TEMPERATURE RANGE. METHODOLOGY HERE WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE PHOTOCHEMICAL PROCESSES COOLER METAL-RICH EXOPLANETARY ATMOSPHERES IN A STATE-OF-ART LABORATORY FACILITY SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO INVESTIGATE A RANGE OF PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES. OUR LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS WILL PRODUCE PHOTOCHEMICAL HAZES AS WELL AS GAS PHASE PRODUCTS) WHOSE COMPOSITION CAN BE FURTHER STUDIED USING MASS SPECTROMETRY. ADDITIONALLY, THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THESE PHOTOCHEMICAL HAZES CAN BE DETERMINED TO GIVE POSSIBLE OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS. WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF GAS COMPOSITION, TEMPERATURE, AND ENERGY SOURCE ON THE FORMATION AND PHYSICAL/CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF HAZE. RELEVANCE THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATIONS ARE DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE EXOPLANET RESEARCH PROGRAM AS THEY WILL AID IN THE INTERPRETATION OF OBSERVATIONS OF EXOPLANETARY SYSTEMS AND IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES OCCURRING IN EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES.
Grant for Research
Contractor
Johns Hopkins (JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, THE)
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Mission Support Directorate»NASA Shared Services Center
Effective date
11/20/2015
Obligated Amount
$150k
NNX16AB25G - INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE ARE POORLY-UNDERSTOOD ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS WITH GREAT POTENTIAL FOR EXPANDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW STARS EVOLVE AND DIE, AND COULD PROVIDE IMPORTANT CLUES ABOUT THE EARLY FORMATION OF LARGE- SCALE STRUCTURES SUCH AS GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE. INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE OCCUR WHEN A STAR EXPLODES WITHIN A DENSE CLOUD OF MATERIAL SHED FROM THE STAR IN THE COURSE OF ITS EVOLUTION. THE RESULTING VIOLENT INTERACTION BETWEEN THE EXPANDING SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION AND THE CLOUD OF CIRCUMSTELLAR MATERIAL CAN LEAD TO AN ENORMOUSLY BRIGHT VISUAL DISPLAY --- INDEED, MANY OF THE BRIGHTEST SUPERNOVAE EVER RECORDED ARE THOUGHT TO ARISE FROM CIRCUMSTELLAR INTERACTION. IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE PROPERTIES OF THE PROGENITOR STAR AND THE DETAILS OF THE CIRCUMSTELLAR INTERACTION, THERE IS A NEED FOR THEORETICAL MODELS OF INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE. THESE SIMULATED COMPUTER SPECTRA CAN BE DIRECTLY COMPARED TO THE SPECTRA OBSERVED BY TELESCOPES. THESE MODELS ALLOW US TO PROBE THE PHYSICAL CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH UNDERLIE THE OBSERVATIONS. THE SPECTRA OF INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE ARE DOMINATED BY STRONG, NARROW EMISSION LINES OF LIGHT ELEMENTS SUCH AS HYDROGEN AND HELIUM. THESE NARROW LINES GIVE TYPE IIN SUPERNOVAE THEIR DESIGNATION. SIMILARLY, OBJECTS OF TYPE IAN, IBN, ICN, AND IIN ARE SOMEWHAT DISTINCT, BUT ARE ALL DEFINED BY THE NARROW EMISSION LINES THAT RESULT FROM THE INTERACTION OF THEIR EXPANDING ENVELOPES WITH THEIR SURROUNDINGS. THE PHOTOSPHERE IN THESE SUPERNOVAE IS FORMED IN THE MATERIAL ACCRETED DURING THE COASTING PHASE, AND MOST OF THE LUMINOSITY HAS ITS ORIGIN FROM THE CONVERSION OF KINETIC EXPLOSION ENERGY INTO LUMINOSITY. BOTH THERMONUCLEAR TYPE IA AND CORE-COLLAPSE TYPES IB/IC AND II SUPERNOVAE MAY BE THE INNER ENGINE. IN FACT, SEVERAL TYPE IIN SUPERNOVAE AT EARLY TIMES HAVE LATER BEEN CLASSIFIED AS TYPE IA, TYPE IB/C, OR TYPE II AS THEIR SPECTRA REVEAL MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE CENTRAL EXPLOSION. AS A RESULT OF THE DOMINANCE OF THE INTERACTION, MODELS OF INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT DESCRIPTIONS OF THE HYDRODYNAMICAL, IONIZATION, AND LIGHT FRONTS: A FULL RADIATIONHYDRODYNAMICAL PROBLEM. THE LOW DENSITIES IMPLY STRONG DEPARTURES FROM THERMODYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM AND, THUS, DEMAND A NON-LTE TREATMENT IN THE RADIATIVE TRANSFER CALCULATION. WE PROPOSE A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA (OU) AND FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY (FSU) TO CALCULATE HYDRODYNAMICAL MODELS, LIGHT CURVES, AND NLTE SPECTRA OF CIRCUMSTELLAR INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE. WE WILL PARAMETERIZE THE EXPLOSION OF A MASSIVE STAR, STUDY THE HYDRODYNAMICAL IMPACT ONTO A CIRCUMSTELLAR MEDIUM AND CALCULATE LIGHT CURVES AND SPECTRA. DIRECT COMPARISON WITH OBSERVED SUPERNOVAE WITH GIVE US DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE PROGENITOR STAR, ITS MASS LOSS HISTORY, AND THE NATURE OF BINARY STELLAR EVOLUTION. WE WILL CALCULATE EXPLOSION MODELS FOR SOME OF THE STELLAR STRUCTURES AND THE ONGOING INTERACTION WITH THE CIRCUMSTELLAR MATERIAL USING OUR RADIATION HYDRO CODE HYDRA AND NLTE GENERALIZED MODEL ATMOSPHERES CODE PHOENIX. WE INTEND TO FOCUS ON THE PHYSICS OF INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE, GOING BEYOND THE REGIME WHERE SELFSIMILAR SOLUTIONS AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES ARE VALID. THIS WILL LIMIT THE PARAMETER SPACE THAT NEEDS TO BE EXAMINED, WHILE STILL ALLOWING FOR DIRECT COMPARISON WITH OBSERVATIONS. SINCE MANY INTERACTING SUPERNOVAE ARE EXTREMELY BRIGHT, THEY CAN BE SEEN AT THE HIGHEST REDSHIFTS AND ARE GOOD PROBES OF THE DARKAGES. THESE SUPERNOVAE WILL BE WELL OBSERVED BY UPCOMING NASA MISSION JWST AS WELL AS GROUND BASED SURVEYS SUCH AS LSST. THE TOOLS FOR THIS WORK ARE IN PLACE: FSU PI PETER HOEFLICH HAS BEEN DEVELOPING AND USING THE HYDRODYNAMIC CODE HYDRA FOR OVER TWO DECADES AND PI EDDIE BARON (OU) HAS BEEN DEVELOPING THE GENERALIZED STELLAR ATMOSPHERE CODE PHOENIX OVER THE SAME TIME PERIOD. BARON AND HOEFLICH HAVE A GOOD WORKING RELATIONSHIP AND HAVE CROSS COMPARED OUR CODES.
Grant for Research
Contractor
University of Oklahoma (UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA)
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Mission Support Directorate»NASA Shared Services Center
Effective date
11/03/2015
Obligated Amount
$381k
NNH15CN71C - THE ICESAT-2 MISSION IS PRIMARILY AN ALTIMETRY MISSION TO STUDY THE CHANGES IN ICE, SNOW AND BIOMASS. IT WILL, HOWEVER, ALSO OBTAIN PROFILES OF ATMOSPHERIC BACKSCATTER FROM 14KM TO THE GROUND. THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THESE DATA WILL BE TO CHARACTERIZE THE ATMOSPHERE TO SUPPORT THE ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF ALTIMETRY DATA. THE ICESAT-2 MISSION IS PRIMARILY AN ALTIMETRY MISSION TO STUDY THE CHANGES IN ICE, SNOW AND BIOMASS. IT WILL, HOWEVER, ALSO OBTAIN PROFILES OF ATMOSPHERIC BACKSCATTER FROM 14 KM TO THE GROUND. THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THESE DATA WILL BE TO CHARACTERIZE THE ATMOSPHERE TO SUPPORT THE ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF ALTIMETRY DATA. WHILE IT IS RECOGNIZED THAT VARIOUS ATTRIBUTES OF THE MAIN INSTRUMENT ABOARD ICESAT-2 (ATLAS) PRODUCE CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ON THE ATMOSPHERIC DATA, IT WILL STILL PROVIDE USEFUL IN A NUMBER OF ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH AREAS. THIS PROPOSAL SEEKS TO IDENTIFY THOSE AREAS AND DEMONSTRATE THAT EVEN THOUGH ICESAT-2 IS NOT AN ATMOSPHERIC MISSION, IT WILL STILL PROVIDE IMPORTANT AND MEANINGFUL DATA THAT WILL BENEFIT ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE RESEARCH IN AREAS SUCH AS: 1) POLAR CLOUDS AND AEROSOL, 2)GLOBAL CLOUD FREQUENCY, 3) AEROSOL AND THIN CLOUD OPTICAL DEPTH, 4) BLOWING SNOW STUDIES. IN ADDITION TO THE VALUE OF ICESAT-2 DATA FOR ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE, THIS PROPOSAL WILL SHOW THE VARIOUS AREAS WHERE THE ATMOSPHERIC DATA CAN COMPLEMENT AND AID THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE MISSION: ACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF SURFACE ELEVATION. WE WILL ALSO DEMONSTRATE THE UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OF OUR TEAM TO PROVIDE THE ICESAT-2 PROJECT WITH SCIENTIFIC FEEDBACK ON OVERALL MISSION PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER LEVEL PRODUCTS, ATBD AND ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT/TESTING, AND CALIBRATION AND VALIDATION PLANS AS THE MISSION TRANSITIONS TO ITS OPERATIONAL PHASE.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
Science Systems and Applications Inc (SCIENCE SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS, INC.)
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
06/29/2015
Obligated Amount
$195.6k
NNH15CN50C - PROPOSAL TITLE: CONTINUATION OF INTER-CALIBRATED OCEAN PRODUCTS FROM GCOM-W AMSR2 THIS PROPOSAL IS FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THE AMSR2 OCEAN RETRIEVALS BEING PRODUCED BY REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS (RSS). AS PART OF THE CURRENT U.S. PARTICIPATING INVESTIGATOR (USPI) PROJECT, RSS RELEASED ITS FIRST VERSION OF OCEAN PRODUCTS IN JANUARY 2014. THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL (1) CONTINUE THE PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE AMSR2 OCEAN PRODUCTS, (2) MONITOR THE QUALITY OF THE AMSR2 BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE (TB) AND OP VIA ONGOING VALIDATION, AND (3) IMPLEMENT A NUMBER OF IMPROVEMENTS TO ENHANCE THE SCIENTIFIC USAGE OF THE OCEAN PRODUCTS. THE PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS ARE: 1. IMPROVE AMSR2 TB CALIBRATION 2. RETRIEVE SST AND WIND SPEED THROUGH RAIN 3. IMPLEMENT RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE (RFI) MITIGATION 4. REMOVE SUN GLITTER 5. INCLUDE ERROR BARS ON THE RETRIEVALS ONE OF THE GREATEST CONSEQUENCES OF OUR WARMING CLIMATE WILL LIKELY BE RELATED TO CHANGES IN THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE AND GENERAL CIRCULATION. DROUGHTS, FLOODS, AND SEVERE STORMS HAVE ENORMOUS IMPACTS ON SOCIETY. OF ALL SPACEBORNE SENSORS, PROBABLY NONE PROVIDE A MORE COMPLETE AND RELEVANT ARRAY OF ESSENTIAL CLIMATE VARIABLES FOR STUDYING THESE HYDROLOGIC PROCESSES THAN MICROWAVE (MW) RADIOMETERS SUCH AS NASA S TMI/GMI AND JAXA S AMSR-E/AMSR2. OVER THE WORLD S OCEANS THESE SATELLITE MW RADIOMETERS TAKE HIGHLY ACCURATE MEASUREMENTS OF SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST) AND WIND, TOTAL WATER VAPOR AND CLOUD WATER, AND RAIN RATE, ALL OF WHICH ARE INDICATORS OF VARIABILITY IN THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE AND GENERAL CIRCULATION. THIS COLLECTION OF SATELLITE RETRIEVALS IS CALLED THE OCEAN PRODUCTS EARTH SYSTEM DATA RECORD (OP-ESDR), AND IT EXTENDS FROM 1987 TO PRESENT (MW SST STARTS IN 1997). AMSR2 IS A PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THE OP-ESDR. IT EXTENDS THE OP-ESDR FOR PROBABLY ANOTHER 10 YEARS AND HAS SEVERAL ADVANCEMENTS OVER ITS PREDECESSOR AMSR-E, INCLUDING ADDITIONAL CHANNELS AT 7.3 GHZ, A BETTER DESIGNED HOT LOAD FOR IMPROVED CALIBRATION, AND A LARGER ANTENNA FOR HIGHER SPATIAL RESOLUTIONS. AS SUCH, AMSR2 REPRESENTS THE MOST CAPABLE MW IMAGING RADIOMETER TO DATE. OTHER THAN WINDSAT WHICH HAS A VERY NARROW SWATH, AMSR2 IS CURRENTLY THE ONLY SATELLITE SENSOR IN OPERATION THAT IS PROVIDING THROUGH-CLOUD SST RETRIEVALS ON A GLOBAL BASIS. MW SST RETRIEVALS ARE ESSENTIAL TO CLIMATE RESEARCH IN THAT THEY ARE FREE OF ATMOSPHERIC ERRORS AND SAMPLING BIASES DUE TO WATER VAPOR, NON-RAINING CLOUDS, AND AEROSOLS.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
06/11/2015
Obligated Amount
$935.9k
NNH15CM79C - NRA AWARD. SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST) IS A KEY VARIABLE IN DEPICTING CLIMATE CHANGE, AND THE COMMITTEE ON EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES AND THE WORLD CLIMATE RESEARCH PROGRAM HAVE DESIGNATED SST AS AN ESSENTIAL CLIMATE VARIABLE. THERE CURRENTLY EXISTS A 33-YEAR CLIMATE RECORD OF SST INFERRED FROM SATELLITE INFRARED (IR) RADIOMETERS. THE SUOMI NPP VISIBLE INFRARED IMAGER RADIOMETER SUITE (VIIRS) CONTINUES THIS TIMESERIES OF IR SST RETRIEVALS. THE THERMAL IR RADIATION SEEN BY SATELLITE RADIOMETERS IS A PRODUCT OF BOTH THE OCEAN'S SKIN TEMPERATURE AND THE TEMPERATURE OF THE INTERVENING ATMOSPHERE. WATER VAPOR, AEROSOLS, AND CLOUDS ALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE ATMOSPHERIC PART OF THE TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR 80% OF THE RECEIVED RADIATION TO COME FROM WATER VAPOR. COLD AEROSOLS IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE CAN SIGNIFICANTLY DEPRESS TEMPERATURE SEEN BY THE SATELLITE, AND UNDETECTED CLOUDS, WHICH ARE COMPLETELY OPAQUE IN THE THERMAL INFRARED, WILL PRODUCE A CLOUD TOP TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT RATHER THAN A MEASUREMENT OF SST. SST RETRIEVAL ALGORITHMS ARE DESIGNED TO REMOVE THE ATMOSPHERIC PART OF THE MEASUREMENT BY USING THE SPECTRAL INFORMATION IN THE THERMAL IR MEASUREMENTS ALONG WITH CLOUD CLEARING ALGORITHMS. HOWEVER, SOME OF THE ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE SIGNAL UNDOUBTEDLY LEAKS THROUGH THE RETRIEVAL ALGORITHM, AND THE REPORTED SST IS A COMBINATION OF THE TRUE SST AND A TEMPERATURE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ATMOSPHERE. WE CALL THIS ALGORITHM DEFICIENCY `ATMOSPHERIC CROSSTALK , AND IT IS BY FAR THE LARGEST SOURCE OF ERROR FOR IR SST RETRIEVALS. ATMOSPHERIC CROSSTALK IS A VERY SERIOUS CONCERN FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH. POSSIBLY THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY, EITHER ANTHROPOGENIC OR NATURAL, IS THE COMPLEX INTERACTION BETWEEN THE OCEANS AND THE ATMOSPHERE. ONE EXAMPLE IS THE PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION. IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR SATELLITE CLIMATE MEASUREMENTS TO UNIQUELY DISTINGUISH SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY FROM ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY. ATMOSPHERIC CROSSTALK IS A WELL-KNOWN PHENOMENON AND HAS BEEN DISCUSSED IN THE LITERATURE. OUR INVESTIGATION WILL BUILD ON THE PAST RESEARCH AND PROVIDE A MUCH MORE COMPREHENSIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF ATMOSPHERIC CROSSTALK, PARTICULARLY AS IT RELATES TO SENSING CLIMATE VARIABILITY. THE INVESTIGATION WILL BE BASED ON THE SENSOR COMBINATION OF THE S-NPP VIIRS AND THE JAPANESE SPACE AGENCY MICROWAVE (MW) RADIOMETER AMSR2. THE AMSR2 MW SST RETRIEVALS ARE NOT AFFECTED BY THE ATMOSPHERE (EXCEPT FOR RAIN WHICH IS EASILY EXCLUDED). ALSO AMSR2 PROVIDES ACCURATE RETRIEVALS OF WATER VAPOR V AND LIQUID CLOUD WATER L. HENCE AMSR2 PROVIDES AN IDEA L REFERENCE FOR STUDYING THE ATMOSPHERIC CROSSTALK IN THE VIIRS RETRIEVALS. USING THE INFORMATION WE OBTAINED FROM THE ATMOSPHERIC CROSSTALK ANALYSIS, WE WILL DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT NEW, PHYSICALLY BASED SST RETRIEVAL ALGORITHMS FOR VIIRS. TWO ALGORITHMS ARE PROPOSED: VIIRS STANDALONE AND COMBINED VIIRS AND AMSR2. THE VIIRS STANDALONE ALGORITHM IS A PHYSICALLY PARAMETERIZED STATISTICAL ALGORITHM (PPSA). THE PPSA+AMSR2 ALGORITHM IS AN EXTENSION OF THE PPSA THAT REQUIRES THE AMSR2 RETRIEVALS OF SST, V, AND L. BOTH ALGORITHMS WILL BE DESIGNED TO MITIGATE THE ATMOSPHERIC CROSSTALK ON SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL TIMESCALES ASSOCIATED WITH CLIMATE CHANGE. THE ANALYSES AND ALGORITHMS DEVELOPED UNDER THIS VIIRS/AMSR2 INVESTIGATION WILL BE DIRECTLY APPLICABLE TO THE MODIS/AMSR-E SENSOR COMBINATION ON THE NASA AQUA SPACECRAFT. AS AN ADDITIONAL-COST OPTION, WE PROPOSE TO INCLUDE MODIS/AMSR-E AS PART OF THE INVESTIGATION.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
03/04/2015
Obligated Amount
$824.7k
NNH15CM66C - UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE CASCADE OF SOCIETAL IMPACTS IS A KEY NASA STRATEGIC GOAL. MODERN MICROWAVE AND HYPERSPECTRAL INFRARED SOUNDERS ARE MEASURING THE TOP OF ATMOSPHERE RADIANCE WITH UNPRECEDENTED PRECISION. THE RADIANCES CAN BE INVERTED TO RETRIEVE HIGH VERTICAL RESOLUTION TEMPERATURE, MOISTURE PROFILES ALONG WITH CLOUD, SURFACE, AND ATMOSPHERIC TRACE GAS COMPOSITION. WE ARE PROPOSING A TYPE-2 DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE QUALITY STANDARD PRODUCTS FOR BOTH AIRS/AMSU AND CRIS/ATMS. WE HAVE NAMED THE ALGORITHM THE COMMUNITY HYPER-SPECTRAL INFRARED MICROWAVE RETRIEVAL ALGORITHM OR CHIMERA. THE NOAA UNIQUE CRIS/ATMS PROCESSING SYSTEM (NUCAPS) IS NOW THE OPERATIONAL RETRIEVAL CODE FOR THE CRIS AND ATMS TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE REQUIREMENTS. NUCAPS USES THE SAME ALGORITHM AS THE NASA AQUA/AIRS/AMSU SCIENCE TEAM AND THE NOAA OPERATIONAL METOP IASI/AMSU/MHS PROCESSING SYSTEM, THUS ENABLING CONSISTENCY OF PRODUCTS FROM ALL THREE SOUNDING PLATFORMS. THIS ALGORITHM ALSO PROVIDES RETRIEVALS OF MANY TRACE GASES (E.G., OZONE, CARBON MONOXIDE, METHANE, CARBON DIOXIDE, SULFUR DIOXIDE, NITRIC ACID, AND NITROUS OXIDE), NECESSARY FOR LONG-TERM STABILITY IN THE CORE PRODUCTS AND MANY RESEARCH PRODUCTS (E.G., OLR, CLOUD PRODUCTS, AND SURFACE PRODUCTS). AS THE PRIMARY SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPER OF NUCAPS AND THE NOAA IASI SYSTEM, THE PI OF THIS PROPOSAL IS INTIMATELY AWARE OF THE FLEXIBILITY THAT WENT INTO THE NUCAPS DESIGN AND ITS CAPABILITY. THE NUCAPS ALGORITHM WAS DEVELOPED FOR CLIMATE APPLICATIONS; HOWEVER, MANY IMPLEMENTATION CHOICES WERE NECESSARY FOR REAL TIME WEATHER APPLICATIONS. ALSO, NOAA MAKES IMPROVEMENTS TO THE OPERATIONAL ALGORITHM AS THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE INSTRUMENTS AND ALGORITHM IMPROVES. THEREFORE, THE REAL-TIME NOAA PRODUCT ERROR IMPROVES OVER TIME BUT IT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR LONG-TERM EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE STUDIES. THIS PROPOSAL WILL USE THE SCIENCE VERSION OF NUCAPS AS THE BASIS FOR CHIMERA. CHIMERA WILL ENHANCE THE UTILITY OF THESE PRODUCTS BY PROVIDING A BETTER ERROR ESTIMATES AND QUALITY CONTROL (QC) OF THE EXISTING PRODUCT, AND TO PROVIDE A LEVEL-3 (I.E., GRIDDED PRODUCT) CAPABILITY. WE ARE PROPOSING TO USE THE SOUNDING SIPS TO RE-PROCESS THE ENTIRE AQUA/AIRS/AMSU AND SUOMI-NPP DATASETS, FOCUSING INITIALLY ON THE OVERLAP PERIOD (MAY 2012 TO PRESENT). WE ARE PROPOSING TO PERFORM A HIERARCHY OF CLIMATE VALIDATION STUDIES TO ENSURE THAT THE CHIMERA PRODUCTS FROM BOTH SATELLITES ARE CHARACTERIZED IN ABSOLUTE PERFORMANCE (I.E., WITH RESPECT TO INDEPENDENT IN-SITU OBSERVATIONS), CONSISTENT WITH SHORT TERM CLIMATE INDICES, AND PRODUCE SIMILAR CLIMATE SENSITIVITY. THE SENSITIVITY STUDY EXTENDS PREVIOUS WORK WITH AIRS DONE BY THIS PROPOSAL TEAM (GAMBACORTA ET AL. 2008). THE CHIMERA CODE, REPROCESSED SOUNDINGS AND ASSOCIATED LEVEL-3 PRODUCTS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY VIA THE SOUNDING SIPS.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
Science and Technology Corporation (SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION)
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
02/02/2015
Obligated Amount
$659.5k
NNH15CM75C - NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT (NRA) AWARD FOR PROPOSAL ENTITLED: REFINED ATMOSPHERE DATA PRODUCTS FROM CRIS AND ATMS. THE ATMOSPHERIC SOUNDING ALGORITHM DEVELOPED BY THE ATMOSPHERIC INFRARED SOUNDER (AIRS) SCIENCE TEAM (AST) RESULTED FROM A LARGE DEVELOPMENT EFFORT AND HAS PROVIDED VALUABLE SCIENCE PRODUCTS. IN PARALLEL, THERE WAS A SUBSTANTIAL DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT IN AN ALGORITHM THAT HAS BEEN INSTALLED IN THE INTERFACE DATA PROCESSING SEGMENT (IDPS) AND IS PROCESSING DATA FROM THE SOUNDING INSTRUMENTS ON THE SUOMI NATIONAL POLAR-ORBITING PARTNERSHIP (S-NPP) PLATFORM. THE AST AND IDPS HAVE EACH BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO PERFORM WELL AND HAVE WELL-DEVELOPED COMPONENTS, BUT NEITHER IS FULLY SUITABLE FOR EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS OF DATA FROM AIRS, CRIMSS, AND BEYOND. THE NPP SOUNDING GROUP REPORT PROVIDES RECOMMENDATIONS, SOME OF WHICH REQUIRING SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE ALGORITHM APPROACHES, TO ADDRESS SHORTFALLS IN THE SUITABILITY OF THESE ALGORITHMS. BUILDING ON THESE EXISTING CAPABILITIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS, WE PROPOSE TO: ESTABLISH A MODULAR, FLEXIBLE ALGORITHM SOFTWARE INFRASTRUCTURE, BASED ON OUR CURRENT ALGORITHM, ALLOWING EASY COMPARISONS OF THE VARIOUS KEY ELEMENTS OF THE ALGORITHMS INCORPORATE FEATURES FROM THE AST AND IDPS ALGORITHMS AND ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS, DRAWING ON FINDINGS OF NPP SOUNDING GROUP REPORT TO IMPROVE TREATMENTS OF: CLOUDS, RADIATIVE TRANSFER, SURFACE EMISSIVITY AND REFLECTIVITY, BACKGROUND DATA, PROFILE REPRESENTATION METHODS, VALIDATE THE ALGORITHM, COMPILE AND UPDATE ERROR AND UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS THE PROPOSED ALGORITHM WILL MAKE OPTIMAL USE OF THE S-NPP SOUNDING MEASUREMENTS, EXPLOITING CURRENT STATE-OF-THE ART FEATURES AND NEW ADVANCES, AND WILL HAVE ERROR PROPERTIES THAT MAKE ERROR CHARACTERIZATION STRAIGHTFORWARD AND RELIABLE. THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE ALGORITHM IS SUCH THAT IT CAN BE APPLIED WITH VIRTUALLY NO REVISIONS (OTHER THAN DATA INPUTS) TO AIRS DATA, TO SUPPORT A CONSISTENT DATA RECORD SPANNING AIRS AND S-NPP. THE PRODUCTS OF THIS ALGORITHM WILL PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ADDRESS EARTH SCIENCE QUESTIONS AND LEAD TO FINDINGS FOR WHICH PRIOR DATASETS WERE INSUFFICIENT.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
ATMOSPHERIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, INC.
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
01/09/2015
Obligated Amount
$774.8k
NNH14CL77C - RESEARCH TO FURTHER EXTEND AND PMPROVE OCEAN PRODUCTS DATASET BY UTILIZING OBSERVATIONS FROM THE MICROWAVE IMAGER THAT WILL BE FLOWN BY THE GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MISSION. MICROWAVE REMOTE SENSING FROM SPACE PROVIDES ONE OF THE BEST MEANS TO STUDY CLIMATE VARIABILITY OVER THE OCEANS. SATELLITE MICROWAVE ALTIMETERS, SCATTEROMETERS, AND IMAGING RADIOMETERS EACH PROVIDE A UNIQUE SET OF CLIMATE MEASUREMENTS. IN PARTICULAR, THE MICROWAVE IMAGER (MI) MEASURES A SUITE OF ESSENTIAL CLIMATE VARIABLES, INCLUDING SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST), NEAR-SURFACE WIND, TOTAL WATER VAPOR, TOTAL CLOUD WATER, AND SURFACE RAIN RATE. WE REFER TO THIS COLLECTION OF OVER-OCEAN RETRIEVALS AS THE OCEAN PRODUCTS (OP) DATASET. THE OP DATASET EXTENDS BACK TO 1987, WITH THE LAUNCH OF THE FIRST SPECIAL SENSOR MICROWAVE IMAGER (SSM/I). SINCE THEN, MANY MORE MIS HAVE LAUNCHED, AND A 27-YEAR OP TIME SERIES NOW EXISTS. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS TO FURTHER EXTEND AND IMPROVE THE OP DATASET BY UTILIZING OBSERVATIONS FROM THE MICROWAVE IMAGER THAT WILL BE FLOWN BY THE GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MISSION (GPM). GMI WILL LIKELY BE THE BEST CALIBRATED MI TO DATE DUE TO ITS ON-BOARD DUAL CALIBRATION SYSTEM. IN ADDITION, ITS SPATIAL RESOLUTION IS A FACTOR OF TWO BETTER THAN ITS PREDECESSOR, TMI. FURTHERMORE, WE ARE PROPOSING AN ADVANCED TECHNIQUE FOR REMOVING LAND CONTAMINATION SO THAT RELIABLE OP RETRIEVALS CAN BE OBTAINED IN THE COASTAL SEAS. GIVEN THE EXTENDED LIFETIMES REALIZED BY MOST MIS. GML WILL LIKELY EXTEND THE OP TIME SERIES INTO THE NEXT DECADE. WE EXPECT THAT THIS INVESTIGATION WILL IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY OVER THE OCEANS, PARTICULARLY WITH RESPECT TO THE COUPLING OF THE OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE. THE REPRESENTATION OF THE EXCHANGE OF MOMENTUM AND ENERGY BETWEEN THE OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE IS A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE FOR CURRENT CLIMATE MODELS. THIS INVESTIGATION WILL ALSO PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION ON DIURNAL VARIABILITY OVER THE OCEANS. DUE TO ITS INCLINED ORBIT, GMI SAMPLES THE ENTIRE 24-HOUR DIURNAL CYCLE. FURTHER SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIETAL BENEFITS WILL BE DERIVED BY EXTENDING THE OP RETRIEVALS INTO COASTAL AREAS. WITH A LARGE PORTION OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION WORKING AND LIVING IN COASTAL REGIONS, ANY ADDITIONAL SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS OF COASTAL WEATHER AND CLIMATE WILL BE BENEFICIAL.
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
09/03/2014
Obligated Amount
$583.2k
NNH14CL49C - THE AMSR-E L2A BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE (TO) PRODUCT IS A FUNDAMENTAL CLIMATE DATA RECORD OF THE MICROWAVE EMISSION FROM THE EARTH FOR 2002 TO 2011. THIS 100YEAR TB DATASET IS THE STARTING POINT FOR A LARGE NUMBER OF GEOPHYSICAL RETRIEVAL ALGORITHMS. OVER THE WORLD'S OCEANS, THESE AMSR-E TB MEASUREMENTS PROVIDED SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND WIND, TOTAL WATER VAPOR AND CLOUD WATER, AND RAIN RATE, ALL OF WHICH ARE INDICATORS OF VARIABILITY IN THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE AND GENERAL CIRCULATION. OVER THE POLAR ICE CAPS, AMSRE MONITORED THE CHANGES IN ICE TYPE, CONCENTRATION, AND DRIFT. OVER LAND, SNOW DEPTH, SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT, FREEZE/THAW INDEX, SOIL MOISTURE, AND VEGETATION TYPE ARE ESTIMATED FROM AMSR-E TB MEASUREMENTS. THE AMSR-E L2A TB PRODUCT IS ARCHIVED AND DISTRIBUTED BY THE NATIONAL SNOW AND ICE DATA CENTER (NSIDC). NSIDC REPORTS THAT OVER 2500 UNIQUE USERS DOWNLOADED NEARLY 15 MILLION L2A FILES SINCE 2008. OF ALL AMSR-E PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT NSIDC, THE L2A TB DATASET IS THE MOST ACCESSED. SINCE THE LAUNCH OF AMSR-E IN 2002, THE L2A TB DATASET HAS UNDERGONE A NUMBER OF REFINEMENTS: MAINLY TO CORRECT PROBLEMS WITH AMSR-E'S ON-BOARD CALIBRATION SYSTEM AND MORE RECENTLY TO INTER-CALIBRATE THE AMSR-E TBS WITH THE COLLECTION OF OTHER PASSIVE MICROWAVE SENSORS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO CONTINUE THE MAINTENANCE OF THE L2A TB DATASET AND MAKE SOME MODEST REFINEMENTS AND EXTENSIONS NEEDED TO KEEP IT UP-TO-DATE WITH THE CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF TB CALIBRATION ISSUES, RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE (RFI) PROBLEMS, AND USER NEEDS FOR UNCERTAINTY ESTIMATES AND DOCUMENTATION. MORE SPECIFICALLY, THESE IMPROVEMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. CHARACTERIZE AND DOCUMENT THE CURRENT AMSR-E TB CALIBRATION 2. ADD UNCERTAINTY INFORMATION TO THE L2A DATASET 3. PROVIDE AN RFI QUALITY FLAG 4. INCORPORATE RESULTS FROM OTHER ON-GOING AMSR-E INVESTIGATIONS AS NEEDED A FINAL REPROCESSING OF THE AMSR-E L2A DATASET INCORPORATING ALL THE RESULTS OF THIS AND OTHER INVESTIGATIONS IS SCHEDULED FOR THE THIRD YEAR OF THIS INVESTIGATION (2016). WE EXPECT THE REFINEMENTS TO THE AMSR-E L2A DATASET PROPOSED HEREIN WILL RESULT IN A MORE USEFUL PRODUCT. THE BETTER CHARACTERIZATION OF THE AMSR-E TB CALIBRATION WILL PROVIDE THE MEANS TO ASSIGN A CONFIDENCE LEVEL TO THE INTER-SATELLITE CALIBRATION PROCESS, PARTICULARLY WITH RESPECT TO DETERMINING INTER-ANNUAL AND DECADAL CLIMATE VARIABILITY. THE ADDITIONAL UNCERTAINTY INFORMATION (ERROR BAN, TB STANDARD DEVIATIONS, AND QUALITY FLAGS) WILL ASSIST DATA REDISTRIBUTORS, MODELERS, AND SCIENTISTS IN BETTER DERIVING ERRORS ON THEIR PRODUCTS, MODELS, AND SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. THE RF1 QUALITY FLAG WILL PROVIDE USERS WITH A STRAIGHTFORWARD MEANS TO AVOID AREAS OF MODERATE TO HIGH RFI. ALL OF THESE EXTENSIONS, REFINEMENT AND INCREASED DOCUMENTATION WILL ENCOURAGE AND FACILITATE MORE USAGE OF THE DATASET, PARTICULARLY BY NEW INVESTIGAT
Definitive Contract - 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Contractor
REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS
Contracting Agency/Office
National Aeronautics and Space Administration»Office of the Administrator
Effective date
07/09/2014
Obligated Amount
$300.2k

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