Earth Science Explorations Using Airborne and Ground-Based Sensors

Training the next generation of scientists, engineers, and other professionals to observe and understand our planet Earth through experiential learning

using NASA technology and data in real-world settings.

http://www.globe.gov/web/aren-project

• The AEROKATS and ROVER Education Network (AREN) introduces NASA technologies and practices in authentic, experiential learning environments.

• Low-cost instrumented systems for in-situ and remotely sensed Earth observations include kite-based “AEROKATS”, and remotely controlled aquatic and land-based “ROVERS”.

Observing or measuring phenomena without direct physical contact, often

from a distance.

How Do We Make Scientific Observations of the Earth and its Systems?

Observing or measuring phenomena in place, often with direct physical contact.

IN-SITU MEASUREMENT REMOTE SENSING

Orbital Platforms - Satellites (platform and sensors)

• Earth Observing Systems

Sub-orbital Platforms - Aircraft, Drones, Balloons and Kites

• High altitude aircraft

• High altitude balloons

• Low altitude aircraft

• Drones/RC Planes

• Low altitude tethered systems (balloons and kites)

T Y P E S O F R E M O T E S E N S I N GS Y S T E M S

Spatial Resolution (Scale): How large of an area is captured in each pixel and how large of an area is imaged in each frame or sweep.

THE ROLE OF RESOLUTION IN REMOTE SENSING

LandSat 30 m

Google Earth ~1ft - 1m

(varies)

AEROKATS TwinCam

< 1 ft (varies)

MODIS250 m - 1000m

Spectral Resolution - How finely does the sensor slice the EM spectrum, and how many bands does it detect (e.g., Landsat TM - 7 broad bands,

AVIRIS - 224 narrow bands, TwinCam Aeropod - 4 broad bands)

Landsat ETM+ (Multispectral)

Landsat ETM + band mixing

AVRIS Hyperspectral Data Cube - 255 Narrow

Bands

Landsat TM: Seven Broad Bands TwinCam: 4 Broad Bands

Temporal Resolution - How often does the sensor capture an image of the same location - (continuous, daily, monthly, etc.)

REMOTE SENSING:What Can We Observe from Space?

The Atmosphere

Cloud Fraction

Cloud Reflectivity

Aerosol Particle Size Aerosol Optical Depth

Reflected SW Radiation

Cloud Optical Thickness

ATMOSPHERIC GASESCLOUDS AND AEROSOLS

Atmospheric CO2 - NASA OCO2

Landcover types and extentLandcover changes - Deforestation

Invasive species - Phragmites Vegetation extent and health /

biomass / productivity Soil moisture / ground water /

drought and fire risk

Landcover changes - Impervious surface

The Biosphere

Land Surface Temperature

Earthquake land displacement - Copernicus Sentinel-1A(SAR) instrument

Mapping gravity - GRACE

Catastrophic Change - QuickBird

Volcanic activity - Modis

The Geosphere

Arctic Sea Ice Concentration July 2011-Jan 2012

Snow cover Arctic region Sept 2011 - Feb 2012

Glacial retreat - Alaska

Rate of continental glacier melt - Antarctica

The Cryosphere

MY NASA DATA https://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/

LOCAL SCALE REMOTE SENSING:What Can We Observe from Kite-borne Sensor Systems?

Using NASA’s kite based Aeropod systems to capture remotely sensed imagery and in-situ atmospheric data for use in the classroom

A E R O K A T S

Geoff Bland - NASA Aero-Engineer

Geoff Bland and NASA Technician, Ted Miles

Advancing Earth Research Observations with Kites and Atmospheric/Terrestrial Sensors

AEROKATS MonoCam Aeropod AEROKATS TwinCam Aeropod AEROKATS AirColumn Profiler

Aeropods Used in the ICCARS Project

Using kite-based Aeropods, students can: • collect real data about their environment,• learn image processing and data analysis skills,• validate the remote sensing process• develop teamwork skills • learn operations skills.

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MonoCam Examples - Aerial Imagery

UMES/CBEC

TwinCam Examples - Classified Imagery

Knabusch Center for Science and Mathematics

TwinCam - Visible Light Image TwinCam - Near-Infrared Image

Example using TwinCam Visible and Near-Infrared Imagery

T i C N I f d IT i C Vi ibl Li h I

I M A G E P R O C E S S I N GWorking with TwinCam Image data

Spectral characteristics of healthy green vegetationWhat Can the Data Show Us?

Combine and re-map the bands from the two cameras into a new image

U s e M u l t i S p e c * S o f t w a r e t o P r o d u c e C l a s s i f i e d I m a g e s a n d V e g e t a t i o n I n d i c e s

*MultiSpec was created by David Landgreb and Larry Biehl at Purdue University

CLASS DISTRIBUTION FOR SELECTED AREA Number Class Samples Percent 1 Grass(Lawn)Green 5,300 1.8 2 Roof 3,479 1.2 3 Grass(Lawn) G Shdw 8,360 2.8 4 Drain (Water) 6,310 2.1 5 Green Plot 4,241 1.4 6 Grass Lawn (Mixed) 36,889 12.4 7 Tree (bare) 26,951 9.1 8 Tree Greening 19,617 6.6 9 Conifer 21,020 7.1 10 Mixed Shrubs 29,286 9.8 11 Bare Soil 14,946 5.0 12 Soil-veg_rows 16,959 5.7 13 ShdSoil and Grasses 23,493 7.9 14 Shrubs bare 27,718 9.3 15 Tall grasses (Mixed) 12,176 4.1 16 GrassLawn(Mix)Shd 40,903 13.7

Total 297,648 100.0

The numbers behind the imagery - quantifying the data

Air Column Profiler (Why is this in-situ?)

I m a ge C o u r t e s y o f G e o f f B l a n d

IN-SITU OBSERVATIONS FROM KITE-BORNE SENSORS

A E R O K A T S I N T H E F I E L DUsing Measurement Tools and Protocols

Calculate Sensor Altitude and Position

sin A = a /cc = 820 ft. and A = 57º

sin 57 = a / 820

sin 57 x 820 = a0.839 x 820 = a

∴ a = 688 ft.

57º

33º

Use Clinometer app on iPad for angle A and the length of kite string for side c (hypotenuse):

(Remember a2 + b2 = c2 and opposite angles are A, B,and C)

To determine nodal point, use azimuth angle b for ground-angle,

and use results of altitude calculation to derive length of side b:

b = √(c2 - a 2)

Aerodynamics - How do k i te s f l y ?

R E S O U R C EKite Launch and Flight

Control Line

Aerodynamic Forces

NASA’s Glen Research Center Online tutorials and modeling tools!www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/kite1.html

I m a ge C o u r t e s y o f f C h e s a p e a ke B a y E nv i r o n m e n t a l C e n t e r

IN-SITU Observations from Remotely Controlled Watercraft

R O V E RRemotely Operated Vehicle for Environmental Research

ROVER in Use at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center

ROVER - LabQuest II Data Display

ROVER - Plotting data with ArcGIS Online

ROVER - Table Data Display (ArcGIS Online)

Engineering focus: Prototyping New Systems and Re-designing Existing Systems

Engineering is a systematic and often iterative approach to designing objects, processes, and systems to meet human

needs and wants.

• MonoCam HD and TwinCam HD• New Air-Column Profiler (w/ Kestrel)• New Arduino based Air-Column Profiler• HoboPod - Using Hobo Data Loggers• ThermoPod-TC • Aerosol Sampler

Engineering focus: New Aeropods

Air-Column Profiler Arduino

Engineering focus: New Aeropods

• Arduino Uno rev3 • Sparkfun weather shield • GPS chip • WeatherFlow Anemometer

Data Capture: • Wind speed • Temperature • Humidity • Barometric Pressure • Light sensor • Position (Longitude/Latitude)

HoboPod - Using Hobo Data Loggers

Engineering focus: New Aeropods

TwinCam ThermalPod

Engineering focus: New Aeropods

• Raspberry Pi based• Includes Raspberry Pi Camera (5mp) • Flir Lepton thermal imager • and other stuff to make it work…

(Thermal-guy)

Engineering focus: Student Designed Systems

Students At University Prep MS

R E S O U R C E S

GETTING STARTED WITH DATA COLLECTION:

www.globe.gov

GLOBE El Niño Field CampaignGLOBE Suite of Protocols used in El Niño Campaign:• Precipitation• Air Temperature (Max/Min)• Surface Temperature• Soil Temperature• SMAP Soil Moisture • Biometry - Canopy and Ground Cover

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment

https://publiclab.org

Open Source Citizen Science Community

THE PUBLIC LAB

https://spectralworkbench.org/

THE PUBLIC LAB

ARDUINO AND RASPBERRY PI

GETTING STARTED WITH SENSORS: Open Source and DIY

• Software runs on Mac, PC, or Linux

• Create “Sketches” and upload them to board

• Lots of examples included!!

Arduino

• Standalone Linux computer • Open source applications • Physical computing - IoT• GPIO pins allow it to read

sensors and control devices

• Designed for education • Free online training • Uses are limitless!!

The Raspberry Pi FoundationRaspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi Foundationhttps://www.raspberrypi.org

Arduinohttps://www.arduino.cc

Adafruit (Ladyada)https://www.adafruit.com

Sparkfunhttps://www.sparkfun.com

GETTING STARTED WITH SENSORS:Raspberry Pie and Arduino Resources

Instructableshttp://www.instructables.com/

(AEROKATS AND ROVER EDUCATION NETWORK)

THE AREN PROJECT

Applicable GLOBE Protocols

AEROKATS

Green Up - Green Down

Land Cover Classification

Fire Fuel Classification

Phenological Gardens Barometric Pressure Albedo Air Temperature Surface Temperature Air Temperature Relative Humidity Clouds Water Vapor Soil Moisture - SMAP Block Pattern Soil Moisture -Gravimetric

Soil Moisture Sensors Soil Temperature

ROVER

Conductivity Dissolved Oxygen

Nitrates

Salinity

Water Temperature Water Transparency pH GPS

NASA’s Global View from Space

We will begin the AEROKATS and ROVER Education Network (AREN) Project in 2016, with a combination of activities that will compliment and augment NASA’s established

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program

NASA’s Airborne Science Missions

www.globe.gov/web/aren-project

Please visit: http://www.globe.gov/web/aren-project

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

The AEROKATS program was developed by Geoff Bland at the NASA/GSFC Wallops Flight Facility. Aeropods and the Aeropod concept are the Intellectual Property of NASA and are considered competition sensitive. Aeropods or other aerodynamically stabilized tethered remote sensing systems based on the Aeropod concept may not be produced without the express consent of NASA through a formalized Space Act Agreement. Please contact Andy

Henry at Wayne RESA henry@resa.net with questions.

MonoCam Production Team

T H A N K Y O U !

The AEROKATS program was developed by Geoff Bland at the NASA/GSFC Wallops Flight Facility. Aeropods and the Aeropod concept are the Intellectual Property of NASA and are considered competition sensitive. Aeropods or other aerodynamically stabilized tethered remote sensing systems based on the Aeropod concept may not be produced without the express consent of NASA through a formalized Space Act Agreement. Please contact Andy

Henry at Wayne RESA henry@resa.net with questions.