Author: Travis Swaim

247 – GPM Algorithm Development
Principal Investigator(s): J. Munchak

The general objective is to develop a general framework and state-of-the-art algorithms to advance precipitation observations from space using information from active and passive microwave sensors. In particular, two areas of investigation have been selected: 1) Support of the falling snow portion of the GPM passive radiometer algorithm; and 2) assessing the information content of combined dual-frequency radar and multichannel radiometer measurements of clouds and precipitation.

246 – GEOS-5 atmospheric modeling and diagnostics
Principal Investigator(s): A. Molod

An overarching goal of the GMAO atmospheric modeling effort is to develop a single atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) suitable for data assimilation, weather forecasting and climate simulation. Climate simulation includes atmosphere only, coupled ocean atmosphere, and coupled chemistry-climate modes. The model’s collection of physical parameterizations is of central importance to the success of the GMAO’s modeling effort.

Part of this year’s effort was focused on the final model changes that led to improvements in data assimilation mode at higher resolution, and resulted in the release of the model to be used for decadal climate prediction.

243 – Development of a holistic statistical framework for precipitation estimation
Principal Investigator(s): C. Kidd

The objective is to develop and test techniques for the amalgamation of multi-sensor (satellite and surface) observations to improve global precipitation estimates.

Raghu Murtugudde was selected as a distinguished lecturer for the Ocean Sciences (OS) Section for the AOGS‐AGU (WPGM) Joint Assembly, which will be held from August 13-17 at the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) in Singapore. Murtugudde will make his presentation on August 16….

ESSIC Director Tony Busalacchi was quoted by Climate Central about the expected decline in Earth’s observation capabilities and satellites. The article also references a report by the National Research Council (NRC)….

239 – HIMALA: Climate Impacts on Glaciers in the Himalayan Region
Principal Investigator(s): M. Tzortziou

Glaciers are the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth supporting one third of the world’s population. Himalayas possess one of the largest resources of snow and ice, which act as a freshwater reservoir for more than 1.3 billion people. Monitoring glaciers is important to assess the overall health of this reservoir. Glaciers and snowfields also form potential hazards in the Himalayas, and in similarly glacierised regions of the world. Water resources will be affected by climate change as well as population growth, changing economic activity, land use change, rapid urbanization and inefficient water use. National governments have limited capacity to determine and accurately predict possible impacts to water resources due to scarcity of hydrometeorological data, limited technical capacity, and the transboundary nature of many major river systems. This has also led to recent controversies surrounding the fate of Himalayan glacier melt, which highlight the need for further glaciological and hydrological research in this region.

The HIMALA project aims at developing a system that will aid populations at risk on early warning of floods, droughts and other water and climate-induced natural hazards in the Himalayan region. Among the project’s main goals are to: (i) introduce the use of NASA Earth Science products and models to the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and its member countries, through collaboration with USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) and USGS (the U.S. Geological Survey), (ii) enhance the decision making capacity of ICIMOD and its member countries for management of water resources (floods, agricultural water) in the short (snow, rainfall) and the long-term (glaciers), and (iii) provide projections of climate change impacts on water resources through 2100 using the IPCC models.

238 – Quantifying Systematic Errors and Total Uncertainties in Satellite-based Precipitation Measurements
Principal Investigator(s): Y. Tian

Recent evaluations of TRMM-era multi-sensor precipitation products have helped raise the priority of developing improved over-land retrieval algorithms in preparation for the GPM era. An example of recent work evaluating TRMM-era multi-sensor precipitation products (Tian and Peters-Lidard, 2007) has documented systematic biases in overland retrievals related to land surface states—in this case the presence of inland water bodies. Physical precipitation retrievals rely on accurate characterization of the microwave radiometric properties of the land surface. Therefore it is critical to understand how the land surface states can affect these properties, and how we can accurately model these properties, specifically, surface microwave emissivity at various frequencies.

236 – Hypo-G: Improved Hypoxia Modeling for Nutrient Control Decisions in the Gulf of Mexico
Principal Investigator(s): M. Tzortziou

The main objective of this project is to assess and transition the potential benefits of using NASA satellite data products within the EPA’s Gulf of Mexico Modeling Framework. The hypoxic zone in the Northern Gulf of Mexico forms each summer and can extend up to 80 miles offshore and stretch from the discharge of the Mississippi River westward to coastal waters of Texas. The size of the hypoxic zone varies considerably each year. In 2007, the size of the hypoxic zone was 20,500 km2 approximately the size of Massachusetts. The direct effects of hypoxia include fish kills, depletion of fisheries, and loss of habitat for less mobile animals such as crabs and mussels. The purpose of the EPA Gulf of Mexico Modeling and Monitoring project is to provide the scientific basis to guide a reduction in the frequency, duration, size, and degree of oxygen depletion in the northern Gulf of Mexico as outlined in the recently released Hypoxia Action Plan. The Gulf of Mexico Modeling Framework is a suite of coupled EPA models linking the deposition and transport of sediment and nutrients to subsequent bio-geo chemical processes and concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the coastal of waters of Louisiana and Texas. Use of NASA’s Earth Observations can potentially improve the accuracy of these models by providing more accurate inputs, thus enabling determination of best practices and strategies for managing the Mississippi/Achafalaya river basin. More information about the project can be found on the project’s website at: http://oas.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gulf/index.html