Robert J. Schweiss

The NPOESS Preparatory Project Science Data Segment: The Final As Built Description

The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) provides remotely-sensed land, ocean, atmospheric, ozone, and sounder data that will serve the meteorological and global climate change scientific communities while also providing risk reduction for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the U.S. Governments future low-Earth orbiting satellite system monitoring global weather and environmental conditions. NPOESS is a joint mission of three federal agencies: NASA, NOAA, and DoD. NASA Science Data Segments (SDS) primary role in NPP is to independently assess the quality of the NPP science and environmental data records for climate research. Such assessment is critical for making NPOESS products the best that they can be for operational use and ultimately for climate studies. The SDS supports science assessment by assuring the timely provision of NPP data to NASAs science teams organized by climate measurement themes. The SDS breaks down into ten major elements: an input element that receives data from the operational agencies and acts as a buffer, a calibration analysis element, five elements devoted to measurement based quality assessment, one Production Element for Earth Radiation, an element used to test algorithmic improvements, and an element that coordinates overall science direction and results. This paper describes how the NPP SDS leveraged existing systems, the final system architectures, and lessons learned for the development of mission-reliable research-ready systems capable of supporting the assessment of NPP derived products.

Reusing Software to Build Data Processing Systems: NPP Science Data Segment Case Study

Over the years, numerous large and complex information systems have been created to store, process, and disseminate vast volumes of remotely-sensed Earth science data. These systems have the potential to be reused to process similar data from other missions or instruments, reducing risk, schedule, and associated development cost for future projects.

The NPOESS Preparatory Project Science Data Segment: Brief Overview

The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) provides remotely-sensed land, ocean, atmospheric, ozone, and sounder data that will serve the meteorological and global climate change scientific communities while also providing risk reduction for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the U.S. Governments future low-Earth orbiting satellite system monitoring global weather and environmental conditions. NPOESS is a joint mission of three federal agencies, NASA, NOAA, and DoD. NASAs primary science role in NPP is to independently assess the quality of the NPP science and environmental data records for climate research. Such assessment is critical for making NPOESS products the best that they can be for operational use and ultimately for climate studies. The Science Data Segment (SDS) supports science assessment by assuring the timely provision of NPP data to NASAs science teams organized by climate measurement themes. The SDS breaks down into nine major elements, an input element that receives data from the operational agencies and acts as a buffer, a calibration analysis element, five elements devoted to measurement based quality assessment, an element used to test algorithmic improvements, and an element that provides overall science direction. This paper will describe how the NPP SDS will leverage on NASA experience to provide a mission-reliable research capability for science assessment of NPP derived measurements.

The NPOESS Preparatory Project Science Data Segment (SDS) Data Depository and Distribution Element (SD3E) System Architecture

The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) Science Data Segment (SDS) will make daily data requests for approximately six terabytes of NPP science products for each of its six environmental assessment elements from the operational data providers. As a result, issues associated with duplicate data requests, data transfers of large volumes of diverse products, and data transfer failures raised concerns with respect to the network traffic and bandwidth consumption. The NPP SDS Data Depository and Distribution Element (SD3E) was developed to provide a mechanism for efficient data exchange, alleviate duplicate network traffic, and reduce operational costs.

Performance requirements and trade-offs for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is next in the series of Landsat Earth remote sensing missions. At this writing, both the Thematic Mapper on the Landsat 5 spacecraft and the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus on the Landsat 7 spacecraft are producing routine Earth images, as part of a data set extending over three decades. The LDCM is required to continue this series of measurements. The LDCM Project has developed requirements for the data set to be produced by the LDCM sensor based on previous Landsat data, the proven technology from the Advanced Land Imager instrument flown on the EO-1 technology demonstration spacecraft, and on trade-offs made during the LDCM Formulation Phase. The unique nature of the LDCM government-commercial industry cooperative effort has resulted in a set of calibration and validation requirements intended to guarantee that the data from the commercially-owned LDCM sensor maintains the legacy of highly calibrated Landsat data.

Evaluation of the VIIRS Land algorithms at Land PEATE

The Land Product Evaluation and Algorithm Testing Element (Land PEATE), a component of the Science Data Segment of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), is being developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The primary task of the Land PEATE is to assess the quality of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Land data products made by the Interface Data Processing System (IDPS) using the Operational (OPS) Code during the NPP era and to recommend improvements to the algorithms in the IDPS OPS code. The Land PEATE uses a version of the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS), NPPDAPS, that has been modified to produce products from the IDPS OPS code and software provided by the VIIRS Science Team, and uses the MODIS Land Data Operational Product Evaluation (LDOPE) team for evaluation of the data records generated by the NPPDAPS. Land PEATE evaluates the algorithms by comparing data products generated using different versions of the algorithm and also by comparing to heritage products generated from different instrument such as MODIS using various quality assessment tools developed at LDOPE. This paper describes the Land PEATE system and some of the approaches used by the Land PEATE for evaluating the VIIRS Land algorithms during the pre-launch period of the NPP mission and the proposed plan for long term monitoring of the quality of the VIIRS Land products post-launch.

NASA’s NPOESS Preparatory Project Science Data Segment: A framework for measurement- based earth science data systems

The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) Science Data Segment (SDS) provides a framework for the future of NASAs distributed Earth science data systems. The NPP SDS performs research and data product assessment while using a fully distributed architecture. The components of this architecture are organized around key environmental data disciplines: land, ocean, ozone, atmospheric sounding, and atmospheric composition. The SDS thus establishes a set of concepts and a working prototypes. This paper describes the framework used by the NPP Project as it enabled measurement-based earth science data systems for the assessment of NPP products.

Landsat 7 Science Data Processing: a systems overview

The Landsat 7 Science Data Processing System, developed by NASA for the Landsat 7 Project, provides the science data handling infrastructure used at the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center (EDC) Landsat Data Handling Facility (DHF) of the United States Department of Interior, United States Geological Survey (USGS) located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This paper presents an overview of the Landsat 7 Science Data Processing System and details of the design, architecture, concept of operation, and management aspects of systems used in the processing of the Landsat 7 Science Data.