Sadashiva Devadiga

Large seasonal swings in leaf area of Amazon rainforests

Despite early speculation to the contrary, all tropical forests studied to date display seasonal variations in the presence of new leaves, flowers, and fruits. Past studies were focused on the timing of phenological events and their cues but not on the accompanying changes in leaf area that regulate vegetation–atmosphere exchanges of energy, momentum, and mass. Here we report, from analysis of 5 years of recent satellite data, seasonal swings in green leaf area of ≈25% in a majority of the Amazon rainforests. This seasonal cycle is timed to the seasonality of solar radiation in a manner that is suggestive of anticipatory and opportunistic patterns of net leaf flushing during the early to mid part of the light-rich dry season and net leaf abscission during the cloudy wet season. These seasonal swings in leaf area may be critical to initiation of the transition from dry to wet season, seasonal carbon balance between photosynthetic gains and respiratory losses, and litterfall nutrient cycling in moist tropical forests.

The MODIS Land product quality assessment approach

The correct interpretation of scientific information from global, long-term series of remote sensing products requires the ability to discriminate between product artifacts and changes in the Earth processes being monitored. A suite of global land surface products is made from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument data. Quality assessment (QA) is an integral part of this production chain and focuses on evaluating and documenting the scientific quality of the products with respect to their intended performance. This paper describes the QA approach adopted by the MODIS Land (MODLAND) Science Team and coordinated by the MODIS Land Data Operational Product Evaluation (LDOPE) facility. The described methodology represents a new approach for assessing and ensuring the performance of land remote sensing products that are generated on a systematic basis.

Generating a long-term land data record from the AVHRR and MODIS Instruments

The goal of NASAs land long term data record (LTDR) project is to produce a consistent long term data set from the AVHRR and MODIS instruments for land climate studies. The project will create daily surface reflectance and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products at a resolution of 0.05deg, which is identical to the climate modeling grid (CMG) used for MODIS products from EOS Terra and Aqua. Higher order products such as burned area, land surface temperature, albedo, bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) correction, leaf area index (LAI), and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by vegetation (fPAR), will be created. The LTDR project will reprocess global area coverage (GAC) data from AVHRR sensors onboard NOAA satellites by applying the preprocessing improvements identified in the AVHRR Pathfinder II project and atmospheric and BRDF corrections used in MODIS processing. The preprocessing improvements include radiometric in-flight vicarious calibration for the visible and near infrared channels and inverse navigation to relate an Earth location to each sensor instantaneous field of view (IFOV). Atmospheric corrections for Rayleigh scattering, ozone, and water vapor are undertaken, with aerosol correction being implemented. The LTDR also produces a surface reflectance product for channel 3 (3.75 mum). Quality assessment (QA) is an integral part of the LTDR production system, which is monitoring temporal trends in the AVHRR products using time-series approaches developed for MODIS land product quality assessment. The land surface reflectance products have been evaluated at AERONET sites. The AVHRR data record from LTDR is also being compared to products from the PAL (pathfinder AVHRR land) and GIMMS (global inventory modeling and mapping studies) systems to assess the relative merits of this reprocessing vis-a-vis these existing data products. The LTDR products and associated information can be found at http://ltdr.nascom.nasa.gov/ltdr/ ltdr.html.

Land and cryosphere products from Suomi NPP VIIRS: Overview and status

[1] The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument was launched in October 2011 as part of the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP). The VIIRS instrument was designed to improve upon the capabilities of the operational Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and provide observation continuity with NASA’s Earth Observing System’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Since the VIIRS first-light images were received in November 2011, NASA- and NOAA-funded scientists have been working to evaluate the instrument performance and generate land and cryosphere products to meet the needs of the NOAA operational users and the NASA science community. NOAA’s focus has been on refining a suite of operational products known as Environmental Data Records (EDRs), which were developed according to project specifications under the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System. The NASA S-NPP Science Team has focused on evaluating the EDRs for science use, developing and testing additional products to meet science data needs, and providing MODIS data product continuity. This paper presents to-date findings of the NASA Science Team’s evaluation of the VIIRS land and cryosphere EDRs, specifically Surface Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Albedo, Vegetation Indices, Surface Type, Active Fires, Snow Cover, Ice Surface Temperature, and Sea Ice Characterization. The study concludes that, for MODIS data product continuity and earth system science, an enhanced suite of land and cryosphere products and associated data system capabilities are needed beyond the EDRs currently available from the VIIRS.

The Global Impact of Clouds on the Production of MODIS Bidirectional Reflectance Model-Based Composites for Terrestrial Monitoring

A global data set of cloud occurrence probability derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua gridded daily data is analyzed to investigate the probability of obtaining at least a minimum number of cloud-free observations within various compositing periods. The probabilities derived from Terra and Aqua, with morning and afternoon overpass times, respectively, are similar and increase with compositing period. Compositing both Terra and Aqua observations results in considerably higher probabilities of obtaining a sufficient number of observations for bidirectional reflectance model-based compositing. Given that the only alternative to obtaining sufficient samples is to extend the observation period, which can cause significant problems when the surface state changes, it is concluded that using data from the two MODIS sensors provides the most effective way of generating composited products. Findings with respect to the availability of cloud-free composites when n-day composites are generated on a temporally overlapping daily rolling basis, i.e., every day, rather than every n-days, are also discussed for regional and global applications

A 30+ Year AVHRR Land Surface Reflectance Climate Data Record and Its Application to Wheat Yield Monitoring

The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor provides a unique global remote sensing dataset that ranges from the 1980’s to the present. Over the years, several efforts have been made on the calibration of the different instruments to establish a consistent land surface reflectance time-series and to augment the AVHRR data record with data from other sensors such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). In this paper, we present a summary of all the corrections applied to the AVHRR Surface Reflectance and NDVI Version 4 Product, developed in the framework of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Data Record (CDR) program. These corrections result from assessment of the geo-location, improvement of the cloud masking and calibration monitoring. Additionally, we evaluate the performance of the surface reflectance over the AERONET sites by a cross-comparison with MODIS, which is an already validated product, and evaluation of a downstream Leaf Area Index (LAI) product. We demonstrate the utility of this long time-series by estimating the winter wheat yield over the USA. The methods developed by [1] and [2] are applied to both the MODIS and AVHRR data. Comparison of the results from both sensors during the MODIS-era shows the consistency of the dataset with similar errors of 10%. When applying the methods to AVHRR historical data from the 1980’s, the results have errors equivalent to those derived from MODIS.

The MODIS land quality assessment approach

A suite of global land surface products is made on an operational basis from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument data. Quality assessment (QA) is an integral part of this production chain and is focused on evaluating and flagging product quality with respect to expected performance. This task is challenging because of the different error sources that may affect product quality, the large volume of products produced, and the dependencies that exist between them. This paper describes the QA approach adopted by the MODLAND Science Team and coordinated by the MODIS Land Data Operational Product Evaluation (LDOPE) facility.

Anomaly detection in MODIS land products via time series analysis

With remote sensing information products becoming increasingly varied and arguably improved, scientific applications of such products rely on their quality assessment. In an operational context such as the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) information production based on the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on board Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra and Aqua satellites, efficient ways of detecting product anomaly, i.e., to discriminate between product artifacts and real changes in Earth processes being monitored, are extremely important to assist and inform the user communities about potential unreliability in the products. A technique for anomaly detection, known as MAD (the median of absolute deviate from the median), in MODIS land products via time series analysis is described, which can handle intra-and inter-annual variation in the data by using MAD statistics of the original data and their first-order difference. This method is shown to be robust and work across major land products, including NDVI, active fire, snow cover, and surface reflectance, and its applicability to multi-disciplinary products is anticipated.

Pre-launch evaluation of the NPP VIIRS Land and Cryosphere EDRs to meet NASA's science requirements

This paper summarizes the NASA VIIRS Land Science teams findings to date with respect to the utility of the VIIRS Land and Cryosphere EDRs to meet NASAs science requirements. Based on previous assessments and results from a recent 51-day global test performed by the Land Product Evaluation and Analysis Tool Element (Land PEATE), the NASA VIIRS Land Science team has determined that, if all the Land and Cryosphere EDRs are to serve the needs of the science community, a number of changes to several products and the Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS) algorithm processing chain will be needed. In addition, other products will also need to be added to the VIIRS Land product suite to provide continuity for all of the MODIS land data record. As the NASA research program explores new global change research areas, the VIIRS instrument should also provide the polar-orbiting imager data from which new algorithms could be developed, produced, and validated.

Status of the Suomi NPP visible/infrared imager radiometer suite's (VIIRS) land environmental data records (EDRs) after early evaluation of on-orbit performance

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a comprehensive multispectral imager covering the spectral range between 0.4 μm and 12.0 μm. It obtains full global coverage using a ~3000 km swath on a daily basis in 22 spectral bands at nadir spatial resolutions between 0.38 km and 0.76 km. VIIRS was launched on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base on October 28, 2011. The instrument was activated on November 10, 2011. Shortwave scene data became available immediately after the nadir aperture doors were opened on November 21, 2011, while the thermal cooler doors were opened on Jan 18, 2012. By the following day Suomi-NPP was acquiring its first active fire detections. The seven VIIRS thermal infrared bands were considered stable starting Jan. 20, 2012. This paper provides a summary of the status of on-going data processing, archiving, and early on-orbit evaluation of the VIIRS Land Environmental Data Records (EDRs).