2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

EPA Joint Sensors Mission
HQ Sponsor:
PI:
Environmental Protection Agency
Szykman
In 2009, NASA Langley integrated three
instrument packages onto its Cessna 206 to
provide support to the Ecosystem Services
Research Program (ESRP) of the US
Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s)
Office of Research and Development. The ESRP
is a new, multi-year research initiative which
will combine selected ecological indicator data
and recent advances in resource economics to
determine the value of services that terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystems provide to humans. The
instruments include a VISNIR Hyperspectral
Imager called the Environmental Mapping
Visible Imaging Spectrometer (EMVIS), a set
of Hyperspectral ocean color radiometers
(HyperOCR), and an infrared pyrometer.
The instruments will provide optical and thermal
data for research in the ESRP-Nitrogen and
ESRP-Coastal Carolinas program to determine
how changes in reactive nitrogen loading from
terrestrial landscapes relate to changes in nutrient
cycling and the impact to the ecosystem services
associated with nutrient retention provided by
freshwater and marine systems, specifically in lakes
and drinking water reservoirs in New England and
in the Albemarle/Pamlico Sound region.
Results from Instrument Check Flights (ICF)
on August 4, 2009 indicate strong correlations
between remotely sensed sea surface temperatures
and Chlorophyll-A concentrations, derived from
a bio-optical model, and in situ data measured
in the York River and Susquehanna River/
lower Chesapeake Bay by the Virginia Institute
of Marine Sciences (VIMS) Virginia Estuarine
and Coastal Observing system and the NOAA
Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy system.
Following the ICFs, the Cessna 206 flew a series
of science flights between August 25 and 30,
2009 spanning coastal to piedmont areas of
North Carolina to collect EMVIS, HyperOCR,
and thermal data for the ESRP Coastal Carolinas
Program. A research goal is to integrate airborne
hyperspectral remote sensor data and ENVISAT-1
Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
(MERIS) satellite data with in situ monitoring
data and ferry-based water quality monitoring
to provide a nearly continuous multi-resolution
phytoplankton bloom monitoring capability for
the entire Albemarle and Pamlico Sound region
and the Neuse River estuary. During these flights,
Langley served as the base of operations.
From September 13-18, 2009 the Cessna 206
deployed to New England to support data
collection and algorithm development for water
quality indicators over Long Island and Rhode
Island Sounds, followed by a series of inland
flights over selected New England lakes and
ponds. During the deployment, the Cessna
206 surveyed 55 lakes in four states in a twoday
period. Lakes were selected based on their
trophic status. Aircraft data were supplemented
by concurrently collected in situ data from
several lakes by field crews provided by the states
of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts
and New Hampshire, the University of New
Hampshire, and coordinated by US EPA Region I.
The Cessna 206 flights in New England were
conducted to support the Remote Sensing of
Phytoplankton Program (ReSePP) at the EPA’s
Atlantic Ecology Division in Narragansett, Rhode
Island.
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