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The Marshall Star for August 14, 2024

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The Marshall Star for August 14, 2024

Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager and mission management team chair, discusses Artemis I challenges during the Shared Experiences Forum at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Aug. 8. The event was part of the Mission Success is in Our Hands safety initiative and held in Activities Building 4316.

Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey Addresses Space and Missile Defense Symposium

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NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey gives a keynote address during the 2024 Space and Missile Defense Symposium on Aug. 8 at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville. Pelfrey shared updates on programs and projects that Marshall is leading for the agency, and highlighted strategic partnerships that have used Marshall’s deep technical expertise. More than 7,000 people attended this year’s symposium, including leaders and stakeholders from across the aerospace industry and Department of Defense. “Many of our partners are in this room, and I want to reiterate the importance of our current collaborations – as well as those that are to come,” Pelfrey said. “Marshall is committed to building relationships and sharing resources to further the aerospace industry and aid national security.” (NASA)

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NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center hosted Gen. Stephen Whiting, Commander, U.S. Space Command, and his team Aug. 7. The USSPACECOM team was in Huntsville for the 2024 Space and Missile Defense Symposium. Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey, center right, talks with Gen. Whiting, left, while on a tour of Marshall’s Additive Manufacturing Lab. The group also toured the Payload Operations Integration Center and heard presentations from Marshall team members on data science/management and space nuclear propulsion. (NASA/Charles Beason)

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Artemis I Lessons Learned Focus of Mission Success Forum; Charlie Adams Receives Golden Eagle Award

By Wayne Smith

Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager and mission management team chair, reflected on Artemis I challenges during the Shared Experiences Forum at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Aug. 8.

The event was part of the Mission Success is in Our Hands safety initiative and held in Activities Building 4316.

Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager and mission management team chair, discusses Artemis I challenges during the Shared Experiences Forum at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Aug. 8. The event was part of the Mission Success is in Our Hands safety initiative and held in Activities Building 4316.
Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager and mission management team chair, discusses Artemis I challenges during the Shared Experiences Forum at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Aug. 8. The event was part of the Mission Success is in Our Hands safety initiative and held in Activities Building 4316.
NASA/Charles Beason

Sarafin discussed lessons learned from Artemis I, highlighting the importance of communicating quickly and effectively with team members and using risk informed decision-making tools. After some initial delays that included lightning strikes, the Artemis I mission began with a successful liftoff of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Over the course of 25.5 days, NASA tested the Orion spacecraft in the harsh environment of deep space before flying astronauts on Artemis II.

Sarafin said it was his first time in the “hot seat,” and stressed the importance for anyone leading a mission management team to prepare for it by talking with those who have been in the same role, naming the individuals who supported him as team chair.

“You have got to find somebody who has walked a mile in those shoes, who understands the dynamics, who understands the cultural aspects of it,” Sarafin said. “They were fantastic team members, fantastic partners to work with, and I am proud to be a part of that team. These guys walked alongside me and kept me out of trouble.”

As Artemis mission manager for the Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA Headquarters, Sarafin provides oversight and responsibility for critical decisions across all flight phases (launch, in-space, and recovery), with support from team members and advisers with technical expertise in various areas. Prior to flight, he acts as a senior technical leader integrating mission requirements, planning, operations, and flight readiness leading to mission execution.

Sarafin said lessons learned from the mission management team for Artemis I included training both a prime and alternate for each position. He also pointed out the importance of training for logistics, and daily effective communications for all team members.

Bill Hill, left, director of Safety and Mission Assurance at Marshall, presents Sarafin with a certificate of appreciation following the Shared Experiences Forum. At right is Jeff Haars, Jacobs vice president and program manager for Jacobs Space Exploration Group.
Bill Hill, left, director of Safety and Mission Assurance at Marshall, presents Sarafin with a certificate of appreciation following the Shared Experiences Forum. At right is Jeff Haars, Jacobs vice president and program manager for Jacobs Space Exploration Group.
NASA/Charles Beason

“In summary, have the right team, do your party planning, (and) set clear expectations,” Sarafin said. “Take care of yourself and your team, and use good tools to make decisions.”

Mission Success is in Our Hands is a safety initiative collaboration between NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Jacobs Engineering. The initiative’s goal is to help team members make meaningful connections between their jobs and the safety and success of NASA and Marshall missions.

Charlie Adams Presented with Golden Eagle Award

As part of the forum, Mission Success is in Our Hands presented the 40th Golden Eagle Award to Charlie Adams of the Jacobs Space Exploration Group. Adams was the mission manager for NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID).

Charlie Adams, center, of Jacobs Space Exploration Group, displays the Golden Eagle Award presented to him during the Shared Experiences Forum. He is joined by Haars, left, and Hill, right.
Charlie Adams, center, of Jacobs Space Exploration Group, displays the Golden Eagle Award presented to him during the Shared Experiences Forum. He is joined by Haars, left, and Hill, right.
NASA/Charles Beason

Bill Hill, director of Safety and Mission Assurance at Marshall, said Adams was recognized for leading the project throughout LOFTID’s life cycle, which culminated with a successful flight in 2022. Hill said LOFTID’s success as a heat shield will benefit NASA’s future missions.

The Golden Eagle Award promotes awareness and appreciation for flight safety, as demonstrated through the connections between employees’ everyday work, the success of NASA and Marshall’s missions, and the safety of NASA astronauts. Management or peers can nominate any team member for the award. Honorees are typically recognized at Shared Experiences forums.

The next Shared Experiences Forum is scheduled for Sept. 5, featuring Dave Dykhoff, former vice president and general manager of the Jacobs Missile Defense Group and the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Operations Group. The forum will be held in Building 4203, Conference Room 1201 for Marshall team members, and available to the public via Teams.

Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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Marshall Team Members Participate in Space Night with Rocket City Trash Pandas

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center participated in Space Night at the Rocket City Trash Pandas game Aug. 10. Several team members represented the center, talking with fans about Marshall’s cutting-edge technologies and missions. The event featured special giveaways, astronaut food samples, and photo opportunities.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center participated in Space Night at the Rocket City Trash Pandas game Aug. 10. Several team members represented the center, talking with fans about Marshall’s cutting-edge technologies and missions. The event featured special giveaways, astronaut food samples, and photo opportunities. (NASA/Corinne Beckinger)

Dave Greeson, center, an aerospace engineer with the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office at Marshall, talks with fans during Space Night with the Rocket City Trash Pandas.

Dave Greeson, center, an aerospace engineer with the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office at Marshall, talks with fans during Space Night with the Rocket City Trash Pandas. (NASA/Daniel Boyette)

Daniel Boyette, communications specialist for the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office at Marshall, sets up for Space Night.

Daniel Boyette, communications specialist for the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office at Marshall, sets up for Space Night. (NASA/Corinne Beckinger)

Dustin McMullen, lead ground systems engineer for the Human Landing System Program at Marshall, displays some astronaut food samples at Space Night.

Dustin McMullen, lead ground systems engineer for the Human Landing System Program at Marshall, displays some astronaut food samples at Space Night. (NASA/Corinne Beckinger)

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I Am Artemis: Julia Khodabandeh

Unlike most of her friends in the 80s who covered their walls with posters of bands, Julia Khodabandeh plastered hers with posters of rockets and fighter jets.

Khodabandeh’s interest in aerospace and aeronautics developed at a young age. Her parents were avid fans of the Apollo Program and were heavily invested in her education. Khodabandeh’s father always encouraged her to tackle math and science problems without fear. She recalls him telling her that “you can take any problem and break it into smaller pieces.” It’s a philosophy she still uses in solving problems today.

A blonde woman stands in front of a rocket booster in a grey jacket.
Julia Khodabandeh once adorned her walls with rockets, fighter jets, and Air Force pilots. Now, she is the solid rocket motor lead for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System).
NASA/Sam Lott

“When I was growing up, my dad would make practice tests the night before my exams,” she said. “It helped me feel more prepared. The confidence I developed for math and science and my passion for aeronautics and aerospace, led me to a NASA career.”

The better part of her 24-year career with NASA has been dedicated to solid rocket boosters at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Over the past 10 years, she helped develop the twin solid rocket boosters for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, which are the largest and most powerful solid propellant boosters ever flown. They stand at 177 feet tall, and individually generate a maximum thrust of 3.6 million pounds. Together, the twin boosters provide more than 75% of the total thrust to launch SLS for NASA’s Artemis campaign to the Moon.

Khodabandeh graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in computational fluid dynamics. Early in her career, her work focused on Space Station microgravity material processing furnaces and the Space Shuttle Return-to-Flight Program.  She went on to support the Ares rocket solid rocket booster team as part of the Constellation Program preceding SLS. Her work on the Ares booster helped guide her to her current position on SLS.

Khodabandeh is the motor and pyrotechnic team lead for the SLS Booster Element Office. She supports design, development, certification, production, and operation of the solid rocket motors, booster separation motors, and pyrotechnics for the twin boosters on SLS. Most days, she manages schedules and helps resolve issues with the help of her team.

“The flight hardware and test hardware are all tremendous accomplishments for the team, and behind these accomplishments are hours, weeks, and months of working together to resolve issues and deliver results,” Khodabandeh said. “It’s the people that make us successful, and teamwork is my favorite part of what we do. Someone once said, ‘You have to build a successful team before you can build successful hardware.’ I couldn’t agree more!”

In her spare time, Khodabandeh volunteers at a local rescue mission, where she provides aid to women struggling with substance abuse. She also mentors students in the Huntsville community, where she hopes to pass on the confidence her dad instilled in her, inspiring them to one day be a part of NASA and the Artemis Generation.

As the girl who grew up with posters of rockets on her walls, Khodabandeh says she is incredibly excited to be one of the many who are responsible for sending astronauts around the Moon on Artemis II.

“The incredible success of Artemis I is something that I will never forget,” she said. “We have demonstrated what we’re capable of, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish going forward on the Artemis Program.”

NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.

Read other I am Artemis features.

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‘Legacy of the Invisible’ Event to Celebrate Marshall’s Contributions to Astrophysics

The public is invited to join NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for a special celebration of art and astronomy in downtown Huntsville on Aug. 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. The event will include a dedication of Huntsville’s newest art installation, “No Straight Lines,” by local artist Float. 

Legacy of the Invisible event graphic.

The celebratory event, “Legacy of the Invisible,” will take place at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Washington Street, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory launch on July 23, 1999. Attendees will have a chance to meet and hear from NASA experts, as well as meet Float, the artist behind “No Straight Lines,” which aims to honor Huntsville’s rich scientific legacy in astrophysics and highlight the groundbreaking discoveries made possible by Huntsville scientists and engineers.

Enjoy live music, art vendors, food, and more.

Learn more about Chandra’s 25th Anniversary.

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A ‘FURST’ of its Kind: Sounding Rocket Mission to Study Sun as a Star

Editor’s Note: NASA and partners scrubbed the first launch attempt of the FURST Sounding Rocket Mission on Aug. 11 due to issues with the cooling systems. This story will be updated as soon as the next launch attempt is determined.

By Jessica Barnett 

From Earth, one might be tempted to view the Sun as a unique celestial object like no other, as it’s the star our home planet orbits and the one our planet relies on most for heat and light. But if you took a step back and compared the Sun to the other stars NASA has studied over the years, how would it compare? Would it still be so unique?

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The Full-sun Ultraviolet Rocket SpecTrograph (FURST) undergoes testing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in preparation for launch. The instrument was designed and built at Montana State University. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center provided the camera, supplied avionics, and designed and built its calibration system.
Montana State University

The Full-sun Ultraviolet Rocket SpecTrograph (FURST) aims to answer those questions. when it launches aboard a Black Brant IX sounding rocket at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

“When we talk about ‘Sun as a star’, we’re treating it like any other star in the night sky as opposed to the unique object we rely on for human life. It’s so exciting to study the Sun from that vantage point,” said Adam Kobelski, institutional principal investigator for FURST and a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

FURST will obtain the first high-resolution spectra of the “Sun as a star” in vacuum ultraviolet (VUV), a light wavelength that is absorbed in Earth’s atmosphere meaning it can only be observed from space. Astronomers have studied other stars in the vacuum ultraviolet with orbiting telescopes, however these instruments are too sensitive to be pointed to the Sun. The recent advancements in high-resolution VUV spectroscopy now allow for the same observations of our own star, the Sun.

“These are wavelengths that Hubble Space Telescope is really great at observing, so there is a decent amount of Hubble observations of stars in ultraviolet wavelengths, but we don’t have comparable observations of our star in this wavelength range,” said Kobelski. Marshall was the lead field center for the design, development, and construction of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Because Hubble is too sensitive to point at Earth’s Sun, new instruments were needed to get a spectrum of the entire Sun that is of a similar quality to Hubble’s observations of other stars. Marshall built the camera, supplied avionics, and designed and built a new calibration system for the FURST mission. Montana State University (MSU), which leads the FURST mission in partnership with Marshall, built the optical system, which includes seven optics that will feed into the camera that will essentially create seven exposures, covering the entire ultraviolet wavelength range.

Charles Kankelborg, a heliophysics professor at MSU and principal investigator for FURST, described the mission as a very close collaboration with wide-ranging implications.

Four men stand under a large NASA meatball logo that is painted on a wall.
Montana State University alumnus Jake Davis, left, Professor Charles Kankelborg, and doctoral students Catharine “Cappy” Bunn and Suman Panda, pose at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Montana State University

“Our mission will obtain the first far ultraviolent spectrum of the Sun as a star,” Kankelborg said. “This is a key piece of information that has been missing for decades. With it, we will place the Sun in context with other stars.”

Kobelski echoed the sentiment.

“How well do the observations and what we know about our Sun compare to our observations or what we know of other stars?” Kobelski said. “You’d expect that we know all this information about the Sun – it’s right there – but it turns out, we actually don’t. If we can get these same observations or same wavelengths as we’ve observed from these other sources, we can start to connect the dots and connect our Sun to other stars.”

FURST will be the third launch led by Marshall for NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program within five months, making 2024 an active year for the program. Like the Hi-C Flare mission that launched in April, the sounding rocket will launch and open during flight to allow FURST to observe the Sun for approximately five minutes before closing and falling back to Earth’s surface. Marshall team members will be able to calibrate the instruments during launch and flight, as well as retrieve data during flight and soon after landing.

Kobelski and Kankelborg each said they’re grateful for the opportunity to fill the gaps in our knowledge of Earth’s Sun.

The FURST mission is led by Marshall in partnership with Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, with additional support from the NASA’s Sounding Rockets Office and the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research’s High Altitude Observatory. Launch support is provided at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program is managed by the agency’s Heliophysics Division.

Barnett, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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NASA Challenge Seeks ‘Cooler’ Solutions for Deep Space Exploration

NASA’s Human Lander Challenge, or HuLC, is now open and accepting submissions for its second year. As NASA aims to return astronauts to the Moon through its Artemis campaign in preparation for future missions to Mars, the agency is seeking ideas from college and university students for evolved supercold, or cryogenic, propellant applications for human landing systems.

Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) banner.

As part of the 2025 HuLC competition, teams will aim to develop innovative solutions and technology developments for in-space cryogenic liquid storage and transfer systems as part of future long-duration missions beyond low Earth orbit.

“The HuLC competition represents a unique opportunity for Artemis Generation engineers and scientists to contribute to groundbreaking advancements in space technology,” said Esther Lee, an aerospace engineer leading the navigation sensors technology assessment capability team at NASA’s Langley Research Center. “NASA’s Human Lander Challenge is more than just a competition – it is a collaborative effort to bridge the gap between academic innovation and practical space technology. By involving students in the early stages of technology development, NASA aims to foster a new generation of aerospace professionals and innovators.”

Through Artemis, NASA is working to send the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut to the Moon to establish long-term lunar exploration and science opportunities. Artemis astronauts will descend to the lunar surface in a commercial Human Landing System. The Human Landing System Program is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Cryogenic, or super-chilled, propellants like liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are integral to NASA’s future exploration and science efforts. The temperatures must stay extremely cold to maintain a liquid state. Current state-of-the-art systems can only keep these substances stable for a matter of hours, which makes long-term storage particularly problematic. For NASA’s HLS mission architecture, extending storage duration from hours to several months will help ensure mission success.

“NASA’s cryogenics work for HLS focuses on several key development areas, many of which we are asking proposing teams to address,” said Juan Valenzuela, a HuLC technical advisor and aerospace engineer specializing in cryogenic fuel management at Marshall. “By focusing research in these key areas, we can explore new avenues to mature advanced cryogenic fluid technologies and discover new approaches to understand and mitigate potential problems.”

Interested teams from U.S.-based colleges and universities should submit a non-binding Notice of Intent (NOI) by Oct. 6, and submit a proposal package by March 3, 2025. Based on proposal package evaluations, up to 12 finalist teams will be selected to receive a $9,250 stipend to further develop and present their concepts to a panel of NASA and industry judges at the 2025 HuLC Forum in Huntsville, near Marshall, in June 2025. The top three placing teams will share a prize purse of $18,000.

Teams’ potential solutions should focus on one of the following categories: On-Orbit Cryogenic Propellant Transfer, Microgravity Mass Tracking of Cryogenics, Large Surface Area Radiative Insulation, Advanced Structural Supports for Heat Reduction, Automated Cryo-Couplers for Propellant Transfer, or Low Leakage Cryogenic Components.

NASA’s Human Lander Challenge is sponsored by the Human Landing System Program within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate and managed by the National Institute of Aerospace.

Learn more about NASA’s 2025 Human Lander Challenge, including how to participate.

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Webb Sees Gassy Baby Stars

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a phenomenon for the very first time. The bright red streaks at top left of this June 20 image are aligned protostar outflows – jets of gas from newborn stars that all slant in the same direction.

A rectangular image with black vertical rectangles at the bottle left and top right to indicate missing data. A young star-forming region is filled with wispy orange, red, and blue layers of gas and dust. The upper left corner of the image is filled with mostly orange dust, and within that orange dust, there are several small red plumes of gas that extend from the top left to the bottom right, at the same angle. The center of the image is filled with mostly blue gas. At the center, there is one particularly bright star, that has an hourglass shadow above and below it. To the right of that is what looks a vertical eye-shaped crevice with a bright star at the center. The gas to the right of the crevice is a darker orange. Small points of light are sprinkled across the field, brightest sources in the field have extensive eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of the Webb Telescope.
In this image of the Serpens Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers found a grouping of aligned protostellar outflows within one small region (the top left corner). Serpens is a reflection nebula, which means it’s a cloud of gas and dust that does not create its own light, but instead shines by reflecting the light from stars close to or within the nebula.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (NASA-JPL), Joel Green (STScI)

This image supports astronomers’ assumption that as clouds collapse to form stars, the stars will tend to spin in the same direction. Previously, the objects appeared as blobs or were invisible in optical wavelengths. Webb’s sensitive infrared vision was able to pierce through the thick dust, resolving the stars and their outflows.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Several NASA centers contributed to the project, including NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

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      Sea surface height anomalies (SSHa)–variations in sea surface height from climatological averages–occur on seasonal timescales due to coastal upwelling and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles. These anomalies are heightened when upwelling plumes bring cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface, and are particularly strong along continental shelves in the Northern South China Sea (NSCS). This linkage between SSHa and nutrient availability has interesting implications for changing chlorophyll-a (chl-a) concentrations, a prominent indicator of phytoplankton biomass that is essential to the health of marine ecosystems. Here, we evaluate the long-term (15 years) relationship between SSHa and chl-a, in both satellite remote sensing data and in situ measurements. Level 3 SSHa data from Jason 1/2/3 satellites and chl-a data from MODIS Aqua were acquired and binned to monthly resolution. We found a significant inverse correlation between SSHa and chl-a during upwelling months in both the remote sensing (Spearman’s R=-0.57) and in situ data, with higher resolution in situ data from ORAS4 (an assimilation of buoy observations from 2003-2017) showing stronger correlations (Spearman’s R=-0.75). In addition, the data reveal that the magnitude of SSH increases with time during instances of high correlation, possibly indicating a trend of increased SSH associated with reduced seasonal chl-a concentrations. Thus, this relationship may inform future work predicting nutrient availability and threats to marine ecosystems as climate change continues to affect coastal sea surface heights.

      Alyssa Tou
      Exploring Coastal Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies and their effect on Coastal Fog through analyzing Plant Phenology
      Alyssa Tou
      Marine heat waves (MHW) have been increasing in frequency, duration and intensity, giving them substantial potential to influence ecosystems. Do these MHWs sufficiently enhance coastal precipitation such that plant growth is impacted? Recently, the Northeast Pacific experienced a long, intense MHW in 2014/2015, and another short, less intense MHW in 2019/2020. Here we investigate how the intensity and duration of MHWs influence the intensity and seasonal cycle of three different land cover types (‘grass’, ‘trees’, and a combination of both ‘combined’’) to analyze plant phenology trends in Big Sur, California. We hypothesize that longer intense MHWs decrease the ocean’s evaporative capacity, decreasing fog, thus lowering plant productivity, as measured by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Sea surface temperature (SST) and NDVI data were collected from the NOAA Coral Reef Watch, and NASA MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 250m products respectively. Preliminary results show no correlation (R2=0.02) between SSTa and combined NDVI values and no correlation (R2=0.01) between SST and NDVI. This suggests that years with anomalously high SST do not significantly impact plant phenology. During the intense and long 2014/2015 MHW, peak NDVI values for ‘grass’ and ‘combined’ pixels were 2.0 and 1.7 standard deviations above the climatological average, while the shorter 2019/2020 MHW saw higher peaks of 3.2 and 2.4 standard deviations. However, the ‘grass’, ‘tree’ and ‘combined’ NDVI anomalies were statistically insignificant during both MHWs, showing that although NDVI appeared to increase during the shorter and less intense MHW, these values may be attributed to other factors. The data qualitatively suggest that MHW’s don’t impact the peak NDVI date, but more data at higher temporal resolution are necessary. Further research will involve analyzing fog indices and exploring confounding variables impacting NDVI, such as plant physiology, anthropogenic disturbance, and wildfires. In addition, it’s important to understand to what extent changes in NDVI are attributed to the driving factors of MHWs or the MHWs themselves. Ultimately, mechanistically understanding the impacts MHW intensity and duration have on terrestrial ecosystems will better inform coastal community resilience.


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      Last Updated Nov 22, 2024 Related Terms
      General Explore More
      10 min read SARP East 2024 Atmospheric Science Group
      Article 21 mins ago 10 min read SARP East 2024 Hydroecology Group
      Article 21 mins ago 11 min read SARP East 2024 Terrestrial Fluxes Group
      Article 22 mins ago View the full article
    • NASA
      SARP East 2024 Atmospheric Science Group
      By NASA
      10 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Return to 2024 SARP Closeout Faculty Advisors:
      Dr. Guanyu Huang, Stony Brook University
      Graduate Mentor:
      Ryan Schmedding, McGill University

      Ryan Schmedding, Graduate Mentor
      Ryan Schmedding, graduate mentor for the 2024 SARP Atmospheric Science group, provides an introduction for each of the group members and shares behind-the scenes moments from the internship.
      Danielle Jones
      Remote sensing of poor air quality in mountains: A case study in Kathmandu, Nepal
      Danielle Jones
      Urban activity produces particulate matter in the atmosphere known as aerosol particles. These aerosols can negatively affect human health and cause changes to the climate system. Measures for aerosols include surface level PM2.5 concentration and aerosol optical depth (AOD). Kathmandu, Nepal is an urban area that rests in a valley on the edge of the Himalayas and is home to over three million people. Despite the prevailing easterly winds, local aerosols are mostly concentrated in the valley from the residential burning of coal followed by industry. Exposure to PM2.5 has caused an estimated ≥8.6% of deaths annually in Nepal. We paired NASA satellite AOD and elevation data, model  meteorological data, and local AirNow PM2.5 and air quality index (AQI) data to determine causes of variation in pollutant measurement during 2023, with increased emphasis on the post-monsoon season (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31). We see the seasonality of meteorological data related to PM2.5 and AQI. During periods of low temperature, low wind speed, and high pressure, PM2.5 and AQI data slightly diverge. This may indicate that temperature inversions increase surface level concentrations of aerosols but have little effect on the total air column. The individual measurements of surface pressure, surface temperature, and wind speed had no observable correlation to AOD (which was less variable than PM2.5 and AQI over the entire year). Elevation was found to have no observable effect on AOD during the period of study. Future research should focus on the relative contributions of different pollutants to the AQI to test if little atmospheric mixing causes the formation of low-altitude secondary pollutants in addition to PM2.5 leading to the observed divergence in AQI and PM2.5.

      Madison Holland
      Analyzing the Transport and Impact of June 2023 Canadian Wildfire Smoke on Surface PM2.5 Levels in Allentown, Pennsylvania
      Madison Holland
      The 2023 wildfire season in Canada was unparalleled in its severity. Over 17 million hectares burned, the largest area ever burned in a single season. The smoke from these wildfires spread thousands of kilometers, causing a large population to be exposed to air pollution. Wildfires can release a variety of air pollutants, including fine particulate matter (PM2.5). PM2.5 directly affects human health – exposure to wildfire-related PM2.5 has been associated with respiratory issues such as the exacerbation of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In June 2023, smoke from the Canadian wildfires drifted southward into the United States. The northeastern United States reported unhealthy levels of air quality due to the transportation of the smoke. In particular, Pennsylvania reported that Canadian wildfires caused portions of the state to have “Hazardous” air quality. Our research focused on how Allentown, PA experienced hazardous levels of air quality from this event. To analyze the concentrations of PM2.5 at the surface level, NASA’s Hazardous Air Quality Ensemble System (HAQES) and the EPA’s Air Quality System (AQS) ground-based site data were utilized. By comparing HAQES’s forecast of hazardous air quality events with recorded daily average PM2.5 with the EPA’s AQS, we were able to compare how well the ensemble system was at predicting total PM2.5 during unhealthy air quality days. NOAA’s Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model, pyrsig, and the Canadian National Fire Database were used. These datasets revealed the trajectory of aerosols from the wildfires to Allentown, Pennsylvania, identified the densest regions of the smoke plumes, and provided a map of wildfire locations in southeastern Canada. By integrating these datasets, we traced how wildfire smoke transported aerosols from the source at the ground level.

      Michele Iraci
      Trends and Transport of Tropospheric Ozone From New York City to Connecticut in the Summer of 2023
      Michele Iraci
      Tropospheric Ozone, or O₃, is a criteria pollutant contributing to most of Connecticut and New York City’s poor air quality days. It has adverse effects on human health, particularly for high-risk individuals. Ozone is produced by nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds from fuel combustion reacting with sunlight. The Ozone Transport Region (OTR) is a collection of states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic United States that experience cross-state pollution of O₃. Connecticut has multiple days a year where O₃ values exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards requiring the implementation of additional monitoring and standards because it falls in the OTR. Partially due to upstream transport from New York City, Connecticut experiences increases in O₃ concentrations in the summer months. Connecticut has seen declines in poor air quality days from O₃ every year due to the regulations on ozone and its precursors. We use ground-based Lidar, Air Quality System data, and a back-trajectory model to examine a case of ozone enhancement in Connecticut caused by air pollutants from New York between June and August 2023. In this time period, Connecticut’s ozone enhancement was caused by air pollutants from New York City. As a result, New York City and Connecticut saw similar O₃ spikes and decline trends. High-temperature days increase O₃ in both places, and wind out of the southwest may transport O₃ to Connecticut. Production and transport of O₃ from New York City help contribute to Connecticut’s poor air quality days, resulting in the need for interstate agreements on pollution management.

      Stefan Sundin
      Correlations Between the Planetary Boundary Layer Height and the Lifting Condensation Level
      Stefan Sundin
      The Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) characterizes the lowest layer in the atmosphere that is coupled with diurnal heating at the surface. The PBL grows during the day as solar heating causes pockets of air near the surface to rise and mix with cooler air above. Depending on the type of terrain and surface albedo that receives solar heating, the depth of the PBL can vary to a great extent. This makes PBL height (PBLH) a difficult variable to quantify spatially and temporally. While several methods have been used to obtain the PBLH such as wind profilers and lidar techniques, there is still a level of uncertainty associated with PBLH. One method of predicting seasonal PBLH fluctuation and potentially lessening uncertainty that will be discussed in this study is recognizing a correlation in PBLH with the lifting condensation level (LCL). Like the PBL, the LCL is used as a convective parameter when analyzing upper air data, and classifies the height in the atmosphere at which a parcel becomes saturated when lifted by a forcing mechanism, such as a frontal boundary, localized convergence, or orographic lifting. A reason to believe that PBLH and LCL are interconnected is their dependency on both the amount of surface heating and moisture that is present in the environment. These thermodynamic properties are of interest in heavily populated metropolitan areas within the Great Plains, as they are more susceptible to severe weather outbreaks and associated economic losses. Correlations between PBLH and LCL over the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan statistical area during the summer months of 2019-2023 will be discussed.

      Angelica Kusen
      Coupling of Chlorophyll-a Concentrations and Aerosol Optical Depth in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean and South China Sea (2019-2021)
      Angelica Kusen
      Air-sea interactions form a complex feedback mechanism, whereby aerosols impact physical and biogeochemical processes in marine environments, which, in turn, alter aerosol properties. One key indicator of these interactions is chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), a pigment common to all phytoplankton and a widely used proxy for primary productivity in marine ecosystems. Phytoplankton require soluble nutrients and trace metals for growth, which typically come from oceanic processes such as upwelling. These nutrients can also be supplied via wet and dry deposition, where atmospheric aerosols are removed from the atmosphere and deposited into the ocean. To explore this interaction, we analyze the spatial and temporal variations of satellite-derived chl-a and AOD, their correlations, and their relationship with wind patterns in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean and the South China Sea from 2019 to 2021, two regions with contrasting environmental conditions.
      In the Subantarctic Southern Ocean, a positive correlation (r²= 0.26) between AOD and Chl-a was found, likely due to dust storms following Austrian wildfires. Winds deposit dust aerosols rich in nutrients, such as iron, to the iron-limited ocean, enhancing phytoplankton photosynthesis and increasing chl-a. In contrast, the South China Sea showed no notable correlation (r² = -0.02) between AOD and chl-a. Decreased emissions due to COVID-19 and stricter pollution controls likely reduced the total AOD load and shifted the composition of aerosols from anthropogenic to more natural sources.
      These findings highlight the complex interrelationship between oceanic biological activity and the chemical composition of the atmosphere, emphasizing that atmospheric delivery of essential nutrients, such as iron and phosphorus, promotes phytoplankton growth. Finally, NASA’s recently launched PACE mission will contribute observations of phytoplankton community composition at unprecedented scale, possibly enabling attribution of AOD levels to particular groups of phytoplankton.

      Chris Hautman
      Estimating CO₂ Emission from Rocket Plumes Using in Situ Data from Low Earth Atmosphere
      Chris Hautman
      Rocket emissions in the lower atmosphere are becoming an increasing environmental concern as space exploration and commercial satellite launches have increased exponentially in recent years. Rocket plumes are one of the few known sources of anthropogenic emissions directly into the upper atmosphere. Emissions in the lower atmosphere may also be of interest due to their impacts on human health and the environment, in particular, ground level pollutants transported over wildlife protected zones, such as the Everglades, or population centers near launch sites. While rockets are a known source of atmospheric pollution, the study of rocket exhaust is an ongoing task. Rocket exhaust can have a variety of compositions depending on the type of engine, the propellants used, including fuels, oxidizers, and monopropellants, the stoichiometry of the combustion itself also plays a role. In addition, there has been increasing research into compounds being vaporized in atmospheric reentry. These emissions, while relatively minimal compared to other methods of travel, pose an increasing threat to atmospheric stability and environmental health with the increase in human space activity. This study attempts to create a method for estimating the total amount of carbon dioxide released by the first stage of a rocket launch relative to the mass flow of RP-1, a highly refined kerosene (C₁₂H₂₆)), and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants. Particularly, this study will focus on relating in situ CO₂ emission data from a Delta II rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on April 15, 1999, to CO₂ emissions from popular modern rockets, such as the Falcon 9 (SpaceX) and Soyuz variants (Russia). The findings indicate that the CO₂ density of any RP-1/LOX rocket is 6.9E-7 times the mass flow of the sum of all engines on the first stage. The total mass of CO₂ emitted can be further estimated by modeling the volume of the plume as cylindrical. Therefore, the total mass can be calculated as a function of mass flow and first stage main engine cutoff. Future CO₂ emissions on an annual basis are calculated based on these estimations and anticipated increases in launch frequency.


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      Last Updated Nov 22, 2024 Related Terms
      General Explore More
      8 min read SARP East 2024 Ocean Remote Sensing Group
      Article 21 mins ago 10 min read SARP East 2024 Hydroecology Group
      Article 21 mins ago 11 min read SARP East 2024 Terrestrial Fluxes Group
      Article 22 mins ago View the full article
    • NASA
      SARP East 2024 Hydroecology Group
      By NASA
      10 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Return to 2024 SARP Closeout Faculty Advisors:
      Dr. Dom Ciruzzi, College of William & Mary
      Graduate Mentor:
      Marley Majetic, Pennsylvania State University

      Marley Majetic, Graduate Mentor
      Marley Majetic, graduate mentor for the 2024 SARP Hydroecology group, provides an introduction for each of the group members and shares behind-the scenes moments from the internship.
      Jordan DiPrima
      How are different land cover types affected by land subsidence on the U.S. Atlantic Coast?
      Jordan DiPrima
      Land subsidence is a frequently overlooked geologic hazard that is caused by natural processes and, more recently, anthropogenic stressors. The goal of this study is to observe subsidence trends and hotspots among land cover types on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and Long Island, New York. This study utilizes interferometric synthetic aperture radar, or InSAR, satellite data from Sentinel-1 to map vertical land motion from 2017 to 2023. Land cover data were sourced from Landsat 8 satellite imagery. Subsidence was mapped within the following land cover types on the Eastern Shore: urban, wetland, cropland, temperate or sub-polar grassland, temperate or sub-polar shrubland, mixed forest, and temperate or subpolar needleleaf forest. These land cover types have mean vertical velocities ranging from -0.2 mm/yr to -5.2 mm/yr. Results suggest that land subsidence is most severe in cropland areas on the Eastern Shore, with a mean vertical velocity of -5.2 mm/yr. In contrast, wetlands display the most subsidence on Long Island with a mean vertical velocity of -2.1 mm/yr. Long Island lacked distinct trends among land cover types and instead showed evidence of subsidence hotspots. These hotspots exist in the following land cover types: temperate or sub-polar grassland, barren lands, wetland, cropland, and temperate or sub-polar broadleaf deciduous forest. Overall, Eastern Shore croplands and Long Island wetlands were determined to be the most susceptible land cover types. These findings highlight regions at risk of sea level rise, flooding, and coastal erosion as a result of subsidence. With further research, we can map subsiding landscapes on a global scale to improve resource allocation and mitigation techniques.

      Isabelle Peterson
      Total Thermokarst Lake Changes on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska: 2016 to 2024
      Isabelle Peterson
      Thermokarst landscapes have and will continue to change as the arctic landscape warms due to climate change. Permafrost underlies much of these arctic landscapes, and as it melts, thermokarst landscapes are left behind. The Seward Peninsula in Alaska has an abundance of these landscapes, and thermokarst lakes are present in the northernmost portion. Several lakes have come and gone, but with increasing climate instability and warming of the area, there is a possibility of more permafrost melting, creating more of these lakes. To capture these changes, Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) imagery were used to create annual lake maps of the northern portion of the Seward Peninsula from 2016 to 2024. Much of the methodology was informed from Jones et al. (2011); however, their study used eCognition, while the present study used ArcGIS Pro. This caused some differences in results likely due to the differences in software, satellite imagery, and the proposed study area. Lake number changes were observed annually. From this annual change, several 10 to 40 ha lakes disappeared and reappeared within the study period, along with smaller lakes filling in where larger lakes once were. Thermokarst lake drainage is a process described by Jones and Arp (2015) which has devastating geomorphological impacts on the surrounding area, creating large drainage troughs which diminish surrounding permafrost in a quick time frame. To capture these events and overall changes, satellite imagery is essential. This is especially true in remote regions which are hard to reach by foot and require flight missions to be scheduled over the area for aerial photography. However, LVIS and other higher resolution aerial instruments would provide higher accuracy when identifying smaller lakes, as satellite imagery does not accurately capture lakes below 1 ha in the study area. This assertion is made due to conflicting results compared to Jones et al (2011). While the methodologies of this study have been executed manually, Qin, Zhang, and Lu (2023) have proposed the idea of using Sentinel-2 imagery to map thermokarst lakes through automatic methods. While automatization has not yet been perfected, the potential is there and can be used to analyze thermokarst areas effectively. With more satellite imagery, annual, monthly, and potentially daily changes can be captured in favorable months to monitor changing landscapes in arctic regions. Thermokarst lakes have been changing, and monitoring them can help in the process of understanding the changing climate in arctic areas, especially through the lens melting permafrost.

      Emmanelle Cuasay
      Finding Refuge in Climate Crisis: Analyzing the Differences between Refugia and Non-Refugia in the Northern Philippines Using Remote Sensing
      Emmanelle Cuasay
      Refugia are areas that are characterized by stable environmental conditions that can act as a refuge for species as Earth’s climate warms. In this study, fourteen Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 images from February 2014 – March 2024 of the northern Philippines region were used. The region of interest is the terrestrial biome by Lake Taal. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maps were created from all fourteen images to determine the NDVI 25th highest quartiles of the long-term average NDVI images and of a dry and wet year NDVI image. These values were then used to create refugia and non-refugia maps using ArcGIS Pro. Land cover data from Sentinel-2 and a digital elevation model (DEM), using the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), were plotted in ArcGIS Pro to determine the slope and aspect of the area. Global Ecosystems Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) data were used to look at forest height of the study area, and the distribution of forest height, slope, aspect, and elevation were plotted to determine their probability densities in refugia and non-refugia areas. Results of this study show increased biomass in refugia areas. This suggests that conservation practices are crucial to aid in the preservation of biodiversity and biomass within these refugia areas.

      Jayce Crayne
      Site-Based Observations of a Saharan Dust Storm’s Impacts on Evapotranspiration in North-Central Florida
      Jayce Crayne
      Saharan dust storms serve an important role in the western Atlantic’s climate in their contribution to Earth’s radiation budget, modulating sea surface temperatures (SSTs), fertilizing ecosystems, and suppressing cloud and precipitation patterns (Yuan et al., 2020). However, Saharan dust storms are expected to become less frequent in this region as SSTs continue to rise (Yuan et al., 2020). Predicting the climate response to this change requires a keen understanding of how the presence of these storms affect evapotranspiration (ET) and its indicators. This study utilizes site-based observational data from an AmeriFlux tower near Gainesville, FL recorded during a large dust storm in late June 2020. The storm’s progression was documented using satellite imagery from Aqua and Terra and aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements from an Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) station co-located with the AmeriFlux tower. Indicators of ET such as surface air temperature, vapor pressure deficit, photosynthetic photon flux density, and net radiation were analyzed. Findings were compared to modeled ET and latent energy flux reanalysis data provided by the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS). Both model simulations and on-site observations support that ET decreased during the days dust concentrations were heaviest and for a short time thereafter. Cloud cover data adopted from meteorological aerodrome reports (METARs) provided by an automated surface observing system (ASOS) located in Gainesville showed that clouds were not a major contributor in decreasing ET during the days of heaviest dust. The results of this study show a considerable decrease in ET as a result of dust aerosols. Further research is necessary to determine whether changes in ET due to Saharan dust storms are significant enough to alter climates in the western Atlantic and, if so, what the climate response will be if the frequency of storms decreases.

      Brandon Wilson
      Predicting 2025 and 2028 dNBR and dNDIV for Csarf Smith River Complex / Evaluating the Effects of 2019 California Wildfire Fund
      Brandon Wilson
      Biodiverse regions across California remain vulnerable to harmful wildfires year round. Quantifying and measuring these regions’ wildfire resilience is necessary for understanding where/how to allocate environmental resources. Several ecological wildfire studies have been conducted utilizing artificial intelligence and remote sensing to analyze and predict biodiversity damage across wildfire prone regions, including Northern Algeria and Arkansas, USA. The current case study aims to analyze biodiversity damage from the 2023 Csarf Smith River Complex Fire in Six Rivers National Forest, California and predict the difference in Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) and difference in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (dNDVI) for 2025 and 2028 using remote-sensing-based random forest (RF) regression. Furthermore, to observe, holistically, a practical method California has implemented to address state-wide wildfire damage, the 2019 California Wildfire Fund (AB 1054 and AB 111) was evaluated using the synthetic control method (SCM). For this case study, remote sensing data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA (Landsat 9 Satellite C2 L2, TerraClimate and the Land Data Assimilation System) were utilized for processing relevant spectral indexes for the RF. Data from NOAA, Energy Information Agency, International Monetary Fund and Bureau of Economic Analysis were utilized as synthetic control datasets to evaluate the effects of the 2019 California Wildfire Fund. Elevated topography in this study area is susceptible to high severity burn effects, while less elevated topography burns less. This result affected dNBR and dNDVI predictions as elevated areas seemingly did not have strong resilience to rampant burns. This demonstrates a direct correlation to potential lower transpiration rates for elevated areas, warranting further analysis. Results of low variance, post-treatment, between the treated unit and the synthetic control unit, poses concern for the positive effect of the 2019 Wildfire Fund.

      Carrie Hashimoto
      Describing changes in evapotranspiration following the 2020 Creek Fire in the southern Sierra Nevada
      Carrie Hashimoto
      Climatic warming and high tree density have caused larger and more severe wildfires to occur in western United States forests over time. Wildfires affect both the hydrology and ecology of forests via alterations to the water balance (e.g., evapotranspiration, streamflow, infiltration, and more) and could shift vegetation communities and subsequent ecosystem structure and function. This project explores ecological characteristics of a landscape that predict the extent to which the Creek Fire in the southern Sierra Nevada has affected evapotranspiration. Strides in understanding of consequential evapotranspiration changes can create pathways to address emerging forest health challenges posed by similar western fires. For analysis, various remote sensing and modeled data were collected from OpenET, the North American Land Data Assimilation System, TerraClimate, Harmonized LandSat Sentinel-2 data, and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Multiple linear regression and generalized additive models were constructed. Relative change in evapotranspiration served as the response variable. Model covariates included average temperature, total precipitation in the preceding months, average soil moisture, elevation, slope, aspect, northness, latitude, pre-fire normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and post-fire change in normalized burn ratio (dNBR). Best subset selection with cross validation demonstrated minimization of cross-validation error with a 7-covariate model. This reduced model yields lower complexity and more interpretability while sustaining an adjusted R2 of 0.626, compared to the full model’s adjusted R2 of 0.663. A reduced generalized additive model (GAM) with interaction terms drawn from the linear model variable selection demonstrated an adjusted R2 of 0.695, indicating a better fit that comes at the cost of reduced interpretability and higher computational requirements than the linear models. The goal of this work is to disentangle environmental indicators of post-fire evapotranspiration change, such that predictive modeling of future wildfire impacts on evapotranspiration can be achieved.


      Return to 2024 SARP Closeout Share
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      Last Updated Nov 22, 2024 Related Terms
      General Explore More
      8 min read SARP East 2024 Ocean Remote Sensing Group
      Article 21 mins ago 10 min read SARP East 2024 Atmospheric Science Group
      Article 21 mins ago 11 min read SARP East 2024 Terrestrial Fluxes Group
      Article 22 mins ago View the full article
    • NASA
      SARP East 2024 Terrestrial Fluxes Group
      By NASA
      11 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Return to 2024 SARP Closeout Faculty Advisors:
      Dr. Lisa Haber, Virginia Commonwealth University
      Dr. Brandon Alveshere, Virginia Commonwealth University
      Dr. Chris Gough, Virginia Commonwealth University
      Graduate Mentor:
      Mindy Priddy, Virginia Commonwealth University

      Mindy Priddy, Graduate Mentor
      Mindy Priddy, graduate mentor for the 2024 SARP Terrestrial Fluxes group, provides an introduction for each of the group members and shares behind-the scenes moments from the internship.

      Angelina De La Torre
      Using NDVI as a Proxy for GPP to Predict Carbon Dioxide Fluxes
      Angelina De La Torre
      Climate change, driven primarily by greenhouse gases, poses a threat to the future of our planet. Among these gases is carbon dioxide (CO₂), which has a much longer atmospheric residence time compared to other greenhouse gases. One potential factor in reducing atmospheric CO₂ enrichment is plant productivity. Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) estimates the amount of CO₂ fixed during photosynthesis. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) provides insight into the health of an ecosystem by measuring the density and greenness of vegetation. Therefore, it can be inferred that there is a relationship between NDVI and GPP, as greener plants are likely more productive. In this study, we used NDVI as a proxy for GPP and analyzed the effect NDVI had on CO₂ fluxes during California’s wet season between January and March 2023 in a restored tidal freshwater wetland. GPP and CO₂ flux data were obtained from the Dutch Slough AmeriFlux tower in Oakley, California. Landsat data were used to calculate the average NDVI. The influence of NDVI on GPP was assessed using linear regression. A second linear regression was then performed using NDVI and CO₂ flux, of which GPP is one component. We anticipate that wetlands with greater vegetation density will have lower CO₂ emissions.

      Because Landsat data scans in 16-day intervals, daily variation in NDVI could not be observed. This translates to a frequency discrepancy between the Landsat and AmeriFlux data, as AmeriFlux towers measure in half-hour intervals. Additionally, the wet season represented was limited by data availability, as the data before 2023 were unavailable. Despite data limitations in this study, the outlined process could be repeated in various wetland and climate classifications for further analysis of a larger sample size. This study could assist in developing strategies to increase CO₂ sequestration in an attempt to slow the effects of climate change.

      Samarth Jayadev
      Using Machine Learning to Assess Relationships between NDVI and Net Carbon Exchange During the COVID-19 Pandemic
      Samarth Jayadev
      Understanding the movement of carbon between Earth’s land surface and atmosphere is essential for ecosystem monitoring, creating climate change mitigation strategies, and assessing the carbon budget on national to global scales. Measures of greenness serve as indicators of processes such as photosynthesis that control carbon exchange and are vital in modeling of carbon fluxes. NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) provides high quality measurements of column-averaged CO₂ concentrations that can be used to derive net carbon exchange (NCE), a measure of CO₂ flux between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere.
      From OCO-2, NCE data collected at the land nadir, land glint satellite position combined with in situ sampling can provide accurate measurements on a 1°x1° scale suitable for carbon flux characterization across the contiguous United States (CONUS). Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which ranges from -1 to +1, measures the greenness of vegetation, serving as an indicator of plant density and health. This can help to understand ecosystem to carbon-cycle interactions and be leveraged for determining patterns with NCE. We examined the relationship between NDVI and NCE across CONUS during 2020 using Gradient Boosting Decision Trees (GBDT) which specialize in classifying and predicting non-linear relationships. This algorithm takes multiple weak learners (decision trees) and combines their predictions in an iterative ensemble method to improve prediction accuracy. Feature and permutation importance tests found that January and August (trough and peak NDVI, respectively) were the highest weighted predictor variables related to NCE. The dataset was split in a 90% training 10% test ratio across latitude/longitude grid cells to assess and verify model performance. Using the mean squared error loss function and hyperparameters with optimal estimators, tree depth, sample split, and learning rate the algorithm was able to converge the test predictions to match the deviance of the training data. The gradient boosting model can be applied to different months and years of NDVI/NCE to further explore these relationships or a multitude of research questions. Further studies should consider integrating land use and land cover change variables such as bare land and urbanization to improve predictions of NCE.

      Makai Ogoshi
      Deep-learning Derived Spaceborne Canopy Structural Metrics Predict Forest Carbon Fluxes
      Makai Ogoshi
      Terrestrial and airborne lidar data products describing canopy structure are potent predictors of forest carbon fluxes, but whether satellite data products produce similarly robust indicators of canopy structure is not known. The assessment of contemporary spaceborne lidar and other remote sensing data products as predictors of carbon fluxes is crucial to next generation instrument and data product design and large-spatial scale modeling. We investigated relationships between deciduous broadleaf forest canopy structure, derived from deep-learning models created with lidar data from GEDI and optical imagery from Sentinel-2, and forest carbon exchange. These included comparisons to in-situ continuous net ecosystem exchange (NEE), gross primary production (GPP), and net primary production (NPP). We find that the mean  canopy height from the gridded spaceborne product has a strong correlation with forest NPP, similar to prior analysis with ground-based lidar (portable canopy lidar; PCL). For comparison to NPP, heights taken from the gridded spaceborne product were compared by overlapping the product with nine terrestrial forest sites from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). We used standard deviation of canopy height as a measure of canopy structural complexity. Complexity derived from the gridded spaceborne product does not show the same strong correlation with NPP as found when using PCL. Mean annual GPP and NEE across five years were compared to the gridded spaceborne product at six Fluxnet2015-tower sites with continuous, gap-filled carbon flux data. When compared to in-situ flux tower data, neither mean canopy height nor structural complexity strongly correlate to annual NEE or GPP. Primarily, the finding that derived spaceborne products exhibit a strong correlation between forest canopy height and NPP will advance global-scale application of forest-carbon flux predictions. Secondarily, a variety of limitations highlight shortcomings in the current terrestrial flux data network. A small number of available study sites, both spatially and temporally, and lack of resolution in vertical complexity of canopy structure both contribute to uncertainty in assessing the relationships to NEE and GPP.

      Sebastian Reed
      Porewater Methane Concentrations Vary Significantly Across A Freshwater Tidal Wetland
      Sebastian Reed
      Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more powerful than CO₂ at trapping heat and accounts for an estimated 30% of global temperature rise associated with climate change. The largest natural source of methane worldwide is wetlands. Despite the role of methane in driving climate change, the magnitude of global annual wetland methane flux remains highly uncertain. This study analyzes the effects of greenness (assessed using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; NDVI), plant species composition, rooting depth, atmospheric methane concentration, and plant longevity on porewater methane concentration at the Kimages Rice Rivers Center tidal freshwater wetland. Samples for atmospheric and porewater concentrations were conducted in situ in June 2024. For each sampling location (n = 23) we collected whole air samples (WAS) 2m above the marsh surface and porewater samples 5cm below the marsh surface. We visually assessed species composition at each sample location, with 12 species of wetland plants present overall. We used the TRY plant database to find the rooting depth, leaf nitrogen content, and lifespan of each species. Drone multispectral data from 2023 was used to estimate NDVI values. These variables were compared to the pore water methane concentration via stepwise linear regression. Leaf N content, NDVI, plant species, and WAS sampling did not show statistically significant correlation to porewater methane concentration. Rooting depth showed a slight positive correlation with porewater methane (alpha = 0.1, p = 0.08, R^2 = 0.1). Samples with only perennial plants (as opposed to annual plants) had a higher mean value of porewater methane (p = 0.1). Analyzing porewater methane provides insight as to what wetland components affect methanogenesis and methane release, which aids in assessing which plant functional traits are most responsible for driving or mitigating climate change. Results from this study and future research in this area has the potential to more accurately assess how methane cycles through wetlands to the atmosphere.

      Nohemi Rodarte
      Understanding the vertical profile of CO₂ concentration: How carbon dioxide levels change with altitude
      Nohemi Rodarte
      Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the main greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming.While the relationship between CO₂ concentrations and land cover types, such as forests and urban areas, is well documented, there is limited knowledge of how CO₂ concentrations vary with altitude at fine spatial scales. Guided by our hypothesis that CO₂ levels vary with altitude and increase with elevation, we used airborne data collected from the B200 aircraft, which flew at different altitudes (400 to 1200 feet) above the urban area of Hopewell, Virginia, between 9:40 AM and 10:40 AM. We analyzed the CO₂ concentrations recorded by the flight to obtain the median and range for each 100 feet of altitude. Our results reveal that carbon dioxide concentrations varied significantly across the range of altitudes investigated. Within the area studied, CO₂ concentrations were found to range between 410 and 470 ppm. The distribution of these concentrations along the altitude gradient shows a bimodal pattern, with notable peaks at altitudes of 700 to 800 feet and 1100 to 1200 feet. Although CO₂ levels were present at all measured altitudes, there was a noticeable drop in the mean concentration at 800 feet,which then stabilized until reaching 1,000 feet before rising again. This pattern indicates that the concentrations of this greenhouse gas are not uniformly distributed with altitude, but rather vary significantly, showing higher concentrations at certain elevations and lower concentrations at others. The CO₂ distribution fluctuates with altitude, showing higher or lower levels at specific heights rather than a smooth gradient, indicating that altitude impacts CO₂ concentrations. While we did not identify the drivers of this change, future studies could evaluate how factors such as surface emissions, atmospheric mixing, and local conditions may contribute to vertical CO₂ profiles, since the altitudes we considered in this research are within the troposphere.

      Camille Shaw
      Linking NDVI with CO₂ and CH₄ Fluxes: Insights into Vegetation and Urban Source-Sink Dynamics in the Great Dismal Swamp
      Camille Shaw
      In recent years, carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases have gained attention because of their contribution to the rise in Earth’s global mean temperature. Methane and carbon dioxide have various sources and sinks, but an expanding array of sources have created a need to assess ongoing change in carbon balance. This study aims to quantify the relationship between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or NDVI, and methane and carbon dioxide fluxes. We measured carbon dioxide and methane concentrations within the boundary layer using the PICARRO instrument, focusing on the Great Dismal Swamp, a forested wetland, and surrounding areas in the Eastern Mid-Atlantic Region. Data collection occurred at various times of day and along different flight paths in 2016, 2017, and 2024, with each year representing data from a single season, either spring or fall, for temporal analysis. We calculated methane and carbon dioxide fluxes along the flight paths using airborne eddy covariance, a method for capturing accurate flux measurements while accounting for the mixing of gases in the boundary layer caused by heat. Additionally, we calculated NDVI for this area using NASA’s Landsat 8 and 9 satellite imagery. Analysis of the afternoon flight data revealed a negative linear correlation between NDVI and carbon dioxide flux. Urban areas, characterized by low NDVI, exhibit a positive carbon dioxide flux as a consequence of emissions from vehicles, while forested areas, with high NDVI, show a negative carbon dioxide flux because of photosynthesis. In contrast, methane flux shows minimal correlation with NDVI. The lack of correlation arises because forested wetlands, with high NDVI, emit substantial amounts of methane, while urban areas, despite having low NDVI, still produce significant methane emissions from landfills and industrial activities. Future research could further investigate how seasonal and diurnal variations influence the correlations between NDVI and greenhouse gases by collecting comprehensive data across all seasons within a given year and at various times of the day.

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