During the SMAPVEX12 campaign measurements are being made simultaneously by airborne remote sensing instruments (PALS and UAVSAR) and by in situ sampling of the field sites. Measurements of the vegetation/crop structure characteristics and attributes during the vegetation growth phases are an important part of the data collection. Crop structure measurements collected during the campaign […]
Forest Sampling
Aspen trees (deciduous forest) comprise more than 90% of the sampled SMAPVEX12 forest sites, with an understory layer of shrubs and grass. The dense shrubs make it difficult to access the sites, therefore the soil moisture and vegetation sampling schemes adopted for these sites are different from the cropland sites. A representative circular area […]
On the Twin Otter
Andreas Colliander Jet Propulsion Laboratory On the second science data acquisition flight of PALS (on June 12) I got to fly on board the Twin Otter aircraft for the flight segment after the mid-day refueling stop at Winnipeg airport. Due to the minimal requirement for a second PALS operator on this flight I took Ian’s […]
Clear Skies & Forest Sites
Eni Njoku Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mariko Burgin University of Michigan Today the skies are clear. PALS is flying again today, and also flew on June 12th. So this is the third PALS flight day. There is hardly a cloud in sight anywhere as PALS takes off. The soil moisture sampling crews are out. […]
Notes From the Field
Grant Wiseman Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada After much preparation and anticipation it is hard to believe the first week of the SMAPVEX12 campaign is already behind us. The week began with a successful training session held at the Regional Operation Centre (ROC) in Winnipeg. Field teams were instructed on how to use Hydra Probes, CropScan […]
Tornado Tracks
Tornadoes plague the central and eastern sections of the contiguous United States far more than the western portion. That much is obvious from this map showing 56 years of tornado tracks, from 1950 through 2006. This map breaks down tornadoes by strength based on the Fujita scale. Stronger tornadoes appear as brighter lines. (An enhanced Fujita […]
MSFC Watches the Transit of Venus
The transit of Venus on June 5th this year sparked much attention worldwide. Astronomers and the general public alike gathered around telescopes or grabbed their solar filter glasses to observe this rare alignment of the Sun, Venus and Earth. Members of the Natural Environments Branch brought together their telescopes to have a viewing party at …
EO’s Satellite Puzzler: June 2012
Every month or so, NASA Earth Observatory will offer up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The first one is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section below to tell us what part of the world we’re looking at, when the image was acquired, and what’s happening in the scene. How to answer. […]
EO’s Satellite Puzzler: Inside Our New Caption Writing Contest
Here at the Earth Observatory, we sift through a constant stream of data and imagery that flows in from a range of satellite, airborne, and ground-based sensors. As a result, the images we share on our website really run the gamut. Many are true-color images that look like what your naked eye would see if […]
Down Days
Eni Njoku We’ve been rained out for four straight days Friday through Monday due to unstable weather conditions in the area – not exactly what we expected! On the other hand we should certainly observe some pretty wet fields when we make our next PALS flights. On Saturday things looked good in the early morning […]