Heliophysics and Planetary Science

Marshall Scientist Invited to Speak at American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech Forum

Robert Loper of Marshall Space Flight Center’s Heliophysics and Planetary Science Branch participated in the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum in Orlando, FL, on Jan. 6-10, 2025. Loper delivered the invited talk, “Analysis of the Heliospheric Conditions Leading to the February 2022 Geomagnetic Storm Event.” 

Earth Science

NASA Releases the Prithvi-HLS V2.0 Geospatial Foundation Model

NASA has released Prithvi-HLS v2.0, an enhanced geospatial foundation model leveraging Earth observation data from the Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) datasets. Trained on 4.2 million global time-series samples spanning 2015–2024, the model uses Masked Autoencoders (MAE) with a Vision Transformer (ViT) backbone, incorporating temporal and location metadata. Improvements include updated sampling strategies to ensure diverse, high-quality, cloud-free samples and temporal trends. The model was developed in collaboration with IBM and Julich SuperComputing. Benchmarked on the GEO-Bench framework, Prithvi-HLS v2.0 outperformed six leading models and its predecessor Prithvi-EO-1.0, demonstrating significant gains in medium-resolution tasks such as land-use classification and crop type segmentation.

AI Geospatial Foundation Model Workshop

NASA Marshall scientists Rajat Shinde, Sujit Roy, Vishal Gaur, Iksha Gurung, and Muthukumaran Ramasubramanian organized and led the Artificial Intelligence Foundation Models Workshop at the Institute of Electrical and Electrical Engineers – Indian Geoscience and Remote Sensing (GARSS) 2024 in India, Dec. 2, 2024. Prithvi Geospatial FM and Prithvi Weather and Climate FM were highlighted as part of the workshop.

Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM)-19 Data Meets Beta Level Validation

The Certification Process for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-19 Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) L2 Beta Maturity was held on Jan. 13, 2025. As a result of this review, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) panel chair declared the data was of Beta validation maturity based on the validation analyses provided by Earth Science Branch’s William Koshak’s  Validation Team. This is the first of three important validation milestones (Beta, Provisional, and Full) to be completed for GLM-19. The GLM L2 product consists of geo-located and time-stamped events, groups, and flashes, with associated calibrated optical amplitudes (in units of Joules). Beta maturity, by definition, means that:       

• Initial calibration is applied (L1b).
• Rapid changes in product input tables/algorithms can be expected.
• Product quick looks and initial comparisons with ground truth data not adequate to determine product quality.
• Anomalies may be found in the product and the resolution strategy may not exist.
• Product is made available to users to gain familiarity with data formats and parameters.
• Product has been minimally validated and may still contain significant errors.
• Product is not optimized for operational use.

Proposal Funded for Participation in NURTURE Field Campaign

Four Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) scientists have been selected to participate in the NASA North American Upstream Feature-Resolving and Tropopause Uncertainty Reconnaissance Experiment (NURTURE) field campaign. In collaboration with scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Ames Research Center, SPoRT will produce real-time situational awareness products for use aboard the NASA 777 aircraft during research flights and for on-the-ground forecasting and flight planning. The products will be accompanied by long-form and short-form training tailored to the unique needs of the NURTURE field campaign. Patrick Duran of the Earth Science Branch is the PI serving alongside co-Is Sebastian Harkema, Roger Allen, and Matthew Miller, as well as collaborator Emily Berndt, all from SPoRT. The products and training to be produced include sounding, imagery, and precipitation products from polar-orbiting satellite platforms; sea-surface temperature; and limb-adjusted geostationary satellite imagery. The geostationary products will leverage the low-latency capability of the NASA MSFC GOES satellite receiving station to provide reliable and timely data for inclusion in NASA’s Mission Tools Suite and other situational awareness tools to be used by the NURTURE mission science and forecasting teams.

Marshall Scientist Contributes to Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Facility Review

Rahul Ramachandran of Marshall Space Flight Center’s Earth Science Branch participated in the triennial review of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Scientific User Facility supported by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER). These reviews assess whether ARM provides the scientific community with the tools and observations needed for impactful research and ensures effective operation and management. ARM’s mission is to advance climate research through strategically located atmospheric observatories, enhancing understanding of clouds, aerosols, and their interactions with the Earth’s surface. The facility includes fixed and mobile observatories, aerial capabilities, high-resolution modeling, and a data center, collectively supporting Earth system modeling efforts.

Report-writing Workshops Held for Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) Assessment Participants

At the conclusion of NASA’s assessment of 125 federal agency satellite data needs submitted through the 2024 Satellite Need Working Group (SNWG) survey, each agency that submitted a survey received an assessment report containing analysis of their satellite needs and a list of resources that help meet the needs including current and upcoming satellite missions, specific data products, training resources, and newly proposed activities. The SNWG Management Office team held workshops on Jan. 24, 2025 and Jan. 31, 2025, to provide information on the content and audience of SNWG reports and to train assessment participants on the Report Generation Tool (RGT). The workshops were led by NASA Marshall scientists Natasha Sadoff, Anita LeRoy, and Katrina Virts with support from NASA Marshall scientists Jenny Wood, Essence Raphael, B.C. Ray, and Cherrelle Tucker. 120 individuals across NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are participating in the 2024 assessment.

NASA Short-term Prediction and Transition (SPoRT) and Disasters Teams Deliver Critical Insights with Satellite and Ground-Based Data to Support Communities

NASA’s Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) and Disasters teams provided essential insights using both satellite and ground-based data to assist communities during this intense 2024 hurricane season. These contributions helped improve disaster response and decision-making in the face of major weather events. Read more on the SPoRT blog.

NOAA/NASA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R Series (GOES-R) Fuel Weather and Disaster Response Research

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/NASA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R Series (GOES-R) Receiving Station at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center plays a critical role in advancing weather forecasting, disaster response, and space weather research. This state-of-the-art facility supports the development of tools like DustTracker, which enhances air quality monitoring capabilities, and Lightning-AI, which provides improved insights for lightning safety. For more information, read the full blog post.

Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center Lightning Safety Products Now Available on NASA SAFE App

Chris Schultz and Kelley Murphy with the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center, Kris White of the National Weather Service (NWS) Huntsville, Christina Dortier of Marshall Space Flight Center’s Emergency Operations Center, and Linda Spurlock of Johnson Space Center’s Emergency Management Team have recently incorporated a prototype link and content within the NASA SAFE App. This will allow all NASA employees at Johnson and Marshall to have direct access to lightning data and lightning safety products through the NASA SAFE App. During this prototype phase, the team will work on adding lightning safety content, product training for the public, and design the app to make it as user-friendly as possible for the workforce. After the evaluation period ends in March, the plan is to roll the content out to the remaining centers by late Spring, so all the NASA workforce has access to this valuable lightning data and safety information for their personal use and daily availability.

WH2yMSIE Field Campaign Completes Operations 

After four weeks of operations, the Westcoast and Heartland Hyperspectral Microwave Sensor Intensive Experiment (WH2yMSIE) has concluded. Marshall Space Flight Center provided the Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) to the suborbital campaign, which was based out of Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) and assisted with mission science. Timothy Lang, AMPR principal investigator,  and Corey Amiot, NASA postdoctoral fellow, from Marshall’s Earth Science Branch were deployed with additional support in the field from University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) employees Scott Podgorny, David Corredor, and Jonathan Hicks. Doug Huie from H&H Engineering also deployed to support AMPR, and Matt Wingo fom UAH managed AMPR logistics.  

AMPR successfully gathered more than 60 hours of data over 10 flights on the NASA ER-2 high-altitude remote-sensing aircraft. WH2yMSIE will advance the NASA Decadal Survey Incubator priority of understanding how best to make remotely sensed thermodynamic measurements of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). With its low microwave frequencies, AMPR contributes to this goal by characterizing surface emissivity and being sensitive to the presence of clouds and precipitation, all of which can help improve PBL retrievals when using a multi-sensor data fusion approach. 

The Visualization, Exploration, and Data analysis (VEDA) Project Supports the Release of the Global Sea-level Change Portal

The Global Sea Level Change Portal was publicly released and announced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP29). The site, hosted by NASA’s Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT), allows users to explore the effects of sea level change on their specific counties and how coastlines will be altered in the future. The team at NASA IMPACT collaborated with the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) to develop and deploy the Visualization, Exploration, and Data Analysis (VEDA) cloud infrastructure required to make the site available on earth.gov.

Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Water Cycle Digital Twin Proposal Selected for Funding 

A proposal to build a digital twin of the land surface water cycle has been selected for funding with a start in March 2025. This is a large, multi-institution effort led from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and includes water cycle subject matter expertise from Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), including Brent Roberts and Chris Hain from the Earth Science Branch. NASA provides observations of precipitation, evapotranspiration, terrestrial water storage change, and now, with the advent of the NASA Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, discharge. The water budget research community is now able to take advantage of a complete suite of observations to investigate land surface water budget closure. The work selected for funding will bring observation-based projections of these water budget components together in a digital twin for the purpose of visualizing the community’s progress toward balancing the terrestrial water budget. This web-based terrestrial water budget digital twin will facilitate water budget analyses, broaden the research community, and extend its relevance to water basin managers and the public. 

SERVIR Supports Air Quality Management Training in Guatemala 

From Nov. 19-22, 2024, representatives of the SERVIR Science Coordination Office and the new SERVIR Central America hub at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE, in Spanish) supported an air quality management training in Guatemala. The training was held at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala and had roughly 20 participants from the government of Guatemala, as well as academia. It focused on using satellite and in situ measurements for monitoring and forecasting air quality. The training was organized at the request of Guatemala’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN, in Spanish), which recently acquired air quality monitoring instruments. The SERVIR Science Coordination Office’s Air Quality & Health Thematic Lead Alqamah Sayeed was the principal trainer; he was supported by Betzy Hernandez Sandoval, the outgoing regional science coordination lead for Central America, and Diego Gil Agudelo, the Americas continental coordinator. Also in attendance were Alejandro Solis, the SERVIR Central America hub’s Chief of Party, User Engagement Lead Jorge Cabrera, and Capacity Building Lead Andrea Zamora, all from CATIE. In addition to the air quality training, the SERVIR representatives also organized a consultation and needs assessment meeting focused on forest monitoring, in conjunction with representatives of the US SilvaCarbon program. 

Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition Program Publishes GeoOptics and Capella Space Data to the SmallSat Data Explorer  

Science data from GeoOptics’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Capella Space’s Synthetic Aperture Radar are now available for download by authorized users through the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition Program’a (CSDA) SmallSat Data Explorer (SDX).  

The CSDA program data management team led by Marshall Space Flight Center’s Dr. Aaron Kaulfus and Helen Parache released this data on Oct. 22, 2024. GeoOptics and Capella Space participated in the third onramp of commercial data vendors into the CSDA program. The data available have been acquired during the yearlong CSDA evaluation. Full evaluation reports will be posted to the CSDA website.   

Flood Preparedness in Texas with SPoRT’s Streamflow-AI Tool 

The Streamflow-AI tool, designed to forecast river flooding beyond 48 hours, has advanced flood prediction capabilities. Developed in collaboration with the National Weather Service (NWS), Streamflow-AI aids in disaster preparedness by providing accurate three to seven-day stream height predictions. During a heavy rainfall event in May 2024, Streamflow-AI enabled effective emergency responses in south Texas, such as timely road closures and evacuation advisories, thus minimizing damage and disruption. Read more on the SPoRT blog.   

NASA SPoRT Geostationary Lightning Mapper Stoplight Product Considered “Go-To” Product by National Weather Service Office

The work of the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center’s (SPoRT’s) Dr. Christopher Schultz, Michael Antia, Roger Allen, Kristopher White, and Kelley Murphy to develop and display the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) Stoplight Product has helped the National Weather Service (NWS) support safety at various events. Most recently, forecasters at the NWS office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin referred to the Stoplight Product as one of their “go-tos” for increasing awareness and providing event decision makers with the likelihood that lightning will impact their event. One forecaster spoke on how the stoplight product aided him during his weather briefings while he was on-site providing weather support for the U.S. Secret Service at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

NASA’s SERVIR Science Coordination Office Launches Farm Action Toolkit Service in Bhutan

Dr. Aparna Phalke, Sarah Cox, and Tony Kim traveled to Thimphu, Bhutan, to represent the SERVIR Science Coordination Office (SCO) at the official launch of the Farm Action Toolkit service on May 17, 2024. The Farm Action Toolkit was co-developed by SERVIR and Bhutan’s implementing partners to support their mission to obtain food self-sufficiency and save operational costs. This service provides 30-meter scale cropland, paddy, and maize area maps and paddy yield estimations covering mountainous and marginal farmlands across Bhutan from 2002 to 2023.

Kim, Phalke, and Cox conducted in-person outreach events at the Royal Thimphu College and Royal University of Bhutan’s (RUB) College of Natural Resources on May 14 and May 24, respectively. Over 100 students from each academic institution participated in the outreach events, which focused on how to leverage Earth observations to address immediate environmental issues in Bhutan.

Following the launch, a SERVIR SCO service team led by Phalke and Bhutan’s partner team from Druk Holding and Investments Limited (DHI) performed surveys of agricultural fields across the Thimphu, Punakha, and Paro areas of Bhutan using GPS, helmet data collection with GoPro cameras and drones. The team interviewed individual farmers from rice cultivation areas with pest, disease, and water related issues. They also collected market analysis data from over 50 vendors and interviewed farmers on agricultural commodities and the supply chain. These field surveys will play a significant role in the operation and adoption of the Farm Action Toolkit service.

Astrophysics

Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE): Ph.D Thesis Award 

Jakub Podgorny, a member of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Science Team, recently received the National Prize for Ph.D. Theses in Natural Sciences in the Czech Republic. Podgorny’s Ph.D. research focused on X-ray polarization simulations and IXPE observations for stellar and supermassive black holes.