NASA’s Applied Sciences

Program is supporting a formal

effort to optimize the value of

upcoming NASA Earth missions

to a broad user community and

to society at large. The objective

of the proposed Surface Water

and Ocean Topography (SWOT)

Applications program would be

to pave the way for operational

use of SWOT data products soon

after the mission would launch

in 2020. A wide range of existing

and potential oceanography

applications utilizing current

altimetry data products from the

Jason series and other missions

would be enhanced with the

introduction of high-spatial-

resolution data anticipated to

be gained from the proposed

SWOT mission. With time series

of surface water measurements

www.nasa.gov

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission*

PROMOTING PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-RESOLUTION ALTIMETRY MEASUREMENTS

Margaret Srinivasan1

C. Peterson2

E. Rodriguez1

K. Andreadis1

Y. Chao3

D. Moller3

F. Hossain4

1California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

Pasadena, California2MSU Science and Technology Center,

Stennis Space Center, Mississippi

3Remote Sensing Solutions,

Pasadena, CA 4University of Washington,

Seattle, WA

SWOT* Science Goals

Hydrology: First global inventory of fresh water storage and discharge on land.

Oceanography: First global determination of the ocean circulation, kinetic energy and dissipation at mesoscales and submesoscale processes.

For more information: swot.jpl.nasa.gov

AGU Ocean Sciences 2014, Honolulu

anticipated to be provided by

SWOT, a broad range of both

ocean applications may inform

coastal managers and marine

operators on offshore conditions

and currents relevant to their

regions.

Several studies proposed

to highlight the applications

potential of the SWOT* mission

for a broad range of users. These

include 1) the development of

a flood forecasting toolbox,

2) the use of remote sensing

measurements to improve the

understanding, monitoring

and management of estuaries

and deltas, and 3) the use of

simulated SWOT data to assess

the quality and potential value of

anticipated SWOT measurements

to both oceanography and

hydrology applications.

Planned strategies to enhance

science and practical

applications of anticipated

SWOT data include methods

of engaging with the science

community, operational users

and mission planners, and

the establishment of an Early

Adopters Program.

Science Questions Addressed by SWOT*

Hydrology: What is the spatial and temporal variability in the world’s terrestrial surface water storage and how can we predict these variations more accurately?

Oceanography: What is the small-scale (10–100 km) variability of ocean surface topography that determines the velocity of ocean currents, especially the effects of ocean current velocity on the transfers of heat, carbon dioxide and nutrients between the upper and deep ocean?

Abstract

Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.

Multiscale data assimilation from 3DVAR uses SST from multiple satellites, SSV from HF radars, vertical profiles of T/S from three Spray gliders, Argo floats, and ships, and produces 3 km resolution coastal ocean temperature maps. Nowcast data has been provided every 6 hours from September 2010 to present, and daily 72-hour forecasts are produced from 03 UTC. Images; Left top: Observations; satellite SST in color, HF radar surface current in vectors. Left bottom: Observations; glider section. Middle: ROMS with 3-km resolution. Right: SELFE unstructured grid model with variable resolutions from 1km near the Golden Gate bridge to 10m up in the rivers.

Monitoring and Managing Estuaries and Deltas

This proposed project will engage end users in both oceanography and hydrology application areas to demonstrate the potential use of SWOT* data to enable improved decision-making. Simulated SWOT measurements over the San Francisco Bay/Estuary and the Sacramento River will be used to assess the quality and potential value added by SWOT measurements to both oceanography and hydrology applications. The simulated SWOT data will be used to develop application-oriented data sets and value-added products to engage potential end users. (Y. Chao, E. Beighley, D. Moller)

Offline  

3-­‐km   1-­‐km………………..10-­‐m  

                                     Mul2-­‐scale  data  assimila2on                      

Flood Forecasting Toolbox

A graphical user interface (GUI) “toolbox” is being developed that will make satellite altimeter data far more accessible and interpretable to a wide range of end users. The toolbox will use altimetry data from the OSTM/Jason-2 satellite to allow the convenient extraction of river heights from the data, and will be usable for other data sets (such as SWOT) in the future. It will have the capability for expanded use in diverse geographic regions for users and stakeholders engaged in water resources management, and will have potential value as a test bed for data from the AirSWOT instrument. The toolbox will be made available to stakeholders such as water supply managers, NGOs, water resources and planning agencies, crop modelers, ecological forecasters, the climate adaptation community, and land management agencies. An immediate application of the toolbox during the project duration will be made by the Flood Management Division of the Institute of Water Modeling-Bangladesh for extending the flood forecasting lead-time to 5+ days using Jason-2 data. (F. Hossain, H. Lee)

Conventional (non-satellite) flood forecasting has a maximum of 3 day lead time to downstream locations due to lack of upstream data. “Real-time” (12 hour delay) Jason-2 data from upstream transboundary regions can extend forecast river levels downstream inside Bangladesh. Upstream information from the Indian region, which takes hours for water to travel to Bangladesh, may extend lead-time to 8 days downstream.

32°

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74° 76° 78° 80° 82° 84° 86° 88° 90° 92° 94° 96° 98°

J2 obs. usedGanges basin

In-situ stationsBrahmaputra basin

J2 ground trackNational boundaries

AirSWOT Applications Demonstration

NASA’s Applied Sciences Program has funded work to develop AirSWOT data products into an accessible format for general users. This project may help define appropriate format and demonstrate applications for high-resolution interferometric data, similar to what would be provided by the proposed NASA-CNES SWOT mission. The research will focus on the use of remote sensing measurements towards the improved understanding, monitoring and management of estuaries and deltas, with particular emphasis on the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta Estuary. A toolkit will be developed that will convert between the instrument data produced by AirSWOT and data products that will be accessible to a general user community. (E. Rodriguez, K. Andreadis, C. Michailovsky)

Upper; Swath data collected by AirSWOT over the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta on 5/21/13. Lower; Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for one line of AirSWOT data over the Sacramento-San-Joaquin Delta region, showing the area around one a Delta channel together with Landsat imagery of the surrounding land.

*Proposed Mission - Pre-decisional - for Planning and Discussion Purposes Only