Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A beaver family nibbles on aspen branches just up Logan Canyon from Utah State University, in Spawn Creek, Utah.
Credit: Sarah Koenigsberg
Humans aren’t the only mammals working to mitigate the effects of climate change in the Western United States. People there are also enlisting the aid of nature’s most prolific engineers – beavers. Using NASA-provided grants, two open-source programs from Boise State University in Idaho and Utah State University in Logan are making it possible for ranchers, land trust managers, nonprofits, and others to attract beavers to areas that need their help.
The Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool (BRAT) created by Utah State University uses data from satellites built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to identify areas that need restoration and would benefit from beavers’ dam-building abilities. The Boise State University Mesic Resource Restoration Monitoring Aid (MRRMaid) program, which also uses satellite data, monitors the areas over time. Both efforts are also supported by NASA’s Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science program and the agency’s Applied Sciences’ Ecological Conservation program.
Once a site is chosen, program staffers and landowners begin to take measures to attract beavers, or the teams may relocate them from other areas. Either way, once on site, these semiaquatic builders get to work building and maintaining dams to create the ponds. The ponds help to retain water, including runoff from snowmelt and rainstorms, that would otherwise rush through the area, causing erosion and degrading the surrounding ecosystems.
Over time, these new ponds raise the water table, support wetlands that attract more wildlife and fish, and restore native plants to the ecosystem. Beaver dams can help ranchers improve water availability on their property, supporting their operations.
NASA Landsat data helps Utah State University identify streams where beavers can be reintroduced to help improve an ecosystem. Boise State University also uses Landsat data to show just how much beavers help. The vegetation in this satellite image indicates where streams or creeks are flowing and reveals the benefits of beaver activity.
Credit: NASA
In addition to being beautiful and supporting the local ecology, these moisture-rich environments can limit wildfire damage with a barrier of healthy vegetation resistant to burning. When human infrastructure is nearby, a built-in leak or other interventions by humans can be added to control the water level, preventing floods that cause property damage.
As a restoration site’s health improves, MRRMaid and BRAT use NASA satellite data to monitor those changes and analyze how the beavers benefit the ecosystem in drought-stricken areas. Community leaders can use this information and the living examples of restored sites to build new parks and recreational areas and plan future restoration projects with their furry collaborators.
This image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) of star-forming region NGC 604 shows how stellar winds from bright, hot young stars carve out cavities in surrounding gas and dust.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
In this image released on March 9, 2024, the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope gives us a more detailed view of a well-studied but still mysterious region, NGC 604. The most noticeable features are tendrils and clumps of emission that appear bright red, extending out from areas that look like clearings, or large bubbles in the nebula. Stellar winds from the brightest and hottest young stars have carved out these cavities, while ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas. This ionized hydrogen appears as a white and blue ghostly glow.
NASA, FAA Partner to Develop New Wildland Fire Technologies
Artist’s rendering of remotely piloted aircraft providing fire suppression, monitoring and communications capabilities during a wildland fire.
NASA
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have established a research transition team to guide the development of wildland fire technology.
Wildland fires are occurring more frequently and at a larger scale than in past decades, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Emergency responders will need a broader set of technologies to prevent, monitor, and fight these growing fires more effectively. Under this Wildland Fire Airspace Operations research transition team, NASA and the FAA will develop concepts and test new technologies to improve airspace integration.
Current aerial firefighting operations are limited to times when aircraft have clear visibility – otherwise pilots run the risk of flying into terrain or colliding with other aircraft. Drones could overcome this limitation by enabling responders to remotely monitor and suppress these fires during nighttime and low visibility conditions, such as periods of heavy smoke. However, advanced airspace management technologies are needed to enable these uncrewed aircraft to stay safely separated and allow aircraft operators to maintain situational awareness during wildland fire management response operations.
Over the next four years, NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project, in collaboration with the FAA, will work to develop new airspace access and traffic management concepts and technologies to support wildland fire operations. These advancements will help inform a concept of operations for the future of wildland fire management under development by NASA and other government agencies. The team will test and validate uncrewed aircraft technologies for use by commercial industry and government agencies, paving the way for integrating them into future wildland fire operations.
ACERO is led out of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley under the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
Join NASA in Celebrating Earth Day 2024 by Sharing a #GlobalSelfie
NASA invites you — and everyone else on the planet — to take part in a worldwide celebration of Earth Day with the agency’s #GlobalSelfie event. While NASA satellites constantly look at Earth from space, on Earth Day we’re asking you to step outside and take a picture of yourself in your corner of the world. Then post it to social media using the hashtag #GlobalSelfie.
Bonus points if your #GlobalSelfie features your favorite body of water! About 71% of our Blue Marble is covered by water, and that water is one of the main reasons why Earth is like no other planet we’ve found in this solar system, or beyond.
Why #GlobalSelfie?
NASA astronauts brought home the first ever images of the whole planet from space. Now NASA satellites capture new images of Earth every second. With Earth-observing missions orbiting our home planet right now, and more set to launch this year, NASA studies Earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans in all their complexity.
For Earth Day, we want everyone to share the planet from their point of view. Need an idea of what kind of picture to take? Get outside and show us mountains, parks, the sky, rivers, lakes – and you! Wherever you are, there’s your picture.
How do I take part?
Post your photo to social media using the hashtag #GlobalSelfie. Make it public so we can see, and celebrate #EarthDay with you!
NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change
5 min read
NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change
NASA has selected six new airborne missions that include domestic and international studies of fire-induced clouds, Arctic coastal change, air quality, landslide hazards, shrinking glaciers, and emissions from agricultural lands. NASA’s suite of airborne missions complement what scientists can see from orbit, measure from the ground, and simulate in computer models.
Funded through the agency’s Earth Venture program, the missions center around the use of instruments mounted on aircraft to make measurements in finer detail—both in spatial resolution and shorter time scales—than can be made by many satellites. Competitively selected, the missions provide opportunities to supplement satellite observations and make innovative measurements.
“These missions will help us interpret what our current satellites are seeing from space and test new ideas and techniques for our upcoming Earth System Observatory,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. “There is also a strong focus on actionable Earth science—gathering fundamental observations that have connections to our economy and societal decision-making and information needs.”
NASA’s newest Earth Ventures missions include studies of how climate change is altering carbon emissions and water and ice flows across Arctic coastal regions.
Credit: Landsat/USGS/NASA Earth Observatory
Roughly $120 million has been allotted for the six missions, which will deploy at various times from 2026 to 2029. Three lead investigators were chosen for each mission, with at least one required to be an early career scientist. Full staffing of the science teams and selection of complementary instruments will be competed in the coming months. These changes in the selection process were made to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the teams.
“We are constantly looking to foster the growth of the next generation of scientists,” said Barry Lefer, the program manager who led the Earth Venture selection panels at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This round of missions will put an extra emphasis on bringing new people into mission planning and leadership.”
The six missions include:
Arctic coastal change
Maria Tzortziou of the City College of New York will lead a project to observe changes in river systems on the North Slope of Alaska. Known as FORTE (short for Arctic Coastlines–The Frontlines of Rapidly Transforming Ecosystems), the project will combine optical and radar measurements from planes, helicopters, boats, and drones to measure water flows and chemistry and observe how ecosystems respond to changing climate. The team will collaborate with indigenous communities to sustain observations over time.
Clouds created by fire
In one of NASA’s newest Earth Ventures missions, researchers will investigate the conditions that lead to the formation of pyrocumulonimbus “fire clouds.” Extreme wildland fires can create their own weather and inject smoke into the stratosphere.
Courtesy of David Peterson, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
In PYREX—the Pyrocumulonimbus Experiment—David Peterson of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington will lead a study of pyrocumulonimbus clouds, which form when wildfires burn hot enough to make their own weather. Flying over the western U.S. and Canada, researchers will examine the fire characteristics that produce pyrocumulonimbus, while exploring the mechanisms that lead these clouds to inject smoke into the stratosphere, where it can have climate effects.
Urban air pollution
James Crawford of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will lead HAMAQ (Hemispheric Airborne Measurements of Air Quality), a project that capitalizes on the recent launches of NASA’s TEMPO pollution-monitoring satellite instrument and comparable measurements made by Korean and European satellites. Over Mexico City and a U.S. city to be determined, scientists will investigate areas of poor air quality and test how satellite information can help improve ground-based forecasting and mitigation strategies.
Shifting weather, shifting lands
Climate change is leading to more extreme droughts and rainfall events that affect the stability of hillslopes and the soil and rock on them. Led by Alexander Handwerger of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, LACCE (Landslide Climate Change Experiment) will combine airborne measurements with land-based sensors to track the way slopes and landslides are changing as water moves differently across the landscape.
Glacier retreat
John Holt of the University of Arizona will lead Snow4Flow, a project to quantify the retreat of glaciers and ice sheets in ways that can lead to better projections of land-ice change. In Alaska, southeastern Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, and Svalbard, the team will use microwave and high-frequency radar sounders to measure snow accumulation, ice melting, and changes in ice thickness and motion.
Agricultural emissions
While the burning of fossil fuels remains the leading source of carbon in our atmosphere, farmlands and ranchlands are also substantial sources of gas and particle emissions. In the NTERFAACE (Nitrogen and Carbon Terrestrial Fluxes: Agriculture, Atmospheric Composition, and Ecosystems) mission, led by Glenn Wolfe of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, researchers will measure the amount of greenhouse gases, nitrogen, and other pollutants that are emitted from agricultural lands across the United States.
The PYREX and Snow4Flow missions are funded at $30 million each, while the other four projects will each receive $15 million. These six investigations were selected from 42 proposals. The 2024 selections represent the fourth series of NASA Earth Venture investigations, which were first recommended by the National Research Council in 2007.
