Title:
ABoVE Airborne Campaign Data Fusion

Type:
Internship

Session:
Summer 2019

Center:
Goddard Space Flight Center

Building:
33

Room:
G321

Description:
Climate change in Arctic and Boreal regions is unfolding faster than anywhere else on Earth, resulting in reduced Arctic sea ice, thawing of permafrost soils, decomposition of long-frozen organic matter, widespread changes to lakes, rivers, coastlines, and alterations of ecosystem structure and function. NASA’s Terrestrial Ecology Program is conducting a major field campaign, the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE, https://above.nasa.gov/), which seeks a better understanding of the vulnerability and resilience of ecosystems and society to this changing environment through the intersection of field, remote sensing (airborne and satellite), and modeling research. Between April and October 2017, the ABoVE Airborne Campaign (AAC) surveyed over 4 million km2 in Alaska and northwestern Canada with instruments aboard ten aircraft. The science strategy included coupling domain-wide sampling with L-band and P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), imaging spectroscopy (AVIRIS-NG), full waveform lidar (LVIS) and atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane (ArcticCAP) with more spatially and temporally focused studies using Ka-band SAR and solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence (CFIS). Additional measurements were coordinated with the NEON Airborne Observing Platform, the ASCENDS instrument development suite, and the ATOM EV-S2 investigation. Many field sites throughout the ABoVE domain of interest to members of the ABoVE Science Team were imaged with one or more of these instruments throughout the season. Additional airborne imaging occurred in the summer of 2018 as well with AVIRIS-ng, L-band SAR, and G-LiHT (Goddard’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral & Thermal Imager. Find links to available data, and maps of coverage, here: https://above.nasa.gov/airborne_2017.html. The ABoVE campaign seeks a highly motivated and organized individual working towards a graduate degree in an environmental/earth science discipline (or related field) to complete a data fusion project using at least two or more of the airborne instrument data sets available from the summer 2017 or 2018 campaign. Airborne instrument data from the summer 2017 campaign will be made available to ABoVE researchers in the ABoVE Science Cloud (https://above.nasa.gov/sciencecloud.html). The student will access the data and use the processing capabilities provided in this high performance-computing environment during the internship. Possible projects should address some of the science questions and objectives for ABoVE (https://above.nasa.gov/about.html?#questions) and can be tailored to the research interests of the successful candidate. The successful candidate will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, experience with data manipulation, and experience with at least two of the types of airborne instrument data collected during the AAC.

Computer/Software Skills:
The student will be expected to perform analysis using the ABoVE Science Cloud, and should have experience with Linux and Windows systems, as well as open source analysis tools such as python, gdal, or R. Additionally, familiarity with geographic information systems (GIS) is desired, such as ArcGIS Desktop/Pro, QGIS, and/or IDL/ENVI.

Technical Skills:

Other Skills:
The successful candidate will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, experience with data manipulation, and experience with at least two of the types of airborne instrument data collected during the AAC.

Academic Level(s):
College Senior;Master’s;Doctorate

Major(s):
Biological Science – Biology; Biological Science – Biomathematics / Bioinformatics / Computational Biology; Biological Science – Botany/Plant Biology; Biological Science – Ecology / Evolution / Systematics / Population Biology; Biological Science – Zoology/Animal Biology; Computer and Information Sciences – Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management; Computer and Information Sciences – Computer Programming; Computer and Information Sciences – Computer Science; Computer and Information Sciences – Data Processing; Mathematics; Mathematics – Mathematics and Statistics; Mathematics – Statistics; Multi-disciplinary – Interdisciplinary Studies / General; Multi-disciplinary – International/Global Studies; Multi-disciplinary – Mathematics and Computer Science; Multi-disciplinary – Natural Sciences; Multi-disciplinary – Science / Technology and Society; Natural Resources Conservation and Research; Physical Science – Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology; Physical Science – Geological and Earth Science/Geosciences; Science Technology – Biology Technician/Biotechnology Laboratory Technician; Science Technology – Physical Science Technologies/Technicians; Science Technology – Science Technologies/Technicians; Social Science – Geography and Cartography

Mission directorate(s) directly benefiting from the tasks involved in this internship:
Science Mission

To apply for an internship, register and complete an application at the following link: https://nasa.force.com/s/login