NASA’s Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE): Delivering Data and Imagery to Meet the Needs of Near Real-Time Applications.

NASA’s Land, Atmosphere Near real-time (NRT) Capability for Earth Observing System (EOS) (LANCE) is a virtual system that provides near real-time data and imagery, to meet the needs of scientists and application users interested in monitoring a wide variety of natural and man-made phenomena . Data products are available to users within 3 hours from satellite observation. LANCE processes and distributes data from the Terra, Aqua, and Aura EOS missions as well as the Suomi-NPP, Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), International Space Station (ISS) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) Global Change Observation Mission-Water(GCOM-W).

LANCE data and imagery enable users to get a snapshot of the Earth in near-real time. This timely data is useful for a range of applications e.g. to monitor severe storms and lightning flashes, detect fires, track smoke, ash and dust plumes; to monitor aerosols and volcanic activity, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, which in turn are useful for air quality assessments; and to determine the extent of sea ice, snow, and flooding which are useful to support shipping in the polar regions and to allow rapid assessment of areas worst affected by snow or flood water.

NRT imagery from LANCE are available through NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), Worldview, Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) and most recently through Worldview Snapshots – a low band width application that has replaced the Rapid Response Subsets. For more information on LANCE visit: https://earthdata.nasa.gov/lance

The NASA Disasters program (https://disasters.nasa.gov) promotes the use of Earth observations to improve the prediction of, preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural and technological disasters by addressing the research, response, and resiliency aspects of disasters. LANCE NRT data products have been used to provide maps and digital geographic information for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities before, during and after a disaster. During the Kilauea volcano eruption on Hawaii's Big Island, LANCE NRT products have been used to locate fires and high-temperature heat sources, which provided information of the active lava flows and lava lakes. Knowledge of the geographical position and direction of lava flows provided critical information for disaster prediction and prevention. For hurricanes and tropical cyclones, NASA's Black Marble analysis maps have been used for tracking power outages over time in disaster impacted areas. Users can use NASA's Black Marble pre- and post-disaster maps to assess the extent of damage, and to make decisions for activities in reconstruction and recovery in infrastructure and health on the ground.

LANCE now processes and distributes data and imagery from the following ten instruments:

Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)

Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2)

Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS)

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)

Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS)

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT)

Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS)

Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)

Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)