NASA Goddard GES DISC Data Services for Supporting Hurricane Research and YOTC

This presentation describes NASA Goddard data service support for hurricane research and YOTC (the Year of Tropical Convection).

The Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) has developed a Hurricane Data Portal (URL: http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/) designed for viewing and studying Atlantic hurricanes by utilizing various measurements by NASA remote-sensing instruments. The portal consists of the following main components: • Current conditions (in pre-selected regions and updated 3-hourly or daily): the latest maps, animation and profiles from NASA satellites. At present, images or plots created using data from TRMM, AIRS, MODIS, MLS and CloudSat are available. Later, data from OMI and other instruments will be added. A new feature will be added to allow users to easily download/subset data associated with these images. • Current and past hurricane archive: maps, animation and profiles of past hurricanes were created using data from TRMM, AIRS, MODIS, MLS and CloudSat, allowing users to explore past hurricanes and download/subset data if necessary. A new feature has just been released to allow searching past hurricanes. Also users can view imagery via Google Earth. • Science focus: examples/stories describing data usage in hurricane monitoring and research. • Tools: descriptions and links of a number of in-house developed tools for hurricane exploration and event-based data ordering. For example, the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni, URL: http://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov), a series of online visualization and analysis systems, allows users to access data ranging from near-real-time to historical archives and generate customized analysis maps, plots and data on the fly over the Internet. A hurricane instance of Giovanni is under development. However, a prototype that allows investigating Quikscat ocean surface wind, TRMM precipitation and TRMM microwave sea surface temperature is available now (URL: http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/trmm_quikscat_analysis.shtml). Mirador (URL: http://g0dup05u.ecs.nasa.gov/OPS/mirador/) is another in-house developed tool that offers a simplified interface for searching, browsing, and ordering Earth science data at NASA GES DICS. Users can do event based (e.g., entering a hurricane name) search and order data. • Hurricane viewer: provides users with a view of the hurricane track that overlays TRMM 3-hourly precipitation data. The interface provides users with the storm track, wind speeds, pressure, intensity and view of the data of the lifespan of the storm in an animated series. The Hurricane Viewer will be enhanced to allow users to select from multiple data parameters to view in the background of the track. • There are a number of other resources for hurricane related activities at the DISC, such as, viewing and exploring NASA 2-D and 3-D data (TRMM, CloudSat, AIRS, etc.) via Google Earth. GIOVANNI (Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure) is a collection of tools for visualization and analysis of global datasets. The current GIOVANNI analytical and statistical tools have been expanded to support YOTC datasets. YOTC provides a unique and comprehensive collection of multi-sensor satellite and model data sets. Giovanni is designed to facilitate the study and model improvement of "tropical convection" and its multi-scale interaction.

The data coverage period, May 01, 2008-April 30, 2010, is long enough to encompass a number of scientifically challenging cases of tropical convection with significant human impact. This includes mesoscale and synoptic variability, easterly waves and hurricanes, convectively coupled waves, MJO and the culmination of these in terms of the monsoon, their interactions with the extra-tropics, and mean characteristics such as tropical-to-subtropical transitions. The YOTC time period and length are driven in part by the following: 1) keeping the multi-sensor/multi-platform and model-analyses data sets and associated infrastructure manageable, 2) facilitating a focused effort by the research and operational communities on a specific scientific problem, and 3) capitalizing on the recent key additions to the armada of satellites (e.g., CloudSat and CALIPSO). It is worth noting that in regards to item 3), the NASA EOS constellation of research satellites is at its peak maturity level with respect to satellite observations of tropical convection. Details and examples will be presented.