{"id":8281,"date":"2015-11-13T13:34:29","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T19:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=8281"},"modified":"2015-11-13T13:35:46","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T19:35:46","slug":"nasa-selects-ssec-for-science-investigator-led-processing-system-sips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/8281","title":{"rendered":"NASA selects SSEC for Science Investigator-led Processing System (SIPS)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Suomi<\/a>

Suomi NPP VIIRS visible (0.65 \u00b5m) imagery of an atmospheric bore over New England on 8 May 2015. Credit: CIMSS.<\/p><\/div>\n

NASA has contracted with the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to support its new Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Science Team in the creation of a continuous Earth System Data Record (ESDR).<\/p>\n

The initial contract will last four-and-a-half years, providing about $2 million per year. It is one of five NASA Suomi NPP Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS): the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Atmosphere SIPS, based at SSEC; the VIIRS Land, VIIRS Ocean, and Ozone SIPS, located at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center; and the Sounder SIPS, located at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.<\/p>\n

Maintaining a continuous ESDR will provide scientists wishing to study long-term environmental issues, such as global climate change, with an uninterrupted archive of satellite data from the Suomi NPP mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearchers want to see a nice, unbroken record,\u201d said SSEC scientist Liam Gumley, who is the principal investigator for the Atmosphere SIPS. \u201cOur work will help researchers who are looking at the long-term variability of different parameters that could be impacted by climate change, such as global cloud cover.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary task of the Atmosphere SIPS, led by Gumley and co-investigators Steve Ackerman and Bob Holz, is to create atmosphere products from the VIIRS instrument onboard the SNPP satellite, using algorithms and software created by the NASA SNPP Science Team.<\/p>\n

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center sends the raw satellite data to SSEC, where the Atmosphere SIPS team processes them to create global atmospheric products \u2014 such as cloud height, cloud phase, cloud properties, and aerosol optical thickness \u2014 which they then send back to NASA, with metadata, for archiving and distribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur role is mainly to be the production engine,\u201d said Gumley. \u201cWe process all the global atmospheric data from Suomi NPP: daytime, nighttime, from pole to pole, every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group processes data in what is called a \u201cforward stream,\u201d explained Gumley, processing \u201ctoday\u2019s data today, and tomorrow\u2019s data tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assessment is another key component of their work. While processing the Suomi NPP data, Atmosphere SIPS scientists are able to provide immediate feedback to help develop and test the Science Team\u2019s algorithms and software, demonstrate that they are working properly, and eventually transition them into production.<\/p>\n

In the future, said Gumley, the Atmosphere SIPS will also be responsible for reprocessing those data. Reprocessing allows consistent and up-to-date products to be created for the whole SNPP mission, which is important for decades-long climate studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Science Team says they\u2019re ready,\u201d he said, \u201cwe will reprocess all data from the Suomi NPP mission, dating all the way back to January 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group plans to get started on that next step in 2016, said Gumley, when the SNPP Science Team completes its algorithm development and testing, and delivers the production-ready software to SSEC.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the reprocessing, NASA wants to see a turnaround time of a matter of weeks,\u201d said Gumley. \u201cIn the past, for atmospheric products, Science Teams have had to wait months and even years \u2014 so this will be a fairly significant achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

SSEC has been guaranteed this role for as long as the Suomi NPP mission is in orbit \u2013 and then some.<\/p>\n

\u201cNASA has said it will keep us around for three years after the SNPP mission ends, so the Science Team can finish its algorithm testing and product validation,\u201d said Gumley.<\/p>\n

It is also expected that the Atmosphere SIPS would continue to be involved with forthcoming missions, such as the Joint Polar Satellite System JPSS-1 and JPSS-2 satellites.<\/p>\n

SSEC has a long history of involvement with this project, one that predates the launch of the Suomi NPP satellite. The forerunner to SIPS, the NPP Product and Evaluation and Test Elements (PEATE) program, was established in 2007. Similar to the SIPS effort, it was divided into five components \u2014 Atmosphere, Land, Ocean, Ozone and Sounder \u2014 with the Atmosphere PEATE located at SSEC, and led by SSEC director Hank Revercomb and Gumley, who described the transition from one program to another as \u201cseamless.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their work through the Atmosphere PEATE, Gumley recalled, SSEC scientists developed back-end expertise and a variety of tools that are now proving useful for Atmosphere SIPS. These included batch processing systems to process data quickly and efficiently, search-and-order mechanisms that enable users to easily discover and download data, and a collocation system that allows users to compare two datasets from two different satellites, helping scientists validate their products.<\/p>\n

The Atmosphere SIPS is also reaping the benefits of strong working relationships forged with members of the Science Team during the PEATE era, some of which have carried over to the current team. That tradition of open communication persists to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor every person on the Science Team, we have a dedicated person here at SSEC to serve as their point-of-contact with the Atmosphere SIPS,\u201d explained Gumley.<\/p>\n

As a non-NASA facility, SSEC is unique among the three organizations awarded a SIPS contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is notable that NASA is willing to trust us with such an important project not on their soil,\u201d said Gumley. \u201cI think it says something about SSEC\u2019s capabilities \u2014 in science, algorithm testing, and building efficient processing systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

by Sarah Witman<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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