Mission Statement

To utilize satellite and other remotely sensed data to explore and understand the linkages between water in all its forms, the land and life on Earth.

The Blue Marble

GSFC’s Hydrospheric and Biospheric research supports NASA and the nation with a world class workforce that conceive, develop and apply space-based technologies and observations to address issues of importance to society, including the effects of climate change on life on Earth.   Particular research areas include studies of the Earth’s Land Ecosystems, Cryosphere, Land Surface Hydrology and Ocean Ecosystems.

 

Recent Highlights

The Earth Observing System, Science Program Support Office (Winnie Humberson and Steven Graham, 610/GST) helped organize and coordinate NASA’s Hyperwall presence at the 2016 Our Ocean Conference, Sept. 15-16, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the Department of State Headquarters in Washington DC. President Barack Obama delivered the keynote address, followed by a special message by guest speaker – Leonardo DiCaprio. Several of NASA’s senior-level managers used the Hyperwall to deliver presentations that highlighted NASA’s role in studying Earth’s Ocean from Space.

The talks were well attended, including appearances by John Kerry, his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, and Norway's Foreign Minister, Mr. Børge Brende. A Safe Ocean Network Pilot Project, led by Miguel Román (GSFC 619), was highlighted during the conference. Román’s project, entitled: “Improved Detection of Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing from Space”, uses the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP) Satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to identify vessels that may be illegally fishing in marine protected areas at night through the use of low-light detection. This technology is being further developed using radiative transfer modeling combined with measurements acquired from ship-based and airborne platforms.

2016 HOBI Award Selections

Administrative/Business Support

Chrissy Baxley – 603/610HBS

Chasity Kisling – 603/619

Victor Freeman – 610HBS

Lisa Karmel – 615

Stacy Milligan – 615

Judy Strohmaier – 617

Jessica Bussard – 618

Lisa Henderson – 618

 

Best Science Highlight

Ed Kim – 617

 

Career Achievement

Dorothy Hall – 615

 

Outreach

Ludovic Brucker – 615

Miguel Roman – 619

 

Scientific Achievement

Alicia Joseph – 617

Dalia Kirschbaum – 617

Joseph Lyu/Craig Smith/Lisa McCormick – 617

Amy McNally – 617

Temilola Fatoyinbo – 618

Qingyuan Zhang – 618

 

Scientific/Technical Support

Nick DiGirolamo – 615

Jeff Guerber – 615

Jeremy Harbeck – 615

Kyle Krabill – 615

Larry Stock – 615

Gwyn Fireman – 616

Scott Freeman – 616

Liang Hong/Alicia Scott – 616

Chris Kenemer – 616

Hahn Jung – 617

Thomas Stanley – 617

Anika Halota – 618

Milton Hom – 618

Paul Montensano – 618

Hassan Oudrari – 618

Joel Schafer – 618

Aliaksandr Sinyuk – 618

Ilya Slutsker – 618

VIIRS Team – 619 (Eric Vermote/Virginia Kalb/Miguel Roman/Jim Ray/George Riggs/Sadashiva Devadiga/Sudipta Sarkar/Peter Ma/Demi Feng/Xaioping Zhang/Carol Davidson/Anhquan Nguyen/Cid Praderas/Gang Ye/Maki Jackson/Cynthia Hamilton/John Hord)

 

Publication Award

Bryan Franz/616 with co-authors Sean Bailey/616, Norman Kuring/616 and P. Jeremy Werdell/616

Ocean color measurements with the Operational Land Imager on Landsat-8: implementation and evaluation in SeaDAS. J. Appl. Remote Sens. 0001;9(1):096070.  doi:10.1117/1.JRS.9.096070.

 

Project Highlights

 
ICESat
Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite
visit site
 
Aquarius
Measuring Global Sea Surface Salinity
visit site
 
SeaWiFS
Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor
visit site
 
Landsat 7
Acquiring images of the Earth's land surface
visit site
 
NPOESS Preparatory Project
National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System
visit site
 
AERONET
Aerosol Robotic Network
visit site
 
OceanColor
OceanColor homepage
visit site
 
MODIS Rapid Response System
Rapid access to MODIS data
visit site
 
SnowEx
SnowEx Campaign
visit site
 
LIMA: Faces of Antarctica
The NASA LIMA Faces of Antarctica Website
visit site
 
MODIS Snow/Ice
The MODIS Snow/Ice Global Mapping Project
visit site
 
SMAP
Soil Moisture Active Passive
visit site

Research areas:

Science Highlights

2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

 

Contact Us

Questions or Comments

General inquiries about the scientific programs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center may be directed to the Center Public Affairs office at 1.301.286.8955
> PAO's Questions and Comments Page