GMAO and the IIP
11.18.2021
The NASA Science Mission Directorate recently announced the selected proposals from the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences – 2021 Instrument Incubator Program. The Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) supports the development of innovative technologies for new Earth observing instruments, sensors, and systems in support of Earth science and the Earth Science Division (ESD). IIP-21 will provide instruments and instrument subsystems technology developments that will enable future Earth science measurements and visionary Earth-observing concepts. The technologies and measurement concepts developed under the IIP may extend through to field demonstrations, with a longer-term aim for infusion into future ESD research, applications, and flight programs.
Of the 56 IIP-21 proposals evaluated, 17 were selected for award. Three GMAO scientist were part of two selected proposal teams, "Microwave Barometric Radar and Sounder (MBARS)" and "Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) in Space: The Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI)".
The "Microwave Barometric Radar and Sounder (MBARS)" proposal will to use the GMAO NWP Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) framework with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) forecast model and 4-dimensional hybrid ensemble Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (4DEnVAR GSI) DAS for these experiments. The OSSE results will inform the study as to the necessary accuracy and distribution of observations. We propose to develop an NWP observation operator that can be used both to simulate MBARS and satellite observations, and to ingest the data into NWP models.
They will test how combined V-band DAR and radiometric brightness temperature measurements can best be used to improve the analysis and forecast of temperature, humidity, and winds from the PBL through the troposphere. The OSSE framework will also be used to improve the performance of the observation operator, enabling more rapid adoption of real data for NWP. The PI of this proposal is Matthew McLinden (Microwave Instruments and Technology Branch, Code 555). GMAO's Nikki Privé is one of the Co-Investigators.
The "Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) in Space: The Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI)" proposal is a new and breakthrough technology proposed to overcome the limitations in spectral resolution (number of channels) for microwave instruments. The proposed technique is based upon photonic signal processing techniques enabling up-conversion of a microwave signal to an optical carrier. The resulting instrument entitled Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI) yields a low mass, low power, high pectral resolution and wide band instrument. HyMPI not only can measure the MW signal at much higher spectral resolutions (meaning many more spectral channels), but also can yield much higher spatial resolutions required for some initiatives such as measuring Planetary Boundary Layer. Antonia Gambacorta (Climate and Radiation Laboratory, Code 613) is the PI on this proposal. GMAO scientists, Isaac Moradi and Yanqiu Zhu, have contributed to the HyMPI proposal as Co-Investigators.
