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5. Current Research

Current SOCD research aligns with NOAA's Strategic and Research Plans. Individual science activities frequently address multiple mission goal research priorities. Below are significant SOCD research activities.

5.1 Science Team Research

Science teams provide an end-to-end path between the scientific research and applications and operational activities for specific parameters.

• Sea Surface Temperature
  Current SST research focuses on sustaining the heritage products from POES and GOES and on development of improved retrievals. Merging SST and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) data streams provides the potential for key SST improvements. NCEP upper air data in conjunction with radiative transfer modeling is instrumental to constrain the atmospheric correction. NCEP surface fluxes are being explored to facilitate skin-to-bulk conversion. Synergistic retrievals of aerosols and sub-pixel cloud from the same sensors are explored to do the corrections to SST for their residual effects. A probabilistic Bayesian cloud masking is being evaluated for the GOES SST. Development efforts for a comprehensive continuous diagnostic quality control / quality assurance / validation system have begun, along with improvements to the SST in-situ match-up database. Another effort blends geostationary and polar-orbiting SST data into a "best-value" SST product. This product is currently undergoing an evaluation prior to operational implementation. SOCD has also begun evaluation of microwave SST products. These SOCD's efforts will contribute to a National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP) project to blend infrared with microwave SST data and evaluate the operational impact and to the Multi-sensor Improved Sea Surface Temperatures (MISST) for the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) project that intends to produce an improved, high-resolution, global, near-real-time (NRT), sea surface temperature analysis through the combination of satellite observations from complementary infrared (IR) and microwave (MW) sensors and to then demonstrate the impact of these improved sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on operational ocean models, numerical weather prediction, and tropical cyclone intensity forecasting.
• Sea Surface Height
  The SSH Team provides research in four focus areas: altimeter data, ocean dynamics, marine gravity and bathymetry, and climate. The altimeter data effort focuses on providing high-quality altimetry data sets and establishing operational data quality assessment for Jason-2, as well as overseeing the implementation of the Jason-2 data processing stream. In SOCD effort to improve the quality and utility of data from all satellite altimetry missions, past, present and future, SOCD is: presently preparing a version of the GEOSAT data set, utilizing waveform re-tracking techniques developed by SOCD in partnership with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) to reduce the noise level of the range estimates; continuing to improve the quality of on-going missions, developing and maintaining the Radar Altimetry Database System (RADS), the most comprehensive collection of altimeter data; and recently contracted JPL to develop quality assessment software to be used by NOAA/NESDIS for monitoring the Jason-2 altimeter mission, scheduled for launch in 2008. Ocean dynamics address ocean dynamic variability, in particular with respect to ocean currents. The SSH science team is coordinating efforts to expand a data fusion methodology for computing upper ocean currents to the global oceans. The operational OSCAR program (Ocean Surface Current Analysis Real-time) provides estimates of surface currents from a combination of altimeter data (for the geostrophic component) and scatterometer data (for the Ekman component). OSCAR is currently expanding from the tropical Pacific to include the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and, eventually, to mid-latitudes. A SOCD-CIOSS partnership recently initiated a research project to determine how to best estimate the surface velocity field in the transition region between coastal and open-ocean regimes, focusing on statistical analysis and combining CODAR observations near the coast with OSCAR observations offshore (>100 km), supplemented by a model-based analysis. Based on recently emphasized operational requirements, SOCD marine gravity and bathymetry efforts will lead a NOAA, Navy, National Geospatial Agency (NGA), SIO, University of New Hampshire project to develop an improved version of the Smith and Sandwell global bathymetry data set. This work will take advantage of the reduced noise level of the newly SOCD re-tracked GEOSAT data set for the altimeter component and a greatly enlarged collection of acoustic soundings (provided by NGA) for the in-situ component. Work continues on developing techniques for globally mapping the 2500 m isobath, a key parameter in many Law of the Sea issues. Climate-related research addresses the rate and causes of global sea level rise (GSLR), involving data from six recent or on-going altimeter missions. To ensure that the altimeter results are accurate and stable enough to measure GSLR, SOCD is establishing a combination of quality assessment and calibration programs, including instituting an operational system for comparing altimeter and tide gauge observations.
• Ocean Surface Winds
  A principal activity for the Ocean Surface Winds science team is the derivation and validation of the operational passive polarimetry ocean surface wind vector retrieval algorithm for WindSat in conjunction with NPOESS risk reduction for the CMIS instrument. Ocean surface wind efforts also include extensive field work aimed at improving the microwave retrieval algorithm for high winds and in the presence of precipitation, focusing on tropical cyclones and mid-latitude winter storms. For the high wind speed effort, validation of an already developed model will involve collecting and spatially and temporally collocating an extended quantity of data to fully evaluate the impact of the enhanced high wind speed model. A research focus for operational transition has been extracting higher-resolution products from scatterometer data, reducing the amount of data excluded due to land masking, improving the rain flag, and fully characterizing the impact of rain on wind retrievals.
• Ocean Color
  SOCD ocean color research aims to provide quantitative information relating to oceanic biological parameters, particularly; phytoplankton biomass, important biogeochemical processes, and the state and magnitude of human activity impacts in oceanic and coastal waters. Specific research includes implementing a primary productivity algorithm, and developing an optical database for algorithm development and validation results. Field work plans expand the MOCE turbid water observation series of experiments in the Chesapeake Bay, collaborating with the Chesapeake Bay Program and the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office to identify and monitor stress indicator events. In support of these activities, research and development proceeds toward the next-generation MOBY and its application in coastal waters. Efforts are beginning on transitioning a Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) capability for using ocean color for water mass classification, with the objective of operationally assessing coastal ocean dynamics and water quality.
• Sea Ice
  Current SOCD sea ice research exploits remote sensing data and processing assets 1) to develop and validate multi-sensor sea ice products that respond to the user community's needs, 2) to expand sea ice and cryospheric research through the use of new technologies and approaches, 3) to provide science support and expertise for the production and development of analyses and forecasts of sea ice conditions. Research areas for the SI Science Team involve the application of multi-sensor observations, including visible, infrared, and microwave observations and measurements, to ice detection and monitoring in support of maritime operations and climate research. Efforts include sea ice classification, marginal ice zone research, sea ice dynamics, sea ice-atmospheric interaction, sea ice climatology, ice sheet breakup, iceberg shedding, as well as river and lake ice. Specific efforts include: the development of ALOS PALSAR L-band automated sea ice detection and classification algorithms; validation of ALOS and Envisat sea ice products; research on polarization applications of both C and L-band data; validation underflights for CryoSAT freeboard measurements, and validation of sea ice applications from SAR and other satellite data, in particular for classifying ice types and monitoring ice conditions.
• Sea Surface Roughness
  Current synthetic aperture radar research continues the development and validation of algorithms and products for high-resolution wind speed and direction, vessel detection, marine oil spill mapping, sea/lake/river ice location/type/concentration/motion, ocean feature detection, severe storm morphology, lower atmospheric boundary layer processes, wave spectra, significant wave height, and coastal change detection. Specific tasks include extending existing C-band algorithms to the L-band for use with the Japanese ALOS instrument, with the ALOS wind algorithm having the initial priority. For C-band data, work focuses on validating Envisat SAR winds, vessel positions, and ice masks by comparing the data with buoy and other environmental data. Efforts also include completing the initial development and validation of wave products, a new polarization ratio for winds for Envisat and Radarsat-1 data, hurricane wind validation for high wind speeds, and researching the mapping of shallow coastal bathymetric features such as sand bars. Work continues toward completing a prototype SAR operational winds system for data collected via the University of Miami Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) and the design and development of a prototype operational SAR validation system for winds and wave parameters, to include matches with buoy data and scatterometer wind data.

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5.2 Cross-Cutting Research

Data fusion, the combining of different data sets to extend coverage and/or extract new information, creates cross-cutting research efforts, especially as NOAA seeks to maximize the return from remote sensing investments and pursues ecosystem management methodologies. The data fusion effort using to extract ocean surface currents by using altimetry and scatterometer data provides a prime example. Another example is the development of a GOES-POES blended "best-value" SST product and its extension to include microwave data to mitigate the effects of clouds and aerosols. Applications research addresses NOAA mission goal requirements. For oceanic feature detection, work currently focuses on the identification of ocean thermodynamic processes/features, such as fronts, eddies, and currents, and their temporal patterns through the analysis of infrared sea-surface temperature data. Research combining wind data with SST and ocean color data seeks to assess air-sea fluxes and upwelling features and climatologies. SOCD leads in applying satellite ocean remote sensing data to ecosystem management goals through its leadership of the NOAA Coral Reef Watch (CRW) component of the matrixed NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program within the Ecosystems Mission Goal. This collaborative integrated program uses remote sensing and in-situ tools for near-real-time and long-term monitoring, modeling, and reporting of coral reef ecosystem physical environmental conditions. It aims to assist the management, study, and assessment of the impacts of environmental change on coral reefs. In particular, sea surface temperature data is used to determine and predict areas of coral bleaching through the measurement of accumulated heat stress. Research continues on integrating additional parameters into the assessment of coral reef health. SOCD is the global leader in providing global coral reef bleaching predictions and warnings. Another developmental integrated ecosystem management application of satellite ocean remote sensing data, GhostNet, combines satellite SST, altimetry, ocean color, and SAR data to identify ocean surface convergence regions for localizing likely areas for derelict fishing nets, allowing aircraft and ship missions to sight and remove the derelict nets before they damage coral reefs and ensnare protected species.

Figure 17. GhostNet uses a combination of data to locate derelict drift nets that capture floating debris causing damage to open water and coastal water ecosystems.