and Latin america The European space agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission measures soil moisture at a resolution of 31 miles (50 kilometers) but because soil moisture can vary on a much smaller scale its data
Enter NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. The mission scheduled to launch this winter will collect the kind of local data agricultural and water managers worldwide need.
and sustainable withdrawals from groundwater said Forrest Melton a research scientist in the Ecological Forecasting Lab at NASA Ames Research center in Moffett Field California.
If farmers of rain-fed crops know soil moisture they can schedule their planting to maximize crop yield said Narendra Das a water and carbon cycle scientist on SMAP's science team at NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena California.
http://smap. jpl. nasa. gov/NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns.
NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records
For more information about NASA's Earth science activities in 2014 visit: http://www. nasa. gov/earthrightnowstory Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA/Jet propulsion laboratory. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Signs of deforestation in Brazilmultiple fires are visible in in this image of the Para and Mato grosso states of Brazil.
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length n
This study helps make sense of the challenge faced by thousands of rangers working on the frontlines to protect elephants
and professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Dr. Mahalingam is studying how wildland fire propagates in an effort to be able to more accurately model such fires via physically based computational models.
With funding from the U s. Department of agriculture's U s. Forest Service Division Dr. Mahalingam and his collaborator UAH Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering faculty member Dr. Babak Shotorban are currently supervising four doctoral
These findings and many others are viewable via the Land Cover Atlas program from the NOAA's Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP.
The ability to mitigate the growing evidence of climate change along our coasts with rising sea levels already impacting coastlines in ways not imaged just a few years ago makes the data available through the Land Cover Atlas program critically important to coastal resilience planning said Margaret
The atlas's visuals help make NOAA environmental data available to end users enabling them to help the public better understand the importance of improving resilience.
Seeing changes over five 10 or even 15 years allows Land Cover Atlas users to focus on local hazard vulnerabilities
For instance the atlas has helped its users assess sea level rise hazards in Florida's Miami-Dade County high-risk areas for stormwater runoff in southern California and the best habitat restoration sites in two watersheds
of America (ESA) meeting. Perhaps not surprisingly Ward along with fellow doctoral students Ryan Rebozo and Kevin P. W. Smith from the Laboratory of Pinelands Research led by Walter Bien Phd in Drexel's College of Arts
When Snakes Meet the New jersey Highwayroads are a challenge for northern pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus) in the New jersey Pine Barrens based on the findings that Ward will present at the ESA meeting on Aug 15.
At this meeting Ward will also become chair of the student section of ESA after serving as vice chair for the past year.
Newborn Snakes Finding Their Path Through Lifemost reptiles are said great mapmakers Smith a doctoral student in Drexel's Laboratory of Pinelands Research who will present research on northern pine snakes at the ESA
We hope that soon we will be able to examine agricultural practices in even greater detail--with the launch of the European space agency's Sentinel satellites which will provide regular data at even higher spatial resolution.
NASAS Aura and climate changenitrogen and oxygen make up nearly 99 percent of Earth's atmosphere.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this week NASA's Aura satellite and its four onboard instruments measure some of the climate agents in the atmosphere including greenhouse gases clouds
and managed by NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory Pasadena California delivers global maps showing annual averages of the heat absorbed by ozone in particular in the mid troposphere.
and how they change over time said Bryan Duncan an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland.
and managed by JPL made the first global measurements of cloud ice content in the upper troposphere providing new data input for climate models.
http://aura. gsfc. nasa. gov/For more on TES visit: http://tes. jpl. nasa. gov/For more on MLS visit:
http://mls. jpl. nasa. gov/index-eos-mls. phpnasa monitors Earth's vital signs from land air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne
and ground-based observation campaigns. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records
and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community
For more information about NASA's Earth science activities in 2014 visit: http://www. nasa. gov/earthrightnowstory Source:
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#Big data used to guide conservation effortsdespite a deluge of new information about the diversity and distribution of plants and animals around the globe big data has yet to make a mark on conservation efforts to preserve the planet's biodiversity.
The study incorporated research findings from field studies conducted in Morocco's Atlas Mountains and Oriental region and in the highlands of Tibet as part of two interdisciplinary projects.
and land use change on natural resources in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Their data on rainfall fluctuations and on the productivity and regenerative capacity of pasture vegetation formed the basis for the ecological part of the model.
#New recreational travel model to help states stop firewood assisted insect travelthe spread of damaging invasive forest pests is powered only partially by the insects'own wings.
The fossil of the Scansoriopteryx (which means climbing wing) was found in Inner Mongolia and is part of an ongoing cooperative study with the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences.
It has numerous unambiguous birdlike features such as elongated forelimbs wing and hind limb feathers wing membranes in front of its elbow half-moon shaped wrist-like bones bird-like perching feet a tail with short anterior vertebrae
and claws that make tree climbing possible. The researchers specifically note the primitive elongated feathers on the forelimbs and hind limbs.
and NASA among others followed the explosion right from the start and the following 2â years and analysed the light from the very bright supernova.
The research developed by UB research group was supported also by the UB Science and Technology Centres (CCITUB) the Group of Rangers of the Government of Catalonia the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture Nutrition and Environment the Government of Andalusia and The french
#University students developing robotic gardening technologyfor more than a half-century NASA has made the stuff of science fiction into reality.
Researchers are continuing that tradition by designing robots to work in a deep-space habitat tending gardens and growing food for astronaut explorers.
As astronauts explore beyond Earth they will need to make their habitat as self-sustaining as possible.
and use it in future space missions said Tracy Gill NASA's technology strategy manager at the Kennedy space center in Florida.
The University of Colorado students demonstrated their X-Hab project at Kennedy's Space station Processing Facility on June 23 to a group of employees that included center director Bob Cabana.
It is a concept for producing edible plants during long-term missions to destinations such as Mars. Heather Hava who is working on a doctorate in aerospace engineering sciences explains that the goal is to have robots do much of the monotonous tasks saving time
for the astronauts. The'Plants Anywhere'approach is designed to help minimize astronaut workload said Hava whose degree will focus in bioastronautics.
This keeps them free to concentrate on more important tasks. A year ago the University of Colorado student team demonstrated a gardening system with plants robotically tended on a Lazy susan-like device.
If an astronaut requests tomatoes for a salad the system decides which specific plants have the ripest tomatoes
We also want the plants to be in the astronauts'environment so they can see them smell them
Hava noted that the team has benefited from support from former NASA astronaut Joe Tanner who now is a senior instructor of aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado and Nikolaus Correll assistant professor of computer science at the university.
Gill says involving students in ongoing NASA projects is crucial for the future. This is an opportunity to prepare the next generation of engineers scientists
and explorers for our space program he said. They tell us how their design for the system keeps evolving.
Gill added that Gioia Massa Ph d. of the International Space station Ground Processing and Research Project Office Morgan Simpson of NASA Ground Processing Directorate and Ray Wheeler Ph d. of the Surface Systems office in NASA's Engineering and Technology Directorate also provided guidance
for the University of Colorado team. They all also helped advise the students as they developed their project
NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation selected seven projects from six universities for the 2013-2014 X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge.
In doing so they worked in close cooperation with members of the NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Program's Deep-space Habitat Project team.
Participants are required to explore NASA's work on development of deep-space habitats and help the agency gather new ideas to complement its current research and development.
The University of Colorado Boulder also is among five universities selected by NASA for the 2015 X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge.
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA. The original article was written by By Bob Granath NASA's Kennedy space center Florida.
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#From antibiotics to yeast: Latest student science heads for spaceastronauts on future missions may nibble on lettuce
and grow their own antibiotics depending on the results of research that student scientists plan to conduct on the International Space station.
Mission 5 of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is scheduled to launch to the space station on July 11.
Students from Cottage Lane Elementary in Rockland County New york and Hillsborough County Florida envisioned astronauts growing their own lettuce.
Onion cell mutations could have ramifications for other organisms including astronauts. The team at Academy at Shawnee in Kentucky wonders whether microgravity would increase the rate of yeast fermentation in honey.
Eighth graders at Pennsauken Phifer Middle school in New jersey will examine the growth rate in microgravity of penicillium which future astronauts could grow as an antibiotic to treat infections.
which could rust the interior and exterior of spacecraft. Milton L. Olive Middle school in New york evaluates the effectiveness of a commercial spray corrosion inhibitor Rust-Oleum's'Stops Rust'in microgravity.
This wide range of subjects illustrates the diversity of the space station as a microgravity research laboratory.
The space station offers students the ability to ask what system would I like to explore with gravity seemingly turned off
what NASA uses with the professional community. So far more than 30000 students have had the experience of designing experiments for microgravity through the SSEP program
A strategic partnership with Nanoracks LLC working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement makes the space station available as a student laboratory.
when they grow up the astronauts of the future will be grateful for their hard work now.
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
The decline in corals started long before climate change began to affect reefs says Terry Hughes author of the 1994 study that predicted the current problems due to parrotfish removal.
The observations were made by the Microwave Instrument for Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO) aboard the European space agency's Rosetta spacecraft on June 6 2014.
not only for cometary science but also for mission planning as the Rosetta team prepares the spacecraft to become the first ever to orbit a comet (planned for August)
but we were surprised at how early we detected it said Sam Gulkis principal investigator of the MIRO instrument at NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena California.
MIRO first detected water vapor from the comet when the Rosetta spacecraft was about 217000 miles (350000 kilometers) away from it.
and then away from the sun. The gas production rate is also important to the Rosetta navigation team controlling the spacecraft as this flowing gas can alter the trajectory of spacecraft.
and beginning to put on a show for Rosetta's science instruments said Matt Taylor Rosetta's project scientist from the European space agency's Science and Technology Centre in Noordwijk The netherlands.
MIRO is one of three U s. instruments aboard the Rosetta spacecraft. The other two are an ultraviolet spectrometer called Alice and the Ion and Electron Sensor (IES.
NASA also provided part of the electronics package for the Double Focusing Mass spectrometer which is built part of The swiss Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) instrument.
NASA's Deep space Network is supporting ESA's Ground Station Network for spacecraft tracking and navigation.
The Microwave Instrument for Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO) was built at JPL. Hardware subsystems for MIRO were provided by the Max-Planck Institute for Solar system Research
d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique of the Observatoire de Paris Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA.
Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center Cologne; Max Planck Institute for Solar system Research Go?
French National Space agency Paris; and the Italian Space agency Rome. JPL a Division of the California Institute of technology Pasadena manages the U s. contribution of the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
JPL also built the MIRO and hosts its principal investigator Samuel Gulkis. The Southwest Research Institute (San antonio and Boulder) developed the Rosetta orbiter's IES
and Alice instruments and hosts their principal investigators James Burch (IES) and Alan Stern (Alice). For more information on the U s. instruments aboard Rosetta visit:
http://rosetta. jpl. nasa. govmore information about Rosetta is available at: http://www. esa. int/rosettafor more information on the DSN visit:
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#Foodborne bacteria can cause disease in some breeds of chickens after allcontrary to popular belief the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is not a harmless commensal in chickens
but can cause disease in some breeds of poultry according to research published in mbioâ the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
The main implication is that Campylobacter is not always harmless to chickens. This rather changes our view of the biology of this nasty little bug says Paul Wigley of Institute for Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool an author on the study.
The researchers fired pellets of randomly oriented multiwalled carbon nanotubes from a light gas gun built by the Rice lab of materials scientist Enrique Barrera with funding from NASA.
Hypervelocity impact tests are used mostly to simulate the impact of different projectiles on shields spacecraft
Dwomoh has received a NASA Earth and Space science Fellowship to support his research on deforestation in West Africa.
and information from NASA tropical rainfall and fire data to analyze the impact of fires on the region.
Hanson a faculty member with UF's Institute of food and agricultural sciences likens the new tool to models aeronautical engineers use
and her colleagues have been using data from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite to track changes in land use in Mato grosso.
On the side of the wing that predators saw when the wings were closed the eyespots could have served as camouflage from a distance
But this directed the attack toward the tips of less-important wings and not the more vulnerable head or body of the insect.
But just as important Oliver said the study indicates how through continued mutation these eyespots moved to a completely different place--the other side of the wing.
Found in rooms where spacecraft are assembled this microbial species could potentially contaminate other planets that the spacecraft visit.
Costa rica The tiny size and delicately fringed wings of the parasitoid wasp family Mymaridae led to their common name:
and Carol Hughes MLST Director Strategic Content and Media Office of Public relations and Communications Depaul University.
The researchers paired NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration satellite records with data from a network of University of California weather stations covering 32 consecutive winters.
Through a three-year $602349 NASA grant Numata and a team of scientists will assess how the 2005 and 2010 droughts affected the forest edges
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and NASA. The widespread melting of the Greenland ice sheet required the combination of both of these effects--a lowered snow albedo from ash
Keegan who added critical information to NASA's announcement of the 2012 melt studies the newly deposited layers of snow that top the 2-mile-thick ice sheet.
The three-year study included cell culture studies at Rice as well as a detailed analysis of gene expression profiles of more than 500 patients from the Cancer Genome Atlas and protein-expression profiles from about 200
and Tribulations story about the Ecuadorian bee and the river turtle by Olivier Dangles and JÃ rã'me Casas in ESA's Frontiers.
NASA satellites showa new analysis of NASA satellite data shows Africa's Congo rainforest the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world has undergone a large-scale decline in greenness
Five new NASA Earth science missions are launching in 2014 to expand our understanding of Earth's changing climate and environment.
This measure is developed from data produced by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite.
These changes in available water were detected in part with NASA satellites including the NASA/JAXA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission NASA's Quick Scatterometer (Quikscat) and NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
a joint mission with the German Aerospace Center. Combining measurements from different sensors has given us more confidence in the results of the MODIS data
and provided us with insights into the environmental and physiological mechanisms of the browning observed by the MODIS data said co-author Sassan Saatchi of NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena Calif. Climate factors known to affect vegetation growth were also in line with the observed
Story Source The above story is provided based on materials by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Note:
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
considering the small set of five manure samples says Handelsman who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor.
NASA satellite data provide a regional context for results from the experimental burns. In 2007 fires in southeast Amazonia burned 10 times more forest than in an average climate year an area equivalent to a million soccer fields according to co-author Douglas Morton of NASA.
Large portions of Amazonian forests are already experiencing droughts and are increasingly susceptible to fire.
#Spacexâ##s Dragon headed to space station to create astronaut farmersenter the Dragon takes on a whole new meaning this month as Spacex's Dragon capsule heads to the International Space station for its third commercial resupply mission
The optical communication demonstration will transfer video from the space station to a ground receiver located at NASA's Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory in Wrightwood Calif
. which is part of the agency's Jet propulsion laboratory (JPL). A ground telescope will transmit a laser beacon to OPALS on the space station as it travels across the sky.
An onboard camera system on the station will track the signal to maintain connection during the demonstration
while moving at half-a-foot per second said OPALS Systems Engineer Bogdan Oaida of JPL.
Each OPALS demonstration will last for approximately 100 seconds as the space station equipment and ground telescope maintain line of sight.
The Vegetable Production System (Veggie) is a new investigation with edible results heading to the space station.
It will serve as a new space station facility as well and will provide a venue for future plant growth research.
and helped them feel less out of touch with Earth said Gioia Massa a project scientist at NASA's Kennedy space center in Florida.
and nutrient delivery but uses the cabin environment on the space station for temperature control and as a source of carbon dioxide to promote growth.
Astronauts will harvest the plants for further investigation. With continued plant growth studies aboard the space station using facilities like Veggie crews may one day consume produce during long-term missions in low-Earth orbit
or to an asteroid or Mars. The Veggie unit's growth volume will be the largest volume available to date for plant growth on the space station
which will enable larger produce than was previously available due to size restrictions. This improved understanding of plant growth and development in microgravity has important implications for improving plant growth and biomass production On earth.
Continuing the important space station mission of Earth observation the new High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) investigation places four commercially available high definition cameras on the exterior of the space station
High school students helped design some of the cameras'components for the HDEV mission through the High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware program (HUNCH.
and completed investigations and sent back to Earth after about a month-long stay at the space station.
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length l
and is so oily you can use it as a lamp the number three-bird has claws on its wings
and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Bedfordshire UK via the Across the River Project together with experienced rangers from the Forestry Development Authority in Liberia local research assistants from Liberia and Sierra leone
#NASAS OCO-2 brings sharp focus on global carbonsimply by breathing humans have played a small part in the planet-wide balancing act called the carbon cycle throughout our existence.
In July 2014 NASA will launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) to study the fate of carbon dioxide worldwide.
and is managed by NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena Calif. Carbon dioxide is both one of the best measured greenhouse gases
and coverage needed to answer these questions about these little-monitored regions according to Ralph Basilio OCO-2 project manager at JPL.
https://oco. jpl. nasa. govoco-2 is one of five new NASA missions launching in 2014.
NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns.
NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records
For more information about NASA's Earth science activities in 2014 visit: http://www. nasa. gov/earthrightnowstory Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA/Jet propulsion laboratory. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
#Computer models soybean crop with 8. 5 percent more productivity, using 13 percent less watercrops that produce more
Drewry a former postdoctoral researcher who is now at the Jet propulsion laboratory at the California Institute of technology.
Scientists from Virginia Tech the Woods Hole Research center and the University of California Santa barbara funded by NASA are collaborating with Brazilian scientists to explore the ecosystem consequences of the extreme droughts of 2005 and 2010 and the extreme flood
. In addition to historical records and ground observations the researchers will use newly available Earth System Data Records from NASA--satellite images of the Amazon and its tributaries over the complete high-and low-water cycles.
NASA is funding the study with a $1. 53 million grant shared among the three institutions.
Observatory and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Even if precipitation changes in the future are uncertain there are good reasons to be concerned about water resources.
#Satellite shows high productivity from U s. corn beltdata from satellite sensors show that during the Northern hemisphere's growing season the Midwest region of the United states boasts more photosynthetic activity than any other spot On earth according to NASA
Research in 2013 led by Joanna Joiner of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Md. demonstrated that fluorescence from plants could be teased out of data from existing satellites
According to co-author Christian Frankenberg of NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena Calif. The paper shows that fluorescence is a much better proxy for agricultural productivity than anything we've had before.
That's where missions with better resolution could help such as NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2--a mission planned for launch in July 2014 that will also measure solar-induced fluorescence.
and in combination with data from other upcoming satellites such as NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive scheduled for launch later this year.
The above story is provided based on materials by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
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