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Navigating the Skies: NASA’s ER-2 Aircraft Enhances Satellite Data Accuracy

In February, NASA launched its ER-2 science aircraft equipped with advanced instruments focused on refining satellite data products and enhancing Earth science observations. As satellite technology evolves, NASA is investigating how cloud analysis instruments can elevate data collection and processing methods.

Participants in the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Lidar Observation and Validation Experiment (GLOVE) leveraged the ER-2, stationed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, to authenticate satellite data related to clouds and airborne particles in Earth’s atmosphere. Utilizing GLOVE’s onboard technology, researchers are able to measure and validate cloud data generated by existing satellite sensors orbiting Earth.

“The GLOVE data will be instrumental in testing innovative artificial intelligence algorithms for data processing,” stated John Yorks, the principal investigator for GLOVE and a research physical scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “These algorithms are designed to enhance cloud and aerosol detection within satellite-generated data.”

The validation efforts offered by GLOVE are vital to confirming the precision and dependability of satellite data. “Instruments aboard the plane provide higher resolution measurements, establishing a definitive reference to ensure the data genuinely reflects the atmospheric conditions being surveyed,” explained Yorks.

The ER-2 conducted flights over diverse landscapes, including parts of Oregon, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, as well as over the Pacific Ocean adjoining California’s coastline. These locations exhibited various atmospheric phenomena, showcasing different cloud types like cirrus clouds, marine stratocumulus, and precipitation conditions such as rain and snow.

Yorks further emphasized, “The primary aim is to enhance satellite data products for applications in Earth science. These measurements enable scientists and decision-makers to rely on satellite data for critical functions like weather forecasting and hazard assessment.”

The ER-2 is equipped with four key instruments: the Cloud Physics Lidar, the Roscoe Lidar, the enhanced Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Simulator, and the Cloud Radar System. Together, these instruments validate data collected by NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2) and the Earth Cloud, Aerosol, and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE), a collaborative satellite mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

“Moreover, the EarthCARE satellite features the first ever Doppler radar aimed at measuring air motions within clouds,” added Yorks. While the ER-2 is piloted by personnel from NASA Armstrong, the operation of these instruments is supported by teams from NASA Goddard, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, California, alongside students from the University of Iowa in Iowa City and the University of Maryland in College Park.

Source
www.nasa.gov