Science Working Group for the AM Platform (SWAMP) meeting
--Francesco Bordi (fbordi@pop400.gsfc.nasa.gov), NASA Goddard Space Flight
The Science Working Group for the AM Platform
(SWAMP) met at the Lockheed Martin Astro Space facility in Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania, on March 21 and 22, 1996. There was full attendance by all the
EOS AM-1 Team leaders, by most of the software leads, and by several EOS AM-1
Project and ESDIS staff members.
After a brief welcome speech by Mike Kavka, the EOS AM-1 Project Manager at
Lockheed Martin, Chris Scolese discussed the status of the Project: CERES has
been integrated onto the TRMM spacecraft; all AM-1 instruments are in
fabrication; the spacecraft flight components are in testing; and the Project
is working on a three-month advance on spacecraft delivery.
Martha Maiden (NASA Headquarters) is funding the DEM development and Thomas
Logan (JPL) will oversee the work. A design study has been initiated and an
implementation plan will be out soon. Specialists from JPL and EDC will lead
the technical work and the assembly of the DEMs, while ESDIS will arrange for
the toolkits to allow teams to access the data. The parties will keep the SWAMP
informed of their progress and of any options that may arise.
Robert Wolfe discussed the need for land-sea masks for model products, and
identified them as a desired layer for DEMs. Masks are needed for land, oceans,
lakes, and rivers. Equal-angle grids are also needed at 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0
degrees. Robert Wolfe and Bryan Bailey will report at the next microSWAMP on
who is to prepare the grids and on the resources required.
Piers Sellers reiterated the SWAMP view that recompeting products in the EOS
AM-1 timeframe would not save money, and would increase risk for EOS AM-1 (as
discussed in the SWAMP letter to Dr. Kennel dated November 1995).
This was followed by a review of the letter sent from the Project Science
Office to the SWAMP (and of the responses from Team members to the letter)
setting out a strategy for deciding which products to offer for recompetition.
A small working group was formed to prepare a new letter on the topic, to be
signed by all Team leaders and by the Project Science Office.
Jim Butler reviewed recent progress with instrument calibration work, and
discussed lunar calibration. Lunar/deep space maneuvers are desired by the
MODIS, CERES, ASTER, and MISR Teams; such maneuvers are not needed (but they
are not feared either) by the MOPITT Team.
The current plan is for GSFC to write the flight software needed to implement
the maneuvers. The spacecraft should be capable of performing the maneuvers
within 6 months after launch.
Paul Westmeyer discussed the fact that if X-Band were to be used to download
science data, there would be a black-out for direct broadcast north of 60
degrees North latitude.
Ed Chang discussed the request from the Japanese ASTER ground data system (GDS)
for ground track margins to be reduced from +/-20 km to +/-2.5 km to facilitate
ASTER operations. If this were done, orbit adjust maneuvers (using propellant)
would increase in frequency from once every 43 days to once every 14 days (or
possibly more often). There was opposition to doing this from other instrument
teams.
At the next microSWAMP, the ASTER GDS Team will present the science
justification for the tighter ground track requirements, and Ed Chang will
discuss the likely frequency of maneuvers as a function of ground track
requirements.
Ed Chang also discussed the jitter analysis, indicating that ASTER tilts on the
day-side will stay within margins, and will not perturb other instruments. All
agreed that we should assess the real impact of day-side tilts in flight before
committing to them as a routine, long-term practice.
Skip Reber reported that the Data System Working Group (DSWG) has worked hard
in response to SWAMP concerns raised in November 1995. Those issues included
HDF, browse, metadata, ancillary data, and QA. A high-level one-on-one meeting
will be needed to resolve some of these issues. The next DSWG meeting is
planned for May 1996.
Francesco Bordi summarized the science software reviews that were held the two
days preceding the SWAMP:
Jim Stobie reported on his work on swath data products from the Data
Assimilation Office, and announced that a prototype will be available in June
1996.
Piers Sellers reported that the MODIS, MISR, and CERES Teams agree to produce
model grid products and will send out a revised letter with specifications for
the model grid.
Piers Sellers presented the schedule for the next SWAMP meetings: There will be a MicroSWAMP meeting at the EOS IWG meeting on May 13, 1996.
There are two options for the next SWAMP/SSR meeting week (and possibly for
some ATBD reviews).
Option 1: November 4-8, 1996.
| Table of Contents | | Previous | | Next |
Welcome and Project Status
Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
Land-Sea Masks
SWAMP Position on Recompetition for the Data System
Calibration
X-Band Update
ASTER Ground Track
ASTER Tilting On Day-Side
Data System Working Group
EOS AM-1 Science Software Review (SSR) Summary
Data Assimilation Office
Model Grid Products
Next SWAMP Meetings
Option 2: November 11-15, 1996.