Agricultural Competitiveness - A primary factor impacting production and yield on a given field is weather. Weather is a regional phenomenon that can be predicted from global indicators (i.e., El Nino). Improvements in agricultural competitiveness require better understanding of weather and climate, especially prediction of events with increasing accuracy and longer lead times. Solutions serving this application will draw directly from the results of NASA research and development of Earth science and technology that have potential to address weather and climate predictions and observations that can be integrated into local and regional decision support systems used in agriculture management. This national application draws upon, and contributes to, other information solutions associated with early warning for homeland security, water management and conservation, air quality management, carbon management, and invasive species management.
[keywords: agriculture](Added: 5-May-2003 Hits: 449)
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Carbon Management - Carbon is the basis for the food and fiber that sustain life on Earth and is a primary energy source around the global. Burning of carbon-based fuels has led to a steady increase in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) during the last 100 years. Atmospheric CO2 is a primary contributor to the planetary greenhouse effect and, a major parameter in models predicting climate change.
[keywords: atmospheric carbon dioxide, carbon-based fuels](Added: 5-May-2003 Hits: 454)
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El Nino and TOPEX/POSEIDON Ocean Satellite Data - The latest image from NASA's Jason oceanography satellite, taken during a 10-day collection cycle ending December 2, 2002, shows the Pacific dominated by two significant areas of higher-than-normal sea level (warmer ocean temperatures). In the central equatorial Pacific, the large area of higher than normal sea surface heights (warmer than normal sea surface temperatures) associated with growing El Niņo conditions has recently migrated eastward toward the coast of South America. Meanwhile, the influence of the 20- to 30-year larger than El Niņo/La Niņa pattern called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation continues to create warm, higher-than-normal sea-surface heights in the north Pacific that are connected in a warm horseshoe pattern with the western and southern Pacific. Sea-surface heights are a measure of how much heat is stored in the ocean below. This heat influences both present weather and future planetary climate events.
[keywords: El Nino, TOPEX/POSEIDON, forecasting](Added: 22-Jun-1999 Hits: 1197)
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Kansas Applied Remote Sensing (KARS) Program - The Kansas Applied Remote Sensing (KARS) Program was established in 1972
by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the State of
Kansas to conduct applied research on techniques that enable public agencies
and private firms to better utilize data from satellite and air-borne remote sensing
systems. Projects undertaken by KARS with federal, state, and local agencies and
private industry are designed to identify and enhance ways in which remote
sensing technologies and related geographic information systems (GIS) can aid
in decision-making, policy formulation and planning in a variety of applications.
KARS projects have involved land use, land cover inventory, monitoring land use
change, rangeland and forestland characterization, wildlife habitat evaluation,
mapping of irrigated lands, surface mined lands inventory, soil conservation
needs assessment, wetlands inventory, and urban area analysis.
[keywords: KARS](Added: 22-Jun-1999 Hits: 1070)
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TOPEX/POSEIDON Homepage - A partnership between the U.S. and France to
monitor global ocean circulation, discover the
tie between the oceans and atmosphere, and
improve global climate predictions. Every 10
days, the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite measures
global sea level with unparalleled accuracy.
[keywords: El Nino, sea level, climate predictions](Added: 22-Jun-1999 Hits: 1069)
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