Dr. Helen Poulos uses NASA Earth science data
Dr. Helen Poulos uses NASA Earth science data to understand how climate change is affecting the forests of the Southwestern United States.
The data and imagery that Dr. Poulos uses in her work come from a variety of sources, including NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC). Located at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the LP DAAC ingests, processes, archives, and distributes data products related to land processes in NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) collection. These data are crucial to the investigation, characterization, and monitoring of biological, geological, hydrological, ecological, and related conditions.
“In terms of imagery, Landsat is very important for mapping fire severity, and I use observations of post-fire forest hydrology and plant water cycling from the Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on the International Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument,” Poulos said. “I also use Daymet Daily Surface Weather data from [NASA's] Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC), data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2A and -2B satellites, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER-GDEM) product, and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) gross primary productivity, fraction of photosynthetically active radiation, land surface temperature, and leaf area index products.”
Dr. Helen Poulos is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Wesleyan University College of the Environment