ECOSTRESS (Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station) is an ongoing

scientific experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

in which a

radiometer A radiometer or roentgenometer is a device for measuring the radiant flux (power) of electromagnetic radiation. Generally, a radiometer is an infrared radiation detector or an ultraviolet detector. Microwave radiometers operate in the microwave w ...

mounted on the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS) measures the

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s growing in specific locations on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

over the course of a

solar year A tropical year or solar year (or tropical period) is the time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the sky of a celestial body of the Solar System such as the Earth, completing a full cycle of seasons; for example, the time fro ...

. These measurements give scientists insight into the effects of events like

heat wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

s and

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

s on

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...

ECOSTRESS radiometer

The instrument that collects this data is a multispectral thermal infrared radiometer. It measures temperatures on the surface of the Earth, rather than

surface air temperature Temperature measurement (also known as thermometry) describes the process of measuring a current local temperature for immediate or later evaluation. Datasets consisting of repeated standardized measurements can be used to assess temperature tren ...

. Dr. Simon Hook is the

principal investigator In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...

of the ECOSTRESS mission and Dr. Joshua Fisher is the Science lead; both are located at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

(JPL). ECOSTRESS data is archived at the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), which is a data center managed by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

(USGS). ECOSTRESS data is discoverable through various platforms including through LP DAAC's AppEEARS (Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples) tool, which allows users to quickly subset and reproject data into a geographic lat/lot format. The data collected is also published via the

open-access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

TERN Data Discovery Portal in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The ECOSTRESS radiometer was built at JPL and consisted of 5 spectral bands in the thermal infrared (8-12 micron) and 1 band in the shortwave infrared, which is used for geolocation. ECOSTRESS was delivered to the ISS by the

SpaceX Dragon American private space transportation company SpaceX has developed and produced several spacecraft named Dragon. The first family member, now referred to as Dragon 1, flew 23 cargo missions to the ISS between 2010 and 2020 before being retired ...

after a launch out of Cape Canaveral, Florida on 29 June 2018 The Dragon arrived at the space station on 3 July 2018. The radiometer was mounted on the station's

Kibo module Kibo may refer to: * Kibō (ISS module), Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), component of the International Space Station * Kibo, a volcanic cone forming the main summit of Mount Kilimanjaro * An alias of James Parry, who as "Kibo" became a cult f ...

. The radiometer constituted about of the of cargo on board the Dragon. Other cargo included spare parts for the

Canadarm2 The Mobile Servicing System (MSS), is a robotic system on board the International Space Station (ISS). Launched to the ISS in 2001, it plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance; it moves equipment and supplies around the station, supp ...

robotic arm A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints ...

, as well as other equipment and supplies. The high-resolution images have a pixel size of 70 meters by 38 meters (225 feet by 125 feet).

Key science questions

The key science questions that ECOSTRESS is addressing include: # How is the terrestrial biosphere responding to changes in water availability? # How do changes in diurnal vegetation water stress impact the global

carbon cycle The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as ...

? # Can agricultural vulnerability be reduced through advanced monitoring of agricultural water consumptive use and improved drought estimation?

Other uses

Image data helps capture and quantify the temperature differences between man-made and natural surfaces. JPL released a report highlighting a 10 June 2022 record high air temperature in Las Vegas, NV of 43 C (109 F) and the corresponding ground temperatures. For instance, asphalt surfaces reached 50 C (122 F), while suburban neighborhood surfaces reached 42 C (108 F) and green spaces measured 37 C (99 F).

Team Members

The original ECOSTRESS Science Team included Dr. Glynn Hulley (JPL) and scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including Dr. Andrew French and Dr. Martha Anderson. Other science team members include Drs. Eric Wood (Princeton), Rick Allen (University of Idaho), and Chris Hain (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center). ECOSTRESS is the first Earth Venture mission to establish an Early Adopters Program, which provided its members with early access to provisional data and opportunities to collaborate with other ECOSTRESS users in a Slack channel. As of August 2019, the Early Adopters Program has transitioned to the ECOSTRESS Community of Practice, with over 250 members.

Science data products

Science data products produced by ECOSTRESS include:

External links

JPL ECOSTRESS

References

{{Reflist, 30em Biology experiments Electromagnetic radiation meters International Space Station experiments Radiometry