Title of Presentation: Integrating a Virtual Sensor Web with Land Surface Modeling

Primary (Corresponding) Author: Paul Houser

Organization of Primary Author:  George Mason University

Co-Authors: H. Su, Y. Tian, S. Kumar, J. Geiger

 

Abstract: According to a most recent definition, “Sensor Web is a coherent set of heterogeneous, loosely-coupled, distributed nodes, interconnected by a communications fabric that can collectively behave as a single dynamically adaptive and reconfigurable observing system” (AIST 2007 PI meeting). The next generation constellations of smart satellites, which NASA is developing, can therefore be categorized as sensor web since the satellites are reconfigurable and can communicate with each other based on the changing needs of science and available technology. These spaceborne sensor webs, in combination with those airborne or ground based, will provide an unprecedented opportunity to allow for optimal 2-way information flow that enhances land surface modeling using sensor web observations, and in turn, to allow sensor web reconfiguration to minimize overall system uncertainty. In this paper, the latest advances of designing a framework to integrate land surface modeling and sensor web will be reported. Specifically, the design of sensor web simulation and how to generate a synthetic land surface truth and quantify the uncertainty in land surface modeling will be discussed.