NASA SBIR 2022-I Solicitation

Proposal Summary

Proposal Information

Proposal Number:
22-1- S17.04-1586
Subtopic Title:
Application of Artificial Intelligence for Science Modeling and Instrumentation
Proposal Title:
Predicting 3D atmospheric structure from geostationary satellites

Small Business Concern

   
Firm:
          
GeoLens LLC
          
   
Address:
          
19 Buena Vista Road, Arlington, MA 02476
          
   
Phone:
          
(978) 314-4847                                                                                                                                                                                
          

Principal Investigator:

   
Name:
          
Dr. Thomas Vandal
          
   
E-mail:
          
tj@geolens.ai
          
   
Address:
          
19 Buena Vista Rd, MA 02476 - 7510
          
   
Phone:
          
(978) 314-4847                                                                                                                                                                                
          

Business Official:

   
Name:
          
Dr. Thomas Vandal
          
   
E-mail:
          
tj@geolens.ai
          
   
Address:
          
19 Buena Vista Rd, MA 02476 - 7510
          
   
Phone:
          
(978) 314-4847                                                                                                                                                                                
          

Summary Details:

   
Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) :                                                                                                                                                          
Begin: 3
End: 5
          
          
     
Technical Abstract (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words):

3D atmospheric wind is a key missing observable in NASA's Earth Observation System (EOS) and presents large initial condition uncertainties in data assimilation systems. Atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs), which track cloud/water vapor movement and assign a height, provide key passively sensed initial condition information for numerical weather prediction. However, data produced by current operational AMV algorithms are sparsely available and contain high uncertainties in the vertical direction. Comparison with radiosonde profiles indicates that AMV height assignment errors comprise 70% of uncertainty. Our work aims to fill EOS gaps by learning a mapping between high-temporal resolution GOES-16/17 geostationary satellites operated by NOAA/NASA and radiosonde observations. We use our WindFlow model that applies deep learning based optical flow techniques to track clouds and water vapor in sequences of geostationary images to produce direction and speed data. WindFlow provides an efficient approach to generate dense and accurate wind vectors. Outputs of WindFlow, paired with thermal infrared imagery, provides information content to directly predict wind speed, humidity, and temperature at varying pressure levels. This proposal aims to generate a 3D atmospheric product from geostationary satellites validated against radiosondes and lidar observations.

          
          
     
Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words):

Applications of 3D atmospheric winds are numerous throughout NASA Earth science research and development. Assimilation of our data with systems operated at the NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) has the potential to improve analysis and forecast products, including short-term and sub-seasonal.  Dense atmospheric winds will also have implications to wildfire monitoring and subsequent air quality issues.

          
          
     
Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words):

Commercially the developed technology has applications to aviation, renewable energy, finance/insurance, and forecasting. In aviation, surface level and atmospheric winds have great economic value to airlines in terms of safety and potential operating cost savings.  Renewable energy markets are largely powered by weather conditions and must be estimated for stable operation of the power grid.

          
          
     
Duration:     6
          
          

Form Generated on 05/25/2022 15:48:21