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Wideband Instrument for Snow Measurements (WISM)

Felix A. Miranda1, Kevin M. Lambert2, Robert R. Romanofsky1; Tim Durham3, Kerry Speed3, Robert Lange3, Art Olsen3, Brett Smith3, RobertTaylor3, Mark Schmidt3,

Paul Racette4, Quenton Bonds4, Ludovic Brucker5, Lora Koenig6, Hans-Peter MarshaiV, Ken Vanhille8, Anatoly Borissenko8, Leung Tsang9, and Shurun Tan9

1NASA Glenn Research Center; 2Vantage Partners LLC; 3Harris Corp.;4NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; 5Universities Space Research Association; 6University of Colorado; 7Boise State

University; 8Nuvotronics;9 University of Michigan

May 24, 2016

Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20160006637 2018-08-31T08:02:28+00:00Z

This effort is being performed under the following NASA funded work

"Enhancement, Demonstration, and Validation of the Wideband Instrument for Snow Measurements (WISM)"

NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2013 Instrument Incubator Program (liP)

Cooperative Agreement# NNX14AI04A Dr. Tim Durham, PI

Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field 2

Importance of Snow

~ 50% to 80% of the yearly water supply in the western United States is supplied by the seasonal snowpack.

~ To effectively manage water resources, accurate measurement of the amount of water in the snowpack, the snow water equivalent (SWE), is needed on the very small spatial scales over which the snowpack varies.

Highly variable snowpack

Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field 3

Background

)> NASA GRC participates in a Earth Sciences Technology Office, Instrument Incubator Program - "Wideband Instrument for Snow Measurement1"

)> Program objective is to improve the science and technology of remote sensing for determining SWE.

)> Includes hardware development and data processing - Multi-frequency radars and radiometers operating through a single aperture antenna - SWE extraction from remote sensing data - Airborne and space based platforms Instrument Layout in Cabin

Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field

Twin Otter Aircraft

lNASA Research OpportUDJ.tlesln Space and Farth Sciences, 2013 Instrument Incubator Program Cooperative Agreement# NNX14AI04A Dr.1lm Durham, HarrisCorp.PI

Radar Box

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NASA GRC Role

~ WISM antenna characterization Test antennas to provide performance verification

Experimentally obtain attributes needed for SWE extraction

Reflector Performance Analysis

Laser radar used for integration, alignment and surface mapping.

Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field

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t WISM antenna radiation pattern.

+- WISM reflector antenna being tested in the NASA GRC Planar Near-field Antenna Range.

5

How is NASA GRC data used?

> Ensures antenna is built and integrated as designed. > Known antenna beam size and shape enables system planners to

establish altitude and power requirements. ~ Additional information (gain, sidelobe structure) allow enhancement of

extraction algorithms.

WISM Draft FHght lines 8-18 GHz Harris Array Antenna, BSU Snow Research Plot, Feb 4, 2013

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Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field

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