Co-Investigator(s):Name Institution Telephone email

Bernard Minster, University of California, San Diego, 619-534-5650, jbminster@ucsd.edu

__________________________________________________________________________

• certifies that the statements made in this proposal are true and complete to the best of his/her knowledge;
• agrees to accept the obligations to comply with NASA award terms and conditions if an award is made as a result of this proposal; and
• confirms compliance with all provisions, rules, and stipulations set forth in the two Certifications contained in this NRA [namely, (i) Certification of Compliance with the NASA Regulations Pursuant to Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs, and (ii) Certifications, Disclosures, And Assurances Regarding Lobbying, and Debarment & Suspension].

Willful provision of false information in this proposal and/or its supporting documents, or in reports required under an ensuing award, is a criminal offense (U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1001).

Title of Authorizing Institutional Official: __________________________________________

Signature: Date:

Name of Proposing Institution:

Telephone: E-mail: Facsimile:

1. Static and Time Variable Gravity Studies _________

2. Earth Orientation, Reference Frames, Angular Momentum _________

3. Geomagnetism _________

II. Topography & Surface Change

1. GPS and INSAR Applications ___Ã_____

2. Global Sea Level Change _________

3. Coastal Hazards _________

4. Flood Disaster Management Applications _________

5. Landslides _________

6. SRTM/Topography and Surface Change _________

III. Hazardous Consequences of Climate Variability _________

IV. Thermal and Geothermal Hazards

1. Wildfires _________

2. Volcanic Hazards _________

V. Pacific Disaster Center _________

VI. Geologic Applications of Remote Sensing _________

VII. Airborne Data Acquisitions/Pacific Rim Campaign _________

Proposal Summary (Single spaced), objectives and justification, prior accomplishments, proposed work and methodology.

Interferometric SAR (InSAR) has become a powerful tool for mapping the small-scale (0.1 km to 50 km) strain patterns that may be spatially aliased by the comparatively coarse GPS array. Several groups have used, or will propose to use, ERS SAR data to monitor crustal strain over broad areas. Currently the Southern/Central California ERS archive extends from 1992 to the present. To make the best use of these data at the lowest cost to the US funding agencies, we have formed a consortium of 13 institutions. This proposal is to fund the purchase of the newly acquired data for the Consortium. The European Space Agency (ESA), and the two companies with copyrights to the North American data, Eurimage and SpotImage, have approved the shared use of the data within a pre-defined group. Currently, the shared archive consists of over 100 frames of raw ERS SAR data on a tape/disk archive computer (arch.ucsd.edu). Here we propose to update the archive with new SAR data collected by an X-band downlink facility at SIO (>400 frames/yr). The advantages of direct reception are; slightly lower cost, near real time access (hours instead of 4-6 weeks) and larger ground mask extending into Mexico. This proposal covers a part of the data costs only; the operating costs of the facility will be covered by the State of California, NASA-EOS, the US Navy, and NOAA.

Over the past several months, we have organized a group of investigators who have expressed interest in the purchase of ERS SAR data from Western North America and especially along the North American Pacific Plate Boundary. Until recently, ESA provided limited supplies of raw SAR data to most researchers through their AO process. As data usage increased and InSAR processing became more routine, the data demands far exceeded ESA’s capabilities to provide free data. Many of the research requests for AO-03 were not approved by ESA, especially those of new investigators. Moreover, ESA is under pressure to make their satellite and ground operations self supporting. This proposal serves multiple purposes:

• it helps to fund the ERS-2 SAR acquisitions and insures that ESA will keep the radar turned on while it is over important target areas of Western North America;
• it defines, through the users wish lists (see below), the most important acquisition areas/times;
• it promotes collaborative research and allows checking each others results without having to re-purchase the same data;
• it provides rear real-time data access in case of a disaster;
• it fosters the only non-commercial X-band downlink station in the western US with the hope that someday the US will have its own free flying SAR satellite.

1. California Institute of Technology - Mark Simons (simons@gps.caltech.edu)

3. Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Ron Blom (rblom@mail1.jpl.nasa.gov)

David Curkendall (David.W.Curkendall@jpl.nasa.gov)

Diane Evans (diane.l.evans@jpl.nasa.gov)

Eric Fielding (Eric.Fielding@earth.ox.ac.uk; ericf@kahn.jpl.nasa.gov)

Michael Kobrick (michael.kobrick@jpl.nasa.gov)

Gilles Peltzer (gilles@altyn.jpl.nasa.gov)

Paul Rosen (Paul.Rosen@jpl.nasa.gov)

Frank Webb (fhw@cobra.jpl.nasa.gov)

Charles Werner (cw@vega.jpl.nasa.gov)

4. Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Duncan Agnew (dagnew@ucsd.edu)

Yehuda Bock (ybock@ucsd.edu)

Bernard Minster (jbminster@ucsd.edu)

David Sandwell (sandwell@radar.ucsd.edu)

Hadley Johnson (johnson@ramsden.ucsd.edu)

Suzanne Lyons (slyons@ucsd.edu)

Rosanne Nikolaidis (rosanne@ucsd.edu)

Evelyn Price (evelyn@magellan.ucsd.edu)

Karen Watson (kwatson@pgga.ucsd.edu)

Frank Wyatt (wyatt@ramsden.ucsd.edu)

5. Stanford University - Howard Zebker (zebker@jakey.stanford.edu)

7. University of California, Los Angeles — Paul Earle (pearle@ucla.edu)

8. University of Colorado - John Rundle (rundle@terra.colorado.edu)

9. University of Hawaii

Mike Bevis (bevis@soest.hawaii.edu)

Peter Mouginis-Mark (pmm@kahana.pgd.hawaii.edu)

10. University of Miami, Rosenstial School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

11. University of Memphis

Mike Ellis (ellis@ceri.memphis.edu)

12. University of Texas, Center for Space Research

Melba Crawford (crawford@csr.utexas.edu)

Steve Nerem (snerem@santafe.gsfc.nasa.gov)

Bryon Tapley (tapley@utcsr.ae.utexas.edu)

13. U.S. Geological Survey

Ken Hudnut (hudnut@seismo.gps.caltech.edu)

One may ask why the consortium is limited to this special group of investigators. Ideally there would be free and open access to all earth science data but the reality is that the companies with the rights to the sale of the North American data want to maximize their return on their investment. Through negotiations with ESA, SpotImage, and Eurimage, we have compromised on a group of 13 institutions that can have access to the purchased data (i.e., ERS-SAR Data Consortium). Each institution will agree to abide by the terms of the purchase agreement, have a representative to keep track of data purchases, and provide a "wish list" for the data buys. This person will distribute data to interested research users in his/her institution and be sure that they not knowingly disclose the data beyond the institution. Whether or not this proposal is funded, it is important to maintain this concept of a group purchase. An alternate group-purchase model would be for each investigator to co-ordinate their data purchases through the consortium so data are not purchased multiple times.

To avoid issues of proprietary data, we propose that all data will be available on-line at all times to members of the Consortium. Section (7) describes the funding and operation of the X-band downlink facility at SIO. Here is how we envision the facility will operate:

The objective is to maintain flexibility for the consortium members while sticking to a rigid routine for the direct data acquisitions. Each institution should have a representative to keep track of acquisitions (and purchases of archive data) and provide a "wish list" for scheduling the acquisitions. Usually the wish list will be sent by e-mail to the archivist but, in addition, at least once per year the Consortium should meet to discuss possible changes to the acquisition schedule; we propose that this meeting occur at the Fall AGU Meeting. The representative from each institution will distribute new and archive data to interested research users in his/her institution.

We propose to maintain the "baseline acquisition" schedule developed by Gilles Peltzer (Figure 1) although the acquisitions will be modified (based on user requests) and acquisitions could be expanded with infusion of more funds. Individuals of the consortium will have three ways to obtain the data they need. First they can purchase data from ESA (probably older data) using their own funds as part of the consortium deal. We hope that these data are inserted into the common archive or made accessible to other members in some way but at least the member should inform the archivist of the acquisition so the consortium data base can be updated. The second approach is to obtain additional funding to expand the area. This additional coverage could be for ascending passes as well as for some data from outside of the Prince Albert mask. The third approach is to simply wait until the newly acquired data reach the temporary disk or the archive. In each case, the data that are copied from a UCSD disk should be signed out and we will report this usage to Eurimage or SpotImage on a monthly basis. Currently the archivist is Karen Watson (kwatson@ucsd.edu).

The weakness of this proposal is that while we have a simple operations plan, we do not have complete funding for the operations. We have not included the operations costs in this proposal because it would increase the per frame data cost above the standard ESA purchase price. We estimate that a data/computer manager working half time could operate the facility, archive the data and maintain the web-based lists. Maintenance of the hardware will be done on a case-by-case basis. All of the RF electronics was installed by a UCSD electrical technician (Tony Hodgins) and he is on call for repairs with a typical response time of one day. Our SIO machine shop has repaired many problems on the 18-year-old satellite dish. They perform lubrications at 6-month intervals, and they have a good knowledge of the mechanical components. These local services are funded on a case-by-case basis either by the SIO Director’s office or an account derived from donations from petroleum exploration companies. Under a separate grant from NASA (Earth Remote Sensing Center of Excellence at Scripps Institution of Oceanography- PI, Greg Mitchell, SIO) we have funds to upgrade the X-band digital electronics to capture the high data rate link from EOS-AM1 for acquisition of full resolution of MODIS data. In addition this Centers of Excellence funding provided a suite of computer components that now reside at the X-band downlink facility; this facility also serves as a remote sensing classroom. A second NASA grant (HPCC/ESS — Advanced Computing Technology Applications to SAR Interferometry and Imaging Science — PI, David W Curkendall, JPL) provided the funds for high speed network communications from the X-band downlink facility to the San Diego Super Computer Center. The objective of this work is to send the real-time data stream (105 Mbps) to JPL for real-time processing on their super computer. This network upgrade will also ensure good ftp access for Consortium users. The IGPP Mass Store was mostly funded by NSF although, soon the X-band facility will have to contribute approximately $10K/yr. to the operations costs. Finally, the State of California has established a remote sensing initiative with significant new funding for UC Campuses. The SIO X-band facility is a cornerstone of that initiative and it will receive significant funding for operations if the State initiative is approved.

6. DATA REQUIREMENTS — See section on DETAILED WORK PLAN

With funding from a NASA (SBIR) grant (50%), the State of California (25%) and internal funds (25%), SeaSpace Corporation and Scripps Institution of Oceanography have developed an X-band satellite data acquisition system and archive system. The acquisition system is based on a Scientific Atlanta 5m dish antenna which is controlled by TeraScan software. The data acquisition consists of all new components, an X-band feed, a down converter, a demodulator, a multiple bit sync (ERS and Radarsat), and a frame buffer housed in a SparcStation Ultra 30 (PCI bus). Real-time data are stored on a 64 Gbyte RAID and are later transferred to a 8 terabyte archive (IGPP Mass Store) over an FDDI link. In contrast to older systems, there is no high-speed tape drive and the dish antenna is 5 m instead of 10 m. As part of their technology development, SeaSpace will continue to upgrade the facility to downlink data from future high bandwidth satellites (e.g., EOS-AM1, Landsat 7, Envisat, . . .). In August 1997 SIO obtained additional funding from NASA to upgrade the facility to downlink data from EOS-AM1. The entire acquisition process is automated although the user must provide a schedule (weekly) and check the quality of each pass acquired.

The SparcStation Ultra 30, which captures the data, is connected to a 8 terabyte Storage Technology disk/DLT archive at a sustained data rate of 50 Mbps. Currently a rich variety of seismology and geodesy data are stored on this facility. The high bandwidth network connection is being extended throughout the southwestern US and thus we plan an Internet-based distribution system.

8. REFERENCES — None

The data costs are based on a quote from Eurimage for the right to downlink 400 frames per year. We plan to distribute these costs among three institutions, NASA, NSF and USGS. So far the three institutions have committed funds to purchase data from the ERS archive (NASA $50,000; NSF $26,000 and USGS about $40,000, Wayne Thatcher personal communication). We hope that NSF and USGS will continue to contribute to the data costs to help support this direct downlink effort. A proposal being considered by NSF, Major Research Initiative (MRI): Collaborative Research: Integrated Instrumentation for Broadband Observations of Plate Boundary Deformation — Barbara Romanowicz, PI, UC Berkeley is requesting 100 of the frames. Maintenance of the IGPP Mass Store ($6,000) is required for keeping the large data accessible to the users. The 400 frames per year could include new acquisitions, within our station mask, that have been proposed by other investigators under this SENH announcement.