CREATE Center for Rapid Environmental Assessment

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The Center for Rapid Environmental Assessment
Terrain Evaluation (CREATE) at the University of
New Mexico
Richard P. Watson Associate Director Department
of Geography Theresa R. Watson - Ground Station
Manager CREATE Louis Scuderi Director Department
of Earth Planetary Sciences
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CREATE at the University of New Mexico

• The CREATE project focuses on the rapid
  acquisition, processing and distribution of
  NASA, NOAA, and commercial remote sensing
  imagery and augments these products with
  derivative, geospatially referenced analytic data
  sets.

NDVI and NEXRAD Products
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Presentation Overview

• Introduction to CREATE
• Overview of CREATE Research
• Arid Land ET Estimation
• Monitoring and Composition Assessment of Volcanic
  Plumes
• Continuous Index Monitoring of Vegetation
• The Vegetation Monitoring and Assessment Program
  (VMAP) Decision Support System

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CREATE at the University of New Mexico
Multidisciplinary Center Data Acquisition
Processing Application Development
Research Education
http//www.unm.edu/create
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A Brief History of CREATE

• Funded through 2 Federal Appropriations in FY
  2003 FY 2004 (Administered by NASA)
• Installed antennas, acquisition, and processing
  systems in June 2004
• Acquired 1st MODIS pass June 15th 2004

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CREATE at the University of New Mexico
The Area of Coverage includes the region from
southern Mexico on the south to southern Canada
on the north and from the East Coast on the east
to the Pacific Ocean on the west.
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CREATE Hardware Facilities

• One 4.5 meter X-Band satellite receiving dish
• One 1.5 meter L-Band satellite receiving dish
• Two Acquisition Processors with Backup Storage
• 5-Node Linux cluster with 15 Terabytes of
  storage
• Linux Processing server and image processing
  hardware and software

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CREATE Hardware Facilities

• One 4.5 meter X-Band satellite receiving dish
• One 1.5 meter L-Band satellite receiving dish
• Two Acquisition Processors with Backup Storage
• 5-Node Linux cluster with 15 Terabytes of
  storage
• Linux Processing server and image processing
  hardware and software

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CREATE Hardware Facilities

• One 4.5 meter X-Band satellite receiving dish
• One 1.5 meter L-Band satellite receiving dish
• Two Acquisition Processors w/ Backup Storage
• 5-Node Linux cluster with 15 Terabytes of
  storage
• Linux Processing server and image processing
  hardware and software

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CREATE Hardware Facilities

• The CREATE Lab and Computing Facilities are
  housed at the
• University of New Mexico Center for High
  Performance Computing (HPC)

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Data Acquisition

• The Center's systems currently receive and
  process MODIS data from NASA's Aqua and Terra
  Satellites, and AVHRR data from NOAA's HRPT
  satellites.

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Data Acquisition
2-4 MODIS passes/day 4-5 AVHRR passes over NM/day
(30 daily passes)
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CREATE Data Products

• CREATE produces over a dozen data products based
  on NASA and NOAA validated algorithms
• Vegetation Indices NDVI, EVI, LAI, FPAR
• Land Cover, Fire
• Atmospheric Products Visibility, Cloud Mask,
  Aerosol, Water Vapor
• Ocean Products SST, Ocean Color
• CREATE also implements custom algorithms to meet
  research and client needs. We are currently
  implementing an empirically-based ET model for
  the estimation of daily state-wide
  evapotranspiration at a 60 meter resolution.

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CREATE Research Areas

• Data Fusion - MODIS NEXRAD
• Climate Variability and Change
• Ecosystem Vegetation Variability and
  Change
• ET Modeling with Empirical Satellite Data

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Arid Land ET Estimation Using MODIS Data
Energy Balance Model using MODIS and other
physical inputs to estimate evapotranspiration in
New Mexico
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CREATE Evapotranspiration Model
MODIS INPUTS
MODEL Parameters
Albeido
Elevation
Slope
Surface Temperature
Aspect
Insolation
Land Cover
Daily ET Estimates
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Continuous Index Monitoring of Vegetation Change
Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI) 09142004. NASA
MODIS image acquired and processed by CREATE
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Invasive Species
The advance of Sahara Mustard (Brassica
tournefortii) in the Parker Dunes of the Sonoran
Desert
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Vegetation Monitoring and Analysis Program (VMAP)

• Database providing decision support to NM BLM
  from approximately 5000 locations sampled using 4
  orthogonal transects covering an area of
  approximately 20 acres that are sampled about
  once every 5 years.
• Centralized database of rangeland monitoring data
  collected since 1980.
• Data is most complete in the Pecos District
  Office.
• Provides Data Sharing, Portability, and
  Centralized Storage and Access through the NM BLM
  State Office.
• Provides a series of analysis options through
  database queries and analysis reports.

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The Vegetation Monitoring and Assessment Program
(VMAP) Decision Support System

• Centralized database of rangeland monitoring data
  collected since 1980.
• Provides Data Sharing, Portability, and
  Centralized Storage and Access
• Provides a series of analysis options database
  queries

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Volcanic Plumes
Current research focuses on the identification
and characterization of volcanic plumes for 1)
determination of chemical composition 2)
monitoring emissions as precursors to eruptions.
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Local Precipitation and Rapid Environmental
Change - 9/29/05
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Thank You