Based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California C-20A The Gulfstream III is the military version of the business jet and serves as an aircraft for various earth science research missions.
In October, the aircraft was deployed to fly over areas affected by Hurricane Milton. With sustained winds of 120 mph, the hurricane hit the Florida coast as a Category 3 storm, and produced lightning, heavy rain, and a series of tornadoes. After the storm, the C-20A was equipped with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) instrument to collect detailed data on the flood-affected areas.
“Our team focused specifically on inland river flooding near densely populated areas, collecting data that will inform future disaster response and preparedness,” said Starr Ginn, C-20A aircraft project manager. can.” “By all indications, this rapid response was a successful coordination of efforts by science and aircraft teams to support Hurricane Milton recovery efforts.”
UAVSAR was developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and uses a technique called interferometry to detect subtle changes in the Earth’s surface. Interferometry uses the intersection of multiple wavelengths to make accurate measurements. This detection system effectively measures terrain changes or impacts before and after an extreme natural event.
When flown on an aircraft, radars such as UAVSARs can also provide greater detail than satellite radars. “Where satellite instruments can only acquire measurements every one to two weeks, UAVSAR can fill in points between satellite passes to calibrate ground-based instruments,” Gain said. “It takes data at faster rates and with greater accuracy. We can design overlapping flights in three or more directions to detect more structures and movements on the Earth’s surface. One-dimensional line-of-sight is a major advantage over measurement.
The C-20A team also used UAVSAR to investigate the Portuguese Bend landslide in Rancho Palos Verdes in October. The Portuguese Band landslide began in the mid- to late Pleistocene, about 11,000 years ago. Although dormant for thousands of years, the landslide was reactivated in 1956 when a road construction project added weight to its top. Recently, the speed of landslides has increased during the dry season.
NASA’s JPL scientists, Xiang Li, Alexander Handwerger, Gilles Peltzer, and Eric Fielding, are investigating this landslide development using satellite-based instruments. “The high-resolution capability of UAVSAR is ideal for landslides because of their relatively small features,” Ginn said. “This helps us understand the different characteristics of the landslide body.”
The C-20A airborne observatory also provided important insights into wildfire studies. Fire and smoke model evaluation experience (FASMEE), a multi-agency experiment led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, which included flights by the C-20A. Fire behavior and smoke were studied in this experiment.
“The aerial approach allows FASMEE researchers to better understand fire behavior and smoke production,” said Michael Falkowski, program manager for NASA’s Applied Sciences Wildland Fire Program. “Hopefully, this data will help reduce fire risk, restore damaged ecosystems and protect human communities from devastating fires.”
Airborne data can inform how scientists and experts understand extreme phenomena on Earth. FASMEE experiment researchers will use data collected by the UAVSAR instrument to map forest composition and moisture to track fire-affected areas, and study how fires spread.
“We can explore how fire managers can use airborne data to help make decisions about fires,” added Jacqueline Shuman, FireSense project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California. can.”