The ABoVE Spectral Library (ASTRAL) – A Web-mapping Application to Enhance the Discovery, Visualization, and Sharing of Spectral Reflectance Data

Sergio A. Vargas Zesati, University of Texas at El Paso, savargas@utep.edu (Presenter)
Ari Kassin, University of Texas at El Paso, akassin@utep.edu
Mauricio Barba, University of Texas at El Paso, mbarba3@utep.edu
Ryan P. Cody, University of Texas at El Paso, rpcody@utep.edu
Karl Huemmrich, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, karl.f.huemmrich@nasa.gov
Petya Campbell, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, petya.k.campbell@nasa.gov
John Gamon, Universtiy of Nebraska at Lincoln, jgamon@unl.edu
Stephen M. Escarzaga, University of Texas at El Paso, smescarzaga@utep.edu
Craig E. Tweedie, University of Texas at El Paso, ctweedie@utep.edu

The Arctic is experiencing among the most dramatic impacts from climate change on the planet. Observed large-scale responses include but are not limited to loss of sea ice and snow cover, sea level rise, enhanced coastal erosion, increases in near-surface air temperature and satellite-derived green biomass, permafrost thaw and degradation, subsidence and geographical shifts in vegetation distribution. NASA’s Terrestrial Ecology Program launched the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) in an effort to better understand the vulnerability and resilience of Arctic and Boreal ecosystems and societies to environmental variability and change. Remote sensing of natural targets, in particular spectral reflectance, from ground, airborne and space borne platforms is a widely used method for monitoring changing arctic landscapes, but remains poorly documented for much of the Arctic. Additionally, there exists a need for consistent web based tools that aid the discovery, sharing and visualization of spectral reflectance data for these regions specifically. During the summer of 2017 our project collected over 1000 field spectra at the leaf and plot level for validation of AVIRIS spectral reflectance and we have sourced more than 300,000 spectra from our archives and those of others that would likely be useful for ABoVE efforts. Managing and visualizing large amounts of spectral data originating from a variety of sensors and data collection methods remains a challenge for the majority of the ABoVE projects as discussed at previous meetings. In an effort to alleviate these issues and help bring together our understanding, we have prototyped a spectral reflectance library that allows for the discovery, visualization, and sharing of spectral data. These include web-based spectral libraries and informational tools such as pre-existing BAID- the Barrow Area Information Database, AOV- the Arctic Observing Viewer, EcoSIS, ASU Spectral Library, JPL HyspIRI Spectral Library, the USGS Digital Spectral Library, and the ASTER Spectral Library. Here, we present a beta application and welcome constructive suggestions on how to better design the application to be most useful for ABoVE Science Team members and other stakeholders.

Associated Project(s): 

• Huemmrich-01

Poster Location ID: 104

Session Assigned: Vegetation Dynamics and Distribution