Winner, Honorable Mentions Announced: NASA DEVELOP Spring 2014 Virtual Poster Session

A grand-prize winner and honorable mentions have been selected for the spring 2014 Virtual Poster Session (VPS) contributed by NASA’s DEVELOP National Program. The contest included 25 projects conducted by 104 participants from around the globe.

Landsat 8 mosaic images of the Inner Niger Delta in Mali, western Africa. The mosaic seen in the satellite silhouette depicts the extent of flash flooding in September 2013. Image Credit: Chris McKeel, DEVELOP.

The grand prize goes to the project, ÛÏReintroduction in Motion: Habitat Modeling for the Scimitar-Horned Oryx,Û conducted by a team of four interns at DEVELOP’s node at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

The team used NASA Earth-observing satellite data to create a habitat suitability index to support the reintroduction of the scimitar-horned oryx in Chad. The Chad Ecological Forecasting team’s video maintained ÛÏa good balance between describing the problem and the methods being taken to provide a solution,Û said Jennifer Perez, deputy program manager for the Science and Technical Information Program at NASA Langley Research Center, one of 15 in a judging panel.

Each member of the winning team will receive a one-year trial version of ENVI and ArcGIS software, furnished by competition co-sponsors Exelis Visual Information Solutions and Esri. Both companies create geospatial and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software that can incorporate NASA remote-sensing data.

Runner-up honors go to four teams who followed closely behind the Chad Ecological Forecasting team in scoring and led in each of their categories based on content clarity, use of Earth observations, åÊcreativity, dialogue and discussion, and decision support:

Û¢åÊOn the Front Lines: A tie for Best in Category ÛÒ ÛÏI Seaweed, Do You? Using Landsat and Open Source GIS to Locate SargassumÛ (Stennis Space Center) and ÛÏValidations of Precipitation Inundation Aberrations for African NationsÛ (International Research Institute for Climate and Society)

Û¢åÊAllocation to Inundation: Best in Category ÛÒ ÛÏSmokey Says: Only YOU (and the Sierra DSS) Can Manage Forest ResourcesÛ (Ames Research Center)

Û¢åÊMitigating Fire and Drought: Best in Category ÛÒ ÛÏThe Hungry Caterpillar ÛÒ Catching Fire: VIIRS Forest Disturbance DetectionÛ (Stennis Space Center)

Û¢åÊDefending Agricultural and Natural Resources: Best in Category ÛÒ ÛÏBug Off! Woolly Adelgid Induced Hemlock Decline in the Great Smokey MountainsÛ (University of Georgia).

For more information about DEVELOP, visit the DEVELOP website.

Previous DEVELOP Earthzine Virtual Poster Sessions are listed in the DEVELOP VPS Archive.

Winner

Reintroduction in Motion: Habitat Modeling for the Scimitar-Horned Oryx

Drought, civil war and climate change: these issues have riddled Chad for the past few

decades, and the scimitar-horned oryx has been a casualty. But can the oryx be successfully

reintroduced? DEVELOP Goddard collaborated with Sahara Conservation Fund and the

Smithsonian to take a step forward towards ecological restoration.

Runners Up

I Seaweed, Do You? Using Landsat and Open Source GIS to Locate Sargassum

This Landsat 8 OLI image from Feb. 18, 2014, shows Sargassum and boat wakes located in theåÊGulf of Mexico. The image to the left shows a calculated NIR/Red band ratio, whereas theåÊimage to the right is the LandsatLook ÛÏNatural ColorÛ image that has been preprocessed byåÊUSGS.

Validations of Precipitation Inundation Aberrations for African Nations

Images created during the validation process of the JPL/CUNY product to the DFO maps, which

show the basic methodology behind the process.

Smokey Says: Only YOU (and the Sierra DSS) Can Manage Forest Resources

Imagine the Sierra Nevada by 2100. Snowpack may decline, water availability may decrease,åÊand fire potential may expand. Through the use of the Sierra Nevada Decision-Support System,åÊthe USDA Forest Service can glance at the past, survey the present, and peer into the future toåÊbetter understand how to manage forest resources.

The Hungry Caterpillar Catching Fire: VIIRS Forest Disturbance Detection

With the MODIS sensors well past their operational expectancy, replacement sensorsåÊfor MODIS should be considered in order to continue developing forest monitoring andåÊassessment tools. The VIIRS sensor is a suitable candidate for decision support tools, such asåÊForWarn, an online service for satellite-based vegetation change recognition and tracking.

Bug Off! Woolly Adelgid Induced Hemlock Decline in the Great Smokey Mountains

A destructive insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), has been threatening theåÊhemlocks in the Great Smoky Mountains since 2002. NASA Earth Observations were utilized toåÊdetect hemlock defoliation caused by the HWA. For the first time, 13-year trends of hemlockåÊdecline in GRSM were analyzed to illustrate vegetation changes.