In summer 2012, I interned with the DEVELOP National Program -- a NASA Science Mission Directorate, Earth Science, Applied Sciences training program at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Guided by the vision of Dr. Charles Trepte and the needs of his science team, a team of four other students and I developed software to aid in the study of climate and health-related effects of aerosol and particulate matter in the atmosphere.
Our software provided a front end for calculating the trajectory of air parcels using a Lagrangian atmospheric circulation model based on origins extracted from atmospheric profiles provided by the CALIOP instrument aboard the CALIPSO satellite. This remote sensing instrument measures attenuated backscatter in vertical profiles (or "curtains") of atmosphere, which allows the location, type, and concentration of cloud aerosols, smoke particulates, and other atmospheric constituents to be determined. Using these computed trajectories from CALIPSO origins, I implemented tools for the statistical monitoring and tracking of air parcels, the initialization of the computational model, and visualization of, interaction with, and animation of trajectories overlaid on world and regional maps.
Below is a short video narrated variously by the team that exhibits the main project objective and the capabilities of an intermediate version of our software:
Our project was presented and exhibited in video and poster format at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. in July 2012 and at NASA Langley Research Center in August 2012. Our software was packaged and delivered to the CALIPSO Science Team at Langley Research Center for their use and further development.
We provided a front-end graphical user interface for a workflow that enabled the automatic computation of atmospheric particulate and aerosol trajectories from origins within CALIPSO curtains. We expanded this workflow to include a wider variety of data sources and trajectory initialization methods. We developed tools for the visualization and statistical analysis of trajectories. We presented and delivered our software to NASA employees and the CALIPSO Science Team.
I was primarily responsible for developing tools for statistical monitoring and tracking, initialization, visualization, and animation of trajectories. Additionally, I contributed to the design and implementation of the user interface and planned, assigned, directed, and troubleshooted programming tasks among my teammates.
My teammates were variously responsible for planning and developing our software framework and interface; porting, integrating, and enhancing previously scripted code into our software; producing case studies to demonstrate the abilities of our software; and producing written and audiovisual deliverables.