SCIENTIFIC OUTREACH AND APPLICATIONS USING REMOTE SENSING (SOARS)

NASA Glenn Research Center, Lewis Field, Cleveland, Ohio hosted its inaugural Scientific Outreach and Applications using Remote Sensing program. The program’s mission was to utilize remote sensing technology combined with scientific research and Geographic Information System software to create visual tools, which heightened community awareness of potential environmental, urban, and transportation issues. These visual tools could assist in their decision-making processes on a local level of government. It is a student-governed organization advised by NASA GRC personnel. The student body consisted of eight graduate students from universities in Ohio. SOARS incorporates a science advisory committee comprised of professors from 10 universities in Ohio. The program is organized as a two-part program. Part one is a 40-hour educational program that teaches students remote sensing technologies, image processing software and GIS applications. Part two is the outreach portion of the program that adheres to NASA Earth Science Enterprise mission. Team members investigate possible topics and use local community contacts for additional input. The SOARS team selects an issue for research. A customer for the community is found for final product delivery.

The SOARS team selected issues related to the Cuyahoga River Watershed. They focused on the Chippewa Creek Watershed, a subset of the Cuyahoga Watershed. They addressed issues within this watershed such as, but were not limited to, waste water treatment facility locations, impervious versus pervious areas affected by urbanization, and urban heat island affects on precipitation. The end-user for the product was the Cuyahoga Remedial Action Program. The deliverable products were a PowerPoint presentation of the findings; a GIS tool depicting layers of research data; a digital elevation model overlain with processed satellite imagery and GIS layers; a flythrough showing the affects of urbanization on the Chippewa Creek watershed; a wall size diagram and map of the watershed; and a CD Rom documenting the processes used to achieve the final product, which could be used as an outreach and educational tool.