| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 27, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 26, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1542736 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Michael E. Jackson
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $400,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $400,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1960 KENNY RD COLUMBUS OH US 43210-1016 (614)688-8735 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1090 Carmack Road Columbus OH US 43210-1002 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Polar Cyberinfrastructure |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
A significant body of high resolution satellite imagery has been made available to the scientific community, which has the potential to transform Earth science research. While these data are freely available, they are not in a form that an average user can access. This project will use high performance computing facilities and new software to convert images to a format that is more easily accessible to researchers and the public.
Access to high resolution (sub-meter scale) commercial imagery through NSF-sponsored research centers is driving a revolution in Earth observation, redefining what can be measured from space. Currently, however, there is no efficient system for producing and distributing Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from the vast amount of archived imagery, and this impedes utilization by the polar research community. This project will establish a service for on-demand polar DEM production and distribution utilizing the XSEDE High Performance Computing framework and the NSF-funded Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) data services. The PGC holds a large and rapidly-growing archive of sub-meter WorldView stereoscopic satellite imagery covering the globe from which high resolution DEMs can be extracted and openly distributed at no cost. Enabling on-demand generation of high resolution and precise DEMs at no cost will offer a powerful new capability for a wide spectrum of scientific, engineering and planning activities. This project will support both graduate and undergraduate education in high performance scientific computing and will create Earth science datasets of high educational value.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Overview:
This project established an efficient system for on-demand Digital Elevation Model (DEM) production and distribution utilizing the XSEDE High Performance Computing framework and the NSF-funded Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) data services. The PGC holds a large and rapidly growing archive of submeter WorldView stereoscopic satellite imagery covering the globe from which high resolution DEMs can be extracted and openly distributed at no cost. Ohio State had initially developed and validated software, called SETSM, for efficient, user friendly and fully-automated DEM extraction that is capable of producing seamless maps of terrain at meter scale resolution and decimeter precision over large areas. The only current limitation was computing infrastructure. This project expanded and optimized SETSM in the XSEDE environment to (1) accelerate ongoing, high resolution mapping of the Earth’s land surface topography and (2) establish SETSM as a XSEDE software-as-a-surface to facilitate on-demand DEM generation from the entire PGC image archive for a wide range of end users and (3) distribute SETSM as open source code for continued, community-driven improvements. SETSM is now installed on the software gateway on XSEDE and is available as open source at: https://github.com/setsmdeveloper/SETSM
Intellectual Merit:
Access to submeter resolution commercial imagery through NSF-sponsored research centers is driving a revolution in Earth observation, redefining what can be measured from space. Among the most powerful new capabilities is the creation of Digital Elevation models (DEMs) from stereoscopic mode imagery. The DEMs allow mapping of surface features at the same scale as airborne lidar without the cost or logistics constraints. Further, repeat DEMs, with frequencies of weeks or even days, can be used for change detection, with applications ranging from studies of land use to resource management to environmental change. This project developed an efficient system for producing and distributing DEMs from the vast amount of imagery data being archived by NSF sponsored centers, enabling their utilization by the science community.
Broader Impacts:
The Earth’s land surface topography is arguably the most fundamental single dataset in Geosciences, Geographical Sciences and Civil Engineering, essential to disciplines ranging from hydrology and urban planning to plate tectonics. Enabling on-demand generation of high resolution and precise DEM’s at no costl offers a powerful new capability for a wide spectrum of scientific, engineering and planning activities. This project supported both graduate and undergraduate education in high performance scientific computing and created Earth science datasets of high educational value.
Last Modified: 09/16/2018
Modified by: Ian M Howat
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