Development, Processing, and Distribution of Satellite Data Products for Monitoring Landscape Processes in Alaska National Parks (FY2016)

The summary for the Development, Processing, and Distribution of Satellite Data Products for Monitoring Landscape Processes in Alaska National Parks (FY2016) grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Park Service, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Development, Processing, and Distribution of Satellite Data Products for Monitoring Landscape Processes in Alaska National Parks (FY2016): NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Serviceâ¿¿s intention to fund the following project activities without full and open competition. ABSTRACT Funding Announcement Number P16AS00548 Project Title Development, Processing, and Distribution of Satellite Data Products for Monitoring Landscape Processes in Alaska National Parks (FY2016) Recipient University of Alaska Fairbanks - GINA PO Box 75-7275 Fairbanks, Alaska 99775 Principle Investigator / Program Manager Tom Heinrichs Director, GINA Program University of Alaska Fairbanks PO Box 75-7275 Fairbanks, Alaska 99775 Phone: 907.474.6897 E-Mail: [email protected] Total Anticipated Award Amount $167,005 Cost Share None New Award or Continuation? Continuation Anticipated Period of Performance August 1, 2013 â¿¿ August 1, 2018 Award Instrument Cooperative Agreement Statutory Authority 16 U.S.C. (Sec. 5933) CFDA # and Title 15.945 - Cooperative Agreement Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Single Source Justification Criteria Cited (2) Continuation (4) Unique Qualifications NPS ATR Point of Contact Parker Martyn National Park Service Alaska Region, Inventory Coordinator 240 W. 5th Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: (907) 644-3697 E-Mail: [email protected] OVERVIEW This project continues a collaborative effort between the National Park Service (NPS) Alaska Region Inventory and Monitoring Program (AKR I&M) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA). The project will augment GINAâ¿¿s current satellite data holdings with Vegetative Greenness (NDVI) and Snow products, which are currently being used to monitor landscape processes by NPS staff within the AKR I&M. This collaborative effort seeks to build upon on-going work between NPS and GINA. The project will leverage GINAâ¿¿s expertise in satellite data acquisition, processing, management, and distribution, and it will continue to streamline procedures employed by AKR I&M to measure ecological processes such as the onset and freeze-up of ice on large freshwater bodies, pattern and timing of snow cover, as well as determining trends in vegetative growing seasons. This project is a continuation of recent collaborative studies between AKR I&M and GINA which emphasized the development, processing, and distribution of historical NDVI and Snow products from MODIS and AVHRR satellite sensors. STATEMENT OF JOINT OBJECTIVES/PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN The intent of this project is to continue collaborative efforts between the AKRO I&M and GINA to augment GINAâ¿¿s MODIS holdings with current NDVI and Snow metrics products. This collaborative effort will once again leverage GINAâ¿¿s expertise in satellite data acquisition, processing, management, and distribution capabilities MODIS satellite imagery, and streamline procedures currently employed by NPS I&M staff when measuring the onset and freeze-up of ice on large freshwater bodies, pattern and timing of snow cover, and trends and changes in vegetation growing season. There will be 6 primary objectives of the project â¿¢ Update existing MODIS NDVI metric products with the most recent yearâ¿¿s data â¿¢ Update existing MODIS Snow metric products with the most recent yearâ¿¿s data â¿¢ Provide RapidFire WMS Imagery for Lake Ice Monitoring â¿¢ Provide a MODIS Snow Cover Summary Report â¿¢ Re-Process Historical MODIS Data to Fill RapidFire Data Gap â¿¢ Develop a Snow Product Continuity Plan RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT UAF-GINA will provide the following tasks and deliverables: 1. MODIS NDVI Metrics Updates, Maintenance Tasks: Updates and Maintenance of the NPS MODIS NDVI Metrics to include the next two years (2016 & 2017 NDVI Years). GINA, working in coordination with NPS I&M staff, will apply the developed NDVI metrics to the new NDVI years and serve the generated products publicly through WCS/WMS feeds and a designated, publicly accessible FTP site. a. Outcome: Download of 2016 & 2017 eMODIS 7­day composite NDVI data and processing of 2016 & 2017 NDVI metrics into statewide stack b. Outcome: Incorporation of 2016 & 2017 MODIS NDVI seasons into full data stack through WCS/WMS feeds and FTP. c. Outcome: Maintenance of project website for NPS and GINA staff to provide MODIS NDVI Metrics 2. MODIS Version 5 Snow Metrics Updates, Maintenance Tasks: Updates and Maintenance of the NPS MODIS v5 Snow Metrics to include the 2016-2017 Snow Year (August 1 â¿¿ July 31). GINA, working in coordination with NPS I&M staff, will apply the developed v5 snow metrics to the new snow year and serve the generated products publicly through WCS/WMS feeds and a designated, publicly accessible FTP site. a. Outcome: Download of 2016-2017 MODIS v5 Snow Year data and processing of 2016-2017 snow­year snow season metrics. b. Outcome: Provision of new MODIS v5 snow season data as a full stack through WCS/WMS feeds and FTP for distribution to NPS and others. c. Outcome: Maintenance of project website for NPS and GINA staff to provide MODIS v5 Snow Metrics 3. Provide RapidFire WMS for Lake Ice Monitoring: Continue to download and integrate 2016-20017 Snow Year (August 1 â¿¿ July 31) Rapid Fire website imagery into a WMS for use in NPS Lake Ice Monitoring and historical re-analysis/trend analysis. 4. MODIS Snow Cover Report: Phase 2 (FY2015) will be a collaborative effort between NPS and UAF-GINA to analyze snow metrics data (i.e., onset of snow, end of snow season, and variation of such metrics) and to write a report summarizing findings for the I&M networks. a. One snow report covering statewide NPS parks using MODIS Snow Metrics data covering the 2001­2015 snow years. The final report will include a digital final report that will be prepared in standard NPS Natural Resource Report Series (NRR) format following NPS-NRR guidelines (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). b. 4 Park Network Briefs (3 to 4 page summaries) 5. Re-Process Historical MODIS Data to Fill RapidFire Data Gap: The GINA-NPS partnership improves access to RapidFire MODIS data products by re-serving the imagery as a Web Mapping Service (WMS; Task 3) for use in NPSâ¿¿s Lake Ice studies. RapidFire imagery is available from February 2007 to present; however, the MODIS imagery record extends back to 2001. As a receiving ground station for MODIS imagery, GINA houses a full archive (2001 â¿¿ present) of Alaska MODIS data which can be used to fill this data gap. However, in order to utilize the GINA archive for this purpose, the imagery must be re-processed, because GINAâ¿¿s version of the MODIS archive has been enhanced differently than the RapidFire data, and it also has a geo­location offset from the RapidFire website data which is a result of different processing techniques. To fill the 2001-2007 RapidFire data gap, this task will re-process portions of GINAâ¿¿s MODIS archive from scratch, modify the image generation technique, and fix the geolocation so the imagery is more analogous to the RapidFire website dataset currently served on the GINA WMS. Once re-processed, the â¿¿GINA RapidFire Dataset⿝ will be used to fill the RapidFire website data gap. a. Outcome: Generation of a new RapidFire-compatible MODIS archive for August 1 â¿¿ July 31 snow year between the years of 2001­2008. b. Outcome: A summary report that identifies quantifiable differences in color, geolocation, or other factors between the 2001­ 2008 â¿¿GINA RapidFire Archive⿝ and the official RapidFire products. c. Outcome: Integration of the new â¿¿GINA Rapidfire⿝ data into the NPS RapidFire WMS services distribution platform to provide a full archive of 2001 â¿¿ present RapidFire equivalent imagery. 6. Snow Season Monitoring Continuity Plan: GINA and the NPS have worked together to develop an algorithm and analysis workflow for long term monitoring of snow season metrics in Alaska park lands and lakes - the MODIS Version 5 Snow Metrics series. The algorithm was developed using the NSIDC v5 MODIS/Terra Snow Cover product. In July 2016, NSIDC informed its user community that the generation of v5 products will end on January 1, 2018, and a new version, v6, will become NSIDCâ¿¿s new Snow Cover product. This issue has created a need to evaluate differences between v5 and v6, to determine potential impacts to the processing algorithms and resulting v5 data products that GINA provides for NPS. The MODIS system has also surpassed its expected life cycle, and this highlights a need to consider other satellite platforms and sensors for conducting long-term monitoring of snow and lake ice as satellites age and technology changes. New satellites are being deployed, such as the Suomi-NPP (SNPP) satellite launched in 2014, and a soon-to-be launched series of JPSS satellites that will replace the operational Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES). Both SNPP and the JPSS satellites will carry a MODIS follow-on-sensor called the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which may provide dataset continuity for snow and lake ice studies if MODIS data streams are interrupted, terminated, or become obsolete. This task will be a collaborative effort between NPS and UAF-GINA to develop a Snow product continuity plan. The effort will include a comparison of existing (v5) and newly released (v6) National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) MODIS Snow products and, contingent on those findings, a reprocessing of the v5 snow metrics to v6. It will also include an evaluation of other satellites and sensor data (i.e., SNPP, JPSS, VIIRS) that could provide operationally reliable, and scientifically consistent baseline data for monitoring snow and ice that could be used as a surrogate for the MODIS data stream. a. Outcome: GINA evaluation and report on quantifiable differences between the NSIDC v5 vs v6 snow products. Report to determine level of effort needed to modify existing v5 snow metrics algorithm and the effort needed to reprocess full historical MODIS v6 data from 2002-present. Pending outcome of findings for continued use of MODIS v6, this effort may include reprocessing the MODIS snow archive (2001-2017) to NSIDC v6 format. b. Outcome: Collaboration between NPS and GINA to evaluate alternative satellite platforms, sensors, and datasets that provide continuity for the MODIS snow archive. c. Outcome: Snow Season Monitoring Continuity Plan: This team report and plan will summarize findings from the collaborative effort in Item b. and will outline a strategy for moving forward with snow season monitoring in the absence of MODIS data. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE INVOLVEMENT Substantial involvement on the part of the National Park Service is anticipated for the successful completion of the objectives to be funded by this award. In particular, the National Park Service will be responsible for the following: 1) NPS I&M staff will collaborate with GINA analysts to automate manual process flows related to the following image analysis processes: a. Estimating variability and long-term trends in the timing and duration of lake ice formation (freeze-up). b. Estimating variability and long-term trends in the timing and duration of snow cover (establishment of snowpack; snowmelt). c. Estimating variability and long-term trends in growing season NDVI (start-and end-of-season dates; duration of growing season; maximum NDVI). 2) NPS will work with GINA staff to develop efficient query-based web-delivery methods through web coverage services (WCS) of MODIS imagery, NDVI, and Snow products. 3) NPS staff will provide QA/QC of product deliverables developed by GINA for this project. 4) NPS will host â¿¿Product Delivery and Training Meetings⿝ with GINA at NPS offices in Fairbanks and Anchorage to review NDVI and Snow product deliverables, and to receive training by GINA in the use of the Vegetation and Snow Extents web services. 5) NPS will cite cooperation with GINA in publications using MODIS NDVI and Snow products obtained through the efforts of this project. â¿¿ SINGLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SINGLE SOURCE POLICY REQUIREMENTS Department of the Interior Policy (505 DM 2) requires a written justification which explains why competition is not practicable for each single-source award. The justification must address one or more of the following criteria as well as discussion of the program legislative history, unique capabilities of the proposed recipient, and cost-sharing contribution offered by the proposed recipient, as applicable. In order for an assistance award to be made without competition, the award must satisfy one or more of the following criteria: (1) Unsolicited Proposal â¿¿ The proposed award is the result of an unsolicited assistance application which represents a unique or innovative idea, method, or approach which is not the subject of a current or planned contract or assistance award, but which is deemed advantageous to the program objectives; (2) Continuation â¿¿ The activity to be funded is necessary to the satisfactory completion of, or is a continuation of an activity presently being funded, and for which competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity or completion of the activity; (3) Legislative intent â¿¿ The language in the applicable authorizing legislation or legislative history clearly indicates Congressâ¿¿ intent to restrict the award to a particular recipient of purpose; (4) Unique Qualifications â¿¿ The applicant is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors such as location, property ownership, voluntary support capacity, cost-sharing ability if applicable, technical expertise, or other such unique qualifications; (5) Emergencies â¿¿ Program/award where there is insufficient time available (due to a compelling and unusual urgency, or substantial danger to health or safety) for adequate competitive procedures to be followed. The National Park Service did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria: 2) Continuation 4) Unique Qualifications Single Source Justification: The Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) is satellite data downlink, processing, archive, and distribution facility at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). GINA functions as a mechanism for collecting, organizing, and sharing diverse geospatial data and technological capabilities, and it acts as a clearinghouse for geospatial data specific to Alaska. Currently, GINA manages a large database of satellite imagery collected by polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites, which includes both the AVHRR and MODIS sensors. Through several on-line user interfaces, users are able to search for, view, and download images pertaining to specific satellite sensors such as AVHRR and MODIS. This project is part of an on-going collaborative effort between the National Park Service (NPS) Alaska Region Inventory and Monitoring Program (AKRO I&M) and the Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) to augment GINA's current MODIS holdings with Vegetative Greenness and Snow products that are used to monitor landscape processes by staff within the Alaska NPS I&M Program. Competition by other sources of cooperative agreements are not practical, because this is a follow-on project, and the products and services being provided under this award will be developed based on past collaborative efforts between the NPS and GINA.