The BAY of bengal delta, also known as the ganges brahmaputra megna delta, is the largest delta in the world, comprising over 100,000 KM2 of vegetated wetlands, coastal zones, littoral seas, tidal…

This federal contract award, NNX15AU99G, is a $781,704.00 grant to The Ohio State University for research on using Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) to study estuary hydrologic dynamics and coastal sea level changes in the Bay of Bengal delta region. The research aims to support the European Space Agency's GEROS-ISS GNSS-R mission on the International Space Station, by refining scientific requirements, developing retrieval algorithms, and validating data products. The grant is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under its Global Navigation Satellite System Remote Sensing Science Program, and aligns with NASA's strategic plan to study the Earth from space. This award does not have a set-aside designation.

The BAY of bengal delta, also known as the ganges brahmaputra megna delta, is the largest delta in the world, comprising over 100,000 KM2 of vegetated wetlands, coastal zones, littoral seas, tidal flats, and sediment compacted bathymetric estuary regions. We propose to use spaceborne and in situ gnssr altimetry to study estuary hydrologic dynamics and coastal sea level envolutions. The approved european space agency's gnss reflectometry, radio occultation and scatterometry onboard international space station will make use of the unique space platform ISS to retrieve sea surface height, and mean square slope, and atmospheric parameters in the tropics and midlatitudes for submesoscale variability and climate change studies. Geros ISS will be the first dual frequency gnssr space mission exploit reflected and bent lband signals of opportunity from navigation satellites, lband, for the application of innovative gnss remote sensing techniques. We propose to support geros ISS gnssr mission by participating in the science team and conduct various mission science requirement studies during phase a and beyond. Our scientific objectives include, the support of refinement of scientific requirements for geros, to develop and validate retrieval algorithms from delay doppler maps and lband waveform retracking, and to formulate, to develop and validate geophysical data record algorithms for media delay, geophysical and instrument corrections, and time series generation algorithms, for the gnss R retrieved sea surface height, and use ground based SNR analysis techniques to measure and validate water level measurements in the BAY of bengal estuaries. We will support the validation and generation of the complete end to end simulator tools, the geros simulator by comparing with the inhouse ohio state university cygnss end to end simulator. Specifically, we will, generate geros ISS synthetic observables, the corresponding geophysical data products, conduct lband delay doppler map) radar waveform retracking, participate in L'institut DE ciencies DE L'espai, ieec-ICE, organized gnss R airborne campaigns to refine gnss R processing techniques, such as code reconstruction, aided interferometry processing, and various instrument atmosphere and geophysical correction models, and use SNR based methodologies to retrieve water level heights from established collocated gnss tide gauge stations in bangladesh. This proposal directly addresses research goals and research priorities of NASA's global navigation satellite system remote sensing science program, to develop and validate algorithms to retrieve gnssr altimetry measurements from precise geodetic quality spaceborne receiver onboard ESA's geros ISS gnss R satellite mission as a approved investigator of the mission, and as a member of the science advisory group, and to develop innovative data analysis techniques in gnssr altimetry from SNR analysis from existing ground based receivers in the BAY of bengal for estuary and coastal water retrieval and validations. The proposal addresses NASA's strategic plan subgoal 3A, to study planet earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs.