1 of 15

Student Airborne Research Program (SARP)

https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/early-career-opportunities/student-airborne-research-program/

Overview & Opportunities

Dan Sousa�dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

Slides and more information:

https://www.dansousa.org/home/currentresearch/talks/2025_03_26_emit_sat_sarp

2 of 15

Structure of the Talk

  • SARP Overview
  • Applicant Backgrounds
  • Student Experiences
  • Links to EMIT Science & Applications
  • Opportunities to Get Involved

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

Students launching University of Houston radiosonde from Building 703, Palmdale (2022)

3 of 15

SARP Overview

  • 2009 to present (16th year!)
    • Record # of applicants this year (>500)
  • 8 week summer internship
  • Rising-senior undergraduates
  • West Coast and East Coast
  • Students:
    • Participate in airborne data collection
    • Conduct relevant fieldwork
    • Design, implement, and present their own independent research projects
    • Final product: AGU-style abstract & 12-minute presentation

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

Students and faculty in front of the DC-8, hangar of Building 703, Palmdale (2023)

4 of 15

Applicant Backgrounds

  • Strong (Average GPA >3.8) STEM majors
    • Atmospheric Science
    • Environmental Science
    • Chemistry
    • Physics
    • Engineering
    • Math
    • Earth Science

​

  • Historical focus on recruitment from liberal arts colleges. Typically:
    • Excellent preparation in fundamental physical science, but
    • At undergraduate-focused institutions with minimal research opportunities
    • Students be “rising-senior” undergraduates

​

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

5 of 15

Organizational Structure

  • 4 groups on each coast

​

  • Aircraft Involved
    • DC-8 (retired)
    • ER-2
    • P-3
    • C-23
    • B-200
    • 777 (planned)

​

​

​

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

6 of 15

SARP Alumni

  • 93% stay in STEM
    • >50 have gone on to PhDs
    • >75 have gone on to MS
  • At least 9 now faculty
  • At least 20 now NASA employees
    • Involved with at least 17 further NASA airborne science campaigns 🡪

​

​

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0269.1

7 of 15

Student Experience (West)

  • First 2 weeks (Mid-June to Early July)
    • Intro to Earth Science research and NASA [historically Palmdale, now Ontario]
    • Student flights [historically Palmdale, now Ontario]
    • Group selection
      • Land (Surface) Biology and Geology
      • Oceans (Henry Houskeeper, WHOI)
      • Aerosols (Andreas Beyersdorf, CSUSB)
      • Whole Air Sampling (Don Blake, UCI)

​

  • Next 6 weeks (Early July to Mid August)
    • Students & grad student mentors live & work together [UC Irvine]
      • Devise question, execute research, write abstract, present
      • Weekend trips around Southern California

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

Student photo of SpaceX launch, viewed from Sedgwick Reserve

Students and faculty in front of the P-3, Ontario Airport (2024)

Student visit to JPL (2024)

8 of 15

Field Experience

  • Sedgwick Reserve (land SBG group)
    • UC Natural Reserve System
    • Santa Ynez valley foothills
    • 3 days / 2 nights

​

  • Other groups
    • Oceans
      • Cruise off Santa Barbara
    • Aerosols / WAS
      • Salton Sea
      • Dairies
      • Landfills

​

​

​

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

9 of 15

Field Experience

  • Reflectance spectroscopy & fractional cover (thanks to Francisco Ochoa!)

​

​

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

10 of 15

Field Experience

  • UAV LiDAR
  • Vegetation sampling
    • Water potential
    • Biomass
    • Allometry
    • Live fuel moisture
  • Soil H2O and T

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

Soil moisture pits (left), UAV flights (center bottom & upper right), and live fuel moisture measurements (lower right).

11 of 15

Links to EMIT Science & Applications

  • Strong historical support from the AVIRIS programs (thank you!)
    • Western Diversity Time Series
    • SHIFT (SBG High Frequency Time Series)
    • Wildfires + FireSense

​

  • Studies enabled by multi-year AVIRIS time series
    • Impacts of recent CA mega-drought
    • Butterfly habitat (Ellwood Mesa, Santa Barbara)
    • Agricultural rewilding (Atwell Island, Kern County)

​

  • Recent increase in geologic applications
    • El Paso Mountains
    • Anza Borrego
    • Columbia River Basalt

​

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

LVIS operator showing instrument in operation to students while flying on the P-3 (2024)

12 of 15

Lake Fire

  • >38,000 acres
  • Started the day we left Sedgwick Reserve (July 5, 2024)
  • Fortunate with pre-fire AVIRIS & EMIT coverage
    • SARP, SHIFT, FireSense, more…
    • Decades of terrestrial ecology fieldwork
  • Even more fortunate with post-fire AVIRIS-3 & EMIT coverage (Aug 26 2024 – right)
  • SARP LVIS flight <1 week before the fire
  • Motivated multiple student projects last year, likely also this year

​

https://www.dansousa.org/home/projects/lakefire

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

AV-3 Flight Plan (Thanks Dana!)

13 of 15

Lake Fire

  • >38,000 acres
  • Started the day we left Sedgwick Reserve (July 5, 2024)
  • Fortunate with pre-fire AVIRIS & EMIT coverage
    • SARP, SHIFT, FireSense, more…
    • Decades of terrestrial ecology fieldwork
  • Even more fortunate with post-fire AVIRIS-3 & EMIT coverage (Aug 26 2024 – right)
  • SARP LVIS flight <1 week before the fire
  • Motivated multiple student projects last year, likely also this year

​

https://www.dansousa.org/home/projects/lakefire

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

AV-3 Flight Plan (Thanks Dana!)

2 m char & ash radiances

(also some flights at 0.5 m)

14 of 15

Some Recent Project Titles

  • Predicting Ammonia Plume Presence at Feedlots in the San Joaquin Valley from VSWIR Spectroscopy
    • AVIRIS and EMIT L2A reflectance and L2B Methane products, plus HyTES

​

  • Understanding the Influence of Surface Mineralogy on Groundwater Quality in Volcanic Aquifers
    • EMIT L2B mineralogy products

​

  • Quantifying Intra- and Inter-unit Spectroscopic Variability at Contrasting Spatial and Spectral Resolutions in a Complex Geologic Environment
    • AVIRIS-Classic and AVIRIS-NG L2A surface reflectance products

​

  • Species-specific Impact on Maximum Fire Temperature in Prescribed Burns at Sedgwick Reserve
    • AVIRIS L2A reflectance data and SHIFT + FireSense field/airborne data

​

  • Quantifying the Influence of Soil Type, Slope, and Aspect on Live Fuel Load in Sedgwick Reserve
    • AVIRIS L2A reflectance data and SHIFT + FireSense field/airborne data

​

  • Assessing Heat Stress in Oak Trees Using Airborne Thermal Spectroscopy
    • AVIRIS L2A reflectance data and HyTES L2A emissivity data

​

  • Exploring the Relationship Between Vegetation Phenology and Isoprene Emission
    • Early release TEMPO data

​

  • Highs and Lows: Quantifying the Effects of Tidal Variability on Spectral Unmixing
    • SHIFT AVIRIS-NG L2A reflectance data�
  • Characterizing Springtime Variation in Canopy-Scale Reflectance of California ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis)
    • SHIFT AVIRIS-NG L2A reflectance data

​

​

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

15 of 15

Opportunities to Get Involved

  • If you are interested in…

​

    • Engaging a student to help with an analysis
    • Recruiting a new graduate student or intern
    • Joining us in the field (July 4-5)
    • Giving a guest lecture to the students

​

Please reach out!

dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

Dan Sousa dan.sousa@sdsu.edu

EMIT Science & Applications Team

26 March 2025

https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/early-career-opportunities/student-airborne-research-program/

Slides and more information:

https://www.dansousa.org/home/currentresearch/talks/2025_03_26_emit_sat_sarp