The Time Series Product Tool (TSPT) is software, developed in MATLAB®, which creates and displays high signal-to-noise Vegetation Indices imagery and other higher-level products derived from remotely sensed data. This tool enables automated, rapid, large-scale regional surveillance of crops, forests, and other vegetation. TSPT temporally processes high-revisit-rate satellite imagery produced by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and by other remote-sensing systems. Although MODIS imagery is acquired daily, cloudiness and other sources of noise can greatly reduce the effective temporal resolution. To improve cloud statistics, the TSPT combines MODIS data from multiple satellites (Aqua and Terra). The TSPT produces MODIS products as single time-frame and multitemporal change images, as time-series plots at a selected location, or as temporally processed image videos. Using the TSPT program, MODIS metadata is used to remove and/or correct bad and suspect data. Bad pixel removal, multiple satellite data fusion, and temporal processing techniques create high-quality plots and animated image video sequences that depict changes in vegetation greenness. This tool provides several temporal processing options not found in other comparable imaging software tools. Because the framework to generate and use other algorithms is established, small modifications to this tool will enable the use of a large range of remotely sensed data types.

An effective remote-sensing crop-monitoring system must be able to detect subtle changes in plant health in the earliest stages, before the effects of a disease outbreak or other adverse environmental conditions can become widespread and devastating. The integration of the time series analysis tool with ground-based information, soil types, crop types, meteorological data, and crop growth models in a Geographic Information System, could provide the foundation for a large-area crop-surveillance system that could identify a variety of plant phenomena and improve monitoring capabilities.

This program was written by Rodney McKellip of Stennis Space Center; Donald Prados of Computer Sciences Corporation; Robert Ryan, Kenton Ross, and Joseph Spruce of Science Systems and Applications; and Gerald Gasser and Randall Greer of Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Information Systems Directorate.

Inquiries concerning rights for the commercial use of this invention should be addressed to the Intellectual Property Manager at Stennis Space Center (228) 688-1929. Refer to SSC-00261, volume, and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue and the page number.