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NASA Intern Leads the Way


Ben Crooke (center), a 17-year-old NASA summer intern, helped derive Fowler’s Sneaker Depth. Crooke spent part of his summer analyzing Fowler’s data and satellite imagery to understand local trends in water clarity.
Credit: NASA GSFC. Download this image (JPG, 5.8 MB).
[11-Jun-17] Ben Crooke (center), a 17-year-old NASA summer intern, helped derive Fowler’s Sneaker Depth. Crooke spent part of his summer analyzing Fowler’s data and satellite imagery to understand local trends in water clarity.

Crooke and the team looked at data from the Aqua satellite’s onboard instrument,the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. The instrument measures different colors of light, or wavelengths, that are reflected from matter suspended in the water. They specifically looked at the amount of red light reflected of off floating particulates and sediments that make the water appear murky.

For more information on this year's event and on the "Sneaker Depth" algorithm, click here.