The primary focus of the GIMMS group is to provide scientific Earth systems research, through the use of satellite remote sensing.   However, a secondary role is to support governmental projects, government-sponsored agencies and non-profit organizations.  Much of our research activities revolve around the use of timeseries analysis tools in the exploration of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) archive, which spans over 20 years (1982 - present).  From this data we have been able to find correlations between sensor derived information (primarily the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index- NDVI) and desertification, Rift Valley Fever Outbreaks, variations in the length of the vegetational growing cycle in higher Northern Latitudes.   Other projects focus on the use of AVHRR thermal channels for land surface profile retrieval, TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission) data for delineation of fire activity, Landsat moderate resolution imagery for deforestation projects and SeaWiFS (Sea Wide Field of view Sensor) and MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectrometer) information for the creation of Millenium data sets that bridge the timeseries gap between the AVHRR data archive and these new satellite sensors systems.  Additionally, the GIMMS group provides contract monitoring and technical expertise to the Commercial Remote Sensing Data Purchase project, which will result in the production of world wide land coverage of orthorectified Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) and MSS (Multi-Spectral Scanner) imagery.

    The GIMMS group is located on the first floor of beautiful building 33, at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD.