The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has a requirement to support the Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory.

The Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HBG) sub-division in the Earth Sciences Division (ESD) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) conducts fundamental and applied science research, and conceives, develops, and deploys new measurement capabilities and technologies (e.g. space, airborne and in situ) to advance our understanding of the Earth system. HBG’s areas of expertise include the water cycle and water resources, land and ocean ecosystem health, global and regional sea level change, wildfire and natural disasters, changes in the Earth’s snow and ice, land cover, gravity field, tides, magnetic field, solid Earth, reference frames, and the effects of changes in the Earth system on life on Earth. The sub-division is also responsible for the maintenance, development, and management of NASA’s core space geodesy capabilities.

This contract is for support of a full range of scientific research, data product development and validation, instrument development, and numerical modeling activities across the breadth of the various Laboratories that make up the HBG sub-division: Cryospheric Sciences (Code 615), Ocean Ecology (Code 616), Hydrological Sciences (Code 617), Biospheric Sciences (Code 618), and Geodesy and Geophysics (Code 61A). Priorities for HBG research and applications activities largely mirror those set by relevant NASA Headquarters programs but are not limited to those (e.g. 2017-2027 Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space). This contract is also for support of science, research and computing activities within the Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory (TISL) (Code 619). For the purposes of this document and contract the term HBG will be used to encompass all the Laboratories of the HBG sub-division including the TISL.

• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has a requirement for support of the full range of research and development activities of the Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HBG) sub-division in the Earth Sciences Division (ESD)
• The HBG ESD sub-division conducts science research that conceives, develops, and applies space, field-deployed (i.e. airborne and in situ) and laboratory based technologies and observations to address issues of importance to society
• These include but are not limited to:
  • Water resources
  • Land and ocean ecosystem health
  • Global and regional sea level change
  • Changes in the Earth’s cryosphere, gravity field, magnetic field, solid Earth, reference frames
  • The effects of climate change on life on Earth
• This contract is for support of a full range of science and research activities across the breadth of the various Laboratories that make up the HBG sub-division: the Cryospheric Sciences, Ocean Ecology, Hydrological Sciences, Biospheric Sciences, and Geodesy and Geophysics Laboratories
• This contract is also for support of science, research and computing activities within the Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory (TISL), also in the ESD
• For the purposes of this document and contract the term HBG will be used to encompass all the Laboratories of the HBG sub-division and the TISL
• The Contractor shall support all phases of biospheric, hydrospheric, cryospheric, geodesy and geophysics research activities
• These range from experiment concept, design and fabrication, through data acquisition (including flight and ground missions as well as satellite acquired data), data analysis and modeling, the development of science applications, and final publications and communications and outreach about said research
• This includes but is not restricted to:
  • Research of radiation interactions with and transfer through the land, hydrosphere, and atmosphere
  • Forest and plant canopy modeling
  • Surface energy and water cycle processes
  • Land-ocean-atmosphere interactions
  • Snow and cold land processes
  • Glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice
  • Regional and global vegetation studies, including carbon dynamics and balance
  • Ocean physics, biology and biogeochemistry
  • All aspects of climate change
• Additional research areas include:
  • Static and time variable gravity and magnetics
  • Geoid anomalies
  • Global and regional sea level
  • Earth ocean and solid tides
  • Planetary tides
  • Topography and surface deformation
  • Radar and laser altimetry
  • Earth and planetary orientation
  • Crustal dynamics
  • Earth and planetary core fluid motions
  • Solid earth science including earthquakeprocesses
  • Reference frame science including the development and improvement of the space geodetic observational network
  • Applications of precise satellite tracking data analysis including planetary navigation and planetary geodetic science
• Some of these studies involve application to societal benefit areas including but not limited to:
  • Weather forecasting
  • Water resources
  • Regional sea level
  • Human health
  • Natural hazards
  • Disasters
  • Agriculture