SYMP 8 - The NASA EOS Legacy to Ecological Sciences and Emerging Research Opportunities Beyond NASA’s TERRA Observations

Organizer(s)

• DO

  Dennis Ojima, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory

  Senior Research Scientist
  ESA President
  Colorado State University
  Fort Collins, Colorado, United States

Co-organizer(s)

• SR

  Steven Running, W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation

  Regent's Professor Emeritus
  University of Montana
  Missoula, Montana, United States

Satellite remote sensing has evolved to be a major research technology for ecological studies from local to global applications. The advancement of remote sensing research for ecological studies was greatly enhanced with the launch of TERRA platform that provided simultaneous observations from five different instruments. These instruments allowed observations to be collected on land composition, reflected energy, land cover for vegetation, snow, and ice coverages, aerosol density, and carbon monoxide profiles. In the 1980’s NASA responding to increasing concerns of changes to planet earth began planning for an Earth Observing System that would enable researchers, decision makers, and the public to understand earth system dynamics and changes to ecological systems around the globe. The 1990’s ushered in a period of accelerated interdisciplinary research that brought ecologists together to study how to use satellite technologies to assess landcover changes, the magnitude of ecosystem productivity, and ecological seasonal cycles contributing to carbon exchange globally. In December 1999, NASA launched the initial platform for terrestrial observations of the earth system that included the MODIS sensor on the Terra platform, the flagship of the EOS mission. This launch initiated a coordinate and integrated set of instruments that have provided continuous global observations for the past two decades. While the Terra mission is being decommissioned in 2023, NASA’s earth-observing plans have provided adequate time to transition toward new sets of instrumentation. This symposium will provide an historic view of how ecology helped guide the implementation of the research mission, as well as provide insights on the emerging satellite technologies that are being developed and deployed in new research mission launches. The early phases of the EOS ecological strategy will be presented by former program lead, Diane Wickland. We will also illustrate the development of integrated observations, model development, and data integration that enabled the study of global net ecosystem productivity and other aspects of terrestrial eco-hydrology, land system dynamics, and ecosystem metabolic dynamics (S.W. Running). The third talk (Ying Sun) will highlight recent advances in ecological studies using a suite of observations derived from the NASA EoS program. The final presentation (D. Schimel) will provide a perspective of current and planned missions that will further support earth system analysis of ecological systems through the coming decades.

Presentations:

• 1:30 PM – 1:50 PM PDT

  Developing the global net primary production analysis and decadal changes in terrestrial ecosystem dynamics
  

  Presenting Author: Steven W. Running, W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation – University of Montana
• 1:50 PM – 2:10 PM PDT

  Development and Evolution of NASA Satellite Remote Sensing for Ecology: 1980's to Present
  

  Presenting Author: Diane E. Wickland – Retired
• 2:10 PM – 2:30 PM PDT

  From Remotely-Sensed SIF to Ecosystem Structure, Function, and Service: Harness Theory and Data
  

  Presenting Author: Ying Sun – Cornell University

  Co-author: Ying Sun – Cornell University

  Co-author: Lianhong Gu – Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  Co-author: Jiaming Wen – Cornell University

  Co-author: Christiaan van der Tol – University of Twente

  Co-author: Albert Porcar-Castell – University of Helsinki

  Co-author: Joanna Joiner – NASA

  Co-author: Christine Chang – USDA

  Co-author: Troy Magney – University of California Davis

  Co-author: Lixin Wang, PhD – Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

  Co-author: Leiqiu Hu – University of Alabama in Huntsville

  Co-author: Uwe Rascher – Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH

  Co-author: Pablo Zarco-Tejada – University of Melbourne

  Co-author: Christopher Barrett – Cornell University

  Co-author: Jiameng Lai – Cornell University

  Co-author: Jimei Han – Cornell University

  Co-author: Zhenqi Luo – Cornell University
• 2:30 PM – 2:50 PM PDT

  Flux towers in the sky: observing the global carbon cycle
  

  Presenting Author: david schimel – JPL
• 2:50 PM – 3:00 PM PDT

  Discussion