NASA’s carbon cycle and ecosystems research provides knowledge of the interactions of global biogeochemical cycles and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems with global environmental change and the implications for Earth’s climate, productivity, and natural resources.
There are three major research objectives:
1)
Document and understand how the global carbon cycle, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and land cover and use are changing
2)
Quantify global productivity, biomass, carbon fluxes, and changes in land cover
3)
Provide information about future changes in global carbon cycling and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems for use in ecological forecasting and as inputs for improved climate change projections.
