Project Funding: 2016 - 2019

NRA: 2016 NASA: Terrestrial Ecology   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
The ABoVE field campaign will improve our understanding of one of the most dynamic regions on the planet the Arctic-Boreal region (ABR), where changes in climate are progressing most rapidly and are already triggering changes to ecosystem carbon storage. While the importance of the ABR in the global carbon cycle is well established, our fundamental understanding of the magnitude, behavior and fate of carbon pools in this domain remains incomplete. The first ABoVE airborne campaign will provide critical observations needed to understand permafrost carbon dynamics. These unique datasets complement existing monitoring networks that are limited in spatial coverage (ground) or spatial resolution (satellite). Strategically integrating the information collected during the ABoVE campaign into a high-resolution, scalable and global land-atmosphere model is a vital step towards achieving the science objectives of the mission. We propose to deliver a highly integrated modeling framework using NASA s GEOS-5 system that will rely on multi-scale data streams from ABoVE to inform and improve process-based representation of permafrost-carbon dynamics. We will adopt a three-pronged approach, which includes: (a) analyzing and interpreting the airborne (primarily the Foundational) measurements that will be collected during the 2017 ABoVE airborne campaign, (b) integrating the airborne information into a dynamic vegetation modeling framework (LPJ-wsl) tailored for the ABoVE study domain, and (c) using the coupled high-resolution GEOS-5-LPJ-wsl framework to improve our understanding of the permafrost carbon (both CO2 and CH4) emissions, and associated feedbacks at a variety of spatiotemporal scales. In order to maximize the scientific return of the early mission data from the 2017 campaign, we will also leverage data from existing remote-sensing missions (e.g., SMAP, Landsat -7/8, OCO-2, etc.), previous airborne campaigns (e.g., CARVE) and ground-based measurements, as applicable. During the airborne campaign, we will use GEOS-5 to produce high-resolution forecasts of meteorology, aerosols and trace gases in near real-time and support flight planning. We will also provide statistical analyses of clear-sky conditions and trace gas plumes to the ABoVE team to guide planning of the optical (for e.g., AVIRIS-NG, LVIS) sensors in advance of deployment. The GEOS-5 model has contributed to numerous field campaigns and the inclusion of trace gas and aerosol fields can inform mission planning by representing emissions processes being targeted or factors that can confound measurements. Ongoing and recent developments within the GEOS-5-LPJ-wsl framework are uniquely suited to address the science goals of ABoVE. Its ability to run at spatial resolutions of 12.5-50 km is comparable to resolutions used by regional models, but because it is a global model it can readily extend lessons learned to the pan-Arctic scale to realistically simulate carbon-climate interactions in the present and future. By performing rigorous comparisons between airborne and satellite observations, this effort will also help inform observing strategies and maximize the use of satellite data in this complex region. The proposed study thus addresses both the conceptual basis for ABoVE as well as NASA Earth Science's strategic goal to quantify and document changes to the carbon cycle in the high-latitudes.

Publications:

Byrne, B., Liu, J., Yi, Y., Chatterjee, A., Basu, S., Cheng, R., Doughty, R., Chevallier, F., Bowman, K. W., Parazoo, N. C., Crisp, D., Li, X., Xiao, J., Sitch, S., Guenet, B., Deng, F., Johnson, M. S., Philip, S., McGuire, P. C., Miller, C. E. Multi-year observations reveal a larger than expected autumn respiration signal across northeast Eurasia DOI: 10.5194/bg-2022-40

Fisher, J. B., Hayes, D. J., Schwalm, C. R., Huntzinger, D. N., Stofferahn, E., Schaefer, K., Luo, Y., Wullschleger, S. D., Goetz, S., Miller, C. E., Griffith, P., Chadburn, S., Chatterjee, A., Ciais, P., Douglas, T. A., Genet, H., Ito, A., Neigh, C. S. R., Poulter, B., Rogers, B. M., Sonnentag, O., Tian, H., Wang, W., Xue, Y., Yang, Z., Zeng, N., Zhang, Z. 2018. Missing pieces to modeling the Arctic-Boreal puzzle. Environmental Research Letters. 13(2), 020202. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aa9d9a

Ganesan, A. L., Schwietzke, S., Poulter, B., Arnold, T., Lan, X., Rigby, M., Vogel, F. R., Werf, G. R., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Boesch, H., Pandey, S., Manning, A. J., Jackson, R. B., Nisbet, E. G., Manning, M. R. 2019. Advancing Scientific Understanding of the Global Methane Budget in Support of the Paris Agreement. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 33(12), 1475-1512. DOI: 10.1029/2018GB006065

Huntzinger, D. N., Chatterjee, A., Moore, D., Ohrel, S., West, T. O., Poulter, B., Walker, A., Dunne, J., Cooley, S., Michalak, A., Tzortziou, M., Bruhwiler, L., Rosenblatt, A., Luo, Y., Marcotullio, P. J., Russell, J., Cavallaro, N., Shrestha, G. 2018. Chapter 19: Future of the North American Carbon Cycle. Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report DOI: 10.7930/SOCCR2.2018.Ch19

Madani, N., Parazoo, N. C., Kimball, J. S., Reichle, R. H., Chatterjee, A., Watts, J. D., Saatchi, S., Liu, Z., Endsley, A., Tagesson, T., Rogers, B. M., Xu, L., Wang, J. A., Magney, T., Miller, C. E. 2021. The Impacts of Climate and Wildfire on Ecosystem Gross Primary Productivity in Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 126(6). DOI: 10.1029/2020JG006078

Sweeney, C., Chatterjee, A., Wolter, S., McKain, K., Bogue, R., Conley, S., Newberger, T., Hu, L., Ott, L., Poulter, B., Schiferl, L., Weir, B., Zhang, Z., Miller, C. E. 2022. Using atmospheric trace gas vertical profiles to evaluate model fluxes: a case study of Arctic-CAP observations and GEOS simulations for the ABoVE domain. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 22(9), 6347-6364. DOI: 10.5194/acp-22-6347-2022

Treat, C. C., Virkkala, A., Burke, E., Bruhwiler, L., Chatterjee, A., Fisher, J. B., Hashemi, J., Parmentier, F. W., Rogers, B. M., Westermann, S., Watts, J. D., Blanc-Betes, E., Fuchs, M., Kruse, S., Malhotra, A., Miner, K., Strauss, J., Armstrong, A., Epstein, H. E., Gay, B., Goeckede, M., Kalhori, A., Kou, D., Miller, C. E., Natali, S. M., Oh, Y., Shakil, S., Sonnentag, O., Varner, R. K., Zolkos, S., Schuur, E. A., Hugelius, G. 2024. Permafrost Carbon: Progress on Understanding Stocks and Fluxes Across Northern Terrestrial Ecosystems. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 129(3). DOI: 10.1029/2023JG007638

Weir, B., Ott, L. E., Collatz, G. J., Kawa, S. R., Poulter, B., Chatterjee, A., Oda, T., Pawson, S. 2021. Bias-correcting carbon fluxes derived from land-surface satellite data for retrospective and near-real-time assimilation systems. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 21(12), 9609-9628. DOI: 10.5194/acp-21-9609-2021

Zhang, Z., Chatterjee, A., Ott, L., Reichle, R., Feldman, A. F., Poulter, B. 2022. Effect of Assimilating SMAP Soil Moisture on CO2 and CH4 Fluxes through Direct Insertion in a Land Surface Model. Remote Sensing. 14(10), 2405. DOI: 10.3390/rs14102405

Zhang, Z., Zimmermann, N. E., Calle, L., Hurtt, G., Chatterjee, A., Poulter, B. 2018. Enhanced response of global wetland methane emissions to the 2015-2016 El Nino-Southern Oscillation event. Environmental Research Letters. 13(7), 074009. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aac939

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile
• North American Carbon Program (NACP) Project Profile
• NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Project Profile