Neigh, Christopher (Chris): NASA GSFC (Project Lead)
Channan, Saurabh: University of Maryland (Co-Investigator)
Feng, Min: University of Maryland (Co-Investigator)
Montesano, Paul: NASA GSFC / ADNET (Co-Investigator)
Poulter, Benjamin (Ben): NASA GSFC (Co-Investigator)
Sexton, Joe: TerraPulse Inc. (Co-Investigator)
Barenblitt, Abigail: NASA GSFC/University of Maryland (Participant)
Wagner, William (Will): NASA GSFC / SSAI (Participant)
Wang, Panshi: TerraPulse Inc. (Participant)
Calle, Leonardo (Leo): University of Montana (Post-Doc)
Project Funding:
2017 - 2020
NRA: 2016 NASA: Carbon Cycle Science
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
We propose to study the growth, disturbance, and carbon storage of northern hemisphere forests to 'improve understanding of...Arctic/Boreal terrestrial ecosystems that may be approaching a potential tipping point with regard to the release of stored carbon'. At continental scales, climate change is altering vegetation productivity, dynamics, and carbon (C) sequestration. These shifts are reflected in vegetation canopy structure (cover and height) that vary across the landscape. Now, to understand environmental constraints on canopy structure and to predict impacts of environmental change on vegetation cover, C-stock/flux, we propose to correlate Landsat derived Global Forest Cover and Change (GFCC) estimates to environmental factors and incorporate the relationships into Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs). Studies thus far have found large increases in productivity and C-flux. But turnover rates in models remain a large source of divergence between them. Site Index (SI) is a parameter widely used in forestry to describe the potential height-growth of trees in a particular location or 'site.' SI knowledge will reduce uncertainty of live C turn over into soil C pools. We will estimate rates of forest-canopy disturbance, growth, and C-flux by pairing sub-meter resolution estimates of canopy height/cover and structure with a ~40 year time-series of biome-wide records of stand disturbance, age, and environmental conditions. We will estimate boreal forest SI to capture spatially explicit patterns of forest growth.
With prior NASA Carbon Cycle Science program support (13-CARBON13_2-0377), we developed samples of canopy-cover and height estimates from airborne LiDAR measurements and sub-meter spaceborne stereo image pairs. We used these datasets to calibrate/validate global 30-m tree cover estimates across the boreal biome. These results improved the accuracy of the NASA/University of Maryland (UMD) GFCC and refined models and estimates of the location of the Taiga Tundra Ecotone (TTE). Our prior study examined ~2,000 WorldView stereo pairs. In this study, we will analyze > 10,000 image pairs. From this sample, we will develop biome-wide estimates of forest stand age from the entire Landsat archive, 1970s until present. This extension of the disturbance record will enable modeling/analysis of forest growth and disturbance across a ~40-year chronosequence-a time span necessary for studying slow-growing boreal forests. We will develop a chronosequence of canopy structure in relation to stand age to understand topographic and climatic effects on canopy structure and growth. Recent studies have found that Arctic greening is associated with densification of shrubs, increasing biomass, and establishment of new shrubs within thawing patterned ground features, but they have not been sufficiently comprehensive to establish a map of SI for northern forests.
Our objectives are to:
1. Produce a stand-history/forest-age map: using a time-series of forest cover at annual, sub-hectare resolution spanning the entire Landsat archive pan-boreal, from 1972 to present;
2. Model and estimate forest growth potential: using a chronosequence of tree-canopy cover and height from samples of WorldView-1, 2, and 3 stereo imagery to estimate height-growth potential as the forest Site Index (SI); and
3. Estimate pan-boreal forest net C-flux: by incorporating stand age and SI into the process-based Lund-Potsdam-Jena (LPJ) DGVM.
This work addresses NASA's interest in C dynamics in Arctic-Boreal Terrestrial Ecosystems. Our work will contribute directly to NASA's interests and can contribute data and science analysis to the proposed Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). DGVMs that require SI and forest age structure can use results from this work to reduce the currently large uncertainties in terrestrial C-flux estimates.
Publications:
Duncan, B. N., Ott, L. E., Abshire, J. B., Brucker, L., Carroll, M. L., Carton, J., Comiso, J. C., Dinnat, E. P., Forbes, B. C., Gonsamo, A., Gregg, W. W., Hall, D. K., Ialongo, I., Jandt, R., Kahn, R. A., Karpechko, A., Kawa, S. R., Kato, S., Kumpula, T., Kyrola, E., Loboda, T. V., McDonald, K. C., Montesano, P. M., Nassar, R., Neigh, C. S., Parkinson, C. L., Poulter, B., Pulliainen, J., Rautiainen, K., Rogers, B. M., Rousseaux, C. S., Soja, A. J., Steiner, N., Tamminen, J., Taylor, P. C., Tzortziou, M. A., Virta, H., Wang, J. S., Watts, J. D., Winker, D. M., Wu, D. L. 2020. Space-Based Observations for Understanding Changes in the Arctic-Boreal Zone. Reviews of Geophysics. 58(1). DOI: 10.1029/2019RG000652
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
Montesano, P. M., Neigh, C. S. R., Macander, M., Feng, M., Noojipady, P. 2020. The bioclimatic extent and pattern of the cold edge of the boreal forest: the circumpolar taiga-tundra ecotone. Environmental Research Letters. 15(10), 105019. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abb2c7
Montesano, P. M., Neigh, C. S., Wagner, W., Wooten, M., Cook, B. D. 2019. Boreal canopy surfaces from spaceborne stereogrammetry. Remote Sensing of Environment. 225, 148-159. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2019.02.012
Montesano, P. M., Neigh, C., Sun, G., Duncanson, L., Van Den Hoek, J., Ranson, K. J. 2017. The use of sun elevation angle for stereogrammetric boreal forest height in open canopies. Remote Sensing of Environment. 196, 76-88. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2017.04.024
Montesano, P., Neigh, C., Sexton, J., Feng, M., Channan, S., Ranson, K., Townshend, J. 2016. Calibration and Validation of Landsat Tree Cover in the Taiga[?]Tundra Ecotone. Remote Sensing. 8(7), 551. DOI: 10.3390/rs8070551
Neigh, C. S. R., Wagner, W. C., Montesano, P. M., Wooten, M. 2022. Estimating Bare Earth in Sparse Boreal Forests With WorldView Stereo Imagery. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. 19, 1-5. DOI: 10.1109/LGRS.2021.3112387
Puliti, S., Hauglin, M., Breidenbach, J., Montesano, P., Neigh, C. S. R., Rahlf, J., Solberg, S., Klingenberg, T. F., Astrup, R. 2020. Modelling above-ground biomass stock over Norway using national forest inventory data with ArcticDEM and Sentinel-2 data. Remote Sensing of Environment. 236, 111501. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2019.111501
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
