Project Funding: 2013 - 2016

NRA: 2013 NASA: Carbon Monitoring System   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
This proposal provides a scope of work for studying and engaging with the user community for the NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) pilot projects. Under the CMS initiative, NASA will be developing end-to-end expertise on regional, national and international carbon monitoring products based on satellite remote sensing. In this proposal, we focus on understanding and engaging the science and user community of these products to enable improved characterization of CMS products, preparation for eventual data delivery, and evaluate the CMS products that have been developed. The focus of this activity is to evaluate current and planned NASA CMS products with regard to their use in specific decision making contexts. This effort is aligned with the mission of the Carbon Cycle Science program to leverage NASA investments to discover and demonstrate applications that inform resource management, policy development, and decision making within operational agencies responsible for resource management and policy decisions that affect carbon emissions, sequestration, and fluxes among terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric environments. Our proposed research is highly relevant to the following activities listed as a priority for this NRA: Studies of stakeholder interests and requirements that offer to 1) understand and engage the user community for carbon monitoring products and/or 2) evaluate current and planned NASA CMS products with regard to their value for decision making by these users. The effort is designed to identify and engage with the user community for carbon monitoring products and to ensure that every scientist working within CMS has exposure to these users. Determining the requirements of the broader decision making community is a critical element of an effective applications program. We will work to find policy and practical users of CMS products for the atmosphere, ocean, and land. We will express the needs of the community to the CMS SDT and the broader CMS science community to help guide product development. Thus, we will develop a path that illustrates the connection between the user needs, the CMS product and the decision and policy frameworks that link the science to society. In order to foster this interplay between science capabilities and user needs via CMS product development and product application in decision-making environments, we have three broad objectives: 1) Develop communication strategies that link directly to the goals, objectives and accomplishments of the NASA CMS program and build a broad support system for CMS science PIs through transparent and inclusive processes involving scientists and end users; 2) Identify group(s) of institutions and organizations who become 'early adopters' of NASA CMS products. Selected early adopters will have an immediate use for the CMS product(s) and have clearly identified requirements for existing and planned NASA CMS scientific output; and 3) Evaluate the current and planned NASA CMS products, and determine the degree to which this proposed CMS Applications program has met success criteria.

2015 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• Applications of the NASA Carbon Management System: Engagement, Use, and Evaluation   --   (Vanessa Marie Escobar)   [abstract]

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 Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Project Profile