Sustained versus new observations: a rumble about the jungle

David Schimel, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, david.schimel@jpl.nasa.gov (Presenter)
Steven W Running, University of Montana, swr@ntsg.umt.edu (Presenter)

Global ecology has advanced largely paced by the development of global space-based data sets and parallel global models. Without these, the application of knowledge from theory, process studies and experiments is impossible. The EOS era measurements of vegetation, the hydrological cycle and climate transformed our understanding of the land biosphere but what comes next? Of the now-decades long time series, what are the most critical to continue, extend or refine? During this, the year of "Earth Right Now", NASA has launched or selected a series of new measurements relevant to terrestrial ecosystems and the carbon and water cycles. Which of these measurements are likely to be transformative in the way that NDVI was? As time series from LANDSAT and MODIS lengthen, they intrinsically begin to reveal change, yet their observation does not provide direct quantification of many crucial processes. New observations can provide more direct quantification of key biogeochemical fluxes and stocks, but will require time and investment to build time series of change. The CC &E community has to debate and prioritize measurements to build a strategy, or it will be done for us! We will debate these issues to help frame the CC & E community's responsibility leading into the next decadal survey.

Presentation Type:  Plenary Talk

Session:  Theme 3: Future research direction and priorities: perspectives relevant to the next decadal survey

Presentation Time:  Tue 10:00 AM  (30 minutes)