Project Funding: 2011 - 2014

NRA: 2009 NASA: The Science of Terra and Aqua   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
The objectives of this FINAL science team member proposal are: (1) Modest refinements to achieve maximal returns with minor investment, (2) Scientific data analysis, (3) Characterizing the uncertainty of Collection 6 LAI/FPAR products, (4) Maintenance of the Standard and Boston University (BU) products, including operational quality assessment, community-support and outreach, and (5) Final data documentation and transitioning to the MODIS core production team. Specific tasks to achieve these objectives are as follows. Refinements include minor algorithm updates to enhance physically based retrievals in needle forests (the last of six vegetation types requiring refinement), and generation of a unique higher resolution product (500m and 4-day) that is possible ONLY by combining observations from Terra and Aqua MODIS sensors. Scientific data analysis includes assessment of Collection 6 Standard and BU products quality and coverage at various scales. Continuation of the long-term scale-consistent LAI ESDR for the period July1981 to Terra/Aqua current composite period will also be a part of this activity. Accuracy and uncertainty characterization of the MODIS/AQUA Standard products and long-term LAI ESDR will be assessed through direct comparisons with field measurements and vicariously through inter-comparison with other sensor products. The products will be maintained through operational quality assessment, project activities, user support and outreach. The transition to core production is also planned and described. The tangible end product of this research is a unique high resolution (500m, 4-day) MODIS mission-long time series of global LAI and FPAR products of known accuracy and QA information generated with a stochastic radiative transfer based algorithm and freely available to the community.

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

• Sunlight mediated seasonality in canopy structure and photosynthetic activity of Amazonian rainforests   --   (Jian Bi, Yuri Knyazikhin, Sungho Choi, Taejin Park, Jonathan Barichivich, Philippe Ciais, Rong Fu, Sangram Ganguly, Forrest Hall, Thomas Hilker, Alfredo Huete, Matthew Jones, John Kimball, Alexei I. Lyapustin, Matti Mõttus, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, Shilong Piao, Benjamin Poulter, Scott R. Saleska, Sassan S. Saatchi, Liang Xu, Liming Zhou, Ranga B. Myneni)   [abstract]

2013 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting Poster(s)

• Temperature and Vegetation Seasonality Diminishment over Northern Lands   --   (Liang Xu, Ranga Myneni, Terry Chapin, T. V. Callaghan, Jorge E Pinzon, Compton Tucker, Zaichun Zhu, Jian Bi, Philippe Ciais, H. Tømmervik, Eugenie Euskirchen, B. Forbes, S. Piao, B. Anderson, Sangram Ganguly, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, Scott J. Goetz, Pieter Beck, A. Bunn, C. Cao, J. Stroeve)   [abstract]

2011 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• What is causing the observed transitions in Arctic ecosystems?   --   (Ranga Babu Myneni, Liang Alan Xu, Sangram Ganguly, Compton Tucker, Jorge E Pinzon, Julienne Stroeve, Ramakrishna R. Nemani)   [abstract]

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

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile