Project Funding: 2016 - 2019

NRA: 2015 NASA: Carbon Monitoring System   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
From its inception, the NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) has largely been organized around two activities: observation-based mapping of biomass and model- based estimation of carbon flux. Although there has been significant progress in both biomass and flux activities at various scales, several challenges hinder the use of biomass products to inform flux modeling. Challenges include: biomass maps are often static or local scale, uncertainties are difficult to render and incorporate into models, and map products are not designed with the needs – and format standards – of modelers in mind. To help address these challenges, we propose a set of research activities organized around two objectives. First, we will develop tools to integrate static and dynamic CMS products of any temporal, spatial, and semantic content into a consistent, continental- U.S.-wide, derived database of yearly land cover, biomass, disturbance and growth in terrestrial systems, along with spatially explicit and consistent uncertainties. These can be used to set states, hone parameters, schedule events, and constrain or benchmark models from which flux estimates ultimately are derived. Second, we will develop a smart application programming interface to allow modelers and stakeholders easy access to these data in the spatial, temporal, and information domain they require. We have assembled a team of Collaborators and Co-Investigators to help guide success. Collaborators include numerous CMS colleagues who have produced or are producing the static or local-scale maps we will integrate into our yearly maps. They will ensure we interpret and use their products appropriately. Co-Investigators include process-level modelers who represent a series of carbon use-cases, ranging from regional scale DGVM implementations to global scale, multi-model ensembles. They will help develop and test the interface to ensure its applicability across a continuum of situations, and will help guide us toward visualization choices appropriate for their stakeholders. Finally, we have engaged key representatives from the Land Processes and Oak Ridge National Lab Distributed Active Archive Centers (LP and ORNL DAACs) to ensure that our interface complements and co-exists with the data access and archiving efforts they continue to lead. Key deliverables include: - A database of 30m resolution, yearly time-step maps from 1990 to present of forest biomass, land cover, tree cover, crop type, and disturbance for the continental U.S., along with uncertainties - Computational interface (API) to allow CMS participants to easily access and analyze that database - Assessment of potential improvement in models derived from these dynamic land surface drivers, including possible reduction in uncertainties. This efforts explicitly addresses the CMS call for follow-on to existing CMS efforts, for development of new remotely-sensed MRV-relevant products, and for improvement of carbon modeling capacity.

Publications:

Hurtt, G. C., Andrews, A., Bowman, K., Brown, M. E., Chatterjee, A., Escobar, V., Fatoyinbo, L., Griffith, P., Guy, M., Healey, S. P., Jacob, D. J., Kennedy, R., Lohrenz, S., McGroddy, M. E., Morales, V., Nehrkorn, T., Ott, L., Saatchi, S., Sepulveda Carlo, E., Serbin, S. P., Tian, H. 2022. The NASA Carbon Monitoring System Phase 2 synthesis: scope, findings, gaps and recommended next steps. Environmental Research Letters. 17(6), 063010. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac7407

Kennedy, R., Yang, Z., Gorelick, N., Braaten, J., Cavalcante, L., Cohen, W., Healey, S. 2018. Implementation of the LandTrendr Algorithm on Google Earth Engine. Remote Sensing. 10(5), 691. DOI: 10.3390/rs10050691

Liu, Y., Piao, S., Gasser, T., Ciais, P., Yang, H., Wang, H., Keenan, T. F., Huang, M., Wan, S., Song, J., Wang, K., Janssens, I. A., Penuelas, J., Huntingford, C., Wang, X., Altaf Arain, M., Fang, Y., Fisher, J. B., Huang, M., Huntzinger, D. N., Ito, A., Jain, A. K., Mao, J., Michalak, A. M., Peng, C., Poulter, B., Schwalm, C., Shi, X., Tian, H., Wei, Y., Zeng, N., Zhu, Q., Wang, T. 2019. Field-experiment constraints on the enhancement of the terrestrial carbon sink by CO2 fertilization. Nature Geoscience. 12(10), 809-814. DOI: 10.1038/s41561-019-0436-1

Schwalm, C. R., Huntzinger, D. N., Michalak, A. M., Schaefer, K., Fisher, J. B., Fang, Y., Wei, Y. 2020. Modeling suggests fossil fuel emissions have been driving increased land carbon uptake since the turn of the 20th Century. Scientific Reports. 10(1). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66103-9

Schwalm, C. R., Schaefer, K., Fisher, J. B., Huntzinger, D., Elshorbany, Y., Fang, Y., Hayes, D., Jafarov, E., Michalak, A. M., Piper, M., Stofferahn, E., Wang, K., Wei, Y. 2019. Divergence in land surface modeling: linking spread to structure. Environmental Research Communications. 1(11), 111004. DOI: 10.1088/2515-7620/ab4a8a

Williams, C. A., Gu, H., Jiao, T. 2021. Climate impacts of U.S. forest loss span net warming to net cooling. Science Advances. 7(7). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax8859

Zhou, Y., Williams, C. A., Hasler, N., Gu, H., Kennedy, R. 2021. Beyond biomass to carbon fluxes: application and evaluation of a comprehensive forest carbon monitoring system. Environmental Research Letters. 16(5), 055026. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abf06d

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

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile
• NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Project Profile