The Vegetation Three-dimensional Structure, Biomass and Disturbance Advanced Mission Concept Study
Jon
Ranson, NASA/GSFC, kenneth.j.ranson@nasa.gov
(Presenting)
J.
Bryan
Blair, NASA/GSFC Sassan
Saatchi, JPL Robert
G.
Knox, NASA/GSFC
The magnitudes and distributions of terrestrial carbon storage along with changes in sources and sinks for atmospheric CO2 due to land use change remain the most significant uncertainties in Earth’s carbon budget.
These uncertainties severely limit accurate terrestrial carbon accounting; our ability to evaluate terrestrial carbon management schemes; and the veracity of atmospheric CO2 projections in response to further fossil fuel combustion and other human activities.
To address these critical uncertainties, NASA's Science Plan for 2007 - 2016 calls for "measurements of vegetation height and profiles of three-dimensional ecosystem structure to estimate aboveground biomass and carbon stocks with greatly reduced uncertainties and to characterize species habitats in ways that will enable exploration of fundamental controls on biodiversity."
NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Active Awards Represented by this Poster: