NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 NASA Terrestrial Ecology New Directions Working Group Andrew ElmoreUniversity of Maryland Josef KellndorferWoods Hole Research Center Marcy LitvakUniversity of New Mexico Paul MoorcroftHarvard University Doug MortonGoddard Space Flight Center Paul SiqueiraUniversity of Massachusetts NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 General Information Purpose: Identify what is new, compelling and important in terrestrial ecology (non-carbon) that can be significantly informed or advanced using remote sensing capabilities. Approach: In February we had a number of discussions to brain storm about topics and come up with a candidate list that would lead to further discussion for this science team meeting. A four page white paper that summarizes these discussions can be found at the workshop website under the breakout session: Future Directions for NASA TE Non-Carbon Ecological Research What follows is a brief, pictorial overview of some of those topics discussed. Those interested in continuing the discussion please come to the breakout meeting at 3 pm. NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Bulletted list of focus areas Ecosystem function for land-water-atmosphere coupling, leveraging capabilities with GRACE, SMAP, SWOT, etc. Adaptation of ecosytems functions and services to climate change The growing role of management for ecosystem functions in human-dominated ecosystems On the evolution of remote sensing science to support Terrestrial Ecology science (likely many others) NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Ground water and terrestrial ecosystems interaction NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Land-water-atmosphere coupling GRACE-2 SWOT GPM SMA P Severe drought in Amazon, Saatchi, et al., PNAS 2012 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Dry Lake sediments are globally important sources of dust Elmore et al. (2008) Journal of Arid Environments NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Sensitivity of central plain grasslands to precipitation variability Woodlan d forests Craine et al. (2012) PNAS NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Mapping of ecological functions through biogeochemistry Ollinger et al., PNAS, 2008 Combined Hyperion and AVIRIS data for measuring canopy nitrogen and photosynthetic capacity NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Status Quo and Changes of Ecosystem Functions and Services Varga & Asner, Ecol. Appl., 2008 Combined lidar and hyperspectral observations used for mapping fuel Hyperspectral applications for monitoring and predicting invasive species Pontius et al., RSE, 2005 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Remote Sensing Science models + remote sensing = scaling NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Remote Sensing Science multitemporalmultisensor Due to the complex and integrated nature of Terrestrial Ecology, the demands on the variety and temporal coverage of remote sensing data are very high There is a continuing need for integrating data sets and connecting them to the targets of intererest With the increase in computing power, data storage and sensor types, there is a healthy appetite for increasing the complexity of data analysis and interpretation M. Schmidt et al., Scarth et al, 2013 HH/HV/FP C NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting, La Jolla: 30 April 2 May, 2013 Where we are going next