Research Announcement 00-OES-08NASA Carbon-0000-0270 Carbon Cycle Science and Related Opportunities in Biology and Biogeochemistry of Ecosystems and Applications(NRA-00-OES-08)
We propose to develop an application
system using forest inventory, water monitoring, historical land use
change evaluation, and remote sensing technologies to identify, characterize
and quantify carbon sources and sinks for the Delaware River Basin
(DRB). For this system, standardized approaches and scaling
methodologies will be developed for understanding and incorporating
local processes into models to give regional estimates of carbon stocks
and fluxes.
The strategy follows the “Framework for Environmental
Monitoring and Related Research” proposed by the Office of Science
and Technology Policy (OSTP) Committee on Environmental and Natural
Resources (CENR). The CENR Framework, co-authored by NASA, links
existing intensive ecological research and monitoring stations, through
collaboration among regional surveys, fixed-site monitoring networks
and remote sensing programs, in order to track complex environmental
issues at a range of spatial and temporal scales. Integration of these
multiple elements of related scientific research and technology developments
will establish an “applications system” that can be applied broadly
to other regional monitoring and assessment activities.
This proposal builds on the enhanced monitoring
system already in place in the Delaware River Basin, which has been
implemented at an annual cost to participating agencies of approximately
$1,000,000. The enhanced monitoring system is designed to integrate
process-level understanding from forestry and hydrological research
at intensive monitoring areas with extensive regional measurements
from ongoing monitoring programs: USFS Forest Health Monitoring (FHM)
and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA), USGS water monitoring stations
and water-quality surveys, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National
Trends Network, and operational remote sensors.
Data from the FIA and FHM plot networks provides
the basis for calculating the U.S. Forest carbon budget, which estimates
regional and national forest carbon stocks and changes in stocks,
and comprises the official U.S. Government statistics regarding greenhouse
gas emissions reported by USDA, EPA, and DOE. Already in place is
an enhancement to this standard sampling protocol, consisting of an
additional 300 special FHM plots within three intensive monitoring
areas; the Neversink River Basin in the Catskill Mountains of New
York, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (NRA) including
the watersheds of tributary streams to the Delaware River that flow
through the NRA, and the French Creek watershed near Philadelphia.
This enhanced sampling is designed to allow integration with process-level
studies, and facilitate scaling from intensive research sites to extended
regions. At each sampling tier, measurement protocols have been enhanced
to address issues including productivity trends and carbon budgets.
Specific objectives addressed by this proposal
include: (1) integrate estimates of forest biomass and net primary
productivity from MODIS with statistical estimates from field monitoring,
(2) characterize patterns of forest fragmentation and historical land
use change and associated carbon losses from Landsat TM, (3) develop
and apply consistent cover type classifications for MODIS, Landsat
TM, and field sample plot networks, and (4) estimate a complete basin-wide
carbon budget including carbon loss by water transport.
PowerPoint Presentation:
A brief presentation and overview of this research can be seen here.
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