First Light for NPP. Eleven days after its launch into Earth orbit, the new satellite known as NPP sent back its first science data on November 8, 2011, part of a series of instrument startups and checkouts that will take place before the satellite goes into full operational mode. The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) carries five instruments that will improve day-to-day weather forecasting while extending the record of many long-term observations of Earth's climate. This image from the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) depicts the location and abundance of water vapor in the lower atmosphere, from the surface to 5 kilometers altitude.
Reds depict areas with less water vapor, while blues represent abundant water in all phases (vapor, clouds, and precipitation) in low and middle latitudes. In the polar regions, blue depicts surface snow and ice. ATMS receives 22 channels of radio waves from 23 to 183 gigahertz (GHz). Instrument(s): Pages - LeafWeb. Earth's Changing Ecosystems Telecon Multimedia Page. Earth's Changing Ecosystems Telecon Multimedia Page Kevin Arrigo, Stanford University Click on image to enlarge Figure 1: Data from the arctic study region show the minimum sea ice extent reached on Sept. 22, 2006 (left), the minimum sea ice extent reached on Sept.16, 2007 (middle), and the difference in the minimum sea ice extent between 2006 and 2007 (right). Red shading denotes areas with open water in 2007 that were ice covered in 2006.
Much of this area, roughly equal to the combined areas of California and Montana, had never been ice-free for as long as measurements have been available. Figure 2: Differences in the rate of photosynthesis in algae between 2006 and 2007 correspond to differences in the duration of open water between 2006 and 2007. Clearly, longer growing seasons in the Arctic Ocean promote greater phytoplankton growth.
Alfredo Huete, University of Arizona Jorge L. Gregory Asner, Carnegie Institution Kathryn Hansen NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Remote Sensing Phenology. Working Group on Calibration and Validation. MODIS Land Product Subsets. Overview The goal of the MODIS Land Product Subsets project is to provide summaries of selected MODIS Land Products for the community to use for validation of models and remote-sensing products and to characterize field sites.
Output files contain pixel values of MODIS land products in text format and in GeoTIFF format. In addition, data visualizations (time series plots and grids showing single composite periods) are available. MODIS Land Product Subsets Resources The following MODIS Land Product Subsets resources are maintained by the ORNL DAAC: Get MODIS Subsets (Collection 5) Field Site and Flux tower Obtain MODIS subsets for areas centered on more than 1,000 field sites and flux towers from around the world: Data for Selected Field Sites Global Tool Order MODIS subsets for any site, area (from 1 pixel up to 201 x 201 km) and time period globally: Create Subset Web Service Web Service Info Related MODIS Links. Global photosynthesis: New insight will help predict future climate change. A new insight into global photosynthesis, the chemical process governing how ocean and land plants absorb and release carbon dioxide, has been revealed in research that will assist scientists to more accurately assess future climate change.
In a paper published September 28 in Nature, a team of US, Dutch and Australian scientists have estimated that the global rate of photosynthesis, the chemical process governing the way ocean and land plants absorb and release CO2, occurs 25% faster than previously thought. From analysing more than 30 years of data collected by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego including air samples collected and analysed by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology from the Cape Grim Air Pollution Monitoring Station, scientists have deduced the mean rate of photosynthesis over several decades and identified the El Nino-Southern Oscillation phenomenon as a regulator of the type of oxygen atoms found in CO2 from the far north to the south pole.
Disturbance Regimes and Climate-Carbon Feedback. NIMBioS Investigative Workshop Topic: Integration of disturbance ecology and biogeochemistry to predict future dynamics of terrestrial carbon cycle under global change Meeting dates: February 13-15, 2012 Organizers: Maria Leite (Mathematics, Univ. of Toledo) Yiqi Luo (Ecology, Univ. of Oklahoma at Norman; Director, EcoLab) Objectives: Disturbances have been recognized as a key factor affecting terrestrial biogeochemical processes but can be easily misinterpreted without considering the context of disturbance regimes. Many studies have been conducted to quantify impacts of individual disturbance events on ecosystem carbon processes. In general, one disturbance event, such as wildfire, usually triggers release of a large amount of carbon and then follows by recovery processes.
It is important to recognize that any disturbance events happen in a context of disturbance regime in a region. Central Theme. Summary Report. Products Publications Vargas R. 2012. Phenological Research. Features a unique scope, pinpointing an untapped market Adds and defines certainty of the results of any analysis of phenological data Offers rigorous statistical treatment of available data Covers a wide range of different datasets as well as possible approaches for the analysis Presents up to date and state of the art approaches As climate change continues to dominate the international environmental agenda, phenology – the study of the timing of recurring biological events – has received increasing research attention, leading to an emerging consensus that phenology can be viewed as an ‘early warning system’ for climate change impact.
A multidisciplinary science involving many branches of ecology, geography and remote sensing, phenology to date has lacked a coherent methodological text. This new synthesis, including contributions from many of the world’s leading phenologists, therefore fills a critical gap in the current biological literature. Content Level » Research Hide authors. Predicting phenology by integrating ecology, evolution and climate science - Pau - 2011 - Global Change Biology. USA National Phenology Network | USA National Phenology Network. Phenology Web Links.