NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/HBSL/BSB/FED
change note: 2020-02-10 17:30:56.0 [sritz] update Definition (The Forest Ecosystem Dynamics (FED) Project at GSFC is concerned with modeling and monitoring ecosystem processes and patterns in response to natural and anthropogenic effects. The project uses coupled ecosystem models and remote sensing models and measurements to predict and observe ecosystem change. An important consideration in the northern/boreal forest ecosystems that we are addressing is the influence of spatial heterogeneity on process scaling and the expression of that heterogeneity in remote sensing imagery. The overall objective of the FED Project is to use models of forest dynamics, soil processes and canopy energetics to understand how ecosystem response to change affects patterns and processes in northern and boreal forests and to assess the implications for global change. The approach is to use coupled submodels of forest, soils, and energy processes to predict ecosystem response in terms of forest growth (e.g., biomass, LAI, NPP attributes ) and development (i.e., species composition change over time). There is also a significant role in the project for remote sensing research to relate ecosystem response to observable scene attributes. The project presently is focused on high latitude areas including northern hardwood and evergreen Boreal forests. These forests are susceptible to climate change, are under increasing harvesting pressure for lumber and paper, and are widely disturbed by wildfires. Climate change could have potentially large effects in these areas by driving changes in forest composition and structure and soil properties which, in turn, could alter carbon balance and albedo across the circumpolar boreal forest. Complicating the understanding of how northern forests would respond to change is the large variability in forest composition and structure across the landscape. This variability is largely the result of variations from soil properties and local topography, but also occur from wild…
in scheme: providers
definition: The Forest Ecosystem Dynamics (FED) Project at GSFC is concerned with modeling and monitoring ecosystem processes and patterns in response to natural and anthropogenic effects. The project uses coupled ecosystem models and remote sensing models and measurements to predict and observe ecosystem change. An important consideration in the northern/boreal forest ecosystems that we are addressing is the influence of spatial heterogeneity on process scaling and the expression of that heterogeneity in remote sensing imagery. The overall objective of the FED Project is to use models of forest dynamics, soil processes and canopy energetics to understand how ecosystem response to change affects patterns and processes in northern and boreal forests and to assess the implications for global change. The approach is to use coupled submodels of forest, soils, and energy processes to predict ecosystem response in terms of forest growth (e.g., biomass, LAI, NPP attributes ) and development (i.e., species composition change over time). There is also a significant role in the project for remote sensing research to relate ecosystem response to observable scene attributes. The project presently is focused on high latitude areas including northern hardwood and evergreen Boreal forests. These forests are susceptible to climate change, are under increasing harvesting pressure for lumber and paper, and are widely disturbed by wildfires. Climate change could have potentially large effects in these areas by driving changes in forest composition and structure and soil properties which, in turn, could alter carbon balance and albedo across the circumpolar boreal forest. Complicating the understanding of how northern forests would respond to change is the large variability in forest composition and structure across the landscape. This variability is largely the result of variations from soil properties and local topography, but also occur from wildfire and human activities To understand these eff…
type: Concept

NASA
type: Concept