nsf.gov - Special Report - National Ecological Observatory Network Studies Wildfire in Unprecedented Detail

 

 

In the largest study of its kind, NEON will collaborate with Colorado State University to provide airborne remote sensing data to study the full range of wildfire effects

In response to one of the worst wildfires in Colorado history, scientists from the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University (CSU) are leading a first of its kind, large-scale wildfire impact study on the High Park Fire in partnership with Colorado's newest research facility, the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). The study will provide critical data to communities still grappling with how to respond to major water quality, erosion and ecosystem restoration issues in an area spanning more than 136 square miles.

Supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) RAPID grant, the collaboration will integrate airborne remote sensing data collected by NEON's Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) with ground-based data from a targeted field campaign conducted by CSU researchers. RAPID, short for Grants for Rapid Response Research, are used for proposals having a real urgency, including quick-response research on natural disasters. This effort is the first time a comprehensive airborne remote sensing system of this caliber will be used to enhance research on wildfire causes and impacts. The system will be able to detect remaining vegetation, identify plant species, ash cover, soil properties and other details to help illustrate how the fire burned--over the span of the entire fire scar.

"The NEON Airborne Observatory is transforming research by providing data to researchers and resource managers at temporal and geographic scales that could not previously be captured," says Elizabeth Blood, NSF program director for NEON. "By combining ground measurements with data gathered from cutting-edge instruments in NEON airplanes, scientists are gathering potentially pivotal information about small scale and large scale processes that affect the spread of fires through forests and subsequent forest recovery."

NEON will be to ecological health what an EKG is to heart health. Like an EKG generates snapshots of heart health by measuring heart activity at strategic locations on a patient's body, NEON will generate snapshots of ecosystem health by measuring ecological activity at strategic locations throughout the U.S. Resulting ecological data will enable scientists to generate the first apples-to-apples comparisons of ecosystem health throughout large regions of the U.S. and the entire country over multiple decades.

Some of NEON's data collection and educational operations have already begun, and others will begin incrementally until NEON becomes fully functional in 2017. All of NEON's data, synthesized data products and associated educational materials will be made freely available on the Internet. These materials will thereby provide grist for groundbreaking analyses and educational activities by researchers, students, decision-makers, educators and the public.

NEON will be fully operational for some 30 years. More information about NEON is provided in this short video.

Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent
Marsha Walton, Science Nation Producer

What is the current and future state of our Earth's ecology? Answers to this question have traditionally been woefully inadequate because scientists have lacked a mechanism to systematically measure the long-term health of large ecosystems. But that is now changing as a new, precedent-setting, nationwide, multidisciplinary infrastructure--the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)--is starting to go online across the U.S. NEON is a first-of-its-kind nationwide sensing instrument that will use strategically placed sensors to measure long-term ecolological activity. The sensors will collect data from 106 locations that were selected to represent the diversity of U.S. ecosystems. And, additional locations will be added to represent extreme events including wildfires, droughts and hurricanes. Learn more in this news release and video.
Credit: NASA and Thinkstock (design by National Science Foundation)

Currently under construction and partially operational, NEON will be a nationwide, multidisciplinary infrastructure for collecting standardized ecological data throughout the U.S. It will be the first observatory to listen to the pulse of a continental ecosystem for multiple decades. Dave Tazik, NEON’s director of biology, and Tom Kampe, NEON’s assistant director for remote sensing, joined Elizabeth Blood, the NSF program director for NEON, for a webcast in April 2013 and they provided more information about this cutting-edge facility. Learn more in this NEON video.
Credit: National Science Foundation

Biological Infrastructure (DBI)

The Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI) of the Biological Sciences Directorate empowers biological discovery by supporting the development and enhancement of biological resources, human capital, and centers. These investments underpin advances in all areas of biological research.

National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental- scale research instrument consisting of geographically distributed infrastructure, and networked via cybertechnology into an integrated research platform for regional to continental- scale ecological research.

NEON, Inc.

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is designed to gather and provide 30 years of ecological data on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity.

The National Science Foundation (NSF)
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
 Inscríbete en el Foro del blog y participa : A Vuelo De Un Quinde - El Foro!