This announcement offers opportunities for terrestrial ecology research within NASA’s Earth Science Division. The NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Program uses airborne and space-based observations to understand how Earth’s carbon cycle and terrestrial ecosystems respond to environmental changes and human intervention. The goals of the TE Program are to improve understanding of the structure, function, and productivity of terrestrial ecosystems across the globe, their interaction with the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and their role in cycling the major biogeochemical elements and water.
The program addresses the spatial and temporal variability of terrestrial ecosystem states and processes, how terrestrial ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles respond to and affect global environmental change, and what future changes might be expected in carbon cycle dynamics and ecosystems. The research approach combines (i) use of remote sensing to observe and analyze changes in terrestrial ecosystems; (ii) field campaigns and related process studies to elucidate ecosystem functions at multiple scales; and (iii) data assimilation and modeling to analyze and predict ecosystem and biogeochemical cycle responses to environmental change. The program seeks to strengthen the theoretical and scientific basis for measuring the properties of Earth’s vegetation using reflected, emitted, and scattered electromagnetic radiation and develop the methodologies and technical approaches required to analyze and interpret such measurements. These activities will ultimately provide a foundation for the new remote sensing capabilities needed to understand and monitor terrestrial ecosystems at regional to global scales.
All investigators associated with successful proposals from this program element will become members of the NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team. Principal Investigators of successful proposals also become members of the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Science Team. Membership in these communities carries the obligation to serve on NASA Peer Review Panels upon request.
Deadlines:
- Notice of Intent: Sep. 15, 2021
- Proposal: Nov. 17, 2021