Our team seeks to build upon and expand the current Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Applications project (Escobar-2013) that assesses, identifies, and appropriately links existing decision support processes and policies to CMS carbon science. This CMS Applications effort aims to serve as a vehicle for facilitating and translating critical NASA science into decision support systems, establishing the science maturity and application readiness for NASA Headquarters and clearly stating the impact of CMS science to society for Congress. The partnerships fostered though this effort will lead to better utilization of NASA CMS data products, in turn leading to positive financial and societal outcomes.
Our proposed work is highly relevant to the following activities listed as priorities for this call:
1) understanding and engaging the user community for carbon monitoring products;
2) evaluating current and planned NASA CMS products with regard to their value for decision making by identified users and to assist in having existing products
used for stakeholder activities;
3) conducting MRV-related work in support of international REDD or REDD+
projects, as well as studies of stakeholder interests;
4) assessing the NASA CMS applications program though a 'lessons learned'
document which evaluates the number of potential and actual CMS data users.

During the next phase of funding our team will focus efforts on several fronts. First, we will continue to develop the translation tools created during the Escobar-2013 project, and relate CMS product capabilities to stakeholder needs through the use tutorials, short science articles, white papers, and policy briefs. that identify thematic opportunities, identify data gaps and sync the CMS science research to the beneficiary of the data (stakeholder). Workshops events and the CMS Policy Speaker Series will continue to serve as tools for highlighting carbon relevant policies and identifying the science needs of operational organizations. Furthermore, we will develop a systematic evaluation of these workshops and policy series with follow-up surveys and reports in an effort to assess the societal relevance of our activities.
Our team will conduct science policy bridging with organizations such as (but not limited to) RGGI, EPA, USGS, 3DEP, USGCRP, Chesapeake Bay Restoration Program, USDA Environmental Markets and the Department of Natural Resources for Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Sonoma County, CA and USGCRP. These partners were identified in the Escobar 2013 Applications work and a clear understanding of their needs and objectives will be expanded on for the 2016 efforts. We will also collaborate closely with the Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group of the U.S Global Change Research Program, and contribute to carbon-related reports, such as the SOCCR-2 and the Fourth National Climate Assessment.
Of equal importance is merging the diversity of the CMS Initiative with ongoing and future NASA missions and programs. These cross-mission collaborations are essential for broadening the reach and relevance of CMS science. The proposed CMS Applications effort will leverage opportunities with newer missions like SMAP and OCO-2 while also planning for future synergy with ICESat-2, NISAR and ASCENDS.
Finally, research to assess the impact and value of the CMS data in specific case studies will be conducted in collaboration with the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI), collaboration between the U.S DoE Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Maryland at College Park.
Contact Support to request an email list of project participants.
Project URL(s):
None provided.
Data Products:
Product Title: CMS Applications Case Studies
Time Period: 2017 - 2019
Description: To document the value of CMS information products, we will perform a set of quantitative case studies to highlight the social and economic benefits of CMS, focusing on the EPA and USFS. The case studies provide a qualitative assessment of the societal relevance of that science data on a decision process or policy.
Status: Planned
CMS Science Theme(s): Decision Support
Keywords: Evaluation & User Interface
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Algorithm/Models Used: For this case study we will use an integrated assessment model to study the socio-economic value of select CMS products in stakeholder organizations (EPA and USFS).
Relevant Policies/Programs: Any EPA or USFS policy or program that may benefit from incorporating carbon information into decision-making.
Potential Users: USDA Forest Service and EPA, as well as other CMS data product end users
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Product Title: CMS Applications Policy Speaker Series
Time Period: 2017 - 2019
Description: Inform the CMS product developers of the information scale and decision domain of stakeholders, policy makers, and potential end-users.
Status: Preliminary
CMS Science Theme(s): Decision Support
Keywords: Evaluation & User Interface
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Application Areas: - MRV; - GHG emissions inventory; - Land management; - Forest inventory; - Fire management; - Invasive species; - Watershed protection plans; - Ocean acidification mitigation; - Fisheries regulations; - Coastal land management; - Air quality protection
Relevant Policies/Programs: Any policy or program that may benefit from incorporating carbon information in decision-making. (i.e. NGHGI, FIA, Maryland Forest Preservation Act of 2013, CA-AB32, Chesapeake Bay Program, Sonoma County Vegetation Mapping and LiDAR Program, Indonesia's National Action Plan for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, FOARAM, Blue Carbon Initiative, RGGI, FLPMA, REDD+, Carbon Fund of Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, CAA, CAP, NACP, IPCC, U.S. Farm Bill)
Potential Users: Any carbon scientist or stakeholder who is interested in transitioning carbon science products to decision-making frameworks.
Stakeholders:
Current Application Readiness Level:
Start Application Readiness Level:
Target Application Readiness Level:
Future Developments: Summaries of all the seminars will be made available on the Policy Speaker Series webpage.
Limitations: Suggestions for speakers and topics of interest from the CMS community are encouraged.
Date When Product Available: On-going monthly seminars
Description: Meetings are set up to discuss CMS products derived from multiple projects missions. Tutorials provide the opportunity to leverage innovation for how to best combine data sets from different CMS projects to meet the needs of stakeholders and decision makers. Tutorials are hosted by an end user institution like USDA or USGS but are organized and managed by the CMS Applications team.
Status: Planned
CMS Science Theme(s): Decision Support
Keywords: Evaluation & User Interface
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Application Areas: MRV; - GHG emissions inventory; - Land management; - Forest inventory; - Fire management; - Invasive species; - Watershed protection plans; - Ocean acidification mitigation; - Fisheries regulations; - Coastal land management; - Air quality protection
Relevant Policies/Programs: Any policy or program that may benefit from incorporating carbon information in decision-making. (i.e. NGHGI, FIA, Maryland Forest Preservation Act of 2013, CA-AB32, Chesapeake Bay Program, Sonoma County Vegetation Mapping and LiDAR Program, Indonesia's National Action Plan for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, FOARAM, Blue Carbon Initiative, RGGI, FLPMA, REDD+, Carbon Fund of Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, CAA, CAP, NACP, IPCC, U.S. Farm Bill)
Potential Users: Any stakeholder who is interested in transitioning carbon science products to decision-making frameworks. (i.e. NASA, CCIWG, DOE, EPA, USDA, USFS, NOAA, USGS, USAID, State Department, California Air Resources Board, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Conservation International, Ocean Conservancy, Maryland DNR, Maryland Forest Service, Delaware DNREC, Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Forestry)
Stakeholders:
Current Application Readiness Level:
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Metadata URL(s):
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Archived Data Citation:
Product Title: CMS Products Fact Sheet and Application Readiness Level (ARL) figures for all 2012-2016 projects
Time Period: 2012-2016
Description: Provide tools and activities that translate the CMS science in a way that will allow stakeholders and decision makers understand the capabilities of the CMS science products.
Status: Preliminary
CMS Science Theme(s): Decision Support
Keywords: Evaluation & User Interface
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Application Areas: - MRV; - GHG emissions inventory; - Land management; - Forest inventory; - Fire management; - Invasive species; - Watershed protection plans; - Ocean acidification mitigation; - Fisheries regulations; - Coastal land management; - Air quality protection;
Relevant Policies/Programs: Any policy or program that may benefit from incorporating carbon information in decision-making. (i.e. NGHGI, FIA, Maryland Forest Preservation Act of 2013, CA-AB32, Chesapeake Bay Program, Sonoma County Vegetation Mapping and LiDAR Program, Indonesia's National Action Plan for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, FOARAM, Blue Carbon Initiative, RGGI, FLPMA, REDD+, Carbon Fund of Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, CAA, CAP, NACP, IPCC, U.S. Farm Bill)
Potential Users: In addition to CMS science team, any stakeholder who is interested in transitioning carbon science products to decision-making frameworks. (i.e. NASA, CCIWG, DOE, EPA, USDA, USFS, NOAA, USGS, USAID, State Department, California Air Resources Board, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Conservation International, Ocean Conservancy, Maryland DNR, Maryland Forest Service, Delaware DNREC, Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Forestry)
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Future Developments: ARL Tables will be archived at the ORNL DAAC as 'non-traditional' products.
Limitations: CMS products search capability is not yet user-friendly. The spreadsheet is very large and difficult to reduce to 1-3 pages. Currently format is limited to Excel or PDF formats.
Product Title: Evaluation of stakeholders' end uses of CMS products
Description: Broaden and strengthen the knowledge of CMS data products by engaging the research and applications communities that will benefit from the CMS initiative. Explore ways to evaluate the impact of CMS data products on decision making.
Status: Planned
CMS Science Theme(s): Decision Support
Keywords: Evaluation & User Interface
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Application Areas: - MRV; - GHG emissions inventory; - Land management; - Forest inventory; - Fire management; - Invasive species; - Watershed protection plans; - Ocean acidification mitigation; - Fisheries regulations; - Coastal land management; - Air quality protection
Relevant Policies/Programs: Any policy or program that may benefit from incorporating carbon information into decision-making. (i.e. NGHGI, FIA, Maryland Forest Preservation Act of 2013, CA-AB32, Chesapeake Bay Program, Sonoma County Vegetation Mapping and LiDAR Program, Indonesia's National Action Plan for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, FOARAM, Blue Carbon Initiative, RGGI, FLPMA, REDD+, Carbon Fund of Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, CAA, CAP, NACP, IPCC, U.S. Farm Bill)
Potential Users: Any stakeholder who is interested in transitioning carbon science products to decision-making frameworks. (i.e. NASA, CCIWG, DOE, EPA, USDA, USFS, NOAA, USGS, USAID, State Department, California Air Resources Board, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Conservation International, Ocean Conservancy, Maryland DNR, Maryland Forest Service, Delaware DNREC, Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Forestry)
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Current Application Readiness Level:
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Future Developments: Continue working with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and other state agencies in the ti-state area of Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania for incorporation of CMS products in state and county scaled decision-making.
Description: Applications workshops are integrated with the CMS Science team meetings and coordinated with the Science Team lead and Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems (CC&E) Office in order to match CMS science and stakeholder needs. The workshops will provide feedback to the NASA CMS scientists and NASA Headquarters about CMS product applications (successes, policy targets, concerns, challenges and proposed solutions) and will be held annually during the CMS Science Team Meetings. We expect the stakeholders to provide feedback to the CMS community on the following elements:
1. Description of Work
2. CMS Data Product(s) being used
3. Policies and Decision Making Timelines
4. Additional carbon data needs
5. Evaluation of value of CMS product for organization’s goal
Status: Planned
CMS Science Theme(s): Decision Support
Keywords: Evaluation & User Interface
Spatial Extent: Variable
Spatial Resolution:
Temporal Frequency:
Input Data Products:
Algorithm/Models Used:
Evaluation:
Intercomparison Efforts/Gaps:
Uncertainty Estimates:
Uncertainty Categories:
Application Areas: - MRV; - GHG emissions inventory; - Land management; - Forest inventory; - Fire management; - Invasive species; - Watershed protection plans; - Ocean acidification mitigation; - Fisheries regulations; - Coastal land management; - Air quality protection
Relevant Policies/Programs: Any policy or program that may benefit from incorporating carbon information in decision-making. (i.e. NGHGI, FIA, Maryland Forest Preservation Act of 2013, CA-AB32, Chesapeake Bay Program, Sonoma County Vegetation Mapping and LiDAR Program, Indonesia's National Action Plan for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, FOARAM, Blue Carbon Initiative, RGGI, FLPMA, REDD+, Carbon Fund of Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, CAA, CAP, NACP, IPCC, U.S. Farm Bill)
Potential Users: Any stakeholder who is interested in transitioning carbon science products to decision-making frameworks. (i.e. NASA, CCIWG, DOE, EPA, USDA, USFS, NOAA, USGS, USAID, State Department, California Air Resources Board, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Conservation International, Ocean Conservancy, Maryland DNR, Maryland Forest Service, Delaware DNREC, Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Forestry)
Stakeholders:
Current Application Readiness Level:
Start Application Readiness Level:
Target Application Readiness Level:
Future Developments: - Develop a lessons learned document which includes feedback from CMS stakeholder and end users on their carbon data needs, and impact of CMS data products on their organization's activities.
Limitations: A workshop can sometimes only target one specific audience or topic at a time. The quality of workshop outcomes is dependent on feedback, participation and willing to provide transparent needs (science and stakeholders).
Date When Product Available: On-going annual workshops
Brown, M. E., Cooper, M. W., Griffith, P. C. 2020. NASA's carbon monitoring system (CMS) and arctic-boreal vulnerability experiment (ABoVE) social network and community of practice. Environmental Research Letters. 15(11), 115014. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aba300
Brown, M. E., Ihli, M., Hendrick, O., Delgado-Arias, S., Escobar, V. M., Griffith, P. 2016. Social network and content analysis of the North American Carbon Program as a scientific community of practice. Social Networks. 44, 226-237. DOI: 10.1016/j.socnet.2015.10.002
Kaushik, A., Graham, J., Dorheim, K., Kramer, R., Wang, J., Byrne, B. 2020. The Future of the Carbon Cycle in a Changing Climate. Eos. 101. DOI: 10.1029/2020EO140276