About CMS Data & Products for Applications

Metadata for CMS Data & Products summarizes the planned outcomes for projects funded starting in 2010. The product metadata provides an overview of each product wtith descriptions, spatial and temporal characteristics, potential applications, and other info.

CMS Data & Products

• View Data & Products listed by Science Theme - download Short & Full Fact Sheet of products by theme>>
• Full Fact Sheet (.xls) of all CMS Products >>
• Search >> - search by free-text, theme, product status; generate Full Fact Sheet of search results

For an explanation of the metadata fields and product keywords, read the tables below.

• Science Themes >>
• Metadata Fields >>
• Keywords Definitions >>

	MRV & Decision Support	Greenhouse gas emission inventories, forest carbon sequestration programs (e.g., Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD and REDD+), cap-and-trade systems, self-reporting programs, and their associated monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) frameworks depend upon data that are accurate, systematic, practical, and transparent. A sustained, observationally-driven carbon monitoring system using remote sensing data has the potential to significantly improve the relevant carbon cycle information base for the U.S. and world. Work is needed to prototype and mature relevant measurement and analytical approaches for use in support of MRV frameworks. NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) project is prototyping and conducting pilot studies to evaluate technological approaches and methodologies to meet this need. CMS products also include a set of analyses and assessments, analytical methods, communication and visualizations tools that provide timely and useful information to decision-makers.
	Ocean Biomass	Ocean Biomass refers to the total mass of all living matter living in the oceans. Oceans also play an important role in the carbon cycle, as the surface and deep ocean waters hold a combined 38,000 gigatons of carbon. CMS scientists are focusing their efforts in researching concentrations of phytoplankton and distribution of calcifiers in the oceans (and to a lesser extent in the Great Lakes), which play an important role in controlling how much carbon is exchanged between the oceans and the atmosphere.
	Land-Ocean Flux	Land-Ocean Flux refers to the exchange of carbon between the land and coastal waters. In order to understand the dynamics that control the movement of carbon from land to the ocean, CMS scientists are using land-based and ocean-based models together to model terrestrial watershed processes in combination with coastal oceanic processes.
	Land-Biomass	Land Biomass is the total mass of all living matter on land, including all above ground grasses, trees, and shrubs. When biomass is removed through deforestation or burning, the carbon stored in the plants is released into the atmosphere. CMS scientists are improving current methods for measuring how much land biomass exists and its role in the carbon cycle.
	Ocean-Atmosphere Flux	The exchange of carbon between the air and ocean is known as Ocean-Atmosphere Flux. Current estimates indicate that the amount of carbon the ocean is able to uptake is decreasing, causing the atmospheric concentrations of carbon to increase. CMS projects funded under this activity seek to better estimate the exchange of carbon between the ocean and the air.
	Global Surface-Atmosphere Flux	Global Surface-Atmosphere Flux refers to the total amount of carbon being moved annually between the land and ocean surface and the atmosphere.
	Land-Atmosphere Flux	The exchange of carbon between the land and the air is referred to as Land-Atmosphere Flux. CMS scientists are collecting better estimates of land biomass to use in models which predict how much carbon is released through biomass burning and deforestation.

• SOURCE:
  anthropogenic, terrestrial, oceanic
  - Process that releases carbon into the atmosphere
• SINK:
  anthropogenic, terrestrial, oceanic
  - Process that absorbs carbon from the atmosphere
• CARBON STOCKS:
  terrestrial, oceanic, atmospheric, inland & coastal water
  - The quantity of carbon in a pool. Any change may be expressed as 'stock change.
  - The carbon stored in a pool may be, for example, living biomass, dead organic matter, soils.
  
• FLUX/MOVEMENT:
  anthropogenic, terrestrial, oceanic, atmospheric, inland & coastal water
  - Any movement of carbon between the carbon pools.
  - We consider atmospheric transport as a movement in the atmosphere.
• ECOSYSTEM COMPOSITION & STRUCTURE:
  forest extent, forest cover, forest/non-forest, canopy height, digital elevation model, particulate inorganic carbon, biogenic silica, forest type, site productivity, forest age
  - Used to describe ecosystem components and arrangement of these components for the various carbon pools.
• DISTURBANCE:
  land cover change, forest structure change, land use change, timing, agent, severity, recovery rate
  - Natural or human induced perturbances in an ecological component or system; relative to a specified state and system .
• EVALUATION
  - any assessment, including assessment of accuracy, data estimates, or observations
• USER INTERFACES
  - system designs for visualization, sharing and query of data
• UNCERTAINTIES & STANDARD ERRORS
  - Data on uncertainties and standard errors, including systems to track these
  - Uncertainties may be spatially explicit