This newsletter was sent on Feb, 2020 to members of the CMS community and Stakeholders. Words from the Science Team LeadThe goal of the NASA- Carbon Monitoring System project is to prototype the development of carbon monitoring capabilities needed to support U.S. needs for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV). Initiated in 2010, the project is maturing into one of the most exciting and productive initiatives in Earth Sciences. Fundamental to the effort, is the close collaboration between scientists and stakeholders to produce the best and most relevant science information. To date, the project has produced an impressive 435 publications, with 37 in the highest tier journals (Nature, Science, and PNAS). Collectively, these papers have been cited over 24500 times. The project has also produced and archived 98 related datasets, downloaded over 47,000 times. 2019 was a busy year. 15 new projects were selected in response to ROSES-18 solicitation. These projects will continue several successful prototyping efforts, add new capabilities particularly in areas of wet carbon (wetland, aquatic, and marine stocks and fluxes), and build on our efforts of stakeholder engagement. In September, we presented an overview of the program at the NASA Terrestrial Ecology Meeting. In November, we held our 6th Science Team Meeting, which began with a one-day Applications Workshop focusing on stakeholder needs, followed by two days of science presentations and discussions. Finally, in December, we led three related sessions at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. These sessions attracted 42 abstracts resulting in 16 Oral and 26 Poster presentations. The sessions were anchored by invited speakers Dr. Ralph Keeling and Dr. Inez Fung. At AGU, a preliminary synthesis of CMS Phase 2 activities was presented, along with a new Hyperwall presentation of major CMS highlights. Looking ahead, we are planning to continue progress on all of these activities, complete a Phase 2 Synthesis Report, participate in the upcoming North American Carbon Program Science Meeting, and prepare for the next Science Team Meeting and AGU meetings later this year. We will also be refreshing and extending the Focus Collection on Carbon Monitoring Research and Applications in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Meanwhile, we enthusiastically note the current ROSES-20 A.6 Carbon Monitoring System solicitation calling for the next set of new and continued projects. -George Hurtt, Science Team Leader
NASA CMS Science Team Meeting - 2019From Nov. 12-14, 2019 the NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Science Team Meeting took place in La Jolla, CA. Eighty-one participants, including 15 stakeholders and 66 Science Team Members/personnel attended. The CMS Applications Workshop took place on Nov. 12 with a focus on: understanding stakeholders needs for carbon monitoring and Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV); providing information on the value of CMS products for MRV and related applications; and identifying CMS data products that align with stakeholder needs. A range of stakeholders noted important uses and needs of CMS products in support of planning and policy, with key examples at local, regional, and national/international scales. The newly selected stakeholder-focused project spanning CMS activities was noted and will provide important opportunity and resources to continue to advance stakeholder engagement and alignment with stakeholder needs. The remainder of the Science Team Meeting focused on updates from NASA HQ, presentations and assessments of 2014, 2015, and 2016 project results, introductions to 2018 projects, Phase 2 synthesis report briefing, Working Group progress reporting, briefings on emerging capabilities at NASA, and the development and prioritization of Science Team goals and actions for 2019-2020. It was clear that CMS continues to be innovative, productive and impactful as researchers publish papers and data. Products are also generally advancing in ARL with multiple examples reaching highest level. Progress on CMS projects (2014, 2015, 2016) has been impressive across range of activities and scales, with particular progress in areas of land biomass and atmospheric flux commensurate with program emphasis in those areas. Given the breadth of progress and capabilities, multiple stakeholders and other participants noted the need/opportunity for CMS to be more widely known and plans were discussed to increase communication efforts internally and externally. Overall, it was clear that the context and approach for CMS continues to be important and unique, with emphasis on advancing both state of the art science based on NASA’s emerging capabilities together with concrete stakeholder engagement and application.
NASA CMS Applications Workshop 2019November 12, 2019 Goals of CMS Applications Workshop: 15 CMS Stakeholders presented on how they are using CMS data products, lessons learned and impact of the products for their organization, and further data needs, including: California Air Resources Board, Illinois Farm Bureau, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, U.S. EPA, USDA Forest Service, Environmental Defense Fund, World Resources Institute, SilvaCarbon, amongst others.
Working GroupsWorking groups provide the opportunity for CMS Science Team members to collaborate on topics of interest that bridge multiple individual projects. Past working groups have focused on: developing best practices guidelines, identifying gaps in knowledge and community needs and intercomparisons of methods and analyses.
For Phase 3 of the CMS Program seven new working groups were initiated based on topics of common interest voted on at the meeting in November 2019.
All CMS Science Team members should be a member of at a minimum one Working Group and many will likely want to join more than one. To join a working group email <support@carbon.nasa.gov> and let them know which group you would like to join.
Phase 3 Working Groups
NASA CMS Applications - Policy Speaker Series2019 Lunch Time Policy Speaker Series Talk HighlightThe CMS Policy Speaker Series brings together carbon data stakeholders to bridge CMS science with user needs, inform CMS PIs of specific end user opportunities and provide new avenues to improve and develop CMS science and data products. “Solutions to complex problems must begin with an organizing principle in the form of an effective narrative. Our human capacity to explain, understand and cohere around unifying stories has enabled civilization’s remarkable advance. We must improve upon this capacity across scientific and policy disciplines to address the urgent environmental challenges we now face.” (Roger Sorkin, American Resilience Project) On May 29, 2019 the CMS Applications Policy Speaker Series hosted Roger Sorkin, Founder and Executive Director of American Resilience Project, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for a talk entitled “Wielding the Power of Strategic Narratives to Achieve Maximum Civilizational Security (and Communicate the Value of Science to Decision-makers).” The presentation focused on successful strategic narratives at the nexus of climate change, national security and economic prosperity that can help scientists translate the value of their work into inspiring stories that educate the general public and decisionmakers on how research and data products have societal benefits. ***For more information on CMS applications and stakeholder engagement efforts, please visit https://carbon.nasa.gov/applications.html, or contact CMS Applications Coordinator, Edil Sepulveda Carlo at edil.sepulvedacarlo@nasa.gov. *** Release of Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) 2020 NRAImportant deadlines:
2. Research Solicited NASA requests proposals for investigations that will advance products toward the CMS end goal: development of prototype carbon monitoring systems from an Earth’s system perspective. Areas of interest include terrestrial, atmospheric, and aquatic realms. Proposal emphasis must be directed toward continued development of the established CMS pilot studies (see https://carbon.nasa.gov), synergistic advancements from past CMS activities, as well as acquisition, quantification, and development of prototype CMS system capabilities that can improve existing and develop new data products toward achieving the levels of precision and accuracy required by current carbon trading activities (e.g., certification of emissions reductions). Successful applicants will also become NASA CMS Science Team (ST) members.
2.1 Research Topics With this program element, NASA CMS will continue to refine, evaluate, and integrate suborbital, airborne, and satellite data, providing products that overlay previous research within a user-defined prototype monitoring system. These data sources include, but are not limited to, field campaigns with extensive NASA support.
All proposals are required to target a CMS prototyping activity and not focus solely on carbon cycle science research. This requirement will be factored into the relevance criterion evaluation. Proposals that do not address a CMS prototyping activity and clearly show the use of derived remote sensing data will be considered non-responsive and thus may be returned without review.
NASA requests proposals for three types of carbon monitoring prototyping and product development activities. NASA is soliciting:
• Studies that address research needs to advance (a) remote sensing-based approaches to quantifying forest degradation and forest regrowth; (b) independent assessment of the accuracy of satellite or airborne remote sensing observations of biomass and carbon stocks; and (c) the use of satellite remote sensing as an alternative or a supplement to ground-based methods for quantifying net carbon emissions and/or storage; and (d) the accounting of blue carbon ecosystems (quantification and change - e.g. regional/global extent and temporal distribution).
• Studies that build upon, extend, evaluate and/or improve the existing CMS products for biomass and flux resulting from NASA’s earlier phases of CMS pilot studies; such studies may include, for example, product improvements, refined characterization and quantification of errors and uncertainties, and/or preparation and delivery of a mature product for long-term archive at an established NASA DAAC or equivalent data center.
• Studies using remote sensing data that evaluate and enhance national reported carbon emissions inventories from bottom-up estimates from various sectors of emissions within the United States and have the potential to be applied to reported national inventories from other nations.
• Studies that build upon and improve quantification of terrestrial-ocean carbon fluxes in areas that have been subject to considerable perturbations for accounting purposes. Inclusion/delineation of anthropogenic carbon contributions to existing flux estimates are encouraged.
AGU 2019NASA CMS Hyperwall Presentation and SessionsGeorge Hurtt
CMS Phase 2 Highlights At the AGU Fall Meeting: George Hurtt, David Lagomasino, and Peter Griffith convened a session on Carbon Monitoring Systems Research and Applications at the AGU Fall meeting in San Francisco. The session was focused on advances in research and applications, including decision support and policy, that align or address stakeholder needs through the measuring, modeling, and monitoring of strategic carbon pools. Sixteen oral presentations and 24 posters were presented. See titles and abstracts for session 1, session 2, and session 3.
Featured PublicationsDeriving high-spatiotemporal-resolution leaf area index for agroecosystems in the U.S. Corn Belt using Planet Labs CubeSat and STAIR fusion data Previous Featured Publications:
By the Numbers15 CMS grants funded in 2019
98 CMS data products archived total
Upcoming Events in 20207th North American Carbon Program (NACP) Open Science Meeting
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