Carbon Cycle

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Carbon Cycle Ecosystems Joint Biodiversity,
Terrestrial Ecology, and Applied Sciences
Workshop, August 2006 Technology Breakout
SessionBREAKOUT 2, WEDNESDAY AUG, 23rd SUMMARY
Initial Questions Technology Chairs Josef
Kellndorfer, Mark Chopping What are the most
pressing science questions/issues for Terrestrial
Ecology, Biodiversity, and Applied Sciences that
can be addressed through technology
development? For which potential missions
related to Terrestrial Ecology, Biodiversity, and
Applied Sciences is technology development the
limiting step? What types of technology
investments are needed? How far do current
NASA investments go toward meeting these
needs? How can we improve interactions and
collaborations with NASA's technology programs
and participants?
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Summary Table from Session 1
Science Theme -gt Ecosystem function/ Physiology Vegetation 3-D Structure/Biomass Carbon Budget/ Active CO2 Coastal Ocean Carbon
Ready for Space Deployment Hyperspectral imager at 60 m resolution Lidar/P-band polarimetric SAR to capture biomass ranges in boreal and temperate biomes disturbance globally Moderate resolution Hyperspectral imager from GEO
Ready for Suborbital Demon- strations DONE with AVIRIS Optimal Lidar/SAR sensor suite for the tropics Lidar (optimal sampling rates?) single-pass/dual frequency L-Band multi-baseline L-Band and/or P-band polarimetric interferometry L-band and /or P-band repeat-pass interferometry Done with AirMISR/ASAS? DIAL Laser, 1.2 micron laser
Emerging Technologies Lower mass Detector arrays Multi-angle Instruments Mixed layer depth Measurements using lasers
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Technology Session 2-1
Participation a small (10) but passionate and
wide-ranging gp. We reviewed the conclusions
from the first session, which focused on sensor
technologies for the second session we spent
more time trying to address the question What
are the most pressing science questions/issues
for Terrestrial Ecology, Biodiversity, and
Applied Sciences that can be addressed through
technology development? (implied over next
15-25 years) We also broadened the scope of the
discussion from sensor technology development and
tried to consider the constraints and
opportunities imposed by platforms and their
orbits (including synergies and constellations)
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Technology Session 2-2

• Prioritize measurements and the required sampling
  with respect to CCE, Terrestrial Ecology and
  Applied Sciences
• Value what we measure (surrogates for
  function/structure)
• Temporal (vegetation dynamics continuity and
  systematic measurements required diurnal needed
  for some measurements)
• Coverage (global repeat rate important)
• Spatial (high resolution may not always yield
  better results)
• Instrument technology can address 1 and 4,
  budget constrains mostly 2 and 3. Thus

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Technology Session 2-3

• Carefully select instrument/mission combinations
  (medium-size missions realizing big synergies
  might be most cost-effective) and
• Either demonstrate the technology with single
  missions, then move to systematic if appropriate
  (note however that adoption may suffer if science
  capability is the focus)
• Or stagger new technology introductions in space
  to more rapidly leverage their adoption e.g.,
  sparse but global vegetation lidar coverage would
  have enormous benefits today, even if the
  potential of this technology is much larger (full
  coverage, high revisit rate, extended missions,
  multi-wavelength, multi-angle). These immediate
  benefits include
• Use of lidar to calibrate or train data sets from
  SAR, multi-angle, and (hyper)spectral
  instruments
• Valuable information in support of ground cal/val
  activities
• Huge synergies with other NASA ES and other
  progams

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Technology Session 2-4
Question 5 How can we improve interactions and
collaborations with NASA's technology programs
and participants? Make more use of ESTOs
ESTIPS database (http//estips.gsfc.nasa.gov/)
NOTE ESTIPS technology requirement content is
validated by the community at ESTO technology
planning workshops open to the public. The
current content of ESTIPS is based on the ESTO
Technology Planning Workshop held on March 5-6,
2003. Update of ESTIPS to serve as a discussion
blog
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Technology Session 2-5
New / Additional Questions Should we invest in
tools to aid technology adoption (data for
data/technology fusion studies should be made
less intractable even though concurrency will
often be a fundamental limitation/pursue a
transparent sensor web approach) -- or in new
instruments? Consensus Both. In situ update
recommend that a network of passive instruments
for CO2 measurement is suggested, to operate in
concert with NEON
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Technology Session 2-6

• Other technologies ideas not already mentioned
  
• improvements to moderate resolution spectral /
  angular sensing (1) NOAA/GOES HES-CWI 12-band
  instrument at 150-300 m spatial resolution with
  diurnal (gt 3 x day) sampling from GEO (2) WFIS
  (IIP) 120 degree FOV providing 1 - 2 nm
  resolution from 500 nm - 1000 nm at 1 km from
  LEO wide swath with no moving parts)
• OOTB (1) Commercial airliners (coverage/stability
  ?) (2) High Altitude Balloons or Airships at
  altitudes of 25-35 km, (Anderson, M., Low Road to
  the Heavens, Science 313(5788)756, August 11,
  2006) (3) Cost/benefit of deploying
  micro-satellites to obtain critical measurements

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Technology Session 2-7

• Not discussed / notable by their absence
• Passive microwave
• New thermal IR technologies / instruments
• Finally We urge engagement by the CCE,
  Terrestrial Ecology, and Applied Sciences
  community in the technology arena -- and
  encourage contributions via the discussion /
  comments system