NE Water Quality slides

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12. Considering what NASA is currently doing and
could do in the near future, what are the most
important science questions to address? (ripe
in bold)

• How do ocean ecosystems work? Use remote sensing
  to address fundamental questions
• Lack of field data on BGC processes, impeding
  calibration and validation.
• Integrating observations and remote sensing and
  modeling
• Observations at additional wavelengths (e.g. UV
  in ocean systems, hyperspectral RS for mapping
  functional types) are needed.
• Issues of scaling. Data at higher spatial
  resolutions are crucial for understanding
  features that are typical for the Arctic. E.g.
  LIDAR for mapping micro-topography
• High latitude ecosystem modeling needs
  high-quality RS data, validated for high
  latitudes
• How do river inputs (DOC) and sea ice cover
  change affect arctic marine ecology and carbon
  flux
• How does the reduction in sea ice cover change
  the morphology of the Arctic coast
• How is the terrestrial Arctic system going to
  change as permafrost degrades (CH4, carbon flux,
  )?
• RS to address shrubification of tundra.
• Characterizing vegetated wetlands (carbon
  exchange, CH4)
• Linkage between permafrost degradation and depth
  of thaw and wetland extent

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• Warmer and drier vs. Warmer and wetter
  (precipitation, ET, hydrology ecology)
• Sub-surface processes, carbon storage.
• The energy budget. Models that can deal with
  incoming flux, ET, wave energy, sea-surface and
  troposhperic winds, albedo
• Total energy budget of the panarctic
• How will changes in the surface energy budget
  affect atmospheric and ocean circulation.
• How will changes in sea ice and permafrost change
  cloud structure and how will this feed back
• Where and how will released energy be stored?
• The role of atmospheric iron inputs and
  transformations on Southern ocean systems
• Permafrost degradation
• Stored methane-hydrates
• How will different functional types respond to
  temperature changes? (shrubs vs trees vs tundra,
  as well ocean life)
• What is the sensitivity of ecosystems to changing
  disturbance regimes?
• Marine mammal populations, those that require sea
  ice in particular. Migratory birds and sea
  mammals.
• Need for better estimates of the carbon balance
  of high-latitude systems.

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3. Is there a need for additional coordination of
existing research activities in this topic area?

• International exchange of data, Data rescue
• Improved intra and interagency data-sharing and
  coordination
• Integrating RS products into models
• Improve interactions with other funding agencies,
  both US and international (e.g. leverage polar
  cruises)
• Participation in long-term observation networks
• Long-term data archiving
• Monitoring of key circumpolar locations (e.g.
  with respect to CAVM)

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4. What are the most promising opportunities for
interdisciplinary collaboration to answer
compelling global change research questions?
Is sea ice a cap for CO2 exchange? Links the ice
community to physical oceanographers, and
biologists Antarctic coastal oceanography
(ship-based) strengths and duration of katabatic
winds and their effects on the formation of
polynyas along the coast The chain of events by
which increased winds and precipitation
(stratification) over the Southern oceans affect
the ability of the ocean to take up atmospheric
CO2. Dynamics of snow cover distribution, and
depth, as well as snow water equivalent. Fluxes
of persistent organic pollutants (including
mercury) in the absence of ice or snow.
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5. Where will there be strong societal benefit?

• Global climate implications
• Native communities
• Marine subsistence communities, herding
  communities
• Damage to infrastructure, pipelines, airports
  (melting permafrost)
• Sea ice and shipping
• Fisheries, both Arctic and Antarctic
• Conservation
• Resource extraction vs. sustainability, e.g.
  forestry

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Science, Emerging Issues and Future
Directions High Latitude Ecosystems - land and
ocean, Arctic and Antarctic
Purpose Discussions should allow workshop
participants to consider scientific questions and
issues that will shape future directions for the
NASA Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Focus Area.
There is an emphasis on cross-cutting topics
that involve more than one of the Focus Area's
program elements and/or applications areas. All
of the session topics are areas for future
research by NASA and/or the U.S. Climate Change
Science Program. Many have already been the
subject of NASA solicitations.
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Individual topic breakouts will identify
opportunities and priorities for NASA as well as
raise issues or concerns for the Focus Area to
address. RE the scientific topic why it is
important, the role of remote sensing in
addressing it, and what has been done and what
may be proposed in the near future in this
regard. The breakouts will open up to allow for
general discussion in order to raise and address
questions and issues. One issue that is open
for discussion is the ability of upcoming NASA
missions to address these scientific topics.
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Questions
1. Considering what NASA is currently doing and
could do in the near future, what are the most
important science questions to address (in the
topic area of the breakout)? 2. Which are
especially "ripe" with a high likelihood of
producing major results? 3. Is there a need for
additional coordination of existing research
activities in this topic area? 4. What are the
most promising opportunities for
interdisciplinary collaboration (especially
within the CCE Focus Area, but also with other
disciplines and programs) to answer compelling
global change research questions? 5. Where will
there be strong societal benefit?