The NEON Airborne Observation Platform: A Tool for Scaling from Organismal to Continental Scales

Background/Question/Methods

Understanding the functioning of ecosystems and how they will respond, particularly across large-scales, to changes in climate, land-use and invasive species will require careful measurements of both causes and responses over multiple spatial and temporal scales. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale research platform under development for advancing our understanding and ability to forecast environmental change at the continental-scale. The Observatory design is based on a multi-scaled sampling strategy employing systematically deployed ground-based sensors, field sampling, high-resolution airborne sensors and integration with satellite observations and national geospatial information. Important to this strategy is the capability to extrapolate relationships between the ecosystem drivers and the ecological consequences to areas not sampled by the Observatory. A powerful approach for extending NEON observations is to use ecosystem models coupled with data assimilation techniques. NEON is developing a prototype-processing scheme coupling a data assimilation system with the NCAR Community Land Model (CLM). Remote sensing data will provide critical links among NEON observations. 

Results/Conclusions

Scaling rules must be developed to transform plot measurements of vegetation structure and meter-scale plant functional types and structure derived from the airborne measurements to “scaled observations” on the 1-km land model grid. The coupled data assimilation-land model will produce estimates of soil moisture, and ecosystem water and carbon exchange across the continental US. To test the modeling and scaling approaches, we will use ground and airborne hyperspectral and LiDAR waveform data collected by NEON over the Ordway-Swisher Biological Research Station. The LiDAR measurements of tree canopy heights and supporting spectroscopy provide PFTs, biomass, leaf area and plant types at fine scale. Nearly coincident ground measurements of vegetation structure were made in several areas and along transects.