The National Ecological Observatory Network

Transcription

1 The National Ecological Observatory Network

2 Overview Development / Overview of a Distributed Observatory Distilling Questions Key Design Elements of Observatory Ecological Forecasting philosophy Engagement Activities that we need help with 2

3 Grand Challenge areas How will ecosystems [of the United States] and their components respond to changes in natural- and humaninduced forcings such as climate, land use, and invasive species across a range of spatial and temporal scales? And, what is the pace and pattern of the responses? How do the internal responses and feedbacks of biogeochemistry, biodiversity, hydroecology and biotic structure and function interact with changes in climate, land use, and invasive species? And, how do these feedbacks vary with ecological context and spatial and temporal scales? 3

4 Key Elements of Ecological Forecasting The overarching goal of NEON is to enable understanding and forecasting of climate change, impacts of land use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecology by providing infrastructure to support research in these areas. Information infrastructure: Consistent, continental, longterm, multi-scaled data-sets and data products that provide a context for research and education. Physical Infrastructure: A research platform for investigator-initiated sensors, observations, and experiments. 4

5 NRC Grand Challenge Areas 1. Biodiversity 2. Biogeochemical cycles 3. Climate change 4. Ecohydrology 5. Infectious disease 6. Invasive species 7. Land use 5

6 Focused Research Questions How do natural gradients of biophysical drivers (e.g., topography, weather, natural disturbances) affect current and future patterns of land-use change? What keystone biogeochemical processes govern the resilience of ecosystems to perturbations, and what are the key biogeochemical indicators that reflect a weakening of resilience in the face of perturbation? How organismal physiology and species dynamics influence ecosystem processes. What is the flow of ecological information (mass and energy) among lakes, streams, and terrestrial ecosystems with different glaciation times? How are differences in landscape age impact community structure and ecosystem function in lakes? 6

7 (Notes) Design Criteria Trace to questions that were developed by the user communities Enable an ecological forecasting Inherently adopts a cause and effect paradigm Design to scale, questions that may be germane to specific sites, but designed to ask questions among sites (local-regional-continental) Designed to be Consistent, 30-y Long Term, datasets >130 data products Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecological Processes Abiotic Drivers Remote Sensing Look: data.neonscience.org/data-product-catalog 7

8 Continental Eco-climatic Domains of NEON 8

9 NEON Domain Design Addresses Several Themes Agriculture Forest systems Climate/Ecohydrology Invasion biology 9

10 NEON Alaska Design (incl. D19 D18) Grand Challenge Areas (NRC / NAS) Ecohydrology is the main Domains(s) themes, re. permafrost dynamics originally Poker Flats w/ fire theme as well originally sites positioned along the haul road Why is the NEON tower over there?, why is it so big? Older glacial geomorphology Sagavanirktok scaling / compare / contrast permanent structure (stairs), stability reqs, uniformity among sites D19 Toolik Lake - permafrost - tussock acidic tundra (core) D19 Barrow BER - permafrost - wet polygonal tundra D18 Caribou-Poker - discontinuous permafrost - black spruce D18 Healy (8-mike lake) - degrading permafrost - alpine tundra D18 Delta Junction - non-permafrost - black and white spruce 10

11 Development of Distributed Observatory NSF Director Dr. Colwell Initiated NEON 1999 Numerous community Scoping activities National Academy Reports NEON Development Timeline Numerous Workshops and Engagement Activities NEON Science Strategy White House Advocacy NEON Inc. terminated Dec 15 Mar 16 Battelle Awarded Battelle transition Jun 16 Construction complete Dec 17 End of contract award for initial operations Aug R+RA Funding Bridge Funding MREFC Funding Vision/Scoping Studies Conceptual Design Preliminary Design Final Design Construction Commissioning Operations 11

12 NEON Program Status General Scope: Complete Construction of NEON Dec 2017 Conduct Initial Operations Establish Long Term Observatory Plan Descope activities: removal of Poker Flat (burn site) removal of urban sites removal of high-level mapped data products We will be under increased need to Optimize Operations: Prototyping and evaluation of new operational models State-of-the-art quality management approaches Continuous improvement / rigorous annual critical self-assessment and optimization 12

13 NEON will only be successful by the degree the user community is engaged and uses NEON Formal External User Community Advisory Bodies: New Science, Technology and Education Steering Committee (STEAC) Future vision: near term, mid-term and far term science planning. Co-evolution of new user groups (TWIGS) and how they are being managed internally Changing the Paradigm to Engage the User Community: fundamental different dynamic is needed to engage the user communities. Re-visiting and optimizing the design research questions Seek venues and questions for the harmonization of projects, knowledge gap studies, synergies (science), i.e., TFS, LTER, others Seek opportunities to develop new operational models (programmatic) Develop/Use of New Capabilities (in light of new/lost infrastructures) Assignable Assets (Airborne and Mobile RI, New Sensors, etc.) Field Resources: Operations, New sites, BioArchive, Site Access 13

14 NEON impacts and leverages other US agencies AeroNet (NASA) AmeriFlux (DOE) US Climate Reference (NOAA) Critical Zone Observatory (NSF) Long-Term Ecological Research (NSF) Forest Inventory Assessment (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (USDA) Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (USDA) National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) 14 Peters, D. P. C., H. W. Loescher, M. SanClements and K. M. Havstad Taking the pulse of a continent: role of observatories and long-term research networks to fill critical knowledge gaps. Ecosphere. 5(3), Article 29, 1-23, dx.doi.org/ /es

15 Concluding Remarks NEON Construction will be complete at end of year, initial operations has begun, data are beginning to flow. Communication Communication Communication Strong need to establish the venues and processes for in-site science integration further develop, build, engage and work with User communities NEON must further develop observatory communication skills with their colleagues, stakeholders in a more nimble manner (and vice versa). (personally) wish to thank everyone for all their assistance in making NEON a reality 15

16 Thank You!! 16

17 BACKUP 17

18 NEON Captures and Integrates Ecological Data at Multiple Scales 18

19 NEON Monitors Drivers of and Responses to Warming in the Northern Latitudes Continuous Warmer permafrost temperatures CO 2 CH 4 Microbial decomposition of stored Carbon Unfrozen Frozen Discontinuous permafrost NEON s Alaska sites span a range of vegetation, permafrost continuity, and landforms Atmospheric temperature Soil temp, moisture and respiration Ecosystem exchange C & N Stocks 19

20 Biological Data Based on NEON Observations and Collections Biodiversity Population Dynamics Productivity Phenology Infectious Disease Biogeochemistry Microbial Diversity and Function Ecohydrology **Sentinel Species** 20

21 Atmospheric, Soil, and Aquatic Instrumentation Address Many Variables Physical and chemical climate forcing Ecosystem responses Stand/plot level sampling Automated instrumentation Micrometeorological scalars and fluxes Soil array Over 2000 measurements per core site at frequencies from daily up to 20 Hz Total 50 Tb/y 21

22 Terrestrial Platform (D10 Central Plains, CO) Instrumented tower Instrumented soil plot 1 Instrumented soil plot 2 Instrumented soil plot 3 Instrumented soil plot 4 Instrument hut Precipitation gauge with wind shielding Instrumented soil plot 5 22

23 Aquatic Platforms Include Groundwater and Stream/Lake Physical and Chemical Sensors In-Stream Sensor Mount Groundwater Well S1 Stream flow direction S2 STR S1 STR S2 Junction Box PORTAL Met Station PORTAL Domain Aquatic System low and first order streams lakes and ponds terrestrial connectivity 23

24 Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) Provide High Fidelity Aerial Imaging of Sites Three airborne remote sensing payloads: Waveform-LiDAR altimeter Imaging spectrometer High-resolution digital camera GPS-Inertial measurement unit Leased Twin Otter aircraft Instrumentation maintenance and calibration facility 24

25 NEON Ensures Consistent Long Term Data NEON data are needed to discover and understand temporal patterns and processes that are hidden by short-term approaches There is a serious contradiction between the time scales of many ecological phenomena and the support to finance their study. high-quality data over the long term will allow generalization of ecological research results and theory over scales of time great enough to evaluate disturbances to our ecosystems -Callahan 1984 BioScience Ecosystem response Ecosystem response Simple Pattern Time Ecosystem attribute Complex Pattern Time Ecosystem attribute 25

26 NEON s Scientific / System Engineering Approach R E Q U I R E M E N T S Grand Challenge Science Questions Environmental Science Questions (Hypothesis Based Questions) Identify Needed Information (What are the Data Products?) Science Requirements (Science Sub-System Requirements) Technical and Design Requirements (e.g., for Engineering, CyberInfrastructure) Raw Data Collection I N F O R M A T I O N 26

27 GARTNER HYPE CYCLE FUNCTIONAL*UTILITY*/*VISIBILITY* PEAK*OF*INFLATED*EXPECTATIONS* PLATEAU*OF*PRODUCTIVITY* SLOPE*OF*ENLIGHTENMENT* TROUGH*OF*DISSILLUSIONMENT* TECHNOLOGY*TRIGGER* TIME* Loescher, H. W., E. Kelly, and R. Lea, National Ecological Observatory Network: Beginnings, Programmatic and Scientific Challenges, and Ecological Forecasting. In: Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Infrastructures: Challenges and Opportunities. Eds. A. Chabbi, H.W. Loescher. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, New York, NY pp (in production) 27