HR: 14:25h
AN: B12E-04    [PDF]
TI: Reconstructing the Recent Disturbance History of North America Using the AVHRR Satellite Record
AU: Tan, P
EM: ptan@cse.msu.edu
AF: Michigan State University, Computer Science and Engineering, East Lansing, MI 48824 United States
AU: * Potter, C
EM: cpotter@mail.arc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Ames Research Center, Ecosystem Science, Moffett Field, CA 94035 United States
AU: Kumar, V
EM: kumar@cs.umn.edu
AF: University of Minnesota, Computer Science, Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
AU: Klooster, S
EM: sklooster@mail.arc.nasa.gov
AF: California State University Monterey Bay, Earth System Science and Policy, Seaside, CA 93955 United States
AB: Ecosystem structure and function are strongly impacted by disturbance events, many of which in North America are associated with seasonal temperature extremes, droughts, and tropical storms. This study was conducted to evaluate patterns in a 19-year record of global satellite observations of vegetation phenology from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) as a means to characterize major ecosystem disturbance events and regimes. The fraction absorbed of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) by vegetation canopies worldwide has been computed at a monthly time interval from 1982 to 2000 and gridded at a spatial resolution of 8-km globally. Potential disturbance events were identified in the FPAR time series by locating anomalously low values (FPAR-LO) that lasted longer than 12 consecutive months at any 8-km pixel. We find verifiable evidence of numerous disturbance types on the long-term carbon fluxes of North America, including major regional patterns of cold and heat waves, several major droughts and tropical storms, and large-scale forest logging. This study approach readily enables the integration of field observations, remote sensing, and ecosystem modeling to better understanding the trajectories of change in global ecosystems over time.
UR: http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/casa/
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
DE: 1615 Biogeochemical processes (4805)
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (3309)
DE: 1640 Remote sensing
DE: 1655 Water cycles (1836)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting