HR: 0800h
AN: B51A-0050    [Abstracts]
TI: A MODIS-Based Protocol for Monitoring Seasonal Processes in Southwest Alaska
AU: * Budde, M E
EM: mbudde@usgs.gov
AF: SAIC/ USGS EROS, 47914 252nd Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57198, United States
AU: Reed, B C
EM: reed@usgs.gov
AF: USGS Flagstaff Science Center, 2255 N. Gemini Drive, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, United States
AU: Spencer, P
EM: Page Spencer/LACL/NPS@NPS
AF: Southwest Alaska Network Inventory & Monitoring Program, 240 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501, United States
AU: Miller, A
EM: Amy E Miller/LACL/NPS@NPS
AF: Southwest Alaska Network Inventory & Monitoring Program, 240 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501, United States
AB: The National Park Service's (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program was established, in part, to describe long-term trends in ecosystem properties. The Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN) of parks, one of 32 networks in the I&M Program, is using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data to measure the following metrics: 1) onset of ice formation and break up on large freshwater lakes, 2) timing and extent of snow cover, and 3) vegetation phenology. Remote sensing specialists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with NPS-SWAN ecologists, have developed a set of protocols for acquiring, processing, and analyzing MODIS data. Season-dependent landscape processes are interpreted and analyzed using standard MODIS products including daily calibrated top-of-the-atmosphere radiance, snow cover extent, and vegetation index data. The timing and duration of seasonal landscape processes are reported for each of the metrics and are coupled with other data sources to interpret ecological patterns and changes across the park network. Although the I&M Program is primarily concerned with multiscale landscape processes that have ecological impacts within parks, they are also aware that park ecosystems can be significantly impacted by ecological conditions or events occurring outside of the parks. These MODIS-based protocols offer the ability to assess broad scale patterns in ecosystem performance throughout the region. While the MODIS record (2000 to present) is not yet sufficient for most statistical trend analyses, the approach taken in these protocols establishes a consistent data set that will be used to produce time-series analyses and to map regions of change for the SWAN. In this paper we present an overview of the methods employed and initial results for each of the seasonal metrics.
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
DE: 0476 Plant ecology (1851)
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting