HR: 08:00h
AN: H31K-01    [Abstracts]
TI: What We Have Learned From Field Experiments In The 20 Years Since FIFE
AU: * Sellers, P J
EM: piers.j.sellers@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Road 1, Mail Code CB, Houston, TX 77058, United States
AU: Hall, F G
EM: fghall@ltpmail.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: University of Maryland, Baltimore County, NASA GSFC, Mail Code 614.4 8600 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771-0001, United States
AB: The field campaigns of the First ISLSCP Field Experiment took place in Kansas in 1987 and 1989, and the field phase of BOREAS lasted from 1993 through 1996, after which a consortium of Canadian researchers took over and continued with the experimental infrastructure. Twenty years after FIFE, it is useful to assess what was attempted, what was done and what has been learned. In the early 1980's, climate modelers were making their first efforts at modeling the exchanges of energy, moisture and momentum between the lower atmosphere and the land surface within general circulation models ( GCMs). It was clear at that time, ca 1984, that the parameterizations in use were very unrealistic. Also, there was no global method to initialize or validate these parameterizations. Accordingly, the experimental goals of FIFE were to: (i) Collect the data required to develop and improve land surface-atmosphere parameterizations, and (ii) Develop satellite-based methods to initialize and validate these parameterizations on regional and global scales. The methodology used in FIFE involved taking measurements over a nested series of spatial scales using surface, airborne and satellite platforms above a grassland field site in Kansas. Designing and executing the experiment was complex as a variety of scientific disciplines and skills were required: airborne and surface flux measurement; soil physics, hydrology and plant physiology; and surface, airborne and satellite remote sensing. All of these observations had to be integrated with each other. The results were combined within a common data management system which was made available to the participating field researchers and the wider modeling community. BOREAS extended this approach to include studies of large-scale carbon fluxes and climate change within the Canadian boreal forest. What has been learned? Results from the experiments were used to greatly improve land surface parameterizations that have since been tested and incorporated within global weather and climate models, and new methods have been developed for interpreting satellite data into useful biophysical parameters for these models. Both of these developments will be essential to future studies of global change. This paper will summarize the highlights.
DE: 0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912)
DE: 0426 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0315)
DE: 1818 Evapotranspiration
DE: 1843 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1631, 3322)
DE: 1878 Water/energy interactions (0495)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting