HR: 11:10h
AN: H22B-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Remote sensing and ecosystem modeling for monitoring urban ecosystems
AU: * Milesi, C
EM: cristina.milesi@gmail.com
AF: Foundation of California State University Monterey Bay, NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 242-4, Moffett Field, CA 94035, United States
AU: Elvidge, C
EM: chris.elvidge@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/National Geophysical Data Center, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305, United States
AU: Potter, C
EM: cpotter@mail.arc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 242-4, Moffett Field, CA 94035, United States
AU: Nemani, R
EM: rnemani@arc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 242-4, Moffett Field, CA 94035, United States
AB: As an increasingly larger fraction of people is living in cities, there is a growing interest in understanding how the mosaic of buildings, roads, concretes, grassy lawns, gardens and other exotic vegetation functions as an ecosystem and how urban ecosystems services can be enhanced to ensure adequate quality of life to the bulk of the global population. High resolution remote sensing allows separating the mosaic components and their functions with high degree of precision over small surfaces. On the other hand, moderate to coarse resolution remote sensing integrated with ground observations and modeling provides a feasible approach for studying the functioning of these ecosystems and their impacts on the carbon and water cycles across a wide range of geographical settings. Here we present a summary of continental scale analyses based on satellite data from the DMSP/OLS, MODIS, and ecosystem modeling to quantify the impact of urban development on the terrestrial carbon and water cycle in the United States. The results show that urban ecosystems can maintain significantly high levels of photosynthetic capacity, but with fluxes varying largely as a function of vegetation management. Periodical monitoring of these impacts at the regional scale is critical for the appropriate management of urban growth and the sustainable use of natural resources. We will discuss the limitations of the current tools and required sensor improvements for the continued monitoring of these impacts.
DE: 0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912)
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
DE: 0493 Urban systems
DE: 1880 Water management (6334)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly