NEON Initial Operations

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Our fundamental understanding of the effects of climate and landuse change, and invasive species on the biosphere requires an instrument platform that has the capabilities to measure the structure, composition, processes, and dynamics of the biosphere from sub-meter to regional scales, regional scales to the continental scales, and beyond. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be the first national experimental facility specifically designed to enable research on both the causes of and responses to environmental change across these scales. NEON will provide this capability through in situ sensing capabilities, biological measurements, manipulative experiments, airborne remote sensing, analytical facilities, and facilities for data analysis, modeling, visualization, and forecasting, all networked via a cyberinfrastructure backbone. NEON will provide a unique facility to support a large and diverse group of organizations and individuals; foremost are the scientists, educators, and engineers who will use NEON infrastructure in their research and educational programs. The NEON data will contribute to an innovative multi-disciplinary approach to educate undergraduate and graduate students, the public, and policy-making individuals. Graduate and Post Doctoral training and internships and undergraduate research opportunities will be implemented based on NEON's accomplishment based learning. A museum project, workshops, seminars and courses are planned. The NEON Citizen science products (including Project BudBurst, http://neoninc.org/budburst/) and all educational components of the NEON web portal will be operational. The NEON Observatory will continue its collaborative partnerships and training programs with underserved and minority communities.This award to NEON, Inc. provides three years support for the initial operations of NEON. Funds will support the scientific, technical and management staff and operations of central and distributed facilities including NEON Headquarters and Technical Support Facilities and 19 Domain Support Facilities. In addition 86 observation sites will be commissioned including, 47 terrestrial sites and 39 aquatic sites with co-located 7 stream experimental sites and begin operations to provide data for basic research, education, and management. The operations scope will scale in proportion to the site commissioning. The three Airborne Observatories will begin conducting routine remote sensing campaigns and supporting investigator driven research. The Data Center will provide data and data products from the accepted sites, education program, and remote sensing. Funds will support the Education and Training Program. During the period of initial operations, NEON, Inc. will evaluate management and cost efficiencies to refine both. The project can be accessed at http://neoninc.org.