COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EAGER-NEON: Prototyping Assessment of Ecoclimate Teleconnections Affecting NEON Domains

由于气温升高和干旱，树木死亡在美国变得越来越普遍。大规模树木死亡可以通过水平衡和地表反照率的变化反馈影响气候。该项目将利用国家生态观测网（NEON）的机载观测平台（AOP）研究树木死亡对当地气候的影响，并将这些信息与地球系统模型联系起来，研究一个地区的生态变化影响另一个地区气候和相关生态反应的“遥相关”。该项目将根据在以前的实验中确定的特定物种的温度响应函数，对森林对干旱引起的树木死亡的脆弱性进行首次大规模评估。这些结果将与NEON AOP数据的植被结构分析和气候反馈建模相结合。这项活动将为大陆尺度科学的新方法提供一个原型，该方法能够量化生态气候遥相关和NEON域树木死亡风险，并可广泛应用于其他主要类型的土地转化。该项目将综合已有的气候和遥感（激光雷达和高光谱）观测，这些观测与地表特性与通量（反照率、潜热通量）有关，以估计植被变化对大气的影响。这些信息将用于评估这种强迫如何通过生态气候遥相关影响其他NEON域。该方法最初将重点放在森林死亡上，认为这是一种与气候信号直接相关的快速生态变化。它将基于实验确定的温度敏感性，对干旱引起的树木死亡率进行第一次大规模评估，并将通过结合NEON AOP数据改善对生态气候遥相关预测的限制。可交付成果包括：1)对领域死亡的可能性和程度的当前评估；2)利用模式试验，通过生态气候遥相关量化一个区域树木死亡对其他区域的影响；3)对给定域的消亡影响的相关域的风险进行估计。该项目还为博士后和早期职业科学家提供专业发展，并通过艺术-科学合作和每年10万人次的生物圈2号研讨会进行广泛的推广。

Tree mortality is becoming increasingly widespread throughout the U.S. as a function of increasing temperature and drought. Large-scale tree die-off can feedback to affect climate through changes in water balance and surface reflectance (albedo). This project will use the Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) to study the effects of tree mortality on local climate, and link this information to earth system models to study "teleconnections" in which ecological changes in one area influence climate and associated ecological responses in another. The project will develop the first large-scale assessment of forest vulnerability to drought-induced tree mortality based on species-specific temperature response functions determined in previous experiments. These results will be combined with analysis of vegetation structure from NEON AOP data and modeling of climatic feedbacks. This activity will provide a prototype for a new approach to continental-scale science capable of quantifying ecoclimate teleconnections and risks of tree die-off across NEON Domains and which can be broadly applied to other major types of land transformation.The project will synthesize pre-existing climate and remotely sensed (LiDAR and hyperspectral) observations relating surface properties to fluxes (albedo, latent heat fluxes) to estimate how the changes in vegetation force the atmosphere. This information will be used to evaluate how this forcing impacts other NEON Domains through ecoclimate teleconnections. The approach initially focuses on forest die-off as a rapid ecological change with direct linkages to climate signals. It will develop the first large-scale assessment of drought-induced tree mortality based on experimentally determined temperature sensitivities, and will improve constraints on ecoclimate teleconnection predictions through incorporation of NEON AOP data. Deliverables include 1) a current assessment of the likelihood and magnitude of die-off by Domain; 2) quantification of impacts of tree die-off in one Domain on others via ecoclimate teleconnections using model experiments; and 3) estimation of associated Domain by Domain risks of die-off impacts from a given Domain. The project also provides professional development for post-docs and early career scientist and has a broad outreach component through an art-science collaboration and seminars at the Biosphere 2 that reach 100,000 visitors/year.