Scientists recently noticed a puzzling pattern they could not explain in satellite-derived vegetation greenness, a measurement that is used as a proxy for the amount of leaves in an area and for vegetation productivity. The puzzle was that vegetation-greenness measures over the US Corn Belt are higher than the same measures over the Amazon rainforest, despite the rainforest having a greater amount of leaf area. Specifically, the Amazonian forests have about two times more leaves per unit area than the US Corn Belt (5.7±0.6 m²/m² vs. 2.6±0.3 m²/m², respectively). So, while you may think that it’s common sense that the Amazon’s greenness measure would be significantly higher than the greenness measure of the Corn Belt—it’s not! A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution finally provides an answer to the cause of this paradoxical pattern and unveils a startling insight, which suggests that we may have been viewing the Earth through a distorted lens.

Spatial pattern of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF, Left) and leaf area index (LAI, Right). SIF is an innovative measurement that serves as a proxy for plant photosynthetic activity. LAI is the green leaf area of a canopy or plant community per unit ground area. SIF and LAI data presented here are from ESA Sentinel-5 Precursor TROPOMI and NASA Terra/Aqua MODIS, respectively. Image: Fujiang Ji.

A team of researchers from 12 institutions across five different countries, including University of Wisconsin–Madison, NASA’s Ames Research Center, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), found that vegetation-greenness measures are often shadowed—literally. Shadows, especially those cast by complex canopy structures, can introduce pronounced negative biases into satellite-derived greenness measures, thus misleading our understanding of global vegetation and how it’s changing.

“We hypothesized that the shadows cast by complex canopies might contribute to this paradoxical phenomenon. The complex canopy of the Amazon rainforests, in contrast to the relatively simple and homogeneous canopies of the US Corn Belt, provides the ideal natural experiment for testing our hypothesis, because varying canopy-structure complexity creates contrasting shadowing conditions,” said Yelu Zeng, a lead author of this study and professor at China Agricultural University (previously a research scientist at University of Wisconsin–Madison when this work was first undertaken).

To prove that canopy-cast shadows can lower satellite vegetation-greenness measures, the researchers explicitly tracked how light interacts with the vegetation canopy. They did this investigation with state-of-the-art radiative transfer modeling. They incorporated multi-angular, hyperspectral, and lidar data from several NASA missions and programs. The team placed particular emphasis on the importance of the geometry between the satellite, the Sun, and the Earth’s vegetation.

This is a black spruce forest in the NASA-supported BOREAS (Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study) field campaign region in Canada. (Left) Trees are viewed with the Sun behind the observer. All shadows are concealed, and only the bright side of the trees is visible. (Right) Trees are viewed with the Sun opposite the observer. Large shadows are visible. Image: Don Deering.

“Imagine you stand looking at trees with the Sun behind you. You will see brighter leaves with fewer shadows. Now, consider the opposite scenario, where the Sun is in front of you. You will observe more shadows and darker leaves,” said Taejin Park, a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center / Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) and co-first author of this study. “A more complex canopy structure results in more shadows, which in turn makes the impact of those shadows more significant.”

The consequences of the shadow effect extend far beyond the technical interpretation of satellite data. In their paper, the team investigates what this means for global vegetation studies. In one example, they showcase how land conversion from forest to crops reveals an unexpected increase in vegetation greenness in satellite data, even though the land loses green leaves when forests are replaced by crops.

“A significant portion of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is due to cropland expansion. Our results, which demonstrate an increase in vegetation greenness after the conversion of forest into cropland, are thus important and striking.” said Dalei Hao, a research scientist at PNNL and a co-first author of this study.

The authors stress that the shadow effect needs to be taken into account for a variety of satellite-based greenness measures, including solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). SIF is an innovative and popular way to measure the photosynthetic activity of plants and is a measurement that many Earth observing satellites are collecting for use in global vegetation studies.

“It is important to clarify that shadows are a real component of vegetation canopies, and that the shaded portion usually represents a large percentage of the canopy’s total carbon, water, and energy budget. However, our understanding of these shadows is limited, which highlights the need for in-depth future studies,” said Min Chen, a professor at University of Wisconsin–Madison and a co-author of this study.

Understanding the true state of Earth’s vegetation is crucial for everyone. Misinterpretations could lead to heightened uncertainty in climate models, misguided agricultural policies, and ineffective conservation efforts. To avoid misinterpretations, the researchers propose adjustments that could offer a more accurate picture by minimizing the shadow effect, specifically by shifting the satellite’s viewing condition to what is known as the “hotspot direction,” where the Sun is positioned behind the satellite. The team suggests that scientists need to exercise caution when using satellite vegetation greenness for biome-to-biome comparisons or when assessing rapid land-conversion processes. Such usage may introduce unexpected biases or errors when evaluating regional and global vegetation changes and growth trends.

The American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, the largest Earth and Space Science meeting in the world, will be held this year in San Francisco from December 11-15, 2023.

The schedule below shows the date, time, location, ARC-CREST participant(s), and topic for the presentations, as well as a link to abstracts published on the AGU website.

The schedule below shows the date, time, location, BAERI participant(s), and topic for the presentations, as well as a link to abstracts published on the AGU website.

The first photo taken from space was captured by a rocket-borne camera launched from New Mexico in October 1946. It showed a grainy black-and-white image with clouds and a sharp horizontal line where the atmosphere ended and outer space began. As the Space Race gave us the ability to reach greater extraterrestrial vantage points, NASA’s Landsat satellites began to take photographs of Earth’s surface for research purposes, a process known as “remote sensing.”

The data are publicly available and used in a variety of ways. Most non-scientists, however, need tools and training in order to understand and utilize these data effectively. NASA’s Applied Sciences Program aims to bridge this gap and enable people to use scientific information for their own purposes.

The programs under this division are almost as diverse as Earth science itself. They range from environmental monitoring and disaster response, to health and air quality. But there’s only one that focuses on Indigenous lands and territories of the USA. The Indigenous Peoples Initiative (IPI) aims to build relationships between scientists and Indigenous communities through remote sensing trainings, community engagement, and creating diverse Earth science opportunities.

The Art of Mother Earth at Window Rock

Towering over a memorial park in the capital of the Navajo Nation is a large red sandstone formation with a circular hole that gives the city its name, Window Rock, Arizona, or Tségháhoodzání in Diné Bizaad, the Navajo language. Historically, there was a pool below the stone structure where healers would collect water for use in Tóee, the traditional Waterway Ceremony.

On April 4, 2023, the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock hosted a one-of-a-kind gathering, “Nihimá Nahasdzáán: The Art of Mother Earth Gallery Event.” The IPI partnered with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Navajo Nation Museum, Google, AmericaView, and the World Wildlife Fund to co-create an evening filled with activities, including family-friendly games, a storytelling station, and a meal. The Navajo people refer to Earth as “Nihimá Nahasdzáán,” or Mother Earth, and that day, her portrait was the main attraction. On the walls of the octagonal gallery, people could peruse satellite images of the region: an app was developed for the event, which allowed visitors to choose a location to view from space (many people looked at their houses first), and printers were available if they wanted to take those images home with them.

IPI member Nikki Tulley, a citizen of Dinétah (Navajo Nation), is completing her PhD at the University of Arizona. She first started working with the IPI as an intern in 2020 and is now an assistant research scientist with BAERI and NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC). Tulley works from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she spoke to me over video call just a few days after getting back from the trip to Window Rock. She said the event took place in her old school district and drew over 100 attendees from a 45-mile area, including family and people she grew up with.

Tulley said that she can’t remember ever participating in something quite like this before, either with NASA or as a community member. “I don’t often share what I do at work,” she said. “Some people commented that it was nice to have somebody bring this type of event back to the community.”

Listening to Needs, Not Making Assumptions

The day after the Window Rock event, the IPI team held a roundtable discussion with the Navajo Nation Department of Natural Resources. The IPI program manager, BAERI’s Amber McCullum, an applied Earth scientist with ARC, explained that the discussions are essential in order to listen and learn about current activities and community needs. These dialogue sessions build trust, establish relationships, spread awareness about the program’s capacity-building efforts, and help the IPI team find out what is useful to the community in the first place. McCullum says it’s as simple as asking people what they need and then seeing where NASA Earth Observation data could support those needs: “We’re not coming in and saying, ‘here’s what we can do; we’re going to fix all your problems; check us out, we’re awesome.’”

According to Tulley, these initial discussions help the IPI and others avoid making assumptions about the best use of the technology. “[The discussions are for] the community to speak for themselves about what they’re experiencing in the landscape and to be able to share what they feel are some of the best areas where this [technology] could be helpful.”

Some of the Initiative’s most tangible activities are training workshops that introduce remote sensing technology and teach people how to use it. But these workshops are not one-sided transfers of information. Over the years, McCullum has tried to tailor the workshops to the particular interests and concerns of a community. The Initiative’s work with the Samish Indian Nation in the Pacific Northwest, for example, highlighted changes in the location and availability of a sea kelp that is important in the traditional cooking of salmon. The IPI team also conducted a training with the Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians, focused on topics such as land-cover mapping, including wild rice cultivation and species monitoring. NASA data have limitations, however, in terms of what they can measure. The data can’t, for instance, identify the location of a species of mushroom one tribe was interested in, which is an example McCullum often gives of where NASA technology may not fit the research or management needs.

Looking at Drought through a New Lens

In 2015, McCullum and the IPI’s founder, Dr. Cindy Schmidt, visited the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources (NN DWR) and began to discuss the possibility of using NASA data and tools to monitor drought across the vast landscape. Over half of the Nation is classified as desert, and annual precipitation may be as little as 7–11 inches, much of which is delivered by brief rainstorms in August and September.

The Drought Severity Evaluation Tool (DSET) is a drought monitoring tool that was co-developed with the NN DWR and the Desert Research Institute. It began as a NASA DEVELOP project and was later funded by NASA’s Western Water Applications Office. The DSET combines various Earth Observations, such as Landsat, drought indices, and data from the Department’s network of 85 rain gauges across the Nation. “The idea was to fill in the gap where the rain gauge data didn’t have the coverage needed, in order to use remote sensing to understand drought on a finer scale,” said McCullum.

Through the continual feedback and support of Carlee McClellan, a senior hydrologist at the NN DWR, the DSET developers were able to tailor the tool to the needs of the Department, adding specifics such as administrative boundaries and summary reports. “There are various indices that people could use,” said McClellan, who spoke to BAERI in 2021, shortly after the tool was completed. “If they were interested in watershed restoration or wetlands, you could go back maybe 10, 15 years and look at a given meadow or wetland and see how that’s changed,” he said.

However, McClellan wasn’t all that optimistic that there would be wide-reaching uptake of the technology. He noted that many managers liked the tool but didn’t see where it would fit into their responsibilities and workflow. “It has a lot of capabilities, a lot of bells and whistles, and thus far, we have not used it to its full potential. So that’s just the honest truth of where we stand with things,” he said.

Two years on, McCullum agrees that one of the ongoing challenges is transitioning tools and technology into the hands of partners and sustaining that support. Continued relationship building, as with the Navajo community event that just took place at Window Rock, can help bridge those needs.

Global Observations, Global Conversations

Because NASA’s Earth Observations survey the entire planet, the IPI is also engaged with and supports international efforts. During the GEO Week 2019 Ministerial Summit, James Rattling Leaf, Sr., principal at the Wolakota Lab, LLC, and member of South Dakota’s Rosebud Sioux Tribe, traveled with Cindy Schmidt to Canberra, Australia, to participate in an Indigenous Communities Side Event.

Rattling Leaf described being impressed by the gathering. “I saw that [the Indigenous people at the conference] were already doing a lot of cool things in terms of working with young people, working with drones, working with data sovereignty and data governance from an Indigenous perspective. And since we’re all different, there was a diversity of approaches in how [we’re] working with this technology to address real problems.”

It was in Canberra that Rattling Leaf had the opportunity to co-found the GEO Indigenous Alliance, whose vision is to protect and conserve Indigenous cultural heritage through Earth Observation science. The group has since been central to both the GEO Indigenous Summit and the Indigenous COVID-19 Hackathon 2020, a crowdsourcing challenge to co-design computer technology solutions for COVID-19. “So now we have a global organization starting up, and people are coming together under this alliance and trying to advance our needs with Earth Observation,” said Rattling Leaf, while mentioning that this also provides opportunities to collaborate on other issues. “We’re looking at cultural heritage protection. We’re looking at climate change, COVID-19, at intergenerational knowledge transfer, and traditional knowledge in our languages.”

Speaking more generally, Rattling Leaf said that he thinks of science as “Earth knowing” —that it is about “supporting our Earth, knowing the Earth is really our authority, in a way, [over] how we should make decisions about the Earth.”

This approach to the natural world is an area where McCullum feels that scientists can improve. “I think there are a lot of questions out there that we don’t necessarily think to ask,” she said, noting how scientists often approach nature “piece by piece” in order to find answers to specific questions. By contrast, she said that her work with the IPI has helped her think about systems in a more holistic way.

Half a century after that first photo was taken from space, remote sensing has helped us document phenomena like the volcanic eruption of Mt. St. Helens, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, the retreat of the Alaskan glaciers, and the shrinking of the Aral Sea in Central Asia. Although perhaps not as poetic as Bill Anders’s Earthrise or as humbling as Voyager 1’s Pale Blue Dot, remote sensing images are the detailed self-portrait that we need to accurately view our changing world. And the Applied Science Program’s initiatives like the IPI are a way for more people to share and utilize these perspectives.

When BAERI’s Courtney Batterson was a child growing up in Minnesota, she was fascinated by storms — not only the tornados for which the Midwest is known — but also the very sudden and aggressive thunderstorms that felt like they came out of nowhere. “I would wonder where they came from and where they were going,” she says. Batterson always knew she wanted to study storms but never expected they would be on a different planet altogether: Mars.

Courtney Batterson, assistant research scientist at the Mars Climate Modeling Center. Image: NASA.

Batterson is an assistant research scientist at the Mars Climate Modeling Center (MCMC), a research group housed at NASA’s Ames Research Center, where scientists investigate the current and past climate of Mars. They do this using the Mars Global Climate Model, a weather forecast model that synthesizes data gathered from Mars missions and satellite observations in order to help scientists better understand the Red Planet’s weather patterns. The research is wide ranging and varies from studying the mass of the planet’s atmosphere to the water ice of its North Pole and even the history of climate change on Mars.

Batterson has been researching dust storms, particularly a seasonal dust storm in the planet’s southern hemisphere that we know relatively little about, called the “B” regional dust storm. She was intrigued by the gap in the literature about the “B” storm, which led to some interesting questions, such as: “Why isn’t there a northern hemisphere response? How is there dust that high? What’s pushing it up? How does it even become a storm?”

We’re sitting in The SpaceBar, a quiet pub in the shadow of the colossal steel structure of Hangar One at Moffett Field, where scientists can get a quick burrito or a cheap beer. The decor is somewhat retro: a neglected Street Fighter II game loiters in the corner.

Moffett Field, in the Bay Area, is a long way from Minnesota and Omaha, Nebraska, where Batterson studied meteorology. She first came to California for an internship at the MCMC and six years later is still the youngest member of the team. She seems a little nervous about a big presentation she has to give to some higher-ups at Ames tomorrow, but when speaking about her research, her voice is quick and self-assured.

Batterson and other MCMC research scientists at NASA Ames. Image: Courtney Batterson/NASA Ames.

“The dust on Mars is so interesting because it’s the first thing heated when the sun hits it,” Batterson says. This dust then heats carbon dioxide, which makes up most of the atmosphere on Mars, so this causes the planet to get warmer. “The dust is really what’s heating the atmosphere, rather than direct sunlight warming the gaseous CO2,” says Batterson.

The research being done by the MCMC has played an important role in entry, descent, and landing support for Mars rover missions, and the researchers hope that the rover will give them more observational data to inform their model. In addition to the rover data, Batterson would like to see a network of satellites making observations over the planet’s entire surface, especially of the poles, which we still know very little about. But while those data would certainly be enlightening, it all comes with a price tag. Mars missions are some of the most expensive of all NASA’s initiatives. The most recent, the Perseverance rover, will cost an anticipated $2.7 billion.

“For people who aren’t planetary scientists, what’s the benefit?” I ask. Batterson responds: “I would say the biggest thing is that Mars is one example of how our planet could end up, and it’s a way we don’t want to end up.” She explains that the leading theory is that Mars used to be a planet that was “warm and wet.” There’s evidence it had vast rivers, if not oceans, and possibly ancient life forms. But for Mars to have been warm and wet, it would have needed more atmosphere, some ozone, and a magnetic field. In that case, it would have looked a lot like Earth.

“But something happened,” says Batterson. “And whatever triggered the chain of reactions that caused the runaway greenhouse effect on Mars, caused it to become cold, dry, barren, and dead. And that’s one possibility for Earth’s future.…So if we can understand how [Mars] got there, maybe we can prevent it from happening to us.”

Would she ever consider traveling to Mars one day? Knowing what she knows now, Batterson says there’s “no way.…It would be great if I could just snap my fingers and go for a second. But for me, it’s not worth the trip.”

She’s more excited about the possibility of rock samples from Mars being brought to Earth. So far, Perseverance has deposited geotagged samples on Mars’s surface, ready to be picked up by a future mission.

Studying the geology of these rocks will “inform the models like crazy,” because scientists will know more about the size and density of the dust grains on Mars, which could change our understanding of “how water and CO2 condense on those dust particles to form ice that either stays aloft as clouds or falls out of the sky like snow.”

But, as it will likely be the early to mid-2030s before these samples can be brought to Earth, Batterson and her colleagues will have to keep trying to improve their models with the data they have now.

The MCMC team in the 40 x 80 ft. wind tunnel (National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex) at NASA Ames Research Center. Image: NASA/BAERI.

Extreme and unpredictable weather patterns are quickly becoming the new normal—intense heat, flooding, tornadoes, and wildfires have become almost old news as Earth’s climate changes rapidly. To continue moving forward as a species, we will need to adapt to climate change, which will involve developing and implementing more strategic land- and water- management practices. Deciding what steps to take toward such adaptation requires us to couple our understanding of the processes that cause changes to the Earth’s environment with real-time data about how those changes are playing out. Advancements in remote sensing methodologies have led to greater availability of data, which could help inform such decision making.

Remote sensing is the process of collecting data that capture the physical characteristics of an object or area from a distance. Light waves allow humans to visualize surroundings through sight; sound waves are also used for visualization by some species through echolocation. Both sight and echolocation provide a “picture” of one’s surroundings from a distance. Humans have created technologies that mimic and combine these forms of gathering data and have expanded their scale with the use of aircrafts, marine crafts, and satellites for mapping of our landscapes and oceans. Sonar, which uses sound waves to “see” the physical characteristics of a surrounding area, is an example of remote sensing used by marine crafts.

This perspective view combines a Landsat image with topography from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Image: ARSET.

As of 2020, NASA alone had gathered over 40 petabytes of remote sensing data, which can be visualized as a staggering 800 million filing cabinets, and that amount is projected to increase sixfold by 2025. Such data can be used to strategize land and resource management, track climate change, predict weather patterns and natural disasters, and quantify changes to landscapes, whether from deforestation or wildfire.

The availability of more data, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that more people know how to use those data, potentially negating the usefulness. This is why NASA created their Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET), which offers free online and in-person trainings for anyone to learn to work with different datasets at a variety of skill levels. Their workshops are offered in both English and Spanish. “We really focus on building the capacity of a global audience to use NASA data tools for management issues,” explains Dr. Amber Jean McCullum, a research scientist at BAERI, and ARSET lead trainer. Over 100,000 people from around the world have participated in ARSET trainings to date. “I get goosebumps when I think about all of the people who have come together, engaging with people so far away from you, who you may never have thought would be interested in that topic,” McCullum says.

There is an impressive breadth of ARSET trainings, with as many as 18 added each fiscal year. They are all developed and taught by leading experts in their respective fields who often volunteer their time to collaborate on the webinars. Available topics range from agriculture to water resources, and city planning to air quality. The trainings are primarily developed based on topic requests from participants who reach out hoping to learn a new skill or expand an existing one. Such requests vary from how to use new software to how to apply a new dataset to solve a problem. Each training is unique and offers cutting-edge information.

I was able to experience an ARSET training firsthand, where I learned how existing data can be used to predict where wildfires will occur and then to understand how fires would change those areas. I was especially interested in this training, as my St. Louis summer was colored by stark gray, smoke-filled skies and air quality warnings from fires raging thousands of miles away in Canada.

The training consisted of an advanced-level webinar series that focused on using remote sensing data to assess the impact fires have on the health of surrounding watersheds. Fires don’t only burn down forests and cities or cause smoky air that makes it difficult to breathe, they change the composition of soil and the quality of water as well. Fires reduce plant cover, increasing erosion and runoff, therefore increasing the levels of pollutants within the hydrological cycle.

The series was geared toward organizations and scientists involved in disaster response, ecosystem management, and fire science. To help ensure the training was comprehensible to policymakers and planners who may not have a background in science, ARSET provided suggested prerequisite material. As a non-expert, I perused the prerequisites prior to the training, so that I would be familiar with some of the more technical lingo.

The three-part webinar series took place over the course of a week and a half. I was one of an incredible 804 participants videoing in from 102 countries and 39 US states. The first webinar introduced us to the different types of fires that remote sensing can detect, from high-intensity wildfires that can happen at any time, to seasonal low-intensity controlled burns. Next, we learned to identify watersheds experiencing drought, which may be at risk for wildfires, and the types of data (fire fuel, soil moisture, and temperature) used to identify the severity of that risk.

Fire risk map. Image: ARSET.

During the second session, we learned to compare pre- and post-fire watersheds to understand how their water quality is affected by fires. Specifically, we learned how to use the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to predict the environmental impacts of changes to land use and management, such as replacing water-permeable lawns with pavement, which could increase flood risk. In SWAT, parameters for a given watershed, such as forest canopy coverage or soil moisture, can be altered to represent pre- and post-fire scenarios. SWAT is then able to crunch those data and predict how the watershed will be affected over time because of a burning event, a useful tool for planning best land-management practices. I had to leave this session halfway through, so I was glad to find out that every training is posted to the ARSET website for anyone to access, which I am sure many participants find useful! Because of these recordings, I could go back and refresh myself on methods I might want to try or had struggled to understand.

The third and final webinar session walked participants through the use of Google Earth Engine to detect and track wildfires in real time and then to assess the real-life, post-fire effects. The satellite data used for fire detection and tracking include smoke, temperature anomalies, and light. A fire’s effect is quantified by how much of a landscape was burned (the “burn area”) and by how drastic the damage was (“burn severity”). These are independent factors, as the severity of a fire will differ across a region, based on the variety of the risk factors described above.

Fires observed from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) in NASA Worldview. Image: ARSET.

After completing the training, I was asked to submit feedback about my experience. McCullum explains that these surveys are one of the ways that the ARSET team decides what webinars to create next. “We really look at those surveys and catalog what types of topics and tools are being requested on a regular basis,” she says. “We use these results when we plan our next fiscal year.”

Webinars are planned a year in advance, so topics are currently being identified and researched for the end of 2024. McCullum explains, “We’re thinking about potential learning objectives, potential structure, [and] delivery mechanisms,” highlighting the amount of meticulous detail that needs to be ironed out for each topic. The guest experts who teach are asked four to six months in advance and will collaborate with ARSET to record their presentations a month before the actual series is launched. I hadn’t realized that all but the live Q&A at the end of each session was pre-recorded.

Currently, ARSET is hosting a training series that focuses on spectral indices for land and aquatic application. If this topic doesn’t excite you, however, new series are listed regularly on their website, so check back soon and learn something new with the hundreds of other people, worldwide, tuning in to ARSET.

Moffett Field, CA—The Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI), in partnership with California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and San José State University (SJSU), has been awarded a five-year, $117 million cooperative agreement from NASA Ames Research Center to advance cutting-edge research in Earth science and technology.

The award, the Ames Research Center Cooperative for Research in Earth Science and Technology (ARC-CREST), is a renewal of the original 10-year agreement awarded to BAERI and CSUMB in 2012 and is a testament to the successful partnership between the organizations. To date, ARC-CREST scientists have received 3 individual and 21 group achievement awards from NASA, supported over 30 scientific field campaigns, published 387 articles in peer-reviewed journals, created 10 critical new datasets and technologies, and trained over 500 students to help advance Earth science and natural resources management.

“ARC-CREST provides crucial support for Earth science and makes it possible for BAERI to facilitate long-lasting collaborations between NASA and outside teams,” said Robert Bergstrom, president of BAERI. “This partnership is a driving force behind the tangible progress we’re making in Earth science research.”

The increased annual funding of the new award, almost double that of the original ARC-CREST, paves the way for more researchers to engage in extensive collaborative efforts. “The ARC-CREST agreement creates vibrancy, enabling cooperation in a way that the civil servant workplace cannot always provide,” said Ames Earth Science Division Chief Florian Schwandner. “It brings a different spirit into the collaboration: providing new ideas, and training the next generation.”

Over the next five years, research groups will build on the success of several ongoing and completed projects and initiatives. These include:

• OpenET (CSUMB/NASA), a tool that provides easily accessible satellite-based  evapotranspiration data for improved water management.
• Wildfire research (SJSU), leveraging faculty and expertise of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center, including the creation and deployment of innovative remote sensing technology, such as the SJSU Wildfire Infrared Imaging System. This work aims to enhance understanding of extreme fire behavior and to improve fire modeling.
• Climate research (BAERI/CSUMB/NASA) that uses NASA Earth Exchange data to observe and manage the impacts of climate extremes (wildfires, floods, droughts, hailstorms, etc.) on various socioeconomic systems.

About NASA Ames
Founded as an aeronautical laboratory in 1939 and converted to a NASA research center in 1958, Ames Research Center has since led NASA in conducting world-class research and development in aeronautics, exploration technology, and science. Ames has evolved as a place where state-of-the-art facilities and world-class talent meld to produce cutting-edge research in fields such as aerodynamics, thermodynamics, simulation, space and life sciences, and intelligent systems. In recent decades, Ames has increasingly partnered with public and private organizations, nonprofits, and academia, to continue to advance human understanding of our planet and beyond. To learn more, visit www.nasa.gov/ames/about-ames/.

About the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute
The Bay Area Environmental Research Institute is a scientist-founded research nonprofit that enables groundbreaking work in the Earth and space sciences. Founded in 1993 and headquartered at the NASA Ames Research Park in Moffett Field, California, the Institute has supported over 350 researchers in the last 30 years and has partnered with dozens of organizations, including NASA, Stanford University, USGS, Protectores de Cuencas, and The University of Sydney. To learn more, visit https://baeri.org/. 

About California State University, Monterey Bay
Established in 1994 by educators and community leaders on the former site of Fort Ord, California State University, Monterey Bay, explores innovative ways to meet the needs of students while powering the regional economy. We make higher education accessible to traditionally underserved and low-income populations. Seventy-two percent of our students receive some form of financial aid, and fifty percent of our students are among the first generation of their family to go to college. The university’s diverse population of over seven thousand students receive personal attention in small classes while pursuing degrees in twenty-five undergraduate and nine graduate majors. Learn more at csumb.edu.

About the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San José State University
The Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center  at San José State University brings together an interdisciplinary team of academic and industry leaders to address the wildfire problem faced by many regions around the nation and the world. A National Science Foundation Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) and an official Campus Center and Institute within the California State University system, WIRC’s mission is to conduct high-impact wildfire research to provide new predictive tools and informed strategies to communities and industry stakeholders, including first responders, those interested in risk analysis, and policymakers in communities, companies, and utilities affected by wildfire. Learn more at https://www.wildfirecenter.org/.

In addition to his significant contributions to many, many climate-change related research programs. Park was recognized for exceptional collegiality and spirit of mentorship in his collaborative work.

For the 2022 report, Park co-authored a chapter that focuses on charting the phenology, or cycles, of growing seasons and phytoplankton blooms in locations around the globe. Find out more and download the publication here.