Our Earth Systems Research is supported by grants from NASA, NOAA, NSF, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service (USDAFS), U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the State of N.H., among others.
Research Themes
Cryosphere
How is climate change affecting the mass balance of the polar ice sheets? Can we use space-borne remote sensing to quantify ice flow in the polar ice sheets? Is the Arctic hydrological cycle accelerating? What is the freshwater budget of the Arctic Ocean drainage basin?
Faculty/Research PI’s: Fahnestock, Lammers, Vorosmarty
Research Methods: modeling, data synthesis, remote sensing, field studies
What are the impacts of human-induced changes in land use and land cover on the climate system? How reliably can we detect land-use/land-cover change from space?
Faculty/Research PI’s: Braswell, Frolking, Hurtt, Li, Ollinger, Rubin, Xiao
Research Methods: remote sensing, modeling, field studies, data synthesis
Is the Arctic hydrological cycle accelerating? What regions of the world will suffer from water shortages in the coming decades? What is the freshwater budget of the Arctic Ocean drainage basin?
Faculty/Research PI’s: Douglas, Fekete, Lammers, Vorosmarty Research
Research Methods: modeling, data synthesis, remote sensing
What biogeochemical and physical processes control the composition and variability of seafloor hydrothermal vents (hot springs)? What are the linkages between the chemistry of the fluids and both the surrounding biological communities and the chemistry of the ocean? How do freshwater ecosystems process nutrient inputs, and how much gets delivered to coastal oceans?
Faculty/Research PI’s: Vörösmarty
Research Methods: field studies, modeling, remote sensing, data synthesis
How are forests responding to increased nitrogen inputs? What is the role of peatlands in the Earth’s carbon budget? What is the role of the Amazonian forest in the Earth’s climate system? How much do croplands contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gases, and what are possible mitigation strategies? How are forests responding to increased nitrogen inputs?
Faculty/Research PI’s: Braswell, Frolking, Hobbie, Hurtt, Keller, Li, Martin, Ollinger, Rock
Research Methods: modeling, field studies, remote sensing
Research Groups
Agro-Ecosystem Biogeochemistry
Arctic CHAMP Project Office
Chemical Oceanography
Forest Ecosystems
Global Remote Sensing
GRANIT
LBA Project Office
NASA IDS
Remote Sensing and GIS
Trace Gas Biogeochemistry
Water Systems Analysis Group
Grants
Aber, John
Long-Term Ecological Research at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (Sponsor: Cornell/NSF)
Fahnestock, Mark
Collaborative Research: Characteristics of Snow Megadunes and Their Potential Effects on Ice Core Interpretation (Sponsor: NSF) • Collaborative Research: Using Fracture Patterns and Ice Thickness to Study the History and Dynamics of Grounding Line Migration and Shutdown of Kamb and Whillans Ice Streams (Sponsor: NSF) • Improved DEMs Using MODIS and GLAS: Applications to Ice Dynamics and Surface Climate Parameters (Sponsor: U of CO/NSIDC) • Melt Contributions to Mass Change for the Greenland Ice Sheet (Sponsor: NASA) • Multisensor Measurements of the Temporal and Spatial Pattern of Ice Sheet Accumulation (Sponsor: NASA)
Frolking, Steve
Advancing our Understanding of the Earth System through Coupled Carbon-Climate Modeling and Observations (Sponsor: NASA) • Collaborative Research: Identifying Hydroclimatic Regimes of Carbon Stability in Northern Peatlands: Holocene Data Analysis and Process-based Modeling (Sponsor: NSF) • Imaging Impacts of Seasonal Water Stress on Vegetation at Basin to Regional Scales: Combining Optical and Microwave Remote Sensing with Hydrological Measurements to Understand Change (Sponsor: NASA) • The History of Agricultural Irrigation Expansion: Developing Useful Datasets of Global Irrigated Area and Irrigation Water Use from Remote Sensing and Hydrologic Modeling (Sponsor: NAS)A
Hobbie, Erik
Interactions of Carbon Cycling, Nitrogen Cycling, and Nitrogen (N) Stable Isotopes in Plants as Affected by Mycorrhizal Fungi, N Availability and N Form (Sponsor: NSF) • MRI Acquisition Proposal: Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (Sponsor: NSF) • Post-Fire Morels of Oregon and Alaska (Sponsor: USDA) • SGER: New Insights Into Calcium Cycling in Forests Through Coupled Ca and Sr Isotopic Measurements (Sponsor: NSF
Hurtt, George
Beyond Potential Vegetation: Improving Model Carbon Projections of the Land Surface Using LIDAR Remote Sensing (Sponsor: U of MD/NASA) • Characterizing Forest Structure for Assessments of Carbon Cycling and Biodiversity: An Integrated Approach Using Lidar Remote Sensing (Sponsor: U of MD/NASA) • Modeling Land Use Dynamics in the Earth System (Sponsor: PRINCETON/NOAA
Keller, Michael
Ecosystem Respiration and Trace Gas Exchange in Undisturbed and Selectively Logged Forests in the Brazilian Amazon: LBA Ecology Science Support (Sponsor: NASA) • Ecosystem Respiration and Trace Gas Exchange in Undisturbed and Selectively Logged Forests in the Brazilian Amazon: LBA Research (Sponsor: NASA) • Synthesis and Integration of Ecological Research within the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) and Science Support for LBA-ECO (Sponsor: NASA)
Lammers, Richard
River Discharge from the Russian Federation: An Understanding of Contemporary Trends and their Placement in a Holocene Context (Sponsor: UCLA)
Li, Changsheng
Assessing the Influence of Asian Rice Paddies on the Growth Rate of Atmospheric Methane 1980-2020 (Sponsor: NASA) • Developing a Desktop DNDC Tool for Evaluating Best Management Practices for Reducing Nutrient Loading to Elkhorn Slough NERR (Sponsor: NOAA) • Developing Manure-DNDC: Quantifying Ammonia and Methane Emissions from California Dairies (Sponsor: USDA) • Development of a Soil Carbon Model (DNDC) for Wetland and Upland Forest Soils (Sponsor: USD ) • Disseminating a GIS-Based Nutrient Management Training Tool for Coastal Managers (Sponsor: NOAA)
Martin, Mary
Regional Forest Ecosystem Analysis (Sponsor: USDAFS)
Moore III, Berrien
Balloonwinds: A Balloon-Based Demonstration of Instrumentation for Measuring Wind Profiles from Space (Sponsor: NOAA) • Groundwinds: A Ground-Based Demonstration of Instrumentation for Measuring Wind Profiles from Space (Sponsor: NOAA) • Research & Discover: A Joint Center for Earth Sciences Education (Sponsor: NASA) • Understanding the Changing Carbon, Nitrogen and Water Cycles in the Earth System (Sponsor: NASA)
Ollinger, Scott
An Investigation of Calcium Oxalate Pools (A Potential Missing Link in Understanding Maintenance of Calcium Supply in Forest Soils (Sponsor: USD) • Regional Forest Ecosystem Analysis (Sponsor: USDA FS) • Resolving the Effects of Multiple Environmental Factors on Net Carbon Balances Through Time-Series Application of a Forest Ecosystem Model (Sponsor: NIGEC) • Scaling and Evaluation of Ecosystem Carbon Uptake through Integration of Multi-Scale Remote Sensing with AmeriFLUX and NACP Field Observations (Sponsor: NASA) • Scaling Forest Carbon Flux Measurements from Sites to Landscapes: A Hyperspectral Analysis of Fluxnet Research Sites Along a Boreal to Tropical Gradient (Sponsor: NASA)
Rock, Barry
Measuring Vegetation Health (Sponsor: Boston Museum of Science/NASA)
Rubin, Fay
Changing Faces of NH Seacoast (Sponsor: Greater Piscataqua Community Foundation) • Developing Surficial Geology Data - Phase III (Sponsor: State of NH/ Dept. of Environmental Service) • Developing the National Hydrographic Dataset for the Saco River Basin (Sponsor: USG) • Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM) Preparation 2005 - Phase VI (Sponsor: FEMA) • Flood Map Modernization Management Support (Sponsor: State of NH/ Office of Energy and Planning) • GRANIT Web Site Enhancement (Sponsor: NH GIS Conservation Collaborativ ) • Great Bay Surface Water Monitoring Program (Sponsor: NOA ) • Hemlock Mapping Using Subpixel Classification Techniques (Sponsor: USDA Forest Service) • High Resolution Hydrographic Spatial Data (Sponsor: State of NH/ Dept. of Environmental Services) • IntegratingTechnologies to Monitor and Predict Patterns of Urban Growth (Sponsor: NOAA) • NH GRANIT 05, New Hampshire Geographically Referenced ANalysis and Information Transfer System (Sponsor: State of NH/ Office of Energy and Planning)
Schloss, Annette
WEBCOAST: A Web-Based Coastal Ocean Analysis System (Sponsor: NOA )
Von Damm, Karen
Evolution of EPR Hydrothermal Systems: Causes of Continued Chemical Instability at 9-10 degrees N vs. Stability at 21 degrees N (Sponsor: NSF) • Temporal Variations in Hydrothermal Fluid Chemistry at 9-10N East Pacific Rise: Elucidating Ties to Crustal and Biological Processes (Sponsor: NSF)
Xiao, Xiangming
Land-use Change in Temperate East Asia: Land Cover Change Impacts on Carbon Fluxes and Land Productivity (Sponsor: NASA) • Northern Eurasian C-Land Use Climate Interaction in the Semi-Arid Regions (Sponsor: Colorado State University/NASA)