TERRA - PNW Projects

TERRA-PNW projects range from site-level experiments on plant and soil processes to whole ecosystem studies of carbon dioxide and water vapor exchange with the atmosphere to regional studies that use data from satellites and field observations in biogeochemistry models to map the carbon balance of the Pacific Northwest.

TERRA-PNW projects include leading the AmeriFlux network of about 120 research sites, where the goal is to understand how forests, grasslands, shrublands and croplands influence and are influenced by global climate change, and how climate and disturbance from human activities affect the carbon balance of the land. AmeriFlux has a pivitol role in the North American Carbon Program, which is part of the US Carbon Cycle Science Program. Bev Law is the Science Chair of AmeriFlux, where she is responsible for leading the science direction of the network and synthesis of results across the network. Part of this responsibility is to ensure that high quality data are collected and produced for the AmeriFlux data archive for use in such synthesis activities.

The TERRA-PNW lab projects include the Metolius Flux sites (intermediate, young, and burn sites). The current flux projects are funded by the Department of Energy. ORCA, a study aimed at understanding disturbance and climate effects on the carbon balance of Oregon and Northern California, is also funded by DOE.

NASA has funded a variety of projects both in the past and present. Current NASA projects include:

• Validation and improvement of the Biome - BGC model
• Regional analyis of CO2 and H2O vapor exchange over heterogenous terrain
• Integrating microwave and hyperspectral remote sensing for estimating vegetation structure and biomass

The EPA-STAR program funded the Regional Analysis of Net Ecosystem Productivity of Pacific Northwest Forests .

Finally, NOAA funded a recently completed project, the Influence of Climate Variability on the Productivity and Distribution of Ponderosa Pine Ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest..