The overall objective of this project is to develop improved capabilities for addressing the overarching science question of understanding the spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of terrestrial carbon stocks and fluxes (CCSP, 2003). This will be achieved by improving and extending DESDynI predictions of biomass and biomass dynamics through fusion with the long-term record of Landsat observations. In this proposal we seek to:

(1)   Develop an approach for integrating age estimates and multispectral trajectories from the Landsat record with anticipated height observations from DESDynI to map height, biomass and biomass changes across the landscape through time.

(2)   Assess the spatial and temporal variability of biomass dynamics over the 5-year DESDynI mission length at various spatial scales to quantify expected disturbance and growth rates from which required measurement accuracies for DESDynI may be determined.

(3)   Integrate age structure maps from Landsat with height and biomass products developed through Landsat/DESDynI fusion to improve and validate ecosystem model estimates of terrestrial carbon flux.

(4)   Scale up our Landsat-DESDynI integration approach to produce spatially and temporally resolved, state level assessment of biomass dynamics for nearly four decades, and use these products to drive ecosystem model estimates of carbon flux.