Progress and Accomplishments

Using a new three-dimensional hydrological and thermal capability in ELM (ELM-3D), scientists at LBNL analyzed the role of snow redistribution and lateral interconnectivity on soil temperatures and active layer.

The role of distributed snow on permafrost distribution along the hillslope at Teller field site

Deep learning models achieve multi-sensor remote sensing fusion for mapping of Arctic vegetation

Impacts of fire on the long-term net ecosystem productivity were modeled across selected sites in Alaska.

Nitrogen fixed within root nodules of alder growing in dense shrublands is associated with higher levels of local N availability. The inclusion of a plant functional type based on this N-fixing shrub may improve earth system models’ ability to capture nit

The NGEE Arctic PFLOTRAN biogeochemistry (BGC) is coupled to the E3SM Land Model (ELM) through a generic interface and the ELM-PFLOTRAN is being evaluated at both point and global scales.

Linking soil geochemistry with carbon decomposition improves predictions of CO2 and CH4 production along fine-scale hydrological variabilities in Arctic soil and permafrost.

High resolution snow data collected from two small catchments in the southern Seward Peninsula was used to identify key factors that control snow distribution, quantify the relative impacts of those factors and improve the snow representation for the arct

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UAF researchers working on the NGEE Arctic project validated the GIPL model and simulated ground temperature dynamics for the entire Seward Peninsula according to the RCP4.5 climate scenario.

The effects of fine-scale topography can be represented in models with coarser spatial resolution through the use of a new subgrid model, thus enabling computationally demanding integrated surface/subsurface hydrology models to be used at field scales

Microtopography in polygonal tundra affects CO2 and CH4 emissions, but landscape scaling of polygon types accurately captures landscape-scale states and exchanges with the atmosphere.

Raised amidst the cornfields and grasslands of Mid-America, this NGEE Arctic researcher has passion and curiosity for people and the plant sciences.

Scientists around the world are working to simplify the vast array of plant species and forms in order to distill general features of plant function, structure, and strategy.

NGEE Arctic researchers are quantifying above and belowground variation in plant functional traits across environmental gradients to inform the representation of plant traits in terrestrial biosphere models.

A field research showed that evapotranspiration from mosses and open water was twice as high as that from lichens and bare ground, and that microtopographic variations in polygonal tundra explained most of this and other spatial variation

NGEE Arctic researchers documented strong relationship between soil moisture, inorganic N availability, and plant N content across the polygonal ground of the Barrow Environmental Observatory

Scientists working on the NGEE Arctic project provide evidence linking decadal patterns in arctic greening and browning with regional climate change and local permafrost-driven landscape heterogeneity, using newly developed decade time-scale remote

NGEE Arctic scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab gave an overland tour of the Seward Peninsula to California’s Governor Jerry Brown to share hands-on climate change research in the Arctic.

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We successfully integrated the Dynamic Vegetation, Dynamic Organic Soil, Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (DVM-DOS-TEM, University of Alaska Fairbanks) into the PEcAn framework to enable formal model uncertainty quantification (UQ), parameterization, and data-

We conducted our first NGEE-Arctic deployment of the multi-instrument Osprey heavy-lift octocopter at the three Seward Peninsula sites where we collected high-resolution visible imagery for structure from motion (SfM) 3-D plant and terrain surface heights

Soil warming decreases microbial functional diversity in the Arctic Tundra

Database survey of key traits for improved modeling of Arctic vegetation

Successfully acquired LiDAR and photogrammetry data at centimeter resolution of the NGEE-Arctic Teller research site using an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)

Data assimilation of the historical temperature observations is completed.

We develop and test a joint deterministic–stochastic inversion approach that can take advantage of time-lapse electrical resistivity and other data.

We applied a well-tested three-dimensional coupled biogeochemistry, hydrology, vegetation, and thermal model (ecosys) to polygonal tundra sites to quantify and scale the effects of microtopography on active layer depths.

The NGEE-Arctic and E3SM Land Model (ELM) groups recognize the importance of 3-dimensional processes, so we developed an ELM version that includes thermal and hydrological dynamics to investigate these processes at the BEO.

A newly published database of permafrost zone waterbodies with better than 5 m resolution will improve next-generation land model representations of high-latitude hydrology and biogeochemistry.

A classical thermodynamic theory was extended to better characterize microbial process for integration with next generation land models.

Motivated by the strong N limitations in high-latitude systems, a comprehensive global analysis of nitrogen allocation in leaves was developed for integration in ESM-scale land models.

We started a replicated (n=5 chambers) warming experiment in Barrow, AK. The experiment uses solar radiation to warm vegetation and will enable us to understand thermal acclimation of respiration and photosynthesis in Arctic vegetation.

Participants, guests, and partners in the NGEE Arctic project met at the PARC 55 Hotel in San Francisco to review progress and accomplishments, and outline plans for the coming year.

These statistics reflect metadata submission since its implementation in the spring of 2014. Metadata records reflect a combination of data, information and documentation that form a collection.

NGEE Arctic scientists contribute to an international database of vegetation data from the Alaskan Arctic tundra

Using field measurements of methane flux and stable isotopes, NGEE Arctic researchers identify spatial patterns in methane emissions and underlying metabolic processes across polygon types and features

Scientist on the NGEE Arctic project examines how photosynthesis is represented in seven terrestrial biosphere models and makes community-wide recommendations to improve estimates of carbon uptake by terrestrial vegetation

Study develops an end-to-end high resolution modeling framework to simulate permafrost thermal dynamics of microtopography dominated polygonal tundra landscape

Field scientists develop a ground temperature map for western Alaska based on measured relationships between ground thermal regimes and vegetation ecotypes

Sebastien Biraud provided an initial glimpse of what UAS flights could mean for integration of above- and below-ground research at field sites on the Seward Peninsula

Collaborative team improved the methane module in CLM and ALM and compared predictions with NGEE-Arctic and other tower observations, NASA CARVE aircraft observations, and two atmospheric inversions and highlight new ways to improve global CH4 predictions

Explicit aqueous phase redox, pH, and mineral interaction dynamics were coupled to the Converging Trophic Cascade (CTC) decomposition model, enabling prediction of CO2 and CH4 production from Arctic polygonal tundra soils.

Four 0.5 FTE positions were funded under the CMDV project to facilitate communication and model development collaborations between NGEE Arctic, NGEE Tropics, and the ACME Land Model (ALM).

NGEE Arctic researchers combined high-resolution multi-spectral remote sensing imagery from the WorldView-2 satellite with light detecting and ranging (LiDAR)-derived digital elevation models (DEMs) to characterize the tundra vegetation around the BEO.

Study develops an end-to-end high resolution modeling framework to simulate permafrost thermal dynamics of microtopography dominated polygonal tundra landscape.

An event of permafrost degradation and recovery after a disturbance by 2002 Kougarok wildfire was discussed from long-term monitoring and permafrost core analysis on the central Seward Peninsula.

The Hal Mooney Award recognizes an individual for extraordinary near-surface geophysical scientific achievements and community service.

Significant methane oxidation activity was observed in incubations of flat-centered polygon transitional soil and permafrost layers, which also exhibited high levels of methane production activity under anoxic conditions.

Explicitly representing plant physiological root traits and improving the nutrient competition algorithm with the Equilibrium Chemistry Approximation removes known biases in CLM and ALM.

Soil moisture and thaw thickness strongly influence vegetation, and can serve as a proxy for vegetation greenness (and vice versa) during the growing season.

NGEE Arctic participates in University of Alaska Fairbanks Northwest Campus’ platform to discuss ongoing hydrology research efforts with the community.

An implicit time-stepping model for decomposition, nitrification, denitrification, and plant nutrient uptake was implemented in the Community Land Model (CLM), the land ecosystem component of a coupled Earth System Model.

Complex biogeochemical networks that include many biotic and abiotic processes can be limited by different substrates under different conditions during their temporal evolution.

Permafrost thaw and climate warming accelerates frozen soil organic carbon (SOC) degradation and emission of greenhouse gases, but what specific degradation pathways for labile SOC occur prior to CH4 and CO2 production are not well understood.

The NGEE Arctic website, to be released later in April, will have a new look and feel moving from an unsupported Drupal 6 into Drupal 7.

The ORNL NGEE Arctic Data Management Team (DMT) is lending expertise and tools deployed for the NGEE Arctic data effort to the NGEE Tropics project. The DMT has deployed a multi-faceted system for NGEE Arctic comprised of the On-line Metadata Editor (OME)

These statistics reflect metadata submission and usage of the NGEE Arctic Search Tool since its implementation in the spring of 2014. Metadata records reflect a combination of data, information and documentation that form a collection. While all metadata

In an upcoming paper in Global Change Biology, LBNL researchers Lydia Smith Vaughn, Mark Conrad, Markus Bill, and Margaret Torn present results of a two-year field methane study in the Barrow Environmental Observatory.

Model simulations by LANL scientists were used to assess the relative effect of environment on active layer thickness.

Current approaches to raising air temperatures are plagued by needing access to electrical power. Scientists on the NGEE Arctic problem are working to overcome that common constraint…

Researchers at LBNL apply seismic methods to examine characteristics of saline permafrost from coastal plain, Barrow, AK.

NGEE Arctic thanks Larry Hinzman for his contributions to Phase 1 and welcomes Vladimir Romanovsky in his expanded role as Chief Scientist.

The planned establishment of research sites on the Seward Peninsula during Phase 2 prompts a large field reconnaissance trip to Nome.