Description

As climates shift and change, ecosystems respond in a variety of ways. Assessing the ecological impacts of a changing climate is crucial for natural resource management decision-making. NASA's Earth observations can be used to help make these decisions. Led by NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training program (ARSET), this four-week training series, in collaboration with the USGS North Central Climate Center, includes an overview of the satellites, sensors, and tools relevant to ecological forecasting; available climate products and data for ecological modeling; scenario planning; and the application of modeling for species distribution and state-and-transition simulations.

Prerequisites

• Fundamentals of Remote Sensing

Objectives

By the end of this training, attendees will be able to:

• Understand what ecoforecasting is and its applications
• Understand how climate data supports future projections of management targets
• Articulate how scenario planning can be utilized for decision-making with multiple sources of uncertainty
• Integrate qualitative and quantitative tools to support resource management decision-making in situations with high uncertainty

Target Audience

This training is for local, regional, state, federal, and international organizations charged with maintaining healthy ecosystems and interested in ecological forecasting using satellite imagery and climate data. 

Course Format

• Four 1-hour parts

Sessions

Part 1: Overview of Ecological Forecasting

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017

An introduction to the use of remotely-sensed data for predictors in ecological forecasting; case study examples; and an overview of example instruments and tools relevant to ecological forecasting: the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Land products, and Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS).

Materials

• Part 1 Presentation Slides (PDF, 9.1 MB)
• Part 1 Q&A Transcript (PDF, 143 KB)

Materiales en Español

• Diapositivas de la Presentación de Parte 1 (PDF, 9.2 MB)

Part 2: Overview of Climate Science and Data

An introduction to gridded historic and projected climate data, and considerations of appropriate use of climate data in ecological impact assessments, including downscaling (statistical vs. dynamical) and bias correction methods.

Materials

• Part 2 Presentation Slides (PDF, 10.2 MB)
• Part 2 Q&A Transcript (PDF, 126 KB)

Homework

• Part 2 Homework

Materiales en Español

• Diapositivas de la Presentación de Parte 2 (PDF, 10.2 MB)

Tarea

• Tarea de Parte 2

Part 3: Overview of Scenario Planning

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017

This portion of the training presents scenario planning as a tool for grappling with the uncertainty of climate change and other factors and how those affect management objectives; selecting a small set of climate futures; considering additional, non-climate factors; developing scenarios of climate impacts and potential management responses; and case study examples.

Materials

• Part 3 Presentation Slides (PDF, 18.0 MB)
• Part 3 Q&A Transcript (PDF, 110 KB)

Materiales en Español

• Diapositivas de la Presentación de Parte 3 (PDF, 18.1 MB)

Part 4: Overview of Species Distribution and State-And-Transition

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017

An introduction to combining ecological response models; an overview of species distribution modeling, including ecological response modeling technique examples, an explanation of correlative species distribution models, and an introduction to VisTrails; limitations of correlative approaches; and ecological simulation modeling, including an overview of simulation modeling approaches and examples, state-and-transition conceptual models and simulations, and an introduction to ST-Sim software.

Materials

• Part 4 Presentation Slides (PDF, 9.0 MB)
• Part 4 Q&A Transcript (PDF, 89 KB)

Homework

• Part 4 Homework

Materiales en Español

• Diapositivas de la Presentación de Parte 4 (PDF, 13.9 MB)

Tarea

• Tarea de Parte 4