Welcome to the launching of the next generation Carnegie Airborne Observatory AToMS Airborne Taxonomic Mapping System Department of Global Ecology Carnegie Institution for Science Hiller Aviation Museum June 2, 2011 Spectranomics sites
Overview of AToMS Remote sensing of the Earth s great ecosystems began with observations from satellites more than 40 years ago. Although satellite-based measurements continue to be an important contributor to the study of ecosystems, more detailed observations require more novel techniques. The Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO) has provided high-resolution mapping of the three-dimensional structure of vegetation and the terrain below the canopy. In deployments to the Amazon, Madagascar, Hawaii, South Africa, California, and elsewhere, the system has proven its worth in assessing forest structure and health, identifying forest degradation, and telling how much biomass ecosystems contain. Although current CAO technology is very adept at three dimensional mapping, it does not permit identification of particular plant species or many of their chemical traits that tell us about their function, even though such information is of enormous value for science, conservation, and resource policy development. Forest function and biodiversity falls to the next phase of the Carnegie project. The Carnegie group is developing new scientific approaches that integrate taxonomic, chemical, and spectral remote sensing perspectives collectively called Spectranomics to map canopy function and diversity among tropical forest species throughout the world. The CAO works by combining laser and spectrometer remote sensing technologies, along with high-tech inertial motion sensors to track the aircraft s position and orientation to exacting tolerances. The laser technology, called LiDAR, measures the 3-D structure of the vegetation and terrain. The spectrometers measure the way that sunlight reflects off vegetation, soils, and other ecosystem components, which yields chemical and physiological information. The new Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO-II) that is now being launched showcases the next generation Airborne Taxonomic Mapping System, or AToMS. The system will provide higher resolution laser and spectroscopic information extending from the visible through the shortwave-infrared region of the spectrum. It will be operated from its new Dornier 228 aircraft. The dramatic increase in measurement capability provided by AToMS will provide a major leap forward for CAO science in support of Earth science and exploration, Dornier 228 Aircraft. biological conservation, and resource policy development.
To interpret the new data stream coming from AToMS, the team has developed the world's first Spectranomics Database to link the phylogenetic organization of tropical plants to their spectroscopic and chemical signatures. The Spectranomics Database is a critical step required to advance regional and global biodiversity mapping efforts in the coming decades. CAO-VSWIR imaging spectrometer (computer-aided drawing). AToMS Instrumentation (i) (ii) Visible-Shortwave-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VSWIR), measuring reflected solar radiance from 380-2500 nm in 5 nm increments; 0.5-2.0 meter spatial resolution. Waveform Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), measuring up to 400,000 pulses per second with dual laser beams; 0.5-1.0 meter spatial resolution. (iii) Visible-Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIR), measuring reflected solar radiance from 367-1060 nm in 5 nm increments; 0.5-1.0 meter spatial resolution. Acknowledgements CAO AToMS instrumentation is made possible by generous support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the W.M. Keck Foundation and William Hearst III. CAO flight operations, science applications, and exploration are supported by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment. The Spectranomics Project is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Photo of the Amazon rainforest. Greg Asner Greg Asner grew up in Maryland. After receiving a bachelor s degree from the University of Colorado in 1991, he spent some time living in Hawai i and working for the Nature Conservancy. That experience made him realize that the Hawaiian archipelago might be a good model for human-induced changes elsewhere on earth. This realization has been crucial to his research since that time. After the Hawai i experience, Greg returned to the University of Colorado for graduate work in Geography and Environmental Biology. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford and an Assistant Professor in Geological Science at the University of Colorado, he joined the newly-formed Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science in 2001. In his years at Carnegie he has become one of the most visible and most quoted experts on tropical forest monitoring.
Learning About Tropical Forests From Satellites Tropical forests are vast, mostly unexplored places. The trees, vines and other plants that occupy tropical forest canopies are often remote and inaccessible. As a result, it is not easy to assess how the diversity and functioning of tropical forests may be changing with human use and climate change. CLASlite Tropical forest destruction accounts for up to 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but quantifying these emissions has not been easy, particularly for tropical nations. CLASlite is a new technology developed by the Asner team that is revolutionizing forest monitoring by marrying free satellite imagery and powerful analytical methods in an easy-to-use, desktop software package. CLASlite provides a highly-automated method for using satellite-derived information to learn about tropical deforestation and forest degradation. It is intended for use by non-specialists government officials as well as scientists and technicians without the need for outside experts, and it will run on personal computers. The system received broad press coverage when it was announced at the Copenhagen IPCC meeting in December, 2009. The Asner group has mounted an extensive education and capacity-building program for implementation of CLASlite and other ecosystem mapping and monitoring techniques. As of April 2011, more than 170 governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, and academic or research institutions from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname, and Guyana use CLASlite, CAO LiDAR image of Amazon rainforest taken at night. making it the most widely used satellite deforestation and degradation mapping system in the world. More than 400 individuals have been trained in the use of CLASlite, and they continue to receive technical support on a need basis.
CAO LiDAR image of forest and agriculture. Learning About Tropical Forests and Savannas from Aircraft The original Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO), which launched in late 2006, used an aircraft-based spectrometer and laser detection and ranging (LiDAR) to provide three-dimensional mapping of ecosystems at a level appropriate for monitoring deforestation and forest degradation. The original system provided spectral information in the visible and near infrared wavelength regions and vegetation structural information at a spatial resolution of about 1 meter, on a scale of approximately 10,000 hectares a day, and at a cost of less than 10 cents per hectare. As a result it has been used to map millions of hectares in countries around the world, leading to scientific discoveries ranging from spatially explicit quantification of forest carbon in remote areas of the Amazon to the impacts of elephants and lions in Africa s savannas. Invasive albizia trees (pale reds and pinks) and highly invasive strawberry guava trees (intense red) in Hawaii. In the first set of studies, the CAO mapped the locations and impacts of many highly invasive plant species across thousands of acres of Hawaiian rainforest reserves. From the air, scientists have identified ways that the invaders transform the 3-D structure, chemistry, and biodiversity of native rainforests. Some invaders such as strawberry guava trees from Brazil shade out other plants and are destroying important native Hawaiian forests.
Aboveground carbon storage at 0.1 ha resolution in a 4.3 million ha region of the Peruvian Amazon, derived from an integrated use of CLASlite, LiDAR and field data. Other invaders such as kahili ginger crawl along the forest floor and steal water and nutrients from native trees above. In September, 2009 the system was successfully tested on 4.3 million hectares of lowland Amazon forest in Peru. The project provided estimates of aboveground carbon density at a spatial resolution of 30 meters, making it one of the largest high-resolution biomass mapping studies in the world, and changing government and United Nations perspectives on the feasibility of high-resolution carbon monitoring in remote places. Recent studies of 40,000 termite mounds over 192 square miles in the African savanna reveal that mound size and distribution is associated with vegetation and landscape patterns reflecting annual rainfall. Occurrence of termite mounds is an excellent indicator of geology, hydrology, and soil conditions. Distribution of termite mounds (dots) relative to elevation from the CAO. Warm colors indicate higher elevation.
Carnegie Institution for Science In 1902, Andrew Carnegie established a unique organization dedicated to scientific discovery in the broadest and most liberal manner. The philosophy was and is to devote the institution s resources to exceptional individuals so that they can explore the most intriguing scientific questions in an atmosphere of complete freedom. Carnegie and his trustees realized that flexibility and freedom were essential to the institution s success and that tradition is the foundation of the institution today as it supports research in the Earth, space, and life sciences. President Chair of Board of Trustees Director, Department of Global Ecology Richard A Meserve Michael E. Gellert Christopher B. Field Supporters of the Spectranomics Project William Hearst III Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Andrew Mellon Foundation W. M. Keck Foundation Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment