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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Biogeosciences

 

Keywords

  • AmeriFlux network
  • Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

Index Terms

  • Global Change: Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling
  • Global Change: Earth system modeling
  • Biogeosciences: Remote sensing
  • Biogeosciences: Climate dynamics
  • Biogeosciences: Ecosystems, structure and dynamics
Abstract
Cited By (0)
 

Abstract

Assessing the representativeness of the AmeriFlux network using MODIS and GOES data

Feihua Yang

Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA

A-Xing Zhu

State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Kazuhito Ichii

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA

Faculty of Symbiotic Systems Sciences, Fukushima University, Fukushima, Japan

Michael A. White

Department of Watershed Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA

Hirofumi Hashimoto

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA

Division of Science and Environmental Policy, California State University, Monterey Bay, Seaside, California, USA

Ramakrishna R. Nemani

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA

The AmeriFlux network of eddy covariance towers has played a critical role in the analysis of terrestrial water and carbon dynamics. It has been used to understand the general principles of ecosystem behaviors and to scale up those principles from sites to regions. To support the generalization from individual sites to large regions, it is essential that all major ecoregions in North America are represented in the AmeriFlux network. In this study, we examined the representativeness of the AmeriFlux network by comparing the climate and vegetation across the coterminous United States in 2004 with those at the AmeriFlux network in 2000–2004 on the basis of remote sensing products. We found that the AmeriFlux network generally captured the climatic and vegetation characteristics in the coterminous United States with under-representations in the Rocky Mountain evergreen needleleaf forest, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Sonora desert, the northern Great Plains, the Great Basin Desert, and New England. In terms of site representativeness, our analysis suggested that Indiana Morgan Monroe State Forest, Indiana, and Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, were among the forest sites with high representativeness extents; while Audubon Research Ranch, Arizona, and Sky Oaks Young Chaparral were among the nonforest sites with high representativeness extents.

Received 26 October 2007; accepted 7 August 2008; published 24 December 2008.

Citation: Yang, F., A.-X. Zhu, K. Ichii, M. A. White, H. Hashimoto, and R. R. Nemani (2008), Assessing the representativeness of the AmeriFlux network using MODIS and GOES data, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G04036, doi:10.1029/2007JG000627.

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