FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE: BUILDING A NEW CONTINENTAL SCALE LONG-TERM IN-SITU DATA NETWORK

Abstract:

Long-term networks are essential for identifying environmental changes driven by climate, land-use, biodiversity, and/or a multitude of other factors. This has already been demonstrated by a number of existing networks, such as the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER), the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Network (DOE-ARM), and the multitude of Flux Networks around the world, including AmeriFlux and FLUXNET. The great success of these networks has encouraged the development of new, up-and-coming, networks such as the Long Term Agricultural Network (LTAR) and the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), to name a few.

NEON is responsible for making observations of terrestrial, aquatic, and organismal ecology at 106 sites in 20 different eco-climatic domains across the North American continent. NEON will provide data on key local biogeochemical, meteorological, climate, remote sensing, and chemical variables, as well as their associated biotic responses, in an effort to inform climate change, land-use change, and invasive species.  Great care has been taken to ensure that NEON is being built to complement and expand upon the knowledge that has been gained from these other long-term observing networks. This talk will highlight the measurements that NEON will be making and how they will inform ecology, meteorology, climate change, and hydrology in the coming 30 years of operations.