LBA-ECO

Science Team Business Meeting

November 5-8, 2003

Diane E. Wickland

NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program

1. Welcome / Thank You

2. Project Management Update

3. LBA Air-ECO Loss and Recovery

4. U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

5. Scientific Synthesis & Integration

6. The Future for LBA-ECO

Outline

• Thank you for your participation!

• Thank you for your patience and understanding during a difficult year for NASA and LBA-ECO

• Thank you for help in coordinating this meeting with the VI Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil and supporting the LBA special session

Welcome / Thank You

• LBA Central Office has moved to Manaus, under INPA’s lead – this transition has worked well

• Have established a Brazilian LBA lead in Santarem: Paulo Coutinho, Santarem Office Manager (and we have agreed-upon, documented roles and responsibilities for the lead managers there)

• LBA-ECO will assign a senior manager to the Central Office (J. Durazo to start 6 mo. detail next week)

Project Management Update

We are walking in the right direction . . .

-- Wickland & Gomes, October 2003

Project Management Update

• NASA and MCT were not able to complete the needed Implementing Arrangement for the planned 2003 airborne campaigns (also LBA-Hydromet)

• INPE and AEB tried to help, the LBA-ECO scientists and managers held open various options and developed plans for partial campaigns as long as possible, but we could not find a way

• NASA asked the LBA-Air-ECO scientists and managers to plan a “back-up” campaign in North America to make use of the resources already committed/reserved for flights in Brazil – this was conducted quite successfully in July-August, 2003

LBA-Air-ECO Loss & Recovery

• NASA and INPA have asked the LBA-Air-ECO scientists and managers to develop options to “recover” some or all of the science lost to LBA:

- more aggressive use of satellite data (already have purchased more EO-1 Hyperion and Landsat data)

- reduced airborne program in 2004 using Brazilian aircraft (many ideas/plans proposed)*

- total recovery plan must be much cheaper than LBA-Air-ECO (funds were used and/or could not carry over to NASA’s next fiscal year)

LBA-Air-ECO Loss & Recovery

* These are consistent with the existing Implementing Arrangement for LBA-ECO, but will still require endorsement/support by MCT

• NASA and INPA have discussed the desirability of:

- seeking a one-year extension of the existing LBA-ECO Implementing Arrangement to enable extended field observations and a more relaxed schedule for shipping, completing, transitioning (to foreign expedition approvals), or ending field work in Brazil

- seeking a new agreement or more lengthy extension to continue formal collaborations through the synthesis and integration stage, including NASA’s planned Guest Investigator program

U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

• MCT has informed NASA:

- it does not wish to disrupt ongoing LBA-ECO research activities

- new LBA agreements (under S & T Framework Agreement) must be put forward for approval by Brazil’s Congress before they can proceed

- until the above “irregularity” is addressed, nothing new can move forward . . .

• It is not clear how this MCT position applies to new activities under the existing LBA-ECO Implementing Arrangement . . .

U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

• At the recent Brazil-U.S. Common Agenda on the Environment meeting a proposed plan of action was put forward to resolve the “agreement problem”

- two meetings proposed, to be facilitated through use of diplomatic channels (i.e., U.S. State Dept. and Brazil’s Foreign Ministry to lead) to be held before the end of 2003

- first meeting week of Dec. 8 now, likely in Manaus; with advance preparation maybe only one will be needed?

U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

• The “agreement problem” impacts LBA-ECO transition schedule and LBA-Air-ECO recovery planning

- Until/unless there is a positive resolution, we will need to plan to complete all LBA-ECO field activity in Brazil by December 16, 2004 (if you want to continue on, you had better evaluate all your options . . .)

- Any LBA-Air-ECO recovery plans involving use of Brazilian aircraft will require MCT’s support in pursing approvals for flights, participation of U.S. PI’s, etc. (if MCT is not prepared to support/endorse until the Congressional approval step has been completed, we may not be able to proceed – even if otherwise compatible with the existing agreement. . .)

U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

Scientific Synthesis & IntegrationThe Challenges Ahead:

• Synthesis and Integration

- Answering our questions!

- Sharing data and integrating data products

- Quantifying errors and characterizing uncertainties

- Reconciling and/or explaining differences – distinguishing our knowledge from our interpretations

• Completing our intensive observations

- LBA-Air-ECO Recovery?

- Terminating U.S. field presence by December 2004

Scientific Synthesis & Integration

• Data Sharing

- registration of metadata in Beija Flor has dropped off, despite the many papers/special issues being published

- availability of actual data sets still lags behind registration of metadata

- is informal sharing getting the immediate job done, or are people having trouble gaining access to others’ data?

• Data Archival

- a steady stream of new data products ought be moving into the archive as time goes on and, especially, as papers are published!

- proper documentation, final QA, interfacing with archive staff, etc. must be a priority for each Principal Investigator!

Scientific Synthesis & Integration

• Are we missing anything? A key measurement or analysis? An opportunity (e.g, new satellite data)?

- there is not much time left to fill a gap or take advantage of any new opportunities

- already NASA HQ is thinking about what to promote for the Guest Investigator program; assuring the availability of the key data sets and information needs for completing LBA-ECO synthesis and integration is essential

The Future for LBA-ECO

• We have until December 16,. 2004, to complete our field studies; any extension after that is TBD pending resolution of “agreement problem”

• Phase II research funding continues through ~ Dec. 2005

• Guest Investigator program for synthesis & integration using existing LBA data to be solicited for start dates in Jan. 2006 (a NASA solicitation or it could be joint)

- likely for 1-2 years duration

- ~ US$2,000,000 per year + needed Project Office support

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program will be transitioning field campaign funding to the North American Carbon Program (NACP)

End