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David P. TurnerPh.D., Washington State University, Biology SPONSOR: Carol Wessman TITLE: Integration of Remote Sensing and Modeling for Monitoring of Terrestrial Carbon Flux THEME: Planetary Metabolism Office: CIRES S250A |
When Oregon decided to get a handle on the amount of carbon the state was producing and capturing, they called in David Turner to help calculate the carbon budget. Turner, an associate professor at Oregon State University's College of Forestry, models the flow of carbon between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in order to help pinpoint exactly how much carbon dioxide is being produced or sequestered at any given place. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and, according to Turner, understanding its natural sinks and sources can help direct climate change policy decisions. Turner builds his landscape to regional-scale analyses on land cover information gathered from satellite-based observations. The remotely-sensed images give Turner geographic information about large-scale ecological disturbances, land cover type, and forest stand age, among other factors, all of which influence the uptake and respiration of carbon dioxide by plants and decomposer organisms. While here at CIRES during the '07-'08 year, Turner will be working with Fellow Carol Wessman, a member of CIRES' Center for the Study of Earth from Space, to incorporate new remotely-sensed ecosystem information into his carbon flux models. He will also be continuing a long-term project to study the influence of deforestation on carbon fluxes in the Amazon basin. EXTRA: David Turner is no stranger to CU. He received his Bachelor's degree from CU-Denver and his Master's degree from CU-Boulder. |
