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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #403331
Research Project: From Field to Watershed: Enhancing Water Quality and Management in Agroecosystems through Remote Sensing, Ground Measurements, and Integrative Modeling

Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory

Title: Assessment of the NASA carbon monitoring system wet carbon stakeholder community: data needs, gaps, and opportunities

Author
item BROWN, MOLLY - University Of Maryland
item MITCHELL, CATHERINE - Colby College
item HALABISKY, MEGHAN - University Of Washington
item GUSTAFSON, BEN - Colby College
item GOMES, HELGA - Columbia University
item GOES, JOAQUIM - Columbia University
item Zhang, Xuesong
item CAMPBELL, ANTHONY - Collaborator
item POULTER, BENJAMIN - National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Submitted to: Environmental Research Letters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/27/2023
Publication Date: 7/11/2023
Citation: Brown, M., Mitchell, C., Halabisky, M., Gustafson, B., Gomes, H., Goes, J., Zhang, X., Campbell, A., Poulter, B. 2023. Assessment of the NASA carbon monitoring system wet carbon stakeholder community: data needs, gaps, and opportunities . Environmental Research Letters. 18. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace208.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace208

Interpretive Summary: Wet carbon ecosystems, such as wetlands, oceans, and lakes, play a crucial role in the carbon cycle. Despite their importance, they are often neglected by policy and science communities due to a lack of investment in stakeholder engagement in decision-making processes. In this study, we identify and describe the links and interests of wet carbon stakeholders and highlight the gaps between scientific understanding and information needs. We propose that improved communication, capacity building, and engagement among stakeholders, along with the availability of continuous data streams, can help bridge this gap. Notably, stakeholder engagement across various systems offers potential for enhancing the utilization of remote sensing-derived wet carbon monitoring data in decision-making.

Technical Abstract: Wet carbon ecosystems are a critical part of the carbon cycle, yet they are underrepresented in many policy and science communities due to the relative under-investment in stakeholder and boundary organizations. Wet carbon systems include the hydrosphere and carbon cycling systems that operate in wetlands, oceans, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and permafrost. In this article we provide evidence from a review of wet carbon stakeholders, who are individuals, groups or organizations that are affected by climate change, and utilize carbon data. Stakeholders are involved in decision-making processes in wet carbon ecosystems, and can be private companies, non-governmental organizations, government agencies ranging in scope from local to federal, parastatals, international organizations, and more. In this paper, we identify and describe the links and interests of WC stakeholders and determine what gaps exist between scientific understanding and information needs. A continued focus on wet carbon systems could lead to increased stakeholder engagement, methodological progress, and scientific progress. We found stakeholder interest was not driven by the importance of a system in the carbon cycle. Stakeholders utilized plot data more frequently than remote sensing-derived data. To bridge the gap between stakeholders and wet carbon data, we need improved communication of data availability and uncertainty, capacity building, engagement between stakeholder groups, and data continuity. Increased stakeholder engagement across systems may lead to increased utilization of remote sensing-derived carbon monitoring data in decision making.