Session TM7

TM7 | Adaptation and Response in Drylands (ARID): Design and Implementation of a NASA Dryland Field Campaign

Adaptation and Response in Drylands (ARID): Design and Implementation of a NASA Dryland Field Campaign

Convener: Andrew FeldmanECSECS | Co-conveners: David Moore, Ben Poulter

Tue, 05 May, 19:00–20:00 (CEST)

Room -2.33

Over the past decade, a range of research shows drylands play critical roles in Earth’s climate and the sustenance of humankind. Covering almost half of Earth's land surface, drylands display remarkable sensitivity to disturbance, climate extremes, and rising atmospheric CO2. Yet the cross-scale, predictive understanding of these ecosystems remains poor because of their complex spatial and temporal variability. This includes rapid responses to irregular rainfall pulses as well as high spatial variability of vegetation species intermixed with bare soil and biocrust communities. New multi- and hyperspectral, LiDAR, and microwave satellite missions provide innovative opportunities to scale measurements made in-situ up to landscapes, regions, and the planet; operational and planned NASA and ESA missions offer novel data at the high-spatial resolutions needed for heterogeneous drylands. Now is a critical time for a field campaign to measure dryland states and fluxes for better interpretation of satellite measurements to improve our observational and modeling capabilities of drylands.

This Town Hall features the advances, findings, study design, and implementation plan for the proposed NASA Adaptation and Response in Drylands (ARID) Terrestrial Ecology Field Campaign. More information can be found about recent ARID scoping activities at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2024EF004811

Our goal is to both share the ARID scoping study’s determination of the big questions, data needs, and research opportunities for dryland science as well as seek feedback from the EGU audience on research and applications directions for ARID. We seek continued community perspectives on the most optimal approach for a multi-scale field campaign that revolutionizes the understanding, assessment, and modeling of our planet’s drylands in the context of climate impacts, mitigation and adaptation solutions, and decision-making opportunities for sustaining the Earth system and society.

Expected Outcomes
We have shared the campaign ideas with the United States-based and global research community throughout 2024, but expect that extensive new perspectives will be obtained from EGU conference attendees who we have not yet reached. Therefore, in reaching a broad community that EGU conference attendees encompass, our expected outcomes include (1) wider dissemination of the current ARID campaign design and implementation plan and (2) feedback on our campaign design at a critical time when elements of the campaign are being considered for near future implementation.

Target Audience
All researchers with an interest in dryland or seasonally dry ecosystems are welcome across career stages and across fields, including biogeosciences, hydrology, and atmospheric sciences.

The oral presentations are given in a hybrid format supported by a Zoom meeting featuring on-site and virtual presentations. The button to access the Zoom meeting appears just before the time block starts.