OVERVIEW OF THE DESDynI MISSION D eformation, E cosystem S tructure, Dyn amics of I ce K. Jon Ranson; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Paul Rosen; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Ralph Dubayah; University of Maryland College Park Bradford Hager; Mass. Institute of Technology Ian Joughin; University of Washington Scott Luthcke; NASA GSFC Bryan Blair; NASA GSFC Scott Hensley; JPL Yuhsyen Shen; JPL Gerry Daelemans; NASA GSFC IGARSS10 Honolula,HI Wednesday, July 28, 2010 08:20 - 08:40

October 2017 Launch 3 year mission Carbon, Climate & Natural Hazards Multi-beam Lidar Synthetic Aperture Radar

DESDynI Instruments GSFC Full waveform 1064 nm Beam Spacing <1 km Footprint spacing 30m Footprint diameter 25m 4. Instrument Design & Performance ~350km Flight Direction JPL Interferometric SAR Dual-Pol 3-Beams Quad-Pol 6-Beams Right or Left Looking L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Multi-beam Lidar 800 m

CANNOT CLOSE THE EARTH’S CARBON BUDGET. FOREST BIOMASS AND CHANGE FAR MORE UNCERTAIN THAN ICE! The global area of forest systems estimated to be reduced by one half over the past three centuries. Vegetation Biomass and Change Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report (2005)

Largest remaining uncertainties about the Earth’s carbon budget are in its terrestrial components. Global Carbon Budget Total storage and dynamics of carbon in the atmosphere is a critical element of the climate system . Knowing the emissions of carbon from, and the uptake by, terrestrial ecosystems is fundamental not only for understanding the natural carbon cycle but also for formulating sound global CO 2 emissions and energy strategies . The role that the biosphere plays in the global carbon cycle is still uncertain and the natural processes controlling the sinks of CO 2 and their geographic distribution are unknown.

Half of all human carbon emissions are reabsorbed by global ecosystems, one quarter by the earth’s forests. DESDYnI Ecosystems Measurements Why & where is the terrestrial carbon sink? How long can it continue in a changing climate?

DESDynI will provide significantly improved carbon cycle and climate change information CHARACTERIZE THE EFFECTS OF CHANGING CLIMATE AND LAND USE ON TERRESTRIAL CARBON CYCLE, ATMOSPHERIC CO2, AND SPECIES HABITATS Characterize global distribution of aboveground vegetation biomass with unprecedented accuracy Characterize first ever biome transects of habitat structure for biodiversity assessments Quantify changes in terrestrial biomass resulting from disturbance and recovery at unprecedented spatial resolution LiDAR SAR LiDAR SAR LiDAR

DESDynI will provide significantly improved understanding of land and sea ice dynamics CHARACTERIZE THE BEHAVIOR AND RESPONSE OF ICE SHEETS AND GLACIERS TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND THEIR IMPACT ON SEA LEVEL map ice-sheet and mountain glacier velocity interannually map Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice thickness map mean ice-sheet elevation map change in height (dh/dt) of ice-sheets and mountain-glaciers map sea-ice velocity map ice-sheet and mountain glacier velocity annually in three dimensions LiDAR InSAR LiDAR LiDAR InSAR InSAR

DESDynI Airborne Simulators L-Band Polarimetric Radar: Full Waveform LiDAR:

Sierra Nevada, CA 2008 NE US in 2009 Study Sites and Ground Measurements: Participants: NASA GSFC/JPL, Univ. of Maryland, Univ. of Michigan, Univ. of Maine, Boston Univ., CUNY, Harvard Univ., UCLA, and others. Measurements: Tree species, DBH, and height in 1 ha plots (subdivided into 16 @ 25 m subplots). DESDynI Field Campaigns

Lines mark the extent of ice Photo Credit: Dr. Dan McCarthy, Brock University http://www.nichols.edu/departments/glacier/glacier_retreat.htm Illecillewaet Glacier, Glacier National Park. Thank you