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An Earth System Data Record for
Land Surface Freeze/Thaw State:
Quantifying Terrestrial Water Mobility Constraints
to Global Ecosystem Processes |
"Welcome to the NASA
Freeze/Thaw Earth System Data Record (FT-ESDR) Web Interface.The FT-ESDR is a NASA
MEaSUREs (Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments) funded
effort to provide a consistent long-term global data record of land surface freeze/thaw
(FT) state dynamics for all vegetated regions where low temperatures are a major
constraint to ecosystem processes. The FT measurement is derived from temporal change
classification of global satellite microwave remote sensing time series, including
passive microwave radiometry from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and
Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E), and radar scatterometry
from SeaWinds-on-QuikSCAT. The ecological significance and basis of the FT measurement
from satellite microwave remote sensing is summarized in the literature (e.g., see
"Publications" section). The FT-ESDR is designed to:
1) distinguish FT heterogeneity in accordance with mesoscale climate and landscape
topographic features;
2) establish biophysical linkages between FT processes and vegetation productivity,
respiration and associated land-atmosphere carbon exchange;
3) distinguish FT dynamics in accordance with episodic weather events, annual anomalies,
periodic climate cycles and long-term climate change trajectories."
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