International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Research Articles

Land cover products provide critical information for monitoring and analyzing land surface changes. However, notable disagreement and incompatible classification systems among existing land cover products bring challenges in using them. Here, we developed a hierarchical International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) classification system and integrated four widely used land cover products (i.e., MODIS-IGBP, ESA-CCI, GlobeLand30, and GLC_FCS30) based on their accuracy against a collection of global reference samples. We generated a hybrid global annual land cover product (HYBMAP) with ~1 km (1/120°, 30″) spatial resolution from 2000 to 2020. The HYBMAP integrates information from the four products of high- and medium-resolution and reduces the disagreement between them by up to 20.1%. The overall accuracy of the HYBMAP is 75.5%, which is higher than the best of the four products (MODIS-IGBP, 70.9%). HYBMAP also integrates the temporal change information from the four products and identifies a faster growth of built-up lands. The HYBMAP provides more consistent and reliable global land cover time series data for global change research. It is free to access at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10488191 .

Physically-based parameter estimations are essential to improve the simulation performance of a hydrologic model and to produce physically reasonable parameters with spatial consistency. This study proposed a parameter derivation strategy to improve the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) model simulation performance based on the publicly accessible Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD). The HWSD soil properties were used to estimate the soil moisture characteristics, and the HWSD soil texture classifications and International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) land cover types were used to identify the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) runoff curve number (CN). After the soil moisture characteristics and CNs were identified, the major parameters of the SAC-SMA model were derived. The simulation results were evaluated using the Nash efficiency coefficient (NSEC), and Free Search (FS) algorithm was used to further adjust and calibrate the parameters. Compared with the simulation accuracy (NSEC = 0.66~0.88) and parameter transferability (NSEC = 0.22~0.83) obtained for the SAC-SMA model using directly calibrated parameters, the HWSD data-derived parameters allowed the SAC-SMA model to achieve a similar simulation accuracy (NSEC = 0.65~0.86) and a better transferability (NSEC = 0.61~0.85).

Will Steffen’s death has prompted the present article that attempts to summarise the many aspects of his contribution to our understanding of Earth System science, his role as an outstanding leader and communicator and the affection and respect he earned from his many colleagues, friends and associates. Personal recollections of Will from his time as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and as contributor to and fellow editor of the Anthropocene Review are also included.

Land surface temperature (LST) is a vital parameter associated with the land–atmosphere interface. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST product can provide precise LST with high time resolution, and is widely applied in various remote sensing temperature research. However, due to its inability to penetrate the cloud and fog, its quality is not able to meet the requirements of actual research. Hence, obtaining continuous and cloudless MODIS LST datasets remains challenging for researchers. The critical point is to reconstruct missing pixels. To compare the performance of different methods, first, three kinds of methods were used to reconstruct the missing pixels, namely, temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal methods. The predicted values using these methods were validated by the automatic weather system data (AWS) in the Heihe river basin of China. The results demonstrated that, compared with other methods, linear temporal interpolation using Aqua data had the best performance in MODIS LST reconstruction in the Heihe river basin, with an RMSE of 7.13 K and an R2 of 0.82, and the NSE and PBias were 0.78 and −0.76%, respectively. Furthermore, the interpolation method was improved using adaptive windows and robust regression. First, the international Geosphere–Biosphere Program (IGBP) classification was employed to distinguish the different land surface types. Then, the invalid LST values were reconstructed using adjacent days’ effective LST values combined with a robust regression. Finally, a mean filter was applied to eliminate outliers. The overall results combined with ERA5 data were validated by AWS, with an RMSE of 6.96 K and an R2 of 0.79 and the NSE and PBias were 0.77 and −0.20%, respectively. The validation demonstrated that the scheme proposed in this paper is able to accurately reconstruct the missing values and improve the accuracy of the interpolation method to a certain extent when reconstructing MODIS LST.

Global climate change is becoming increasingly prominent and has already begun to influence natural biological systems. Assessing the potential impact of climate change on ecosystems is an important research topic of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Based on current distribution data, climate data, climate change scenarios (RCP8.5 scenario, 2070–2099), and application of the MaxEnt model, this study assessed suitability and sensitivity of the potential distribution of Cyclobalanopsis glauca forests under climate change conditions in Guizhou Province. The results were as follows: (1) Area under the curve values of training data and texting data indicated excellent performance of the model; (2) Compared to the current climate, areas of probability <0.4 were decreased, and the other areas presented an increasing trend under the RCP8.5 scenario; (3) Positive sensitivity areas were much larger than negative sensitivity areas under climate change. In either case, slight sensitivity areas accounted for the largest proportion; (4) The mean altitude of slight sensitivity areas measured the lowest, and highly negative sensitivity areas were the highest.

Abstract. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Vegetation Continuous Fields (MODIS VCF) Earth observation product is widely used to estimate forest cover changes and to parameterize vegetation and Earth system models and as a reference for validation or calibration where field data are limited. However, although limited independent validations of MODIS VCF have shown that MODIS VCF's accuracy decreases when estimating tree cover in sparsely vegetated areas such as tropical savannas, no study has yet assessed the impact this may have on the VCF-based tree cover data used by many in their research. Using tropical forest and savanna inventory data collected by the Tropical Biomes in Transition (TROBIT) project, we produce a series of calibration scenarios that take into account (i) the spatial disparity between the in situ plot size and the MODIS VCF pixel and (ii) the trees' spatial distribution within in situ plots. To identify if a disparity also exists in products trained using VCF, we used a similar approach to evaluate the finer-scale Landsat Tree Canopy Cover (TCC) product. For MODIS VCF, we then applied our calibrations to areas identified as forest or savanna in the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) land cover mapping product. All IGBP classes identified as “savanna” show substantial increases in cover after calibration, indicating that the most recent version of MODIS VCF consistently underestimates woody cover in tropical savannas. We also found that these biases are propagated in the finer-scale Landsat TCC. Our scenarios suggest that MODIS VCF accuracy can vary substantially, with tree cover underestimation ranging from 0 % to 29 %. Models that use MODIS VCF as their benchmark could therefore be underestimating the carbon uptake in forest–savanna areas and misrepresenting forest–savanna dynamics. Because of the limited in situ plot number, our results are designed to be used as an indicator of where the product is potentially more or less reliable. Until more in situ data are available to produce more accurate calibrations, we recommend caution when using uncalibrated MODIS VCF data in tropical savannas.

Land surface temperature (LST) is an essential parameter widely used in environmental studies. The Medium Resolution Spectral Imager II (MERSI-II) boarded on the second generation Chinese polar-orbiting meteorological satellite, Fengyun-3D (FY-3D), provides a new opportunity for LST retrieval at a spatial resolution of 250 m that is higher than that of the already widely used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) LST data of 1000 m. However, there is no operational LST product from FY-3D MERSI-II data available for free access. Therefore, in this study, we developed an improved two-factor split-window algorithm (TFSWA) of LST retrieval from this data source as it has two thermal-infrared (TIR) bands. The essential coefficients of the TFSWA algorithm have been carefully and precisely estimated for the FY-3D MERSI-II TIR thermal bands. A new approach for estimating land surface emissivity has been developed using the ASTER Global Emissivity Database (ASTER GED) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) data. A model to estimate the atmospheric water vapor content (AWVC) from the three atmospheric water vapor absorption bands (bands 16, 17, and 18) has been developed as AWVC has been recognized as the most important factor determining the variation of AT. Using MODTRAN 5.2, the equations for the AT estimate from the retrieved AWVC were established. In addition, the AT of the pixels at the far edge of FY-3D MERSI-II data may be strongly affected by the increase of the optical path. Viewing zenith angle (VZA) correction equations were proposed in the study to correct this effect on AT estimation. Field data from four stations were applied to validate the improved TFSWA in the study. Cross-validation with MODIS LST (MYD11) was also conducted to evaluate the improved TFSWA. The cross-validation result indicates that the FY-3D MERSI-II LST from the improved TFSWA are comparable with MODIS LST while the correlation coefficients between FY-3D MERSI-II LST and MODIS LST over the Mid-East China region are in the range of 0.84~0.98 for different seasons and land cover types. Validation with 318 field LST samples indicates that the average MAE and R2 of the scenes at the four stations are about 1.97 K and 0.98, respectively. Thus, it could be concluded that the improved TFSWA developed in the study can be a good algorithm for LST retrieval from FY-3D MERSI-II data with acceptable accuracy.

The burden placed by human activities on Earth is ever-increasing. Global environmental changes have profoundly affected the Earth’s core systems and processes, thus, risking their stability. These core systems and processes are described in the planetary boundary framework. The drastic rate of environmental change over the last 200 years, which is also known as the Great Acceleration, has been depicted graphically by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program. This study is aimed to (1) examine the conceptions of students and scientists regarding socioeconomic growth within planetary boundaries, and (2) develop instructional guidelines based on the comparison of their conceptions. Accordingly, relevant conceptions of 22 junior and 20 senior secondary school students were analyzed. Scientists’ conceptions were extracted by thoroughly analyzing nine publications, which were selected by systematic literature search. Student statements and scientific inferences were coded following established protocols. Our results indicated that junior and senior secondary school students considered global population growth to be the primary cause of global environmental changes. On the contrary, the scientists considered the quantity of natural resources consumed by rich countries in their economic pursuits as the most critical factor in environmental degradation. Based on our findings, we proposed instructional guidelines for planning lessons on changing current socioeconomic systems to enable humans to live within planetary boundaries.

Soil carbon (SC) is a key component of the carbon cycle and plays an important role in climate change; however, quantitatively assessing SC dynamics at the regional scale remains challenging. Earth system model (ESM) that considers multiple environmental factors and spatial heterogeneity has become a powerful tool to explore carbon cycle-climate feedbacks, although the performance of the ESM is diverse and highly uncertain. Thus, identifying reliable ESMs is a prerequisite for better understanding the response of SC dynamics to human activity and climate change. The 16 ESMs that participated in the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) were employed to evaluate the skill performance of SC density simulation by comparison with reference data from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Data and Information System (IGBP-DIS). Although ESMs generally reflect spatial patterns with lower SC in northwest China and higher SC in southeast China, 11 of 16 ESMs underestimated the SC in China, and 5 of 16 ESMs overestimated the SC density as most ESMs had large discrepancies in capturing the SC density in the northern high latitudes of China and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. According to a series of model performance statistics, SC simulated by Institute Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) Coupled Model had a close spatial pattern with IGBP-DIS and showed higher skills for SC predictions in China relative to other CMIP5 ESMs. The multimodel ensemble average obtained by IPSL family ESMs showed that SC density exhibited increasing trends under both the RCP4.5 scenario and RCP8.5 scenario. The SC density increased slowly under RCP8.5 compared with that under RCP4.5 and even displayed a decreasing trend in the late 21st century. The findings of this study can provide a reference for identifying the shortcomings of SC predictions in China and guide SC parameterization improvement in ESMs.

ABSTRACT Land change modeling (LCM) is a complex GIS procedure aiming at predicting land cover changes in the future, contributing thus to the design of interventions that help maintain ecosystem services and mitigate climate change impacts. In the present work, the land change model for Greece, a typical Mediterranean country, has been developed, based on historical information from remotely sensed land cover data. Land cover types based on the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) classification were obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover product, i.e. MCD12Q1, provided annually from 2001 to 2018 at a spatial resolution of 500 m. Initially, the dominant land cover changes and their driving variables for the decade of 2001 to 2011 were determined and the transition potential of land was mapped using a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network. Four dominant land-cover transformations were found in Greece from 2001 to 2011, i.e. land transformation from Savannas to Woody Savannas, from Savannas to Grasslands, from Grasslands to Savannas, and from Croplands to Grasslands. Driving variables were found to be the Evidence Likelihood of Land Cover, i.e. the relative frequency with which different land cover categories occurred within the areas that transitioned, the Altitude as realized in the Digital Elevation Model of Greece from ASTER GDEM, the Distance from previously changed land and two climate variables i.e. Mean Annual Precipitation and Mean Annual Minimum Temperature. After the model was calibrated, its predictive ability was tested for land cover prediction for 2018 and was found to be 96.7%. Future land cover projections up to 2030 were developed incorporating CMIP6 climate data under two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), i.e SSP126 corresponding to a sustainable future and SSP585, which describes the future world based on fossil-fueled development. The results indicate that major historical land transformations in Greece, do not correspond to land degradation or desertification, as it has been reported in previous works. On the contrary, the land cover transitions indicate that the Woody Savannas gain areas constantly, whereas Grasslands and Croplands lose areas, and forested areas of all types demonstrate moderate gains. Concerning future land cover, the present work indicates that the direction of historical changes will also prevail in the next decade, with the most severe scenario, i.e. SSP585 slowing down the rate of changes and the most sustainable one, i.e. SSP126, accelerating the rate of expansion of woody vegetation land cover type.

The discovery of grassland field, form and biomass in China was central to the sustainable development of grassland. In this study, the realistic spatial distribution patterns of grasslands were clarified through the combination of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) and the Comprehensive and Sequential Classification System (CSCS). An optimal net primary productivity (NPP) model suitable for Chinese grasslands was introduced by integrating the classification indices-based model (CIM) with the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and comparing it with the standard classical model (Miami, Schuur, CIM, CASA model). Using the optimal model as the algorithm basis, the net primary production spatial pattern of grassland in China was determined. The results showed that: (1) the total area of grassland was ~374.3 × 104 km2 in 2018, mainly distributed in north-western China. Among the grassland super-class groups, Tundra and alpine steppe were largest, and Warm desert smallest; (2) the optimal modified CIM had the highest prediction efficiency, and the overall accuracy was higher than the standard classical model (Miami, Schuur, CIM, CASA model). It achieved the accurate calculation of grassland NPP in China; (3) different grassland super-class groups had different carbon fixation efficiency per unit area, resulting in huge differences in total NPP. Among the various grassland super-class groups, the temperate humid grassland, steppe, tundra and alpine steppe had high conversion efficiency per unit area of NPP, whereas that for warm desert and the savanna was low. The total NPP was 388.04 × 1012 g C/year in the study area in 2018. The results provide a basis for the rational arrangement of grassland ecological and productive functions, and are significant for developing a new strategy of grassland classification management in China.

South Asian regional cooperation with the International Nitrogen Initiative and the India-led UN Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management (UNEP/EA.4/L.16) brought South Asia into global focus. Here, we reflect upon its proactive scientific community, growing scientific capacity, and international collaborations, which have enabled the emergence of the UKRI-GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub, which has great potential both regionally and globally. South Asian regional cooperation with the International Nitrogen Initiative and the India-led UN Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management (UNEP/EA.4/L.16) brought South Asia into global focus. Here, we reflect upon its proactive scientific community, growing scientific capacity, and international collaborations, which have enabled the emergence of the UKRI-GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub, which has great potential both regionally and globally. Reactive nitrogen (Nr) can be a boon in the right place and a bane in the wrong place. Elemental nitrogen (N2) is predominant in the air we breathe (78%) and is relatively unreactive and harmless. However, Nr compounds containing oxygen, hydrogen, or carbon—although essential for the very existence of life on this planet—threaten its sustainability when they accumulate in the environment. The voluntary efforts of scientists globally to bring international and intergovernmental attention to Nr over the last two decades culminated in the India-led Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management (UNEP/EA.4/L.16)1United Nations Environment ProgrammeResolution adopted by the United Nations Environment Assembly on 15 March 2019: sustainable nitrogen management. United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme, fourth session, Nairobi, March 11–15, 2019. UNEP/EA.4/L.16.https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/28478/English.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=yDate: 2019Google Scholar adopted at the 4th UN Environment Assembly (UNEA4) in March 2019. This article reflects on the emergence of South Asia as a major hub of these efforts and its future potential. The biogeochemical cycle of Nr depends on the abiotic and biotic worlds for interconverting its inorganic and organic forms to sustain the planet. This involves “fixation” of some atmospheric N2 into Nr and “denitrification” of excess Nr back to N2. Since the invention of agriculture in Asia over 11,000 years ago, exploiting natural biological nitrogen fixation in symbiotic legumes has supported human population growth and civilization sustainably for millennia.2Galloway J.N. Raghuram N. Abrol Y.P. A perspective on reactive nitrogen in global, Asian and Indian context.Curr. Sci. 2008; 94: 1375-1381Google Scholar The industrial era brought in Nr emissions as by-products of the combustion of fossil fuels for energy and transport, and the advent of the Haber-Bosch process after 1908 enabled industrial nitrogen fixation, initially for fertilizers and later for war munitions. The resulting anthropogenic conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into reactive forms exceeded all of Earth’s terrestrial processes combined by well over 2-fold.2Galloway J.N. Raghuram N. Abrol Y.P. A perspective on reactive nitrogen in global, Asian and Indian context.Curr. Sci. 2008; 94: 1375-1381Google Scholar This nitrogen pollution continues unabated today with the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), ammonia (NH3), or nitrous oxide (N2O) in air and nitrates (NO3−) in water, among others. They have been affecting our health, causing eutrophication of water bodies, altering biodiversity, and worsening climate change. N2O is a greenhouse gas with 298 times more global warming potential than CO2, whereas NOx has ten times more potential. In addition, NOx pollution has serious implications for human health, including respiratory disorders due to NO23Achakulwisut P. Brauer M. Hystad P. Anenberg S.C. Global, national, and urban burdens of paediatric asthma incidence attributable to ambient NO2 pollution: estimates from global datasets.Lancet Planet. Health. 2019; 3: e166-e178Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (155) Google Scholar (Figure 1). Nitrates and NH3 can contribute to fine particulate matter (PM) in air, constituting up to half of the constituents of PM 2.5 and PM 5, causing serious respiratory, cardiovascular, and other diseases over prolonged exposure. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally, over 7 million people die each year as a result of PM pollution (https://www.who.int/airpollution/en/). The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) recognized Nr as one of the emerging threats to the planet in its Frontiers 2018/19 report.4Sutton M.A. Raghuram N. Adhya T. Baron J. Cox C. de Vries W. Hicks K. Howard C. Ju X. Kanter D. et al.The nitrogen fix: from nitrogen cycle pollution to nitrogen circular economy.in: Frontiers 2018/19: Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern. United Nations Environment Programme, 2019: 52-65http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11822/27543Google Scholar This report provided timely impetus to the UNEA4 Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management,1United Nations Environment ProgrammeResolution adopted by the United Nations Environment Assembly on 15 March 2019: sustainable nitrogen management. United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme, fourth session, Nairobi, March 11–15, 2019. UNEP/EA.4/L.16.https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/28478/English.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=yDate: 2019Google Scholar which itself emerged in South Asia and was led by India. South Asia is one of the most populous and fastest growing regions in the world. With less than 5% of the world’s land mass, 14% of global arable land, 2.73% of the world’s forest area, and 4% of the world’s coastline, it supports over 25% of the world’s population or over 45% of Asia’s population. The region’s ecosystem services are under pressure, and its countries are already parties to all three Rio Conventions (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCC], Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD], and UN Convention to Combat Desertification), the Manila Declaration (2012) on nutrient pollution, and the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management. There are several South Asian regional intergovernmental mechanisms, such as the South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP), the South Asian Seas Programme, the South Asia Environment and Natural Resources Information center, the South Asia Coral Reef Task Force, the Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and its likely transboundary effects, and the South Asia Biodiversity Clearing House Mechanism. Although the South Asian Nitrogen Assessment is still underway, it is becoming increasingly clear that South Asia is one of the global hotspots for Nr pollution in that NOx, N2O, and NH3 are causing air pollution5Van Damme M. Clarisse L. Whitburn S. Hadji-Lazaro J. Hurtmans D. Clerbaux C. Coheur P.F. Industrial and agricultural ammonia point sources exposed.Nature. 2018; 564: 99-103https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0747-1Crossref PubMed Scopus (185) Google Scholar,6Tian H. Xu R. Canadell J.G. Thompson R.L. Winiwarter W. Suntharalingam P. Davidson E.A. Ciais P. Jackson R.B. Janssens-Maenhout G. et al.A comprehensive quantification of global nitrous oxide sources and sinks.Nature. 2020; 586: 248-256https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2780-0Crossref PubMed Scopus (251) Google Scholar and nitrates are causing water pollution.7Global Ocean Oxygen NetworkThe ocean is losing its breath: declining oxygen in the world’s ocean and coastal waters.in: Breitburg D. Gregoire M. Isensee K. IOC-UNESCO, IOC technical series no. 137, IOC/2018/TS/137. 2018https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/265196eng.pdfGoogle Scholar In relative quantitative terms, water pollution seems to be the highest in the region, and this is followed by air pollution due to ammonia, NOx, and N2O in that order.8Sutton M.A. Drewer J. Moring A. Adhya T. Ahmad A. Bhatia A. Brownlie W. Dragosits U. Ghude S.D. Hillier J. et al.The Indian nitrogen challenge in a global perspective.in: Abrol Y.P. Adhya T.K. Aneja V.P. Raghuram N. Pathak H. Kulshrestha U. Sharma C. Singh B. The Indian Nitrogen Assessment: Sources of Reactive Nitrogen, Environmental and Climate Effects, Management Options, and Policies. Elsevier, 2017: 9-28Crossref Scopus (7) Google Scholar Agriculture and livestock are the major contributors to ammonia and N2O pollution of air, and sewage is fast emerging as a major contributor to nitrogenous air and water pollution in the region. Indeed, N2O replaced methane as the second most important greenhouse gas from Indian agriculture over 15 years ago, and this could be true for other major agrarian countries in the region. Recent global estimates of the incidence of childhood asthma attributable to NO2 air pollution (a major constituent of NOx) indicate its importance in South Asia as well (Figure 1). The contribution of NH3, nitric acid (HNO3), and other N compounds to PM is a serious issue in South Asia. According to the WHO, most of the world’s worst cities in terms of PM 2.5 pollution are in South Asia, which also accounts for the largest number of deaths due to air pollution globally (https://www.who.int/airpollution/en/). Building on the global awareness of nitrogen pollution developed by the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI), the Indian Nitrogen Assessment included a review on the health impacts of Nr.9Gupta S.K. Gupta A.B. Gupta R. Pathophysiology of nitrate toxicity in humans in view of the changing trends of the global nitrogen cycle with special reference to India.in: Abrol Y.P. Adhya T.K. Aneja V.P. Raghuram N. Pathak H. Kulshrestha U. Sharma C. Singh B. The Indian Nitrogen Assessment: Sources of Reactive Nitrogen, Environmental and Climate Effects, Management Options, and Policies. Elsevier, 2017: 459-468Crossref Scopus (7) Google Scholar The need for an international organization to highlight the scientific and policy aspects of Nr was first felt in 1998 during the First International Nitrogen Conference held in the Netherlands and crystallized in 2001 during the Second International Nitrogen Conference held in the US. The INI’s eventual formation in 2003 was co-sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, both originally established by the International Science Council (then the ICSU). The INI’s main goal has been to optimize nitrogen’s beneficial role in sustainable food production and minimize nitrogen’s negative effects on human health and the environment from food and energy production. It grew rapidly with regional representatives in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and now Australia (https://initrogen.org/). Around the same time, the Indian Nitrogen Group (ING) was independently taking shape as a voluntary network of Indian scientists under the Society for Conservation of Nature (SCON), a registered non-governmental organization (NGO) based in New Delhi (https://www.scon-india.org/). Soon, the ING and INI came into contact with each other and set up a South Asian Nitrogen Centre for the INI (Figure 2), and China continued to represent the countries of East Asia. Over the years, the INI has become a major international voice on scientific and policy aspects of Nr. It has been consistently highlighting the growing importance of Nr through scientific collaborations, science dissemination, policy messages, and stakeholder engagement with governments, the UN, civil society, and the fertilizer industry. The INI’s policy briefs and conference declarations have been as important as research articles in mobilizing wider awareness. The INI’s Third International Nitrogen Conference (2004) brought out the Nanjing Declaration on Nitrogen Management. This was followed by the Delhi Declaration on Reactive Nitrogen Management for Sustainable Development (2010), the Kampala Statement-for-Action on Reactive Nitrogen in Africa and Globally (2013), and the Melbourne Declaration on Responsible Nitrogen Management for a Sustainable Future (2016) during the fifth, sixth, and seventh INI conferences, respectively (Figure 2). They were all submitted to UN agencies and disseminated widely among all stakeholders. The forthcoming eighth INI conference in Berlin (2021), sponsored and hosted by a national government (Germany) for the first time, amply indicates the INI’s impact on the global nitrogen landscape. The INI and its South Asian representatives had important roles in ensuring that nitrogen became an important focus in the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM), currently chaired by India, under the UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities. Nutrient pollution due to nitrogen and phosphorus compounds that cause eutrophication of marine ecosystems mostly emerged from terrestrial activities such as agriculture and industry and needed to be addressed at the source. The representation of the INI chair and the ING on the GPNM steering committee, as well as the establishment of its nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) task force, provided a strong impetus for the UNEP to engage with nitrogen. Its Asia focus was obvious in the GPNM’s Global Nutrient Cycling project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by UNEP (2012–2016). It mainly focused on two highly populous but contrasting developing-country sites, the urban Manila Bay in the Philippines and the rural Chilika Lagoon on the east coast of India. An interesting insight that emerged during this project was that the nutrient pollution of Manila Bay was not entirely urban and was also affected by agricultural runoffs into the adjacent lake, Laguna de Bay (https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/paralysed-growth-lake-under-siege). Similarly, the nutrient loading of Chilika Lagoon was not entirely from rural or agricultural runoffs and included urban effluents from the nearby urban areas (http://www.nutrientchallenge.org/sites/default/files/documents/files/Chilika%20Rpt%20Card_A4%20web.pdf). These findings highlighted the importance of understanding local and regional linkages to global assessments, especially when they are intended for intergovernmental cooperation. The success of this project and that of the first global overview on nutrient management10Sutton M.A. Bleeker A. Howard C.M. Bekunda M. Grizzetti B. de Vries W. van Grinsven H.J.M. Abrol Y.P. Adhya T.K. Billen G. et al.Our nutrient world: the challenge to produce more food and energy with less pollution. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology on behalf of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management and the International Nitrogen Initiative, 2013http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11822/10747Google Scholar prepared by the GPNM and INI led to a dedicated major project on nitrogen. This ongoing $6 million GEF project is titled “Targeted research for improving understanding of the global nitrogen cycle toward the establishment of an international nitrogen management system (INMS).” It is being implemented by the UNEP, executed by the INI, and hosted at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (https://www.thegef.org/project/targeted-research-improving-understanding-global-nitrogen-cycle-towards-establishment). It includes tools for understanding and managing the global nitrogen cycle; quantifying N flows, threats, and benefits; and regionally demonstrating the full nitrogen approach, among others (https://inms.international/). Learning from the previous global carbon assessments, this project combines seven regional nitrogen studies in all the INI regions, including the first ever South Asian Nitrogen Assessment, due to be published in 2022. The establishment of the ING in 2006 and the INI South Asian Nitrogen Centre in New Delhi in 2008, which co-hosted the INI’s Fifth International Nitrogen Conference in 2010, galvanized interdisciplinary expertise on nitrogen at the national and regional levels in South Asia. This was initially spearheaded by a civil society organization (the SCON) and later by the Sustainable India Trust (SIT), both voluntary NGOs free from institutional rigidities of universities and national laboratories. These organizations also built the agenda for the International Nitrogen Assessment at a side event during the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the CBD in Hyderabad, India, in 2012. Event no. 2776, titled “The challenge to produce more food & energy with less pollution: toward a global nitrogen assessment,” was organized in association with the INI and UNEP-GPNM to highlight the linkages between nitrogen, nutrients, and the 20 CBD-Aichi Targets set in 2010 to be met by 2020. However, they remain unmet by most countries to date, although India has exceeded most of its targets (https://www.cbd.int/aichi-targets/). Even as the ING was championing the cause of Nr through brainstorming meetings with various Indian ministries and other stakeholders, the first opportunity for regional intergovernmental engagement in South Asia came in 2013. The SACEP commissioned a study entitled “Nutrient loading and eutrophication of coastal waters of the South Asian seas” under a UNEP-funded project. This scoping study outlined the nitrogen losses to freshwater and marine environments and consequent threats to critical marine habitats and suggested coordinated interventions through intergovernmental cooperation (http://www.sacep.org/pdf/Scoping_study_on_Nutrient_loading_in_SAS_Region.pdf). The acceptance of this study report by South Asian member governments was an important milestone in the regional recognition of Nr as an important issue and laid the foundation for the ongoing South Asian nitrogen assessment. The Global Overview on Nutrient Management10Sutton M.A. Bleeker A. Howard C.M. Bekunda M. Grizzetti B. de Vries W. van Grinsven H.J.M. Abrol Y.P. Adhya T.K. Billen G. et al.Our nutrient world: the challenge to produce more food and energy with less pollution. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology on behalf of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management and the International Nitrogen Initiative, 2013http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11822/10747Google Scholar mentioned earlier also offered regional insights on nitrogen pollution in South Asia. These efforts demonstrated the scientific capacity and boosted the appetite for national and regional nitrogen assessment as the best way to join global efforts through intergovernmental cooperation.11Raghuram N. Abrol Y.P. Pathak H.K. Adhya T.K. Tiwari M.K. South Asian Nitrogen Centre: capacity building for regional N assessment and management.in: Sutton M.A. Mason K.E. Bleeker A. Hicks W.K. Masso C. Raghuram N. Reis S. Bekunda M. Just Enough Nitrogen. Perspectives on How to Get There for Regions with Too Much and Too Little Nitrogen. Springer, 2020: 467-479https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58065-0_32Crossref Google Scholar After global interest in nitrogen was triggered by the European Nitrogen Assessment,12Sutton M.A. Howard C.M. Erisman J.W. Billen G. Bleeker A. Grennfelt P. van Grinsven H.J.M. Grizzetti B. The European Nitrogen Assessment. Cambridge University Press, 2011Crossref Google Scholar a major impetus for South Asian leadership came from the comprehensive Indian Nitrogen Assessment.13Abrol Y.P. Adhya T.K. Aneja V.P. Raghuram N. Pathak H. Kulshrestha U. Sharma C. Singh B. The Indian Nitrogen Assessment: Sources of Reactive Nitrogen, Environmental and Climate Effects, Management Options, and Policies. Elsevier, 2017Google Scholar Indian scientists carried it out in citizen-science mode without waiting for the Indian government’s commissioning or funding. They compiled published data on the Indian sources and sinks of anthropogenic Nr in all sectors of human activity and on the potential to reduce nitrogen pollution and included an assessment of the nitrogen policies and scenarios.14Bhattacharya S. Adhya T.K. Pathak H. Raghuram N. Sharma C. Issues and policies for reactive nitrogen management.in: Abrol Y.P. Adhya T.K. Aneja V.P. Raghuram N. Pathak H. Kulshrestha U. Sharma C. Singh B. The Indian Nitrogen Assessment: Sources of Reactive Nitrogen, Environmental and Climate Effects, Management Options, and Policies. Elsevier, 2017: 491-512Crossref Scopus (5) Google Scholar Such a national-scale assessment was to provide scientific support to the Indian government for informed domestic actions, as well as for international negotiations on nitrogen. This led to envisaging “India as an emerging nitrogen champion.”8Sutton M.A. Drewer J. Moring A. Adhya T. Ahmad A. Bhatia A. Brownlie W. Dragosits U. Ghude S.D. Hillier J. et al.The Indian nitrogen challenge in a global perspective.in: Abrol Y.P. Adhya T.K. Aneja V.P. Raghuram N. Pathak H. Kulshrestha U. Sharma C. Singh B. The Indian Nitrogen Assessment: Sources of Reactive Nitrogen, Environmental and Climate Effects, Management Options, and Policies. Elsevier, 2017: 9-28Crossref Scopus (7) Google Scholar The civil-society umbrella provided by the SCON and SIT also proved instrumental in formulating the proposal for a preliminary South Asian Nitrogen Assessment under the INMS project. These bodies established a partnership with regional governments through the SACEP, which hosted the first meeting of South Asian partners in Malé, Maldives, in September 2017. Based on the previous INI conference declarations and the Indian Nitrogen Assessment, a draft resolution on “sustainable nitrogen management” was adopted for submission to the UN Environment Assembly. The SACEP mobilized support for its member countries for this resolution, which was submitted to the UNEP by the governments of India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh in 2018. The Indian government also highlighted Nr and the Indian Nitrogen Assessment during the World Environment Day celebrations hosted in New Delhi in 2018. Eventually, the nitrogen resolution was piloted and successfully negotiated by Indian diplomats in the fourth UN Environment Assembly (March 2019) with the scientific support of the INI and INMS. The passage of the UN resolution was a historic moment for Indian and South Asian leadership on the global issue of Nr. The above successes were primarily led by scientists and were partly aided by international projects. But they cannot be sustained without liberal investments from the member countries of South Asia and the rest of the world. The Indian government utilized one such opportunity to support research by, jointly with the UK, investing in four virtual centers focusing on rice (Newton-Bhabha Virtual Centre on Nitrogen Efficiency of Whole Cropping Systems [NEWS India-UK]), wheat (Indo-UK Centre for the Improvement of Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Wheat), millets and others (Cambridge-India Network in Translational Nitrogen), and legumes (India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre) during the period of 2016–2019. NEWS India-UK combined plant science, agronomic, and environmental aspects to provide insights on agricultural nitrogen management from the laboratory to the national scale. Its highlights include the phenotype for NUE in rice;15Sharma N. Sinha V.B. Gupta N. Rajpal S. Kuchi S. Sitaramam V. Parsad R. Raghuram N. Phenotyping for nitrogen use efficiency (NUE): rice genotypes differ in N-responsive germination, oxygen consumption, seed urease activities, root growth, crop duration and yield at low N.Front. Plant Sci. 2018; https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01452Crossref Scopus (21) Google Scholar,16Sharma N. Sinha V.B. Arun Prem Kumar N. Subrahmanyam D. Neeraja C.N. Kuchi S. Jha A. Parsad R. Sitaramam V. Raghuram N. et al.Nitrogen use efficiency phenotype and associated genes: roles of germination, flowering, root/shoot length and biomass.Front. Plant Sci. 2020; https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.587464Crossref Scopus (7) Google Scholar emission reduction with neem-coated urea; the potential to replace 50% urea with manure and biofertilizer; whole farm system models for rice, wheat, and sorghum; ammonia inventories; and national budgets for agricultural nitrogen. Another highlight was the development of the first ever massive open online course on Nr, launched in several languages by the University of Edinburgh on the Edex platform (https://www.edx.org/course/nitrogen-a-global-challenge). The success of NEWS India-UK’s bilateral project involving past and current INI chairs, along with their involvement in the GEF-UNEP project on the INMS, paved the way for a more extensive South Asian partnership on Nr research and policy (Figure 2). This ongoing £20 million project (2019–2023) funded through the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), entitled “GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH),” involves 40 institutions all over South Asia and the UK and is led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Through the INMS and SANH projects, several consultations and workshops were held throughout 2019 in Kathmandu, Nairobi, Dhaka, Malé, New Delhi, and Chennai. These contributed to the launch of the UN Global Campaign on Sustainable Nitrogen Management at a high-level summit hosted by the Sri Lankan government in Colombo in October 2019. This campaign is now promoting the goal to “halve nitrogen waste” by 2030, highlighting the multiple benefits across all the UN Sustainable Development Goals.17Sutton M.A. Howard C.M. Adhya T.K. Baker E. Baron J. Basir A. Brownlie W. Cordovil C. de Vries W. Eory V. et al.Nitrogen: grasping the challenge. A manifesto for science-in-action through the International Nitrogen Management System. Summary report. UNEP-SL/UNGC/Res.L.14/INF/6. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, 2019https://papersmart.unon.org/resolution/uploads/nitrogen_grasping_the_challenge_1.9_summary_version.pdfGoogle Scholar The Colombo declaration built on the UNEA4 Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management. This was followed by the establishment of the UNEP Nitrogen Working Group in 2020, which included a national representative from each member country and whose goal was to work toward the establishment of an inter-convention nitrogen coordination mechanism involving the UNFCC, CBD, and UN Economic Commission for Europe, among others. These developments further strengthened the UNEP-INI-INMS-SACEP-SANH partnership and enabled South Asian leadership on nitrogen while building wider international support. It is becoming increasingly clear in South Asia that reducing nitrogen pollution is possible and a necessary policy goal for every country in the region. The current policies for monitoring and controlling Nr are neither uniform nor adequate in any of the region’s countries. As nitrogen pollution emerges from different sectors (e.g., agriculture, energy, transport, and industry) governed by different ministries and departments in South Asian countries, assigning nodal ministries for each nitrogen pollutant could help avoid the complications of inter-ministerial coordination. Policy interventions for sustainable nitrogen management can include technology choices, emission and effluent standards, taxes, subsidies, and public procurement pricing. Because pollution sensitivity can be different for human consumption (air, water, or food), forests, rivers, marine produce, or coral systems, it is highly desirable to have ecosystem-specific standards for best results to protect ecosystem services and livelihoods. The solutions to reduce nitrogen pollution require increasing the fertilizer nitrogen equivalence value of animal manure and recycling wastewater nutrients; reducing fossil fuel dependence in power, transport, and industry; promoting energy-efficient gadgets and systems; reducing food waste and meat consumption, etc. The available global best practices need to be adapted to local situations, apart from developing and adopting new technologies to recapture and reuse Nr. Regional intergovernmental coordination is also important because of the emerging evidence that nitrogen pollution spills across borders through air and water, affecting neighboring countries in the region. It is not only possible but also highly desirable to develop a common policy framework for South Asian cooperation for national and regional nitrogen assessment and management. It also helps to coordinate a regional approach for global implementation of the UN Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management. There is adequate scientific capacity in the region to support evidence-based policy interventions. If necessary, the INI and others can supplement it with their international scientific expertise to realize the full potential for South Asian leadership toward sustainable nitrogen management both regionally and globally. This work was supported in part by UK Research and Innovation under the “GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub” ( NE/S009019/1 ) and the Global Environment Facility under the UN Environment Programme project “Towards the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS)” (GEF Project ID 5400). The authors thank Navjyoti Chakraborty for his assistance in developing the template for Figure 2.

The Combined ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Emissivity over Land (CAMEL) Version 2 (V002) has been available since March 2019 from the NASA LP DAAC (Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center) and provides global, monthly infrared land surface emissivity and uncertainty at 0.05 degrees (~5 km) resolution. A climatology of the CAMEL V002 product is now available at the same spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution, covering the CAMEL record from 2000 to 2016. Characterization of the climatology over case sites and IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme) land cover categories shows the climatology is a stable representation of the monthly CAMEL emissivity. Time series of the monthly CAMEL V002 product show realistic seasonal changes but also reveal subtle artifacts known to be from calibration and processing errors in the MODIS MxD11 emissivity. The use of the CAMEL V002 climatology mitigates many of these time dependent errors by providing an emissivity estimate which represents the complete 16-year record. The CAMEL V002 climatology’s integration into RTTOV (Radiative Transfer for TOVS) v12 is demonstrated through the simulation of IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) radiances. Improved stability in CAMEL Version 3 is expected in the future with the incorporation of the new MxD21 and VIIRS VNP21 emissivity products in MODIS Collection 6.1.

The natural shift in land cover from non-vegetated to vegetated land is termed as vegetation expansion, which has substantial impacts on regional climate conditions and land surface energy balance. Barrens dominate the northwestern Tibetan Plateau, where vegetation is predicted to expand northwestward with the ongoing climate warming. However, rare studies have confirmed such a forecast with large-scale vegetation monitoring. In this study, we used a landcover dataset, classified according to the International Geosphere–Biosphere Program criteria, to examine previous model-based predictions and the role of climate on the expansion rate across the plateau. Our results showed that shrublands, open forests, grasslands, and water bodies expanded while evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests, croplands and barrens shrank during the period 2001–2018. Vegetation expanded by 33,566 km2 accounting for about 1.3% of the total area of this plateau and the land cover shifting from barrens to grasslands was the primary way of vegetation expansion. Spatially, the vegetation expanded northwestward to lands with colder, drier, and more radiation in the climate. Increasing precipitation positively correlated with the vegetation expansion rate for the arid and semi-arid northwest Tibetan Plateau and warming contributed to the vegetation expanding in the semi-humid southeast Tibetan Plateau. Our results verified the predictions of models and highlighted the “greening” on barrens in recent years.

In this article we discuss two phases in the evolution of global environmental programs, namely the Man and Biosphere Programme and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, with the aim of showing their hidden diplomatic ambitions from both US and Soviet perspectives. In the 1960s and 1970s, Soviet views on the biosphere prevailed thanks to the influence of Soviet scientists in the International Council of Scientific Unions and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In the 1980s, the domination of this field by US scientists ushered in the establishment of Earth system science as a new research trend based on Earth observation technologies. We argue that despite the influence of Soviet ecologists in directing international coordination of research on the biosphere, Earth system science did not set in a trajectory of environmental cooperation. This outcome can be explained if we take the environmental and ecological turn that arose during the Cold War as being intertwined with political concerns and national interests in both the US and the USSR. Security, scientific diplomacy, and geopolitical issues limited East-West collaboration on the interdisciplinary study of the earth, which instead turned into a sort of cooperative antagonism. The transition from biosphere studies to Earth system science reveals a changing strategy toward environmental problems, which in turn reflects changes in Cold War policy. This essay is part of a special issue entitled Science Diplomacy, edited by Giulia Rispoli and Simone Turchetti.

The unified model (Version: UM10.4) wind gust prediction system using rose nesting suite at 300 m resolution over the Incheon international airport (IIA) is carried out, and the prediction results of multiple domain nesting with input initial and lateral boundary conditions from the Korea meteorological administration (KMA) operational global data assimilation and prediction system (GDAPS) are compared with the operational local data assimilation and prediction system and the observed automated weather stations (AWS) dataset. The 300 m nested prediction system over the IIA is built from the 17 km GDAPS output in KMA; it is downscaled with a multiple nesting domains to 300 m resolution from the GDAPS, here after called as IIA-300 m. The model results are validated against the AWS to see the accuracy of the IIA-300 m model’s skill in predicting the wind gust over the IIA. The nesting suite is run with the default ancillary files created by the central ancillary program 9.0 (CAP 9.0) as well as modified ancillary files created by modifying the land points over IIA region using an ancillary editor. The UM model wind prediction is done with both ancillary files to see the improvements achieved by adding additional land points over the IIA domain. Further the vegetation fraction from the international geosphere-biosphere program (IGBP) data classified as 9 tiles in the ancillary file is replaced by the environmental-geographic information system (E-GIS) data to see the effect on the UM model’s wind gust predictions. The prediction of two wind gust events on 30-August-2016 and 02-October-2016 reveals only modest improvements in the prediction with respect to AWS observations, even after the modification of ancillaries with land points over the IIA domain, and only minor improvements are noted for the vegetation fraction replacement from IGBP to E-GIS vegetation dataset over the Incheon International Airport and exhibited only a marginal wind speed decrease due to warming up of the land part, particularly on the peripheries of the IIA-domain.

Limnology and Oceanography BulletinVolume 29, Issue 2 p. 33-42 ASLO AwardsFree Access ASLO 2020 Award Winners First published: 12 May 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/lob.10371AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Every year, ASLO honors scientists for their exceptional work in advancing the fields of limnology and oceanography. The announcement for each of the 2020 ASLO Awards is available on the ASLO website at http://bit.ly/ASLOAwards. This year, rather than reprinting the announcements, we wanted to give the awardees the opportunity to talk about their career in their own words. You can also hear the awardees speak on the ASLO's YouTube channel. The 2020 ASLO Awards presentations at the 2020 Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Diego, CA, were recorded and are available for viewing online. Note that all ASLO Awards talks since 2008 have been recorded and can be watched on ASLO's YouTube channel. There are already 70+ award talks posted! If you have not checked out this great resource, be sure to do so (http://bit.ly/ASLOUTube). The G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award honors a scientist who has made considerable contributions to knowledge in limnology and oceanography, and whose future work promises a continuing legacy of scientific excellence. Daniel Schindler (University of Washington) is the 2020 Award winner for inspiring insight about ecosystem connectivity across the fresh to saltwater continuum and how climate and landscape drive ecosystem processes, and for actively engaging in the societal implications of his science. The Alfred C. Redfield Lifetime Achievement Award honors major, long-term achievements in the fields of limnology and oceanography, including research, education, and service to the community and society. Sybil P. Seitzinger (Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, University of Victoria) is the 2020 recipient of the A.C. Redfield Award in recognition of her critical research on the nutrient biogeochemistry of coastal and freshwater ecosystems spanning from molecular organic chemical characterization to global scale models and the application of new knowledge. Her contributions include watershed syntheses, cutting edge regional and global analyses, and the development of novel methods that have facilitated new fields of study or the quantification of previously unquantified (or poorly quantified) processes. The Raymond L. Lindeman Award honoring a young author for an outstanding peer-reviewed, English-language paper in the aquatic sciences is being presented to Cristina Romera-Castillo (Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC) for her paper in Nature Communications, “Dissolved organic carbon leaching from plastics stimulates microbial activity in the ocean,” which demonstrates that the release of dissolved organic matter from plastic pollution can influence the metabolism of marine microbial communities that lie at the base of the marine food webs. The Ruth Patrick Award honors scientists who have applied the aquatic sciences toward solving critical environmental problems. Jean-Pierre Gattuso (Sorbonne University) is the 2020 recipient of the Ruth Patrick Award in recognition for his leadership in, and commitment to, addressing ocean acidification. This acidification is due to increasing carbon dioxide in marine waters driven by fossil fuel emissions and represents a major threat to marine biodiversity. Dr. Gattuso's research is providing the scientific basis and best practices to advance experimental research and solutions to solve this important challenge. The Ramón Margalef Award for Excellence in Education honoring excellence in teaching and mentoring in the fields of limnology and oceanography is awarded to Stephanie Hampton (Washington State University). Hampton is recognized for her outstanding contributions in the training and mentoring of young scientists with an emphasis on collaboration, data sharing, and networking that have engaged researchers at all levels. She has brought together faculty, staff, and students from across Washington State University campus, to work directly with industry and government professionals to address large-scale issues surrounding global environmental change. The Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award honors an early career scientist for outstanding and balanced contributions to research, science training, and broader societal issues such as resource management, conservation, policy, and public education. The 2020 recipient is Dedmer van de Waal (Netherlands Institute of Ecology) for his outstanding fundamental research on the impacts of global change on harmful algal bloom dynamics and toxicity in freshwater and marine systems, scaling from physiological responses at the cellular level to ecological processes at the community level, and for his deep involvement in translating these complex scientific results into a language understandable by the public. The John H. Martin Award recognizes a paper in aquatic sciences that is judged to have had a high impact on subsequent research in the field. The 2020 Martin Award is for Hecky and Hesslein (1995. Contributions of benthic algae to lake food webs as revealed by stable isotope analysis. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc. 14: 631–653). Bob Hecky and Ray Hesslein (1995) established the use of stable isotopes as a robust tool for comparing energy fluxes in aquatic ecosystems and demonstrated that benthic production contributes a substantial fraction of overall primary production transferred up the food chain to higher trophic levels. G. EVELYN HUTCHINSON AWARD DANIEL SCHINDLER Daniel Schindler, University of Washington. Photo by Warren Cornwall ASLO: Your work has spanned a wide range of topics, including the effects of urbanization on lakes; the role of anadromous salmon in coupling human, oceanic and freshwater systems; the effects of fisheries exploitation of African Great Lakes; UV radiation impacts on freshwater ponds, and predator–prey interactions across complex landscapes. Of your many research accomplishments, is there one you are most proud of? DS: While my interests and opportunities have taken my research in a variety of directions, my greatest sense of accomplishment comes from efforts to understand how watersheds in western Alaska “work.” Our field program in Alaska has taken an ecosystem approach to monitoring several large watersheds since the mid-1940s, characterizing everything from hydrology, to limnological responses to changing climate, to population dynamics of salmon, to changes in the economics of fisheries. The knowledge we have accumulated about these ecosystems via the efforts of several generations of scientists is remarkable, and has direct application to protecting the integrity of watersheds, and to managing fisheries sustainably. That said, we are routinely surprised by new observations. Just when you think you have it all figured out, nature deals a wild card that gives you new insights about how ecosystems function. In science we place a heavy premium on developing generalizable knowledge, often overlooking efforts at place-based research. In fact, this is the hallmark of ecosystem science—to understand how specific places on the Earth function. Context always matters in ecology and the push to gain generalizable insights often strips away the critical importance of location (in space and time) when studying ecosystems. I believe we currently do not sufficiently incentivize scientists to invest in field work, particularly in maintaining long-term observations of ecosystems. These responsibilities seem to fall to the passions of an increasingly scarcer number of individuals. Everyone wants these data, and the insights from long-term studies of specific ecosystems are often the ones that are most relevant to applied environmental problems. Thus, my contributions to maintaining the long-term research programs on western Alaska watersheds and on Lake Washington are among my most satisfying accomplishments. ASLO: A follow-up question, researchers working on fewer disparate topics feel pressed to keep up with the literature; how do you keep track of the relevant literature on so many different topics? DS: I can't pretend to have perfect knowledge of all of the literature related to my work. However, I do have a few strategies for keeping abreast of the important advances in aquatic sciences. First, I believe strongly in the power of collaborative research by teams of individuals with complementary interests and expertise. Collectively we know a lot more than simply the sum of what we each of us knows on our own. Second, I try to understand work from outside the comfort zone of what I know best. Science is a very incremental process so explicitly keeping an eye out for the big new ideas certainly helps me track the important literature. Most of my “reading” is in reviewing manuscripts and grant proposals. This is where authors are more likely to speculate about what their work shows, and emphasize new exciting ideas. Last, I believe strongly in the principle of parsimony where simple explanations are often the best explanations for many of the things we are trying to understand in nature. Much of our science focusses on the details of problems that often fall to the wayside once the issues are understood more thoroughly. Curiosity motivates us to learn about the details of ecosystems but, as scientists, we should hold our own feet to the fire to ask when and where the details ultimately matter. ASLO: There's been a proliferation of research tools and technology available to scientists since you began your career. Which technological developments do you think have had the biggest impact in facilitating landscape-level research? DS: Modern computing is clearly the most important technology for facilitating the type of research that I do. Ecologists will always struggle with understanding how complex systems are organized and function because our data only provide incomplete and often biased snapshots of those systems. Computers allow us to interpret data in increasingly sophisticated ways, and construct plausible structures of ecosystems as informed by the data in hand. We can now analyze data and simulate systems in ways that were simply not comprehensible a couple of decades ago. The development of modern genetic and genomic approaches is also providing novel insights into the evolutionary processes that are relevant to understanding how ecosystems function. The biosphere is far more genetically rich and fluid than we have previously imagined, giving new perspectives on how species and populations respond to opportunities and disturbances. The relationships between evolutionary processes and ecosystem functioning are now more apparent than ever because of new genetic and genomic tools. Despite all the emerging technology at our disposal, the key to making progress in the aquatic sciences rarely depends critically on new tools. The biggest innovations will always develop out of our collective scientific creativity. Technology will never make obsolete our need to develop insightful questions that ultimately determine the progress of our science. ALFRED C. REDFIELD LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD SYBIL P. SEITZINGER Sybil Seitzinger, University of Victoria ASLO: It's always hard to capture the full scope of accomplishments for a lifetime achievement award winner for our media releases. What do you think have been your biggest contributions to limnology and oceanography? SS: Integration and synthesis have been my passion. And I've always been interested in global scale environmental issues and how local and regional scale studies can be scaled up to better understand global problems and solutions. If I look at my most highly cited papers, it's the synthesis papers on denitrification and global river nutrient export that stand out. My research on denitrification grew out of my interest in the fate of the large amounts of anthropogenically fixed nitrogen entering terrestrial systems through the use of synthetic fertilizer and N in atmospheric deposition from fossil fuel combustion. Was essentially all of this anthropogenic N carried by rivers to coastal and eventually offshore systems? Or was a substantial amount being removed along the aquatic continuum? My initial measurements in one estuary (Narragansett Bay, RI) indicated that denitrification was removing a quite large amount, ~50%, of the river N inputs. Subsequent measurements by my team et al in a number of estuaries, lakes, rivers and continental shelves formed the basis of collaborative syntheses and model development of denitrification across freshwater and coastal marine systems. While the range of N removal rates was large, regardless of the aquatic system, water residence time and depth were found to be important parameters in controlling the portion of N loading that was removed by denitrification. Scaling up to a global perspective, most of the anthropogenic N is removed along the aquatic continuum with terrestrial soils being the largest sink, followed by rivers, ocean margins and lastly estuaries. The scaling-up required knowing the watershed sources, magnitude, and export of nitrogen globally. Leading a diverse international working group of hydrologists, terrestrial, freshwater, marine and atmospheric biogeochemists, we developed global models relating watershed land use (0.5° × 0.5°) to nutrient (N, P, C, and Si) inputs to river and coastal systems (Global NEWS). Two of the most surprising initial results were the Asian hot spot, contributing half of dissolved inorganic N transported by global rivers, and the contrasting major sources of river N and P (agriculture for DIN, sewage for DIP) in most anthropogenically dominated watersheds. Our model output is freely and opening available and is spinning off into many areas. Probably the most challenging topic I've approached has been the black box of dissolved organic matter. Working with colleagues with diverse backgrounds, we did some of the first work on DOM watershed sources and bioavailability to bacteria and phytoplankton, characterization of bioavailable DOM at the molecular level, and DOM formation processes in atmospheric deposition. Beyond research, I hope that my 7 years as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) has contributed to the development of knowledge on global environmental issues, and encouraged the engagement of scientists not only from the global north, but especially from the global south. As Executive Director of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), I hope that the research and engagement that we are supporting is contributing innovative and relevant knowledge for solutions that is being used to address the most challenging environmental and societal problem facing humanity, climate change. ASLO: As ASLO President, you were instrumental in getting the society to provide more support and services for early career members. How do you think the demands on early career scientists have changed since you've been in research? Any advice for ECRs? SS: Many things are similar. Research funding and jobs have always been very competitive and the multiple demands of teaching, securing funding, developing a research program, publishing, contributing to departmental committees, balancing life and work, are still there. On the other hand, support activities for ECR have increased markedly. Most major meetings and often workshops now have ECR networking and professional development activities. Take advantage of them. I owe this Redfield Lifetime Achievement award not only to my students, postdocs and research colleagues, but to the many people who listened, encouraged, promoted, and advised me. Find people that support, promote and encourage you, but don't ignore your critics. Develop colleagues whose expertise differs from yours. I'm not only talking about other limnologists or oceanographers, but scientists in very different fields who have techniques and knowledge that can help you develop novel approaches and insights and a more integrated perspective. Keep going, growing and exploring. This might sound like I think being an ECR is easy; it's not. But if you weren't looking to be challenged…you wouldn't have chosen to be a research scientist! ASLO: You've done a lot of work at the interface of science and policy; how do you stay active in science while tackling larger societal issues of global change? Any advice to researchers who want to make a difference? SS: As those of you who teach know, having to synthesize and present research that's not your own is one of the best ways to learn about and understand a topic. A key role as Executive Director of IGBP was to communicate to national and international (UN) policy makers our network's global change research results, ranging from atmospheric chemistry to ocean ecosystems. Now as Executive Director of PICS, my focus is climate change solutions with all research projects we fund codesigned with researchers and decision-makers. I set the institute's direction, decide which research projects to fund and give briefings to local, provincial and national scale policy makers, requiring knowledge of our projects and the broader context. This certainly keeps me on my toes as the institute's research can be as far ranging as negative emissions technologies, renewable energy, climate migration, policy gaps, and beyond. So if you are looking to have a larger impact than with your own team and to stretch your mind into widely different areas, look for those leadership opportunities and follow your passion. RAYMOND L. LINDEMAN AWARD CRISTINA ROMERA-CASTILLO Cristina Romera-Castillo ASLO: What do you think was the most significant finding of your work? Where do you think your research will go next? CRC: I have been studying dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the ocean for many years and I found interesting things that I think are being useful for the scientific community. For instance, the production of fluorescent DOM by marine phytoplankton and its consumption by marine bacteria were two findings of my PhD Thesis that many others colleagues are now using for supporting their research. I also studied the distribution and drivers of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the ocean finding that at surface, DOC is mainly driven by the amount of nutrients that reach the euphotic zone and we can predict the accumulated DOC at surface using that information. Another example is a recently published work showing how recalcitrant DOC is not only removed from the deep ocean but it can also be produced. We found that the deep North Atlantic acts as a sink of DOC while the deep South Atlantic acts as a net source. I think all those findings are very useful for the scientific community and add one more piece to the complex puzzle of the marine carbon cycle. However, the finding that is having the highest impact since it has transcended the scientific borders is the work that received the Raymond L. Lindeman award. It shows that marine plastic debris entering the ocean release up to 23,600 tons of carbon every year. This carbon, in form of different compounds, is labile for marine bacterial consumption and stimulates its growth. Now, I would like to go on studying the DOC in the ocean since there are many unresolved questions and this pool of carbon is very relevant for the carbon cycle and the climate. But I would like to combine it with the study of the marine plastic debris impact in the ocean. To give a step further studying which compounds are released from plastic, if they are having a significant contribution to the carbon cycle and which are the bacterial groups using them. ASLO: What kind of feedback have you gotten on your paper? CRC: Since publishing the paper, I have received many congratulations from the scientific community and general public. Many newspapers and magazines contacted me to write articles about it. For instance, it appears in the July 2018 issue of National Geographic. I also received many offers to give talks and I was even invited to the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid. I am very pleased that my work is being useful for the scientific community and for the society. Thanks to this work, interesting collaboration opportunities have arisen with both scientists and other people such as artists and start-ups. ASLO: Plastics in the ocean is a very popular topic in the media. In what ways are you communicating the importance of your work to the public? CRC: I am very happy that my work is giving me the chance to communicate and raise awareness about the plastic issue. So, I communicate the importance of my work in all the ways possible to reach the general public, kids and adults. I am giving interviews for media such as radio, newspapers and TV shows. But I am also giving talks to the general public in schools, cultural associations, public and private companies, etc. I have also written some articles for online magazines. In my talks, I explain my research in an easy way that everybody can understand but I also talk about the general problems that plastic is causing in the environment and how it is also reaching us, threatening our health. I would like to provoke a change in their minds. A “click” that made them aware of the problem and start to take responsibility on it. I also explain facts about plastic behavior that many not specialized people don't used to know. Usually, people like the talks and many interesting discussions arise with attendees afterwards. RUTH PATRICK AWARD JEAN-PIERRE GATTUSO Jean-Pierre Gattuso is CNRS Research Professor at Sorbonne University and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations. Photo by Philippe Bertini/Nice-Matin ASLO: Can you share a turning point or defining moment in your work as a scientist? JPG: Around 1990, the role of coral reefs in the global carbon cycle became a hot topic. I was not fully familiar with the intricacies of the carbonate chemistry in seawater and was confused about the controversy: are coral reefs sources or sinks for atmospheric CO2? My friend and colleague Michel Frankignoulle from the University of Liège, Belgium, now deceased, myself and other collaborators performed concurrent measurements of community metabolism and air-sea CO2 fluxes and obtained the first field evidence that coral reefs flats are sources of CO2 to the atmosphere. A defining moment occurred soon after when Bob Buddemeier, then at the Kansas Geological Survey, generously shared with me work that he performed with Steve Smith from the University of Hawaii which suggested that elevated CO2 is detrimental to coral calcification. I was then at the Scientific Center of Monaco which was fully equipped to perform perturbation experiments on corals. This was the starting point of my work on ocean acidification and its impacts on marine organisms and ecosystems. Many collaborative projects followed, initially with M. Frankignoulle then Joanie Kleypas from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA, and many others, including a fantastic group of colleagues of the European Project on Ocean Acidification which I had the privilege to coordinate. I am immensely grateful to Bob for his unselfish collaboration and to many colleagues and students for their insight and leadership. ASLO: You've devoted substantial effort to developing what your colleagues called “an international research infrastructure for ocean acidification,” including fundraising for the establishment of the International Coordination Centre for Ocean Acidification. What has been the most challenging and rewarding aspect of doing this? JPG: In 2008, I was approached by the international projects Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecological Research (IMBER, http://www.imber.info) and Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS, https://www.solas-int.org) to launch and chair a working group on ocean acidification. Ocean acidification was then a burgeoning scientific field. I invited about eight colleagues to join what became the SOLAS-IMBER Ocean acidification (SIOA) Working Group. We identified activities which were critical to assess the effects of ocean acidification but were, for the most part, not funded at the national or regional levels. These activities had to be carried out at the international level. We then put together a very ambitious program to communicate, promote and facilitate ocean acidification research. But we hit a wall in the sense that we were unable to find the financial and human resources needed to launch this program. Then, in 2011, I serendipitously discovered that there may be an opportunity to get support via the Peaceful Uses Initiative of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The program that the SIOA WG had designed was shared with IAEA colleagues and was used to launch the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Center (OA-ICC, https://www.iaea.org/services/oa-icc) in 2012 at the Environmental Laboratory of the IAEA in Monaco. Almost 8 years later, the OA-ICC team is still providing fantastic services to the community under the scientific guidance of James Orr (Atomic Energy Commission, France), current chair of the SOLAS-IMBER Ocean acidification Working Group, and of the other experts of the group. The challenging part of this process was to find the resources required to get the ball rolling. Working with enthusiastic colleagues sharing the common goal to build an international structure in order to help develop high quality ocean acidification research was extremely rewarding. The successful launch of the OA-ICC was very fulfilling. ASLO: You have been a pioneer in taking science to society. What words of advice do you have to early career scientists who aspire to have their science be relevant to society? JPG: They should go for it and dedicate some of their time and energy to such non-academic activities. It is essential that everyone understands the progress of science and that decision makers base policies on solid science. From my experience there are many ways scientists can contribute. First, by producing high quality and policy-relevant science. Second, by getting involved in scientific assessments because such collective exercises provide opportunities to move expert judgements further and come up with more synthetic, policy-oriented knowledge. One example is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has an open and transparent process to get involved and is a very rewarding experience. Third, by producing short summaries of key scientific findings written in a language accessible to non-scientists, avoiding jargon and advocacy while providing actionable options. I have been involved in several such policy briefs. They were four pages long with a short (about a third of a page) list of 3–5 key messages. It forced me, a natural scientist, to closely work with social scientists and economists who know about policy processes, governance issues etc…. It considerably improves the policy relevance of what we do. My association with the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations, France, and Alexandre Magnan exemplifies the benefits of transdisciplinary research through The Oceans 2015 Initiative (http://bit.ly/1M6YiS6) and The Ocean Solutions Initiative (http://bit.ly/2xJ3EV6). Fourth, by disseminating the messages in person if one is given the opportunity. Several audiences are eager for tailored scientific information: pupils and students, the general public, and decision makers. Several media are available to reach these audiences (lectures, conferences, animated movies, documentaries…) and social media, such as Twitter, which is increasingly used by scientists. Also, there are often policy side events at meetings and the organizers are always keen to hear firsthand reports about science findings. In my case, I gave several presentations at UN climate change (COP) meetings. It gives the great feeling to bring our science in the policy arena. MARGALEF AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION STEPHANIE HAMPTON Stephanie Hampton, Washington State University. Photo by S.L. Katz ASLO: You've been a leader in providing guidance to the community on emerging issues of how science is conducted and shared. What prompted your interest in these topics? SH: My National Science Foundation Bioinformatics postdoc fellowship was my first introduction to data-intensive science, an experience that opened my eyes to the shifts in training, culture, and institutions necessary for our research communities to fully take advantage of available data. There's a steep learning curve not only for the technical aspects of data-intensive science, but also in moving toward a different mindset and modus operandi. I think most people feel disoriented when they first wade into a massive pool of data. Our new reality is that we spend 75–90% of our time “data wrangling”—understanding the data, aggregating data for analyses, quality checking, troubleshooting, reading metadata, documenting the process for repeatability, and interacting with people who know the data well. This shift occurs whether you work with others' data or your own high-volume data. You can't cede responsibility for data integrity just because your hands didn't do the collection; you have to learn how to satisfy yoursel

Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin

May 1, 2020

Rainforests in the equatorial tropical regions are facing severe changes in strength and distribution due to natural and anthropogenic activities. Climate change causes major issues in vegetation characteristics whereas logging and developmental activities destruct the natural characteristics of terrain and vegetation. In the present research, MODIS vegetation cover type and vegetation indices (Enhanced Vegetation Index –EVI) data were interpreted to assess the decade (2008–2017) variation in vegetation types and strength characteristics in the Baram River Basin (BRB) in Borneo. International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) based classification identified ten land cover types in the BRB and the mean EVI in most periods varies between −0.30 and greater than 0.80. Results showed spatial and temporal variation in the area covered by individual land cover during the period of analysis and the fluctuation in mean EVI values indicates variation in strength characteristics of land cover types in the region. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation (r > 0.50) of mean EVI values between consecutive years of analysis. Though the IGBP classification scheme could not categorise the most dominant land use activities in the BRB i.e. logging and oil palm plantations, the findings of the present research validate the use of MODIS data in equatorial tropical rainforest regions for characterising the regional scale vegetation dynamics.

Earth System Science (ESS) is a rapidly emerging transdisciplinary endeavour aimed at understanding the structure and functioning of the Earth as a complex, adaptive system. Here, we discuss the emergence and evolution of ESS, outlining the importance of these developments in advancing our understanding of global change. Inspired by early work on biosphere–geosphere interactions and by novel perspectives such as the Gaia hypothesis, ESS emerged in the 1980s following demands for a new ‘science of the Earth’. The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme soon followed, leading to an unprecedented level of international commitment and disciplinary integration. ESS has produced new concepts and frameworks central to the global-change discourse, including the Anthropocene, tipping elements and planetary boundaries. Moving forward, the grand challenge for ESS is to achieve a deep integration of biophysical processes and human dynamics to build a truly unified understanding of the Earth System. Earth System Science (ESS) has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate and understand global change. This Perspective outlines the history of ESS and advocates for the full integration of human and biogeophysical dynamics necessary to build a truly unified ESS effort.

The Google Earth Engine (GEE) has emerged as an essential cloud-based platform for land-cover classification as it provides massive amounts of multi-source satellite data and high-performance computation service. This paper proposed an automatic land-cover classification method using time-series Landsat data on the GEE cloud-based platform. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land-cover products (MCD12Q1.006) with the International Geosphere–Biosphere Program (IGBP) classification scheme were used to provide accurate training samples using the rules of pixel filtering and spectral filtering, which resulted in an overall accuracy (OA) of 99.2%. Two types of spectral–temporal features (percentile composited features and median composited monthly features) generated from all available Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data from the year 2010 ± 1 were used as input features to a Random Forest (RF) classifier for land-cover classification. The results showed that the monthly features outperformed the percentile features, giving an average OA of 80% against 77%. In addition, the monthly features composited using the median outperformed those composited using the maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) with an average OA of 80% against 78%. Therefore, the proposed method is able to generate accurate land-cover mapping automatically based on the GEE cloud-based platform, which is promising for regional and global land-cover mapping.

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Research Articles

Related Topics

Articles published on International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme

Hybrid Global Annual 1-km IGBP Land Cover Maps for the Period 2000–2020

Strategy for Deriving Sacramento Model Parameters Using Soil Properties to Improve Its Runoff Simulation Performances

In memory of Will Steffen, 1947–2023

Comparison of Methods for Reconstructing MODIS Land Surface Temperature under Cloudy Conditions

Suitability and Sensitivity of the Potential Distribution of Cyclobalanopsis glauca Forests under Climate Change Conditions in Guizhou Province, Southwestern China

MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields tree cover needs calibrating in tropical savannas

Land Surface Temperature Retrieval from Fengyun-3D Medium Resolution Spectral Imager II (FY-3D MERSI-II) Data with the Improved Two-Factor Split-Window Algorithm

Instructional guidelines based on conceptions of students and scientists about economic and population growth within planetary boundaries

Assessing and predicting soil carbon density in China using CMIP5 earth system models

Predicting land cover changes using a CA Markov model under different shared socioeconomic pathways in Greece

A new net primary productivity model and new management strategy of grassland classification based on CSCS in China

From South Asia to the world: embracing the challenge of global sustainable nitrogen management

Climatology of the Combined ASTER MODIS Emissivity over Land (CAMEL) Version 2

Vegetation Expansion on the Tibetan Plateau and Its Relationship with Climate Change

Science and Diplomacy around the Earth

Surface wind gust prediction over Incheon international airport using the unified model

ASLO 2020 Award Winners

Applicability of MODIS land cover and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) for the assessment of spatial and temporal changes in strength of vegetation in tropical rainforest region of Borneo

The emergence and evolution of Earth System Science

Automatic Land-Cover Mapping using Landsat Time-Series Data based on Google Earth Engine

Lead the way for us