Mary Farina

Ph.D. Candidate, Montana State University

2021 Field Travel Grant Type 1

Remote Sensing of Arctic-Boreal Terrestrial Carbon Fluxes

“Wetlands underlain by peat and permafrost are major features of the landscape in Alaska
(Bridgham et al. 1995). Mean July temperatures in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska increased by 0.3℉ per decade over the 1925-2020 period, with the third highest mean July temperature occurring in 2019 (NOAA). There is an urgent need to better understand the impacts of warming on biogeochemical processes and carbon fluxes in wetlands, and to scale these responses over landscape and regional levels. To address these questions, the proposed project involves a field campaign (Summer 2021) and upscaling analysis to investigate spatial and temporal variability in carbon fluxes across a 50-ha boreal wetland site north of Fairbanks, Alaska. Using high-resolution drone imagery, we will scale chamber-based measurements of CO2 and CH4 flux across the study site, and we will investigate carbon flux drivers at fine spatial scales. Additionally, we will use high resolution airborne and satellite remote sensing data to monitor ecosystem changes over the course of a growing season.”