The Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG) is a research center in the University of Montana's W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation pioneering new approaches for landscape ecological and hydrological studies. A major focus of our research is to understand how vegetation responds to climate variability and influences the water, carbon and energy cycles. NTSG conducts research over a broad range of spatial scales, emphasizing emerging technologies in satellite remote sensing, computational modeling and biophysical theory. We are a leader in the development and application of satellite remote sensing for global environmental assessment and monitoring. NTSG is a NASA Earth Science Information Partner (ESIP), developer and repository for a variety of global land data products from satellite Earth missions, including MODIS (MOD16/17) vegetation productivity and evapotranspiration, AMSR land parameters, and SMAP (L4C) carbon flux products.

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Submissions from 2016

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Hydrological Response of Alpine Wetlands to ClimateWarming in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau, Wenjiang Zhang, Yonghong Yi, Kechao Song, John S. Kimball, and Qifeng Lu

Submissions from 2015

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Impact of changes in GRACE derived terrestrial water storage on vegetation growth in Eurasia, G. A., I. Velicogna, John S. Kimball, and Y. Kim

Ecosystem services lost to oil and gas in North America, Brady W. Allred, W. Kolby Smith, Dirac Twidwell, Julia H. Haggerty, Steven W. Running, David E. Naugle, and Samuel D. Fuhlendorf

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Sunlight mediated seasonality in canopy structure and photosynthetic activity of Amazonian rainforests, Jian Bi, Yuri Knyazikhin, Sungho Choi, Taejin Park, Jonathan Barichivich, Philippe Ciais, Rong Fu, Sangram Ganguly, Forrest Hall, Thomas Hilker, Alfredo R. Huete, Matthew O. Jones, John S. Kimball, Alexei I. Lyapustin, Matti Mottus, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, Shilong Piao, Benjamin Poulter, Scott R. Saleska, Sassan S. Saatchi, Liang Xu, Liming Zhou, and Ranga B. Myneni

Classification of Alaska Spring Thaw Characteristics Using Satellite L-Band Radar Remote Sensing, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, Marzieh Azarderakhsh, R. Scott Dunbar, Mahta Moghaddam, and Kyle C. McDonald

Satellite Microwave Retrieval of Total Precipitable Water Vapor and Surface Air Temperature Over Land From AMSR2, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, and Lucas A. Jones

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Theoretical Modeling and Analysis of L- and P-band Radar Backscatter Sensitivity to Soil Active Layer Dielectric Variations, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, and Mahta Moghaddam

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Assimilation of Freeze–Thaw Observations into the NASA Catchment Land Surface Model, Leila Farhadi, Rolf H. Reichle, Gabrielle J. M. De Lannoy, and John S. Kimball

Photosynthetic seasonality of global tropical forests constrained by hydroclimate, Kaiyu Guan, Ming Pan, Haibin Li, Adam Wolf, Jin Wu, David Medvigy, Kelly K. Caylor, Justin Sheffield, Eric F. Wood, Yadvinder Malhi, Miaoling Liang, John S. Kimball, Scott R. Saleska, Joe Berry, Joanna Joiner, and Alexei I. Lyapustin

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Dynamics of MODIS evapotranspiration in South Africa, Nebo Jovanovic, Qiaozhen Mu, Richard D. H. Bugan, and Maosheng Zhao

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New satellite climate data records indicate strong coupling between recent frozen season changes and snow cover over high northern latitudes, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, D. A. Robinson, and C. Derksen

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New F/T ESDR Summary Quad Chart: Integrated Satellite Data Records Reveal Strong Coupling Between Recent Pan-Arctic Frozen Season and Snow Cover Changes, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, David A. Robinson, and C. Derksen

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Local cooling and warming effects of forests based on satellite observations, Yan Li, Maosheng Zhao, Safa Motesharrei, Qiaozhen Mu, Eugenia Kalnay, and Shuangcheng Li

Global satellite monitoring of climate-induced vegetation disturbances, Nate G. McDowell, Nicholas C. Coops, Pieter S. A. Beck, Jeffrey Q. Chambers, Chandana Gangodagamage, Jeffrey A. Hicke, Cho-ying Huang, Robert Kennedy, Dan J. Krofcheck, Marcy Litvak, Arjan J.H. Meddens, Jordan Muss, Robinson Negron-Juarez, Changhui Peng, Amanda M. Schwantes, Jennifer J. Swenson, Louis J. Vernon, A. Park Williams, Chonggang Xu, Maosheng Zhao, Steven W. Running, and Craig D. Allen

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Suitable Days for Plant Growth Disappear under Projected Climate Change: Potential Human and Biotic Vulnerability, Camilo Mora, Iain R. Caldwell, Jamie M. Caldwell, Micah R. Fisher, Brandon M. Genco, and Steven W. Running

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Artificial amplification of warming trends across the mountains of the western United States, Jared Wesley Oyler, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, Ashley P. Ballantyne, Anna E. Klene, and Steven W. Running

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Assessment of model estimates of land-atmosphere CO2 exchange across Northern Eurasia, Michael A. Rawlins, A. D. McGuire, John S. Kimball, P. Dass, D. Lawrence, E. Burke, X. Chen, C. Delire, C. Koven, A. MacDougall, S. Peng, A. Rinke, K. Saito, W. Zhang, R. Alkama, Theodore J. Bohn, Philippe Ciais, B. Decharme, I. Gouttevin, T. Hajima, D. Ji, G. Krinner, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, P. Miller, J. C. Moore, B. Smith, and T. Sueyoshi

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Comparing Evapotranspiration from Eddy Covariance Measurements, Water Budgets, Remote Sensing, and Land Surface Models over Canada, Shusen Wang, Ming Pan, Qiaozhen Mu, Xiaoying Shi, Jiafu Mao, Christian Brummer, Rachhpal S. Jassal, Praveena Krishnan, Junhua Li, and T. Andrew Black

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The role of snow cover affecting boreal-arctic soil freeze–thaw and carbon dynamics, Y. Yi, John S. Kimball, Michael A. Rawlins, Mahta Moghaddam, and E. S. Euskirchen

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Vegetation Greening and Climate Change Promote Multidecadal Rises of Global Land Evapotranspiration, Ke Zhang, John S. Kimball, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, Steven W. Running, Yang Hong, Jonathan J. Gourley, and Zhongbo Yu

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Climatic Controls on Spring Onset of the Tibetan Plateau Grasslands from 1982 to 2008, Wenjiang Zhang, Yonghong Yi, John S. Kimball, Youngwook Kim, and Kechao Song

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Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget, Donatella Zona, Beniamino Gioli, Roisin Commane, Jakob Lindaas, Steve Wofsy, Charles E. Miller, Steven J. Dinardo, Sigrid Dengel, Colm Sweeney, Anna Karion, Rachel Y.-W. Chang, John M. Henderson, Patrick C. Murphy, Jordan P. Goodrich, Virginie Moreaux, Anna Liljedahl, Jennifer D. Watts, John S. Kimball, David A. Lipson, and Walt Oechel

Submissions from 2014

Comparison of satellite-based evapotranspiration models over terrestrial ecosystems in China, Yang Chen, Jiangzhou Xia, Shunlin Liang, Jinming Feng, Joshua B. Fisher, Xin Li, Xianglan Li, Shuguang Liu, Zhuguo Ma, Akira Miyata, Qiaozhen Mu, Liang Sun, Jianwei Tang, Kaicun Wang, Jun Wen, Yueju Xue, Guirui Yu, Tonggang Zha, Li Zhang, Qiang Zhang, Tianbao Zhao, Liang Zhao, and Wenping Yuan

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Inter-Calibration of Satellite Passive Microwave Land Observations from AMSR-E and AMSR2 Using Overlapping FY3B-MWRI Sensor Measurements, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, Jiancheng Shi, Lucas Alan Jones, Shengli Wu, Ruijing Sun, and Hu Yang

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Terrestrial hydrological controls on land surface phenology of African savannas and woodlands, Kaiyu Guan, Eric F. Wood, David Medvigy, John S. Kimball, Ming Pan, Kelly K. Caylor, Justin Sheffield, Xiangtao Xu, and Matthew O. Jones

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Exposure of U.S. National Parks to land use and climate change 1900-2100, Andrew J. Hansen, Cory Davis, Jessica Haas, David M. Theobald, John E. Gross, William B. Monahan, Tom Olliff, and Steven W. Running

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Retrievals of All-Weather Daily Air Temperature Using MODIS and AMSR-E Data, Keunchang Jang, Sinkyu Kang, John S. Kimball, and Suk Young Hong

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Asynchronous Amazon forest canopy phenology indicates adaptation to both water and light availability, Matthew O. Jones, John S. Kimball, and Ramakrishna R. Nemani

Comparing land surface phenology derived from satellite and GPS network microwave remote sensing, Matthew O. Jones, John S. Kimball, Eric E. Small, and Kristine M. Larson

Effects of spatial and temporal climatic variability on terrestrial carbon and water fluxes in the Pacific Northwest, USA, Sinkyu Kang, Steven W. Running, John S. Kimball, Daniel B. Fagre, Andrew Michaelis, David L. Peterson, Jessica E. Halofsky, and Sukyoung Hong

Vegetation Phenology, John S. Kimball

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New Spring Climate Indicator (SCI) Metrics from Satellite Optical & Microwave ESDR Fusion, Y. Kim, John S. Kimball, Kamel Didan, and Geoffrey M. Henebry

Response of vegetation growth and productivity to spring climate indicators in the conterminous United States derived from satellite remote sensing data fusion, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, Kamel Didan, and Geoffrey M. Henebry

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Improvements and Extension to a Global Earth System Data Record of Daily Landscape Freeze-Thaw Status Determined from Satellite Microwave Remote Sensing, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, Jinyang Du, and Joseph M. Glassy

Attribution of divergent northern vegetation growth responses to lengthening non-frozen seasons using satellite optical-NIR and microwave remote sensing, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, K. Zhang, Kamel Didan, I. Velicogna, and Kyle C. McDonald

Wildland fire emissions, carbon, and climate: Seeing the forest and the trees – A cross-scale assessment of wildfire and carbon dynamics in fire-prone, forested ecosystems, Rachel Andrea Loehman, Elizabeth D. Reinhardt, and Karin Lynn Riley

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Improving ecosystem productivity modeling through spatially explicit estimation of optimal light use efficiency, Nima Madani, John S. Kimball, David L.R. Affleck, Jens Kattge, Jon Graham, Peter M. van Bodegom, Peter B. Reich, and Steven W. Running

Remote monitoring of soil moisture using passive microwave-based techniques-Theoretical basis and overview of selected algorithms for AMSR-E, I. E. Mladenova, T. J. Jackson, Eni G. Njoku, R. Bindlish, S. Chan, M. H. Cosh, T. R.H. Holmes, Richard de Jeu, Lucas A. Jones, John S. Kimball, S. Paloscia, and E. Santi

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National Climate Indicators System Report, National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee

Creating a topoclimatic daily air temperature dataset for the conterminous United States using homogenized station data and remotely sensed land skin temperature, Jared Wesley Oyler, Ashley P. Ballantyne, Kelsey Jencso, Michael D. Sweet, and Steven W. Running

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Modeling and Monitoring Terrestrial Primary Production in a Changing Global Environment: Toward a Multiscale Synthesis of Observation and Simulation, Shufen Pan, Hanqin Tian, Shree R. S. Dangal, Zhiyun Ouyang, Bo Tao, Wei Ren, Chaoqun Lu, and Steven W. Running

Multisensor Microwave Sensitivity to Freeze/Thaw Dynamics Across a Complex Boreal Landscape, Erika Podest, Kyle C. McDonald, and John S. Kimball

Contribution of semi-arid ecosystems to interannual variability of the global carbon cycle, Benjamin Poulter, David Frank, Philippe Ciais, Ranga B. Myneni, Niels Andela, Jian Bi, Gregoire Broquet, Joseph G. Canadell, Frédéric Chevallier, Yi Y. Liu, Steven W. Running, Stephen Sitch, and Guido R. van der Werf

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Estimating climate change effects on net primary production of rangelands in the United States, Matthew Clark Reeves, Adam LaSalle Moreno, Karen E. Bagne, and Steven W. Running

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A regional look at HANPP: human consumption is increasing, NPP is not, Steven W. Running

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Agricultural Conversion Without External Water and Nutrient Inputs Reduces Terrestrial Vegetation Productivity, William Kolby Smith, Cory C. Cleveland, Sasha C. Reed, and Steven W. Running

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A satellite data driven biophysical modeling approach for estimating northern peatland and tundra CO2 and CH4 fluxes, J. D. Watts, John S. Kimball, F. J. W. Parmentier, T. Sachs, J. Rinne, D. Zona, Walt Oechel, T. Tagesson, M. Jackowicz-Korczynski, and M. Aurela

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Surface water inundation in the boreal- Arctic: potential impacts on regional methane emissions, Jennifer D. Watts, John S. Kimball, Annett Bartsch, and Kyle C. McDonald

Evaluation of NLDAS-2 evapotranspiration against tower flux site observations, Youlong Xia, Michael T. Hobbins, Qiaozhen Mu, and Michael B. Ek

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Bayesian multimodel estimation of global terrestrial latent heat flux from eddy covariance, meteorological, and satellite observations, Yunjun Yao, Shunlin Liang, Xianglan Li, Yang Hong, Joshua B. Fisher, Nannan Zhang, Jiquan Chen, Jie Cheng, Shaohua Zhao, Xiaotong Zhang, Bo Jiang, Liang Sun, Kun Jia, Kaicun Wang, Yang Chen, Qiaozhen Mu, and Fei Feng