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 2014

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Spring hydrology determines summer net carbon uptake in northern ecosystems, Yonghong Yi, John S. Kimball, and Rolf H. Reichle

Submissions from 2013

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The global NPP dependence on ENSO: La Niña and the extraordinary year of 2011, A. Bastos, Steven W. Running, Célia M. Gouveia, and Ricardo M. Trigo

Global evaluation of MTCLIM and related algorithms for forcing of ecological and hydrological models, Theodore J. Bohn, Ben Livneh, Jared Wesley Oyler, Steven W. Running, Bart Nijssen, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

Patterns of new versus recycled primary production in the terrestrial biosphere, Cory C. Cleveland, Benjamin Z. Houlton, W. Kolby Smith, Alison R. Marklein, Sasha C. Reed, William J. Parton, Stephen J. Del Grosso, and Steven W. Running

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Bioenergy: how much can we expect for 2050?, Helmut Haberl, Karl-Heinz Erb, Fridolin Krausmann, Steven W. Running, Timothy D. Searchinger, and W. Kolby Smith

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Monitoring daily evapotranspiration in Northeast Asia using MODIS and a regional Land Data Assimilation System, Keunchang Jang, Sinkyu Kang, Yoon-Jin Lim, Seungtaek Jeong, Joon Kim, John S. Kimball, and Suk Young Hong

Satellite microwave detection of boreal forest recovery from the extreme 2004 wildfires in Alaska and Canada, Matthew O. Jones, John S. Kimball, and Lucas A. Jones

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The Freeze‐Thaw Earth System Data Record (FT‐ESDR), John S. Kimball

Camouflage mismatch in seasonal coat color due to decreased snow duration, L. Scott Mills, Marketa Zimova, Jared Wesley Oyler, Steven W. Running, John Abatzoglou, and Paul Lukacs

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A Remotely Sensed Global Terrestrial Drought Severity Index, Qiaozhen Mu, Maosheng Zhao, John S. Kimball, Nate McDowell, and Steven W. Running

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MODIS Global Terrestrial Evapotranspiration (ET) Product (NASA MOD16A2/A3) Collection 5. NASA Headquarters, Qiaozhen Mu, Maosheng Zhao, and Steven W. Running

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Future humidity trends over the western United States in the CMIP5 global climate models and variable infiltration capacity hydrological modeling system, D. W. Pierce, A. L. Westerling, and Jared Wesley Oyler

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The relationship of large fire occurrence with drought and fire danger indices in the western USA, 1984–2008: the role of temporal scale, Karin Lynn Riley, John Abatzoglou, Isaac C. Grenfell, Anna E. Klene, and Faith Ann Heinsch

Frequency-magnitude distribution of debris flows compiled from global data, and comparison with post-fire debris flows in the western U.S., Karin Lynn Riley, Rebecca Bendick, Kevin Hyde, and Emmanuel J. Gabet

Assessment of the MODIS global evapotranspiration algorithm using eddy covariance measurements and hydrological modelling in the Rio Grande basin, A. L. Ruhoff, A. R. Paz, L. E.O.C. Aragao, Qiaozhen Mu, Y. Malhi, W. Collischonn, H. R. Rocha, and Steven W. Running

Approaching the Limits, Steven W. Running

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Sensitivity of inferred climate model skill to evaluation decisions: a case study using CMIP5 evapotranspiration, Christopher R. Schwalm, Deborah N. Huntinzger, Anna M. Michalak, Joshua B. Fisher, John S. Kimball, Brigitte Mueller, Ke Zhang, and Yongqiang Zhang

Satellite-derived estimates of forest leaf area index in southwest Western Australia are not tightly coupled to interannual variations in rainfall: implications for groundwater decline in a drying climate, Keith R. Smettem, R. H. Waring, John N. Callow, Melissa Wilson, and Qiaozhen Mu

Steelhead vulnerability to climate change in the Pacific Northwest, Alisa A. Wade, Timothy J. Beechie, Erica Fleishman, Nathan J. Mantua, Huan Wu, John S. Kimball, David M. Stoms, and Jack A. Stanford

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Recent climate and fire disturbance impacts on boreal and arctic ecosystem productivity estimated using a satellite-based terrestrial carbon flux model, Yonghong Yi, John S. Kimball, Lucas A. Jones, Rolf H. Reichle, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, and Hank A. Margolis

Submissions from 2012

Restoring Salmon Habitat For A Changing Climate, T. Beechie, H. Imaki, J. Greene, A. Wade, H. Wu, G. Pess, P. Roni, John S. Kimball, Jack A. Stanford, P. Kiffney, and Nate Mantua

Satellite microwave remote sensing for environmental modeling of mosquito population dynamics, Ting-Wu Chuang, Geoffrey M. Henebry, John S. Kimball, Denise L. VanRoekel-Patton, Michael B. Hildreth, and Michael C. Wimberly

Application of QuickSCAT Backscatter to SMAP Validation Planning: Freeze/Thaw State Over ALECTRA Sites in Alaska From 2000 to 2007, Andreas Colliander, Kyle C. McDonald, Reiner Zimmermann, Ronny Schroeder, John S. Kimball, and Eni G. Njoku

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Observations and assessment of forest carbon dynamics following disturbance in North America, Scott J. Goetz, B. Bond-Lamberty, Beverly E. Law, J. A. Hicke, C. Huang, R. A. Houghton, S. G. McNulty, T. O'Halloran, M. E. Harmon, A. J.H. Meddens, E. M. Pfeifer, David J. Mildrexler, and Eric Kasischke

Reconciling satellite with ground data to estimate forest productivity at national scales, Hubert Hasenauer, Richard Petritsch, Maosheng Zhao, Céline Boisvenue, and Steven W. Running

North American Carbon Program (NACP) regional interim synthesis: Terrestrial biospheric model intercomparison, D. N. Huntzinger, W. M. Post, Y. Wei, A. M. Michalak, T. O. West, A. R. Jacobson, I. T. Baker, J. M. Chen, K. J. Davis, D. J. Hayes, Forrest M. Hoffman, A. K. Jain, S. Liu, A. D. McGuire, Ronald P. Neilson, Chris Potter, B. Poulter, David Price, B. M. Raczka, Hanqin Tian, P. Thornton, Enrico Tomelleri, Nicolas Viovy, Jingfeng Xiao, W. Yuan, N. Zeng, M. Zhao, and R. Cook

Satellite passive microwave detection of North America start of season, Matthew O. Jones, John S. Kimball, Lucas A. Jones, and Kyle C. McDonald

Terrestrial biosphere model performance for inter-annual variability of land-atmosphere CO2 exchange, T. F. Keenan, Ian Baker, Alan Barr, Philippe Ciais, Ken Davis, Michael C. Dietze, Danillo Dragoni, Christopher M. Gough, Robert Grant, D. Y. Hollinger, Koen Hufkens, B. Poulter, Harry McCaughey, B. M. Raczka, Youngryel Ryu, Kevin Schaefer, Hanqin Tian, Hans Verbeeck, Maosheng Zhao, and Andrew D. Richardson

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Validating a Satellite Microwave Remote Sensing Based Global Record of Daily Landscape Freeze-Thaw Dynamics, John S. Kimball, Youngwook Kim, and Kyle C. McDonald

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The effect of winter frozen season changes on Northern Hemisphere vegetation canopy growth determined from satellite microwave and optical remote sensing, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, Ke Zhang, and Kamel Didan

Satellite detection of increasing Northern Hemisphere non-frozen seasons from 1979 to 2008: Implications for regional vegetation growth, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, K. Zhang, and Kyle C. McDonald

Impacts of climate change on August stream discharge in the Central-Rocky Mountains, Jason Christopher Leppi, Thomas H. DeLuca, Solomon W. Harrar, and Steven W. Running

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Remote Sensing Evaluation of CLM4 GPP for the Period 2000-2009*, Jiafu Mao, Peter Edmond Thornton, and Xiaoying Shi

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An assessment of the carbon balance of arctic tundra: comparisons among observations, process models, and atmospheric inversions, A. D. McGuire, T. R. Christensen, D. J. Hayes, A. Heroult, E. Euskirchen, Y. Yi, John S. Kimball, C. Koven, P. Lafleur, P. A. Miller, Walt Oechel, P. Peylin, and M. Williams

Remote Sensing and Modeling of Global Evapotranspiration, Qiaozhen Mu, Maosheng Zhao, and Steven W. Running

A Measurable Planetary Boundary for the Biosphere, Steven W. Running

Bioenergy Potential of the United States Constrained by Satellite Observations of Existing Productivity, W. Kolby Smith, Cory C. Cleveland, Sasha C. Reed, Norman L. Miller, and Steven W. Running

Global Bioenergy Capacity as Constrained by Observed Biospheric Productivity Rates, W. Kolby Smith, Maosheng Zhao, and Steven W. Running

A Global System for Monitoring Ecosystem Service Change, Heather Tallis, H. A. Mooney, Sandy Andelman, Patricia Balvanera, W. Cramer, Daniel Karp, Stephen Polasky, Belinda Reyers, Taylor Ricketts, Steven W. Running, Kirsten Thonicke, Britta Tietjen, and Ariane Walz

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Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE, I. Velicogna, J. Tong, T. Zhang, and John S. Kimball

Satellite Microwave remote sensing of contrasting surface water inundation changes within the Arctic-Boreal Region, J. D. Watts, John S. Kimball, Lucas A. Jones, Ronny Schroeder, and Kyle C. McDonald

A Riverscape Analysis Tool Developed to Assist Wild Salmon Conservation Across the North Pacific Rim, Diane C. Whited, John S. Kimball, J. Lucotch, Niels Maumenee, Huan Wu, Samantha D. Chilcote, and Jack A. Stanford

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Projected Climate Change Impacts on the Hydrology and Temperature of Pacific Northwest Rivers, Huan Wu, John S. Kimball, Marketa M. Elsner, Nate Mantua, Robert F. Adler, and Jack Arthur Stanford

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A new global river network database for macroscale hydrologic modeling, Huan Wu, John S. Kimball, Hongyi Li, Maoyi Huang, L. Ruby Leung, and Robert F. Adler

Submissions from 2011

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A simulation of probabilistic wildfire risk components for the continental United States, Mark A. Finney, Charles W. McHugh, Isaac C. Grenfell, Karin Lynn Riley, and Karen Short

Scoping Completed for an Experiment to Assess Vulnerability for Arctic and Boreal Ecosystems, Scott J. Goetz, John S. Kimball, Michelle Mack, and Eric Kasischke

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The use of airbone laser scanning to develop a pixel-based stratification for a verified carbon offset project, Jordan Seth Golinkoff, Mark Hanus, and Jennifer Carah

Satellite passive microwave remote sensing for monitoring global land surface phenology, Matthew O. Jones, Lucas A. Jones, John S. Kimball, and Kyle C. McDonald

Developing a Global Data Record of Daily Landscape Freeze/Thaw Status Using Satellite Passive Microwave Remote Sensing, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, Kyle C. McDonald, and Joseph M. Glassy

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Satellite detection of Northern Hemisphere Non-Frozen season changes and associated impacts to vegetation growing seasons, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, Ke Zhang, and Kyle C. McDonald