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.
Submissions from 2019
Integrating snow science and wildlife ecology in Arctic-boreal North America, Natalie T. Boelman, Glen E. Liston, Eliezer Gurarie, Arjan J.H. Meddens, Peter J. Mahoney, Peter B. Kirchner, Gil Bohrer, Todd J. Brinkman, Chris L. Cosgrove, Jan U. H. Eitel, Mark Hebblewhite, John S. Kimball, Scott LaPoint, Anne W. Nolin, Deana Pedersen, Stine Højlund Pedersen, Laura R. Prugh, Adele K. Reinking, and Lee A. Vierling
An Estimated Contribution of Glacier Runoff to Mongolia’s Upper Khovd River Basin in the Altai Mountains, Caleb Gikai Pan, Ulrich Kamp, Munkhdavaa Munkhjargal, Sarah Halvorson, Avirmed Dashtseren, and Michael Walther
Sensitivity of active-layer freezing process to snow cover in Arctic Alaska, Yonghong Yi, John S. Kimball, Richard H. Chen, Mahta Moghaddam, and Charles E. Miller
Submissions from 2018
Global Estimation of Biophysical Variables from Google Earth Engine Platform, Manuel Campos-Taberner, Alvaro Moreno-Martinez, Francisco Javier Garcia-Haro, Gustau Camps-Valls, Nathaniel P. Robinson, Jens Kattge, and Steven W. Running
Assessing global surface water inundation dynamics using combined satellite information from SMAP, AMSR2 and Landsat, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, John Galantowicz, Seung-Bum Kim, Steven K. Chan, Rolf Reichle, Lucas A. Jones, and Jennifer D. Watts
Global Satellite Retrievals of the Near-Surface Atmospheric Vapor Pressure Deficit from AMSR-E and AMSR2, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, Rolf Reichle, Lucas A. Jones, Jennifer D. Watts, and Youngwook Kim
Regional Crop Gross Primary Productivity and Yield Estimation Using Fused Landsat-MODIS Data, Mingzhu He, John S. Kimball, Marco Maneta, Bruce Maxwell, Alvaro Moreno, Santiago Begueria, and Xiaocui Wu
Innovation in rangeland monitoring: annual, 30 m, plant functional type percent cover maps for U.S. rangelands, 1984–2017, Matthew O. Jones, Brady W. Allred, David E. Naugle, Jeremy D. Maestas, Patrick Donnelly, Loretta J. Metz, Jason Karl, Rob Smith, Brandon Bestelmeyer, Chad Boyd, Jay D. Kerby, and James D. McIver
Terrestrial primary productivity indicators for inclusion in the National Climate Indicators System, Matthew O. Jones, Steven W. Running, John S. Kimball, Nathaniel P. Robinson, and Brady W. Allred
Quantifying the effects of freeze-thaw transitions and snowpack melt on land surface albedo and energy exchange over Alaska and Western Canada, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, Jinyang Du, Crystal L.B. Schaaf, and Peter B. Kirchner
Towards global data products of Essential Biodiversity Variables on species traits, W. Daniel Kissling, Ramona Walls, Anne Bowser, Matthew O. Jones, Jens Kattge, and Robert P. Guralnick
Future global productivity will be affected by plant trait response to climate, Nima Madani, John S. Kimball, Ashley P. Ballantyne, David L.R. Affleck, Peter M. van Bodegom, Peter B. Reich, Jens Kattge, Anna Sala, Mona Nazeri, Matthew O. Jones, Maosheng Zhao, and Steven W. Running
Thermal Anomalies Detect Critical Global Land Surface Changes, David J. Mildrexler, M. Zhao, Warren B. Cohen, Steven W. Running, X. Song, and M. O. Jones
A methodology to derive global maps of leaf traits using remote sensing and climate data, Alvaro Moreno-Martinez, Gustau Camps-Valls, Jens Kattge, Nathaniel P. Robinson, M. Reichstein, Peter M. van Bodegom, Koen Kramer, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Peter B. Reich, Michael Bahn, Ulo Niinemets, Josep Penuelas, Joseph M. Craine, Bruno E.L. Cerabolini, Vanessa Minden, Daniel C. Laughlin, Lawren Sack, Brady W. Allred, Christopher Baraloto, Chaeho Byun, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, and Steven W. Running
Rain-on-snow events in Alaska, their frequency and distribution from satellite observations, Caleb Gikai Pan, Peter B. Kirchner, John S. Kimball, Youngwook Kim, and Jinyang Du
Early Warnings for State Transitions, Caleb P. Roberts, Dirac Twidwell, Jessica L. Burnett, Victoria Donovan, Carissa L. Wonkka, Christine L. Bielski, Ahjond S. Garmestani, David G. Angeler, Tarsha Eason, Brady W. Allred, Matthew O. Jones, David E. Naugle, Shana M. Sundstrom, and Craig R. Allen
Terrestrial primary production for the conterminous United States derived from Landsat 30 m and MODIS 250 m, Nathaniel P. Robinson, Brady W. Allred, William P. Smith, Matthew O. Jones, Alvaro Moreno, Tyler A. Erickson, David E. Naugle, and Steven W. Running
Characterizing permafrost active layer dynamics and sensitivity to landscape spatial heterogeneity in Alaska, Yonghong Yi, John S. Kimball, Richard Chen, Mahta Moghaddam, Rolf H. Reichle, Umakant Mishra, Donatella Zona, and Walter C. Oechel
Submissions from 2017
Retrieving landscape freeze/thaw state fromSoil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) radar and radiometer measurements, C. Derksen, Xiaolan Xu, R. Scott Dunbar, Andreas Colliander, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, T. Andrew Black, E. Euskirchen, Alexandre Langlois, Michael M. Loranty, Philip Marsh, Kimmo Rautiainen, Alexandre Roy, Alain Royer, and Jilmarie Stephens
Satellite microwave assessment of Northern Hemisphere lake ice phenology from 2002 to 2015, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, Claude Duguay, Youngwook Kim, and Jennifer D. Watts
A global satellite environmental data record derived from AMSR-E and AMSR2 microwave Earth observations, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, Lucas Alan Jones, Youngwook Kim, Joseph M. Glassy, and Jennifer D. Watts
Satellite-observed changes in vegetation sensitivities to surface soil moisture and total water storage variations since the 2011 Texas drought, A. Geruo, I. Velicogna, John S. Kimball, Jinyang Du, Youngwook Kim, Andreas Colliander, and Eni G. Njoku
The shared and unique values of optical, fluorescence, thermal and microwave satellite data for estimating large-scale crop yields, Kaiyu Guan, Jin Wu, John S. Kimball, Martha C. Anderson, Steve Frolking, Bo Li, Christopher R. Hain, and David B. Lobell
The SMAP Level 4 Carbon Product for Monitoring Ecosystem Land-Atmosphere CO₂ Exchange, Lucas Alan Jones, John S. Kimball, Rolf H. Reichle, Nima Madani, Joseph M. Glassy, Joe V. Ardizzone, Andreas Colliander, J. Cleverly, Ankur R. Desai, Derek Eamus, E. Euskirchen, Lindsay Hutley, Craig Macfarlane, and Russell L. Scott
Evaluating the role of land cover and climate uncertainties in computing gross primary production in Hawaiian Island ecosystems, Heather L. Kimball, Paul C. Selmants, Alvaro Moreno, Steven W. Running, and Christian P. Giardina
An extended global Earth system data record on daily landscape freeze–thaw status determined from satellite passive microwave remote sensing, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, Joseph M. Glassy, and Jinyang Du
Estimating Global Ecosystem Isohydry/Anisohydry Using Active and Passive Microwave Satellite Data, Yan Li, Kaiyu Guan, Pierre Gentine, Alexandra G. Konings, Frederick C. Meinzer, John S. Kimball, Xiangtao Xu, William R. L. Anderegg, Nate G. McDowell, Jordi Martinez-Vilalta, David G. Long, and Stephen P. Good
Global Analysis of Bioclimatic Controls on Ecosystem Productivity Using Satellite Observations of Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence, Nima Madani, John S. Kimball, Lucas Alan Jones, Nicholas C. Parazoo, and Kaiyu Guan
Improving Global Gross Primary Productivity Estimates by Computing Optimum Light Use Efficiencies Using Flux Tower Data, Nima Madani, John S. Kimball, and Steven W. Running
Assessment of the SMAP Level-4 Surface and Root-Zone Soil Moisture Product Using In Situ Measurements, Rolf H. Reichle, Gabrielle J. M. De Lannoy, Qing Liu, Joe V. Ardizzone, Andreas Colliander, Austin Conaty, Wade Crow, Thomas J. Jackson, Lucas Alan Jones, John S. Kimball, Randy Koster, Sarith P. Mahanama, Edmond B. Smith, Aaron Berg, Simone Bircher, David Bosch, Todd G. Caldwell, M. H. Cosh, Angel Gonzalez-Zamora, Chandra D. Holifield Collins, Karsten H. Jensen, Stan Livingston, Ernesto Lopez-Baeza, Jose Martinez-Fernandez, Heather McNairn, Mahta Moghaddam, Anna Pacheco, Thierry Pellarin, John Prueger, Tracy Rowlandson, Mark Seyfried, Patrick Starks, Zhongbo Su, Mark Thibeault, Rogier van der Velde, Jeffrey Walker, Xiaoling Wu, and Yijian Zeng
A Dynamic Landsat Derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Product for the Conterminous United States, Nathaniel P. Robinson, Brady W. Allred, Matthew O. Jones, Alvaro Moreno, John S. Kimball, David E. Naugle, Tyler A. Erickson, and Andrew D. Richardson
A Dynamic Landsat Derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Product for the Conterminous United States, Nathaniel P. Robinson, Brady W. Allred, Matthew O. Jones, Alvaro Moreno, John S. Kimball, David E. Naugle, Tyler A. Erickson, and Andrew D. Richardson
Decreasing net primary production due to drought and slight decreases in solar radiation in China from 2000 to 2012, J. Wang, J. Dong, Y. Yi, G. Lu, Jared Wesley Oyler, W. K. Smith, Maosheng Zhao, J. Liu, and Steven W. Running
A Global Gridded Dataset of GRACE Drought Severity Index for 2002–14: Comparison with PDSI and SPEI and a Case Study of the Australia Millennium Drought, Meng Zhao, A. Geruo, I. Velicogna, and John S. Kimball
Satellite Observations of Regional Drought Severity in the Continental United States Using GRACE-Based Terrestrial Water Storage Changes, Meng Zhao, A. Geruo, I. Velicogna, and John S. Kimball
Submissions from 2016
Environmental controls on the increasing GPP of terrestrial vegetation across northern Eurasia, P. Dass, Michael A. Rawlins, John S. Kimball, and Y. Kim
Mapping Arctic Tundra Vegetation Communities Using Field Spectroscopy and Multispectral Satellite Data in North Alaska, USA, Scott J. Davidson, Maria J. Santos, Victoria L. Sloan, Jennifer D. Watts, Gareth K. Phoenix, Walter C. Oechel, and Donatella Zona
Implementation of satellite based fractional water cover indices in the pan-Arctic region using AMSR-E and MODIS, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, L. A. Jones, and Jennifer D. Watts
Passive Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture Based on Dynamic Vegetation Scattering Properties for AMSR-E, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, and Lucas A. Jones
The plant phenology monitoring design for The National Ecological Observatory Network, Sarah Elmendorf, Katherine D. Jones, Benjamin I. Cook, Jeffrey M. Diez, Carolyn A. F. Enquist, Rebecca A. Hufft, Matthew O. Jones, Susan J. Mazer, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, David J. P. Moore, Mark D. Schwartz, and Jake F. Weltzin
Satellite detection of soil moisture related water stress impacts on ecosystem productivity using the MODIS-based photochemical reflectance index, Mingzhu He, John S. Kimball, Steven W. Running, Ashley P. Ballantyne, Kaiyu Guan, and Fred Huemmrich
The sensitivity of soil respiration to soil temperature, moisture, and carbon supply at the global scale, Andrew Hursh, Ashley P. Ballantyne, Leila Cooper, Marco Maneta, John S. Kimball, and Jennifer D. Watts
Quantifying the effects of spring freeze-thaw transitions and snowpack dynamics on surface albedo change using satellite optical and microwave remote sensing, Youngwook Kim, John S. Kimball, Jinyang Du, Joseph M. Glassy, and Crystal L.B. Schaaf
Remote Sensing Derived Fire Frequency, Soil Moisture and Ecosystem Productivity Explain Regional Movements in Emu over Australia, Nima Madani, John S. Kimball, Mona Nazeri, Lalit Kumar, and David L.R. Affleck
Widespread permafrost vulnerability and soil active layer increases over the high northern latitudes inferred from satellite remote sensing and process model assessments, Hotaek Park, Youngwook Kim, and John S. Kimball
Quantification of Warming Climate-Induced Changes in Terrestrial Arctic River Ice Thickness and Phenology, Hotaek Park, Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, Kazuhiro Oshima, Youngwook Kim, Thanh Ngo-Duc, John S. Kimball, and Daqing Yang
Future Decreases in Freezing Days across North America, Michael A. Rawlins, Raymond S. Bradley, Henry F. Diaz, John S. Kimball, and David A. Robinson
Large divergence of satellite and Earth system model estimates of global terrestrial CO2 fertilization, W. Kolby Smith, Sasha C. Reed, Cory C. Cleveland, Ashley P. Ballantyne, William R. L. Anderegg, William R. Wieder, Yi Y. Liu, and Steven W. Running
Assessing the remotely sensed Drought Severity Index for agricultural drought monitoring and impact analysis in North China, Jie Zhang, Qiaozhen Mu, and Jianxi Huang
A review of remote sensing based actual evapotranspiration estimation: A review of remote sensing evapotranspiration, Ke Zhang, John S. Kimball, and Steven W. Running