Crucial Carbon Stores and Fluxes in Desert Environments

Workshop Overview:

Understanding carbon stores and fluxes in desert environments is crucial to reach conservation, regeneration, and carbon goals locally and globally. In desert landscapes, carbon is primarily stored as inorganic carbon in the so-called caliche layer and in groundwater and organic carbon in plants and soil. While increasing environmental degradation is threatening these carbon sinks, the extent, quantity, and fluxes are highly under-observed, particularly, carbon stored below the surface.

JPL is a leader in technologies that can potentially meet the currently unmet observational needs and can provide a comprehensive picture of desert carbon. In recent years it has been demonstrated that technologies such as ground penetrating radar (GPR) can yield unprecedented insights into carbon storage below the ground. GPR as spearheaded by JPL has most famously been used to detect aquifer boundaries, which in this study may give new insights into carbon stored in groundwater as well as an indirect measurement of root zone depth. GPR has also been demonstrated to be able to map the extent and depth of the caliche layer. Even organic carbon contained in deep root systems can be discovered using GPR. Understanding and quantifying the belowground distribution of these carbon sinks and linking it to surface and aboveground carbon pools and fluxes will be crucial to inform future adaptation, mitigation, and regeneration efforts.

Utilizing additional technologies already highly successful for mapping surface and aboveground carbon such as spectral imaging provided through the Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) or synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements through airborne observation such as the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) and now also onboard the satellite mission NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) can give a comprehensive view of desert vegetation and soils. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions (OCO-2/-3) add not only insights into carbon fluxes but also vegetation changes.

The first workshop will lay the groundwork for achieving a common understanding of science and measurement needs and technical feasibility. We will discuss the current state-of-the art in desert carbon science, clearly outline gaps, and how they can potentially be addressed by airborne and remote sensing technology. Our goal is to achieve the first two objectives of the study setting the scientific and technological basis leading toward concept development during the second workshop.