1. LBA-ECO Science Team Business Meeting November 5-8, 2003 Diane E. Wickland NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program

2. 1.Welcome / Thank You 2. Project Management Update 3. LBA Air-ECO Loss and Recovery 4. U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues 5. Scientific Synthesis & Integration 6. The Future for LBA-ECO Outline

3. Thank you for your participation! Thank you for your patience and understanding during a difficult year for NASA and LBA-ECO Thank you for help in coordinating this meeting with the VI Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil and supporting the LBA special session Welcome / Thank You

4. LBA Central Office has moved to Manaus, under INPA’s lead – this transition has worked well Have established a Brazilian LBA lead in Santarem: Paulo Coutinho, Santarem Office Manager (and we have agreed-upon, documented roles and responsibilities for the lead managers there) LBA-ECO will assign a senior manager to the Central Office (J. Durazo to start 6 mo. detail next week) Project Management Update

5. We are walking in the right direction... -- Wickland & Gomes, October 2003 Project Management Update

6. NASA and MCT were not able to complete the needed Implementing Arrangement for the planned 2003 airborne campaigns (also LBA-Hydromet) INPE and AEB tried to help, the LBA-ECO scientists and managers held open various options and developed plans for partial campaigns as long as possible, but we could not find a way NASA asked the LBA-Air-ECO scientists and managers to plan a “back-up” campaign in North America to make use of the resources already committed/reserved for flights in Brazil – this was conducted quite successfully in July-August, 2003 LBA-Air-ECO Loss & Recovery

7. NASA and INPA have asked the LBA-Air-ECO scientists and managers to develop options to “recover” some or all of the science lost to LBA: - more aggressive use of satellite data (already have purchased more EO-1 Hyperion and Landsat data) - reduced airborne program in 2004 using Brazilian aircraft (many ideas/plans proposed) * - total recovery plan must be much cheaper than LBA-Air-ECO (funds were used and/or could not carry over to NASA’s next fiscal year) LBA-Air-ECO Loss & Recovery * These are consistent with the existing Implementing Arrangement for LBA-ECO, but will still require endorsement/support by MCT

8. NASA and INPA have discussed the desirability of: - seeking a one-year extension of the existing LBA- ECO Implementing Arrangement to enable extended field observations and a more relaxed schedule for shipping, completing, transitioning (to foreign expedition approvals), or ending field work in Brazil - seeking a new agreement or more lengthy extension to continue formal collaborations through the synthesis and integration stage, including NASA’s planned Guest Investigator program U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

9. MCT has informed NASA: - it does not wish to disrupt ongoing LBA-ECO research activities - new LBA agreements (under S & T Framework Agreement) must be put forward for approval by Brazil’s Congress before they can proceed - until the above “irregularity” is addressed, nothing new can move forward... It is not clear how this MCT position applies to new activities under the existing LBA-ECO Implementing Arrangement... U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

10. At the recent Brazil-U.S. Common Agenda on the Environment meeting a proposed plan of action was put forward to resolve the “agreement problem” - two meetings proposed, to be facilitated through use of diplomatic channels (i.e., U.S. State Dept. and Brazil’s Foreign Ministry to lead) to be held before the end of 2003 - first meeting week of Dec. 8 now, likely in Manaus; with advance preparation maybe only one will be needed? U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

11. The “agreement problem” impacts LBA-ECO transition schedule and LBA-Air-ECO recovery planning - Until/unless there is a positive resolution, we will need to plan to complete all LBA-ECO field activity in Brazil by December 16, 2004 (if you want to continue on, you had better evaluate all your options...) - Any LBA-Air-ECO recovery plans involving use of Brazilian aircraft will require MCT’s support in pursing approvals for flights, participation of U.S. PI’s, etc. (if MCT is not prepared to support/endorse until the Congressional approval step has been completed, we may not be able to proceed – even if otherwise compatible with the existing agreement...) U.S.-Brazil Agreement Issues

12. Scientific Synthesis & Integration The Challenges Ahead: Synthesis and Integration - Answering our questions! - Sharing data and integrating data products - Quantifying errors and characterizing uncertainties - Reconciling and/or explaining differences – distinguishing our knowledge from our interpretations Completing our intensive observations - LBA-Air-ECO Recovery? - Terminating U.S. field presence by December 2004

13. Scientific Synthesis & Integration Data Sharing - registration of metadata in Beija Flor has dropped off, despite the many papers/special issues being published - availability of actual data sets still lags behind registration of metadata - is informal sharing getting the immediate job done, or are people having trouble gaining access to others’ data? Data Archival - a steady stream of new data products ought be moving into the archive as time goes on and, especially, as papers are published! - proper documentation, final QA, interfacing with archive staff, etc. must be a priority for each Principal Investigator!

14. Scientific Synthesis & Integration Are we missing anything? A key measurement or analysis? An opportunity (e.g, new satellite data)? - there is not much time left to fill a gap or take advantage of any new opportunities - already NASA HQ is thinking about what to promote for the Guest Investigator program; assuring the availability of the key data sets and information needs for completing LBA-ECO synthesis and integration is essential

15. The Future for LBA-ECO We have until December 16,. 2004, to complete our field studies; any extension after that is TBD pending resolution of “agreement problem” Phase II research funding continues through ~ Dec. 2005 Guest Investigator program for synthesis & integration using existing LBA data to be solicited for start dates in Jan. 2006 (a NASA solicitation or it could be joint) - likely for 1-2 years duration - ~ US$2,000,000 per year + needed Project Office support NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program will be transitioning field campaign funding to the North American Carbon Program (NACP)

16. End