NAI
2002 Annual Science Report
NASA Ames Research Center
Reporting | JUL 2001 – JUN 2002
Rapid Rates of Change
Project Progress
We reconstructed the responses of South American Vegetation to the “El Niño” Southern Oscillation (ENSO), at 8-km spatial resolution and one-month time resolution. Since Sea Surface Temperature (SST) is an important climate and ENSO driver, we undertook the reconstruction of past SST of the Atlantic and Pacific for the 1246-1991 period, based on tree-ring data of South America processed with Neural Networks. Additionally, we dated, by C14 30 samples from Ecuadorian “albarradas”, dams built since pre-Columbian times to avoid runoff in the dry forest of Ecuador during ENSO events. With separate funding we have explored impact craters in South America and dated by U/Pb what appears to be a mass extinction episode in Jurassic times. Research in hyperspectral microscopy continues.
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PROJECT INVESTIGATORS:
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PROJECT MEMBERS:
Hector D' Antoni
Project Investigator
Nora Madanes
Co-Investigator
Jorge Marcos
Co-Investigator
Ellen Metzger
Co-Investigator
Ante Mlinarevic
Co-Investigator
Eduardo Musacchino
Co-Investigator
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RELATED OBJECTIVES:
Objective 14.0
Determine the resilience of local and global ecosystems through their response to natural and human-induced disturbances.