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2007 Annual Science Report

NASA Ames Research Center Reporting  |  JUL 2006 – JUN 2007

Hindcasting Ecosystems

Project Summary

Collaboration with Rothschild’s team lead to the discovery of short wavelength UV radiation on the earth’s surface. We recorded high levels of UV radiation in southern South America as Rothschild and Rogoff did in the Bolivian Altiplano.

4 Institutions
3 Teams
0 Publications
0 Field Sites
Field Sites

Project Progress

Project Reports
Year 9 Annual Report
July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007

Project Progress (Accomplishments)

Collaboration with Rothschild’s team lead to the discovery of short wavelength UV radiation on the earth’s surface. We recorded high levels of UV radiation in southern South America as Rothschild and Rogoff did in the Bolivian Altiplano. We collaborate to explain this phenomenon and assess its importance. To describe our work we produced the following manuscripts for publication:

1) D’Antoni H. and L. Rothschild. 2007. Measuring Ultraviolet Radiation in South America. (in revision: adding tests suggested by the reviewers).

2) D’Antoni, H., A. Mlinarevic, C. Schultz, J. Skiles, J. Zamora. 2007. Hindcasting Sea Surface Temperature in South America. (Internal review).

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3) D’Antoni, H.L., L. Rothschild, C. Schultz, S. Burgess, J.W. Skiles. 2007. Extreme Environments in the Forests of Ushuaia, Argentina. (Submitted).

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4) D’Antoni, H. 2007. An Astrobleme? (Internal review)

5) D’Antoni, H., L. Rothschild, C. Schultz, S. Burgess, J. Skiles. 2007. Ultraviolet Radiation in Southern Argentina. (Internal review).

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(6) J. Matta and collaborators at the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico, made an updated version of our study of UV effects on human skin (in Spanish). It was published in Acta Bioquímica that selected our illustrations for the cover of the 40th anniversary issue.

(7) Burry, Trivi, and D’Antoni have produced a pollen analytic study of central Tierra del Fuego that describes the process of vegetation in the last three millennia (In revision: introducing changes suggested by reviewers).

(8) Trivi, D’Antoni and Romero produced a history of vegetation work for Patagonia (In review).

(9) Burry, D’Antoni and Frangi produced a history of vegetation work for Tierra del Fuego (In review).

(10) Burry, Trivi and D’Antoni wrote chapter on the environmental history of Northern Patagonia for a book edited by Dr. C. Perez de Micou (Internal review).

We processed the data retrieved from fieldwork (November 2006 and January 2007). Our collaborators in Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, and Tierra del Fuego continue to monitor specific aspects of ecosystems that we use for model calibration.

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Modeling: We are refining predictions of past NDVI data for South America, cross referencing past ecosystem predictions with proxy data of forcings of the Holocene climate: volcanic, orbital and solar. Geographical projection of reconstructions is underway using GIS technology.