Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments

The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE Arctic) seek to quantify the physical, chemical, and biological behavior of terrestrial ecosystems in Alaska.

Initial research will focus on the highly dynamic landscapes of the North Slope, where thaw lakes, drained thaw lake basins, and ice-rich polygonal ground offer distinct land units for investigation and modeling.

A focus on scaling based on investigations within these geomorphological units will allow us to deliver a process-rich ecosystem model, extending from bedrock to the top of the vegetative canopy, in which the evolution of Arctic ecosystems in a changing climate can be modeled at the scale of a high resolution Earth System Model grid cell (i.e., 30×30 km grid size).

Why is this work important?

Increasing our confidence in climate projections for high-latitude regions of the world will require a coordinated set of investigations that target improved process understanding and model representation of important ecosystem-climate feedbacks.

See photos of NGEE’s work