The Fate of the Terrestrial Biosphere
Joshua B. Fisher, Presidential Fellow in Ecosystem Science, Chapman University
Joshua Fisher is a pioneer in using and developing remote sensing techniques to study the carbon and water cycles of terrestrial ecosystems. This talk will offer insights into global cycling and how ecosystems serve as carbon sources or sinks, as well as the cutting edge tools developed and used by Dr. Fisher to perform these kinds of studies from space.
—Anna Boser, PhD Student, Bren School
Watch a recording of the talk here.
Abstract
One of the largest uncertainties in the future of the Earth is on how terrestrial ecosystems contribute to or help counteract the rise in CO2. This is because terrestrial ecosystems can both absorb carbon (i.e., photosynthesis) and emit it (i.e., respiration, decomposition, combustion). Whether they absorb or emit carbon depends on a variety of factors, such as temperatures, moisture, nutrients, etc. Here, Dr. Joshua Fisher will discuss how satellite and airborne remote sensing, in conjunction with climate models, are used to understand how Earth's terrestrial carbon, water and nutrient cycles are linked and their impacts on the Earth system as a whole, and highlight new insights into the behavior and understanding of terrestrial ecosystems in a changing climate.
Bio
Dr. Joshua B. Fisher is a Climate Scientist focusing on terrestrial ecosystems, water, carbon, and nutrient cycling using a combination of supercomputer models, remote sensing, and field campaigns from the Amazon to the Arctic. Dr. Fisher completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees from UC Berkeley and his postdoctoral work from the University of Oxford. Dr. Fisher was at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for over a decade, and was the Science Lead for the ECOSTRESS mission, focused on plant water use/stress from the International Space Station. Dr. Fisher is currently Presidential Fellow of Ecosystem Science on the faculty at Chapman University. Dr. Fisher is also the Science Lead for Hydrosat, which is launching a constellation of thermal satellite missions. With nearly 200 publications, Dr. Fisher has been named one of the world’s “most influential” researchers, in the top 0.1% of scientists with papers in the top 1% by citations for the past 3 years in a row.
