Research Interests

• Assessing impacts of fire and disturbance on boreal forest ecosystem processess
• Carbon cycling in boreal forests
• Monitoring boreal forests with satellite-based remote sensing systems
• Monitoring terrestrial ecosystems with imaging radar systems

Research Projects

• Determining the Contribution of Emissions from Boreal Forest Fires to Interannual Variations in Atmospheric CO at High Northern Latitudes
• Effects of Fire on Seasonal Patterns of Net Primary Production in Fire Disturbed Boreal Forests
• Monitoring Effects of Fire in Alaskan Boreal Forests
• The Use of Satellite Fire Products and Models to Investigate the Effects of Fire on the Global Carbon Cycle
• Effects of the Development of the Baikal-Amur Mainline Railroad on Patterns of Boreal Forest Cover and Carbon in Southern Siberia
• Environmental Working Group Boreal Forest Study
• Land Cover and Land Use Change in West Kalimantan, Indonesia: Implications for Carbon Dynamics and Biodiversity

Recent Results

• Kasischke, E.S., K.B. Smith, L.L. Bourgeau-Chavez, E.A. Romanowicz, S. Brunzell, C.J. Richardson. Effects of Seasonal Hydrologic Patterns in South Florida Wetlands on Radar Backscatter Measured from ERS-2 SAR Imagery, Remote Sensing of Environment, in press.
• Kasischke, E.S., J. Hewson, B.J. Stocks, G. van der Werf, J. Randerson. (2003) The use of ATSR active fire counts for estimating relative patterns of biomass burning – a study from the boreal forest region, Geophysical Research Letters, 30 (18), ASC10-1 – ASC10-4.
• Kasischke, E.S., and L.M. Bruhwiler. (2003) Emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane from boreal forest fires in 1998, Journal of Geophysical Research 108 (D1), FFR 2-1 to 2-14.
• Kasischke, E.S., Williams, D., and D. Barry. (2002) Analysis of the patterns of large fires in the boreal forest region of Alaska, International Journal of Wildland Fire 11 (2), 131-144.
• Current Research Results

Education

• BS, Natural Resources, The University of Michigan, 1974
• MS, Remote Sensing, The University of Michigan, 1980
• PhD, Forest Ecology/Remote Sensing, The University of Michigan, 1992

Teaching

• GEOG 447 - Biogeography
• GEOG 498A/788M - Principles of Remote Sensing
• GEOG 498R - Topical Investigations: Satellite Monitoring of High Latitude Ecosystems

Publications

• Books and Book Chapters
• Journals

Research Project Descriptions

Determining the Contribution of Emissions from Boreal Forest Fires to Interannual Variations in Atmospheric CO at High Northern Latitudes

Abstract
This project is being funded through NASA's NRA-99-OES-04: Investigations that Contribute to the NASA Earth Science Enterprise's Modeling and Data Analysis Research. Co-Investigators on this project include Nancy French of the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, Brian Stocks of the Canadian Forest Service, and Slava Kharuk and Anatoly Sukhinin of the Sukachev Forest Institute, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Collaborators on this project include Susan Conard of the U.S. Forest Service and James Randerson of the California Institute of Technology. The overall goal of this project is to use information derived from satellite observations available through NASA's Earth Science Enterprise to reduce the uncertainties in the constraints on fire carbon emissions estimates for the boreal forest. The hypothesis that we will test in this interdisciplinary science investigation is that the interannual variations in the fire regime in the boreal forest are responsible for a significant portion of the interannual variations in the seasonal amplitude of the atmospheric CO₂ record at high northern latitudes. By quantifying the biomass burning component of the seasonal amplitude, we can begin to distinguish among different mechanisms, including changes in the length of the growing season, the effects of interannual variability in snow and ice cover, and the direct effects of temperature and soil moisture on ecosystem carbon fluxes. The goals of this project will be achieved by using satellite imagery to provide three important pieces of information: (1) we will analyze the AVHRR data collected over Russia from 1978 to 1999 and combine this information with fire boundaries produced by MODIS and fire records from North America to produce a global boreal forest fire boundary map for the time periods of 1978 to 2002; (2) we will further calibrate the areal extent of fires in the boreal forest by using finer resolution Landsat imagery to estimate total area in selected regions; and (3) we will use information derived from Landsat imagery to estimate patterns of biomass burning/fire severity in different boreal forest regions. This information will be used to derive estimates of direct carbon release from fires in the boreal forest. The output from this project will be spatial/temporal estimates of CO₂ emissions, plus emissions of other carbon-based greenhouse gases (methane, carbon monoxide). We will compare estimates of CO₂ emissions from fires to the record of atmospheric variations in CO₂ concentrations derived from surface flask data at high northern latitude stations to determine how much the variation in the atmospheric record is due to emissions from fire. We will also use outputs from the CASA model to compare the variations observed from fires to those predicted for biological processes, such as photosynthesis, plant respiration, and heterotrophic respiration.

Effects of Fire on Seasonal Patterns of Net Primary Production in Fire Disturbed Boreal Forests

Abstract
This project is being funded through NASA's NRA-99-OES-10: RADARSAT-1/ADRO-2. Co-Investigators on this project include Scott Goetz and Steve Prince of the Department of Geography, University of Maryland and Laura Bourgeau-Chavez of Veridian-ERIM International.

The goal of this project is to investigate the effects of fire on patterns of net primary productivity in the black spruce forest ecosytems of Alaska. It has been hypothesized by some that recent warming has been responsible for increases in net primary production (NPP) in the boreal forest region, but these theories do not account for variations in NPP that result from disturbance. The hypothesis for our study is that changes in forest cover as a result of fire result in an increase in NPP, particularly if there is a shift in ecosystem type from black spruce to deciduous forests. We will investigate this hypothesis by studying a region of Alaska (the Upper Tanana River Valley) where on-going field studies provide a rich source of data to validate an existing NPP model) the GLO-PEM model of the University of Maryland that uses satellite imagery from NOAA's AVHRR system to provide model inputs. We will modify components of this model to account for the effects that fires have on the surface characteristics detected by the AVHRR sensor (changes in NDVI, surface brightness temperature, and surface moisture characteristics). We will obtain AVHRR imagery for selected time periods between 1997 and 2000 that match dates where NPP measurements were or will be obtained using eddy covariance techniques (these data are being collected as part of an ongoing NSF study). Particular attention will be paid to calibrate the AVHRR-derived input parameters using finer-spatial scale measurements obtained from imaging radars (soil moisture characteristics) and Landsat TM/ETM data (NDVI, FPAR, albedo, surface brightness temperature). These latter investigations will build upon existing research programs being funded by NASA through a joint Alaska SAR Facility/IARC grant and a NASA Global Change Fellowship. Once the NPP model has been validated using the field observations, it will be applied to a large portion of Alaska's boreal forest for the time period of 1990 to 1999 to assess the regional significance of fire on the carbon balance. We will pay particular attention to estimating how NPP varies in a series of large fires that occurred in 1990 and 1991 as a function of time after recovery from fire. For more information, check out this PowerPoint presentation.

Monitoring Effects of Fire in Alaskan Boreal Forests

Project Description
This project is being carried out as part of the Long Term Ecological Research Program at the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest. Under this project, we join scientists from throughout the U.S. in studying important ecosystem processes in the boreal forest. Our particular research is focused on two areas: (1) better quantifying the spatial patterns of fire severity and consumption of organic soils in fires in the Alaskan boreal forest; and (2) understanding how fires influence annual patterns of soil temperature, moisture, CO₂ emissions and the surface energy budget. Of particular interest is a 1999 fire that took place near Delta Junction, Alaska.

The Use of Satellite Fire Products and Models to Investigate the Effects of Fire on the Global Carbon Cycle

Project Description
This project is being funded through NASA's NRA-99-OES-04: Investigations that Contribute to the NASA Earth Science Enterprise's Modeling and Data Analysis Research. The Principal Investigator for this project is James Randerson of the California Institute of Technology. Our role in this investigation is to provide inputs of greenhouse gas emissions from fires in the boreal forest based on our own research project. Co-Investigators include Sietse Los of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Institute.

Effects of the Development of the Baikal-Amur Mainline Railroad on Patterns of Boreal Forest Cover and Carbon in Southern Siberia

Project Description
This project was funded through NASA's Land Cover/Land Use Change Program. Collaborators on this program include Hank Shugart of the University of Virginia and Kathleen Bergen of the University of Michigan. The goals of the project were: (1) to develop approaches to monitor patterns of disturbance associated with the building of the railroad systems that transected southern Siberia: and (2) determine how, when combined with natural disturbances from insects and fires, they are controlling patterns of forest cover in this region, as well as carbon storage in these forests.(PowerPoint presentation)

Environmental Working Group Boreal Forest Study

Project Description
Since 1993, Russian and U.S. scientists have carried out joint investigations as part of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation. One of these projects focused on evaluating the utility of using information derived from national security satellites for monitoring key characteristics of forests found in the high latitude regions of Russia and the U.S. The initial studies determined that derived products from national security systems provided a unique perspective on key processes in the boreal forest, particularly monitoring severity of disturbance and forest recovery after disturbance. Ongoing studies are focusing on using information derived from national security systems to study critical aspects of the terrestrial carbon budget in this biome.

Intranet