From observations to integration: Leveraging observations to improve the modeling of Arctic biospheric processes -- June 2026 Modeling Community of Practice meeting

This meeting highlighted the modeling work of biospheric-focused NASA airborne missions: ABoVE and FORTE. These missions are in different phases of operations, with ABoVE nearing completion and FORTE recently selected. The Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) is broadly focused on gaining a better understanding of the vulnerability and resilience of Arctic and boreal ecosystems to environmental change in western North America and providing the scientific basis for informed decision-making to guide societal responses at local to international levels. ABoVE is in Phase III of its research plan and focused on the employment of integrated modeling frameworks for diagnosis and prediction, and the development of decision support information products. Arctic Coastlines: Frontlines Of Rapidly Transforming Ecosystems (FORTE) is a recently selected NASA Earth Venture Suborbital Mission to apply the unique advantages of high-resolution, ecosystem-scale, suborbital passive and active remote sensing observations to explicitly link complex hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological processes in Arctic land-ocean systems. FORTE’s modeling efforts will focus on coupling the terrestrial-hydrologic system with the river-delta-ocean system with mechanistic aquatic physics and biogeochemistry. The discussion focused on how both missions integrate modeling efforts and goals into their project structures, the benefits and challenges associated with leveraging airborne observations in modeling frameworks, lessons learned, and future plans.

This meeting was part of an ongoing series: Forging Better Connections between Models and Observations that focuses on MOMP Deliverable 1.1 “Support development of synthesis products, best-estimate datasets, and model intercomparison studies using cases from major Arctic field campaigns and long-term observational sites to better enable the use of observational data in model evaluation.”

Photo: NASA FORTE Team

Want to join this meeting or future meetings? Request an account on our member space, a hub for building connections and facilitating research for a thriving Arctic and Earth. Contact Toni O’Boyle with any questions at toni@iarpccollaborations.org.