NICCR Funded Projects

Currently Funded Projects:

• Colorado State University, Investigation of Hygroscopicity and Cloud-and-Ice Nucleating Activities of Combustion Aerosols (DeMott).
  Paul DeMott from Colorado State University is using laboratory studies and modeling to determine how manmade and natural particles generated from energy production affect the transfer of solar and thermal energy.  The transfer of these energy types alters the properties of clouds thereby affecting the Earth’s climate.  The results of this study will enable more accurate forecasts of future climate.
• Idaho State University, University of Washington, University of Arizona, Climatic and biotic co-limitation of conifer establishment at treelines: addressing uncertainty in bio-climatic model forecasts of forest change (Germino, Little, Graumlich).
  Matthew Germino from Idaho State University, Lisa Graumlich from the University of Arizona, and Nathan Mantua from the University of Washington are using a combination of tree-ring analysis and seedling establishment experiments to examine the role of climatic variability in tree establishment at upper and lower tree line.  Germino, Graumlich, and Mantua will use this study to refine a model for predicting tree species response to climatic and biotic influences. 
• Northern Arizona University, University of California, Irvine, Climate Impacts of Land Cover Change in the Western U.S. (Hungate and Randerson).
  Bruce Hungate from Northern Arizona University is using a climate model to examine feedbacks related to climate-induced vegetation range shifts, afforestation projects, and wildland and prescribed fire. Hungate will simulate changes in land cover to examine regional changes in surface air temperature.
• Colorado State University, Laboratory measurements of aerosol scattering and extinction properties (Kreidenweis).
  Sonia Kreidenweis from Colorado State University is studying carbon-dominated aerosols, which can absorb visible and ultraviolet light.  Kreidenweis will use the results of this study to improve models of aerosol scattering and absorption.  The improved models will enable climate modelers to make more accurate climate change predictions.
• University of California, Santa Cruz, Climate Change Impacts on Shrub-Forest Ecotones in the Western US (Loik).
  Michael Loik from the University of California, Santa Cruz is studying the linkages between snow depth/melt timing, recruitment of dominant species, and species composition.  Loik and his collaborators will use snow fences in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to test snow climate and develop a recruitment model from the field results.
• University of Colorado, Boulder, The Response of a Subalpine Forest Ecosystem to Earlier Spring Warm-up (Monson).
  Russell Monson from the University of Colorado, Boulder is conducting a study to examine the response of a Rocky Mountain sub-alpine forest to earlier spring warm-up.  By removing snow from the treatment area, he will expand his earlier work that found that earlier snow melt reduces the amount of carbon uptake in trees.  These data will be used to parameterize a model that will enable researchers to examine tree carbon uptake under various climate change scenarios.
• University of Colorado at Boulder, The Role of Boreal and Arctic Soils in Climate Feedbacks; Model Development and Testing (Neff).
  Jason Neff from the University of Colorado, Boulder is developing a model to examine the role of boreal and arctic soils in climate feedbacks.  Neff will use this model to generate predictions about soil decomposition and carbon release under changing climatic conditions.
  
• University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ecosystem response to future climate change and the impact of vegetation feedbacks in the Southwest United States (Notaro)
  Michael Notaro from the University of Wisconsin, Madison is examining southwestern U.S. ecosystem response to predicted changes in climate.  Notaro with his collaborators is using observational data and model experiments to identify the response of vegetation to altered precipitation levels, increasing carbon dioxide, and drought. 
  
• San Diego State University , Controls on Carbon and Methane flux Across a Complex Coastal Arctic Landscape (Oechel).
  Walter Oechel from San Diego State University is studying the patterns of carbon dioxide and methane flux that result from changes in vegetation, soil moisture, thaw depth of the permafrost layer, and water table depth near Barrow Alaska. 
• University of Wyoming,  Synthesis of existing datasets to explore the implications of altered precipitation for carbon and water dynamics in desert ecosystems of the southwestern US (Ogle).
  Kiona Ogle from the University of Wyoming is synthesizing results from previous studies to examine the implications for fluctuations in precipitation on carbon and water dynamics in the desert systems of the southwestern United States. Ogle, along with her collaborators, will use existing information to determine which ecological components are most affected by changes in precipitation patterns. This information will also be used to guide future research.
• University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Organic Aerosol Effects on Radiative Forcing of Climate (Russell)
  Lynn Russell from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego is using laboratory and modeling experiments to determine how different organic compounds influence aerosol particle properties.  Russell’s goal is to use this research to determine the role of these particles in absorbing radiation in the atmosphere.
• University of Florida, The Effect of Moisture and Temperature Manipulation on Plant Allocation and Soil Carbon Dynamics in Black Spruce Forests: Using Radiocarbon to Detect Multiple Climate Change Impacts on Boreal Ecosystem Carbon Cycling (Schuur).
  Edward Schuur from the University of Florida is manipulating temperature and moisture to determine how the carbon pool of the black spruce boreal forest will be affected by climate change.  Schuur and his collaborators will use the findings of their study with a boreal forest model to explore future changes in precipitation and temperature.
• University of Wyoming, Direct and indirect effects of warming, elevated CO2 and non-native plant invasion on carbon and water cycling in semiarid grassland (Williams).
  David Williams and Elise Pendall from the University of Wyoming are using a heating and carbon dioxide enrichment experiment to determine how these forecasted changes will influence non-native plant invasion, and the carbon and water cycles of a grassland near Cheyenne, Wyoming. 
• Northern Arizona University, Regional Dynamic Vegetation Model for the Colorado Plateau: A Species-Specific Approach (Cobb).
  Neil Cobb from Northern Arizona University is using a landscape process model to predict species specific responses to climate change from the low deserts of the Grand Canyon along an elevational gradient to the alpine tundra of the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona.  The outputs from this model will be used to make landscape level predictions about how disturbance events, such as fire, and other processes will effect the distribution of 26 species.