CEE Seminar (ZOOM): The Fate of the Terrestrial Biosphere

ZOOM Link will be distributed by the CEE Department
Joshua B. Fisher, Ph.D.

Presidential Fellow of Ecosystem Science
Schmid College of Science and Technology
Chapman University

Abstract: One of the largest uncertainties of the future of the Earth is how the terrestrial biosphere will counteract or exacerbate the rise in CO2. Ecosystems can both absorb carbon (i.e., photosynthesis) and emit it (i.e., respiration, decomposition, combustion). Whether or not they absorb or emit carbon depends on water, temperature, nutrients and other factors. Here, Joshua Fisher will discuss how satellite and airborne remote sensing in conjunction with climate models are used to understand how Earth’s terrestrial water, carbon and nutrient cycles are linked and impact the Earth system as a whole, highlighting new insights into the behavior and understanding of the terrestrial biosphere in a changing climate.

Bio: 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. Fisher completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees from UC Berkeley and his postdoctoral work from the University of Oxford. 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. Fisher is currently Presidential Fellow of Ecosystem Science on the faculty at Chapman University. Fisher is also now the science lead for Hydrosat, which is launching a constellation of thermal satellite missions. 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 three years in a row.