NASA'S TERRESTRIAL OBSERVATION PREDICTION SYSTEM (TOPS): A COMPREHENSIVE MODELING SYSTEM AND INSIGHTS FROM COLLABORATIONS WITH THE US NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

TOPS is a mature, comprehensive framework that can support monitoring and forecasting of landscape level indicators of ecosystem condition. TOPS integrates operational satellite data, microclimate mapping, and ecosystem simulation models to characterize ecosystem status and trends. The TOPS team collaborated with NPS and other organizations to develop indicators that support management, to refine reporting results, and to develop and refine processes and techniques to effect “technology transfer” to NPS. Our presentation will provide an overview of TOPS, and challenges and solutions necessary to develop sustainable, useful, and persistent relationships necessary to operationalize the use of remotely-sensed data and associated models to inform and support management of natural resource management in protected areas.