NASA Ames Ecological Forecasting Lab

Welcome to the Ecological Forecasting Lab at NASA Ames Research Center. Our mission is to use the Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS) to develop nowcasts and forecasts of ecosystem conditions for use in a range of applications.

TOPS is a data and modeling software system designed to seamlessly integrate data from satellite, aircraft, and ground sensors with weather/climate and application models to produce operational nowcasts and forecasts. TOPS operates at a variety of spatial scales, ranging from individual vineyard blocks to global monthly assessments of vegetation net primary production.

The Ecocast framework is comprised of four major technology components which together create a distributed architecture for the production of ecosystem nowcasts and forecasts. Please see the TOPS white paper for a detailed description of TOPS and the Ecocast architecture.