Science and Applications Traceability Matrix
The study team has developed a Science and Applications Traceability Matrix (SATM) that responds to the Most and Very Important Science and Applications priorities for Targeted Observable 18 of the Decadal Survey report. The current SATM is located here.
The Most and Very Important priorities are:
| Priority ID | Panel | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Most Important | ||
| E1a | Ecosystems | Quantify the distribution of the functional traits, functional types, and composition of vegetation and marine biomass, spatially and over time. |
| E1c | Quantify the physiological dynamics of terrestrial and aquatic primary producers. | |
| E2a | Quantify the fluxes of CO2 and CH4 globally at spatial scales of 100 to 500 km and monthly temporal resolution with uncertainty <25% between land ecosystems and atmosphere and between ocean ecosystems and atmosphere. | |
| H1c | Hydrology | Quantify rates of snow accumulation, snowmelt, ice melt, and sublimation from snow and ice worldwide at scales driven by topographic variability. |
| S1a | Solid Earth | Measure the pre-, syn-, and post-eruption surface deformation and products of Earth’s entire active land volcano inventory at a time scale of days to weeks. |
| Very Important | ||
| E1a | Ecosystems | Quantify the distribution of the functional traits, functional types, and composition of vegetation and marine biomass, spatially and over time. |
| H2a | Hydrology | Quantify how changes in land use, water use, and water storage affect evapotranspiration rates, and how these in turn affect local and regional precipitation systems, groundwater recharge, temperature extremes, and carbon cycling. |
| H4a | Monitor and understand hazard response in rugged terrain and land margins to heavy rainfall, temperature and evaporation extremes, and strong winds at multiple temporal and spatial scales. This socioeconomic priority depends on success of addressing H-1b and H-1c, H-2a, and H-2c. | |
| S1c | Solid Earth | Forecast and monitor landslides, especially those near population centers. |
| S2b | Assess surface deformation ( <10 mm), extent of surface change ( <100 m spatial resolution) and atmospheric contamination, and the composition and temperature of volcanic products following a volcanic eruption (hourly to daily temporal sampling). | |
| C3a | Climate | Quantify CO2 fluxes at spatial scales of 100-500 km and monthly temporal resolution with uncertainty <25% to enable regional-scale process attribution explaining year-to-year variability by net uptake of carbon by terrestrial ecosystems (i.e., determine how much carbon uptake results from processes such as CO2 and nitrogen fertilization, forest regrowth, and changing ecosystem demography.) |
| W3a | Weather | Determine how spatial variability in surface characteristics modifies regional cycles of energy, water and momentum (stress) to an accuracy of 10 W/m2 in the enthalpy flux, and 0.1 N/m2 in stress, and observe total precipitation to an average accuracy of 15% over oceans and/or 25% over land and ice surfaces averaged over a 100 × 100 km region and 2 to 3 day time period. |
In addition to the Most and Very important priorities, there are a number of important priorities that are also being tracked in the SATM and the extent to which they are met while meeting all or most of the Most and Very important priorities is being assessed. The driving objectives for the study are based on the above table, and a key aspect of the architecture study is to determine the extent to which any given architecture meets all, most or some of the objectives derived from the priorities above. These priorities were used to develop the SATM included in the Decadal Survey report, and which has been elaborated in more detail as part of the study.