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We're Hiring
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And many MORE!
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We're Looking For Summer Interns!
| NEON is piloting its first summer internship program and we're seeking undergraduate college students who would like experience in the areas of engineering, science, computer science and environmental communication. Please tell your colleagues, students and friends!
Applications are due Feb 1, 2013.
Go to our internship page for more information and applications.
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 Combining Data & Models to Scale Ecology to the Continent |
It's July 2012, and NEON Data Products Scientist Andy Fox is teaching summer school 9,500 feet above sea level. He is explaining data assimilation to a room full of scientists taking an advanced modeling course at the University of Colorado Mountain Research Station near Nederland, Colorado.
Fox introduces the scientific problem at hand: NEON measures ecologically important processes with ground-based and airborne sampling over several square miles at each of 60 sites. NEON aims to deliver data sets that describe ecosystem processes over the entire United States - an area tens of thousands of times larger than what the observatory directly measures. "What we have here at NEON is a massive case of extrapolation," Fox says.
Fox is one of many scientists working with a model that can make ecological forecasts. He and his collaborators are developing a method to combine NEON data and the Community Land Model (CLM) to both improve the model's forecast accuracy and scale up observatory measurements across space. READ MORE >>.
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| CONSTRUCTION UPDATE |
NEON began construction in Summer 2012. Here is the latest update on our progress. NEON sites under construction will fall along a spectrum in one of the following phases, and could occur out of numerical order: 1. Civil construction 2. Sensor installation, testing and acceptance 3. Sensor system streaming data 4. Release of organismal sampling protocols, acceptance of site-specific sampling design, and data collection started 5. Site complete and data available SITES SOON BEGINNING CIVIL CONSTRUCTION: - Blandy Experimental Farm (D2, VA): Starts approx Dec. 2012
- Disney Wildnerness Preserve (D3, FL): Starts approx Jan. 2013
- Dead Lake (D8, AL): Starts approx. Jan. 2013
- Klemme Range Research Station (D11, OK): Starts approx. Jan. 2013
CIVIL CONSTRUCTION: - Sterling (D10, CO): Complete
- Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (D3 core, FL): Complete
- Central Plains Experimental Range (D10 core, CO): Almost complete
- Harvard Forest (D1 core, MA): Underway
- Woodworth (D9 core, ND): Underway
- Dakota Coteau (D9, ND): Underway
- Jones Ecological Research Center (D3, GA): Underway
SENSOR INSTALLATION, TESTING AND ACCEPTANCE: - Sterling (D10, CO): Phase 1 of terrestrial instrument system has been successfully installed; testing and acceptance of instruments is underway
Stay tuned to our quarterly newsletter and www.neoninc.org for ongoing construction updates. |
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Bridging the Data Divide Down Under
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Scientists of the future may be able to compare the spread of invasive species in the northeastern U.S. with invasive species proliferation throughout Australia and link it to a common cause. NEON is currently participating in a cross-continental discussion about aligning monitoring protocols with the Australian Supersite Network (ASN), part of Australia's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). The aim is to enhance interoperability and data comparability between sites in the U.S. and Australia. READ MORE >>.
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Brainstorming the Intersection Between Ecology and Big Data, Part III
| In our fall newsletter, we introduced the first two installments of a three-part feature discussing how ecological science could thrive in an era of big data.
In the third installment, Communications Specialist Sandra Chung surveys some of the cultural challenges to working with big data in ecology.
In the first feature installment, Dave Schimel explained some of the ways ecological big data are not like big data in other science disciplines. In Part II, Chief of External Affairs Brian Wee described some of the ongoing efforts to muster all the tools ecologists need to make full use of big data.
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NEON, Inc. 1685 38th St., Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80301 | (720) 746-4844 | www.neoninc.org
© 2012 NEON, Inc. All rights reserved. The National Ecological Observatory Network is a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed under cooperative agreement by NEON, Inc.
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