Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments–Tropics (NGEE–Tropics)
Tropical forests cover less than 7% of the earth’s surface but exchange vast amounts of CO2, water, and energy with the atmosphere. They are the world’s most important land-based carbon sinks, helping to regulate global temperatures. However, scientists are uncertain how tropical forests will respond to warming temperatures and a changing atmosphere, and if they will continue to act as a net carbon sink over the coming decades. Understanding the responses of tropical forests to global changes is critical for improving model projections of future environmental conditions.
The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments–Tropics, or NGEE-Tropics, is a decadal, multi-institutional project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) which aims to fill the critical gaps in our knowledge of tropical forest-atmospheric system interactions. The overarching goal of NGEE-Tropics is to develop a predictive understanding of how tropical forest carbon balance and Earth system feedbacks will respond to changing environmental drivers over the 21st Century.