The Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG) operates as a Research Center of Excellence under the University of Montana (UM) Office of Research & Creative Scholarship. Founded in 1987 within the UM College of Forestry & Conservation, NTSG is a nexus for UM research and technology development in satellite remote sensing and Earth system science. Our primary mission is to advance knowledge of ecosystem structure, function & resiliency through emerging technologies in remote sensing & computational modeling, grounded in the biophysical sciences. Our facilities are located on the 4th floor of the Interdisciplinary Science Building (ISB) on the UM campus.
- Widespread spring phenology effects on drought recovery of Northern Hemisphere ecosystems
- Intensified warming and aridity accelerate terminal lake desiccation in the Great Basin of the western United States
- Herbaceous production lost to tree encroachment in United States rangelands
- Pan-Arctic soil moisture control on tundra carbon sequestration and plant productivity
- GLOBAL ARIDIFICATION AND THE DECLINE OF NPP: A COMMENTARY on Projected increases in global terrestrial
net primary productivity loss caused by drought under climate change. - Respiratory loss during late-growing season determines the net carbon dioxide sink in northern permafrost regions
- Decoupling of greenness and gross primary productivity as aridity decreases
- A framework to integrate innovations in invasion science for proactive management
- Earlier snowmelt may lead to late season declines in plant productivity and carbon sequestration in Arctic tundra ecosystems.
- DroughtCast: A Machine Learning Forecast of the United States Drought Monitor.
NTSG supports several NASA satellite Earth missions and is a leader in developing operational algorithms, data products and science applications for these missions. We are a NASA Earth Science Information Partner(ESIP), developer and repository for a variety of global land data products from satellite Earth missions, including MODIS (MOD16/17) vegetation productivity and evapotranspiration, AMSR land parameters, and SMAP (L4C) carbon flux products. Access our data through the Projects and Data page.
NTSG teaching/instruction emphasizes research training for postdocs and GRAs in the skills needed to become effective research scientists in ecological remote sensing and modeling. These skills include writing competitive research proposals; writing and publishing research papers in the peer-reviewed literature; application of geospatial software and computer programming for processing and analyzing large global satellite datasets; management of interdisciplinary research projects and field campaigns. We provide our GRAs and postdoctoral scholars with state-of-the-art remote sensing data and science computing facilities; opportunities for travel, science leadership and networking, and presenting their work at national and international workshops.
For aditional information on:
- GRAs email NTSG at info@ntsg.umt.edu
- Postdoc applications are found on the NTSG Jobs page
- Current class information is found at the NTSG Teaching page
