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NTSG

Welcome to the NTSG

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.

Recent Science Highlights

UM Research Reveals Earth ‘Taking Deeper Breaths’ as Climate Warms

A new study led by University of Montana NTSG researcher Zhihua Liu has found that global warming is making the yearly rise and fall of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere more extreme, particularly in northern high latitudes.

NTSG research scientist Dr. Arthur K. Endsley is the Principal Investigator of a new NASA-funded computational climate-science curriculum. Image from, Mr. Djamel S. AKLI

Arthur Endsley heads NASA Open Science Project at University of Montana

NTSG Research Scientist Arthur Endsley was selected for funding by NASA TOPS Training program. Dr. Endsley will develop a computational climate-science curriculum for professional researchers interested in using NASA's gridded climate datasets to understand how climate change is affecting agriculture, healthy soils, and water resources.

New Landscape Explorer tool released to assist natural resource conservation in the western US

The NTSG is excited to share a new resource with the GIS community and natural resource managers: historical aerial imagery spanning 17 western states, all available completely free at LandscapeExplorer.org

NTSG Publications

SEE MORE NTSG PUBLICATIONS

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 Data Products

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Alaska CALM Students working on sensor

Research Students

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 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 additional information on:

Graduate Research Assistance positions email NTSG at [email protected]
Postdoctoral applications are found on the NTSG Jobs page
Current class information is found on the NTSG Teaching page