An overview of the NASA Adaptation and Response in Drylands field experiment scoping study
Drylands
By: Andrew F. Feldman, Sasha C. Reed, Konrad Wessels, Dennis S. Ojima, David J.P. Moore, William K. Smith, Niall P. Hanan, Cibele Amaral, Flurin Babst, Joel A. Biederman, Marcy Litvak, Natasha MacBean, Benjamin Poulter, Russell L. Scott, Alicja Babst-Kostecka, Julia K. Green, Raymond F. Kokaly, Ryan Pavlick, Robert Swap, Shawn P. Serbin, Compton J. Tucker, Lixin Wang, Jennifer D. Watts, Alejandro Flores, James Rattling Leaf Sr., Robert A. Washington-Allen, Karen Prentice, Emily Kachergis, Julian Reyes, Jasmine Ryan, Michael D. SanClements, Henry W. Loescher, Allison K Leidner, and Tyson Swetnam
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Abstract
Drylands cover 41% of Earth’s land surface, support 36% of the global population, and contribute 60% of global food production. Despite these ecosystems’ importance and high vulnerability to droughts and heatwaves, drylands remain some of the most understudied systems on Earth. Monitoring drylands is challenging due to their complex ecosystem structure of visible soil mixed with diverse plant species that respond rapidly to weather and climate. In 2023 and 2024, a NASA scoping study was conducted for a proposed dryland terrestrial ecology field campaign called Adaptation and Response in Drylands (ARID). Thereafter, the NASA ARID scoping team submitted their campaign proposal to NASA Headquarters, providing a study design for how field, aircraft, and satellite measurements, as well as modeling, would address the most critical fundamental and applied science questions in drylands. The extensive study plan was created by and for the drylands research community – including remote sensors, modelers, experimentalists, and ecologists from across the world – and the overall approach can be further utilized and changed for different uses and data information needs. Here, we summarize the ARID research road map, including its main objectives, field campaign strategy, data end-user support strategy, and U.S. and global community engagement.
Suggested Citation
Feldman, A.F., Reed, S., Wessels, K., Ojima, D.S., Moore, D.J., Smith, W.K., Hanan, N.P., Amaral, C., Babst, F., Biederman, J.A., Litvak, M., MacBean, N., Poulter, B., Scott, R.L., Babst-Kostecka, A., Green, J.K., Kokaly, R.F., Pavlick, R., Swap, R., Serbin, S.P., Tucker, C.J., Wang, L., Watts, J.D., Flores, A., Rattling Leaf Sr., J., Washington-Allen, R.A., Prentice, K., Kachergis, E., Reyes, J., Ryan, J., SanClements, M.D., Loescher, H.W., Leidner, A., and Swetnam, T., 2026, An overview of the NASA Adaptation and Response in Drylands field experiment scoping study: Drylands, v. 3, e22, 8 p., https://doi.org/10.1017/dry.2025.10006.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | An overview of the NASA Adaptation and Response in Drylands field experiment scoping study |
| Series title | Drylands |
| DOI | 10.1017/dry.2025.10006 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Publication Date | May 26, 2026 |
| Year Published | 2026 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Contributing office(s) | Southwest Biological Science Center |
| Description | e22, 8 p. |