Welcome to Moja Global: Understanding Our Project
Hello and welcome! If you’re reading this, you might be considering joining the moja global community in some aspect. I am really excited to have you here and would love to tell you more about our project and the amazing work we all do here.
Who Are We?
Moja global consists of passionate individuals from diverse backgrounds, all united by a common goal: leveraging technology to understand and manage our natural resources better. Our team includes scientists, engineers, developers, and environmentalists, all working collaboratively to solve complex problems.
The Project: Developing a FLINT Forest Monitoring Tool Using Land Sector Datasets
This project involves finding over 100 small squares of forest worldwide and cross-referencing these locations with freely available land sector datasets to develop a realistic growth simulation. You can check out an example of this work here. Although this project aims to run a unique FLINT simulation of forest dynamics for each location, the parameterization and analysis of these simulations will be developed. I’ll be responsible for helping set up a scalable and repeatable system for running these simulations, storing, and sharing each result.
Understanding the FLINT Forest Monitoring Tool for Newcomers
Our project, “Developing a FLINT Forest Monitoring Tool Using Land Sector Datasets,” aims to enhance our understanding of forest dynamics by finding over 100 small squares of forest worldwide and using available land sector data to simulate realistic growth patterns. We run unique FLINT simulations for each location to model carbon stocks and fluxes, requiring scalable and repeatable systems for efficient data processing. This involves developing a Python-based tool for generating model configurations, integrating a CI/CD workflow for result publication, and ensuring a semi-automated process for data input and configuration. By doing so, we can easily create, track, and compare numerous small simulations, ultimately improving our ability to monitor and manage forest ecosystems globally.
Project Goals and Objectives
Study the Land Sector Datasets: Your initial task will be to study the available land sector datasets and sketch out a data workflow to intelligently identify small squares of forest worldwide.
Develop a Python-Based Tool: You’ll develop a Python-based tool to produce GCBM (Generic Carbon Budget Model) configurations for the identified squares and dispatch simulations using the FLINT.Cloud/GCBM templates.
Integrate a CI/CD-Based Workflow: Finally, you’ll integrate a Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) workflow to publish the generated results.
Why Our Project Matters
The Generic Carbon Budget Model, which runs on FLINT, helps report carbon stocks and fluxes for several carbon pools relevant to the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector. These simulations can span tens or hundreds of years and cover regional or national scales. Our project aims to create a system that can easily create, track, and compare the results of many small simulations at once, enhancing our understanding and management of forest dynamics globally.
What Excites Us
Working on this project is incredibly exciting because it sits at the intersection of environmental science and cutting-edge technology. The ability to process and visualize such large datasets in a meaningful way can significantly impact how we understand and manage our natural resources.
New Terms and Concepts
Over the past month, I’ve dived deep into concepts like spatially explicit modeling, carbon flux, and remote sensing data. I’ve also learned a lot about the algorithmic complexity of different approaches and the importance of efficient data processing techniques.
Overcoming Challenges
One of the initial challenges we faced was understanding the sheer scale of the data we were working with. The datasets are massive, and typical post-processing operations were slow. However, by collaborating with stakeholders from moja global and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), we developed creative solutions to improve performance and throughput.
Join Us!
If you’re passionate about environmental science, data processing, and innovative technology, moja global is the perfect place for you. We welcome your creativity, problem-solving skills, and enthusiasm. Together, we can make a significant impact on understanding and managing carbon fluxes over vast areas.
NEW TERMS USED IN THIS BLOG POST
Moja Global: An open-source community focused on developing software to estimate greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use.
Land Sector Datasets: Freely available data related to land use, which includes information on forest cover, agricultural land, urban areas, etc.
FLINT (Full Lands Integration Tool): A tool used to integrate various types of land data to model carbon stocks and fluxes.
GCBM (Generic Carbon Budget Model): A set of science modules that run on FLINT, reporting carbon stocks and fluxes for various carbon pools.
FLINT.Cloud: The cloud-based version of FLINT used for running simulations and processing data.
Parameterization: The process of determining the parameters necessary for a model to run simulations.
CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment): A practice in software development where code changes are automatically tested and deployed to ensure continuous delivery of new features and updates.
Spatially Explicit Modeling: Creating models that map data points to specific geographic locations to better understand patterns and relationships across different areas.
Carbon Flux: The transfer of carbon between different carbon pools, such as the atmosphere, forests, soil, and oceans.
Remote Sensing Data: Information about the Earth’s surface collected from satellites or aircraft, which includes images and measurements for monitoring and analyzing various environmental conditions.
Algorithmic Complexity: The efficiency of an algorithm in terms of time and space (memory) required to execute.
Post-Processing: Analyzing and summarizing the raw data generated by simulations or models.
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Compliant Reporting: Reporting that follows guidelines set by the IPCC for greenhouse gas emissions and removals.