ROSES 2024: A.62 FarmFlux Science Team

The FarmFlux Science Team opportunity is part of NASA’s Earth Venture Suborbital (EVS-4) program under the Earth System Science Pathfinder framework. It aims to advance understanding of agricultural emissions and their impacts on air quality, climate, and ecosystems. This initiative seeks proposals for the FarmFlux science team, which will address emissions of greenhouse gases and particulates from agriculture and characterize their environmental effects. Proposals are due March 7, 2025, with optional Notices of Intent requested by January 17, 2025. FarmFlux emphasizes open science and collaboration, requiring participants to contribute to a shared Open Science Data Management Plan. FarmFlux focuses on four primary objectives: quantifying emissions from animal feeding operations, measuring gas exchange over crops, characterizing particulate matter in agricultural regions, and linking emissions to air quality impacts while advancing satellite applications in these areas. It will employ two aircraft for targeted data collection, including smaller missions focusing on livestock emissions and larger campaigns covering cropland emissions across different regions. Advanced chemical transport and biogeochemical modeling will support these activities. Eligible participants include instrument, modeling, and forecasting teams, all required to contribute to flight planning, data collection, and analysis. Instrument teams must deploy technologies with demonstrated flight readiness (TRL 6 or higher), while modeling teams will provide atmospheric and soil data analyses to enhance mission planning and emissions evaluation. Forecasting teams will guide real-time decisions during flights. Proposals focusing solely on data analysis without execution-related contributions will be considered non-responsive. Budget requests may include personnel and material costs for preparation, deployment, and analysis but must exclude travel costs, which are supported separately by FarmFlux. Proposals must detail workforce plans, including travel logistics for instrument integration and deployment periods. Collaboration is encouraged, and teams must demonstrate how their efforts align with FarmFlux objectives, especially for cross-disciplinary or integrative projects. Review criteria include alignment with FarmFlux objectives, technical readiness of proposed methods, feasibility, and the team’s ability to contribute to mission goals. Successful proposals will also adhere to NASA’s data-sharing policies and FarmFlux’s inclusion and ethical standards. Selected teams must participate in regular meetings, mission planning, and adherence to a collaborative code of conduct. The initiative offers a separate opportunity for no-cost participation through NNH25ZDA007L, targeting additional observational or synthesis contributions outside the primary solicitation scope. This aligns with FarmFlux’s broader goal of fostering innovative, multidisciplinary collaboration to advance the understanding of agricultural emissions and their environmental consequences.