Arctic T-SLIP welcomes new collaborators. Please submit your interest here to join. Activities in 2025 and 2026 will include monthly webinar series, community visits, and workshops.

 

Coordinating team for Arctic T-SLIP

Anna Liljedahl, Associate Scientist, Woodwell Climate Research Center
Krstin Timm, Research Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Erin Shew, Environmental Manager, Native Village of Eyak
Willow Hetrick and Beks Rumbley, Chugach Regional Resources Commission
Bretwood “Hig” Higman, Ground Truth Alaska
Sierra Fletcher, Nuka Research
Kathryn Hohman Billmeier and Caleb Billmeier, Wellspring Group Consulting, LLC

 

Arctic T-SLIP members

Christopher Schwalm
Risk Program Director and Senior Scientist, Woodwell Climate Research Center

Gabriel Wolken
Geologist, Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys

Michele Koppes
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Mylène Jacquemart
ETH Zurich

Kalina Borkiewicz
National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dan Shugar
University of Calgary

Chad Briggs
GlobalInt LLC, Alexandria, VA

Matt Jones
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, UC Santa Barbara / Arctic Data Center

Breanyn MacInnes
Central Washington University, Washington State

Costanza Morino
French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) / Université Savoie Mont Blanc / Laboratoire EDYTEM

Patrick Lynett
University of Southern California

Martin Truffer
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Amanda Bauer
Stan Stephens Glacier & Wildlife Cruises, Valdez, AK

Daniel Ben-Yehoshua
University of Iceland, Reykjavík

Edna Patricia Mendoza
University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX

Robert Weiss
Virginia Tech

Susan Conway
French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) / Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences

Noah Finnegan
University of California Santa Cruz

Georg Veh
University of Potsdam

Angela Coleman
Chugach National Forest

Henry Reiske
Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies

Jack Blackwell
Superintendent, Alaska State Parks Kenai/PWS Region – Soldotna, AK

Dano Michaud
Seward, AK

Þorsteinn Sæmundsson
Institute of Earth Science, University of Iceland

Marten Geertsema
University of Northern British Columbia

Rick Lader
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Ian Howat
Ohio State University

Stuart Dunning
Newcastle University, U.K.

David Holen
Alaska Sea Grant, Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Emily McMahan
Section of Public Health Nursing, Haines, AK

Stephanie Matti
University of Iceland

Liesel Ritchie
Department of Sociology and Center for Coastal Studies, Virginia Tech

Jamie Womble
National Park Service, Juneau, Alaska

Paul Twardok
Alaska Pacific University and PWS Stewardship Foundation

Susan B. Vanek
Binghamton University (SUNY)

Joseph Davis
Glacier View, Alaska

Matt Strzelecki
University of Wroclaw

Jeff Carpenter
National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Advanced Visualization Lab, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Wenwen Li
Arizona State University

Josh Roering
University of Oregon

Nora Nieminski
Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS)

Danielle Dickson
North Pacific Research Board

Glory Chitwood
University of Iceland

Louie Bell
University of Cambridge

Yili Yang
Woodwell Climate Research Center

Chelsea Austin
WildBlue Evaluation, LLC

To sustain the world’s growing population, we need both farms and forests. Tanguro provides a window into this critical balancing act.

Located in Mato Grosso, Brazil, Tanguro is a field research station on a working agricultural farm at the Amazonian agricultural frontier, which has experienced some of the highest rates of deforestation and fire in past decades. It is a varied landscape with over 40 thousand hectares of croplands producing soybeans, cotton, maize, and beans, and an equal area of standing native forest—making it a model for research on the complex interplay between forests, agriculture, biodiversity, and climate.

For twenty years, Tanguro has served as a research and education hub for Woodwell Climate Research Center and Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM Amazônia, Amazon Environmental Research Institute), as well as others. Research at Tanguro has generated more than 240 scientific publications in 20 years, and the field station’s facilities and staff have supported over 215 students from around the world in developing their Ph.D. dissertations or master’s theses, completing short research internships or field courses, or learning how to better communicate science to the general public.

Tanguro lies in the southern Amazon, the driest portion of the Amazon Basin, and harbors a transitional forest between Amazon forests and Cerrado/savannas. It was originally deforested and converted to cattle pasture in the mid-1980s. Conversion to croplands began in the early 2000s and was completed by 2008. Starting in 2010, it underwent a rapid shift from soybean single-cropping to soybean-corn double-cropping in a single season. In 2020 there was another rapid shift, with more than half of the farm devoted to cotton.

The topography, soils, hydrology, climate, and farming practices at Tanguro are typical of the southern and eastern Amazonian agricultural frontier. Because of those conditions, and particularly a long dry season, the agriculture and natural vegetation are very sensitive to even modest changes in fire occurrence, climate, and their interactions.

Woodwell Climate’s work at Tanguro Research Station is supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Bayer, Max Planck Institute, São Paulo Research Foundation, Yale University, and Woodwell Climate’s Fund for Climate Solutions.

To address the climate crisis, we must take urgent action to reduce anthropogenic emissions while simultaneously removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Land management has the potential to do both, but to realize this potential we must understand how much storage space is available, where that space is located, and what actions can be taken in those places to capitalize on these natural climate solutions as soon as possible.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Working Group III highlights the significant mitigation potential of natural and managed ecosystems given the opportunity they offer to remove additional carbon from the atmosphere. Many countries are expected to count heavily on natural climate solutions when designing strategies for delivering on their commitments to climate change mitigation under the Paris Agreement.

Our Work

Impact

Data produced as part of this project should prove valuable for national and jurisdictional prioritization of actions and locations to increase land-based carbon storage and realize meaningful near-term climate benefits.