ARCTIC BOREAL VULNERABILITY EXPERIMENT (ABOVE) SCIENCE TEAM LEAD&RESEARCH PROJECT ON MAPPING AND MODELING ATTRIBUTES OF AN ARCTIC&BOREAL BIOME SHIFT. ABOVE IS A NASA TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY PROGRAM INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH EFFORT DESIGNED TO ADDRESS LARGESCALE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIALECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS IN ALASKA AND WESTERN CANADA. ABOVE'S SCIENCE OBJECTIVES ARE BROADLY FOCUSED ON (1) GAINING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE OF ARCTIC ANDBOREAL ECOSYSTEMS TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND (2) PROVIDING THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR INFORMED DECISIONMAKING TO GUIDE SOCIETAL RESPONSES AT LOCAL TO INTERNATIONAL LEVELS. ABOVE RESEARCH LINKS FIELDBASED PROCESSLEVEL STUDIES WITH GEOSPATIAL DATA PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM AIRBORNE AND SATELLITE SENSORS PROVIDING A FOUNDATION FOR IMPROVING THE ANALYSIS AND MODELING CAPABILITIES NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND AND PREDICT ECOSYSTEM RESPONSES AND SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS.