AGRICULTURE OCCUPIES 38% OF EARTH S ICE-FREE LAND SURFACE OF WHICH NEARLY 70% IS USED FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTION (FOLEY ET AL. 2011). ALTHOUGH RANGELANDS OCCUPY A DISPROPORTIONATE SHARE OF AGRICULTURAL LAND THEIR PRODUCTIVITY AND RESILIENCE ARE RELATIVELY UNDERSTUDIED COMPARED TO CROPLANDS (FOLEY ET AL. 2011; MUELLER ET AL. 2012; RAMANKUTTY ET AL. 2002). LACK OF UNDERSTANDING REGARDING THE DYNAMICS AND VULNERABILITIES OF GLOBAL RANGELANDS REPRESENTS A KEY KNOWLEDGE GAP BECAUSE RANGELAND ECOSYSTEMS ARE HEAVILY MANAGED BY HUMANS AND PLAY AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT ROLE IN LOCAL AND GLOBAL ECONOMIES. AS A RESULT OF IMPROVING SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD BY 2030 GLOBAL MEAT AND MILK CONSUMPTION ARE PROJECTED TO INCREASE BY 68% AND 57% RESPECTIVELY RELATIVE TO 2000 (STEINFELD&GERBER 2010). OUR ABILITY TO INTENSIFY RANGELAND USE TO SATISFY INCREASED DEMAND WHILE DECREASING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT DEPENDS ON RANGELAND SENSITIVITY TO PERTURBATIONS CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE. TO ADDRESS THIS KNOWLEDGE GAP THE MAIN GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED OBSERVATION AND MODELING FRAMEWORK THAT EXPLOITS REMOTE SENSING METEOROLOGICAL DATA SETS AND LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGE INFORMATION TO IMPROVE OUR CAPABILITY TO MONITOR AND MANAGE THE LONGTERM SUSTAINABILITY OF THIS GLOBALLY EXTENSIVE CLIMATE SENSITIVE AND SOCIETALLY-CRITICAL LAND USE. THIS STUDY OF A COUPLED HUMAN-NATURAL SYSTEM WILL LEVERAGE REMOTE SENSING DATA SETS PRODUCED BY NASA TO QUANTIFY THE SENSITIVITY OF RANGELANDS TO CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND ANTHROPOGENIC DRIVERS AND WILL IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO MONITOR RANGELAND EXPANSION AND DEGRADATION. IN ADDITION TO ADDRESSING A CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE GAP MY STUDY IS WELL-ALIGNED WITH NASA EARTH SCIENCE DIVISION S FOCUS ON CHALLENGES RELATED TO LARGE-SCALE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND WILL CONTRIBUTE IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION AND UNDERSTANDING TO BOTH FOOD SECURITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE.