Scott J. Goetz is an American environmental scientist and Regents Professor at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in the School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems. He is a specialist in satellite remote sensing for environmental science applications, with research focused on arctic tundra and global forest ecosystems, climate and carbon cycle science, terrestrial ecology, and biodiversity. He serves as Science Lead of NASA's Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) and Deputy Principal Investigator for Science of NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), a lidar instrument aboard the International Space Station.
Early life and education Goetz received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from Pennsylvania State University in 1982, with an emphasis in remote sensing and digital mapping. In 1987, he earned a Master of Science degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a thesis on predictive mapping of coast live oak woodlands using satellite and terrain data. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1996, with a dissertation on the modeling of carbon fluxes, net primary production, and light utilization in boreal forests.
Career Goetz began his career as a research scientist in the Biospheric Sciences Branch at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he worked from 1985 to 1996. He subsequently joined the University of Maryland, College Park as a Research Professor, and has held an Adjunct Professor position there since 2003. From 2003 to 2016, Goetz was a Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center (now Woodwell Climate Research Center) in Falmouth, Massachusetts, serving as Deputy Director from 2011 to 2016. He joined Northern Arizona University in 2016 as a Professor in the School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems, and was subsequently named Regents Professor, the university's highest faculty distinction. He is associated with NAU's Radiant Center for Remote Sensing.
Research Since 1985, Goetz has conducted satellite remote sensing research for environmental science applications. His work spans arctic and boreal ecosystem dynamics, forest carbon stocks, vegetation change, permafrost vulnerability, wildfire, and biodiversity monitoring. He has contributed to international scientific programs addressing climate change and deforestation, including working groups for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations program on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), and the National Academy of Sciences. Goetz serves as Science Lead of NASA's Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), an interdisciplinary program studying ecological and environmental change across the pan-Arctic and boreal biomes, with intensive airborne and field campaigns conducted in Alaska and western Canada between 2017 and 2024. He also serves as Deputy Principal Investigator for Science of NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), a space-based lidar instrument deployed on the International Space Station in 2019 that measures the three-dimensional structure of the Earth's forests and topography. As a contributing author to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Goetz worked on Working Group II, Chapter 4 (Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems). He was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship in 2009–2010, hosted at the Centre d'Études Spatiales de la Biosphère (CESBIO) in Toulouse, France.
Editorial roles Goetz serves as Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Research: Ecology and has served on the editorial board of Environmental Research Letters. He previously served as an Associate Editor of Remote Sensing of Environment.
Recognition In 2023, Goetz was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, in recognition of his contributions to advancing understanding of changes in the global terrestrial biosphere using remote sensing observations. His research on arctic and boreal ecosystem change has been covered by news outlets including NBC News, Science News, and ScienceDaily.
Selected publications Goetz, S. J.; Bunn, A. G.; Fiske, G.; Houghton, R. A. (2005). "Satellite observed photosynthetic trends across boreal North America associated with climate and fire disturbance". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 102 (38): 13521–13525. doi:10.1073/pnas.0506179102 Goetz, S. J.; Dubayah, R. O. (2011). "Advances in remote sensing technology and implications for monitoring, reporting and verifying forest carbon stocks and emissions". Carbon Management. 2 (3): 231–244. doi:10.4155/cmt.11.18 Goetz, S. J.; Hansen, M.; Houghton, R. A.; Walker, W.; Laporte, N.; Busch, J. (2015). "Measurement and monitoring needs, capabilities and potential for addressing reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation under REDD+". Environmental Research Letters. 10 (12): 123001. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/123001
References
External links NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment
