Landsat’s Critical Role Forest Management
People and economies around the world rely on forests for timber, carbon storage, flood control, biological diversity, recreation, and more. Forest managers face many challenges. In the last few years, forest fires have become more intense and more frequent; North American forests have experienced widespread infestations by pests such as the pine bark beetle; and tropical deforestation continues. Our changing climate adds complexity to government and commercial decisions about how to manage, protect, and sustain our forest resources. Landsat satellites provide key data for forest monitoring and management across the globe. Landsat gives us consistent views of the health, composition, and extent of forest ecosystems as they change over time. Curtis Woodcock, Professor, Boston University and specialist in remote sensing, has said, “I would argue that the Landsat data archive may be the most valuable environmental data record we have.” Designed, built, and launched by NASA, Landsat satellites have recorded global forest conditions every year since the 1970’s, and they have observed all U.S. forests once a season throughout those years. The U.S. Geological Survey provides this valuable data to the public at no cost. Landsat observations will continue into the future with Landsat 8.
Michigan State University Uses Landsat to Monitor Global Climate Change
Source: Walter Chomentowski, Global Observatory for Ecosystem Services, Michigan State University Scientists at Michigan State University’s Global Observatory for Ecosystem Services – or GOES – have a treasure trove of resources
Rainforest Monitoring Improved by Data Fusion
In late April, Science magazine reported that Brazil is a world leader in tropical forest monitoring thanks to their use of data from a number of Earth-observing satellites. Brazil’s Instituto
Forest Trends in Madagascar
A recently released study provides evidence that social dictums influence the stability of tropical dry forests more than proximate population density. Often, it is assumed that a rising local population
Small-Scale Logging Leads to Clear-cutting in Brazilian Amazon
A NASA-funded study has discovered an important indicator of rain forest vulnerability to clear-cutting in Brazil. This five-year study is the first to quantify the relationship between selective logging, where