Cloud Computing Used to Analyze Landsat Imagery and Detect Deforestation

BY ZACHARY ROMANO


Cloud computing allows individuals, firms, and institutions to manage and process large amounts of data faster than ever before. Landsat, NASA’s longest running initiative for the acquisition of Earth imagery, has generated nearly 50 trillion pixels of data by capturing one image per season, of every place on Earth, for the past 43 years. Now, “the cloud” has allowed researchers like Matthew Hansen and Sam Goward to make use of this abundant imagery data.

Every time a disturbance occurs to a forest, the growth cycle restarts and this can be seen in satellite images of Earth. The challenge, however, comes when working with lower­ resolution imagery, as it requires at least a 30 meter resolution to track small­scale changes to a forest via imagery. Hansen and Goward were bound to this low­ resolution data for quite some time. If resources allowed, these researchers would want to develop a live forest tracking system, that alerted a locale when forest destruction reached a high level, to the point of identifying the exact cause of the deforestation. Eventually, the team obtained Landsat imagery but due to the high cost, they could only obtain what they could afford.

SINCE JANUARY 1, 2000, MORE THAN 4.3 MILLION SCENES HAVE BEEN CAPTURED BY LANDSAT SATELLITES AND MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. GRAPH BY JOSHUA STEVENS, USING DATA COLLECTED FROM THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ACQUISITIONS ARCHIVE.

At a conference in 2008, the University of Maryland team met Rebecca Moore, a Google developer, at a conference and realized the value in Google’s high­-powered computing ability for their 700,000 Landsat scenes (more: New Detailed Maps Show Changes in Earth’s Forests). The team worked with Google to process these images to analyze them and track whether a pixel was forested or not, and aggregated this information to better understand forest growth cycle trends. Many methods were utilized but the system has the ability to measure the levels of RGB color density in each image pixel. By doing so, this allows the research team to hone in on those small­scale changes by tracking the variation in this color density over time. In total, the analysis process required 10,000 central processing units and took 1 million hours ­ a process that would have taken 15 years on a single computer.

CHANGES IN THE LANDSCAPE CAN BE DETECTED AS SMALL AS THE SIZE OF A BASEBALL DIAMOND. THESE TWO SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW PRE (LEFT) AND POST (RIGHT) CLEARING OF A FOREST IN NORTHERN ALABAMA. (NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY IMAGE BY JOSHUA STEVENS, USING LANDSAT DATA FROM THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY)

One of the first case studies for this method looked at the Democratic Republic of Congo and found significant deforestation between 2000­ to 2010. This amounted to 5,5­72 teragrams of carbon lost due to slash and burn for agriculture and the need for wood as a fuel source. For nation’s like DCR, which lack any form of a forest or tree inventory, there is incredible value to those making land use and resource planning decisions. These images offer policymakers the most succinct understanding of deforestation. As this method gets more refined, the University of Maryland team hopes to expand the application of this tree inventory to other areas like tracking human health, protected nature areas, and modeling biodiversity.

References
Big Data Helps Scientists Dig Deeper by Holly Riebeek, Earth Observatory, NASA. March 26, 2015.

Source: GIS Lounge - Maps and GIS

New software developed by the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) can generate maps of forest areas with information on timber volume, biomass or height of the trees, among other variables.

The development of this software by the Group of Geoenvironmental Cartography and Remote Sensing is part of the INFOREST project coordinated by COTESA (Center for Observation and Spatial Remote Sensing S.A.U) and funded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade. The other teams that have taken part in the research are the Social Capital Group and Sustainable Development at the University of Castilla-La Mancha and the Group of Inventory and Natural Resources Management at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

According to Luis Ángel Ruiz, researcher at the UPV, this project has yielded key information for management of forests using data from Earth Observation at local, provincial and regional levels. He also states that its results are particularly relevant to ensure optimal maintenance and exploitation of forests from an ecological point of view.

The software integrates the entire LiDAR data treatment process (which was also developed by the researchers) from the generation of digital terrain models, feature extraction and model estimation of forest variables, to obtain the final maps.

'From airborne LiDAR data and software application, we generate maps that can improve knowledge about the evolution of a forest, how its structure and characteristics change, as well as its potential to absorb CO2 and its wood volume. All this has positive effects on its maintenance, fire prevention or sustainable use,' says Luis Ángel Ruiz.

LIDAR technology (Light Detection And Ranging) works by continuously sending energy pulses to the ground, that impact on Earth's surface and return to the sensor. The return time allows registering the position and coordinates of the recorded points and, therefore, measures terrain, vegetation, buildings and other elements in 3D. The final point cloud data can be processed and analyzed for use in various applications, including the study of forest stands.

To develop this procedure, the scientists conducted a comprehensive field survey and airborne LiDAR data was acquired in a mountain area of ​​4,100 hectares, located in the municipality of Cuenca (Spain), primarily with three species of pine: Pinus nigra, Pinus sylvestris and Pinus pinaster, in addition to shrubland and bare ground. Given the importance of forest management in the area, the project has been backed by the City of Cuenca and the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha.


Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Asociación RUVID.Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Article source: Science Daily

Forest Atlas Informs How Woodland Changes Affect Earth

An interactive GIS atlas tells a story about what the world was like in the past, what it's like right now, and what we can ask of it in the future. The US Forest Service (USFS) has one such GIS atlas, the Forest Atlas of the United States.

The Forest Atlas "represents a new strategy and architecture for sharing data, information, and knowledge with policy makers, resource managers, landowners, and constituents," explained project manager and research soil scientist Charles "Hobie" Perry.

Built on Esri technology, the Forest Atlas is a resource for answering questions about how changes in forests affect people and the earth.

This 30-meter digital data of tree canopy cover has superseded William H. Brewer's map of woodland density from 1873.

A Bountiful Archive of Forest Maps
Forest maps have a long history in the United States. In 1873, William H. Brewer of the US Census Bureau produced one of the first maps of forests and woodlands. In 1898, George B. Sudworth, a dendrologist in the early Forest Service, published hisCheck List of the Forest Trees of the United States, Their Names and Ranges. From that, he and his team used contour maps of the United States to record where various forest flora could be found. The Forest Service and the US Geological Survey then published these maps in a loose-leaf volume in 1913—the firstForest Atlas of the National Forests of the United States.

But due to all the legwork that went into producing this, only one volume was published.

Forest Inventories Help Track Change
In 1928, the USFS began the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, which manages information on forest conditions and reports on sylvan trends. FIA inventories describe the location, health, age, and tree species of forests. Forest managers need this information to write sustainable forest plans; understand the risks of fire, insect, and disease outbreaks; and schedule treatment activities such as harvests—all to maintain forest health.

This information has wider reaching applications as well. Water resource managers use forest data to trace water life cycles. State forest managers use it to track insects, diseases, and invasive species so they can implement effective treatments. Scientists rely on forest measurements to calculate how much carbon dioxide should be captured and stored for carbon sequestration. Natural resource planners also build strategies and design policies using forest changes measured over time.

Reviving the Forest Atlas
Because more forest analysts and scientists are incorporating geospatial analysis into their work, FIA is paying more attention to geospatial technology. Recently, the USFS decided to revive the Forest Atlas project to better organize its tremendous amounts of spatial data, and it used Esri technology to rebuild the resource.

The foundation for the new Forest Atlas is a set of highly accurate forest maps derived from FIA and other research projects. FIA inventories nearly 1,000 different plant species across 12 time zones, from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the Atlantic Ocean to the Marshall Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean. FIA recognizes species according to the US Department of Agriculture's Plants Database to eliminate the inherent biases that can arise when people inventory forests according to their own needs.

In addition to showcasing FIA inventory data, the Forest Atlas features datasets and information from across the agency. This includes the Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team's National Insect and Disease Risk Map, the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity Program's burn severity and fire perimeter maps, and other researchers' historic tree species migration maps and future range projections.

In the Forest Atlas, this information is combined with other forest attributes to tell a comprehensive story about the forces shaping US forests and the ecosystem services they provide.

"Good data tells a very significant story," said FIA's national program manager Greg Reams. "This helps us demystify reasons why species shift in the forest. Geospatial analyses tell a story of change, [allowing] us to track invasive species and understand how these events are occurring."

The Forest Atlas addresses other related but broad forestry concerns as well, including changes in employment trends, biomass availability, land cover, and land use. It also helps the USFS, firefighters, and other responders better manage wildfires and aids scientists in analyzing carbon sequestration potential.

More Inclusive Fire Management Strategies
Fires are a natural event in any wooded landscape. When strategically managed, they help forests grow stronger and healthier. But native and invasive pests, overcrowded clusters of forest, and drought conditions reduce forests' resilience to fire and increase the likelihood that fires will be catastrophic.

The USFS and its partners need to integrate fire as a critical natural process in land and resource management but control wildfires that pass through properties with various ownership structures, all while implementing the best available science.

The Forest Atlas lets stakeholders and policy makers share essential knowledge for making environmentally sound and cost-effective fire management decisions. Sharing open data on GIS platforms ensures that everyone can understand and participate in these critical decisions.

Forecasting Carbon Sequestration Capabilities
US forests offset about 16 percent of the nation's annual carbon emissions, according to the USFS, making the Forest Atlas invaluable for designing carbon mitigation strategies.

People involved in discussions about climate change and carbon are very interested in forests' past; current; and, most of all, future carbon sequestration rates. These people are particularly keen on seeing various mapped-out scenarios that project carbon storage rates over the next 10 to 30 years.

Using Esri model building tools, researchers can construct simulations of future carbon sequestration based on variables such as population growth, fluctuations in gross domestic product, and changes in forest age and density. Forest Service scientists can also use projected climate scenarios—ranging from warm dry seasons to mild wet seasons—to calculate the effects these different conditions would have on future forest growth, including changing forest areas and carbon sequestration rates over the next 30 years. Analysts can then use these projections to forecast economic development such as housing starts, future lumber demand, and the quantity and quality of water that will be derived from forested ecosystems.

Complex and connected scenarios such as these are easier to understand when presented as geospatial displays. For example, positive and negative carbon storage levels can be represented as a range on a map so the resource community can see areas that need management action and policy makers and city planners can see what the effects will be.
Making the Forest Atlas Accessible

The Forest Atlas is available on the USFS GIS platform and is published in accordance with the Federal Geographic Data Committee's metadata standards. This makes it easy to integrate the information with other open data across government organizations.

"I see us aligning with other agencies, not just in a statistical manner but in a geospatial manner," Reams concluded. "Geographic metadata makes it easier to track monitoring information such as the shifts among land-use and land-cover categories, particularly forests, agriculture, and urban landscapes. The open-source data platform enables data integration among agencies in ways that will prove highly meaningful."

The general public can also access the atlas via ArcGIS Online and through the US government's open-source spatial data website.

Source: ESRI

Online atlas shows climate change impact on forest distribution patterns in Iberian Peninsula

Forecast for the distribution of beech forest suitability areas for the 2050-2080 period
Credit: Image courtesy of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona


Researchers from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and CREAF have developed the Suitability Atlas of Woody Plants of the Iberian Peninsula, a series of digital maps available online which for the first time reveal the present and future degree of adaptation to climate conditions of the main plant species found in the forests throughout the Iberian Peninsula. Data shows the tendency of forests to move higher in altitude and migrate towards the north.


Today, territory and species conservation managers need to rely on data and empirical methods on which to base their protection policies. Within the context of Global Change, the maps offered can be useful to evaluate possible changes in the distribution of forests in the future, which could lead to an in depth study of mitigation and/or adaptation tools needed to face these changes.

Until now, a few maps had been drawn for specific woody plants or for partial areas of the peninsula. The Suitability Atlas of Woody Plants however offers a global view of the Iberian Peninsula. The series of maps were created to determine the degree of suitability to climate and/or topographic conditions of the forests' main woody plants. With the help of these maps one can verify, in an area of 200 metres, the topo-climatic suitability of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, these values can be consulted for the current climatic scenario (1950-1998) and for future projections proposed by one of the foremost research centres dedicated to climate change, the Hadley Centre, located in Exeter, UK.

The Atlas combines advanced methodologies and technologies such as Geographic Information Systems, multivariate statistics and interoperable geoportals to offer both rigorous cartographic standards and information that can be consulted by the general public.

The Atlas was developed by a group of researchers from the UAB Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, in collaboration with the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), under the framework of the R&D&I National Plan.

Main features of the Atlas

• Completeness: covering almost all woody species found in forests
• Quality initial data: both the Digital Climate Atlas of the Iberian Peninsula (ACDPI) and the third National Forest Inventory are cartography databases with high spatial resolution and with proven data quality.
• Detailed resolution: 200 m spatial resolution
• Objectivity: numerical quality (known level of error) calculated and documented for each map.
• Interoperability: format in which maps can be viewed allows users to contrast information with other map databases
• Accessibility: maps can be consulted online in GIS format without the need of additional installations.

First results

Researchers have already obtained the first scientific results with the help of Atlas data. They were able to verify that many species could be affected by the reduction in suitability in the regions they currently inhabit. They detected a tendency in forests to migrate towards higher altitudes and more northern latitudes. In this sense, mountain ranges such as the Pyrenees are seen as important protection areas of biodiversity within the context of Climate Change.

Nevertheless, not all species react the same when suffering the consequences of climate change. Species such as aleppo pine, stone pine, or holm oak are more resistant and may even occupy larger areas in the future. In contrast, species such as scots pine or beech are more affected by rising temperatures and longer dry periods and therefore the space they occupy may begin to decrease.

At these moments researchers are studying the total forest surface which could be lost or substituted by scrubs, as well as interactions between forest species when their area of distribution is modified. The fact that forest surfaces are decreasing is of great relevance, since this represents a reduction in CO2 consumption, an increase in the risk of land erosion and modifications in water cycles.

The Atlas is available online at:http://www.opengis.uab.cat/IdoneitatPI/index.html



Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Article source: Science daily

Planning and managing vegetation in urban area is complex, yet it can be seamlessly done using computerized tree inventory and Geographic Information System (GIS).

In order to manage the urban forest it is vital to know and understand the resource. It is the structure of the urban forest that provides the basis for its functions and subsequently its value as a resource. It has been stressed that inventories are an important component in the management of the urban forest.

As such urban tree inventory would be the first step in planning and managing the urban forest for its functions and value in creating a balanced environment. The management of any resource needs to begin with an inventory of that resource. Planning and managing vegetation in urban area is complex, yet it can be seamlessly done using computerized tree inventory and Geographic Information System (GIS).

GIS may enhance the tree inventory system with the application of mobile -based QR code technology, which could provide effective management of inventory elements, tree in particular, in urban areas to avoid project budget cutback, improve the efficiency of an existing program and educate and provide information to the public.

GIS is able to store, manipulate, analyse and communicate between user and data, while mobile-based QR codes technology can be read by an imaging device (such as a camera) and processed using Reed-Solomon error correction until the image can be appropriately interpreted about the tree; data is then extracted from tree patterns present in both horizontal and vertical component of the image.

Urban park inventory and diversity assessments are essential to understand tree population structures and the plant diversity status of the park and provide information for biodiversity recovery planning. Unfortunately, the vast majority of park in developing countries lack inventory records and detection data. Consequently the tree population structure and diversity status of these parks are often insufficient for management (Appiah, 2013).

The aim of the study is to design and develop a proposed system that can help the agency in managing the inventory of tree. The system could allow for the creation and maintenance of the inventories with attributes for each item. Botanical names and other attributes are included, and digital photo can be incubated with each item.

The objectives of this invention are to create a systematic Geodatabase of urban tree. It is also to develop and design, 3D urban tree inventory systems for management. Lastly, it is to create digital matrix bar codes for urban tree identification and classification. Using GIS as tools may help in managing system as well as increasing the ease of the park management process.

This system can replace the conventional method for smart management were computerized and systematic approach of database system will accelerate the tree assessment. The novelty of this invention is it can help improve the existing systems in conveying information globally. The animation can spread the uniqueness of the park and also the information about the park which indirectly help in planning.

The QR code gives a better interpretation where it will enhance the visitor experience. This idea addresses the issue of the vast majority of forests or Public Park in a developing country which lacks a data inventory. The invention benefits Park Manager, Local Authority and Landscape Architect.



Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Article source: Science daily

The Laboratory of Forest Management and Remote Sensing, AUTh

Profile 

The Laboratory of Forest Management and Remote Sensing is a part of the Department of Forestry and Natural Environment which is one of the 44 departments of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The department is responsible for training more than 500 undergraduate and about 200 graduate students on all aspects of ecology and management of forest and range resources.

The unit carries out graduate and postgraduate teaching and is involved in research in the fields of environmental monitoring and management of natural ecosystems by using modern analysis methods and techniques including Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems, and Digital Photogrammetry. The Laboratory also organises lectures and seminars, national and international conferences, and encourages scientific cooperation and exchange with corresponding laboratories of Greek and foreign organisations, institutes, universities, companies and other public and private enterprises.

In recent years, the unit has undertaken research in the fields of environmental resource management, vegetation dryness monitoring, desertification modeling, soil erosion mapping, environmental degradation assessment, landscape ecology, forest fire modeling, and, biodiversity monitoring using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS) and Decision Support Systems (DSS).

Members of the laboratory have been involved in a large number of National as well as EU-funded projects. As a result of two recently granted projects the ‘National Observatory of Forests - NOF’ and the 'National Observatory of Forest Fires - NOFFi' have been established in the unit in collaboration with the Special Secretariat for Forests of Greece and the Interbalkan Environment Center.

Moreover, the unit is a member of EARSeL chairing the EARSeL Special Interest Group on Forest Fires (EARSeL-FFSIG). Finally, members of the unit:
are editors / guest editors in international journals and conference proceedings,
are members of the scientific or organising committee of different national and international events,
participate in national (Civil protection, Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change) as well as international committees (GOFC-GOLD Fire IT)



TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT and TOOLS

Facilities include a dedicated teaching laboratory equipped with regularly updated high-specification computing hardware and software. Moreover, a facility the so called Automated Cartography Unit that is dedicated to capture (digitizers and scanners), processing, integration, printing (printers and plotters) and archive of imaging and non-imaging datasets has been recently developed.

More specifically, the infrastructure of the unit includes:



Infrastructure description
Hardware

• 2 DELL Servers
• Network Attached Storage (NAS) 8TB
• 21 PCs και Workstations
• 18 PCs (Workstations) for teaching (dedicated lab)
• 4 Portable Computers
• B/W laser, colour laser and inkjet printers
• 2 Video Projectors
• A0, A3, A4 Scanners
• A0 Plotter
• THALES- MAGELLAN Differential GPS (2 receivers)
• GPS devices
• 1 OLYMPUS digital camera
• 1 ADC Infrared digital camera
• 1 Laser Rangefinder
• SVC 1024 hyperspectral radiometer

Software

• ArcGIS 10.2 (AUTh site license)
• ArcIMS 4.0, WEB server, SQL
• ArcGIS Server Advanced Enterprise 10.2
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012
• ERDAS Imagine 2013 (5 licenses)
• ENVI 4.8 (5 licenses)
• eCognition Developer 8.7 (5 licenses)
• PCI Geomatics (1 license)
• IDRISI Selva (1 license)

Source

A forest by any other name? Semantics, carbon implications, and solutions

A team of researchers comparing eight satellite-derived global forest area maps have unearthed discrepancies as large as 6 percent of Earth’s land area—nearly the size of China. But their biggest discovery was not the discrepancy, it was the reason behind it.

A ridge-top bristlecone pine forest in the Spring Mountains of Arizona. This sparse forest canopy is an example of where forest definition ambiguity can lead to map disagreement. Photo credits: Joseph Sexton, University of Maryland

Using the world’s first global, Landsat-based 30-meter resolution map of tree cover, the researchers found that ambiguity of the term “forest” has the potential to create discrepancies double the size of the 6 percent difference found between current maps. While ecologists have long understood the complexity comprised by the concept of “forest”, and while geographers have called for the term to be more uniformly defined across monitoring entities, no one had quantified the scope of the problem.





“Whereas previous studies mentioned the discrepancy, our analysis quantified and mapped it globally and connected it to estimates of biomass and economic value,” says Joseph Sexton, a senior scientist at the University of Maryland’s Global Land Cover Facility and lead author of the study.

The findings were recently published in Nature Climate Change by a team of researchers from the University of Maryland, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Wildlife Federation, the Global Environment Facility, and Duke University.

Error contributions of the technological issues that impede satellite-based forest maps—such as persistent cloud cover in the tropics, canopy shadows, and the complexity of forest structure—were shown to be small in comparison to this definitional divide.

“It’s not the technology’s fault. Today’s satellites provide us with a sufficient precision to make ecological measurements of forests,” Sexton says. The study found that the agreement between eight global satellite-derived forest cover maps (in terms of area) is massive. These maps, created by U.S. and European science agencies and universities, use both coarse and medium resolution satellite data, and rely on differing international definitions of forest. For example, “forest” is considered anywhere with at least 10 percent forest cover in some definitions, as opposed to at least 30 percent forest cover in others. Where and why the maps disagree is now better understood.

When different definitions of forest are used, satellite forest cover measurements can vary widely. Here global forest cover as measured by Landsat is shown using two different UN Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) forest definitions: 10 percent tree cover (left) and 30 percent tree cover (right). Data are publicly available at www.landcover.org.

Savannah woodland in northern Botswana. This transition zone between open grasslands and closed canopy forest is typical of areas in Africa where forest definition ambiguity has major measurement impacts. Photo credit: Stuart Pimm, Duke University


The study found that because the definition of “forest” given by large international organizations (which satellite-based calculations reference) vary substantially, forest area calculations are severely compromised in areas of intermediate tree cover such as savannahs, shrublands, mountain ridge forests, and boreal taiga.



Semantics can sully global forest area measurements, and this is problematic because deforestation has major implications for greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and biodiversity reduction. It was early satellite-based maps of forest cover change that helped raise the alert about the widespread severity of global deforestation. This factored into the creation of policy initiatives such as the Kyoto Protocol, Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

Programs like REDD+ incentivize countries to keep forests intact and sustainably managed by assigning a value to the forest’s stored carbon. So accurate measurements of forest cover via synoptic, unbiased sources such as satellites are paramount—which means an unambiguous definition of forest is too. In the tropics, the authors found that definitional discrepancies could translate into $1 trillion worth of carbon credits.

To stem this ambiguity, the authors call for either a single, unambiguous definition of forest that can be used globally or a shift away from “forest/non-forest” maps to maps of measureable ecological characteristics like tree cover, canopy height, and biomass.

A spruce-fir forest near the mountaintop tree line of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. Here, limited water and soil depth combine to keep the forest canopy sparse. This is an example of where forest definition clarity is essential in the Western U.S. Photo credit: Joseph Sexton, University of Maryland

“Through advances in remote sensing, we increasingly have the technical capacity to estimate the structure, cover, and composition of terrestrial ecosystems from space,” Sexton explained. If an international consortium of scientists agreed on a set of these measurable forests characteristics, better estimates of carbon stock could be made.



A prime example of where a clear forest definition has big implications is Southeast Asia, where the growth of the oil palm sector has skyrocketed in the last decade.

“The projected global increase in demand for palm oil is likely to cause widespread expansion of palm plantations in the region at the cost of forest,” paper co-author and NASA Goddard/National Wildlife Federation scientist Praveen Noojipady explains.

Here, palm oil producers’ commitments to zero deforestation are colliding with increasing palm oil demand. Clearly defining where expansion can and cannot occur, based on a forest definition that accounts for carbon stock, will prevent biodiverse and carbon-rich native forests (and their dense under-canopy vegetation) from being turned into plantations, which are much less carbon-dense.

Source
“An unambiguous definition of forest including ecological characteristics will not only protect forests of High Carbon Stock (HCS), but also facilitate sustainable palm oil production with least damage to carbon rich ecosystems.”

With the insight gained by this research, scientists now have a blueprint for improving the satellite-derived maps that can help protect these carbon rich ecosystems.



Reference:

Joseph O. Sexton, Praveen Noojipady, Xiao-Peng Song, Min Feng, Dan-Xia Song, Do-Hyung Kim, Anupam Anand, Chengquan Huang, Saurabh Channan, Stuart L. Pimm, John R. Townshend, (2015). Conservation policy and the measurement of forests. Nature Climate Change,v. advance online publication, Nature Publishing Group DOI: doi:10.1038/nclimate2816.

4 Global Forest Maps to See the Forest for the Trees

Forests cover about 30% of the Earth’s surface. Over 1 billion people depend on these forests for their survival because it’s their pharmacy, their fuel and food for their animals.

Forests keep rivers clean. They prevent soil erosion. They prevent landslides and avalanches. They are carbon sinks because they absorb over one-fifth of carbon emissions caused by fossil fuels.

But our forests are disappearing:

Natural causes like disease and forest fires have always existed. Human activities are now the leading cause of deforestation. No other human activity has caused more deforestation than animal agriculture.

We have a better spatial understanding because of satellite and mapping technologies. These 4 global forest maps tell a story or our trees. So let’s take a look and start seeing the forest for the trees.

NASA’s Forest Heights Map

NASA’s Forest Canopy Height map is a first of its kind. It’s unique because it shows the height of trees of the entire planet.

Now, NASA didn’t go out in the field and measure every tree height to make this forest map.

So how did they do it?

All tree heights were derived using satellites orbiting our Earth such as Geoscience Laser Altimeter Systems (GLAS). GLAS is a laser ranging technology. It sends a pulse and measures how long it takes to return to get distance. But GLAS wasn’t the only satellite NASA used. It combined MODIS, SRTM, TRMM and the WorldClim databases.

Have you noticed how tree heights are generally taller at the equator?

Some trees tower higher than 40 meters in height at the equator. At the poles, tree canopy are generally shorter. Countries in northern Europe, Canada and Russia tend to have tree canopy heights less than 20 meters.

Global Forest Change

Almost one-third of our land is covered in forests. But deforestation is cutting down our forests at about the size of Greece per year. That’s 50 soccer fields every minute.

The effects of deforestation are devastating. It increases greenhouse gases and soil erosion. It takes away habitat for wildlife and homes for indigenous groups.

How can we quantify deforestation?

Landsat is the reigning monarch of historic satellite data. 40 years and counting! Landsat is the longest running Earth observation mission in history. We could compare a snapshot of Earth from 1972 using Landsat-1 data, if we really wanted to.

The University of Maryland has carved out the drool-worthy Global Forest Change mapsolely using Landsat data. The key focus is forest extent and change. Forest is defined as vegetation taller than 5 meters. Forest cover loss and gain are highlighted from 2000-2012.

We knew there were red flags for countries like Indonesia, Honduras and Philippines and deforestation. On the map, they look like signal flares! On global forest maps like these, it confirms reports and statistics about how these countries sustained great losses in forests..

NASA Forest Fires

When there’s smoke, there’s fire. And on Earth, there’s something always burning. NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) keeps a close eye on wildfires around the globe.

Whether they’re started by people, lightning strikes or by other means, NASA’s fire maps pinpoint locations of actively burning fires.

Are forest fires harmful for the environment?

Forest fires are not necessarily bad. They can clear dead underbrush and restore it to good health. In certain ecosystems, plants require periodic burning to reproduce.

NASA’s fire maps are animated dating back to 2000 all the way to this year. It’s unbelievable watching the time series animation and watching the flames roar our planet.

Global Forest Watch

Global Forest Watch is really the mother of all forest monitoring websites. It’s not just one map; it’s a series of forest maps. Each one has cutting-edge algorithms harnessing the power of satellite data and cloud computing.

The more you think of it, there’s a lot we don’t know about forests like:

• Where are forests cleared?
• Why does it happen?
• And who is responsible?

Users can dynamically view Landsat’s forest gain/loss data in near real-time. Global Forest Watch takes it a step further showing how forests are being used such as palm oil, mining, logging, etc. It has time animations, forest fire data and conservation areas.

It’s free and simple to use. Governments, businesses, academics, media and NGOs can gain a wealth of information and ensure sustainability. Global Forest Watch really lets you sit in the driver’s seat and openly explore a goldmine of forest maps and information.

Forest maps mean action

If an old tree falls in the forest and nobody’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Near real-time satellite information has transformed our global understanding of forests. Satellites deliver timely and accurate information about forest fires, deforestation, canopy height and even forest disease.

Forest maps give users the power to stop harmful forest loss. For example, business managers buying commodities such as palm oil can use near real-time forest maps to see if supplies are clearing forest they committed to protect.

This technology empowers people everywhere to better manage forests.

… so if an old tree falls in the forest and nobody’s around to hear it, does it make a sound? With these global forest maps, everyone hears it.

Source

Smart Tree Logging with Remote Sensing

BY CAITLIN DEMPSEY MORAIS




Irish company, Treemetrics claims that on average 20% of a commercial forest’s value is wasted due to inaccurate manual measurement of the trees and wasted cutting. The company uses a combination of satellite imagery, UAV, and LiDAR to work with forestry managers to map out forests in order to better assess the quality and value of their forests and to cut down on waste. The forest is inventoried using a 3D laser that builds an inventory of the forest and assesses straightness and quality of the trees. The geospatial technologies used extend to real-time harvest monitoring that allows forest owners to remotely manage the cutting of individual trees by communicating directly with the harvester.

Treemetrics is the brainchild of two former foresters, Enda Keane and Garret Mullooly who want to transform how commercial forests are mapped and harvested. Keane states, “It’s achievable to cut down less trees than we cut down today, while still meeting up to the needs of planet Earth’s increasing demand for wood. We need to have more knowledge about forests, and the type of trees in them, before we can cut.”

Traditional forestry involves manual tape measurements and estimating tree heights by looking up, factors that help contribute to excessive tree cutting that not only cuts into profit but also has a detrimental affect on the health of the forests and biodiversity. Tree also present different values, depending on their straightness, presence of knots, and diameter. Some trees are more suitable for pulp while others have a greater value as timber (or lumber). By creating a 3D map of the forest, Treemetrics is able to measure the shape, size and straightness of standing trees and develop a cut plan for foresters depending on which type of tree they need to harvest.

3D TREE SCAN.

With the in-cabin display, forest managers can relay real-time information back to the harvester machine about which trees need to be cut.

WHEN INSTALLED IN THE CAB OF A HARVESTING MACHINE, THE TREEMETRICS DISPLAY GIVES DETAILED MAPPING INFORMATION, SHOWING THE OPERATOR WHICH TREES SHOULD BE FELLED AND HOW THE WOOD SHOULD BE CUT. SOURCE: TREEMETRICS

Source