fbpx ...

Global tree mapping and carbon research get a powerful NASA boost

A new method for mapping the location and size of trees growing outside of forests has led to the discovery of more than 1.8 billion trees in the arid regions of West Africa, including parts of the Sahara Desert.

Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a team of international collaborators used powerful supercomputers and machine learning algorithms to map where trees are growing and how big they are.

The purpose of the study is to locate trees growing outside forests and to determine how much carbon they store.

It is the first time that extremely high-resolution imagery and powerful artificial intelligence were used to map and measure trees. The study lay the groundwork for similar mapping of the global tree population and carbon storage by trees.

The trees were mapped from above to measure their crown diameter – the width of a tree when viewed from above. The team is interested in how the size of a tree’s crown and tree growth density are influenced by rainfall and land use.

Environmentalists have always campaigned against deforestation and have raised awareness of it exacerbating climate change. However, trees that are not growing in forests have not been taken into account.

Trees are so-called carbon ‘’sinks’’ meaning they take carbon from the air to grow and store it in their leaves, branches, bark, trunks and roots.

These trees are important for several reasons. It may be that they are storing significant amounts of carbon, and they are an integral part of the local ecosystems and economies. They should also be protected. When humans burn trees and fossil fuels or cut down trees, the carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere gets disturbed and you have the makings of global warming and climate change.

The scientist used commercial satellite images from the American commercial vendor of space imagery, DigitalGlobe. These images were so high-resolution that they could locate individual trees and provide data on their crown size.

One of the world’s fastest supercomputers, Blue Waters, at the University of Illinois, deep learning and 90,000 individually marked trees over a variety of terrain were used to train the model to recognize and spot individual trees over the study area. The model had to learn to distinguish between shapes that represent trees and those that represent other things like houses, huts or animals, etc.

An accurate tree count is part of the information stakeholders like policymakers and climate scientists need for conservation efforts. It’s also informative for scientists to know to what degree trees vary in size and density depending on where they grow.

“There are important ecological processes, not only inside, but outside forests too,” said Jesse Meyer, a programmer at NASA Goddard who led the processing on Blue Waters. “For preservation, restoration, climate change, and other purposes, data like these are very important to establish a baseline. In a year or two or ten, the study could be repeated with new data and compared to data from today, to see if efforts to revitalise and reduce deforestation are effective or not. It has quite practical implications.”

Share this article on your social networks

Related Posts

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Country: Understanding the Global Impact

Greenhouse gas emissions by country: Understanding the global impact. In this article, we will take a closer look at the top greenhouse gas emitting countries, sources of emissions, and efforts being made by countries to reduce emissions through increasing the use of renewable energy and improving energy efficiency.

Read More
GHG Reporting: Understanding and Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting is the process of measuring, reporting, and ultimately reducing an organization’s emissions. In this article, we will explore the basics of GHG reporting including its importance in understanding and reducing emissions, the process of GHG reporting, the standards and protocols available, and the challenges that organisations may face

Read More
5 key takeouts from the new IPCC Climate Report

The most recent 3.675 pages IPCC report has been hailed as the most searing indictment of the planet’s climate predicament. Here are 5 key takeouts.

Read More
Overwhelming majority of Australians look to Brands to make a climate difference

The research, released today at Nine’s State of the Nation Sustainability virtual event, showed that despite everyday Australians making changes to live more sustainably, the majority feel that as a country, we are not doing enough, and brands need to lead the way.

Read More
67% of retail investors now prefer ESG investments

According to new research from behavioural finance experts, Oxford Risk, two out of three retail investors are considering transferring their investments into ESG propositions.

Read More
Massive and rapid swing. 75% of Australian businesses leaders believe world is at climate change tipping point: Deloitte Report

Australian business leaders are becoming a lot more concerned about climate change. This shift is according to a new report and it shows a significant shift in opinion in just 8 months.

Read More
Climate Impact Measurement and Disclosure Growing Quickly Among Businesses

Many of the world’s biggest organisations have begun to share information concerning their carbon footprint in a new move that embraces transparency as organisations are increasingly seeing value in measuring their impact.

Read More
Explosive research for Australian businesses: people are turning down high paying jobs for 1 surprising reason

employed by a company that did not do its part to address climate change.

Read More
Australia Ranks Last Out Of 60 Nations For Climate Crisis Response Policy

Australia’s government policy response to the climate crisis was ranked last in an assessment of 60 nations released at the current global climate summit in Glasgow

Read More