What is a forest? NASA/USGS mission helps answer the question
Tuesday, October 6, 2015 - 07:00
in Earth & Climate
Examining eight different satellite-derived maps of global forest cover, a team of scientists from NASA and other institutions noticed striking differences. The forested area on the maps differed by as much as 6 percent of Earth's land area, nearly equivalent to the size of China. The reason, they found with the help of the Landsat satellites, was varied definitions of what constitutes a forest. With deforestation responsible for up to one-sixth of greenhouse gas emissions, an accurate measurement of global forests figures prominently into carbon cycle studies.