News: Portfolio 2008

NASA Investigator to Foresters: Using Remote-sensing Techniques Can Increase Productivity; Slow Rising Air, Water, Carbon-dioxide Levels

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Associate director of the Conservation Management Institute, Dr. Wynne noted that while protecting forests and sustainably managing them requires the collection of remotely sensed data along with traditional ground-sampling techniques, “The challenge before us is to be able to answer tomorrow's questions using tomorrow's remote-sensing technology.

“Any other course of action will jeopardize our organizations and natural resource base,” he said.

Dr. Wynne, who also co-directs the Center for Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing and is the remote sensing team leader for the Forest Nutrition Cooperative, made several other key points during his in-person presentation, which also was delivered live on the Internet:

There will be an increased use of spaceborne remote-sensing systems to measure changes in air, water and land. Historically observed in isolation, the current effort is to look at these elements together and to study their interactions. The aim, he said, is to make 21st-century technology as interrelated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Very little of the Earth’s surface now remains in unmanaged, pristine condition, and there has been a decline of forest area in the developing world. This decline, he said, has been partially offset by reforestation and afforestation (converting open land into forests) in both tropical and temperate regions.
Forest sensor technology and extractive algorithms will continue to evolve, he said, to provide rich information about forests, such as volume of trees by species, the amount of carbon sequestered, and fire and pest risk.

For those who were not able to participate in the live event, either at ImageTree’s headquarters in The United Center or via Webinar, Dr. Wynne's presentation is available in its entirety at http://www.imagetreecorp.com/idea_cfe.html .

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