Satellite Imagery news from mongabay.com

Indonesia increases forest areas protected under moratorium

2012-05-22T09:31:00Z

Indonesia is making 'encouraging' progress on its push to reduce deforestation by improving governance over its forests and peatlands, but still needs to do more to enforce environmental laws, said the head of the country's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) task force speaking at a press conference Monday in Jakarta. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Head of the Indonesian President’s Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4) and Chair of the REDD+ Task Force, said an effort to develop a map of Indonesia's forests and forest concessions has been completed, although the Ministry of Forestry has yet to deliver the map to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, missing last Friday's deadline. The map serves as the basis for a two-year moratorium on new forestry concessions in primary forests and peatlands had been completed.

Brazilian deforestation lower in 2012 to date

2012-05-18T20:36:00Z

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is lower in 2012 relative to the same period last year according to satellite-based data released by Imazon, an NGO.

Manta rays tracked by satellite

2012-05-11T12:55:00Z

Satellite tracking technology has revealed new insights into the behavior of manta rays, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The findings are published in this week's issue of the journal PLoS.

Now on Google Earth: NASA updates global forest height map

2012-04-18T20:27:00Z

NASA researchers have released a Google Earth version of a map showing the height of the world's forests.

Scientists count penguins by satellite, find twice as many as expected (photos)

2012-04-14T16:12:00Z

The population of emperor penguins in Antarctica is nearly twice as high as previously estimated according to a new satellite-based assessment.

NASA imagery confirms fires burning in orangutan hotspot

2012-03-27T20:03:00Z

Satellite data from NASA confirms that fires are burning in an orangutan hotspot slated for conversion to oil palm plantations.

Airborne lasers discover undocumented deforestation in Belize park

2012-03-19T16:14:00Z

A NASA funded expedition using airborne lasers to study ancient Mayan ruins has also documented widespread illegal deforestation in the Caracol Archaeological Reserve. The lasers found that forest disturbance was actually 58 percent greater than recent satellite surveys showed, according new study in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Society (TCS). Such deforestation not only imperils biodiversity, carbon storage, and migration routes for Central American species, but could also lead to plundering of the Maya site of Caracol.

Global rainforest carbon map released online

2012-03-18T21:24:00Z

Researchers have posted carbon stock data for the world's tropical forests on ArcGIS Online, a web-based mapping platform developed by Esri.

NASA satellite image shows extent of logging in Pacific Northwest

2012-02-22T17:43:00Z

New satellite and space radar images by NASA shows the decline of forests in the Pacific Northwest, specifically in Washington and Oregon. Lost to development, agriculture, and large-scale logging, the maps apart of the National Biomass and Carbon Dataset (NBCD) show the patchy, fragmented nature of the forests in the two U.S. states.

NASA map reveals the heights of the world's forests

2012-02-20T18:40:00Z

The height of a forest is important in a number of different ways. First the taller a forest, the more likely there are important niche habitats in the canopy providing homes to unique species. In addition, a forests' height says something about its ability to sequester carbon: the taller a forest the more carbon it can hold. Now a team of researchers, led by NASA, has created the world's first global map showing the height of the world's forests (click here for interactive map), publishing their findings in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Scientists create high resolution, 3D maps of forests in Madagascar

2012-02-15T03:50:00Z

A team of scientists has created the first high resolution maps of remote forests in Madagascar. The effort, which is written up in the journal Carbon Balance and Management, will help more accurately register the amount of carbon stored in Madagascar's forests, potentially giving the impoverished country access to carbon-based finance under the proposed REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) program.

Rainforests store 229 billion tons of carbon globally finds new 'wall-to-wall' carbon map

2012-01-30T23:30:00Z

Tropical rainforests store some 229 billion tons of carbon in their vegetation — about 20 percent more than previously estimated — finds a new satellite-based assessment published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The findings could help improve the accuracy of reporting CO2 emissions reductions under the proposed REDD program, which aims to compensate tropical countries for cutting deforestation, forest degradation, and peatlands destruction.

New NASA satellite captures Earth in its full daylight glory on a daily basis (image)

2011-12-21T06:57:00Z

NASA has released the first images from its new NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which captures images from the entire planet on a daily basis.

Amazon rainforest loss in Brazil drops to lowest ever reported

2011-12-05T23:59:00Z

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell to the lowest level on record between August 2010 and July 2011 according to preliminary data from Brazil's National Institute of Space Research (INPE).

Deforestation and forest degradation slows in Brazil's Amazon since August

2011-12-02T23:17:00Z

Deforestation and forest degradation are down moderately from August through October 2011 relative to the same period a year ago, reports a satellite-based assessment released today by Imazon. Imazon's near-real time system found that 512 sq km of rainforest were cleared between Aug 2011 and Oct 2011, the first three months of the deforestation calendar year, which runs from August 1 through July 31. The figure represents a 4 percent decline from the 533 sq km cleared in 2010

Global forest cover lower than previously estimated, says UN

2011-11-30T20:21:00Z

Global forest cover, as well as forest loss, is lower than previously estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), according to a new satellite-based assessment that replaces the self-reporting system previously used by the U.N. agency.

Laser-based forest mapping as accurate for carbon as on-the-ground plot sampling

2011-11-02T01:19:00Z

Two new research papers show that an advanced laser-based system for forest monitoring is at least as accurate as traditional plot-based assessments when it comes to measuring carbon in tropical forests.

Breakthrough technology enables 3D mapping of rainforests, tree by tree

2011-10-24T23:33:00Z

High above the Amazon rainforest in Peru, a team of scientists and technicians is conducting an ambitious experiment: a biological survey of a never-before-explored tract of remote and inaccessible cloud forest. They are doing so using an advanced system that enables them to map the three-dimensional physical structure of the forest as well as its chemical and optical properties. The scientists hope to determine not only what species may lie below but also how the ecosystem is responding to last year's drought—the worst ever recorded in the Amazon—as well as help Peru develop a better mechanism for monitoring deforestation and degradation.

Brazil: Amazon deforestation higher than initially stated

2011-10-09T16:27:00Z

Brazil revised upward its estimate of how much Amazon rainforest was destroyed last year, reports the Associated Press.

Amazon deforestation up moderately in August, but forest degradation falls

2011-09-22T16:42:00Z

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon continues to be slightly higher than this time last year, reports a new bulletin from Imazon, a Brazilian NGO.

62% of deforested Amazon land ends up as cattle pasture

2011-09-04T19:19:00Z

62 percent of the area deforested in the Brazilian Amazon until 2008 is occupied by cattle pasture, reports a new satellite-based analysis by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and its Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa).

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon up moderately over last year

2011-08-24T17:32:00Z

Deforestation in the Amazon jumped sharply in some Brazilian states since last year, according to data released in recent weeks by Imazon, a Brazilian NGO that tracks deforestation. Overall deforestation rose 15 percent to 1,532 km2 in the August 2010 through June 2011 period relative to the same months a year earlier, reports Imazon.

Palm oil, paper drive large-scale destruction of Indonesia's forests, but account for diminishing role in economy, says report

2011-07-27T18:44:00Z

Indonesia's forests were cleared at a rate of 1.5 million hectares per year between 2000 and 2009, reports a new satellite-based assessment by Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI), an NGO. Expansion of oil palm and wood-pulp plantations were the biggest drivers of deforestation, yet account for a declining share of the national economy. The study, which compared year 2000 data with 2009 Landsat images from NASA, found that Indonesia's forest cover declined from 103.32 million hectares to 88.17 million hectares in ten years. Since 1950 Indonesia lost more than 46 percent of its forests.

NASA image shows it snowing in driest place on earth

2011-07-20T13:29:00Z

A snowstorm engulfed parts of the driest place on earth this month: the Atacama desert in South America. Images captured by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra Satellite show parts of the landscape covered in white.

Amazon drought and forest fire prediction system devised

2011-07-18T23:49:00Z

Researchers have devised a model to anticipate drought and forest fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Indonesia's new forest moratorium map improved, say experts

2011-07-13T19:20:00Z

The latest version of Indonesia's forest moratorium map is much improved over its predecessor, say forestry analysts from Daemeter Consulting.

REDD calculator and mapping tool for Indonesia launched

2011-07-13T04:57:00Z

Researchers have launched a new tool to help policy-makers, NGOs, and landowners evaluate the potential benefits and costs of Indonesia's reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) program at provincial and district levels.

Brazilian government: Amazon deforestation rising

2011-06-30T23:18:00Z

Satellite data released today by the Brazilian government confirmed a rise in Amazon deforestation over this time last year.

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon continues to rise; clearing highest near Belo Monte dam site

2011-06-17T20:05:00Z

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon continued to rise as Brazil's Congress weighed a bill that would weaken the country's Forest Code, according to new analysis by Imazon.

South Sudan’s tropical forests fast disappearing

2011-06-06T02:42:00Z

South Sudan’s tropical montane forests are fast disappearing according to new analysis by PRINS Engineering. At current rates, Mount Dongotomea, located in South Sudan’s most biodiverse ecosystem, could be completely stripped of tree cover by 2020.

Indonesia's moratorium map has errors, says government

2011-06-03T18:08:00Z

The map underpinning Indonesia's moratorium on new concessions in primary forests and peatlands is "inaccurate", an Indonesian forestry official told The Jakarta Post.

New technology enables scientists to map rainforest biodiversity by airplane

2011-06-02T23:59:00Z

A new airplane-based remote-sensing and analysis system will enable scientists to catalog tree species as they create three-dimensional maps of tropical forests. Unveiled today at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California by Greg Asner of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, the newest version of the Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO) will offer powerful insights into the composition and biology of tropical forests.

New global carbon map for 2.5 billion ha of forests

2011-05-31T04:31:00Z

Tropical forests across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia stored 247 gigatons of carbon — more than 30 years' worth of current emissions from fossil fuels use — in the early 2000s, according to a comprehensive assessment of the world's carbon stocks. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by an international team of scientists, used data from 4,079 plot sites around the world and satellite-based measurements to estimate that forests store 193 billion tons of carbon in their vegetation and 54 billion tons in their roots structure. The study has produced a carbon map for 2.5 billion ha (6.2 billion acres) of forests.

Destruction of Brazil's most endangered forest, the Mata Atlantica, slows

2011-05-27T23:10:00Z

Deforestation of Brazil's most threatened forest ecosystem dropped substantially during the 2008-2010 period according to new data released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica. Analysis of satellite images across 16 of the 17 states the Atlantic Forest spans found that 312 square kilometers of forest was cleared between 2008 and 2010, down from 1,029 square kilometers between 2005 and 2008. Deforestation was concentrated in the states of Minas Gerais, Bahia, Santa Catarina and Parana.

Authorities launch stealth operation in Amazon after satellite images reveal deforestation

2011-05-24T19:51:00Z

Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency busted an illegal logging ring following analysis of satellite imagery, reports Globo.

Brazil confirms big jump in Amazon deforestation

2011-05-18T17:49:00Z

New data from the Brazilian government seems to confirm environmentalists' fears that farmers and ranchers are clearing rainforest in anticipation of a weakening of the country's rules governing forest protection. Wednesday, Brazil's National Space Research Agency (INPE) announced a sharp rise in deforestation in March and April relative to the same period last year. INPE's rapid deforestation detection system (DETER) recorded 593 square kilometers of forest clearing during the past two months, a 473 percent increase over the 103.5 sq km chopped down from March-April 2010.

Huge surge in Amazon deforestation

2011-05-17T19:12:00Z

Analysis by Imazon, a research institute, has confirmed a huge surge in deforestation in a critical part of the Brazilian Amazon.

Information leak: Amazon deforestation increases sharply while forest code debated

2011-05-16T18:53:00Z

Deforestation has increased sharply in Mato Grosso over the past nine months according to information leaked to Folha.com.

Google Earth animation reveals Indonesian forest targeted for destruction by pulp and paper companies

2011-05-14T23:02:00Z

A new animation created using Google Earth offers a tour of an area of forest slated for destruction by logging companies. The animation, created by WWF-Indonesia and David Tryse, with technical assistance from Google Earth Outreach, highlights the rainforest of the Bukit Tigapuluh landscape in Sumatra, the only island in the world that is home to Sumatran tigers, elephants, rhinos, and orangutans. All of these species are considered endangered or critically endangered due to habitat destruction or poaching.

Forest carbon map released for the US

2011-04-20T18:21:00Z

The Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) has released the first hectare-scale map displaying aboveground woody biomass and forest carbon in US forests. The map, which also shows canopy heights, is known as the National Biomass and Carbon Dataset (NBCD).

NASA image reveals extent of 2010 Amazon drought

2011-04-17T19:00:00Z

NASA has revealed a satellite image of the crippling effect of last year's record-breaking drought on the Amazon ecosystem. For those of you counting, that's two record droughts in the Amazon Basin in 5 years.

Pictures: Google Earth updates post-tsunami imagery

2011-03-31T09:03:00Z

Google Earth has updated satellite imagery for areas most affected by the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The images reveal large-scale devastation of coastal areas in the Sendai region of Japan.

Amazon deforestation flat since last year

2011-03-23T20:11:00Z

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is roughly flat for the 7 months ended February 28 relative to the same period last year, reports Imazon, a Brazil-based NGO.

Using Google Earth to monitor threats to archeological sites

2011-03-16T00:00:00Z

A new alert system uses Google Earth and other satellite-based tools to protect cultural heritage sites from fire, looting, encroachment, destructive tourism, and other threats, says the Global Heritage Fund, the group that launched the initiative.

Before-and-after tsunami satellite pictures

2011-03-15T19:22:00Z

Google released satellite images revealing the devastation caused by the March 11 tsunami in Japan.

First large-scale map of oil palm plantations reveals big environmental toll

2011-03-07T18:54:00Z

Expansion of industrial oil palm plantations across Malaysia and Indonesia have laid waste to vast areas of forest and peatlands, exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions and putting biodiversity at risk, reports a new satellite-based analysis that maps mature oil palm estates across Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra.

Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra lose 9% of forest cover in 8 years

2011-02-25T13:29:00Z

Kalimantan and Sumatra lost 5.4 million hectares, or 9.2 percent, of their forest cover between 2000/2001 and 2007/2008, reveals a new satellite-based assessment of Indonesian forest cover. The research, led by Mark Broich of South Dakota State University, found that more than 20 percent of forest clearing occurred in areas where conversion was either restricted or prohibited, indicating that during the period, the Indonesian government failed to enforce its forestry laws.

Monitoring deforestation: an interview with Gilberto Camara, head of Brazil's space agency INPE

2011-02-08T02:01:00Z

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the world's best deforestation tracking system is found in the country with the most rainforest: Brazil. Following international outcry over immense forest loss in the 1980s, Brazil in the 1990s set in motion a plan to develop a satellite-based system for tracking changes in forest cover. In 2003 Brazil made the system available to the world via its web site, providing transparency on an issue that was until then seen as a badge of shame by some. Since then Brazil has become recognized as the standard-bearer for deforestation tracking and reporting—no other country offers the kind of data Brazil provides. Space engineer Gilberto Camara has overseen much of INPE's earth sensing work and during his watch, INPE has released several new exciting capabilities.

Burning up biodiversity: forest fires increase in Madagascar

2011-01-10T03:39:00Z

The number of fires burning in and around forests in the northeastern part of Madagascar increased during the 2010 burning season relative the the year before, according to analysis of NASA data by WildMadagascar.org / Mongabay.com. The rise in burning corresponds to an especially dry year and continued illegal logging of the region's biologically-rich rainforests.

Environmental atlas highlights human impact in Latin America and Caribbean

2010-12-28T13:45:00Z

A new atlas produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) combines striking satellite images and rigorous data to present a unique and complex view of environmental changes taking place in Latin America and the Caribbean.