North American Regional Ecosystem Dynamics Observed with Satellite Data
Christopher
S
Neigh, NASA/GSFC, UMD/Geography, SSAI, neigh@gsfc.nasa.gov
(Presenting)
Compton
J
Tucker, NASA/GSFC, UMD/Geography, compton@ltpmail.gsfc.nasa.gov
John
RG
Townshend, UMD/Geography, jtonshe@geog.umd.edu
G
Jim
Collatz, NASA/GSFC, jcollatz@biome.gsfc.nasa.gov
Normalized difference vegetation index data from the NOAA series of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR) revealed regions in North America that experienced marked increases in annual photosynthetic capacity at various times from 1982 to 2005. Inspection of these anomalous areas with Landsat, Ikonos, aerial photography, and ancillary statistical datasets revealed a range of causes: climatic influences; drought and subsequent recovery; irrigated agriculture expansion; herbivores insect outbreaks followed by logging and subsequent regeneration; and forest fires with subsequent regeneration. We describe an efficient continental monitoring system that can identify major land use/land cover changes and climatic influences upon North America vegetation.