LCLUC Newsletter Spring 2022 |
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Greetings!
We are pleased to present the latest developments from our LCLUC projects, Science Team members, and related land-cover and land-use change research.
This edition includes a detailed programmatic update from our Program Manager Dr. Garik Gutman, news highlights including updates on new satellite and data products, webinars, and much more.
Take a moment to check out the LCLUC Hotspot Mapper product on our website that shows the geographical distribution of high impact land-use and land-cover change hotspots studied in various LCLUC projects.
We invite you to join our mailing list to receive updates about the LCLUC program!
Enjoy the updates!
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Message from the Program Manager |
Dear LCLUCers,
In March of 2020 Secretary-General António Guterres of the United Nations said: “The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war”, calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world. If he only knew what he would face two years later, when five Russian missiles hit Kyiv "immediately" after he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finished their meeting in Kyiv. There is a popular joke: If you ask someone there about COVID, they’ll shrug their shoulders “what is it?” What is happening now could not be believed in the beginning of this year. Not a single analyst suggested a scenario of a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine, which Russia keeps calling a “special operation” – a limited regional conflict in eastern Ukraine was expected by many, though. During this “special operation”, millions of people became refugees, hundreds of thousands became homeless, dead or wounded. And the war goes on, at least at the time of this writing. This conflict will have repercussions not only for Ukraine and Russia. It will affect the whole world, not only militarily. Both countries are the biggest providers of grain to many regions in the world, especially the Middle East and Africa. The disturbed supply is already felt by some countries. It is ironic that the war started right after we finished our webinar series on the impacts of regional conflicts on land-cover / land-use change. Unfortunately, our program is affected in a serious way as we have collaborations with Ukraine in the ongoing projects. The annual GOFC-GOLD SCERIN workshop was to be held in Lviv in the end of this May, but it was held virtually, hosted by our colleagues in Lviv, with the help of START. The collaborators in Sergii Skakun’s (U. Maryland) project on Ag in Ukraine had to leave Kiev and now it’s questionable how they’ll be able to function, but at least they are safe. The planned ground observations and validation activities will most likely be impossible in the near future. Read More
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- ROSES 2022 Call: Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Hotspots and Land-Use Adaptation to Climate Change . Find More
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- Amended ROSES 2021 Call: LCLUC SARI Synthesis Find More
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- ROSES 2021 Selections : Identifying High impact LCLUC Hotspots Project Pages
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Remote Sensing of Agriculture and Land Cover/Land USe changes in South and South Asian Countries" Find More
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Recent And Upcoming Missions And Data |
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Through Norway’s International Climate & Forests Initiative (NICFI), users can now access Planet’s high-resolution, analysis-ready mosaics of the world’s tropics in order to help reduce and reverse the loss of tropical forests, combat climate change, conserve biodiversity, and facilitate sustainable development for non commercial uses. Learn More
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The second-generation COSMO-SkyMed (COSMO-SkyMed Seconda Generazione - CSG) is a constellation financed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) with funds allocated by the Italian Ministry of University and Research alongside the Italian Ministry of Defence. It will guarantee the operational continuity of SAR (Synthetic-Aperture Radar) Earth observation services currently provided by the four first-generation COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) satellites launched into orbit between 2007 and 2010 and still operational. Italy's second generation COSMO- SkyMed constellation of two satellites, aims at improving the quality of the imaging service, providing the end users with enhanced capabilities in terms of higher number of images and image quality (larger swath and finer spatial and radiometric resolution) with respect to the current COSMO-SkyMed constellation (CSK). Learn More
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Since 1972, the joint NASA/ U.S. Geological Survey Landsat series of Earth Observation satellites have continuously acquired images of the Earth’s land surface, providing uninterrupted data to help land managers and policymakers make informed decisions about natural resources and the environment. The NASA/USGS Landsat Program provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land in existence. Landsat data give us information essential for making informed decisions about Earth’s resources and environment.
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Google and the World Resources Institute (WRI) launched a new mapping tool that provides unprecedented insight into how land is being used around the world. Known as Dynamic World, it’s said to be the first global land cover data set available in near-real-time at high resolution. Learn More
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In Memoriam: Thomas R. Loveland, (1952-2022) |
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Dr. Thomas (Tom) R. Loveland was a pioneer in Land-Cover Land-Use Science. He devoted over four decades exploring satellite imagery to unravel the contemporary land history of the planet while leading efforts to expand global Earth-observation capabilities. He completed his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geography from South Dakota State University (SDSU) and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Loveland was a Chief Scientist at Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and Director of the United States Geological Service (USGS) Land Cover Institute. He co-chaired the Landsat Science Team, led the Landsat Continuity Mission Science Team and co-led the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme Data and Information System Global Land Cover data initiative. Dr. Loveland taught remote sensing and geography courses at SDSU for over 35 years. Additionally, he contributed to graduate education at various universities throughout the U.S. and Europe. He was honored with numerous recognitions, including the 2019 William T. Pecora Award for outstanding contributions to Earth science, as a leading scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey and as Chief Scientist at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center. Dr. Loveland was the P.I. on two and Co-I on one NASA-LCLUC projects. Throughout his career, Tom mentored and inspired a number of scientists from around the world. More specifically, Tom was involved with the NASA LCLUC-sponsored Global Observations of Forest and Land Use Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) Regional Networks (gofcgold.org). He used to host several GOFC RN scientists, especially from developing countries, every year at the USGS and helped them with land cover mapping efforts. He initiated many international collaborations and served on numerous national and international science panels in remote sensing, LCLUC dynamics and environmental monitoring. Tom Loveland passed away at age 69 on May 13, 2022 at Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls. LCLUC mourns Tom's passing and extends its condolences to his wife Cam and children Shannon and Bill.
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Retirement Announcement – Dr. Jeffrey Masek |
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After more than two decades of service at NASA, Dr. Jeffrey Masek is setting his sights on a well-deserved retirement to undertake some new activities in a bucolic setting of the Hudson Valley.
Dr. Masek retired as a Research Scientist at the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) on June 30th, 2022. He joined NASA GSFC in 2001 and served as the Deputy Project Scientist for Landsat-8 until 2010. In 2015, he was appointed Project Scientist for the Landsat-9 mission. He also served as Chief of the Biospheric Sciences Lab from 2014-2019 and as a co-Investigator on the NASA Carbon Monitoring System Project. Before joining NASA GSFC, he held research positions at the University of Maryland and Hughes Information Systems. Dr. Masek received a B.A. in Geology from Haverford College (1989) and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Cornell University (1994). He specialized in mapping land-cover changes in temperate environments, satellite remote sensing and advanced computing techniques and their applications. The LCLUC community has benefitted significantly from Jeff's contributions. He ran the Land Cover Science Project Office (LcSPO) at GSFC and helped coordinate the Global Land Survey dataset development before Landsat data became freely available at USGS. In addition, Jeff has led the Multi-Source Land Imaging (MuSLI) component in the Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program and the development of the Harmonized Landsat-Sentinel 2 (HLS) data set, which is widely used by many researchers. The NASA LCLUC Program thanks Jeff for his support over the years. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors
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The Global Land Programme (GLP) and the FutureEarth recently convened a workshop on “identifying and accounting for cross-scale interactions in navigating pathways towards better outcomes for biodiversity and human well-being” outside of Paris, 14-16 May. The workshop was part of Future Earth’s Science-based Pathways for Sustainability Initiative and was joined by participants from across the world including early career scientists. Subscribe to FutureEarth and GLP newsletters to receive more updates from these programs.
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Recent and upcoming meetings |
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Bonn, Germany
05/23/2022 to 05/27/2022
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Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia
07/17/2022 to 07/22/2022
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Pasadena, California, USA
08/30/2022 to 09/01/2022
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Dongkor District, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
08/08/2022 to 08/10/2022
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Bethesda, MD, USA
10/18/2022 to 10/20/2022
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Denver, Colorado, USA
10/23/2022 to 10/27/2022
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Sede Boker, Israel
11/27/2022 to 12/01/2022
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Chicago, Illinois, USA
12/12/2022 to 12/16/2022
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David L. Skole, Cheikh Mbow, Maurice Mugabowindekwe, Martin S. Brandt & Jay H. Samek
Nature Climate Change volume 11, pages1013–1016 (2021)
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Trees outside of forests are numerous and can be important carbon sinks, while also providing ecosystem services and benefits to livelihoods. New monitoring tools highlight the crucial contribution they can make to strategies for both mitigation and adaptation. Read more
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Peilei Fan, Myung Sik Cho, Zihan Lin, Zutao Ouyang, Jiaguo Qi, Jiquan Chen, Emilio F Moran
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 119 (2022)
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This research provides a global-scale evaluation of the impact of dam construction by using a variety of global spatial databases. In particular, it provides insight into the impacts on economy, population, and greenness of 631 recently built hydropower dams by region and dam size. We discovered that 631 recently built hydropower dams were associated with reduced local economy, population, and greenness in areas within 50 km of the dam sites, particularly in the Global South. This is contrary to claims that dams improve the livelihoods of people as well as ecosystem services. The research highlights that policy interventions are needed to address impacts on populations and urban land near small and medium dams. Read more
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Katarzyna Ewa Lewińska, Johanna Buchner, Benjamin Bleyhl, Patrick Hostert, He Yin, Tobias Kuemmerle, Volker C. Radeloff, Science of Remote Sensing, Volume 4 (2021)
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Highlights
• Mapped changes in grasslands of the Caucasus from the 1987–2019 Landsat record.
• Whittaker filter successfully predicted missing monthly endmember fractions.
• Positive changes in grasslands were widespread, especially in the early 2000s.
• Negative changes were more common prior to 2000.
• Grassland changes were not associated with precipitation nor temperature patterns.
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Tyukavina Alexandra, Potapov Peter, Hansen Matthew C., Pickens Amy H., S. Stephen V., Turubanova Svetlana, Parker Diana, Zalles Viviana, Lima André, Kommareddy Indrani, Song Xiao-Peng, Wang Lei, Harris Nancy
Frontiers in Remote Sensing , Volume 3 (2022)
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Forest fires contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions and can negatively affect public health, economic activity, and provision of ecosystem services. Studies have shown changing fire dynamics across the globe due to both climate and land use change. However, global trends in fire-related forest loss remain uncertain due to the lack of a globally consistent methodology applied to high spatial resolution data. Here, we create the first global 30-m resolution satellite-based map of annual forest loss due to fire. We find an increasing global trend in forest loss due to fire from 2001 to 2019, driven by near-uniform increases across the tropics, subtropical, and temperate Australia, and boreal Eurasia. The results quantify the increasing threat of fires to remaining forests globally and may improve modeling of future forest fire loss rates under various climate change and development scenarios. Read more
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Genghong Wu, Chongya Jiang, Hyungsuk Kimm, Sheng Wang, Carl Bernacchi, Caitlin E. Moore, Andy Suyker, Xi Yang, Troy Magney, Christian Frankenberg, Youngryel Ryu, Benjamin Dechant, Kaiyu Guan
Remote Sensing of Environment. Volume 279 (2022)
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Highlights
• Rigorous seasonality investigation of soybean canopy SIF and GPP.
• SIF reaches seasonal maximum 14–17 days earlier than GPP at three of four sites.
• SIF and APAR reach seasonal peak at similar times.
• GPP and canopy chlorophyll content (ChlCanopy) reach peak at similar times.
• Later peak of LAI and ChlLeaf than FPAR caused the later peak of GPP than SIF.
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For those, wondering about the new LCLUC logo, below are some explanations. The background was not chosen arbitrarily – the quadrants of the ellipse were selected based on the research foci in the program. Going clockwise from the left:
The fires have been a topic in many LCLUC projects. During the last few years they has been studied in Africa and Asia, e.g., by David Roy and Krishna Vadrevu, and in most recent projects on Californian fires. But in earlier LCLUC studies, especially in NEESPI projects, Siberian fires were analyzed in detail in several projects, like those by Amber Soja, Sue Conard and others. The studies consisted of researching both the wildfires and the prescribed burns, the fire extent and emissions, and the fire occurrence as related to the climate change during the past couple of decades.
The top right quadrant shows a segment of the red-green-blue composite image of night lights over Europe (red – 2009, green – 2000, blue – 1992). The blueish colors over Ukraine and Moldova manifest the serious economic decline (green and red are not contributing to the composite) experienced by those Former Soviet Union republics after the break-up of the USSR, which happened exactly 30 years ago. The time series of night lights data from DMSP/OLI and more recent data from Terra/VIIRS provide an rich source of information that has been used in various research projects, like those by Chris Elvidge, Volker Radeloff and others, ranging from urban expansion to changes in economy to monitoring fishing boats and gas flares.
The bottom right quadrant shows the agricultural area in Kansas, USA. Farmers in this region are using an efficient irrigation method - central pivot irrigation, which draws water out of a single well in the center of the field. The fields show various crops at different stages of their development. The program has many agriculture projects and some of them, such as Martha Anderson’s project and the team, have focused on the evapotranspiration in the US Midwest.
Finally, the left bottom quadrant shows the well-known deforestation pattern in the state of Rondonia, Brazil, looking like a fish skeleton (clearing up a main road and then going off to the side). The deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was one of the major foci in the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA): 1998-2006, specifically the LBA-Eco component – the field campaign in several sites to help answering questions on forest conversion, re-growth, selective logging, and the sustainable land use, in a synthesis publication “Amazonia and Global Change” (2013) edited by Michael Keller and LBA team leaders.
- Dr. Garik Gutman
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Check out the new LCLUC Hotspots interactive map here
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