LCLUC Newsletter Summer 2024 | |
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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 features updates on new satellite 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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NASA ECIP-ES Grant Awarded for Pioneering Wildfire Monitoring Using Hyperspectral Data and Advanced Modeling Techniques
Dr. Nimrod Carmon, an emerging scientist from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and LCLUC PI, has received the Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science (ECIP-ES) grant for his project "Sparking Innovation: The Future of Wildfire Monitoring Unleashed." This ECIP-ES award builds upon the foundation established by a preceding LCLUC award but with a distinct emphasis on the utilization of hyperspectral data for fire risk estimation. Dr. Carmon's research is aimed at the precise quantification of wildfire-related vegetation characteristics, deploying algorithms that incorporate semi-physical models for simulating vegetation canopy reflectance, integrated with high-fidelity atmospheric radiative transfer models (RTMs) that separate direct from diffuse radiation, all within a sophisticated radiance inversion optimization framework based on optimal estimation methodologies.
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NASA Early Career Investigator Award to Study the Impact of Urban Land Use Changes on Heat Stress and Human Health in the Mediterranean
LCLUC PI and CSDE Affiliate Professor Tzu-Hsin Karen Chen has been awarded a NASA Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science for a project that will examine heat impacts on human health in urban settings in the Mediterranean. The project aims to understand the influence of 3-D urban land cover/land use changes (urban LCLUC) on extreme humid heat and its subsequent impact on health burden in the Mediterranean region. Utilizing machine learning techniques on multi-sensor remote sensing data, climate variability analysis, and epidemiological methods, the study will identify urban LCLUC patterns and their role in mediating the health impact of heat stress.
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NASA Delegation Visits Algeria
Sid Boukabara, Senior Program Scientist for Strategy at NASA HQ, along with Kayla Rillo, Management and Program Analyst, Garik Gutman, LCLUC Program Manager, and Krishna, LCLUC Deputy Program Manager, concluded a successful week in Algiers. During their visit, they engaged with three Algerian Ministries, the Science and Technology University, and the Space Agency of Algeria. They visited various research units, including those focused on solar energy and astronomy, and received substantial support and engagement from the US Embassy. Ambassador Elisabeth Aubin participated in NASA’s visit to the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL). The US Embassy demonstrated significant interest in expanding the Earth Information Center (EIC) and is working out technical details with Eleanor Stokes from NASA HQ. Algerian researchers expressed keen interest in collaborating with LCLUC on studying North African land-cover and land-use change processes, the primary purpose of the visit. The discussions covered topics such as urbanization, forest fires, desertification, agriculture, air quality, and more. Algerian ministries showed interest in joining GEOGLAM activities and collaborating with NASA HARVEST on agriculture. They also expressed interest in future collaboration on education through the GLOBE Program and capacity building through ARSET, SERVIR, and LCLUC. The US Embassy organized an event with a US NGO operating in Algiers, where the NASA delegation engaged with students working on environmental science and technology projects. The visit received significant local media coverage, and the NASA delegation stayed in a historic hotel that once served as President Eisenhower's headquarters during the North African Campaign in WWII.
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Hotspot Analysis of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Influences: LCLUC Project Conducts Field Campaign in Western Romania | |
LCLUC investigators Geoff Henebry, Liz Mack, and Monika Tomaszewska together with their Romanian collaborators (Igor Sîrodoev, Mirela Paraschiv, Andrei Schvab of Ovidius University of Constanţa, and Ioan Ianoş of University of Bucharest) recently completed the second field campaign in support of the LCLUC project “Institutional Forcings on Agricultural Landscapes in Post-Socialist Europe: Diachronic Hotspot Analysis of CAP Influences on Agricultural Land Use in Romania 2002-2024”. This year’s campaign focused on western Romania, collecting 688 field samples across four judeţe (counties) and 572 social surveys in 47 villages. | |
- Rapid Response and Novel Research in Earth Science Find More | |
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Special issue : Advanced remote sensing methods for monitoring and analyzing impacts of natural disasters on land cover and land use
This Special Issue is devoted to the cutting-edge field of advanced remote sensing methods applied to monitor and analyze the intricate impacts of natural disasters on land cover and land use processes. In an era marked by an increasing severity of disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, wildfires, extreme droughts, and landslides, leveraging technological advancements becomes paramount in understanding, assessing, and responding to the dynamic changes in terrestrial ecosystems. The published papers would promote innovative remote sensing techniques, including satellite passive optical and infrared imagery, including hyperspectral, as well as active remote sensing by lidars and radars. These methods offer a comprehensive view of the immediate and long-term effects of natural disasters, using the visible spectrum and beyond to assess alterations in vegetation health, soil composition, built infrastructure and topographical features. The research papers will not only investigate the physical transformations of land cover caused by natural disasters but also delve into the secondary consequences, such as habitat loss, altered hydrological patterns, and changes in land-use practices. The published studies would demonstrate the integration of machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence in processing Big Data, enabling more efficient and accurate detection of post-disaster changes. This would showcase how advanced remote sensing methods empower us to monitor, analyze, and provide information for decision-makers to respond to the complex impacts of natural disasters on land cover and land use. The ultimate goal of this research is to enhance our ability to monitor recovery processes and inform resilient land-use planning. The research outcome would provide decision-makers concise information to enable timely response to the complex impacts of natural disasters on land cover and land use and contribute to sustainable ecosystem management in disaster-prone regions. Find More
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Natural lands around the world are being converted and degraded at unprecedented levels. Three-quarters of land has been significantly impacted by humans through pollution, urban expansion, conversion to crop or livestock production, intensive logging in natural forests and other activities. These changes contribute to climate change, threatening biodiversity and disproportionately impacting vulnerable communities. In fact, the rate of species extinctions is also accelerating, with some experts warning that a sixth mass extinction is under way. To mitigate emissions from land cover changes, build resilience for supply chains and working lands, and protect habitats and the communities and wildlife that depend on them, it is more important than ever to limit human conversion of natural lands. Commodities sourced from land are a major driver of this conversion, but now a new tool can help companies that source these commodities change the way they operate: Land & Carbon Lab has collaborated with World Wildlife Fund and Systemiq to lead the development of an open source Natural Lands Map. This map uses the best available global and local geospatial data that establishes a common baseline companies can use to visualize the extent of natural land in 2020, and through target setting, to assess whether they may be responsible for conversion after 2020. The Natural Lands Map can also help companies make decisions around acquisitions and the impacts on natural land from future business activities. Find More
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 |  | As anthropogenic climate change-fueled extremes increasingly impact people worldwide, including extreme humid heat and drought conditions, there is a growing need for high spatio-temporal resolution data on both current and projected hydrometeorological and temperature variables and extremes. The Climate Hazards Center (CHC) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CHC-CMIP6) was created in answer to this need: this dataset has been explicitly developed to support the analysis of climate-related hazards over the recent past and in the near-future. This climate projection dataset contains global, daily gridded data for the observational (1983-2016) and projection (2030 and 2050) periods to be used in the identification and monitoring of hydroclimatic extremes. The dataset contains global daily high resolution (0.05°) grids of the Climate Hazards InfraRed Temperature with Stations (CHIRTS-daily) temperature product, the Climate Hazards InfraRed Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) precipitation product, and ERA5-derived relative humidity, from which which Vapor Pressure Deficits (VPD) and maximum Wet Bulb Globe Temperatures (WBGTmax) were derived.
Read more
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Recent and Upcoming Meetings | |
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Multi-resolution monitoring of the 2023 maui wildfires, implications and needs
for satellite-based wildfire disaster monitoring
David P. Roy, Hugo De Lemos, Haiyan Huang, Louis Giglio, Rasmus Houborg, Tomoaki Miura
Science of Remote Sensing, Volume 10, December 2024, 100142, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2024.100142
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Highlights
• August 2023 wildfire disaster over Maui, Hawaii.
• Fire temporal and spatial incidence, extent, and intensity, characterized.
• MODIS 500 m and PlanetScope 3 m burned area products.
• MODIS and VIIRS active fire detections and FRP products.
• Outstanding needs/recommendations for future wildfire disaster satellite monitoring.
Read more
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Going organic: Challenges for government-supported organic rice promotion and certification nationalism in Thailand
Ian G. Baird, World Development, Vol 173, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106421
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Highlights
- There is increased interest in organic rice cultivation and consumption in Thailand.
- A political ecology framework is appropriate for investigating organic rice certification in Thailand.
- Certification nationalism has influenced the one million-rai project for organic rice in Thailand.
- Scalar politics is important for understanding the emergence of certification nationalism in Thailand.
- The organic certification system associated with the one million-rai project is not recognized internationally.
Read more
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Multi-Tier Land Use and Land Cover Mapping Framework and Its
Application in Urbanization Analysis in Three African Countries
Shahriar Shah Heydari,Jody C.Vogeler, Orion S. E. Cardenas-Ritzert ,Steven K. Filippelli ,Melissa McHale, and Melinda Laituri, Remote Sensing. 2024, 16(14), 2677; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16142677
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 | | The population of Africa is expected to rise to 2.5 billion by 2050, with more than 80% of this increase concentrated in cities. Africa’s anticipated population growth has serious implications for urban resource utilization and management, necessitating multi-level monitoring efforts that can inform planning and decision-making. Commonly, broad extent (e.g., country level) urban change analyses only examine a homogenous “developed” or “built-up” area, which may not capture patterns influenced by the heterogeneity of landscape features within urban areas. Contrarily, studies examining landscape heterogeneity at a finer resolution are typically limited in spatial extent (e.g., single city level). The goal of this study was to develop and test a hierarchical integrated mapping framework using globally available Earth Observation data (e.g., Landsat, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-1, and nightlight imagery) and accessible methodologies to produce national-level land use (LU) and urban-level land cover (LC) map products which may support a range of global and local monitoring and planning initiatives.
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Estimation of sunflower planted areas in Ukraine during full-scale Russian invasion: Insights from Sentinel-1 SAR data
Abdul Qadir, Sergii Skakun, Inbal Becker-Reshef, Nataliia Kussul, Andrii Shelestov
Science of Remote Sensing, VoL 10, , December 2024, 100139, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2024.100139
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Highlights
- First 20-m sunflower map for Ukraine.
- A 5% decrease in sunflower areas in 2022 versus 2021 due to the war.
- Reduction of 29% in sunflower areas observed in occupied territories.
- 9% of sunflower fields were planted in both 2021 and 2022.
- Gradient of sunflower hotspot shifted from south to south-central regions.
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Remittances and Livestock Management in Agropastoral Households in Rural Kyrgyzstan: Telecoupled Impacts of Globalization
Christian Kelly Scott, Elizabeth A. Mack, Guangqing Chi, Kamilya Kelgenbaeva, Geoffrey M. Henebry
Rural Sociology, Vol 89, Issue 2, https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12552
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Agropastoralism and international labor migration are livelihood strategies that are interconnected as dominant ways of life across rural Kyrgyzstan. A prevalent rural livelihood strategy—agropastoralism—is closely tied to agrarian semi-nomadic ways of life that link families and communities to the surrounding mountain environment. Another livelihood strategy—international labor migration—links or telecouples communities and income streams to transnational family structures, international labor markets, and distant economies. This article examines four hypothetical relationships between key elements of these two livelihood strategies. The relationship between remittances, pasture access, and livestock holdings is examined by analyzing 1,815 household surveys from southern rural Kyrgyzstan.
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Preventing heat-related deaths: The urgent need for a global early
warning system for heat
Chloe Brimicombe ,Jennifer D. Runkle,Cascade Tuholske,Daniela I. V. Domeisen,Chuansi Gao,Jørn Toftum,Ilona M. Otto, PLOS Climate 3(7): e0000437., https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000437
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Heatwaves are the deadliest weather hazard and people and societies across the world continue to suffer from heat-related impacts. Future climate projections show a troubling increase in cross-sectoral impacts including health and economic risk presented by heatwaves. Many weather hazards such as floods and droughts already have a type of Early Warning System (EWS) or Global Alert System, but a global heat early warning system currently does not exist. An accurate heat EWS can save lives and can promote heat adaptation across society. Here, we (1) explore the history of Early Warning Systems as framed using the Disaster Risk Reduction paradigms and (2) identify potential barriers to an integrated Global Heat Early Warning system.
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