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Month: February 2016
MODIS’s New Vegetation Index: Ecosystem Sensitivity and Climate Variability
Global contribution of three climate variables to the vegetation sensitivity index from 2000–2013. Temperature is in red, water availability in blue and cloudiness in green. Areas with dominant barren land and permanent ice are grey. Image credit: Sensitivity of global terrestrial ecosystems to climate variability. Alistair W. R. Seddon, Marc Macias-Fauria, Peter R. Long, David Benz & Kathy J. Willis. Nature. (2016) doi:10.1038/nature16986
MODIS data from the past 14 years is being used to generate a model that assesses how different ecosystems respond to climate variability, making it possible to compare regional sensitivity and resilience. The new index is called the vegetation sensitivity index, which makes it possible to compare vulnerability of different regions, looking at why some areas are more vulnerable than others.
The new index is unique. Most studies about ecosystem resilience typically monitor productivity or biodiversity trends over an average climate, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) or the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), which also uses MODIS data. This new index instead looks at response to climate variation.
Read the news article from Nature.
Read the journal article from Nature.
Terra on the Earth Observatory: February
February 19, 2016
Ash Plume and Sea Ice Near Zhupanovsky – Since October, 2015 Zhupanovsky volcano in far eastern Russia has periodically been spewing ash into the atmosphere. This MODIS image from February 13, 2016 shows an ash plume from Zhupanovsky volcano, which resulted in a code-red for air travel in the region.
February 12, 2016
The Demise of the Warm Blob – Ocean surface temperatures, showed a warm “blob” off the northern United State’s coast. This cell of warm ocean water in the Pacific Ocean no longer is present, having lasted from the winter of 2013 through December of 2015.
February 17, 2016
Waves Above and Below the Water – The Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired an image of wave patterns in the sky and in the water off the coast of Western Australia.
February 11, 2016
Cloud Streets Over the Great Lakes – MODIS captured this image of cloud streets crossing the Great Lakes.
February 10, 2016
Snow in the Central U.S. – Snow from a blizzard blanketed parts of the Midwest. This image from Terra’s Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured the snow that remained after the clouds cleared over Nebraska.
February 6, 2016
Open- and Closed-Celled Clouds over the Pacific – Terra’s Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured in one image examples of two different types of convective clouds, open-celled and closed-celled.
February 5, 2016
Mount Erebus, Antarctica – Mount Erebus in Antarctica, thought to be the most southern volcano is still active. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emissions and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured images in visible and infrared, showing not just the volcano, but also the lava lake in its interior.
February 3, 2016
Drought in Southern Africa – Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from Terra’s Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor are being used to track drought conditions in southern Africa, analyzing the effects of the current strong El Niño on vegetation.
Congratulations, ESA on the Launch of Sentinel 3A!
Sentinel-3A, the European Space Agency (ESA) – developed Earth observing satellite successfully launched on February 16, 2016. Sentinel-3A is part of Europe’s Copernicus environment program and carries four sensors: The Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR), the Ocean Land Colour Instrument (OLCI), the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Altimeter, and the microwave radiometer.
Researchers who use Terra MODIS data are particularly interested in OLCI. OLCI images the earth similarly to MODIS on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. It measures specific ocean color, vegetation and atmospheric measurements at 300m spatial resolution and at 1270 km swath width. Sentinel 3A has a morning crossing time like Terra, making Sentinel-3A the most similar to Terra satellite currently flying. Like MODIS data, Sentinel data will be free of charge and provided worldwide.
Congratulations, ESA!
New environmental observation methods see the forest for the trees
Researchers at Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability are combining images from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat with information taken on the ground, to increase understanding of how biodiversity is changing in China’s Wolong Nature Reserve, home to the giant panda.
Read the whole article from Michigan State University.