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Combining satellite data for better tropical forest monitoring

Nature Climate Change volume 6, pages 120–122 (2016)Cite this article

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Implementation of policies to reduce forest loss challenges the Earth observation community to improve forest monitoring. An important avenue for progress is the use of new satellite missions and the combining of optical and synthetic aperture radar sensor data.

Monitoring of changes in tropical forest cover has relied predominantly on optical satellite sensors because of their relative ease of processing and interpretation and the continuity of medium-resolution (10–30 m) observations since the 1970s1,2. Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data have the advantage of providing cloud-free observations, but these data have been comparatively underutilized in operational programmes1,2. It is rarer still for optical and SAR data to be used in combination, despite increasing evidence of the benefits of this approach.

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Figure 1: Current and anticipated medium-resolution optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) missions to support worldwide forest monitoring.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Global Forest Observation Initiative (GFOI) research and development programme and the sponsor of Global Observations of Forest Cover and Land Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD). The work of J.R. and M.H. was funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 BACI project (grant agreement 640176).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Wageningen, 6708 PB, The Netherlands

    Johannes Reiche, Jan Verbesselt & Martin Herold

  2. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, High Street, Kensington, 2052, New South Wales, Australia

    Richard Lucas & Anthea L. Mitchell

  3. Earth System Science Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Wageningen, 6708 PB, The Netherlands

    Dirk H. Hoekman

  4. Norut Northern Research Institute, PO Box 6434, Tromsø Science Park, Tromsø, 9294, Norway

    Jörg Haarpaintner

  5. Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, 02540, Massachusetts, USA

    Josef M. Kellndorfer

  6. soloEO-Japan, TTT Mid-Tower 5006, Kachidoki 6-3-2, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0054, Japan

    Ake Rosenqvist

  7. CSIRO Digital Productivity, 108 North Road, Acton, 2601, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Eric A. Lehmann

  8. Department of Earth and Environment, Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, 02215, Massachusetts, USA

    Curtis E. Woodcock

  9. ESA-ESRIN, Via Galileo, Galilei, Frascati, Italy

    Frank Martin Seifert

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  1. Johannes Reiche
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Correspondence to Martin Herold.

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Reiche, J., Lucas, R., Mitchell, A. et al. Combining satellite data for better tropical forest monitoring. Nature Clim Change 6, 120–122 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2919

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