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Why Do We Have Landsat?
Page 2
•How is the global Earth system changing?
•What are the primary causes of change in the Earth System?
•How does the Earth system respond to natural and human-induced changes?
•What are the consequences of change in the Earth systems for human civilization?
•How can we predict future changes in the Earth system?
NASA’s Earth Science Research Questions
Page 3
Landsat Science Themes
Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
• Climate Dynamics
• Quantifying Water and Energy Budgets
• Quantifying Earth’s Carbon Cycle
Together with other Earth Observing Satellite instruments, Landsat plays a critical role in NASA’s studies of Earth.
A cornerstone of NASA’s Global Change Research:
Page 4
Although Climate Change is a global phenomenon…
NASA Earth Science Questions with Respect to Ecosystems:
•How are global ecosystems changing?•How do ecosystems respond to and affect global environmental change and the carbon cycle?
… the effects of climate change on ecosystems are local and heterogeneous
- treeline/ecotone changes- invasive species- desertification- coral reef declines, etc.
Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
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Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
Forest fragmentation in Amazon basin
Coastal Marsh Loss in the Eastern U.S.
Loss of Mesopotamian Wetlands
Mapping extent and morphology of coral reefs
Mapping Spotted Owl Habitat, Oregon
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1973-76
2000
Gradual changes require long-term, repeat satellite coverage
Loss of wetlands in Mesopotamia (dark red areas) since 1973 from Landsat. Courtesy Hassan Partow, UNEP
Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
Landsat data are used to:•Precisely assess the area affected•Separate human from natural causes•Bridge the gap between field observations and global monitoring
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Example: Eastern Hemlock Decline
D. Royle and R. Lathrop, Rutgers University
Highlands
Piedmont
Ridge & Valley
Ecosystem disturbance and invasive species may be harbingers of climate change
Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
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• Landsat is well suited to providing detailed maps of burned areas and for verification of coarse scale operational burn-scar mapping.
Courtesy U.S. Forest Service
Cerro Grande Fire, New Mexico
April 14, 2000 Before Fire
May 9, 2000 During Fire
A ratio of Landsat bands 4 and 7 is also used to create burn severity maps which are key in the post-fire rapid assessment process led by the Burn Area Emergency Response (BAER) Team.
June 17, 2000 After Fire
Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
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• Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
• Climate Dynamics
• Quantifying Water and Energy Budgets
• Quantifying Earth’s Carbon Cycle
Page 10
MODIS, AVHRR SeaWiFS
Global Climate Models
GlobalSurfaceProperties
GlobalClimate andWeather
RegionalLand-cover and surface properties
Landsat
Mesoscale Models
RegionalClimateAnalyses
Landsat and Climate Modeling
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Example: Climate and Land-Cover Change
Pre-1900 Vegetation1990’s Land Cover from Landsat
Do changes in landscape structure affect regional climate?
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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•Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
• Climate Dynamics
• Quantifying Water and Energy Budgets
• Quantifying Earth’s Carbon Cycle
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Quantifying Water and Energy Budgets
• By 2025, 48% of global population will live in “water stressed” basins (<1700 m3/pers/yr)
1973
1987
2000
ARAL SEAWill future water supplies meet human needs?
Courtesy WRIWater flux into the Aral Sea is being diverted for human use
Page 14
Most mountain glaciers worldwide have been retreating
Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
Mountain Glacier Dynamics
What changes are occurring in the mass of the Earth's ice cover?
D. Hall, NASA GSFC
Pasterze Glacier,
Austria 06-Sept-1999
Quantifying Water and Energy Budgets
Page 15
Antarctic Monitoring
R. Bindschadler, NASA GSFC
Landsat Archive
Quantifying Water and Energy Budgets
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LDCM Science Themes
• Monitoring Ecosystem Changes
• Climate Dynamics
• Quantifying Water and Energy Budgets
• Quantifying Earth’s Carbon Cycle
Together with other Earth Observing Satellite instruments, Landsat plays a critical role in NASA’s studies of Earth:
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Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels are correlated with
increasing global temperatures
“How well can cycling of carbon through the earth system be modeled, and how reliable are predictions of future atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane by these models?”
Atmospheric CO2
250
275
300
325
350
375
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
year( AD)
pp
mQuantifying Earth’s Carbon Cycle
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Carbon Sources and Sinks
source: WHRC
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
1850 1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990-8
So
urc
eS
inks
Emissions from Fossil FuelsNet release from land-use change
Unidentified sinkOceanic uptakeAtmospheric accumulation
1.6 +/- 1.0
5.5 +/- 0.5
1.9
2.0 +/- 0.8
3.2 +/- 0.2
Pg
C /
yr Reforestation
Fire Supression
Woody Encroachment
CO2, N Fertilization
Climate
Human-induced Carbon Flux since 1850: where has all the carbon gone?
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The Landsat Mission
•Over 30-year years of global land cover data •Resolution shows human activities•Key information for climate, ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles, and hydrology studies
EPA-USGS NALC Land-cover Dataset
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1970 1980 1990 2000
MSS (79 m, 4 band)
TM (30/120 m, 7 band)
ETM+ (15/30/60 m, 8 band)
2010
LDCM Sensor (15/30/90 m, 9 band
Landsat-2
Landsat-3
Landsat-4
Landsat-5
Landsat-6
LDCM
Government operations
Commercial operations
Landsat-1 (ERTS)
Landsat-7
Landsat – 30 Years of Earth Observations
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Landsat-7 Global Acquisitions
The first truly global archive
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The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (aka LDCM) will continue the legacy of the Landsat program. Launch dates are years away, and the request for proposals for the instrument is to be released soon. For more information on the next satellite in the Landsat series, please visit
http://ldcm.gsfc.nasa.gov
Extending the Legacy of Global Extending the Legacy of Global Land ObservationsLand Observations
Landsat Data Continuity Mission
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National Aeronautics and Space Administrationhttp://www.nasa.gov