Forest managers can now monitor the health of forests using satellite technology to compare year-to-year greenness.
Scientists from Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center have developed the ForWarn system, which comes with a web-based tool that distributes weekly maps of forest greenness levels across the country.
Using satellite imagery, the system compares greenness with the previous year, the last three years and the past decade. The multiple baselines allow users to detect sudden disturbance events, slow-acting disturbances and even successful forest recovery.
NASA has awarded the group a Group Achievement Award, recognizing the multiple federal and university partners "for creating the first near real-time forest threat early warning system in the continental United States," according to Compass Live.
More information on ForWarn is available here.
