Green: its the color of life.
As seasons cycle on Earth, it is the greenness of the planet that is the most notable change.
Both on the ground and in space we seen vegetation bloom, flourish, and fall.
This satellite analysis of greenness over 1 year shows these subtle transitions over
the planet from week to week.
This data is colored to represent the amount of greenness on our planet.As summer fades
to fall and eventually winter, we see the loss of greenness, and even blankets of snow
across the U.S. Improving our understanding of surface vegetation advances our weather
model accuracy, as it provides greater detail on energy transfers between the surface and
the atmosphere, which is the ultimate driver of weather.We are now able to see the subtle
changes in seasonal vegetation cover - important for understanding the amount of fuel available
for forest fires.We see the scars and disturbances to ecosystems caused by the natural process
wildfires and regrowth - or in the case of the Everglades, the reduction in the natural
occurrence of fires due to engineered waterways.Since 2012, NOAA, in collaboration with NASA, has
taken a tremendous leap forward in measuring global vegetation with the launch of the Suomi
NPP satellite.
The data from the satellite is providing more detailed views of Earth not previously possible
with NOAA satellites.
Continuous data records from previous satellite missions including the NOAA AVHRR and NASA
MODIS sensors will be used in conjunction with Suomi NPP�s VIIRS data to document
the changes observed in greenness over time - changes from week to week and over decades.Some
changes are natural, some are man made.The vastness of the Brazilian rainforest is clear
in this data, along with the network of tributaries leading to the mighty Amazon.Eventually this
heavy blanket of green gives way to a mottled patchwork of forest and field.In this view
we can clearly see areas of the Amazon converted from dense rain forest into agricultural areas.
Not only do these land use changes impact local ecosystems, but also microclimates and
microscale weather patterns.Not only does the VIIRS sensor provide us a detailed understanding
of how plant cover changes on land, but also how phytoplankton are distributed in the ocean.
Besides their individual usefulness, combining the two different datasets begins to paint
a picture of carbon cycling across the planet.
Moving across Europe, cities mark the otherwise lush landscapes dominated by agriculture and
forest.
Mountain ranges serve as divisions between climate zones, where rain and temperature
vary greatly between opposing sides, such as the Alps and the Caucuses.These climate
transitions are especially clear along the southern edges of the Black and Caspian Seas,
as lush mountain regions in Turkey and Iran gives way to the plains of the Middle East.However,
amid vast deserts we can see the signature of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq
- creating a well known historical breadbasket in the region.Even the most subtle changes
in vegetation from week to week provide meaning to scientists.
In the Horn of Africa, the slightest pixel by pixel variations from week to week provide
early warning for the onset of drought conditions - droughts thats can impact tens of thousands
of people each year.
Early warnings provided by vegetation data are used by global relief organizations to
mobilize resources to lessen the effects of drought on populations.As vegetation regrows
it is also an indicator of the potential for malaria, since mosquitoes in Sub-Saharan Africa
are reliant upon proper vegetative habitat to reproduce and spread the malaria disease.The
Indus River Valley in Pakistan shows the signs of productivity, especially in post-monsoon
periods.
And at its source, high in the Tibetan Plateau, increases in global temperature are resulting
in melting glaciers, changing the extent of vegetation in this region.But still in the
dense vegetation of Southern and Southeastern Asia are the unmistakable signs of the human
race.
The footprints of towns and cities throughout India and up through China are clearly visible.
The United Nations estimates that over 60% of the world lives in this region.Hundreds
of islands, both large and small - some just little green dots of lush tropical forest
- are scattered through the western pacific.
Even some of the tiniest islands exhibit relatively large spatial variations in vegetation cover
due to their mountainous terrain.Australia�s red deserts, pale in this representation,
are lined by an area of green on the coasts - a thin boundary of habitable land on this
island-continent.As humans we do have impact on the color of Earth, but the cycle of seasonal
growth continues to beat a constant rhythm on our Green Planet.