Using Remote Sensing to Monitor Vegetation Change

Factors driving vegetation loss: urban growth, economic/agricultural, biological.

Urban growth, also known as urban sprawl, has become a concern in many different places on Earth. As global populations increase, so do the resources needed to accommodate such changes. 51% of the world population now lives in an urban area. Expansion of urban area typically means an overall increase in impervious surfaces and high density (usually low-income) residential structures. Historically, cities were founded on rivers due to transportation and essential water resources. Industrialization increased density and pollution as well attract workers (immigrants and farmers) to live and work. That same principle exists today but at a much larger scale. Cities that are in temperate zones are within a climate that harbors heavy vegetation in surrounding areas. Expansions into these areas mean the loss of forest cover and open space which is problematic when discussing climate change and how our atmosphere is changing. Here's a great arcticle discussing urban sprawl and the problems we face today.

Economic/Agricultural: Wood has been used to build and create structures and tools since ancient times. To sum up how the use of wood has impacted humanity would take a lot more than a few paragraphs on a website. With that said, lumber from trees have a strong impact in our everyday lives. So strong, that the idea of completely stopping commercial logging would cause an economic ripple across the globe. Deforestation due to commercial logging is a major factor global vegetation loss can greatly impact climate change and the carbon cycle. Tropical rain forests have long been controversial topic because of the lucrative economic value of the lumber as well as the lack of appropriate compensation at the local level of these places. The concern is the loss of such vast bio-diversity which contains millions of animal species along with thousands of plant species. Agriculture is also a major factor in vegetation loss. Clear-cutting was and is a common approach to developing agricultural farmland. On top of physically removing trees and brush land, agriculture increases strain on water resources, especially in arid climates, where whatever vegetation exists is a fragile balance to begin with.

Biological: The healthy state of vegetation can be analyzed based on the spectral signature of the chlorophyll and pigments of the leaves. Monitoring the health of vegetation can be helpful in determining problematic conditions of that region. Pollution, drought, and different land uses can have an effect on vegetation’s growth and sustainability. Natural and man-made forest fires contribute to significant losses of vegetation around the world as well. In the United States alone, wildfires claim 4-5 million acres of land each year.