Abstract
Remote sensing’s role in forest monitoring is evolving. Satellite imagery is now systematically used to recognize and track forest disturbances in near-real time (Brown and others 2008, Chastain and others 2015, Hargrove and others 2009, Spruce and others 2011) and for retrospective insights (Meddens and others 2012, Norman and others 2016, Vogelmann and others 2012). Apart from mapping disturbance, high-frequency satellite data provide a reliable way to track vegetation phenology (Hargrove and others 2009, Norman and others 2017), and as vegetation phenology is an important indicator of variation in seasonal climate and the carbon cycle, it warrants being monitored over the long term (Hufkens and others 2012, Wu and others 2014). High-frequency monitoring is slowly shifting the way we monitor forests from periodic or “as needed” efforts toward the systematic tracking of forests and disturbances with remote sensing at weekly to seasonal frequency.
Parent Publication
Citation
Norman, Steven P.; Christie, William M. 2020. Chapter 7 - Satellite-based evidence of forest stress and decline across the conterminous United States for 2016, 2017, and 2018. In: Potter, Kevin M.; Conkling, Barbara L., eds. Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2019. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-250. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station: 151-166.
