First forest canopy heights from NASA’s ICESat mission

Posted on June 29, 2019June 29, 2019 by Geoff Zeiss

First terrain surface and canopy heights from ICESat-2

Launched in September 2018, ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2) has just begun making its first data available. The data map global terrain surface and forest canopies. The Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on-board ICESat-2 utilizes photon counting technology for the altimetry observations. Photon counting technology is relatively new to the vegetation mapping community. Data from ICESat-2 will provide global terrain elevation and canopy height estimates as well as showing potential for estimation of forest biomass.

The ATL08 land and vegetation product for the ICESat-2 Mission, Amy Neuenschwander, Katherine Pitts Remote Sensing of Environment, 221, February 2019, Pages 247-259 doi/10.1016/j.rse.2018.11.005

Himalayan glaciers lost 28% of ice in last 40 years

A new study of ice mass loss of 650 Himalayan glaciers over the past 40 years has revealed that of the total ice mass in 1975, only 72% remained in 2016. Futhermore the average rate of ice loss was found to be twice as rapid in 2000-2016 compared to 1975-2000.

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Beaver expansion into Arctic tundra resulting from and accelerating permafrost thawing

A recent study uses remote sensing to document the range expansion of North American beaver into the Arctic region of northwest Alaska which suggests that permafrost thawing may be expanding. Beaver ponds and associated hydrologic changes are resulting from and contributing to thawing permafrost as pond formation increases winter water temperatures ponds and downstream.

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Uncertain source of accelerating atmospheric methane

In 2007 after a seven year plateau atmospheric methane concentration began rising while at the same time the fraction of carbon-13 in methane has been decreasing. Plausible causes of the increasing methane include higher temperatures in tropical wetlands, more livestock, biomass being replaced by fossil fuel burning, or changes in atmospheric chemistry.

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From Our Files

Synchronization of North Pacific and North Atlantic climates and abrupt warming during last deglaciation

For most of the past 18,000 years warm temperatures in the North Pacific often correspond to cold temperatures in the North Atlantic and vice versa. In this study it is revealed that the occasional synchronicity in the North Pacific and North Atlantic climates correspond to periods of abrupt Northern Hemisphere warming.

Simple rule accounts for onset of ice age deglaciations over the past three million years

A recent study has created a simple mathematical rule that can account for the timing of the onset of interglacials following ice ages over the past three million years. The rule is based on predictable long-term astronomical variations in the Earth’s orbit and tilt called Milankovitch cycles.

Arctic temperature anomaly oct nov 2016 NSIDC

Rapid Arctic warming connected to cooler winters in Northern mid-latitudes

A recent study presents evidence that regional warming over the Arctic Ocean can affect mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere continental weather. This study shows that there are two key Arctic regions where regional warming can induce distinguishable cold winters over northern continents. Warming over the Barents–Kara Sea region is likely to lead to East Asian cooling, whereas northern North America cooling is closely related to warming over the East Siberian–Chukchi Sea region.

Correlation of temperature and CO2 for last 420,000 years from Vostok

EC Perspective: Accounting for 800,000 years of climate change

Approximately 800,000 years ago something changed in the Earth’s climate system that led to the climate then following a series of approximately 100,000 year cycles. Small, predictable changes in the Earth’s orbit about the Sun act as triggers for the glacial and interglacial periods, but other factors such as ice sheet volume, CO2 concentration, and biological feedback mechanisms are also involved.

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