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

Globally 8.7 million premature deaths from particulate matter from fuel combustion

Fossil fuel combustion emits particulate matter (PM2.5) harmful to public health. This study estimates 8.7 million premature deaths globally in 2018 due to PM2.5 from fuel combustion.

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New high resolution methane emissions measuring satellite launched

Last night, September 2 GHGSAT-C1 or “Iris”, a 16 kg Canadian satellite that detects methane emissions from specific oil and gas facilities at high resolution was launched. The new satellite will enable private industry to estimate emissions from its own facilities anywhere in the world with 25 metre resolution.

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Temperatures slightly warmer than present deglaciated southern Greenland

Analysis of the last four interglacials reveals that significant loss of Greenland ice occurred under climate conditions only slightly warmer than present. During the oldest interglacial, 394,700 to 424,200 years ago, there was nearly complete deglaciation of southern Greenland.

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From Our Files

Evidence of CO2 outgassing from the Southern Ocean early in the last deglaciation

During the last deglaciation atmosphere CO2 concentration rose by about 80 ppm amplifying climate warming. This study of radiocarbon in deep sea corals found that Southern ocean deep water was radiocarbon-depleted throughout the last ice age, but this depletion disappeared between 16,600 and 14,600 years ago consistent with Southern Ocean CO2 outgassing that corresponded to the first pulse of increased atmospheric CO2 early in the deglaciation.

Location of sites used for global temperature reconstruction over last deglaciation Shakun et al Nature

Rising CO2 concentration drove but did not trigger warming during last deglaciation

Global surface temperatures reconstructed over the last deglaciation show that temperature is correlated with but generally lags CO2 concentration. However, at the beginning of the deglaciation a global warming of about 0.3 °C preceded the initial increase in CO2 concentration suggesting that rising CO2 concentration amplified but did not initiate deglacial warming.

Latest NASA research reveals several East Antarctica glaciers losing ice

In contrast to West Antarctica where several large glaciers have been losing ice for decades, East Antarctica glaciers have exhibited little evidence of ice loss but NASA’s latest detailed maps of East Antarctica ice velocity and elevation show that a number of glaciers have begun to lose ice over the past decade.

Global warming “hiatus” not supported by new analysis

In this new study an analysis of new global ocean and land temperature data with corrections to older shipboard measurements reveals that the temperature trend over the period 2000-2014 does not differ from the temperature trend over the period 1950-1999. It is concluded that the “hiatus” reported in IPCC AR5 is most likely an artifact of older measurement techniques.

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