When it comes to monitoring deforestation, tropical rainforests rightfully get the lion’s share of attention. However, as climate change-induced natural disasters and conversion of natural lands for agriculture increase in frequency and intensity, it becomes even more imperative to track vegetation across ecosystems. A new platform by the makers of Global Forest Watch, the popular forest monitoring platform, aims to resolve this gap. Developed as a collaboration between the University of Maryland, nonprofit organization World Resources Institute and NASA, the OPERA Land Surface Disturbance Alert (OPERA DIST-ALERT) is a monitoring system that uses satellite data to provide near-real-time detection of disturbances in all types of vegetation around the world. “It serves as a first order of information,” Matthew Hansen, a remote sensing scientist and professor at the University of Maryland who was involved in developing the platform, told Mongabay in a video interview. “It alerts you that something has changed on the ground, and that the vegetation has decreased in some way that’s markedly different than in the recent past.” Deforestation monitoring tools that alert users about reduction in forest cover aren’t new. In recent years, several such platforms have played a vital role in documenting deforestation around the world. They have also helped authorities and conservation organizations in taking immediate action on the ground. However, more often than not, these alerts only pick up disturbances in tropical forests. The OPERA DIST-ALERTs incorporate managed forests, grasslands, shrublands as well as croplands. “It’s not tuned just for trees but for any…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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