{"id":1807411,"date":"2022-05-24T18:43:33","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T22:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1807411"},"modified":"2022-05-24T18:43:33","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T22:43:33","slug":"mapping-the-height-of-earths-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/05\/mapping-the-height-of-earths-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping the Height of Earth\u2019s Forests"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1807412\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1807412\" style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/images\/149793\/scientists-show-how-forests-measure-up\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1807412\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/05\/mapping-the-height-of-earths-forests\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1520,740\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;NASA Earth Observatory (Joshua Stevens)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height-300x146.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height-1024x499.jpg\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1807412\" src=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height-1024x499.jpg\" alt=\"Map of global forest canopy height (NASA Earth Observatory\/Joshua Stevens)\" width=\"760\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height-1024x499.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height-150x73.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height-940x458.jpg 940w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height-822x400.jpg 822w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/nasa-eo-forest-canopy-height.jpg 1520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1807412\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA Earth Observatory (Joshua Stevens)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/images\/149793\/scientists-show-how-forests-measure-up\">NASA Earth Observatory\u2019s map of Earth\u2019s forest canopy height<\/a> is based on estimates from a deep-learning model applied to Sentinel-2 optical data.<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/images\/149793\/scientists-show-how-forests-measure-up\"><p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2204.08322\">research team<\/a> led by Nico Lang of the <a href=\"https:\/\/prs.igp.ethz.ch\/ecovision.html\">EcoVision Lab<\/a> at ETH Z\u00fcrich, only 5 percent of the Earth\u2019s land area in 2020 was covered with trees standing taller than 30 meters.<\/p>\n<p>Lang, together with colleagues Konrad Schindler and Jan Wegner, produced the map by merging lidar data from NASA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/gedi.umd.edu\/\">Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation<\/a> (GEDI) mission with optical imagery from the European Space Agency\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/sentinel.esa.int\/web\/sentinel\/missions\/sentinel-2\">Sentinel-2 satellites<\/a>. GEDI\u2019s lidar profiles give <a href=\"https:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/images\/144818\/return-of-the-gedis-first-data\">detailed canopy heights<\/a>, but the profiles cover limited areas; Sentinel-2 optical data has abundant coverage, but it is not designed to measure canopy height. The researchers used the GEDI data to train a <a href=\"https:\/\/langnico.github.io\/globalcanopyheight\/\">deep-learning model<\/a> capable of estimating canopy heights from Sentinel-2 images anywhere on Earth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Previously: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2010\/07\/new_map_of_global_forest_heights.php\">New Map of Global Forest Heights<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA Earth Observatory\u2019s map of Earth\u2019s forest canopy height is based on estimates from a deep-learning model applied to Sentinel-2 optical data. According to a research team led by Nico Lang of the EcoVision Lab&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/05\/mapping-the-height-of-earths-forests\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[1579],"class_list":["post-1807411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-environment","tag-forests","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":655,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/01\/seafloor-gravity-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807411,"position":0},"title":"Seafloor Gravity Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"31 January 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The ocean floor\u00a0is\u00a0still very much\u00a0terra incognita: only 5 to 15 percent of it has been mapped via bathymetry. But using military satellite measurements of the Earth's shape and gravity field, a new map of the ocean floor has been created. \"The result of their efforts is a global data set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Oceans&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Oceans","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/oceans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"seafloor","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/seafloor-1024x737.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/seafloor-1024x737.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/seafloor-1024x737.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/seafloor-1024x737.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1805526,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/12\/mapping-irrecoverable-carbon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807411,"position":1},"title":"Mapping Irrecoverable Carbon","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 December 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"A new study published in Nature Sustainability maps the Earth\u2019s reserves of what is called \u201cirrecoverable carbon\u201d\u2014that is to say, those stores of carbon in nature that, if released into the atmosphere, would not be able to be restored in the timeframe required to deal with climate change. These stores\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Environment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Environment","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/irrecoverable-carbon-1024x519.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/irrecoverable-carbon-1024x519.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/irrecoverable-carbon-1024x519.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/irrecoverable-carbon-1024x519.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1785656,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/05\/mapping-global-fresh-water-availability\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807411,"position":2},"title":"Mapping Global Fresh Water Availability","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 May 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"NASA Earth Observatory: \"The map above depicts changes in water storage on Earth\u2014on the surface, underground, and locked in ice and snow\u2014between 2002 and 2016. Shades of green represent areas where freshwater levels have increased, while browns depict areas where they have been depleted. Data were collected by the GRACE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Environment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Environment","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/nasa-eo-water-storage-1024x513.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/nasa-eo-water-storage-1024x513.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/nasa-eo-water-storage-1024x513.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/nasa-eo-water-storage-1024x513.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1845141,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/11\/how-imaging-quasars-improved-gps-accuracy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807411,"position":3},"title":"How Imaging Quasars Improved GPS Accuracy","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 November 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"What do distant quasars have to do with improving GPS accuracy? A 2019 article from the NASA Technology Transfer Program explains: \u201cIn the 1960s, NASA used a network of radio telescopes and a technique called very large baseline interferometry (VLBI) to capture images of quasars in distant galaxies. In the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4874,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/09\/new-gravity-map-of-mars\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807411,"position":4},"title":"New Gravity Map of Mars","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"13 September 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"A new gravity map of Mars\u00a0that shows the thickness of the Martian crust based on gravity measurements from Martian orbiters, reveals a crust that is less dense and shows less variation than earlier maps. \u201cThe researchers mapped the density of the Martian crust, estimating the average density is 2,582 kilograms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mars-crust-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mars-crust-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mars-crust-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mars-crust-1024x683.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2043,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-is-sinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":1807411,"position":5},"title":"New Orleans Is Sinking","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 May 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"\"New Orleans and surrounding areas continue to sink at highly variable rates due to a combination of natural geologic and human-induced processes,\" according to the findings of\u00a0a new study\u00a0that\u00a0maps the rate at which New Orleans is sinking. The maps were created using data from NASA\u2019s Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Geology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Geology","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/geology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"new-orleans-subsidence","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-subsidence-1024x756.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-subsidence-1024x756.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-subsidence-1024x756.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-subsidence-1024x756.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1807411"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1807414,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807411\/revisions\/1807414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1807411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1807411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1807411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}