{ "id": 40113, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/monitoring-the-globe-to-sustain-seven-billion/", "page_type": "Gallery", "title": "Monitoring the Globe to Sustain Seven Billion", "description": "Expanding demand from a growing world population -- now numbered at over 7 billion -- exerts unprecedented pressure on global resources, especially forests, water, and agriculture. Observing our world by remote sensing satellites enables scientists around the world to detect the most critical trends in natural resource conditions at local to global scales. Since 1972, the Landsat Earth observation satellites have monitored changes at the Earth's land surface, including changes in forests, water bodies and agricultural and urban areas.\n\nUsing the nearly 40 year global Landsat record in combination with other Earth observation systems and the latest scientific techniques in Earth imaging, experts in mapping and monitoring our planet will describe present conditions and outline the future of many of Earth's natural resources.\n\n Link to Media Advisory", "release_date": "2011-11-14T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2011-11-14T00:00:00-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 857395, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/gallery/MonitoringGlobe/banner-LDCM_page.png", "filename": "banner-LDCM_page.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "", "width": 100, "height": 525, "pixels": 52500 }, "media_groups": [ { "id": 370643, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/monitoring-the-globe-to-sustain-seven-billion/#media_group_370643", "widget": "Basic text (large)", "title": "Overview", "caption": "", "description": "Expanding demand from a growing world population -- now numbered at over 7 billion -- exerts unprecedented pressure on global resources, especially forests, water, and agriculture. Observing our world by remote sensing satellites enables scientists around the world to detect the most critical trends in natural resource conditions at local to global scales. Since 1972, the Landsat Earth observation satellites have monitored changes at the Earth's land surface, including changes in forests, water bodies and agricultural and urban areas.\n\n

Using the nearly 40 year global Landsat record in combination with other Earth observation systems and the latest scientific techniques in Earth imaging, experts in mapping and monitoring our planet will describe present conditions and outline the future of many of Earth's natural resources.\n\n


Link to Media Advisory", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 370644, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/monitoring-the-globe-to-sustain-seven-billion/#media_group_370644", "widget": "Tile gallery", "title": "Sustaining Seven Billion with Space-Based Means", "caption": "", "description": "Click on the thumbnail image for each entry to learn more and to see a range of resolutions.", "items": [ { "id": 404942, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10513, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10513/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "A Landsat Flyby", "description": "The Landsat program is the longest continuous global record of the Earth's surface, and continues to deliver both visually stunning and scientifically valuable images of our planet. This short video highlights Landsat's many benefits to society. || ", "release_date": "2009-12-11T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2024-10-10T00:15:46.741470-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 494986, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010513/Landsat_promo_end_tag_B.png", "filename": "Landsat_promo_end_tag_B.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Landsat program is the longest continuous global record of the Earth's surface, and continues to deliver both visually stunning and scientifically valuable images of our planet. This short video highlights Landsat's many benefits to society.nasa.gov/landsatWatch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 404943, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3601, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3601/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Global Agricultural Monitoring", "description": "The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen collaboration. In support of this collaboration, NASA and the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) jointly funded a new project to assimilate NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and products into an existing decision support system (DSS) operated by the International Production Assessment Division (IPAD) of FAS. To meet its objectives, FAS/IPAD uses satellite data and data products to monitor agriculture worldwide and to locate and keep track of natural disasters such as short and long term droughts, floods and persistent snow cover which impair agricultural productivity. FAS is the largest user of satellite imagery in the non-military sector of the U.S. government. For the last 20 years FAS has used a combination of Landsat and NOAA-AVHRR satellite data to monitor crop condition and report on episodic events. || ", "release_date": "2009-06-27T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:45.369414-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 497969, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003601/ESS20symposiumCroplands_Population.1200.jpg", "filename": "ESS20symposiumCroplands_Population.1200.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation shows where the world's food is grown versus where the world's food is consumed. The movie starts with global croplands and then fades to the countries that produce over 80% of the world's wheat, grain, and cereal. It then overlays the world's population density and then fades to show the countries that are projected to double and triple their population by 2050.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 404944, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3649, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3649/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Food Consumers versus Food Producers", "description": "The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen collaboration. In support of this collaboration, NASA and the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) jointly funded a new project to assimilate NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and products into an existing decision support system (DSS) operated by the International Production Assessment Division (IPAD) of FAS. To meet its objectives, FAS/IPAD uses satellite data and data products to monitor agriculture worldwide and to locate and keep track of natural disasters such as short and long term droughts, floods and persistent snow cover which impair agricultural productivity. FAS is the largest user of satellite imagery in the non-military sector of the U.S. government. For the last 20 years FAS has used a combination of Landsat and NOAA-AVHRR satellite data to monitor crop condition and report on episodic events. || ", "release_date": "2009-10-06T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:35.349921-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 495952, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003649/ProducersVersusConsumers.0001.jpg", "filename": "ProducersVersusConsumers.0001.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The countries that produced 82% of the world's cereals (grain,oats,wheat,rice,maize, millet, sorghum) in 2008 are shown in yellow and the world population is shown in brown. This version of the image does not have topography.", "width": 7680, "height": 4320, "pixels": 33177600 } } }, { "id": 404945, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3650, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3650/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Food Insecure Countries", "description": "The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen collaboration. In support of this collaboration, NASA and the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) jointly funded a new project to assimilate NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and products into an existing decision support system (DSS) operated by the International Production Assessment Division (IPAD) of FAS. To meet its objectives, FAS/IPAD uses satellite data and data products to monitor agriculture worldwide and to locate and keep track of natural disasters such as short and long term droughts, floods and persistent snow cover which impair agricultural productivity. FAS is the largest user of satellite imagery in the non-military sector of the U.S. government. For the last 20 years FAS has used a combination of Landsat and NOAA-AVHRR satellite data to monitor crop condition and report on episodic events. Food security in 70 developing countries is projected to deteriorate over the next decade, according to USDA's Economic Research Service. After rising nearly 11 percent from 2007 to 2008, the number of food-insecure people in the developing countries analyzed by ERS researchers is estimated to rise to 833 million in 2009, an almost 2-percent rise from 2008 to 2009. Despite a decline in food prices in late 2008, deteriorating purchasing power and food security are expected in 2009 because of the growing financial deficits and higher inflation that have occurred in recent years. Food-insecure people are defined as those consuming less than the nutritional target of 2,100 calories per day per person. || ", "release_date": "2009-10-06T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-07-15T00:00:29.025262-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 495956, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003650/FoodInsecureCountries.0001.jpg", "filename": "FoodInsecureCountries.0001.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This image shows all countries classified as \"Food Insecure\" by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, between 2003 and 2005. Pale yellow means more then 5% of the people have insufficient food, darker Yellow means greater then 15% of the people have insufficient food, Orange means greater then 25% of the people have insufficient food, Red means greater then 35% of the people have insufficient food, and deep Red means greater then 50% of the people have insufficient food. ", "width": 7680, "height": 4320, "pixels": 33177600 } } }, { "id": 404946, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3651, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3651/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "World Droughts From 2005 to 2009 Versus Where Crops are Grown", "description": "The Global Inventory Monitoring and Modeling Studies (GIMMS) group at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC) provides United States Department of Agriculture/Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS) with global data stream of NDVI that spans over two decades (1981-present). The GIMMS NDVI is derived from measurements made by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Global Area Coverage (GAC) data from the National Atmospheric Oceanic Administration (NOAA) polar orbiting series of satellites. GIMMS has inter-calibrated the data from the NOAA-AVHRR satellite series and performed atmospheric correction to minimize the effects of volcanic aerosols to produce and maintain a consistent NDVI archive. The NDVI archive from GIMMS provides the historic database for monitoring the response of vegetation to climatic conditions.Linking the MODIS data to the long-term GIMMS AVHRR/NDVI, archive and SPOT Vegetation sensor data is a critical component of this project providing a consistent multi-source long-term data record for agricultural monitoring. This allows FAS analysts to compare current data with the spatial extent and severity of NDVI anomalies associated with heat stress, droughts and floods associated with crop failures. || ", "release_date": "2009-10-07T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-10-09T15:49:07.923864-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 495574, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003651/WorldwideDroughtVeryLittleTopo.1006_web.png", "filename": "WorldwideDroughtVeryLittleTopo.1006_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This image shows land in grey, water in blue, the worldwide croplands region as designated by NASA's MODIS instrument in yellow, and the drought regions in brown. Drought data is aggregate data from 2005 till 2009.", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } }, { "id": 404947, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3817, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3817/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Five-Year Average Global Temperature Anomalies from 1880 to 2010", "description": "Groups of scientists from several major institutions - NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the Japanese Meteorological Agency and the Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom - tally data collected by temperature monitoring stations spread around the world and make an announcement about whether the previous year was a comparatively warm or cool year. This analysis concerns only temperature anomalies, not absolute temperature. Temperature anomalies are computed relative to the base period 1951-1980. The reason to work with anomalies, rather than absolute temperature is that absolute temperature varies markedly in short distances, while monthly or annual temperature anomalies are representative of a much larger region. Indeed, we have shown (Hansen and Lebedeff, 1987) that temperature anomalies are strongly correlated out to distances of the order of 1000 km. For more information about this dataset, see http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp NASA's announcement this year - that 2010 ties 2005 as the warmest year in the 131-year instrumental record - made headlines. But, how much does the ranking of a single year matter?Not all that much, emphasizes James Hansen, the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City. In the GISS analysis, for example, 2010 differed from 2005 by less than 0.01°C (0.018°F), a difference so small that the temperatures of these two years are indistinguishable, given the uncertainty of the calculation.Meanwhile, the third warmest year - 2009 - is so close to 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2007, with the maximum difference between the years being a mere 0.03°C, that all six years are virtually tied.Even for a near record-breaking year like 2010 the broader context is more important than a single year. \"Certainly, it is interesting that 2010 was so warm despite the presence of a La Niña and a remarkably inactive sun, two factors that have a cooling influence on the planet, but far more important than any particular year's ranking are the decadal trends,\" Hansen said. || ", "release_date": "2011-01-14T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:55.191334-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 488287, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003817/2010temperatureAnomaly.0137.jpg", "filename": "2010temperatureAnomaly.0137.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This color-coded map displays a progression of changing global surface temperatures anomalies from 1880 through 2010. The final frame represents global temperature anomalies averaged from 2006 to 2010.", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } } }, { "id": 404948, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10873, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10873/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Global Rate of Deforestation 2011", "description": "Earth's forests are of incalculable value; they are a vital component of the climate system - controlling gas, energy and water exchange between the surface and atmosphere; the tropical forests alone contain half of all biological species - diversity that underpins human and environmental wellbeing; they are a major source of revenue - timber, non-timber forest products and mineral reserves and they are the primary source of energy for over 2 billion people. Forests have never been under more pressure. Demand for their natural wealth and a hunger for land causes forest clearance at alarming rates. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the Earth loses an area about the size of a football field every 3 seconds - in the time it takes to make a sandwich an area equivalent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is cleared... somewhere on Earth trees are falling every second of every day. Based on a systematic sample of Landsat imagery at 4,016 locations around the tropical belt the European Commission's TREES 3 project is making estimates of forest cover change for the years 1990, 2000, 2005 and 2010 with new levels of precision. Preliminary results emphasize just how relentless the pressure on our planet is. Using archived and recent Landsat imagery we have measured dramatic changes to the African Continent for example. Since the 1970s natural vegetation (forests and savannas) have been converted to agricultural land at a tremendous pace. Around 50,000 sq. km per year are cleared - an area twice the size of Vermont. With the fastest growing population in the world such land cover conversions are unlikely to slow down any time soon, nor should the measuring programs. Landsat 8 and its European counterpart, Sentinel 2, are not being launched any sooner than they are needed. || ", "release_date": "2011-11-15T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2024-10-10T00:15:57.742252-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 481275, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010873/AB-National_Mall_image_web.png", "filename": "AB-National_Mall_image_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Graphic comparing three images of the U.S. National Mall: First, as it looked in 1936. Second, the Mall if it had been reforested at the same rate as the Eastern U.S. during the 2oth century. Third, the amount of trees lost globally around the world every 15 minutes.", "width": 320, "height": 247, "pixels": 79040 } } }, { "id": 404949, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10872, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10872/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Amazon Deforestation in Rondonia, Brazil, 2000-2010", "description": "The state of Rondonia in western Brazil is observed by satellite. This timelapse of MODIS images shows the reduction of the forest from 2000-2010.Deforestation follows a fairly predictable pattern in these images. The first clearings that appear in the forest are in a fishbone pattern, arrayed along the edges of roads. Over time, the fishbones collapse into a mixture of forest remnants, cleared areas, and settlements. This pattern follows one of the most common deforestation trajectories in the Amazon. Legal and illegal roads penetrate a remote part of the forest, and small farmers migrate to the area. They claim land along the road and clear some of it for crops. Within a few years, heavy rains and erosion deplete the soil, and crop yields fall. Farmers then convert the degraded land to cattle pasture, and clear more forest for crops. Eventually the small land holders, having cleared much of their land, sell it or abandon it to large cattle holders, who consolidate the plots into large areas of pasture. || ", "release_date": "2011-11-14T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:28.287541-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 481169, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010872/Amazon_Deforestation_1280.00702_print.jpg", "filename": "Amazon_Deforestation_1280.00702_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Timelapse of deforestation in the state of Rondonia in Brazil, from 2000-2010, as seen in MODIS data. ", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 404950, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10812, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10812/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Landsat 8 (aka LDCM) Spacecraft Animations and Still Images", "description": "Landsat 8 (formerly known as LDCM, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission), a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, will provide moderate-resolution (15 meter - 100 meter, depending on spectral frequency) measurements of the Earth's terrestrial and polar regions in the visible, near-infrared, short wave infrared, and thermal infrared. There are two instruments on the spacecraft, the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) and the Operational Land Imager (OLI). Landsat 8 continues the nearly 50-year long Landsat land imaging data set. In addition to widespread routine use for land use planning and monitoring on regional to local scales, support of disaster response and evaluations, and water use monitoring, Landsat 8 measurements directly serve NASA research in the focus areas of climate, carbon cycle, ecosystems, water cycle, biogeochemistry, and Earth surface/interior. || ", "release_date": "2011-10-05T15:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:35.932815-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 482976, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010812/LDCM_still_Gulf_Coast_front_view_2000x1126.jpg", "filename": "LDCM_still_Gulf_Coast_front_view_2000x1126.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "An artist's conception of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the eigth satellite in the long-running Landsat program, flying over the US Gulf Coast.", "width": 2000, "height": 1126, "pixels": 2252000 } } }, { "id": 404951, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10761, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10761/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "OLI Passes Pre-Ship Review", "description": "The Operational Land Imager (OLI), built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., will fly on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). OLI will measure in the visible, near infrared, and short wave infrared portions of the spectrum, with an improved signal-to-noise ratio compared to past Landsat instruments. The Landsat program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. For nearly 40 years, Landsat satellites have continuously and consistently collected images of Earth, creating a historical archive unmatched in quality, detail, coverage and value. Freely available Landsat data provide a unique resource for people who work in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping and global change research. || ", "release_date": "2011-08-08T14:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:42.335369-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 484165, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010700/a010761/G2011-090_OLI_Pre-Ship_Release.03027_print.jpg", "filename": "G2011-090_OLI_Pre-Ship_Release.03027_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Engineers at Ball Aerospace check over the Operational Land Imager (OLI) before it is shipped to be integrated into the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) spacecraft.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 404952, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10859, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10859/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "TIRS TVAC1 Opening The Vacuum Chamber", "description": "The Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) is part of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) to continue thermal imaging and to support emerging applications such as evapotranspiration rate measurements for water management. TIRS is being built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and has a three-year design life.TIRS completed its first round of thermal vacuum testing on Tuesday, October 4, marking the first time engineers evaluated the fully-assembled instrument at its normal operating temperature. When operational, TIRS is only 43 Kelvin (-382 °F). Such a cold temperature is necessary so the instrument itself does not overwhelm the heat radiated by Earth.The Landsat Program is a series of Earth observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Landsat satellites have been consistently gathering data about our planet since 1972. They continue to improve and expand this unparalleled record of Earth's changing landscapes for the benefit of all. || ", "release_date": "2011-10-30T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:31.264783-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 482337, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010859/G2011-116_TIRS_TVAC1-H.264.00602_print.jpg", "filename": "G2011-116_TIRS_TVAC1-H.264.00602_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center inspect and move the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) after two months of testing in the thermal vacuum chamber.For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 404953, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10484, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10484/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Landsat: A Space Age Water Gauge", "description": "Agriculture consumes a great deal of water. As demand for water increases, the pressure's on to make sure every drop counts. || ", "release_date": "2009-09-14T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:39.119106-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 496359, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010400/a010484/Landsat_Evapotranspiration_Final-ipod.05027_print.jpg", "filename": "Landsat_Evapotranspiration_Final-ipod.05027_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Water specialists Rick Allen, Bill Kramber and Tony Morse have created an innovative satellite-based method that maps agricultural water consumption. The team uses Landsat thermal band data to measure the amount of water evaporating from the soil and transpiring from plants' leaves. Evapotranspiring water absorbs energy, so farm fields consuming more water appear cooler in the thermal band. The Landsat observations provide an objective way for water managers to assess on a field-by-field basis how much water agricultural growers are using. Landsat is a joint program of NASA and the US Geological Survey.For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 404954, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10634, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10634/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Wildfire and Pine Beetles", "description": "Mountain pine beetles are native to Western forests, but in recent years their numbers have skyrocketed. As they damage more trees and kill whole regions of forest, some worry that the dead forest left behind has become a tinderbox ready to burn. But do pine beetles really increase fire risk?Using Landsat satellite data, University of Wisconsin forest ecologist Phil Townsend and his team are discovering that pine beetle damage appears not to have a significant impact in the risk of large fires. In fact, it might even reduce fire risk in some instances. || ", "release_date": "2010-09-07T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:05.716562-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 490634, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010600/a010634/G2009-098_Wildfire_and_Beetles_appletv.00277_print.jpg", "filename": "G2009-098_Wildfire_and_Beetles_appletv.00277_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "In this short video, Townsend and his team hit the ground to study the issue in the forest near Yellowstone National Park. While pine beetles may not significantly impact fire risk, Townsend believes that climate change may be leading to an increase in both pine beetle numbers and the risk of fire. For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } } ], "extra_data": {} } ] }