The Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland investigates methods, causes and impacts of global land surface change. Earth observation imagery are the primary data source and land cover extent and change the primary topic of interest. The lab is led by Drs. Matthew Hansen and Peter Potapov. The research team is diverse with representation from the following countries: USA, Indonesia, China, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Ghana, DRCongo, Russia, Italy, Colombia, Bolivia. Full-time researchers work on a variety of land cover investigations, ranging from global forest change to national-scale crop type area mapping and estimation. A current high-profile project is a collaboration with the World Resources Institute, creating operational global data on forest extent and change, part of the Global Forest Watch initiative http://www.globalforestwatch.org/ . The lab also works on US government initiatives, including the USAID CARPE (Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment) and SilvaCarbon projects. GLAD students investigate land monitoring methods and the applied use of land cover data to answer questions concerning the changing environment. For example, current students’ thesis topics include monitoring chimpanzee habitat health across Africa, wheat crop condition and production in Pakistan, and carbon emissions estimates from tropical forest disturbance. Interns and project partners often visit the laboratory to learn methods for large area land mapping and analysis. All members of the laboratory regularly collaborate and help to facilitate each other’s work. Through our research team and associated activities, GLAD aspires to generate new science insights concerning land resources, educate the next generation of remote sensing-based land change scientists, and disseminate land monitoring capabilities to operational settings nationally and internationally.
