Global Forest Watch

WRI
Principal Investigator:
Matthew Hansen

CO Investigators:
Peter Potapov
Svetlana Turubanova

Sponsor:
Norwegian Climate and Forests Initiative

Time period:
2013
to
2024

Researchers:
Marc Steininger
André Lima
Amy Hudson Pickens
Alexandra (Sasha) Tyukavina
Andrés Hernández Serna
Patrick Lola Amani
Jeff Pickering

Graduate Researchers:
Qing Ying
Viviana Zalles

Project Description:

This project is focused on developing global tree cover change data products based on Landsat satellite imagery, which will be available for display and download on the Global Forest Watch 2.0 (GFW 2.0) web platform. There are three main components of this project: (1) Produce a Landsat-based global, annualized tree cover change product at 30 meter resolution for the years 2000 through 2012 (complete). Once completed, work with WRI and its partners and contractors to incorporate and launch the dataset on the GFW 2.0 website (launched on February 20, 2014) concurrent with publication by Dr. Hansen in a scientific journal (published in Science on November 15, 2013). (2) Produce annual updates of the above dataset for the years 2013 (published), 2014 (published), and 2015 (to be created and published in 2016) and publish on the GFW 2.0 website. (3) Commence work to develop, refine, and test an “as-it-happens” deforestation alarm system based on Landsat 7 and/or 8 imagery.  The alert system will process Landsat imagery at 30 meter resolution as it becomes available on a rolling basis, identifying and displaying on a map tree cover change in near-real-time. UMD will begin by creating and piloting the alarm system for a set of countries or forest regions (e.g., remaining intact tropical forests) and will include some formal validation (e.g., RapidEye tasking and characterization) for accuracy.  Once the pilot system becomes available in a stable form, UMD will work with WRI and its partners and contractors to make the system and its resulting data displayed on the GFW 2.0 website and explore with WRI potential applications for the system on GFW 2.0.

GFW 2.0. website: www.globalforestwatch.org

 

Subgrant: Global Restoration Monitoring Application

The Restoration App will monitor the recovery of vegetation (e.g., trees, shrubs) in forest, wetland, and grassland ecosystems at relatively high resolution, high periodicity, and global coverage. To do this, the Restoration App will combine a suite of remote sensing technologies. For instance, it will run automated algorithms against the U.S. Geological Survey Landsat 8 satellite imagery and the European Space Agency’s Sentinel 2A satellite imagery. The time series will allow for accurate detection of regrowth patterns and differentiation between crops, grasslands, plantations, and natural tree/shrub recovery dynamics. The algorithm will also estimate vegetation height from remote-sensing imagery, and differentiate between early regrowth, mature regrowth, crops, and other states. The University of Maryland may use higher resolution imagery to calibrate the algorithms, validate monitoring outputs, and hone in on “hotspots” for further monitoring.


Related Publications:

MacCarthy. J., Tyukavina, A., Weisse, M. J., Harris, N., Glen, E. (2024) Extreme wildfires in Canada and their contribution to global loss in tree cover and carbon emissions in 2023. Science behind the news (short communication). Global Change Biology. 27 June 2024.

Parker, D., Tosiani, A., Yazid, M., Sari, I. L., Kartika, T., Kustiyo, Firmansyah, R., Said, Z., Wijaya, A., Potapov, Tyukavina, A., Stehman, S.V., Zalles, V., Pickens, A., Pickering, J., Turubanova, S., Hansen, M. C. (2024) Land in limbo: Nearly one third of Indonesia’s cleared old-growth forests left idle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(28), e2318029121.

Hunka, N., Duncanson, L.,  Armston, J., Dubayah, R., Healey, S. P., Santoro, M., May, P., Araza, A., Bourgoin, C., Montesano, P. M., Neigh, C. S. R., Grantham, H., Potapov, P., Turubanova, S., Tyukavina, A., Richter, J., Harris, N., Urbazaev, M., Pascual, A., Suarez, D.R., Herold, M., Poulter, B., Wilson, S. N., Grassi, Federici, S., Sanz, M. J., Melo, J. (2024) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 1 forest biomass estimates from Earth Observation. Scientific Data, vol. 11, n. 1127.

Turubanova, S., Potapov, P., Hansen, M. C., Li, X., Tyukavina, A., Pickens, A. H., Hernandez-Serna, ... & Stolle, F. (2023). Tree canopy extent and height change in Europe, 2001–2021, quantified using Landsat data archive. Remote Sensing of Environment, 298, 113797.

Tyukavina, A., Potapov, P., Hansen, M.C., Pickens, A., Stehman, S., Turubanova, S., Parker, D., Zalles, V., Lima, A., Kommareddy, I., Song, X-P, Wang, L. and Harris, N. (2022) Global trends of forest loss due to fire, 2001-2019. Frontiers in Remote Sensing

Potapov, P., Hansen, M.C., Pickens, A., Hernandez-Serna, A., Tyukavina, A., Turubanova, S., Zalles, V., Li, X., Khan, A., Stolle, F., Harris, N., Song, X-P, Baggett, A., Kommareddy, I., Kommareddy, A. (2022) The global 2000-2020 land cover and land use change dataset derived from the Landsat archive: first results. Frontiers in Remote Sensing

Moffette, F., Alix-Garcia, J., Shea, K., Pickens, A. (2021) The impact of near-real-time deforestation alerts across the tropics. Nature Climate Change

Harris, N.L., Gibbs, D.A., Baccini, A., Birdsey, R.A., de Bruin, S., Farina, M., Fatoyinbo, L., Hansen, M.C., Herold, M., Houghton, R.A., Potapov, P.V., Requena Suarez, D., Roman-Cuesta, R.M., Saatchi, S.S., Slay, C.M., Turubanova, S.A., Tyukavina, A. (2021) Global maps of twenty-first century forest carbon fluxes. Nature Climate Change

Hansen, M.C., Wang, L., Song, X.P., Tyukavina, A., Turubanova, S., Potapov, P.V., Stehman, S.V. (2020) The fate of tropical forest fragments. Science Advances, 6(11), eaax8574.

Potapov, P., Li, X., Hernandez-Serna, A., Tyukavina, A., Hansen, M., Kommareddy, A., Pickens, A., Turubanova, A., Tang, H., Silva, C.E., Armston, J., Dubayah, R., Blair, J.B., Hofton, M. (2020) Mapping global forest canopy height through integration of GEDI and Landsat data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112165. 

Pickering, J., Stehman, S.V., Tyukavina, A., Potapov, P., Watt, P., Jantz, S.M., Bholanath, P., Hansen, M.C. (2019) Quantifying the trade-off between cost and precision in estimating area of forest loss and degradation using probability sampling in Guyana. Remote Sensing of Environment 221, 122-135.

Curtis, P.B., Slay, C.M., Harris, N.L., Tyukavina, A., Hansen, M.C. (2018) Classifying drivers of global forest loss. Science 361 (6407), 1108-1111.

Turubanova, S., Potapov, P., Tyukavina, A., and Hansen, M. (2018) Ongoing primary forest loss in Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia. Environmental Research Letters

Potapov, P., Hansen, M.C., Laestadius, L., Turubanova, S., Yaroshenko, A., Thies, C., Smith, W., Zhuravleva, I., Komarova, A., Minnemeyer, S., Esipova, E. (2017) The last frontiers of wilderness: Tracking loss of intact forest landscapes from 2000 to 2013. Science Advances, vol.3, No. 1.

Tyukavina, A., Hansen, M.C., Potapov, P.V., Stehman, S.V., Smith-Rodriguez, K., Okpa, C., Aguilar, R. (2017) Types and rates of forest disturbance in Brazilian Legal Amazon, 2000–2013. Science Advances, vol. 3, no. 4

Tyukavina, A., Hansen, M. C., Potapov, P. V., Krylov, A. M., & Goetz, S. J. (2016) Pan‐tropical hinterland forests: mapping minimally disturbed forests. Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 25, issue 2, pp. 151-163

Hansen, M.C., Krylov, A., Tyukavina, A., Potapov, P.V., Turubanova, S., Zutta, B., Suspense, I., Margono, B., Stolle, F., Moore, R. (2016) Humid tropical forest disturbance alerts using Landsat data. Environmental Research Letters, 11, 034008.

Staver, A.C. and Hansen, M.C. (2015) Analysis of stable states in global savannas: the the CART pulling the horse? – a comment. Global Ecology and Biogeograhpy

Zarin, D. J., Harris, N. L., Baccini, A., Aksenov, D., Hansen, M. C., Ramos, C. A., Azevedo, T., Margono, B.A., Alencar, A.C., Gabris, C., Allegretti, A., Potapov, P., Farina, M., Walker W.S., Shevade, V.S., Loboda, T.V., Turubanova S., Tyukavina A. (2015) Can carbon emissions from tropical deforestation drop by 50% in five years? Global change biology

Krylov, A., McCarty, J., Potapov, P.V., Loboda, T., Tyukavina, A., Turubanova, S.,  and Hansen, M.C. (2014) Remote Sensing estimates of stand-replacement firest in Russia, 2002-2011 Environmental Research Letters, 9(10), 105007.

Hansen, M., Potapov, P., Margono, B., Stehman, S., Turubanova, S., Tyukavina A. (2014) Response to Comment on “High-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change”, Science, 344, 981

Hansen M.C., Potapov P. V., Moore R., Hancher M., Turubanova S. A., Tyukavina A., Thau D., Stehman S.V., Goetz S.J., Loveland T.R., Kommareddy A., Egorov A., Chini L., Justice C.O., Townshend J.R.G. (2013) High-resolution global maps of 21-st-century forest cover change. Science, 342, 850-853.

Related Projects: