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Bangkok, Miami, Ho Chi Min. With centuries of reclamation and human development, it is thought that nearly half of the mangrove forests around the world have
disappeared. Today, the conversion of mangrove forests to other land use types is
still taking place. Gabon is one of a few countries that not only have the tallest mangroves, but also have lost very few areas of coastal mangrove forests. Our analysis
of 16 years of satellite observations, using thousands of images, indicate that only a
few hectares have been lost during that time. For other regions around the world that
is not the case.
Tanzania
A year before our trek to Gabon, I joined a similar group of scientists and colleagues
on a field campaign to the Rufiji Delta in Tanzania (Fig. 13.5). The trip started with
meetings and workshops with the Tanzanian Forest Department and the University
of Dar es Salaam. These meetings are a time for exchanging information between
the different groups. Though this may be the first time we met with our colleagues
in person, it was not the first time we have spoken. Years of planning, skype meetings, and emails back and forth had occurred to bring this project to fruition. The
project that brought us to Tanzania and Gabon was funded by NASA.
You might think, why would NASA be funding a project to go to remote places
in Africa? NASA does research in Space. Yes, NASA does primarily fund Space
research and technology development, and part of that work is developing amazing
new technologies to send into Space onboard satellites so that they can measure
characteristics of far-off galaxies, stars, and planets. But what better planet to look
at than Earth? A small percentage of NASA funding goes to innovative research
projects that utilize the Earth observing capabilities of the US and other countries to
address specific issues on our world. Thus, the satellites launched by NASA and
other national space agencies, like those from Europe, Japan, and India not only
look into the depths of the universe, but also look back at the Earth to measure and
monitor what is happening on our own planet. Some Earth-observing satellites measure the concentrations of various molecules in our atmosphere; some measure the
elevation of the land; some measure the color of the oceans; and some can measure
the conversion of land from one type of use to another. One of NASA’s flagship
satellites, Landsat (a collection of eight different satellites, two currently in orbit
and a ninth in the planning stages), has been looking at the Earth for over 40 years,
collecting millions of “pictures”. The project that we conducted in Tanzania sought
to measure how coastal landscapes have been changing over time in both the horizontal and vertical directions.
Deltas are dynamic landscapes where lots of sediment carried by rivers is deposited at the coastline. These sediments build up over time and can create huge landforms, that we call deltas, that are really just a bunch of gravel, pebbles, sands, and
mud that have piled up over many thousands of years. However, when the strength
or the course of the river changes this can drastically alter the delta landscape,
13 Pictures from Space and Feet in the Mud: Understanding the Value of the World’s…
Bangkok, Miami, Ho Chi Min. With centuries of reclamation and human development, it is thought that nearly half of the mangrove forests around the world have
disappeared. Today, the conversion of mangrove forests to other land use types is
still taking place. Gabon is one of a few countries that not only have the tallest mangroves, but also have lost very few areas of coastal mangrove forests. Our analysis
of 16 years of satellite observations, using thousands of images, indicate that only a
few hectares have been lost during that time. For other regions around the world that
is not the case.
Tanzania
A year before our trek to Gabon, I joined a similar group of scientists and colleagues
on a field campaign to the Rufiji Delta in Tanzania (Fig. 13.5). The trip started with
meetings and workshops with the Tanzanian Forest Department and the University
of Dar es Salaam. These meetings are a time for exchanging information between
the different groups. Though this may be the first time we met with our colleagues
in person, it was not the first time we have spoken. Years of planning, skype meetings, and emails back and forth had occurred to bring this project to fruition. The
project that brought us to Tanzania and Gabon was funded by NASA.
You might think, why would NASA be funding a project to go to remote places
in Africa? NASA does research in Space. Yes, NASA does primarily fund Space
research and technology development, and part of that work is developing amazing
new technologies to send into Space onboard satellites so that they can measure
characteristics of far-off galaxies, stars, and planets. But what better planet to look
at than Earth? A small percentage of NASA funding goes to innovative research
projects that utilize the Earth observing capabilities of the US and other countries to
address specific issues on our world. Thus, the satellites launched by NASA and
other national space agencies, like those from Europe, Japan, and India not only
look into the depths of the universe, but also look back at the Earth to measure and
monitor what is happening on our own planet. Some Earth-observing satellites measure the concentrations of various molecules in our atmosphere; some measure the
elevation of the land; some measure the color of the oceans; and some can measure
the conversion of land from one type of use to another. One of NASA’s flagship
satellites, Landsat (a collection of eight different satellites, two currently in orbit
and a ninth in the planning stages), has been looking at the Earth for over 40 years,
collecting millions of “pictures”. The project that we conducted in Tanzania sought
to measure how coastal landscapes have been changing over time in both the horizontal and vertical directions.
Deltas are dynamic landscapes where lots of sediment carried by rivers is deposited at the coastline. These sediments build up over time and can create huge landforms, that we call deltas, that are really just a bunch of gravel, pebbles, sands, and
mud that have piled up over many thousands of years. However, when the strength
or the course of the river changes this can drastically alter the delta landscape,
13 Pictures from Space and Feet in the Mud: Understanding the Value of the World’s…