Tropical Dry Forest

Mapping tropical forest degradation with deep learning and Planet NICFI data

Background

Forest degradation, driven by logging, fire, and infrastructure expansion, represents a major yet under-detected source of carbon emissions in tropical forests. Unlike deforestation, degradation involves partial canopy loss and is difficult to capture using conventional remote sensing due to small-scale disturbances and rapid vegetation recovery. Existing global products often underestimate degradation or fail to attribute its causes. Advances in high-resolution satellite imagery and deep learning provide new opportunities to improve detection accuracy.

Open access copy available

DETER-R: An Operational Near-Real Time Tropical Forest Disturbance Warning System Based on Sentinel-1 Time Series Analysis

Background

Open access copy available

Taking the pulse of Earth’s tropical forests using networks of highly distributed plots

Background

Tropical forests play a critical but complex role in global carbon cycling, biodiversity conservation, and climate regulation. These complex dynamics are due to spatial heterogeneity and varying disturbance regimes. Traditional monitoring approaches often rely on remote sensing, which may not capture fine-scale ecological processes. In response, global scientific collaborations have developed extensive forest plot networks to monitor forest structure, biomass, and ecological changes over time. These distributed plots provide high-resolution, ground-based insights into tropical forest conditions across continents.

Open access copy available

Belize National Forest Monitoring System 2001-2020

Background

Belize’s diverse ecosystems, land tenure systems, and land-use dynamics require a robust and flexible National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS). Early efforts focused on establishing permanent forest inventory plots in the late 1990s to address data gaps in forest structure and carbon dynamics. Over time, Belize has expanded its forest monitoring framework to integrate both ground-based and remote sensing approaches, ensuring transparency, consistency, and national ownership of forest data systems.

Open access copy available

Framework for National Forest Monitoring System

Background

Open access copy available

Near real-time monitoring of tropical forest disturbance by fusion of Landsat, Sentinel-2, and Sentinel-1 data

Background

Available with subscription or purchase

Tipping Points of Amazonian Forests: Beyond Myths and Toward Solutions

Background

Open access copy available

Tropical dry forest land use/land cover change detection using semi-supervised deep learning algorithms and remote sensing

Background

Open access copy available

Remote sensing of drylands: An overview

Background

Open access copy available

Asian dryland ecohealth progress for land degradation neutrality

Background

Open access copy available
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