THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH PROPOSAL IS DEVELOPING REMOTE SENSING-BASED AND MODELING TOOLS TO CHARACTERIZE QUANTIFY UNDERSTAND AND PREDICT FOREST DEGRADATION IN TROPICAL WOODLANDS OF THE MIOMBO REGION OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. IN A FIRST OBJECTIVE WE WILL PROTOTYPE A REMOTE SENSING-BASED APPROACH TO MAP MONITOR AND QUANTIFY FOREST DEGRADATION FROM CHARCOAL PRODUCTION COMBINING MULTITEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF VERY HIGH-RESOLUTION REMOTE SENSING IMAGES AND FIELD MEASUREMENTS. A SECOND OBJECTIVE WILL DEVELOP A MODELING FRAMEWORK TO GENERATE SPATIALLY EXPLICIT ESTIMATES OF CURRENT FOREST DEGRADATION AREA AND CARBON EMISSIONS AT NATIONAL LEVEL AND PREDICT THE EVOLUTION OF CARBON STOCKS UNDER FUTURE SCENARIOS. FINALLY WE WILL EVALUATE THE POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS OF UPCOMING NASA GEDI MISSION TO DETECT CHANGES IN FOREST STRUCTURE ASSOCIATED TO FOREST DEGRADATION IN TROPICAL WOODLANDS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA.

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators