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Shining Laser Light on Earth’s Forests - Presented by Science@NASA

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The International Space Station (ISS) is sporting a new ‘light fixture.’

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The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) will beam down laser light on Earth from the orbiting laboratory

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to reveal more about our environment and how it is changing.

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NASA’s GEDI sends laser pulses into tree canopies and precisely measures the light reflected back.

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The timing and intensity of light that bounces back to GEDI’s telescope will reveal the height and density of trees and vegetation,

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and the vertical arrangement of the leaves and branches within the overall canopy.

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Dr. Ralph Dubayah, GEDI principal investigator at the University of Maryland says,

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“This instrument will map forests in high resolution and three dimensions, revolutionizing the way researchers monitor them.”

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Forested areas are an important part of our planet.

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Not only do forests provide a habitat for many species and a source of raw materials for human use, such as paper and lumber,

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they also play a key role in the Earth’s carbon cycle. Deforestation and forest degradation,

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in addition to other types of forest disturbances such as fires and insect outbreaks lead to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

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Forest regrowth sucks that carbon back down into trees and soils.

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Knowing how forests grow and change over time can allow us to better understand the contribution

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that forests make to Earth’s carbon cycle and help people better manage this important resource.

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GEDI is the first spaceborne instrument designed specifically to perform sustained mapping

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of the spatial distribution of the carbon content of forests.

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Dubayah notes, "One of the most poorly quantified components of the carbon cycle is the net balance

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between forest disturbance and regrowth. GEDI will help scientists fill in this missing piece

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by revealing the vertical structure of the forest -- information we really can’t get with sufficient accuracy any other way.”

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GEDI will provide scientists with insights into the amount of carbon stored in forests.

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When combined with current and historical records of changes captured by Earth-orbiting satellites such as Landsat,

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this information will enhance the ability of researchers to identify changes happening across our planet.

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Researchers also will incorporate GEDI’s observations, along with those of the ECOSTRESS instrument on the station,

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with data from other current and future Earth-observing sensors.

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These data will address important questions about relationships between forest structure, function, composition, and changes in carbon content.

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Combining all of these data will allow researchers to gain an unprecedented understanding

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of ecosystem dynamics and the role plants and trees play in Earth's global carbon cycle.

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These new insights could be used, in turn, to improve models for forecasting future ecosystem changes,

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atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, and climate.

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GEDI was launched to the station aboard SpaceX CRS-16 on December 5, 2018.

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For more about how NASA uses the power of light to understand our world – and beyond – visit science.nasa.gov.