NEW INSTRUMENT WILL MAP CARBON WORLDWIDE IN 3-D
In order to manage forests and mitigate climate change
scientists need to understand where our carbon is being taken up and where it is already stored.
So we are building a laser to measure trees from space.
The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) instrument will spend two years on the ISS
using eight laser beams to measure every leaf, branch, tree trunk, and shrub in the ground path down on the surface.
Photons in the laser pulse ricochet back to GEDI
providing an intricate 3-D map of forest canopies
Built by NASA and the University of Maryland, GEDI’s laser can peer inside even the densest tropical forests
letting scientists know how much carbon is stored in forests around the world.
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