![]() ![]() When wetlands flood, bacteria go to work digesting organic matter (mostly dead plants) in the soil. Wetlands present another carbon puzzle: Swamps, bogs, peatlands, inundated forests, marshes, and other wetlands hold 20 to 30 per cent of the carbon in Earth's soil, despite constituting only 5 to 8 per cent of the land surface. "Reducing deforestation and degradation is low-hanging fruit to address a substantial part of the global carbon emission problem," he added. The data could also help improve accounting of deforestation and forest degradation - as well as forest growth - as countries that rely on logging try to shift toward more sustainable practices, said Josef Kellndorfer, a member of the NISAR science team and founder of Earth Big Data LLC, a provider of large data sets and analytic tools for research and decisions support. Fire releases carbon into the air directly, while the deterioration of forests reduces the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide. It's an important set of capabilities for studying vast, often cloud-covered rainforests such as those in the Congo and Amazon basins, which lose millions of wooded acres every year. The data - which will be collected in early morning and evening and in any weather - could also offer clues as to what caused the change, such as disease, human activity, or fire. ![]() With successive orbital passes, it will be able to track whether a section of forest has been thinned or cleared over time. By analysing the signal that reflects back, researchers will be able to estimate the density of forest cover in an area as small as a soccer field. The signal from NISAR's L-band radar will penetrate the leaves and branches of forest canopies, bouncing off the tree trunks and the ground below.
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