The 2008 global biosphere. Chlorophyll concentration in blue, vegetation index in green. Credit: NASA/Rob Simmon/Jesse Allen.From Live Science:
A new series of NASA images illustrates how Earth's plant growth has changed over the past 11 years.
The images are part of the series, "World of Change: Global Biosphere." They show the yearly changes in plant growth between 1999 and 2008 based on data on chlorophyll on the ocean's surface and vegetation density on land. Scientists use the images to study Earth's carbon cycle – the uptake and release of carbon by Earth's biosphere.
The global biosphere, or the sum of all ecosystems that support life on Earth, is in constant flux. The images show changes in chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants allows photosynthesis to occur, averaged over each year. Changes in land growth are shown as a vegetation index, a blend of the variation between the summer flourishes and the slow growth winter.
Read more ....
No comments:
Post a Comment