GEOG, NASA Researchers Explain Amazon Dry Season ‘Green-Up’ Paradox

Jyoteshwar R. Nagol, a Research Associate with the Department of Geographical Sciences, is one of the lead authors of a NASA/UMD study published in Nature that explains how Amazon rainforest appeared to paradoxically “green up” during the region's dry season. The team found that this is not a natural phenomenon, but an optical one.

 

“The apparent greening is actually due to seasonal changes in sun’s orientation, which leads to a systematic change in the amount of shadow being cast within forest canopy layer—and the amount of it being observed by the satellite based sensor,” Dr. Nagol explains. “These results help us get better insight into the spatio-termporal patterns and processes driving seasonal variations of vegetation structure and productivity of Amazon forests.”

 

This study also challenges some interesting hypotheses that were previously developed to explain the green-up phenomenon, such as the seasonal exchange of canopy leaves, since young leaves reflect more infrared light than older leaves, or an overall increase in the amount of leaves in the canopy.

 

These findings may have an impact on the ways in which scientists will study seasonal changes in rainforests and other ecosystems.

 

 

Read the article in Nature here.

Read NASA news release about the article here.

 

Image above:This natural-color image shows the importance of sun-sensor geometry. On the left, sunlight is backscattered by the Amazon rain forest, making green leaves appear brighter in some areas.

Published on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 09:37