NAFD science

The primary science goal of the NAFD research is to develop a sound understanding of North American forest disturbance and regrowth to improve knowledge of the contemporary North American Carbon cycle. To this aim, NAFD researchers continue to exploit the potentail for integrating observations form the historical records of Landsat (1972 - present) and the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program.

Preliminary work to assess forest dynamics by finding means to combine the USDA FS FIA measurements with remotely sensed data, while not breaching the confidentiality of the FIA plot measurements. This work was carried out during the PROTOTYPE study funded under the NASA's Ecosystem Program. During PHASE I of NAFD, funded under the NACP, efforts focused on developing efficient methods to process large amounts of Landsat data, integrate it with FIA data, and then analyze the integrated data to derive valid statistical samples of disturbance rates across the coterminous United States. Now in PHASE II, also funded under NACP, the NAFD project will continue research to expand and refine current knowledge of North American forest dynamics and reduce uncertainties in the understanding of North American carbon fluxes.