"The first fine-scale mapping of global forest cover shows the rate of forest loss in the tropics has increased over the past 12 years. The use of remote sensing satellite data to chronicle changes in global land cover is not new. But in a paper published online this week in the journal Science, researchers provide an exceptionally detailed accounting of gains and loses in global forest cover from 2000 to 2012."
"Matthew Hansen, a geographical sciences professor at the University of Maryland, led a group of 15 university, Google and government researchers who used Landsat data to map global tree cover at a spatial resolution of 98 feet.
The images document the effects of forest disturbance - logging, wildfire, insect damage, storms – as well as forest regrowth. The total global loss in tree cover of 888,034 square miles was nearly three times the total gain during the period."
Bettina Boxall reports for the Los Angeles Times November 15, 2013.
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