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Founder and CEO of Mongabay, a nonprofit conservation and environmental science news platform
Forest carbon monitoring gets an AI boost, reports Abhishyant Kidangoor. Forests have long been surveyed from above. Satellite data reveal where they stand and how they shrink or grow, while lidar—laser-based radar—has allowed scientists to map them in 3D, uncovering details that lie beyond human sight. Now, artificial intelligence is adding a new layer of insight. Earth-imaging company Planet has unveiled a Forest Carbon Monitoring tool that fuses its satellite imagery with lidar data. The tool can estimate carbon storage, tree height, and canopy cover in remote forests at a granular resolution of three meters. “It will help us understand aspects of the forest that might not be initially accessible to the naked eye,” says Andrew Zolli, Planet’s chief impact officer. Satellites track forest cover but not the carbon stored in biomass. Measuring this requires lidar, which calculates tree dimensions by measuring the time laser beams take to bounce off foliage. NASA’s GEDI mission, mounted on the International Space Station, has mapped swathes of forests, but coverage gaps persist. Planet’s tool aims to bridge these voids, training machine-learning models to infer carbon data in areas without lidar coverage. Initial findings from the tool have been striking. While deforestation ravages the Amazon, the northern reaches harbor untouched carbon reserves. “What really resonated with me is the understanding of where we have extant forest carbon stocks which we must absolutely protect,” says Zolli. The data also underpin Project Centinela, which supports conservation efforts in biodiversity hotspots like Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park. Meanwhile, carbon markets—often criticized for opacity—may gain credibility through applications of the tool argues Zolli: “The data gives a shared, common picture of what’s actually happening on the ground.” Planet’s innovation rests on decades of data, cutting-edge AI, and cloud computing. “We are the first generation that has had all three in place,” Zolli says, enabling swift, confident assessments of carbon across the globe. 📰 story: https://lnkd.in/gwRWf5Qf 📷: A view of carbon storage in forest and an area of fishbone deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Image courtesy of Planet.