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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 88, NO. 26, doi:10.1029/2007EO260001, 2007

Revealing Land Cover Change in California With Satellite Data

Christopher Potter

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., USA


Vanessa Genovese

California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, USA


Peggy Gross

California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, USA


Shyam Boriah

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA


Michael Steinbach

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA


Vipin Kumar

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA


Abstract

The conversion of natural land cover into human-dominated cover types continues to be a change of global proportions with many unknown environmental consequences. Noteworthy conversions of this type include tree stand harvests in forested regions, urbanization, and agricultural intensification in former woodland and natural grassland areas. Determining where, when, and why natural ecosystem conversions occur is a crucial scientific concern [Foley et al., 2005]. Characteristics of the land cover can have important impacts on local climate, radiation balance, biogeochemistry, hydrology, and the diversity and abundance of terrestrial species [Randerson et al., 2006]. Consequently, understanding trends in land cover conversion at local scales is a requirement for making useful numerical predictions about other regional and global changes. It is urgent that accurate, timely, and economical tools be made available to document these conversions and aid in the management of their impacts.

Published 26 June 2007.

Index Terms: 0439 Biogeosciences: Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815); 0315 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0426, 1610); 0480 Biogeosciences: Remote sensing.

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Citation: Potter, C., V. Genovese, P. Gross, S. Boriah, M. Steinbach, and V. Kumar (2007), Revealing Land Cover Change in California With Satellite Data, Eos Trans. AGU, 88(26), doi:10.1029/2007EO260001.