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Japan releases global forest map to help reduce global warming

Xinhua, January 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Japanese space agency on Thursday released a global forest map free of charge by using its radar Earth observation satellite, which may help prevent global warming through understanding of forest distribution.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) "developed a whole-globe forest map of 25-meter resolution, 'Global Forest/Non-forest map,' using the DAICHI-2 (ALOS-2) launched on May 24, 2014, and released it from today free of charge," said JAXA in a release on Thursday.

In recent years, deforestation has been expanding in tropical and sub-tropical areas and is widely deemed as one of the causes of global warming. Therefore, many governments in the world place priority on understanding forest areas and maintaining them as important measures against global warming for political decisions.

"The L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2 (PALSAR-2) aboard the DAICHI-2 (Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2) with its high sensitivity and resolution uses a radio wave of long wave length (about 24 cm) that is suitable for observing the existence of forests (natural forests) and the current status of forest use," said JAXA.

"It can also perform observations regardless of weather conditions or time (day or night) hence it is especially advantageous to measure forests in tropical areas which are covered by clouds almost all around the year," said the Japanese space agency.

JAXA plans to provide the "Global Forest/Non-forest map" by the DAICHI-2 once a year to contribute to measures against global warming through the understanding of forest distribution. "With this data, we can grasp the reduction and increase of forests in each area in the world based on spatial and temporal changes," said the space agency.

"Therefore, it is expected to be useful for government organizations around the world for their forest maintenance plans such as which area should be prioritized for monitoring and maintenance," it said. Endit