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Satellite Captures Glowing Plants From Space

Posted by samzenpus on from the getting-that-glow dept.

sciencehabit writes About 1% of the light that strikes plants is re-emitted as a faint, fluorescent glow—a measure of photosynthetic activity. Today, scientists released a map of this glow as measured by the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, a NASA satellite launched in July with the goal of mapping the net amount of carbon in the atmosphere. The map reveals that tropical rainforests near the equator are actively sucking up carbon, while the Corn Belt in the eastern United States, near the end of its growing season, is also a sink. Higher resolution fluorescence mapping could one day be used to help assess crop yields and how they respond to drought and heat in a changing climate.

2 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Re:NASA link by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Thanks for the high-res version. Is there some technical reason that they omit the ocean data? I would think the oceans have quite a bit of photosynthetic activity!

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    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  2. Re:NASA link by David_Hart · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Thanks for the high-res version. Is there some technical reason that they omit the ocean data? I would think the oceans have quite a bit of photosynthetic activity!

    I can only guess that fluorescent glow from algae, sea weed, etc. would be diffused in the water so much that it wouldn't get picked up on satellite. If you notice, they picked up the islands but not much from the surrounding ocean. In addition, ground based plants tend to be denser than water based.