Google opens satellite images, tools, to study deforestation

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With the advent of commercial satellite imaging, it has become possible to track developments that were once exclusively the domain of space and spy agencies. Groups like the Federation of American Scientists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have used changes between consecutive images to track everything from the Chinese nuclear program to human rights abuses in Sudan. Each of these efforts, however, have required people to examine the images. Google has now cooperated with some researchers to produce an algorithm that will scan consecutive images of forests in order to detect areas that are being cut. Right now, it's still testing the system, but it plans on providing free access to the software for researchers who are interested in studying forests, and governments that are trying to manage them.

The project was announced today in Copenhagen, where delegates are meeting to negotiate a treaty that may limit greenhouse gas emissions. Forests play a significant role in the global carbon cycle; clearing them liberates significant amounts of carbon, a process that takes decades to reverse. Growing forests can help sequester significant amounts of carbon, and there is evidence that even mature forests continue to sequester smaller amounts. As a result, land use changes have contributed to humanity's carbon emissions, and countries that preserve or expand their wooded areas have argued that they deserve emissions credits for doing so.

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