Forest disturbance monitoring tool (ForWarn)
Forests and vegetated landscapes change naturally through the seasons. However, dramatic changes that occur at unexpected times can be detected through satellite imagery. Forest and natural resources managers, decision makers, scientists, and the public can use this system to understand potential threats to our nation’s lands. NEMAC has supported the U.S. Forest Service’s Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center in the development of a cutting-edge forest disturbance monitoring system called ForWarn. Other partners include NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, among others.
HiForm
NEMAC has supported the USDA Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center with the development of HiForm, a research tool that tracks forest dynamics for longer-term planning and monitoring. This tool leverages 10-meter resolution Sentinel-2 imagery from the European Space Agency because of the detail and frequency. The emphasis is on eastern US forests, with a particular focus on the Southeast and Appalachian region.
Southern Forest Area Change Tools (SouthFACT)
NEMAC worked with the North Carolina Forest Service to design and develop Southern Forest Area Change Tools (SouthFACT), a web-based application for forest change detection that utilizes Landsat satellite imagery and additional GIS data to more precisely identify and quantify changes in forest cover as it occurs across the southern landscape—from Virginia to Florida to Oklahoma.