Open AccessRevealing land cover change in California with satellite data
Author(s) -
Potter Christopher,
Genovese Vanessa,
Gross Peggy,
Boriah, Shyam,
Steinbach Michael,
Kumar Vipin
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2007eo260001
Subject(s) - land cover , woodland , land use , environmental science , natural (archaeology) , urbanization , global change , grassland , climate change , environmental resource management , geography , ecology , archaeology , biology
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.