Why do NASA shoot lasers at trees?

in contact with BBC WorldAnd the Adrien PascualD., a member of the GEDI science team, identified that “data from the mission is essential to understanding how much forests store carbon and the impact of deforestation in combating climate change.”

How does the program work?

GEDI is the English acronym for Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation or Research the dynamics The global ecosystem, the core of the program is an instrument that shoots lasers.

“The International Space Station is making orbits along the Earth without stopping. I note that our GEDI satellite is emitting laser pulses all the time.

These energy pulses allow determining not only the height of the trees but also the structure of the forests.

“When this pulse of energy hits the ground, it hits the first element it finds, which is the treetops, and continues to advance until it hits the ground,” he noted.

“The sensor measures the difference between when it detects the tops of trees and the ground. By converting that time period into a distance we can estimate the height of the vegetation,” he added.

“The ability to use this tool to survey the entire world’s forests, and generate trillions of observations, is really unique,” he said.

GEDI uses a remote sensing technology called LIDAR, which basically consists of pointing a laser at a surface and measuring the time it takes to return to its source.

He pointed out that “this technology has never been placed on a satellite and was transferred to the International Space Station and was implemented at an altitude of more than 400 km to specifically monitor forests.”