Monitoring U.S. forest dynamics with Landsat [Chapter 12]

Abstract

Forest dynamics in the United States differ substantially from those in the developing world and thus present unique monitoring requirements. While deforestation and conversion to semipermanent agriculture dominate tropical forest dynamics, the area of forest land in the United States has remained fairly constant for the last 50-60 years (Birdsey and Lewis 2003). Although the United States experienced rapid deforestation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, much of the eastern clearing regrew during the twentieth century as marginal agricultural land was abandoned.

Citation

Masek, Jeffrey G.; Healey, Sean P. 2012. Monitoring U.S. forest dynamics with Landsat [Chapter 12]. In: Achard, F.; Hansen, M. C., eds. Global Forest Monitoring from Earth Observation. CRC Press. p. 211-227.