NASA map reveals the heights of the world's forests

The height of a forest is important in a number of different ways. First the taller a forest, the more likely there are important niche habitats in the canopy providing homes to unique species. In addition, a forests' height says something about its ability to sequester carbon: the taller a forest the more carbon it can hold. Now a team of researchers, led by NASA, has created the world's first global map showing the height of the world's forests, publishing their findings in the Journal of Geophysical Research. "Our map can be used to improve global efforts to monitor carbon. In addition, forest height is an integral characteristic of Earth's habitats, yet is poorly measured globally, so our results will also benefit studies of the varieties of life that are found in particular parts of the forest or habitats," explains Marc Simard with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a press release. The maps were created by employing lasers on NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat). Laser pulses by the Light Detection and Ranging technology (LIDAR) produced a map whose resolution is 0.6 miles (1 kilometer). "Our map contains one of the best descriptions of the height of Earth's forests currently available at regional and global scales," Simard adds. "This study demonstrates the tremendous potential that spaceborne lidar holds for revealing new information about Earth's forests. However, to monitor the long-term health of Earth's forests and other ecosystems, new Earth observing satellites will be needed." Not surprisingly the study showed that the world's tallest forests are at low latitudes, while the shortest are at higher altitudes. Bucking this trend are the eucalyptus forests of Australia and New Zealand.