Graphic from Kays et al.’s 2015 Science paper illustrating big-data animal tracking.
By Laura E.P. Rocchio
Last year, Landsat data were used in some aspect to inform more than a dozen research papers published in Science, Nature and Nature’s discipline-specific journals. The paper topics included animal migration patterns, glacier trends, post-earthquake landslide inventories, inland water studies, agriculture policy decisions and forest cover estimates.
A listing of these papers can be found below. Thanks to the NASA Goddard Library for their assistance in identifying the Nature articles. If we missed any papers published in these journals during 2015, please let us know!
Science
Brazil’s Soy Moratorium
Gibbs, H. K., L. Rausch, J. Munger, I. Schelly, D. C. Morton, P. Noojipady, B. Soares-Filho, P. Barreto, L. Micol, and N. F. Walker. 2015. “Brazil’s Soy Moratorium.” Science 347 (6220):377-378. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa0181.
Geomorphic and geologic controls of geohazards induced by Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha earthquake
Kargel, J. S., G. J. Leonard, D. H. Shugar, U. K. Haritashya, A. Bevington, E. J. Fielding, K. Fujita, M. Geertsema, E. S. Miles, J. Steiner, E. Anderson, S. Bajracharya, G. W. Bawden, D. F. Breashears, A. Byers, B. Collins, M. R. Dhital, A. Donnellan, T. L. Evans, M. L. Geai, M. T. Glasscoe, D. Green, D. R. Gurung, R. Heijenk, A. Hilborn, K. Hudnut, C. Huyck, W. W. Immerzeel, Jiang Liming, R. Jibson, A. Kääb, N. R. Khanal, D. Kirschbaum, P. D. A. Kraaijenbrink, D. Lamsal, Liu Shiyin, Lv Mingyang, D. McKinney, N. K. Nahirnick, Nan Zhuotong, S. Ojha, J. Olsenholler, T. H. Painter, M. Pleasants, Pratima KC, QI Yuan, B. H. Raup, D. Regmi, D. R. Rounce, A. Sakai, Shangguan Donghui, J. M. Shea, A. B. Shrestha, A. Shukla, D. Stumm, M. van der Kooij, K. Voss, Wang Xin, B. Weihs, D. Wolfe, Wu Lizong, Yao Xiaojun, M. R. Yoder, and N. Young. 2015. “Geomorphic and geologic controls of geohazards induced by Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha earthquake.” Science. doi: 10.1126/science.aac8353. (Sciencexpress)
Terrestrial animal tracking as an eye on life and planet
Kays, Roland, Margaret C. Crofoot, Walter Jetz, and Martin Wikelski. 2015. “Terrestrial animal tracking as an eye on life and planet.” Science 348 (6240). doi: 10.1126/science.aaa2478.
Fast retreat of Zachariæ Isstrøm, northeast Greenland
Mouginot, J., E. Rignot, B. Scheuchl, I. Fenty, A. Khazendar, M. Morlighem, A. Buzzi, and J. Paden. 2015. “Fast retreat of Zachariæ Isstrøm, northeast Greenland.” Science. doi: 10.1126/science.aac7111. (Sciencexpress)
Dynamic thinning of glaciers on the Southern Antarctic Peninsula
Wouters, B., A. Martin-Español, V. Helm, T. Flament, J. M. van Wessem, S. R. M. Ligtenberg, M. R. van den Broeke, and J. L. Bamber. 2015. “Dynamic thinning of glaciers on the Southern Antarctic Peninsula.” Science 348 (6237):899-903. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa5727.
Nature
Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming
Tedstone, Andrew J., Peter W. Nienow, Noel Gourmelen, Amaury Dehecq, Daniel Goldberg, and Edward Hanna. 2015. “Decadal slowdown of a land-terminating sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet despite warming.” Nature 526 (7575):692-695. doi: 10.1038/nature15722
Nature Communicaitons
Rapid sequestration of rock avalanche deposits within glaciers
Dunning, Stuart A., Nicholas J. Rosser, Samuel T. McColl, and Natalya V. Reznichenko. 2015. “Rapid sequestration of rock avalanche deposits within glaciers.” Nat Commun 6. doi: 10.1038/ncomms8964.
Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet
Palmer, Steven, Malcolm McMillan, and Mathieu Morlighem. 2015. “Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet.” Nat Commun 6. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9408.
Alternative futures for Borneo show the value of integrating economic and conservation targets across borders
Runting, Rebecca K., Erik Meijaard, Nicola K. Abram, Jessie A. Wells, David L. A. Gaveau, Marc Ancrenaz, Hugh P. Posssingham, Serge A. Wich, Fitrian Ardiansyah, Melvin T. Gumal, Laurentius N. Ambu, and Kerrie A. Wilson. 2015. “Alternative futures for Borneo show the value of integrating economic and conservation targets across borders.” Nat Commun 6. doi: 10.1038/ncomms7819.
Nature Climate Change
Conservation policy and the measurement of forests
Sexton, Joseph O., Praveen Noojipady, Xiao-Peng Song, Min Feng, Dan-Xia Song, Do-Hyung Kim, Anupam Anand, Chengquan Huang, Saurabh Channan, Stuart L. Pimm, and John R. Townshend. 2016. “Conservation policy and the measurement of forests.” Nature Clim. Change 6 (2):192-196. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2816 (Published online Oct. 2015)
Nature Geoscience
Globally significant greenhouse-gas emissions from African inland waters
Borges, Alberto V., Francois Darchambeau, Cristian R. Teodoru, Trent R. Marwick, Fredrick Tamooh, Naomi Geeraert, Fredrick O. Omengo, Frederic Guerin, Thibault Lambert, Cedric Morana, Eric Okuku, and Steven Bouillon. 2015. “Globally significant greenhouse-gas emissions from African inland waters.” Nature Geosci 8 (8):637-642. doi: 10.1038/ngeo2486
Reduced sediment transport in the Yellow River due to anthropogenic changes
Wang, Shuai, Bojie Fu, Shilong Piao, Yihe Lu, Philippe Ciais, Xiaoming Feng, and Yafeng Wang. 2016. “Reduced sediment transport in the Yellow River due to anthropogenic changes.” Nature Geosci 9 (1):38-41. doi: 10.1038/ngeo2602
Nature News
Environmental science: Agree on biodiversity metrics to track from space
Skidmore, Andrew K., Nathalie Pettorelli, Nicholas C. Coops, Gary N. Geller, Matthew Hansen, Richard Lucas, Caspar A. Mücher, Brian O’Connor, Marc Paganini, Henrique Miguel Pereira, Michael E. Schaepman, Woody Turner, Tiejun Wang, Martin Wegmann. 2015. “Environmental science: Agree on biodiversity metrics to track from space.” Nature 523 (7561):403-405. July 22, 2015.
