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A recent article in The Guardian described a new technology that is mapping the Amazon forest in an unprecedented way: in colorful 3D. The Carnegie Airborne Observatory consists of a small airplane, the tropical ecologist Greg Asner, his team, and two new machines. The Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), which bounces laser beams off of the forest canopy from 5,000 meters above the ground, can map the forest three-dimensionally, lending intense detail to huge areas. What colors the map is a device called a spectrometre. It registers chemical and visual elements of the forest, which indicate biodiversity, and overlays this information in varying colors. And since the Amazon is the most biodiverse landscape in the world, the map is stunning.

Asner and his team are based out of the department of ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University in California. The team can survey 360 square kilometers of rainforest with incredible detail, which has not been possible until now and may prove vital to rainforest conservation efforts. The machines can clearly identify areas of deforestation and degradation, which are increasing at frightening rates due, in large part, to industrialized agriculture (as documented in Brighter Green's policy paper, Cattle, Soyanization, and Climate Change: Brazil's Agricultural Revolution.) Asner intends to collect the more comprehensive evidence needed to substantiate initiatives such as the United Nation's REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). The Carnegie Airborne Observatory has the potential to boost concerted efforts to advocate for and conserve this most vital ecosystem. Eventually, we hope to see Asner's maps become more vibrant in color and contour as the data aids in the reversal of rainforest deforestation.

Photo courtesy of Carnegie Airborne Observatory