Managing Forests
The light greenish-yellow areas are red pine trees approximately 30 meters (100 feet) tall. The brownish yellow areas are jack pine trees of various ages. The dark patches are areas of recent clear cuts. The shore line of Lake Superior in the light greenish blue is a mixture of aspen and birch trees. South of that, surrounding McNearny and Johnson Lakes, is a dark purple area containing north hardwoods.
LightSAR's Additional Contribution:
Accurate information about land-cover is important to area resource managers and for use in regional- to global-scale scientific models used to understand global change.LightSAR's use of the longer L-band (24-cm wavelength) radar, with multiple polarization modes will allow even better distinction of textures, vegetation structures, and water content. In addition, LightSAR's continuous, long-term imaging will allow monitoring of forest health, as well as the use and replenishment of resources.