Humid Tropical Rainforest Inventory Project

The Humid Tripical Rainforest Inventory Project (HTRIP) is the largest sub-division of NASA'S Landsat Pathfinder Project. The focus of the HTRIP is to map and monitor deforestation in tropical regions like the Amazon and the South Pacific using Landsat satellite images. High resolution Landsat Satellites monitor 27,000 sites worldwide. Models made based on the satellite data can be used to predict future rates of deforestation, and subsequently, future levels of carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, loss of species diversity. These models may suggest ways that forest research management can address issues of land use and policy alternatives.

Many of the facts we know about the effects of global deforestation either derive from or are confirmed by data collected from Landsat satellite images. By looking at some of the images in NASA's Satellite Image Browser scientists observe visual trends in the appearance of the land. One observation is that deforestation generally occurs with the extension of a road into forested land. Another observation is that much of the Amazon forest converted to farmland experiences rapid succession of wild vegetation spreading from neighboring forestland. The effects of this occurence are devastating; species are permanently lost, nutrients are removed from the area or converted into non-usable forms (such as carbon dioxide), erosion damages the hydrologic cycle, and the economic benefits of the resultant farmland are fleeting. (Moran et. al., 1994)

Information found in the HTRIP presents the realities of deforestation. A closer examination can help identify possible social, political, and economic causes of deforestation in specific regions of the world. Knowing such facts, governments, NGO's, and individuals can work to implement change.

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