NASA Plans to Shoot Lasers at the Earth to Study Forests in 3D_

A new Study on climate change, land use, habitat diversity .
The lasers will be pulses.

I'm assuming GEDI is pronounced as Jedi.

I hope we get to view these on google earth. The forests and trees always look like clumps of broccoli

This week, NASA released details of a newly approved project: the Global Ecosystems Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar. The probe is scheduled for completion in 2018, and will eventually be launched to the International Space Station. There, from its orbital perch, the GEDI will shoot its trio of specialized lasers at the Earth.

Though that sounds like something a Bond villain will do, GEDI is most assuredly part of the effort to save the planet, not explode it. Its lasers are of the lidar variety—designed to shoot pulses, then analyze the reflected light. Its like radar but with light (thus the portmanteau lidar).

The probe’s mission is to create a three-dimensional scan of every forest on the planet between the latitudes of 50 degrees north and 50 degrees south. It’s an ambitious amount of land to cover, and it includes most of the planet’s temperate and tropical forests. Ultimately, the goal is to tackle one of the biggest ongoing questions in Earth sciences: the amount of carbon stored in global forests.

Source

"One of the most poorly quantified components of the carbon cycle is the net balance between forest disturbance and regrowth,” said Ralph Dubayah, the GEDI principal investigator at the University of Maryland. “GEDI will help scientists fill in this missing piece by revealing the vertical structure of the forest, which is information we really can’t get with sufficient accuracy any other way.”

Being able to know the age of some tree is pretty cool

By combining these findings with spatially comprehensive maps from other satellites showing where development and deforestation are taking place, or with studies that reveal the composition of forests, scientists will have a more powerful tool set for addressing questions about land use, habitat diversity and climate effects. For example, researchers will be able to relate forest architecture with habitat quality and the biodiversity of certain birds. They also may be able to estimate the age of trees in specific forests. The ultimate goal, Dubayah said, is to be able to monitor these and other changes in forests over time.

NASA

Great :/

Does anyone know if you can develop cancer from exposure to space lasers?

So, no more hiding in the forests then!

What would happen if a person happened to be looking up at the moment the laser pulsed?

I wonder if they have any harmful effects as well. Some of the tribes in the tropics may have some wtf moments. If they see it looking like artists rendition in the OP

The lasers will illuminate the surface with brief pulses of light that are optimized to pass through the canopy of even very dense forests without causing harm. (The lasers are eye-safe.) The team estimates that the instrument will send out 16 billion pulses in one year.

GEDI will have three lasers on board. These lasers will be split into 14 different beams by sophisticated optics.

These beams, which NASA says are safe to look at and don't harm vegetation, have the ability to penetrate tree canopies to paint an accurate picture of the world's forests both vertically and horizontally. The beams will be spaced at 1,640 feet apart and will cover a swath of about four miles at any one time. NASA said GEDI will send out about 16 billion laser pulses per year and will examine forests between 50 degrees north and 50 degrees south latitudes, "covering nearly all tropical and temperate forests."

a reply to: VoidHawk

Apparently they are safe. I will edit that into my post above

So if your are classified as vegetation you are safe

ETA
one still has to wonder if ocular damage to the eye can occur. I already have issues with this when catching the slightest light in my eye at the wrong angle. I'm blind for about 20 mins. I live near or in a forested area.

a reply to: violet
NASA Plans to Shoot Lasers to Study Forests..... I'm assuming GEDI is pronounced as Jedi

It must be part of NASA's plan to reverse engineer Ewok technology and attack the forest moon Endor.

These beams, which NASA says are safe to look at and don't harm vegetation, have the ability to penetrate tree canopies to paint an accurate picture of the world's forests both vertically and horizontally. The beams will be spaced at 1,640 feet apart and will cover a swath of about four miles at any one time. NASA said GEDI will send out about 16 billion laser pulses per year and will examine forests between 50 degrees north and 50 degrees south latitudes, "covering nearly all tropical and temperate forests."

That would come to 463 pulses per second. Interesting.

originally posted by: TheProphetMark

These beams, which NASA says are safe to look at and don't harm vegetation, have the ability to penetrate tree canopies to paint an accurate picture of the world's forests both vertically and horizontally. The beams will be spaced at 1,640 feet apart and will cover a swath of about four miles at any one time. NASA said GEDI will send out about 16 billion laser pulses per year and will examine forests between 50 degrees north and 50 degrees south latitudes, "covering nearly all tropical and temperate forests."

That would come to 463 pulses per second. Interesting.

Thanks.
That was going to be my next post to ask if someone could do the math on that

originally posted by: Bovah
Great :/

Does anyone know if you can develop cancer from exposure to space lasers?

I doubt if it will be a problem. Laser light does diffuse outwards. So by the time a 10 kilowatt/ square cm^2 green light laser beam travelled 300 miles down to earth and spread out to an area 4 square kilometers, the energy would have dropped down to 10,000 / 16,000,000,000,000 cm^2 watts. The resulting energy would be picowatts or nanowatts, way below that of a remote control LED light.

Presumably these satellites operate on the dark side of the earth,

originally posted by: TheProphetMark

These beams, which NASA says are safe to look at and don't harm vegetation, have the ability to penetrate tree canopies to paint an accurate picture of the world's forests both vertically and horizontally. The beams will be spaced at 1,640 feet apart and will cover a swath of about four miles at any one time. NASA said GEDI will send out about 16 billion laser pulses per year and will examine forests between 50 degrees north and 50 degrees south latitudes, "covering nearly all tropical and temperate forests."

That would come to 463 pulses per second. Interesting.

...hmmm, my math comes up with a slightly different answer. Sorry to nitpick, but if my math is wrong feel free to let me know!

365.25 days in a scientific year
365.25 x 24 hours in a day = 8766 hours in a year
8766 x 60 minutes in an hour = 525,960 minutes in a year
525,960 x 60 seconds in a minute = 31,557,600 seconds in a year
16,000,000,000 pulses per year / 31,557,600 = 507.00940, or roughly 507 pulses per second

Even with the everyday 365 days measurement..
365 x 24 = 8760 hours/year
8760 x 60 = 525,600 minutes/year
525,600 x 60 = 31,536,000 seconds/year
16,000,000,000 / 31,536,000 = 507.35667, or roughly 507 pulses per second

On topic...
This is pretty awesome, I am very interested to see the images produced by this process!

a reply to: violet

Just a mention here. There are planes and satellites using something called "LIDAR"-laser guided radar to detect pyramids, temples and other ancient structures underneath the forest canopy. Laser directed as thought the trees and folliage werent even there.

Stuff is really comin' along...

So... NASA, you know, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has decided to study forests.
And they're going to be doing that by blanketing everything between the probe and the ground with 463 laser pulses per second in order to see whatever the light is reflecting off of...
This is NASA. Think about this for a second.
I'm gonna be the first to say... What if this is a cover story for a new high-tech way to monitor everything in the skies, ie UFOs that maybe can't be easily monitored otherwise. Regardless, even if it's not, I'm willing to bet the government is going to get very involved with this technology.

Hey MIB people, please don't suicide me in case I'm on the right track here.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: violet

Just a mention here. There are planes and satellites using something called "LIDAR"-laser guided radar to detect pyramids, temples and other ancient structures underneath the forest canopy. Laser directed as thought the trees and folliage werent even there.

Stuff is really comin' along...

Yes it says lidar. That's very interesting.

From the NASA page I linked

GEDI can do this because it’s a laser-based system, called a lidar, that can measure the distance from the space-based instrument to Earth’s surface with enough accuracy to detect subtle variations, including the tops of trees, the ground, and the vertical distribution of aboveground biomass in forests. Its immediate predecessors are Goddard’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and airborne Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor, known as LVIS, which is flown on high-altitude aircraft to measure forests, land topography, ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice.

I take it canopy means treetops? Whereas in google earth you can't see what's on the ground.

It will be exciting to see images they produce if they release them. In the meantime I'm liking the graphic they came up with. I'm using it as my wallpaper.

a reply to: trollz

Well they say it's for studying habitat diversity as well. Which would be the species living there. I'm not qualified to explain that. Perhaps someone else can enlighten us ?

Being it said it would study the difference between an ancient forest and reforestation. Perhaps they need to know if certain species thrive in reforested areas? These beams can detect the ages of trees.

Or it's part of how in the future we will use the land because it has been said there will be zones. Zones where humans can habitate and zones purely agricultural, with the buffer zones in between. It says it's for land use as well.

Or it's to scope out where human survivalists are hiding out! Just kidding. In any case I think the last place one should escape to is the woods. They're prone to catching fire. I live near trees because obviously my land was cut down to build our neighbourhood.

a reply to: violet
I understand the 1st trails showed 100's and 100's of unknown structures in Mexico, South America and Central America, under the canopy of tree tops!

There are the photo scans available I believe at Unexplained.com, but I might be wrong. You can search though to view them!

a reply to: ChaosComplex

I only used 364 days lol

Good work though

Didn't bother to check how many days there were in a year before I did the math, only did a quick cal to see for myself and then posted the answer for everyone else to see.

My bad though, but because I hate it when people try to one up others on this site - I'll be sure to be more accurate with my math next time. I did a Google search it shows that 365.242, not 365.25. Hey, you asked.

But it doesn't really matter though, 400, 500, 600, even 100 per second would still be a lot. That's why it's a scary thought, so I just hope they are telling the truth about it being harmless.

originally posted by: trollz
This is NASA. Think about this for a second.

Earth is in space, too.

a reply to: TheProphetMark
Wasn't trying to one-up you by any means. I have a love for math and generally double check figures when I encounter them. I also like to point out when simple errors have been made, no big deal.


P.S.:
Even with 365.242 the answer comes to roughly 507 pulses per minute ;-)

originally posted by: ChaosComplex
a reply to: TheProphetMark
Wasn't trying to one-up you by any means. I have a love for math and generally double check figures when I encounter them. I also like to point out when simple errors have been made, no big deal.


P.S.:
Even with 365.242 the answer comes to roughly 507 pulses per minute ;-)

Yeah I did get the impression you that were genuinely interested in the math and it wasn't your intention to one up me unlike some people on this site who do it out of spite.

FYI you might want to edit your post if you haven't already lol