Image above: Commercial forests for timber commodity creation in Mpumalanga, South Africa taken January 12, 2023. © 2023, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved. In South Africa, commercial timber operations and native wildlife can sometimes come into conflict. Forests planted for commodity creation in the region are often homogeneous monocultures of exotic […]
Image above: PlanetScope image of the Amazon rainforest in Peru taken June 5, 2023. © 2023, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved. Many are familiar with news stories and reports regarding deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. However, some may be surprised to see that it is estimated that forest degradation has actually […]
Image above: Snow cover on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska taken February 27, 2020. © 2020, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved. Seasonal snowfall is very important to maintaining important ecological systems. For example, mountainous snowmelt replenishes rivers and watersheds with the arrival of spring and summer. Snow cover also acts as […]
Image above: PlanetScope image over Mississippi River in St. Paul, Minnesota captured September 8, 2022. © 2022, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved. Invasive species can cause devastation to ecosystems and significant economic damage to industries, such as agriculture. Effective management is necessary to stop these species from wreaking havoc across landscapes, […]
Image above: PlanetScope image of snowcapped Upper Gunnison Mountains, Colorado taken December 4, 2021. © 2021, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved. Alpine regions are some of the most sensitive systems to climate change. In the mountainous ecosystems of the western United States, for example, even small changes in temperature cause significant […]
Image above: Planet image capturing cabbage fields in Yuangchang Township, Taiwan taken June 13, 2022. © 2022, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved. Taiwan is facing a series of complexities – from a highly mountainous terrain and frequent typhoons to an aging farming population – that make the cost of agricultural operations […]
Image above: SkySat image of the rockslide in Rishiganga, India taken February 9, 2021. © 2021, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved. In early February of 2021, the Chamoli district, located in India, experienced heavy rain flows, leading to flash flooding in the mountainous region. This flooding, combined with a series of […]
Image above: Planet image of ice sheet carvings set into the mountains of British Columbia, Canada taken July 30, 2020. © 2020, Planet Labs PBC. All Rights Reserved. About 20,000 years ago, the world was experiencing the Last Glacial Maximum, the end of the Pleistocene epoch when ice sheets covered most of […]
Want to learn more about how Planet’s data is being leveraged by scientists around the world? Explore our recent Planet Science Applications e-books: 2020- 2021 Planet Science Applications E-book 2019 Planet Science Applications E-book
The Amazon rainforest is faced with daily forest loss and degradation, harming local biodiverse ecosystems. This study from Conservation International, Boise State University, and the University of Guyana, demonstrates how scientists can monitor the drivers of this deforestation, including gold mining, with PlanetScope imagery. By capturing satellite images of remote locations near […]
