NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

In this period, a remote sensing database has been compiled for the tropical rainforest, composed by Landsat TM data at a space resolution of 30 meters and with 7 bands from visible to infrared radiation reflection. Also a radar database was compiled (NASDA, Japan) and some high resolution data are currently being obtained for specific regions. Due to limited funding we have continued establishing collaborative work with colleagues working in South America. Thus, we have concentrated on Ecuador, where a major grant was awarded to our co-Investigator, Dr. Jorge Marcos (University of Barcelona, Spain. Our analyses of a 15-year AVHRR database provides NDVI variations per each of the involved ecosystems in El Niño and non-El Niño years preparing for calibration of modern pollen spectra in terms of spectral signature of extant vegetation. Data analysis is performed for Central Argentina (heavily affected by El Niño) and West and Southern Argentina (non-El Niño region, control). Results support our central hypothesis that El Niño effects can be discerned from changes in the spectral signature of vegetation. A paper authored by D’Antoni, Mezger and Payne is currently in preparation. Regarding our cooperation with scientists from Brazil, a remote sensing database (AVHRR, Landsat MSS, and NASDA Radar data) has been compiled. Twenty percent of the data under calibration now are from Brazil.