NASA will soon turn a laser-based device toward Earth in an effort to map its forest in 3D. This endeavor, which will originate the International Space Station and goes by the name GEDI, is all part of the agencys plan to determine the amount of carbon our planets forests contain. One of the most poorly quantified components of the carbon cycle is the net balance between forest disturbance and regrowth, said Ralph Dubayah, GEDI principal investigator at the University of Maryland, in a statement yesterday. GEDI will help scientists fill in this missing piece by revealing the vertical structure of the forest, which is information we really cant get with sufficient accuracy any other way.
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