Africa FloresMcGill University | McGill · Department of Natural Resource Sciences
Africa Flores
MSc Earth System Science
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46
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Introduction
Publications
Publications (46)
Assessing the quality of multiple Analysis-Ready SAR datasets to inform remote sensing users about performance and trade-offs across multiple SAR
State-of-the-art methodologies to monitor deforestation rely mostly on optical satellite observations. High-density optical time series can enable the detection of deforestation almost as soon as it occurs. However, deforestation monitoring in the tropics can be hindered by high cloud coverage, and thus the responsiveness of managers, enforcement a...
Sustainable land management is integral to conserving tropical ecosystems and reducing carbon emissions. Human-set fires are part of the land cover change process and are the most common driver of deforestation and carbon emissions in Amazonia. Analyzing the behavior of major fire events provides insight into the effectiveness of current protection...
Forest stand height (FSH), or average canopy height, serves as an important indicator for forest monitoring. The information provided about above-ground biomass for greenhouse gas emissions reporting and estimating carbon storage is relevant for reporting for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). A novel forest heigh...
The land cover across the HKH region is changing at an accelerated rate due to the rapid economic growth and population pressures that are impacting the long-term sustainability of ecosystems.
The Amazon is the largest expanse of tropical rainforest globally and deforestation resulting from land use changes poses a major concern for sustainable resource management. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data have all-weather and all-day capability, and thus are well-suited for mapping land use land cover (LULC) in tropical regions, which are sea...
The Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) is a significant resource for five states within East Africa, which faces major land use land cover changes that threaten ecosystem integrity and ecosystem services derived from the basin's resources. To assess land use land cover changes between 1985 and 2014, and subsequently determine the trends and drivers of these...
Kenya is composed of diverse geographic regions and is heavily impacted by climatic variability. Habitat heterogeneity has led to a diverse number of plants and animals. Invasive species, however, threaten this biodiversity. This study mapped the current distribution of Acacia reficiens and Opuntia spp. using occurrence data, then applied a species...
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) no. 15 addresses the protection of terrestrial ecosystems and sustainable forest management, and Target 15.2 encourages countries to sustainably manage forests, and halt deforestation by 2020. SDG indicator 15.1.1 proposes tracking forest area as an indicator for achieving that SDG. Though mangrove forests represe...
Land cover maps play an integral role in environmental management. However, countries and institutes encounter many challenges with producing timely, efficient, and temporally harmonized updates to their land cover maps. To address these issues we present a modular Regional Land Cover Monitoring System (RLCMS) architecture that is easily customized...
In this study we evaluated the applicability of a space-borne hyperspectral sensor, Hyperion, to resolve for chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentration in Lake Atitlan, a tropical mountain lake in Guatemala. In situ water quality samples of Chl a concentration were collected and correlated with water surface reflectance derived from Hyperion images, to de...
Over the past decades, the Peruvian Amazon has experienced a rapid change in forest cover due to the expansion of agriculture and extractive activities. This study uses spectral mixture analysis (SMA) in a cloud-computing platform to map forest loss within and outside indigenous territories, protected areas, mining concessions, and reforestation co...
Forests play an essential role in providing sustainable ecosystem services and livelihood options for a growing population. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, forests have been continuously reduced due to increasing demand for timber, fuelwood, and agriculture. Identification of deforestation hotspots and monitoring changes in those hotspots...
Land cover maps are a critical component to make informed policy, development, planning, and resource management decisions. However, technical, capacity, and institutional challenges inhibit the creation of consistent and relevant land cover maps for use in developing regions. Many developing regions lack coordinated capacity, infrastructure, and t...
Frequent frost occurrences in the Kenyan highlands have had devastating effects on agricultural productivity.With inadequate management systems to mitigate the impacts, farmers have often had to bear the burden oflosses resulting from frost damage. While agriculture in Kenya remains dependent on weather and climate, theagricultural economy of Kenya...
Land cover monitoring efforts are important for resource planning and ecosystem services in many countries. Collect Earth Online (CEO) is a new, free open source and user-friendly software tool for land monitoring. It is the product of a collaborative effort between NASA, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), US Forest Serv...
This Handbook main objective is to translate knowledge gained from decades of research in SAR into practical guidance to countries on how SAR can be used for forest monitoring and biomass estimation. This Handbook represents a joint contribution from the U.S. government-led SilvaCarbon initiative, and the joint NASA-USAID SERVIR program, to support...
Lake Victoria in East Africa is a major ecosystem, whose size and importance has warranted the exploration of MODIS imagery to provide continuous and accurate water quality information. To this effect, two sea expeditions (in November 2014 and February 2015) were carried out to collect in situ lake surface temperature (LST), chlorophyll a (Chl) and...
Reservoir construction and land use change are altering sediment transport within river systems at a global scale. Changes in sediment transport can impact river morphology, aquatic ecosystems, and ultimately the growth and retreat of delta environments. The Lower Mekong Basin is crucial to five neighboring countries for transportation, energy prod...
Frost is a major threat to crop productivity in the Kenyan highlands. With agriculture being central to the Kenyan economy, every effort needs to be taken to alleviate losses especially on high value crops like tea, the leading foreign exchange earner. Current frost mapping efforts by SERVIR, a joint initiative between National Aeronautics and Spac...
With four international centers or “hubs,” a joint NASA/USAID initiative known as SERVIR is well positioned to fast-track the application of Earth Observation (EO) satellite data into decision-making contexts across the globe. This chapter describes the SERVIR program and how it helps developing countries use EO data to address environmental issues...
On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor, Texas, bringing with it unprecedented amounts of rainfall and flooding. In times of natural disasters of this nature, emergency responders require timely and accurate information about the hazard in order to assess and plan for disaster response. Due to the e...
GeoDash leverages Google Earth Engine (GEE) by allowing users to set up custom browser-based widgets that pull from GEE's massive public data catalog to assist with visual image interpretation and collection processes in Collect Earth Online (http://collect.earth). While designed initially with national and global forest resource assessments in min...
In this study, we assessed land cover land use (LCLU) changes and their potential environmental drivers (i.e., precipitation, temperature) in five countries in Eastern & Southern (E&S) Africa (Rwanda, Botswana, Tanzania, Malawi and Namibia) between 2000 and 2010. Landsat-derived LCLU products developed by the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resource...
Mesoamerica is a term used sometimes in cultural context, but in this article we are using it to name the land bridge between North and South America, made up of the Southern Mexico States (Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Campeche y Tabasco), Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. With an area of approximately...
Africa is rich in natural resources including minerals, natural habitats and vegetation (African Bank 2007). However, these resources are under sustained pressure from a population that is growing at a faster rate than anywhere else on the globe (African Institute for Policy Development 2012). Substantial changes in land cover have been observed at...
Lake Atitlan in Guatemala is a vital source of drinking water. The deteriorating conditions of water quality in this lake threaten human and ecological health as well as the local and national economy. Given the sporadic and limited measurements available, it is impossible to determine the changing conditions of water quality. The goal of this thes...
The Regional Visualization and Monitoring System (SERVIR) began operations in 2004 as a joint venture by NASA, USAID and other partners. SERVIR provides Earth observations and predictive models to scientists, decision-makers and end-users, originally from countries in Mesoamerica and Dominican Republic. The success of SERVIR has permitted the progr...
Inadequate ground observations inhibit an adequate description of actual environmental conditions that can lead to landslides, typically precipitation and soil moisture. The spatial and temporal resolution obtained with utilizing satellite data is insuflucient for real-time early warning systems. Major challenges with in situ instruments lie in the...
Central America has unique biological diversity which is in jeopardy due to increasing human related activities. One of the major concerns has been the accelerated deforestation rate in the region which is depleting its natural resources. Remote Sensing started to play a major role in the protection of Central America’s biodiversity when it proved...
Intensive use of the Lake Atitlan watershed in Guatemala has led to alarming levels of pollution. In
October 2009, a massive bloom of phytoplankton in the lake motivated the Guatemalan Ministry of
Environment (MARN, in Spanish) to approach the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America
and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) seeking technical advice....
This study examines the potential impacts of climate change on the structure of forests and their storage of carbon in the tropical zones of Latin America and the Caribbean. As climatic regimes exert strong influences on the composition of trees and other species within forests, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) developed its own...
This regional assessment examines the potential impacts of climate change on surface water runoff under a wide range of future precipitation scenarios. Through the employment of a rainfall-runoff model using high resolution interpolated climate change scenarios and a series of data sets on topography, land cover and soil characteristics, this analy...
Mangroves are an important component of the Belize Barrier Reef Complex, a mosaic of coral reef, sea grass, and mangrove ecosystems, and the world's second largest barrier reef system. Based on satellite imagery available through the Regional Visualization & Monitoring System (SERVIR), the extent of Belize's mangrove cover was assessed over a 30-ye...
Making use of a thirty year archive of satellite imagery available through the Regional Visualization & Monitoring System (SERVIR), the forest cover of Belize was analyzed at the national level, providing information never before available on deforestation rates in the Central American nation with the highest relative forest cover. A multi-temporal...
Regional efforts are focusing more and more on understanding the vulnerability aspects associated with climate change. Evaluations of current conditions and possible future conditions of climate change impacts being considered include identifying effective adaptation actions and measures in order to decrease vulnerability and increase the capacity...
Given the rapidity and intensity of anthropogenic impacts on natural systems, assessing the effectiveness of current protected areas in preserving biodiversity is especially important in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, which contain a wide array of species and ecosystems. In light of the growing need to consider climate change in policymaking, combi...
The recently-published Fourth Assessment Report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that Latin America and the Caribbean will certainly not be left unscathed by such global changes. Within the broader region, Mesoamerica and the Caribbean stand out as their biological resources of are globally significant, putting both...
Questions
Question (1)
I refer to the MOD09GA product. The area of study is a relatively small size (130 km2) fresh water body in which the 1 km ocean color bands of MODIS are not suitable due to their coarse spatial resolution. The MOD09GA product tends to have errors in the NIR band over water, however the green and blue bands seem to be free of error and actually capture variations in the lake.
This MODIS product is a land product, thus it is, in theory, a product more appropriate for land applications (and not water), as the ATBD stated.