» See Larger Image (1000×1183pixels: 247KB)

The upper false-color image depicts the abundant vegetation of spring in western Japan. Green colors indicate vigorous vegetation; pink or brown and purplish-red show dry grass or soil. Major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka appear bluish-purple and purple due to there being less vegetation. White indicates warmer lower clouds, and cold high-altitude clouds, snow and ice on the ground appear blue.

This image was composed using the GLI 250m-resolution spectral channels 660nm, 825nm and 1640nm from visible to the short-wavelength infrared region.
The data was obtained on April 17, 2003.

The lower four images show seasonal changes of vegetation in East Asia.

You can also see an animation of vegetation changes during one year (from May 2001 to April 2002). This animation was composed of cloud-free composite images acquired every month and generated from 1km-resolution data from the first day to the end of the month.

» See Animation (996KB)

The EORC land-science group produced this animation from data collected by the MODIS sensor on board NASA's Terra satellite. This is a part of the Global Carbon Cycle and Related Mapping based on Satellite Imagery Program (GCMAPS) organized and funded by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (1998-2002) of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

We will soon be able to make cloud-free composite images from GLI 1km-resolution data and wide or global vegetation maps. Furthermore, vegetation activity and primary productivity on the land will be estimated with GLI higher processing and analysis. (Land primary productivity is defined as the rate at which biomass is produced by plant photosynthesis.)

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