Remotely sensed data from satillites or aircraft can be an efficient way to monitor change across the landscape. Remote sensing can be used to map vegetation and surface geology, monitor coastal change, measure change in glaciers, detect landform changes in permafrost, monitor land use change around parks, and more.
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Landscape Disturbance in PNW ParksParks are shaped by constant change and disturbance. Remote sensing helps us study patterns of landscape change.
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Alaska's Shrinking GlaciersAlaska's glaciers are shrinking. Remote sensing techniques allow us to measure the change over time.
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The Great Coastal Gale of 2007Remote sensing was used to explore the impacts of wind storms in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.
Videos
Check out these videos/animations of how remote sensing information was used to monitor climate-change-related landscape features.-
Arctic Lake Drainage
As permafrost thaws, lakes fill with water. If the water levels get too high, erosion channels can form and drain the lakes. In recent years, large lakes in Bering Land Bridge National Preserve have drained. This is of particular concern because these large lakes are important habitat for Yellow-billed Loons.
- Duration:
- 1 minute, 21 seconds
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Wet Snow in Alaska
Wet snow and the icing events that frequently follow wintertime rain-on-snow (ROS) affect high-latitude ecosystems at multiple spatial and temporal scales, including hydrology, carbon cycle, wildlife, and human development. This video shows the extent and timing of ROS across Alaska.
- Duration:
- 3 minutes, 43 seconds
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Seasonal Changes in Alaska's National Parks
National Park Service ecologist David Swanson explains the Arctic Network Inventory & Monitoring team's use of remote cameras to study seasonal changes across Alaska's northernmost national parks. Each camera is part of climate monitoring station that records weather conditions at locations across Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, and Noatak National Preserve. In doing so, we can identify long and short-term trends, provide reliable climate data to other researchers, and participate in larger scale climate monitoring and modeling efforts beyond park boundaries.
- Duration:
- 4 minutes, 17 seconds
Examples of Remote Sensing for Climate Change Adaptation
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- Sites: North Coast and Cascades Inventory & Monitoring Network, North Coast and Cascades Research Learning Center, Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park
MARCH 2024 – Even national parks transform over time—sometimes in dramatic ways! Explore a new visual tour through 30 years of data from the NCCN’s landscape change monitoring program, which uses satellite remote sensing to track disturbances in Olympic, Mount Rainier, and the North Cascades. This analysis also offers clues to how climate change may be altering disturbance patterns in wilderness areas across the Pacific Northwest.
- Sites: Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network, Central Alaska Inventory & Monitoring Network, Natural Resource Condition Assessment Program, Southeast Alaska Inventory & Monitoring Network, Southwest Alaska Inventory & Monitoring Network, more »
Alaska is one of the most heavily glaciated areas in the world outside of the polar regions. Approximately 23,000 square miles of the state are covered in glaciers—an area nearly the size of West Virginia. Glaciers have shaped much of Alaska’s landscape and continue to influence its lands, waters, and ecosystems. Because of their importance, National Park Service scientists measure glacier change. They found that glaciers are shrinking in area and volume across the state.
- Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve
Using Satellite Imagery to Detect the Changing Seasonality of River Ice
River ice navigability has changed, making conditions unreliable and unsafe for many traditional activities. Using satellite remote sensing, researchers have documented the historical changes in local river ice seasonality and characterized the patterns and drivers of open water hazards along rivers. Alaska Park Science 22(1), 2023
- Sites: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Network, Arches National Park, Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, more »
Scientists from the Northern Colorado Plateau Network travel thousands of miles each year to collect data on plants, soils, and water across network parks. But it would be impossible to cover every square inch of the Northern Colorado Plateau with boots on the ground. Instead, we simultaneously monitor the parks with boots in space—satellite data that provide information at a much broader scale.
- Sites: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Network, Canyonlands National Park
Long-term monitoring creates a record of the past—and a window into the future. Linking satellite observations of vegetation condition with climate data over time can help us understand what kinds of future changes may occur. The results can help park managers know what to expect over the next few decades, providing them with time and tools to plan for a range of scenarios.
- Sites: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Network, Colorado National Monument
Long-term monitoring creates a record of the past—and a window into the future. Linking satellite observations of vegetation condition with climate data over time can help us understand what kinds of future changes may occur. The results can help park managers know what to expect over the next few decades, providing them with time and tools to plan for a range of scenarios.
- Sites: Inventory and Monitoring Division, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, Northern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Network, Capitol Reef National Park
Long-term monitoring creates a record of the past—and a window into the future. Linking satellite observations of vegetation condition with climate data over time can help us understand what kinds of future changes may occur. The results can help park managers know what to expect over the next few decades, providing them with time and tools to plan for a range of scenarios.
The following two publications assess different methods for determining burn severity at a landscape scale. The case study, Assessing Wildfire Burn Severity and Its Relationship with Environmental Factors: A Case Study in Interior Alaska Boreal Forest, reviews various remote sensing methods for assessing burn severity at Shovel Creek and Nugget Creek fire in Fairbanks. The second article utilizes composite landsat imagery to assess burn severity in boreal forests of NA.
- Sites: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Denali National Park & Preserve, Kenai Fjords National Park, Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve
Aerial SfM is an accessible tool for mapping and monitoring landscape changes for a wide range of applications and disciplines across parks in Alaska. The success of the Alaska Region aerial SfM system during the first four years of testing and deployment has demonstrated its value to park mangers to address rapidly changing park landscapes. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021
- Sites: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve, more »
Featured here are a series of videos made from a year-long series of images from remote cameras (phenocams) at climate stations in Alaska national parks. We use this information to compare seasonal events such as when snow persists on the ground, when snow is completely melted, the timing of vegetation green-up and senescence, and more.
Last updated: April 23, 2024