Monitoring the environment by remote sensing

Structural features of ecosystems, such as leaf area index, phytomass and canopy chemical contents, are beginning to be estimated from remotely sensed data. This development, in combination with ecological modeling, is permitting the estimation of functional features of ecosystems including primary productivity and nutrient cycling. Such techniques are also being applied to the problem of monitoring the effects of air or water pollutants on biota. Sensors that obtain data at a coarse spatial scale (1 km2 or more) are also permitting the observation of biospheric patterns at a large regional or global scale for the first time. When coupled with atmospheric measurements, field data and simulation models, such data may serve to address ecological processes, including pollution effects, at large regional or global scales.