The changing world as seen from space

  • 16/08/2016
Earth - from space (Getty/NASA)
Earth - from space (Getty/NASA)

New Zealand researchers are monitoring changes to the world's major habitats using data collected from space.

The University of Otago team, including Professor Steven Higgins, has developed a system which they say could be used to study the effects of climate change on flora and fauna.

Using data collected by NASA satellites, they divided the world's vegetation cover into 24 different 'biome' types - producing a map that isn't "reliant on expert opinion or correlations between vegetation and climate".

The changing world as seen from space