NASA Uses Spectral Technology to Track Wildflower Blooms and Study Climate Change

NASA researchers utilize advanced imaging capabilities to monitor wildflower blooms, offering scientists with fresh data regarding plant life cycles and the evolution of ecosystems. Monitoring the manner in which flowers respond to various wavelengths of light allows scientists to monitor seasonal changes in plant development throughout large-scale environments. It may be a valuable tool for agricultural applications, conservation, and climate studies.

Monitoring Wildflowers with Spectral Technology

Scientists used NASA's Airborne Visible/InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) to study in California. The camera that takes pictures in hundreds of wavelengths of light enabled them to monitor neighborhood shrub plants, Coreopsis gigantea and Artemisia californica, from February to June 2022 at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve and Sedgwick Reserve.

In contrast to the conventional ground-based observation and photography-based surveying, the new method delivers a wider angle of plant life cycles. Analyzing flower pigments like carotenoids, betalains, and anthocyanins, scientists could determine distinctive spectral fingerprints for individual flowering stages. The research successfully recorded 97% of flower, leaf, and background objects' spectral variation with 80% accuracy of bloom stage detection.

Implications for Climate and Agriculture Research

Flowering patterns are defined by temperature, rainfall, and sunlight. Knowledge of these trends is valuable to farmers and natural resource managers who rely on flowering plants to be pollinated and produce crops. This research can be used to anticipate events such as superblooms, where vast tracts of wildflowers bloom after wet weather.

The research also adds to climate studies since it observes the impact of environmental changes on plants. With temperatures all over the world increasing, observing how plants react to climate change can yield valuable information for agricultural planning and conservation.

Emerging Research Using Satellite Technology

NASA is also ongoing with this mission using the deployment of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) spectrometer that orbits the Earth aboard the International Space Station. Constructed primarily to study minerals in deserts, EMIT is capable of monitoring growth and flowering in plants globally as well.

This study demonstrates the potential of remote sensing technology to monitor the environment. Scientists can improve agricultural cycle predictions, biodiversity conservation, and climate effects evaluations by integrating airborne and satellite information.

Conclusion

NASA's study of wildflower blooms with spectral imaging is an important step towards the study of plant communities. Monitoring flowering patterns from the air provides useful data to agriculture, conservation, and climate researchers. Further development of the technology will allow scientists to better understand the changing world and find ways to treat its ills.

Source: NASA, "NASA scientists are clocking wildflower blooms to understand our ever-changing planet" by Sally Younger