Seeing the [Future] Forest Through the Trees

By Adam Stone

What's in the soil and water? How is the changing climate impacting the land and sea, and what can be done now to protect them for the future? These are complex matters that impact our quality of life and national security.

In collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, we're working to simplify these assessments through our Hyperspectral Onboard Processing Queue (HOP Queue) project in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

The HOP Queue project was born out of our Technology for Conservation (T4C) initiative, which leverages engineering expertise to help solve environmental sustainability challenges. In the case of the HOP Queue project, we are working to help answer some of the toughest forest wellness and water quality questions using hyperspectral imaging, which can see beyond visible light, and our rich 30-year history in data processing expertise.

"Hyperspectral imaging is essentially a data challenge, and we have extensive experience with both the processing hardware and the algorithms needed to generate outcomes here," said Kelly Davis, Northrop Grumman senior staff systems engineer and technical fellow.

Our state-of-the-art hyperspectral imaging systems operate across hundreds of wavelengths to paint precise portraits of forest health, beyond what's readily visible. That's especially important as climate change and shifting weather patterns put forests at increased risk of fire, flood and other perils. Large-scale monitoring with a modernized imaging system makes signs of a healthy forest — like sediment absorption and run-off — more readily visible; this helps us spot potential threats to forest health and can trigger a quicker, more effective response in support of long-term sustainability.