Rapid monitoring of global land change

Amy H. Pickens (), Matthew C. Hansen, Zhen Song, Andrew Poulson, Anna Komarova, Antoine Baggett, Theodore Kerr, Aleksandra Mikus, Carolina Ortiz Dominguez, Alexandra Tyukavina and André Lima
Additional contact information
Amy H. Pickens: University of Maryland
Matthew C. Hansen: University of Maryland
Zhen Song: University of Maryland
Andrew Poulson: University of Maryland
Anna Komarova: University of Maryland
Antoine Baggett: University of Maryland
Theodore Kerr: University of Maryland
Aleksandra Mikus: University of Maryland
Carolina Ortiz Dominguez: University of Maryland
Alexandra Tyukavina: University of Maryland
André Lima: University of Maryland

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Direct human action, principally land use expansion, and natural dynamics, such as fire and drought, drive global land change. Here we present a global land change monitoring system, DIST-ALERT, that rapidly tracks vegetation loss anomalies with 30 m resolution using imagery from Landsat 8/9 and Sentinel-2A/B/C satellites. The alerts capture agricultural expansion, urbanization, logging, mining, fire, drought, landslides, and other dynamics, but without attribution. Identified through a probability sample, 2023 anthropogenic land use conversions totaled 28.6 ± 7.6 Mha (±standard error), half of which replaced long-lived or secondary natural vegetation. Fires resulting in land cover conversion totaled 14.9 ± 4.3 Mha (±standard error). Combined, these dynamics equal 0.3% of the global land surface, equivalent to the area of the state of California. Annual DIST-ALERT summaries of land use expansion and climate-driven land change can serve as a future long-term global environmental data record.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64014-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64014-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64014-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().