FAPAR in western Europe July 2010 and July 2018

Climate modellers rely on satellite data to assess the health and growth of the world’s vegetation. ESA’s Climate Change Initiative’s latest data release provides a consistent time series to meet modellers’ needs. This new dataset comprises the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR), which describes how much solar radiation is being absorbed by the leaves as well as information on Leaf Area Index (LAI), which describes the amount of leaf area in the canopy.

As an example, the images here show the difference in FAPAR over western Europe between July 2010 and July 2018. The urban and mountainous areas are clear to see, displaying low absorption of photosynthetic active radiation. In densely vegetated areas, the FAPAR is highest.

The FAPAR was much lower in 2018 than in 2010 owing to an exceptional drought in July and August 2018, which caused defoliation and yellowing of vegetation. This is particularly evident in grassland and cropland. Forests are less affected.

Read full story: Vegetation gets a boost with data from space