Spring NASA Photos: Satellite Images Seen From Space

By OurAmazingPlanet Staff:

With the onset of spring comes first the buds on trees and then the riot of green leaves, which is so pervasive it can even be seen from space.

NASA's Aqua satellite took this image of the Piedmont, a forested plateau between the Appalachians and the lower elevation plains along the U.S. Atlantic coast, on April 7 with its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument.

The Appalachian Mountains themselves are still colored brown because trees at higher, and thus cooler, altitudes were likely still in bloom and had not yet begun to produce leaves, according to a NASA statement.

The appearance of spring leaves has become an important tool for determining how the start of spring has changed over time. Blooming flowers and other signs of spring, such as bird migrations, have been edging ever earlier in recent decades as climate change brings warmer temperatures earlier.

Combined with observations on the ground, satellite measurements of spring greening can help scientists better study the effects of global warming. Research by Mark D. Schwartz, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, that marries these two types of observations has found that the onset of spring has moved up by 1.1 days per decade in North America since 1960, according to a NASA statement. Change has been particularly fast in the west, where it has advanced by 1.5 days per decade.

Schwartz said this year's spring greening was "exceptionally early," not surprising given the unusually warm weather experienced by much of the country this winter and the summer-like temperatures that have popped up early this spring.

Of course, not all plant species benefit from the warmer temperatures; some tree species need the cold of winter to grow properly come spring. A study of satellite observations from 1982 to 2005 found that about 30 percent of North America — particularly areas south of 35 degrees north latitude — have actually been greening later due to the lack of cool winters.

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Copyright 2012 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Comments

[brw1970]

12:18 PM on 04/30/2012

Shouldn't the "ground hog" get the blame?

[roberta4343]

05:49 PM on 04/28/2012

droughts, famines, floods have always been a part of human history, it just seems like we get more because there are more people building and living in areas that normally flood every so often. people building in flood plains surly is more of a reason for increased floods then the climate chainging. trouble with dogma in teh enviromental movements they refuse to look for other causes of something. science is after all not a sacred cow that is infallible or uncorruptible by money or power. and lets not forget the poor poor people in africa for example being pushed futhur and furthur into desert areas because of being pushed off, much of human suffering is due to politics and not the climate.

if there is a true religion there is a false, if there is true science there is false science, if there is true enviromental issues there are false, people with agendas not in line with truth will use these things dishonestly to their benefit. and people will follow without much thought or research like sheep being led to the slaughter.climate change and man is at fault is a cruel lie.

rose

[taddles]

12:13 PM on 04/30/2012

Deniers will always justify their denial, ignorance is sadly pervasive.

[TavernAle]

12:37 AM on 05/01/2012

What do you consider a false science? Can you provide an example? Who do you consider more deliberate in the study of climatic change? Who are you more likely to believe about the authenticity of climate change?

[glitterpet]

02:04 PM on 04/28/2012

.. was this taken before last weeks late spring snow storm? There have always been early springs, and sudden late freezes and snow - - juts ask farmers and gardenners. More substantive evidence is need before they make the pronouncement that early spring is "evidence" of "global warming". I am not say one way or the other on the topic, but, call me silly if you want, I believe in healthy skepticism and a reliance on facts, not fear and sensationalism as their stand-ins.

[taddles]

12:15 PM on 04/30/2012

"Reliance on facts" LOL.

[glitterpet]

01:35 PM on 04/30/2012

Yes, the only way to go . . .

[pasanby]

02:43 PM on 05/05/2012

Well heres a fact you can LOL about ,the climate has been warming since the last ice age ended , most likely the cause of it's demise .

[BluePhantom2]

08:54 PM on 04/26/2012

This is still up? Come on HP/AOL get some new Global/Climate/Disruption Thermagedon stuff up as this one is just too easy. It's spring in NY and it came a couple of weeks early, so quick lets turn the globe over to the UN so they can save us from ourselves! Get a grip folks as it snowed very close to where these images were taken the same day as this was posted. But I'm told that snow in Penn in April is weather but early spring in NY is a sign that Gaia has a temperature PLS! Let all move on to the next meme that is "Sustainable Development" as the big AGW players have already moved on.

[TYRANNASAURUS]

11:29 AM on 04/26/2012

Seen From Space: Climate Change Brings Early Spring.......

GET READY TO KISS YOUR BLANK GOOD-BY..... we're talking heating that will speed up and continue for the next several thousand years..but not to worry all life as we know it will be long gone by then.

[glitterpet]

02:05 PM on 04/28/2012

. . . well, if anybody, you big lizards should know! LOL ;)

[TYRANNASAURUS]

06:35 PM on 04/28/2012

LOL...dino's are not lizards if you were referring to me.....we're related to birds and birds are warm blooded thank you.

[bd7769]

09:26 AM on 04/25/2012

I say we implement a massive carbon tax on everyone who produces excessive amounts for green house gas. This way we will be able to stop climate change right away and save the earth.

[GlobalWhat]

09:53 AM on 04/25/2012

too bad climate change has been happening for millions of years and humans have nothing to do with it.

[darth geekboy]

05:19 PM on 04/25/2012

too bad you have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what you are talking about and is completely satisfied with just parroting FAUX news and oil/gas industry talking points.

[uniqumm]

05:07 AM on 04/26/2012

Climate is always changing. The problem is that we are massively adding pollutants that will dramatically change it further!

[benji85]

09:05 AM on 04/25/2012

Someone showed me a political cartoon the other day, that had what looked like Congress discussing climate laws, one person asked so even if this isn't real would it be bad to leave the Earth a better place for our kids?

But then again the way they like to run things, it's just lip service leaving things for the kids.

[crankyCrackPot]

08:45 AM on 04/25/2012

The biggest mistake science has made is in assuming that the governments of the world would actually do something. All the "worst case scenarios" assume we will at least try to address it somewhere.

This is not however the case and forecasts are more dire than ever.

The last time there was a 2 degree change in temperature the sea levels were raised between 30 and 60 feet.
We're looking at a possible 7 or 8 degree rise before the world's carbon cycle makes things much worse.

The last time the world experienced a carbon cycle out of whack it took about 60,000 years before the world recovered.

[nathanoj]

02:09 AM on 04/25/2012

It's hilarious to watch the deniers pretend that pollution doesn't exist, and that fossil fuels don't pollute.

They love to talk about climate because then they don't have to talk about oil the spills, oil wars, increased mortality rates, increases in cancer, political bribery and the massive environmental and health problems that their products cause.

-------------------------- synopsis of a deniers argument ---------------------

Dear Reader,
Keep on Polluting!

Thanks,
Big Oil - The Pro-Pollution for Profit Pigs.

[benji85]

09:02 AM on 04/25/2012

They obviously didn't do well in chemistry to deny that the reaction of carbon and oxygen from a fire combines to co2.

[storiesfromhavendotcom]

12:00 AM on 04/25/2012

We're past the tipping point for correcting the climate problem but I really wouldn't mind if the corporations would stop poisoning our air, water and food.

[MightyYowp]

09:48 PM on 04/24/2012

Gorgeous. What a shame we don't sent up space shuttles anymore.

[DickTater]

08:32 PM on 04/24/2012

Deniers are fools. Enough.

For those who use their brains, think of this. I watch a lot of history, science channel etc.
There are these people searching desperately for other "earths". How strange and pointless.

Terraforming Mars? We are going to have to Terraform Earth. If Mars could ever have a magnetic field, they hypothesize....we could get a bunch of gas producers and after a couple hundred years form an atmosphere more to our liking.

Yet we have deniers down here who claim after 2-300 years of blowing all kinds of ash, fume, gases, soots, on a colossal scale into our atmosphere...we have altered absoutely NOTHING.

Folks, quit denying. Quit acting like we could make a go of it on Mars or some planet 80,000 years away from us. We can't even make a go of it here. And when we need to nudge our activities back 15% in one or two areas to make the most minute corrections....we get folks like these denier posters who are perfect illustrations of why we are in trouble to begin with.

Thanks, and thanks. You helped sink our ship, and are busy drilling holes in all the lifeboats.

[MightyYowp]

09:49 PM on 04/24/2012

Maybe the rapture will carry us there.

[storiesfromhavendotcom]

11:58 PM on 04/24/2012

Say it like it is. Deniers are stupes.

[ThinkCreeps]

05:50 PM on 04/24/2012

The nuts are out in force, I see.
Along with the leaves.
It must be the temperature.

[whirlpool]

07:24 PM on 04/24/2012

The Chinese. They will invest in green technology and dominate the world markets in a growing and necessary sector.

[MightyYowp]

09:53 PM on 04/24/2012

Sarcastic? China leads the world in dirty coal plants, hec they eve want our coal. They are also built dirty nuke plants w/o waste facilities. 3 gorges dam produces less juice than Hoover Dam and flooded vastly larger area. They chop down Tibetan Pines w/o replanting eroding soil at a massive rate.

They only make solar for export.

The PRC's current path of corruption is a disaster waiting to happen.

[kezaezy]

01:34 AM on 04/25/2012

Hey everyone, forget what you've heard from the world's climate scientists, William Howell has it figured out. Thank goodness for Mr. Howell and his excellent brain because now we don't have to do anything!

[William Howell]

08:48 AM on 04/25/2012

That's what I am talking about! Just listen to me

[Son of Liberty 1765]

02:43 PM on 04/24/2012

Wow, a couple years ago we didn't have a summer until mid-july. Was it AGW then? What about last fall and our Halloween blizzard? Winter came early. A few years ago the leaves changed in August at my place in Maine. Was it AGW? Man this is getting old.

[William Howell]

03:04 PM on 04/24/2012

Yea, yesterday it was raining and today it is not! WOW

[nathanoj]

01:53 AM on 04/25/2012

... and last year it snowed in Alaska in the winter! If Alaska isn't planting palm trees on every block yet, how could climate change be real?

LOL!!!