[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
One of the satellites that we use to study
the Earth is the TERRA satellite, which has on board a number of different
instruments. The big one is called MODIS, and it takes
pictures of the Earth's surface and studies plant life, among other things.
And we're able to look at the Earth's surface and see
how much plants are growing, and we can even determine
how much carbon dioxide plants take out of the atmosphere
as part of the photosynthetic process.
And so what we look at [is] the entire global landscape.
we look at how much carbon is being taken out of the atmosphere into plants,
and we look at how our use of the land surface, especially with agriculture and urbanization,
affects surface temperature, and then how that surface temperature
then affects climate, such as rainfall, which is also very important
for the production of plants and the food and fiber
upon which we rely.
