In February, field-research teams collected plant matter and other samples from forests, mountains, and coastal waters in Panama and Costa Rica. A plane overflew their route, capturing hyperspectral images of each location. The 80-person project, led by NASA and called Avuelo, was conducted in partnership with the Panama-based Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the Costa Rican Fishing Federation (Fecop). Its aim is to help NASA test its ability to parse the composition, health, and changes of tropical ecosystems from space using next-generation satellite imagery. The field teams, organized by STRI and Fecop, gathered samples ranging from leaves, woody vines in rainforest locations to phytoplankton and mangrove samples from coastal waters. They visited an array of sites deliberately chosen to reflect a variety of soils, geology, rainfall levels and vegetation type. A white and blue twin-propeller plane contracted by NASA collected aerial images of each... [Log in to read more]