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ESI Special Topics, September 2005
Citing URL: http://www.esi-topics.com/fmf/2005/september05-LimingZhou.html

From •>>September 2005

Liming Zhou answers a few questions about this month's fast moving front in the field of Geosciences.

Field: Geosciences
Article: Variations in northern vegetation activity inferred from satellite data of vegetation index during 1981 to 1999
Authors: Zhou, LM;Tucker, CJ;Kaufmann, RK;Slayback, D;Shabanov, NV;Myneni, RB
Journal: J GEOPHYS RES-ATMOS, 106: (D17) 20069-20083 SEP 16 2001
Addresses:
Boston Univ, Dept Geog, 675 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 USA.
Boston Univ, Dept Geog, Boston, MA 02215 USA.
NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Biospher Sci Branch, Sci Syst & Applicat Inc, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.
 


   Why do you think your paper is highly cited?


“This paper suggests a mechanism between plant growth and global warming “warmer planet, greener north” that has important global socio-economic implications.”

I think that my paper is highly cited because it provides large-scale evidence of "a greener north" based on analysis of NASA’s 20-year satellite data and for the first time, the relationship between the greening and temperature changes observed from meteorological stations.

   Does it describe a new discovery or new methodology that's useful to others?

I believe that this paper describes two important discoveries. One is that the Earth is becoming much greener, the spring has advanced by several days, and the growing season has lengthened by 12-18 days in the northern part of the hemisphere since the 1980s. And another is that year-to-year changes in growth and the duration of the growing season of northern vegetation are tightly linked to those changes in observed land surface temperature.

   How did you become involved in this research?

My advisor, Professor Ranga B. Myneni of the Department of Geography at Boston University, led me into this field and the investigation of vegetation-climate interactions is the core part of my Ph.D. dissertation.

   Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

This paper suggests a mechanism between plant growth and global warming—warmer planet, greener north—that has important global socio-economic implications. Plants uptake carbon dioxide (a primary greenhouse gas) and transfer it into long-term storage in wood through photosynthesis. Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (a buildup primarily related to fossil fuel burning and deforestation) is suspected of causing global warming, changes in weather patterns, and health effects. Warming-enhanced plant photosynthesis may modify the carbon cycle and thus our future climate.End

Liming Zhou, Research Scientist II 
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences 
Georgia Institute of Technology 
Atlanta, GA, USA

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ESI Special Topics, September 2005
Citing URL: http://www.esi-topics.com/fmf/2005/september05-LimingZhou.html

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