title: NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC): an interdisciplinary research program.
abstract: Understanding Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) in diverse regions of the world and at varied spatial scales is one of the important challenges in global change research. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the NASA LCLUC program, its focus areas, and the importance of satellite remote sensing observations in LCLUC research including future directions. The LCLUC Program was designed to be a cross-cutting theme within NASA's Earth Science program. The program aims to develop and use remote sensing technologies to improve understanding of human interactions with the environment. Since 1997, the NASA LCLUC program has supported nearly 280 research projects on diverse topics such as forest loss and carbon, urban expansion, land abandonment, wetland loss, agricultural land use change and land use change in mountain systems. The NASA LCLUC program emphasizes studies where land-use changes are rapid or where there are significant regional or global LCLUC implications. Over a period of years, the LCLUC program has contributed to large regional science programs such as Land Biosphere-Atmosphere (LBA), the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI), and the Monsoon Area Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS). The primary emphasis of the program will remain on using remote sensing datasets for LCLUC research. The program will continue to emphasize integration of physical and social sciences to address regional to global scale issues of LCLUC for the benefit of society.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park, USA.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Justice
authors.affiliation: NASA Headquarters, Washington DC, USA.
authors.forename: Garik
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gutman
authors.affiliation: Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park, USA.
authors.forename: Krishna Prasad
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Vadrevu
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology; D012107:Research Design; D014481:United States; D018557:United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration