A Shift in What’s Shaping U.S. Landscapes

- NASA-funded study using ~35 years of Landsat data finds a shift: human-directed disturbances (logging, agriculture, construction) have declined while wild disturbances (wildfires, hurricanes, drought/wind) have increased. - Between 1988–2022 nearly 18% of U.S. land was disturbed; cumulative disturbance ≈700,000 sq mi; humans drove >446,000 sq mi and wild events >165,000 sq mi. - Human disturbances fell by ~232 sq mi/yr; wild disturbances rose by ~77 sq mi/yr. - Researchers used a machine-learning classifier (~75% accuracy) to attribute causes; authors urge adapting to coexist with increasing natural disturbances.

Source: Read the full article

Photo by @_aloksharma / Unsplash