BOREAS, the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study, was a large-scale international experiment in the boreal forests of Canada designed to understand how boreal forests "interact with the atmosphere, how much CO2 they can store, and how climate change will affect them." Although the project is now complete, a "Follow-On Project" will conduct further analyses of the BOREAS data. BOREAS data include...

This current feature from NASA's Earth Observatory focuses on the use of a new type of vegetation measurement called the leaf area index (LAI). The four page article describes how trees moderate climate, and how scientists think the LAI will be useful in modeling global climate change. The text is written for a general audience and includes images showing what LAI data actually looks like. When...

This Topic in Depth explores some of the diseases and other threats that certain trees must contend with to remain healthy and vital. The first website (1), from the USDA Forest Service-St. Paul Field Office, contains a collection of archived publications designed to help people diagnose, control, and identify various threats to different types of trees. Examples of these publications include: How...