greenery atlas:
visualizing global vegetation patterns
rising levels of CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere cause an increase in plant photosynthesis, known as the carbon fertilization effect. between 1982 and 2020 atmosphere CO2 levels have risen 17% yielding an increase in plant photosynthesis of 12%. this explains why we can observe an increase in the global vegetation index between 2001 and 2022.
however, this initial positive effect for plant growth is deceptive. with the growing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and in the vegetation, the plants contain less nitrogen, an essential nutrient for growth. this nutrient deficiency shows the potential negative impacts of the carbon fertilization effect. in addition, the Earth’s rising temperatures greatly affect the efficiency of plant’s CO2 absorption and can reduce photosynthesis efficiency. these cases demonstrate the importance of reducing CO2 emissions and global warming effects in order to preserve global plant life.
the utilized dataset represents the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [NDVI] of each given month within each year. the data is public access through NASA NEO, collected via “Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite.”
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vegetation index spectrum
the vegetation visualization is based upon a custom generative growth algorithm. the growth utilizes the pixel data originally from the NDVI maps growing unique patterns. each month of the year is restricted to its enclosed circular area also driving the generative pattern. the colors are based off of the NDVI index classifying the vegetation, ranging from -0.1 (arid) to 0.9 (dense).
by year
credits
original work designed and implemented by elizabeth mccaffrey, under the supervision of pedro m. cruz.
completed in 2023 as a self-initiated directed study, during her third year of study of computer science and design at northeastern university (b. sc.).