This scientist uses satellites to map the Earth’s plant life and help combat climate change [Video]

Stephanie Pau remembers the moment she knew she wanted to study biogeography, when she first saw a satellite map of a section of the earth that was brightly color coded. The colors didn’t correspond to states or countries, but instead represented a diversity of plant life based on light reflectance not visible to the human eye.

“All these different colors on the maps, they weren’t made up. They were reflecting real properties of the Earth’s surface,” explains Pau in this 101 in 101 video, which challenges UC Berkeley professors to explain the basics of their work in just over a minute and a half. “That was what really struck me.”

Maps like those can tell us a lot about our changing planet, and they drive Pau’s work as an associate professor with joint appointments in the Department of Geography and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management.

Her lab uses satellite data …