Mapping North Carolina's Ghost Forests
In bottomlands throughout the U.S. East Coast, trees are dying off as rising seas and higher storm surges push saltwater farther inland, poisoning soils far from shore. These "ghost forests" are becoming a more common sight in coastal North Carolina and satellite imagery is providing new reasons why. In coastal regions across the globe, saltwater is starting to reach areas that haven’t seen it before, even reducing crop yields and jeopardizing freshwater aquifers that people rely on for drinking water.
This research was supported by a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship, the North Carolina Sea Grant/Space Grant, and the National Science Foundation Coastal SEES program.