NC CASC University Director Jennifer Balch to be featured in PBS Nova episode, "Inside the Megafire"

NC CASC University Director Jennifer Balch to be featured in PBS Nova episode, "Inside the Megafire"

Date

NC CASC University Director Jennifer Balch will be featured in the Nova special, "Inside the Megafire", airing on PBS on May 8. "Drones are bringing a revolution to science, giving us a way to look at the forest that we’ve never had before", says Balch. "We can understand an individual tree using drones, and thousands and thousands of individual trees. Drones give us the ability to reconstruct an entire forest, one tree at a time. And link that to the satellite view. After a fire, we can look at the trees that are alive and dead, and which types of trees, if any, are coming back. We’re looking for the breaking point of evergreen forests, when fire, drought, and insects are just too much. And it converts to something else, a barren landscape, an aspen stand, or grass." 

Click here to read more about the episode.