The devastation the California drought has caused to conifer trees in the Sierra Nevadas over the last couple of years “is far greater than previously observed,” NASA scientists said in announcement of the publication of new map of the region. David Schimel, a senior research scientist who worked on the study, told ABC News that the map represented NASA’s “first close look” at the extent of the damage caused by drought on Sierra trees.

Schimel referred to the findings as “millions of trees dying at once.” The map was created with measurements from NASA’s Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer instrument, which was developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. …READ MORE


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