A satellite reveals climate impacts on Mayan civilization

National Geographic News has a cool story about how a satellite can have multiple benefits for science and for promoting resilience: Self-induced drought and climate change may have caused the destruction of the Maya civilization, say scientists working with new satellite technology that monitors Central America's environment. Researchers from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, launched the satellite program, known as SERVIR, in early 2005 to help combat wildfires, improve land use, and assist with natural disaster responses. The researchers occasionally refer to the project as environmental diplomacy.

But the program also found traces of the Maya's hidden, possibly disastrous agricultural past—and is now using those lessons to help ensure that today's civilizations fare better in the face of modern-day climate change. SERVIR stands to warn leaders in Central and South America where climate change might deliver the hardest hits to their ecosystems and biodiversity, say developers Tom Sever and Daniel Irwin. If the governments heed the warnings, the data may truly save lives, the experts add.

…The data suggest that the combination of slash-and-burn agriculture and conversion of the wetlands induced local drought and turned up the thermostat. ….And that could have fueled many of the suspected factors that led to the Maya decline—even seemingly unrelated issues like disease and war.

The SERVIR researchers are now taking their theories to the people, showing tabletop-size satellite images to villagers and national leaders that reveal deforestation in some cases and still-lush landscapes in others. In one instance the Guatemalan congress was inspired to create the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Central America's largest protected area, after viewing satellite imagery and seeing striking differences between their forests and those that had been clear-cut to the north.

SERVIR, which is being supported in part by USAID and the World Bank, has also proved its worth in other ways since the program's headquarters was opened in Panama at the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC).

….Despite these local efforts in environmental stewardship, however, Latin American countries are facing a heavy burden from worldwide climate change. Already, rains don't come as predictably to the Petén region, NASA archaeologist Sever said.

Local residents say their chicle trees are yielding fewer harvests, and clouds are forming higher and later in the day, sometimes not sending down rain at all, he pointed out. Through SERVIR, Sever and his team are monitoring soil and plant responses to the changing conditions. They're also making maps for the ministries of environment and agriculture in several countries.

…If satellite precipitation forecasts can be passed to farmers, they'll be able to make decisions about crops based on how much water they'll require, he added. The SERVIR scientists also hope to expand the space-based technology into other realms. They're looking to develop the kind of air quality index for Central America that is standard on United States weather reports.

And industry has already suggested applications that the SERVIR scientists didn't originally have in mind. A Panamanian company seeking to build solar panels asked recently if SERVIR could show them where to find the best sun exposure. "It's kind of astounding," Cherrington said, "how space-based information can lead to making better decisions."

False-color image of a bajo (lowland area) in Guatemala. The forest covering sites of Mayan ruins appears yellowish, as opposed to the red color of surrounding forest. The more sparsely vegetated bajos appear blue-green. Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory using imagery provided courtesy of Tom Sever and Burgess Howell, Marshall Space Flight Center, and GeoEye. From Wikimedia Commons