Plant Glow and Carbon: ESA May Investigate Photosynthesis From Space

His hope is that the ESA will select the FLEX project to be the focus of its eighth Earth Explorer orbital craft.

"Getting information from space to generate detailed and global maps of plant health and vegetation stress under changing environmental conditions would be a quantum leap in science," Rossini added.

With the resulting data, the FLEX team hopes to essentially use a triage system on forests, highlighting forests that are undergoing the most stress first, so that smarter management of these essential, but limited resources can be put into place.

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