Quantifiable impact: monitoring landscape restoration from space

Quantifiable impact: monitoring landscape restoration from space | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Quantifiable impact: monitoring landscape restoration from space Mendy van der Vliet, Richard de Jeu, Yoann Malbeteau, Darren Ghent, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2669521/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ecosystem conservation and restoration activities are critical to reduce the vulnerability of biodiversity to climate change. Although these activities need to be evaluated objectively and systematically, they are rarely analyzed from a global, multidimensional and multivariable perspective. Here we present a methodology to quantify the environmental impact of landscape restoration using long-term and high-resolution satellite observations. For two restoration areas in Tanzania, we find an increase in the amount of water retained by the soil (~0.01 m³ m⁻³, 13% average increase), a soil temperature drop ( -0.5 °C) and an increase in surface greenness (~50% average increase) in 3,5 years. These datasets illuminate the impact of restoration initiatives on the landscape across their lifecycle, and support the reporting of comprehensive metrics to donors and partners. High quality satellite observations from commercial providers and space agencies are now achieving frequency, resolution, and accuracy that can effectively evaluate restoration activities. Biological sciences/Ecology/Ecosystem services Biological sciences/Ecology/Restoration ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Climate change adaptation Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Environmental impact Full Text Additional Declarations Competing interest reported. The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: M. van der Vliet, R.A.M. de Jeu, Y. Malbeteau and R. Houborg were employed by Planet Labs PBC. All the other authors declare no competing interest. Supplementary Files Supplementarymaterial.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-2669521","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":184875016,"identity":"8318b963-16e1-455b-bbec-7b8c60b79b05","order_by":0,"name":"Mendy van der Vliet","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABHUlEQVRIie3RwUrDMBjA8dSCp9ReUwp7A+EbhYJM9iwJhZ6mDLwUFO0otAep54o+RB+hpbBcoudCB9tppx0EL8KG2ioKQpx685A/JBDIjyQEIZXqn0be5qIdC0DIRHr4B0IBESvUOgK/Je0Cih/IfpKWjREPj/d4uiR0fHjuNJPJ4zjYIDO5pDLiintvYMTeiSW4Syj4xJ2VkZ2J9oriLpeSeuTaWOgsr30dKFTErVloGzEgIEdyMl915ILl82VHXoiTsWhtPG8hNW5JULWn7GoLCgUBwmLbCLcQMXIObgPOroXfEc/KZmU8wFMHf/sWLvr1Ck7ZFZ+i4mEzNM2bqGrwWa9nJqmUdO3gL8v3b0JYsvMz7UlGVCqVSvXRK78OZWAlM3fZAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Planet Labs PBC","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mendy","middleName":"van der","lastName":"Vliet","suffix":""},{"id":184875017,"identity":"e51f0643-e78d-4bd3-b64f-1ab6a7e9a652","order_by":1,"name":"Richard de Jeu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Planet Labs PBC","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Richard","middleName":"","lastName":"de Jeu","suffix":""},{"id":184875018,"identity":"dae88465-04cb-4e37-8d84-c03f63d9f116","order_by":2,"name":"Yoann Malbeteau","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Planet Labs PBC","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yoann","middleName":"","lastName":"Malbeteau","suffix":""},{"id":184875019,"identity":"eb6e00df-f419-4c3a-af53-de22400b2798","order_by":3,"name":"Darren Ghent","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Centre for Earth Observation; 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