Reconstructed imagery for equatorial monitoring combining AVHRR with reconstructed NSCAT

The availability of reconstructed imagery raises several questions. First, does reconstructed imagery provide any advantage over the ubiquitous Advanced Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery monitoring? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each reconstructed image type? What kind of geophysical information does each provide? Only continuing research will answer these complex questions. In this paper, emphasis is placed on comparisons between contemporary AVHRR and the latest reconstructed NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) data sets for monitoring vegetation in equatorial areas. The authors demonstrate that AVHRR data combined with NSCAT provides better equatorial forest differentiation than AVHRR data used alone.