NASA is developing the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Lidar device to observe forests on Earth in 3D from space and also to enhance knowledge about their role in the carbon cycle. The device will be the first to systematically study the depth of the forests from the space.

According to the NASA release, the device will be made at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. GEDI Lidar is a laser-based system that can evaluate the distance from the space-based instrument to Earth's surface with sufficient accuracy to find out subtle variations, including the tops of trees, the ground, and the vertical distribution of above ground bio-mass in forests.

"GEDI Lidar will have a tremendous impact on our ability to monitor forest degradation, adding to the critical data needed to mitigate the effects of climate change", said Patrick O'Shea, chief research officer at the University of Maryland.

Piers Sellers, deputy director of Goddard's Sciences and Exploration Directorate, said that it will be a huge new resource for studying the Earth's vegetation. The important information is about the impact that trees have on the amount of carbon in the atmosphere can also be acquired by GEDI.

The GEDI data will also give global-scale insights into how much carbon is being stored in the forest bio-mass. It is well known that trees absorb carbon and store it long-term but scientists have not measured accurately how much carbon forests have. If the forests were damaged then it is not possible to find out that how much carbon would be emitted. This device is one of the two instrument proposals newly chosen for NASA's Earth Venture Instrument programme. According to NASA, it is planned that GEDI will be ready in 2018.