Remote Sensing
Temporal resolution
How frequently a sensor revisits a location, which sets the shortest change that can be dated accurately.
A five-day revisit supports dating a clearing to roughly a week. An annual composite supports only a year. The difference decides whether loss can be attributed to a crediting period or an actor.
Cloud cover effectively reduces temporal resolution in the humid tropics, which is why radar and multi-sensor fusion are used where optical revisit alone is insufficient.
Frequently asked questions
Does higher frequency mean better estimates?
It improves timing and detection, but a single date still lacks the calibration needed for carbon stock.
What is the practical limit?
Cloud and data volume. Revisit frequency is an upper bound on usable observations, not a guarantee.