New dinosaur discovered in Sahara desert was a horned'hell heron' 'Spinosaurus mirabilis' sported a 20-inch-tall'scimitar' on its head. Spinosaurus mirabilis stands along river's edge over its prey some 95 million years ago. A scimitar-shaped head crest and interdigitating teeth characterize this wading giant, one of the last-surviving spinosaurid species. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Paleontologists still know comparatively little about fin-backed dinosaurs .

A combination of high-resolution satellite imaging and'deep learning' has identified more than 1.8 billion trees across the West African Sahara, Sahel and sub-humid zone – significantly more trees than were previously thought to exist in the region. The collaboration between NASA and several geoscience departments across the world used 11,128 satellite images from four satellites to count individual trees across 1.3 million square kilometres. The deep-learning approach has, for the first time, allowed researchers to identify individual trees across the dryland expanse. Because of the absence of closed canopies, many parts of the Sahara and the Sahel have previously been mapped with zero per cent tree cover. 'You need high-resolution satellite images to be able to detect individual trees and not just to make estimations based on identified areas of canopy cover,' says Martin Brandt from the University of Copenhagen.

Researchers counted over 1.8 billion trees and shrubs in the 1.3 million square kilometer (501,933 square miles) area that covers the western-most portion of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel, and what are known as sub-humid zones of West Africa. "We were very surprised to see that quite a few trees actually grow in the Sahara Desert, because up until now, most people thought that virtually none existed," says Martin Brandt, professor in the geosciences and natural resource management department at the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the study in Nature. "We counted hundreds of millions of trees in the desert alone. Doing so wouldn't have been possible without this technology. Indeed, I think it marks the beginning of a new scientific era."

You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. There are far more trees in the West African Sahara Desert than you might expect, according to a study that combined artificial intelligence and detailed satellite imagery. Researchers counted over 1.8 billion trees and shrubs in the 1.3 million square kilometer (501,933 square miles) area that covers the western-most portion of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel, and what are known as sub-humid zones of West Africa. "We were very surprised to see that quite a few trees actually grow in the Sahara Desert, because up until now, most people thought that virtually none existed," says Martin Brandt, professor in the geosciences and natural resource management department at the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the study in Nature. "We counted hundreds of millions of trees in the desert alone. Doing so wouldn't have been possible without this technology. Indeed, I think it marks the beginning of a new scientific era."

There are many more trees in the West African Sahara Desert than we thought, according to a recent study based on AI and satellite imagery and published in the journal Nature -- which found more than 1.8 billion trees in the Sahara Desert. Researchers have counted more than 1.8 billion trees and shrubs in the 501,933 square-mile (1.3 million square-kilometer) area -- in an area encompassing the western-most region of the Sahara Desert -- called the Sahel -- along with sub-humid zones of West Africa, reports The World Economic Forum. "We were very surprised to see that quite a few trees actually grow in the Sahara Desert, because up until now, most people thought that virtually none existed," said Professor Martin Brandt from the geosciences and natural resource management department of the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the recent study. "We counted hundreds of millions of trees in the desert alone. Doing so wouldn't have been possible without this technology," explained Brandt, according to a blog post on the University of Copenhagen's website.

The researchers used detailed satellite imagery from NASA, and deep learning--an advanced artificial intelligence method. Normal satellite imagery is unable to identify individual trees, they remain literally invisible. Moreover, a limited interest in counting trees outside of forested areas led to the prevailing view that this particular region had almost no trees. This is the first time that anyone counted trees across a large dryland region.

If you think that the Sahara is covered only by golden dunes and scorched rocks, you aren't alone. In an area of West Africa 30 times larger than Denmark, an international team, led by University of Copenhagen and NASA researchers, has counted over 1.8 billion trees and shrubs. The 1.3 million km2 area covers the western-most portion of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel and what are known as sub-humid zones of West Africa. "We were very surprised to see that quite a few trees actually grow in the Sahara Desert, because up until now, most people thought that virtually none existed. We counted hundreds of millions of trees in the desert alone. Doing so wouldn't have been possible without this technology. Indeed, I think it marks the beginning of a new scientific era," asserts Assistant Professor Martin Brandt of the University of Copenhagen's Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, lead author of the study's scientific article, now published in Nature.

If you think that the Sahara is covered only by golden dunes and scorched rocks, you aren't alone. In an area of West Africa 30 times larger than Denmark, an international team, led by University of Copenhagen and NASA researchers, has counted over 1.8 billion trees and shrubs. The 1.3 million km2 area covers the western-most portion of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel and what are known as sub-humid zones of West Africa. "We were very surprised to see that quite a few trees actually grow in the Sahara Desert, because up until now, most people thought that virtually none existed. We counted hundreds of millions of trees in the desert alone. Doing so wouldn't have been possible without this technology. Indeed, I think it marks the beginning of a new scientific era," asserts Assistant Professor Martin Brandt of the University of Copenhagen's Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, lead author of the study's scientific article, now published in Nature.

In an area of West Africa 30 times larger than Denmark, an international team, led by University of Copenhagen and NASA researchers, has counted over 1.8 billion trees and shrubs. The 1.3 million km2 area covers the western-most portion of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel and what are known as sub-humid zones of West Africa. "We were very surprised to see that quite a few trees actually grow in the Sahara Desert, because up until now, most people thought that virtually none existed. We counted hundreds of millions of trees in the desert alone. Doing so wouldn't have been possible without this technology. Indeed, I think it marks the beginning of a new scientific era," asserts Assistant Professor Martin Brandt of the University of Copenhagen's Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, lead author of the study's scientific article, now published in Nature.