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Short abstract:

The paper analyzes how satellites translate forests into data by transforming waves into pixels. I use concepts from Peirce and Latour to trace the trajectory of forest data. I show how the emergence of a digital membrane made of sensors became entangled with Swedish forest management in the 2000s.

Long abstract:

This paper interweaves C.S. Peirce’s semiotic theory with Bruno Latour's concept of circulating reference to analyze how satellites translate the forest through extended chains of reference. These chains transform electromagnetic waves into modulated radio waves and finally into pixels on a computer screen. Empirically, the paper takes as a starting point a 1998 case study of a Swedish forest remote sensing project. This project used machine learning to compute forest information from satellite data. The paper traces the material-semiotic trajectory along which reference was made to travel; from light rays in space to the offices of environmental agencies that consumed its final product. Using Peirce's concepts of indexical and iconical sign-types, I introduce the concept of the indexical envelope to describes the emergence of a digital skin made of sensors and devices. The indexical envelope is a membrane that translates different kind of waves in the environment by being affected by them, then pass those effects onward by translating them as indexical and iconical signs. By doing a material-semiotic interpretation of the four different stages that the chain of transformations passes through—from electromagnetic waves to electric current to radio waves to light in fiber-optic cables—the paper shows how the indexical envelope became incorporated into Sweden's management of forest areas trailing the increasing understanding of forests as carbon sinks in the 2000s. Furthermore, it shows how using sensors, computers, and algorithms to translate light in the environment has become tantamount to producing politically relevant knowledge about forest carbon stocks.