Spectral Reflectance Newsletter #25

Weekly newsletter on Earth Observation

Level-2 News

NASA and Italian Space Agency Join Forces on Air Pollution Mission [link]
“NASA and the Italian space agency Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) are partnering to build and launch the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) mission, an effort to investigate the health impacts of tiny airborne particles polluting some of the world’s most populous cities.”

A new UK Climate Information Service formed to address the climate emergency [link]
“The UK Earth Observation Climate Information Service (EOCIS) is a new national project funded by the UK government through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) which will, for the first time, enable the UK to create, maintain and expand regional and global climate data from space through its own service.”

Carbon dioxide monitoring mission in development [link]
“Once launched, the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission (CO2M) will be the first mission to monitor anthropogenic carbon emissions and will support the global stocktake in the context of the implementation of COP21 Agreements and the Glasgow Climate Pact of COP26.”

Project kick-off on the potential of quantum computing for Earth Observation [link]
The ESA-funded project “Quantum Computing for Earth Observation (QC4EO)” luanched this week. The goal of the project is to create a roadmap that outlines the potential of quantum computing for Earth Observation.

ISRO receives Indo-US jointly developed NISAR satellite [link]
“The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) received the NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) satellite from the U.S. space agency in Bengaluru. NISAR is a Low Earth Orbit observatory jointly developed by NASA and ISRO.
NISAR is the most advanced radar system that will study natural hazards, melting sea ice, and groundwater supply.”

Developer’s Orbit

Monitoring Sea Surface Temperature at the global level with GEE [link]
Follow this tutorial on how to create a Streamlit app for ocean monitoring with Python

Earth Engine and Geemap Workshop at the AmericaView Annual Conference 2023 [YouTube link]

Data

Global ocean monthly data for a set of variables in the upper part of the ocean has been now released [link]

Example of the Landsat 9 Collection 2 Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE) science product showing the Everglades National Park in Florida acquired March 8, 2023, for tile CU H027V019. Left: Landsat Collection 2 U.S. Analysis Ready Data Surface Reflectance image. Right: DSWE Interpreted Layer (INTR) layer. Click to view larger image. Visit the Landsat Missions Collection 2 Dynamic Surface Water Extent webpage for more information on this science product. Credit: USGS

Landsat 9 Collection 2 Level-3 Products Now Available [link]
“The production of Landsat 9 Level-3 Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE) and Fractional Snow Cover Area (fSCA) science products has begun in coordination with the Collection 2 Landsat 9 data reprocessing campaign.
The Landsat 9 DSWE and fSCA science products are now available to download from EarthExplorer and the Commercial Cloud.

Snapshots

Graham Coast, Antarctica. Acquired by Copernicus Sentinel-2 in December 2022. Credit: ESA

Earth from Space: Graham Coast, Antarctica [link]
Follow this story and explore the icy landscape of Graham Coast.

Energy: the Mines of Kolwezi [link]
“In the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo, copper, cobalt and other metals have been mined in several open pits near the town of Kolwezi since 1940.”

PlanetScope • Kiritimati, Kiribati • December 10, 2022

Planet Snapshots Issue 66: Climate Migrations [link]
In this week’s issue:

• How climate change is expected to move populations

• Sediment creates waves in the Gulf of Mexico

• A different kind of California reservoir timelapse

Interesting reads

Left: Average 2m air temperature at 23h (moment of max UHI) during all summer months (June-August) of the years 1987- 2016. Right: UrbCLIM output field downscaled to 30-m resolution showing the average daily maximum urban heat island (UHI) intensity for a part of the city of Amsterdam. Credit: VITO

DestinE for human heat stress: ECMWF use case to tackle urban heat islands [link]
Follow this article on how the Belgian research organization VITO will use Destination Earth’s Climate Adaptation digital twin to produce interactive, high-resolution maps to provide historical information and to help predict the evolution of urban heat islands, one of the main causes of weather-related health risks and deaths.

Applications of satellite technology in biodiversity conservation [link]
Follow this blog spot to learn more about how satellite data is used for monitoring and managing biodiversity.

Building Capacity in Using Earth Observations for Environmental Decision-Making [link]
Read about the efforts of Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data on building capacity in using EO data and how they implemented a systems-based approach to help Guinea, Mali, Somalia, Suriname, and Togo increase proficiency in using Earth Observation data for decision-making.