Spectral Reflectance Newsletter #34
Spectral Reflectance Newsletter #34
Weekly newsletter on Earth Observation
Level-2 News
Bayanat, Yahsat and ICEYE Announce an Ambitious Program to Broaden Commercial Opportunities across the UAE Space-Ecosystem [link]
“The program aims to develop a constellation of five LEO SAR satellites with the first satellite scheduled for launch in Q1 2024”
UK leads Europe in race for space investment, new report finds [link]
“A PwC-UK Space Agency report reveals the UK is the most attractive destination for private investment in space after the US.”
Planet Expand Agreement with AXA Climate for Drought Insurance Program [link]
“Planet Labs has expanded its strategic partnership with AXA Climate to offer insights from Planet’s satellites that inform parametric insurance products for a drought insurance program.”
Five countries to Launch COSPAR Satellite for Advanced Earth Science Research [link]
“The COSPAR Satellite aims to study various aspects of Earth’s atmosphere, including atmospheric dynamics and chemistry, as well as the effects of space weather on our planet. The satellite will also provide valuable data to support weather forecasting and climate modelling. With this project, the collaborating teams hope to contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge and exploration.”
LiveEO and Capella Space Partner to bring SAR Satellite Insights to Asset Managers [link]
“LiveEO, a company in Earth observation analytics and solutions for high-value infrastructure and energy asset monitoring, announced a partnership with Capella Space, a provider of high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery.
This collaboration will enhance the LiveEO Rapid Response Insights (RRi) product, enabling informed storm response for infrastructure and utility managers.”
Data
RapidAI4EO: A Corpus of Dense Time Series Satellite Imagery [link]
The RapidAI4EO corpus is a dataset of dense time series satellite imagery sampled at 500,000 locations across Europe. Sample locations are non-overlapping with a footprint of 600×600 metres. At each location the corpus contains datacubes of two cloud-free, regular-cadence image products and corresponding land cover labels:
Planet Fusion three-metre, five-day cadence radiometrically harmonized and gap-filled imagery for 2018–2019
Sentinel-2 L2A monthly image mosaics at 10-metre resolution for 2018
CORINE Land Cover multiclass labels for 2018
Related:
Planet-led RapidAI4EO Consortium Releases One of the Largest Earth Observation Training Datasets for Machine Learning Applications [link]
Snapshots
PlanetSnaps Issue 75: Events [link]
In this week’s issue:
People amass, satellites pass (over)
Drifting icebergs
Not quite great lake
Maritime traffic around Venice, in Italy [link]
Interesting reads
Our oceans are in hot water [link]
“Adding to the grim list of record ice losses, record air temperatures and record droughts, which have all hit the headlines recently, the temperature of the surface waters of our oceans is also at an all-time high. With an El Niño looming, concerns are that we will soon be facing even worse extremes. Satellites orbiting overhead are being used to carefully track the patterns that lead up to El Niño to further understand and predict the consequences of this cyclic phenomenon against the backdrop of climate change.”
Related:
El Niño and La Niña [Youtube link]
International Sea Level Satellite Spots Early Signs of El Niño [link]
New Global Crop Type Maps Will Improve Analysis of Global Agricultural Production [link]
“Scientists from NASA Harvest and GEOGLAM have created the first up-to-date harmonized global crop type maps for five major commodity crops.”
Tips for Using Satellite Imagery in Forensic Investigations, from Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab [link]
“Identifying the locations of critical fuel depots could help researchers at Amnesty International (AI), a human rights organization, explain how aviation fuel, linked to deadly airstrikes in Myanmar, reached the country and was supplied to its military.”
Wildfires in forests of Canada and Russia put climate scientists on alert [link]
“Wildfires in the boreal forests of Canada and Russia of rising intensity are sharply reducing air quality and pumping tons of carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere, the EU’s earth observation programme has warned.
Fires in Canada’s main oil-producing province of Alberta alone have burnt about 1 million acres since January 1 and forced nearly 30,000 people to evacuate in the past week.”
How Desert Dust Nourishes Phytoplankton [link]
“In a new study published May 5 in the journal Science, a team of researchers from Oregon State University, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and NASA combined satellite observations with an advanced computer model to home in on how mineral dust from land fertilizes the growth of phytoplankton in the ocean.”
Upcoming Events
Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Copernicus! [link]
“On 8 June 2023, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency, and the Swedish National Space Agency invites you to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Copernicus, the EU’s Earth Observation flagship.”
Remote Sensing for Journalists [link]
“In this webinar, participant will explore how remote sensing technology can be used to enhance reporting and provide valuable insights into stories that would otherwise be difficult to cover. Christoph Koettl will talk about the latest developments in satellite technology and how it can be used for a range of journalistic applications.”
May 25th at 4pm CEST (2pm UTC)
Learning
Recordings from the International Workshop on High-Resolution Thermal EO are out! [Youtube link]
Earth Observation Learning Resources [link]
This page compiles several learning resources about Earth Observation! From books to webinars, tutorials, Python Notebooks, podcasts and online courses, this collection features a variety of sources to help you learn more about Earth Observation and Remote Sensing.
