Level-2 News
HotSat-1: UK spacecraft maps heat variations across Earth [link]
SatVu has released the First Light imagery from its thermal imaging satellite, HOTSAT-1.
HotSat-1 carries the highest resolution commercial thermal sensor in orbit, enabling it to trace hot and cold features as small as 3.5m across.
Google Maps can now tell exactly where solar panels should be installed [link]
"Google Maps can now calculate rooftops’ solar potential, track air quality, and forecast pollen counts.
The platform recently launched a range of services like Solar API, which calculates weather patterns and pulls data from aerial imagery to help understand rooftops’ solar potential. The tool aims to help accelerate solar panel deployment by improving accuracy and reducing the number of site visits needed."
Limits on Collecting Satellite Imagery Over Israel Continue [link]
"As the world watches Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel unfold, American eyes in the sky are limited in what they can show because of a 1997 law."
Developer’s Orbit
open-buildings; Tools for working with open building datasets [link]
Chris Holmes has published a set of useful scripts for getting and converting Open Building Datasets using Cloud Native Geospatial formats.
Recent LinkedIn post [link]
Data
NASA announces open availability of Radarsat-1 data at Alaska Satellite Facility [link]
"NASA has announced that all Radarsat-1 data archived at the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center are now open data and can be freely downloaded."
Snapshots
Earth from Space: Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines [link]
"The colours in the image are due to it being a multitemporal composite, made up of three Copernicus Sentinel-2 images acquired with the mission’s near-infrared channel over a period of 10 months. Different colours have been assigned to each acquisition: red to an acquisition in May 2022 during the hot dry season, green to one in September 2022 during the wet season, and blue to one in March 2023 in the cool dry season."
Interesting reads
Revealed: almost everyone in Europe is breathing toxic air [link]
"Analysis of data gathered using cutting-edge methodology – including detailed satellite images and measurements from more than 1,400 ground monitoring stations – reveals a dire picture of dirty air, with 98% of people living in areas with highly damaging fine particulate pollution that exceed World Health Organization guidelines. Almost two-thirds live in areas where air quality is more than double the WHO’s guidelines."
CERES Radiation Balance, 2000-2023 [link]
"The Clouds and the Earth’s Energy Radiant System (CERES) instrument is a key component of NASA’s Earth Observing System, with six active CERES instruments on satellites orbiting Earth and taking data.
Much like a pulse or heartbeat, CERES monitors reflected solar and emitted thermal infrared radiation, which together with solar irradiance measurements is one of Earth’s ‘vital signs.’ Better understanding Earth’s energy balance enables us to be informed and adapt to a changing world."
Podcasts
S05E01 Down to Earth podcast - Forest Ecosystems [link]
"Follow this episode for an interview with geoscientist Dr. Ralph Dubayah to explore the applications of GEDI and NISAR in assessing carbon capture in Earth's forests. Dr. Dubayah sheds light on the incredible capabilities of GEDI, a lidar-based instrument on the International Space Station, which measures forest structure in three dimensions, providing precise estimates of biomass and carbon content."
Upcoming Events
WEkEO Training workshop on Monitoring Cryosphere Changes [link]
Dive into how to study the dynamics of the frozen system of the planet
Oct, 16th : WEkEO products & Use Cases
Oct, 17th : Practical session