Spectral Reflectance Newsletter #86
Weekly newsletter on Earth Observation
Level-2 News
SpaceX launches Transporter-11 smallsat rideshare mission [link]
"SpaceX launched the latest in its series of dedicated rideshare missions Aug. 16, putting more than 100 satellites for commercial and government customers into orbit."
70+ EO payloads:
Planet added 36 Super Doves to their PlanetScope constellation and launched Tanager-1, its first hyperspectral imaging satellite [link]
Capella Space (x1), Iceye (x4), iQPS (x1) and Umbra (x2) made additions to their SAR constellations
Satellogic launched three more imaging satellites
United Kingdom Space Command launched Tyche, a150-kilogram imaging satellite built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
The European Space Agency flew two satellites on Transporter-11
Arctic Weather Satellite (AWS): a small satellite, 125 kilos in weight that works at an altitude of 590 kilometers in a polar orbit and measures temperature and humidity in the atmosphere [link]
Φsat-2 or Phisat-2: "is a technology demonstration cubesat equipped with a state-of-the-art multispectral camera and powerful AI computer that analyses and processes imagery while in orbit." [link]
Spire Global launches seven LEMUR satellites enhancing its soil moisture monitoring capabilities [link]
"Tomorrow.io included its first two satellites with microwave sounders for weather forecasting services"
"Kuva Space, a Finnish startup, flew its first hyperspectral imaging satellite, Hyperfield-1"
Hydrosat’s launched it first thermal-infrared instrument on-board Loft Orbital's YAM-7 satellite [link]
Unversity of Sydney launched CUAVA-2 with a hyperspectral imager [link]
Kanyini, developed by SmartSat CRC, carries HyperScout-2: "a three-in-one instrument that combines hyperspectral and thermal imaging with data processing and AI capabilities" [link]
EagleEye from Polish space science and technology, to deliver high-resolution Earth imagery [link]
HYPSO-2 carrying hyperspectral and RBG imagers that were designed and built in-house by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology [link]
PlanetiQ enhanced their constellation with GNOMES-5: a small satellite to provide radio occultation data for weather forecasting, climate research, and space weather monitoring
AVS’ LUR-1: "mix of an in-orbit demonstration and commercial mission, and includes one of AVS’ VNIR imagers, designed to provide images to its clients" [link]
OreSat0.5: a technology demonstrator featuring a Cirrus Flux Camera - a short wave infrared (SWIR) sensor to help map the global distribution of cirrus clouds [link]
Chile-based company, Lemu, launched Lemu Nge with a hyperspectral camera to observe biodiversity [link]
ERNST developed by the Fraunhofer EMI: a demonstrator mission with an infrared camera for the detection of missile launches [link]
Senegal launched its first satellite, Gaindesat-1A, which will collect and transmit data to various measuring stations in the country for environmental monitoring [link]
NASA-Designed Greenhouse Gas-Detection Instrument Launches [link]
"Developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the imaging spectrometer will provide actionable data to help reduce emissions that contribute to global warming.
The satellite will use imaging spectrometer technology developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to measure methane and carbon dioxide point-source emissions, down to the level of individual facilities and equipment, on a global scale. Tanager-1 was developed as part of a philanthropically funded public-private coalition led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper. Planet Labs PBC, which built Tanager-1, and JPL are both members of the Carbon Mapper Coalition and plan to launch a second Tanager satellite equipped with a JPL-built imaging spectrometer at a later date."
Maxar’s Confirms Successful Launch for Second Batch of WorldView Legion Satellites [link]
"The second batch of Maxar Intelligence WorldView Legion satellites are now in the commissioning phase after a SpaceX launch on Thursday morning.
SpaceX launched the two satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket early on Aug. 15 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Maxar confirmed after launch that the satellites are successfully communicating with Maxar’s ground teams. "
EU-Hydro Upgrade for Copernicus Land Monitoring Service [link]
"The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) framework contract for upgrading the pan-European hydrological reference dataset EU-Hydro has now kicked off. The aim with the EU-Hydro suite of products is to provide a key reference suite for hydrological applications across Europe, while also still being a reference dataset for mapping within the Copernicus services."
Developer's Orbit
Near-Real Time Lightning Data Visualisation with Python [link]
"Lubomir Franko recently had hands-on experience with pre-released data from the new Meteosat Third Generation geostationary satellite, specifically the Lightning Imager instrument."
PyGMTSAR Pro (Python InSAR) on Google Colab: Imperial Valley 2015 SBAS & 2D/3D Maps [link]
"This use case performs SBAS analysis and provides interactive 3D and 2D maps on satellite and OpenStreetMap basemaps."
Data
Capella's Open Satellite Feed [link]
Follow this post as Mark Litwintschik accesses and examines Capella’s freely available satellite imagery.
The gee-community-catalog now boasts over 2500+ datasets [link]
Recent additions:
Global Mangrove Canopy Height Maps derived from TanDEM-X at 12m resolution
Cyanobacteria Aggregated Manual Labels (CAML) collected over Continental US
gNATSGO (gridded National Soil Survey Geographic Database) from USDA and NRCS subsets (insiders program)
Overture Maps Foundation Building Footprints for Continental US (insiders program)
Related: Catalog Updates & Must-Have Datasets With Community Catalog Release 2.8.0 [link]
Access Sentinel-3 OLCI Level-2 products in Copernicus Browser and Sentinel Hub APIs [link]
"Full resolution Sentinel-3 OLCI Level-2 data is now fully integrated into the Copernicus Browser and Sentinel Hub APIs.
Users can now easily incorporate Sentinel-3 OLCI Level-2 data into their existing workflows via Sentinel Hub APIs and visualise the products on-the-fly in the Copernicus Browser, making data retrieval and analysis even more efficient."
Explore New Aerosol Layers in NASA Worldview [link]
"NASA Worldview has expanded its suite of satellite-based remote sensing measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstrom parameter to include four new layers of ground-based measurements from the global Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) program. Users can now quickly and easily compare ground based measurements to satellite based measurements in NASA Worldview to validate their findings."
Snapshots
Wildfires rage across Athens [link]
Firefighters in Greece battled a rapidly spreading wildfire that swept across several neighbourhoods in Athens, Greece, last week. Thousands of residents were evacuated as the massive fire reached the suburbs of Athens, with some flames reaching heights of 25 m.
Mount Etna eruption captured by MTG-lI [link]
Animation of the Mount Etna eruption from 23 July, captured between 03:00 - 07:30 UTC, by the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) spectral imaging instrument onboard the geostationary MTG-lI satellite.
This comes from the first set of MTGI1’s FCI imagery, that was recently declared pre-operational after preliminary validation and made available to selected users.
Interesting reads
The Risky Business of Predicting Where Climate Disaster Will Hit [link]
Read this article about the growing reliance on climate risk models across industries, and how significant discrepancies between these models raise concerns about their accuracy and transparency. The analysis highlights the potential dangers of using unreliable predictions, particularly for vulnerable communities, as black-box models increasingly influence critical decisions in areas like insurance, real estate, and disaster preparedness.
How we measure temperature and why it matters [link]
"Temperatures across the planet are routinely monitored, and long-term records are vital for identifying climate change. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) provides quality-assured temperature data with global coverage that are free for everyone to access and use. These data are used by a variety of stakeholders including the scientific community, policymakers, public organisations, private sectors and services, and individual citizens, and are a vital tool in tackling climate change."
Ozone pollution, the air quality hazard of the summer [link]
"Every summer, when temperatures spike, ground-level ozone concentrations rise. Ozone is a pollutant regulated by European and international laws, with serious consequences for human health and ecosystems. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS*) provides a wide range of tools to track this secondary pollutant, dependent not only on the concentrations of “precursor pollutants,” but also on long range transport and global warming, and therefore difficult to control, mitigate and track. As new, tougher air quality rules come into force in Europe, here is an overview of how CAMS helps monitor tropospheric ozone."
New TEMPO Cosmic Data Story Makes Air Quality Data Publicly Available [link]
"On May 30th, 2024, NASA and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian announced the public release of "high-quality, near real-time air quality data" from NASA’s TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) mission.
The NASA Science Activation program's Cosmic Data Stories team, led by Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, has since released a new "Data Story" – an interactive, digital showcase of new science imagery, including ideas for exploration and scientific highlights shared in a brief video and narrative text – that provides a quick and easy way for the public to visualize this important, large data set from TEMPO."
An Ocean in Bloom [link]
"From the far reaches of space, NASA scientists aim to expand their knowledge of how our ocean, atmosphere, and ecosystems interact with one another through the launch of the PACE satellite. By identifying and examining harmful algal blooms around the world, PACE will inform communities ranging from from local fishermen to large corporations on what is occurring in their backyard and beyond. From sea to space, the PACE satellite will take Earth’s pulse in astounding ways for decades to come."
How NASA Sees the Shift from La Niña to El Niño [link]
"Watch this visualization of the interaction between the ocean and atmosphere during the transition from La Niña 2021 to El Niño 2023.
The visualization is a comprehensive explainer showing changes in the upper 300 meters of the Pacific Ocean (such as thermocline relaxation and eastward movement of warm temperature anomalies) and the changes in the lower atmosphere (e.g., the Walker Circulation). It is among the first efforts in visualizing the Walker Circulation and its convective branch moving across the Pacific without schematic plots but rather with verified model outputs."
LinkedIn Highlights
Segment Anything Model on EUMETSAT’s MTG imagery [link]
"Meta published a new version of their Segment Anything Model. Anna-Lena Erdmann tried it out on satellite imagery coming from EUMETSAT's geostationary satellite MTG from last year's wildfires on Rhodos, Greece."
Segment Anything Model 2 on GOES-18 satellite imagery [link]
Jarell Perez applied SAM2 to a video coming from NOAA's GOES-18 satellite.
Learning
Learn Earth Observation in 14 days with Prof. Iain H Woodhouse and Earth Blox [link]
"This introduction to Earth observation course, led by Professor Iain H Woodhouse, will give you understanding of satellite data and how to use it, as well as hands-on experience with Earth Blox to explore and visualise satellite data.
It covers topics such as radar data, calculating indices, mapping land cover, and exporting analysis results. Join us on this exciting journey of satellite Earth observation!"
A short list of courses and tutorials for Aug/Sept 2024 [link]
Check out this list of courses that Eugenia Sarafova has put together!
That's a lot of satellite launches. Whew. A lot of hyperspectral. But how much is available open source?
Thank you for another very useful roundup of earth observation news.