Earth’s climate is changing at an alarming rate, posing severe risks to public health and safety. Many health professionals witness firsthand the impacts of rising temperatures and extreme weather on human well-being. To address these challenges, experts are increasingly relying on satellite and space-based data to monitor environmental risks and develop timely interventions.
Earth’s oceans, covering over 70% of the planet, remain largely unexplored due to the limitations of traditional mapping methods. Ship-based sonar, though precise, is slow and costly, leaving vast areas of the seafloor unmapped. This gap in knowledge restricts understanding of tectonic processes, underwater ecosystems, and marine biodiversity. However, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography …
The Greenland ice sheet, one of the largest ice masses on Earth, is melting at an unprecedented rate, driving global sea level rise and disrupting weather patterns worldwide. Understanding its changes is vital, but precise measurements of its volume and shape have historically been difficult. The European Space Agency’s CryoSat and NASA’s ICESat-2 have transformed …
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On August 16, 2024, ESA launched Φsat-2, a pioneering cubesat designed to revolutionize AI Earth observation. This small yet powerful satellite was sent into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of the Transporter-11 rideshare mission, which also included ESA’s Arctic Weather Satellite. The successful deployment …
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The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency CNES, is making significant advances in flood prediction. This innovative satellite provides unprecedented data on water heights across nearly all Earth’s water surfaces, including rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. These bodies of water, critical to Earth’s hydrological cycle, are …
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Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has transformed satellite imaging, providing a revolutionary capability to observe Earth’s surface in all weather conditions and at all times. SAR operates by bouncing radar signals off the ground and analyzing the returned echoes, which allows it to generate images through clouds, smoke, and darkness. This feature addresses a significant limitation …
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Netflora, developed by Embrapa, represents a significant advancement in forest management through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). This methodology utilizes a set of algorithms specifically trained to enhance AI forest species identification.
Forests are crucial for sustaining Earth’s biodiversity and are key in absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide, offering vital ecosystem services as defenses against climate and biodiversity crises. However, a significant knowledge gap exists due to most global forest data coming from low to medium resolution satellite imagery, which inadequately covers dynamic and dispersed forest systems such …
Google has announced a groundbreaking partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to launch the MethaneSAT satellite, a critical initiative aimed at mapping methane pollution and oil and gas infrastructure from space.
The NASA PACE mission (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem) marks a revolutionary step in Earth observation. Launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, this mission is set to provide an unprecedented view of Earth’s microscopic marine life and atmospheric particles. The launch was a success, with the spacecraft’s solar arrays deploying …
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