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(By Caleb Henry | July 10, 2014) Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) are working together to build a new Earth observation satellite: Alsat 1B.

The new satellite builds on the accomplishments of Alsat 1A, which was launched in 2002.

ASAL has a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK Space Agency to promote collaboration between the two space programs. Of critical importance for ASAL was to bring skills for building satellites to Algeria. As such, 18 Algerian engineers will handle the assembly, integration and test phase for the satellite in Algeria, and 18 Algerian students will travel to the University of Surrey in Guildford, England for educational purposes.

The new Alsat 1B satellite will carry a 24-meter multispectral imager and a 12-meter panchromatic imager using the SSTL-100 platform.

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Monitoring wildlife in the Arctic is difficult. Study areas are cold, barren and often inaccessible. For decades scientists have struggled to study animals, like polar bears, which live in these remote areas.

Now researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey have begun testing a new, yet counterintuitive solution – rather then get close to the animals, monitor them from afar. Scientists have started using satellites to observe, count and track polar bears. USGS scientists and their Canadian collaborators have begun analyzing high-resolution satellite images from a part of the Canadian High Arctic to determine the feasibility of using satellites to study polar bear populations.

“We tested the use of satellite technology from DigitalGlobe to count polar bears by tasking the satellite to collect photos from an area where we were also conducting aerial surveys,” said Dr. Todd Atwood, research leader for the USGS Polar Bear Research Program. “We then analyzed the satellite and aerial survey data separately and found that the abundance estimates were remarkably similar.”

The study, which is led by former USGS scientist and current University of Minnesota researcher Dr. Seth Stapleton, is part of an ongoing effort to identify non-invasive technologies to better understand how polar bears respond to the loss of sea ice due to a warming climate. This study tries to determine the number of polar bears and where they reside on Rowley Island in Nunavut’s Foxe Basin during the ice-free summer. “We selected Rowley as our study site because bear density is high during summer and the flat terrain provides an ideal setting to evaluate the use of satellite imagery,” said Stapleton.

Traditionally, scientists study polar bears by capturing and tagging them or by conducting aerial surveys with low flying aircraft. While these methods provide a wealth of important information, they are disruptive to the animals and are often not possible when dealing with remote locations. “We think satellite technology has the potential to open vast, remote regions of the Arctic to regular monitoring. It has tremendous potential to aid the circumpolar management of polar bears,” said Stapleton.

The next steps in the research focus on testing the satellites’ ability to detect polar bear populations over larger areas, including sites along coastal Alaska. Using satellite imagery shows incredible promise and provides one more tool for those interested in preserving polar bear populations for future generations.

The ongoing research is part of the USGS Changing Arctic Ecosystems Initiative. The findings from the study are in the most recent issue of PLos ONE

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The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) formalised their collaboration by signing a collaboration agreement to enhance the development and use of geospatial standards.

The outcome is expected to be a more effective contribution of JRC to the OGC standard process, “and facilitate the consideration of European objectives and requirements during the development of international open geospatial standards” as stated by the announcement of OGC.

Both organizations will benefit from this cooperation in the field of development, application, maintenance and promotion of international open geostandards in relation to the implementation of the INSPIRE directive. According to Mark Reichardt, President and CEO of OGC, OGC benefits from the JRC’s leadership in advancing geospatial information sharing across Europe, enabled by open standards, including those of the OGC. The European Union benefits greatly from open standards that improve discovery, sharing and application of diverse collections of information to address a range of important issues.”

Ms Maria Betti, Director of the JRC’s Institute for environment and Sustainability, for her part affirms that “during the development and implementation of INSPIRE, the JRC has gathered a lot of experience on the implementation of infrastructures for geospatial and environmental data based on interoperability standards – on an unprecedented scale. The joint activities of the OGC and the JRC will be instrumental in feeding this experience into the international standardisation process.”

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Japan has launched two Earth Observation satellites last week to monitor environmental damage near the damaged nuclear plants in Fukushima and Chernobyl, officials said.

Japan has launched two Earth Observation satellites last week to monitor environmental damage near the damaged nuclear plants in Fukushima and Chernobyl, officials said.

The two satellites, Hodoyoshi-3 and Hodoyoshi-4, have been developed by the University of Tokyo for around 300 million yen (about $2.9 million) each. They will take images of the two nuclear power plants and the surrounding environment to be combined with ground-based data including radiation levels.

“I hope that the data will help Japan and Ukraine correctly acknowledge the impact on the environment near the two plants,” project leader Shinichi Nakasuka, from the University of Tokyo, said.

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Natural hazards such as subsidence, rockfalls and landslides can greatly affect safe travelling.

The European Space Agency ESA is now using satellites to monitor hazards across broad areas that could affect road and rail networks.

ESA elaborates: “Traditional monitoring such as photographic mapping to measure changes in the landscape works well for specific locations but is labour intensive and costly. One promising approach is to use maps produced from radar satellites to identify potentially hazardous slopes, followed by repeat monitoring at ground level. By taking regular observations, displacements across large areas can be measured with millimetre accuracy. Any sudden changes in motion indicate a potentially high-risk situation and invite closer scrutiny.”

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Scientists at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) recently developed a satellite-based map of human settlements, with a precision currently unparalleled by other global surveys. The maps are based on data of the German radar satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X captured from an altitude of 500 kilometres. The imagery has a resolution of three metres allowing to identify even individual buildings.

DLR further elaborates: “The overflights by the two radar satellites, TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X, covered the entire surface of Earth within two years. This was possible as the sibling satellites are able to ‘see’ through clouds and can even record data at night. The team of researchers processed and evaluated a total of 180,000 individual images and more than 308 terabytes of data for the precise Global Urban Footprints project. Previous global evaluations have not been able to record smaller villages, as the resolution of the satellites was no better than 300 metres.”

“Until now there has been no global record of settlement patterns with this kind of regional specificity,” says Thomas Esch from the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) within DLR. Since 2008 more people have been living in urban rather than rural areas. Previous estimates suggested that between one and three percent of Earth’s surface is covered by settlements. The initial results of the radar data evaluation show, however, that the proportion of developed areas has been frequently underestimated.

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On 8 July, 2014 Skybox launched the SkySat-2 Earth Observation satellite from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on board a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket.

The launch of SkySat-2 follows as part of Skybox’s plan to create a 24 satellite constellation collecting high-resolution Earth imagery.

Skybox plans to create a 24 satellite constellation collecting high-resolution Earth imagery.

As EARSC had reported previously, Google recently announced plans to acquire Skybox for $500 million.

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As urban air quality and airborne pollution grabbed the headlines with the return of ‘smong’ to large swathes of England, James Eddy reports on how scientists at the University of Leicester are developing a ground-breaking air quality mapping service

April 2014 saw the return of ‘smog’ to the skies over large swathes of south and south east England. Emissions from domestic vehicles, factories and homes coincided with gentle easterly winds that brought in additional pollution from Europe and combined with Saharan dust, whipped up by a storm thatproduced gale force winds in north Africa, to create the ‘perfect storm’.

This combination of pollution and weather events presented as milky white air that obliterated the sun and shrouded much of England for several days. Residents in affected areas were advised to stay indoors and avoid strenuous exercise while sufferers of respiratory and heart problems were warned of potential flare ups of existing conditions.

Nothing New

Air quality concerns are not new. The infamous ‘pea soupers’ in London are even mentioned by Dickens and many people in the UK are aware of the tragic consequences of the 1952 London fog which led to thousands of deaths and the eventual implementation of the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968. In 1999 air pollution resulted in hospital visits for more than one million people in Mexico City and, despite planting tens of thousands of trees and introducing alternative fuels for government vehicles, remains one of the most daunting environmental issues for the city.

Around the world China continues to make headlines amid international concerns that economic growth is being prioritised over health. Recent reports have suggested that Beijing will introduce emergency measure similar to those implemented for the 2008 Summer Olympics ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting later this year.

Threat to health

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is part of a group of highly reactive gasses known as nitrogen oxides. NO2 forms quickly when fossil fuels are burned for example petrol or diesel in a car or natural gas in a domestic boiler or power station and there is clear evidence that high levels of NO2 are linked to adverse effects on health. These include increased risk of respiratory illnesses, such as bronchitis, and even heart attacks, with World Health Organisation statistics show 1.3 million deaths worldwide resulting from outdoor air pollution.

Threat to wildlife

The nitrogen within the recent smog outbreaks does not just impact on human health. It has been reported that nitrogen deposited from the air to the ground and stored within the soil has reached critical levels.

This ‘hidden killer’ has the potential to wipe out entire species and destroy ecosystems. Nitrogen rich soil reduces biodiversity by supporting species which thrive on nitrates at the expense of those that don’t. High levels of nitrogen can also cause problems by leaching into groundwater. This can prove toxic to cattle and sheep and cause problems for small infants by impairing the blood’s oxygen carrying capacity. Once in the ground, nitrogen can remain for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Keeping tracks

Currently in the UK air quality is monitored via a national network of over 130 urban, suburban, roadside, industrial and rural monitoring sites, known as the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN). AURN continuously captures ambient concentrations of selected pollutants throughout the UK although some data is also collected manually.

DEFRA has a duty to report to the EU on air quality every 5 years and local authorities currently review and assess current and future air quality in their localities against health-based objectives. Where it is predicted that these objectives will not be met, and public exposure exists, the local authority must declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA). Nationally, we are not achieving all of our legally binding targets for nitrogen dioxide and now we face legal action by the European Commission for failing to reduce excessive levels with fines of up to £300m a year. The main challenge for the UK is in meeting nitrogen dioxide limits alongside roads in cities and towns.

Pollutants move with the air and as such areas that generate air pollution, such as roads, may create impacts elsewhere. As a static network the AURN may not provide the full picture as to where the pollutants actually affect; making it hard for Local Authorities and government to fully understand how to address it.

Taking to the skies

Scientists at the University of Leicester are at the forefront of research into monitoring of air quality. Using ground breaking technology a partnership between the University and aerial mapping company Bluesky has already mapped levels of nitrogen dioxide across the East Midlands city of Leicester.

The Airborne Air Quality Mapper (AQM) utilises the University of Leicester’s world leading Compact Air Quality Spectrometer, mounted on a dedicated aerial survey aircraft. The device monitors visible light and measures how much light is lost at specific wavelengths absorbed by NO2. The technology has previously been used as part the CityScan project with devices mounted on tall buildings in Leicester, Bologna and London during the Olympics to build 3D maps of pollution across the cities.

The air quality mapper (AQM) can be used to measure nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels through application of differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS), a passive remote sensing technique that uses the spectral signature of sunlight reflected off of the Earth’s surface to determine how much NO2 is in the sunlight’s path through the atmosphere. From these measurements vertical column densities of NO2 can be determined, and surface levels of the pollutant can be estimated at resolutions of approximately 20m by 20m. This means that air pollution across an entire city can be mapped during a single flight.

Proven technology

While the data sensor may be new the thinking behind aerial collection is anything but. By working with an industrial partner the University of Leicester can benefit from the experience and expertise of one of the UK’s leading aerial survey companies. This eases potential problems obtaining flying permission over populated cities and ensures all data is collected to the highest possible standards.

Once processed, the colour coded air pollution maps created from the AQM data can be overlaid on digital maps or online mapping systems such as Google Earth. By combining with other data potential sources of pollution can be identified as can patterns of distribution. This intelligence can then be used to inform policy, planning and pollution control measures, for example.

Early trials of the AQM have already revealed some interesting phenomena and the University of Leicester is expected to publish full results in an academic paper due out soon. However, this is not the end of research into monitoring of potential pollutants in cities and towns. The University of Leicester is also partnering Bluesky with trials of the world’s first integrated night mapping system. Combining a specially adapted camera with Bluesky’s state of the art LiDAR and thermal imaging sensors it is hoped the trials will produce essential data to help combat light pollution, energy wastage and help manage urban habitats. The resulting map accurate images will be a useful tool for managing street lighting operations and maintenance and as a resource to tackle energy inefficiency.

James Eddy is Technical Director and co-founder of aerial mapping company Bluesky (www.bluesky-world.com) and holds the honorary title and status of Industrial Associate at the University of Leicester.

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In partnership with The Nature Conservancy, DigitalGlobe activated its Tomnod crowdsourcing platform to help preserve Hawaii’s remaining native forests, the areas that remain mostly untouched by civilization. Invasive weeds, such as the Australian Tree Fern and African Tulip Tree, are aggressively spreading throughout Hawaii’s high-elevation rainforests.

In fact, invasive species have contributed to the destruction of more than 50 percent of Hawaii’s native forests, according to The Nature Conservancy. DigitalGlobe has a unique ability to monitor change around the world, and this campaign will allow us to do just that.

Starting with the island of Kauai, we want to pinpoint the location of some of the worst invasive weeds, but we need your help! If you would like to volunteer your time to support this mission, please visit DigitalGlobe’s Tomnod platform to join other eco-volunteers in combing through aerial images of Kauai to tag two different species of invasive weeds, specifically: Australian Tree Fern, Partial Australian Tree Fern and African Tulip Tree.

This project uses Conservancy-provided high resolution aerial photography of Kauai’s remote rainforests. By pinpointing the location of each weed, the Conservancy will be able to focus its efforts on each one, and identify the leading edge of the weeds’ spread. Targeting weeds in the regions of the forest where they are most prevalent will slow further spread and push back that leading edge, protecting the 27 percent of native forest that remains on Kauai. Hawaii as a state stretches over more than 16,000 square kilometers, and the island of Kauai is more than 1,400 square kilometers, so the crowd can play a significant role in targeting these weeds before they spread any further. Although this project focuses on just 3,000 acres, if it is successful, the Conservancy has thousands more acres — and images — to analyze.

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Experts in spatial data and map quality are being invited to take part in an international workshop being held at the Old University, Valletta, Malta from 20 to 21 January 2015.

The workshop is co-organized by EuroGeographics Quality Knowledge Exchange Group, the European Location Framework (ELF) Project, International Organization for Standardisation (ISO), OGC and EuroSDR.

Papers on a range of topics including quality evaluation, certification and standards are sought by the programme committee which comprises members of the organizing organizations and other international experts.

The two-day event will include an update on the data quality validation service being delivered by the ELF project. Participants will also investigate the need for the further development and application of the metadata and quality standards created by ISO TC 211.

Abstracts should be between 500 and 1000 words and submitted by 12 September 2014.

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