Recently the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Board of Directors voted unanimously for a third resolution calling for immediate support and funding for the continuation of the Nation’s moderate resolution imaging program. Several events have led to the possible discontinuation of the collection of moderate resolution, multispectral remote sensing. One of those events was the technical failure in the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument on-board the Landsat 7 spacecraft in May 2003, and most recently the decline of the Landsat 5 spacecraft.
Although many other remote sensing efforts exist these days, the more than 40 years of uninterrupted Landsat imagery has been instrumental in monitoring ongoing stresses on the Earth from climate change, population, land use and other factors that challenge the natural resources available to mankind. According to the announcement, measuring the Earth’s resources such as food, water, and energy is best done by collecting and implementing moderate resolution imagery.
Sicily’s Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and the most well-known. Yesterday it burst forth with quite a fireworks display overnight.
The eruption wasn’t as strong as previous bursts, but it lasted for a longer period of time than previous ones.
This morning, the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center based in Boulder, Colorado, published a map showing a solar radiation storm touching the upper atmosphere in the Earth’s poles. According to their report the Earth is being bombarded with the strongest blast of radiation from the sun since 2003. This event could cause problems for communications and air travel.
In partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project, Autodesk has developed an interactive map displaying the cities around world that are trying to fight climate change as participants in the CDP Cities program.
This interactive map displays the cities around world that are trying to fight climate change as participants in the CDP Cities program.
An important geospatial data event that commenced yesterday in Abu Dhabi is the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Summit and Exhibition, a joint initiative of the Government of Abu Dhabi and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), opened today at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The Summit has convened leaders from the worldwide geospatial data movement to outline a roadmap for the better integration of the world’s flood of environmental and societal data for the benefit of all, and especially of developing economies.
The patron for this event is His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates. The Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Summit & Exhibition is hosted by Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), facilitated by Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) and held in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
At its opening Monday 12 December, H. E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, the Secretary-General of Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, said: “The reason we are all here today (is) safeguarding our environment for our future generations…This Summit is held in recognition that environmental and societal data should be collected in a concerted manner, at its source, made accessible and affordable and should be used to underpin reporting and support decision making in order to achieve sustainable development.”
The Eye on Earth Summit attracts those in global leadership of the environmental information movement, a group dedicated to maximizing and exposing the benefits of geospatial information to decision-makers worldwide.
Check out this worrisome new analysis by NOAA scientists and colleagues at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES).:
Winter precipitation trends in the Mediterranean region for the period 1902 - 2010.
Wintertime droughts are increasingly common in the Mediterranean region, and human-caused climate change is partly responsible, according to a new analysis by NOAA scientists and colleagues at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). In the last 20 years, 10 of the driest 12 winters have taken place in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
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