Monitoring Albatross colonies on remote islands from space

Monitoring threatened and endangered wildlife can be arduous, time consuming and intrusive to the species. Recently, satellite images have begun to be used to assist in the counting and monitoring of these species. The image above is of an Albatross colony on a remote island southeast of Argentina. The white dots are individual Albatrosses. These images have a detection rate similar to ground surveys and could be used to better monitor various species from across the globe.

https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/04/technology/endangered-birds-space-satellite/index.html

https://www.skywatch.com/blog/monitoring-animal-populations-from-space

https://www.audubon.org/news/how-audubon-uses-drones-and-artificial-intelligence-protect-birds-and-coast

Mount St. Helens: 40 Years of Forest Recovery

These Landsat images show Mount St. Helens after it erupted in May, 1980. The photo to the left is from 1984 and the photo to the right is from 2013. Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service have been studying photos like these for 40 years. Previously, little was known about if and how reforestation occurs after volcanic events. Thanks to satellite imagery and scientific analysis, much has been learned about the dynamics of forest recovery and associated changes in carbon stocks.

Inside the Forest Service

Military Buildup along China-India border in Galwan Valley

The images above are of the Galwan valley along the China-India border. The image on the left was captured on May 22, 2020 and the image on the right was captured June 23, 2020 by Maxar Technologies. The images show a dramatic increase in construction and development over a single month. Tensions had been rising between the two countries before they met on June 6, 2020 where some level of peace was achieved. It was June 15, 2020 when soldiers from both sides began attacking each other and causing the deadliest conflict between the two nations in 45 years. The images above show China's construction push towards the Line of Actual Control. These images are important because they show the advances made by China.

https://apnews.com/29a02e76c719f75a1f4389bb9fa6075d