Bushfires in Austrailia: December 6, 2019

This image captures the hundreds of bushfires that are burning in Australia on the east coast.  The image was taken on November 12, 2019 by Copernicus Sentinel-3.  It shows the smoke from the fires which has drifted over the Tasman Sea.  In this image, it is easy to see the smoke from the fires as it is overlaying the sea.  This image is important because not only can you see the extend of the area over which these fires are burning, but you can see the different sources from where the fires are burning.  The Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service also uses satellite images such as these to help respond to the fires and study these fires in order to see the impact they have on the emissions that they give off to the atmosphere.  

Permafrost Melt in Northern Alaska

This image shows thermokarst features, or disturbances created by melting and subsiding permafrost in Alaska on June 21, 2017. The water features from melting soil ice on the landscape are becoming larger and more common. Alaska is one of the fastest warming places in the world as a result of global climate change-- on average, Alaska is warming 1.5x faster than the rest of the United States, with most of that warming happening in the winter and in the spring. Alaska's low population density and remoteness shelter it from widespread news coverage about the impacts of climate change. Images such as these, especially as a series, help us visualize how quickly and to what extent landscapes are changing. 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/11/americas/thermokarst-arctic-climate-change-intl-hnk/index.html

Greenland Ice Sheet Waterfall

This is a drone image of meltwater that has formed on the glacier sheet in Greenland due to climate change. It shows the before and after of the water falling through the cracks in the ice sheet, which contributes to more water and ice being pushed out to sea. It was temporarily the tallest waterfall in the world, and the water was cascading at approximately 950 cubic meters per second. This is an important phenomenon to study because the melting of these ice sheets contributes to global sea level rise.

This is the article: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/04/world/drone-greenland-ice-sheet-fractures-scli-intl-scn/index.html

Drought causes lakes to dry up in Chennai, India

These three images are of a lake in Chennai, India. The first image was taken on June 15th, 2018, the second was taken on April 6th, 2019, and the third was taken on June 15th, 2019. This summer, India was experiencing major drought due to a late monsoon season and hot temperatures. The state had to ration water for its citizens since all of their reservoirs were dry. 

Link to the article: https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/20/world/chennai-satellite-images-reservoirs-water-crisis-trnd/index.html

Before and After the California Wildfires 2018: The Mendocino Complex and County Fire-Ayla Kunes

https://weather.com/news/news/2018-11-13-california-scorched-burn-areas-2018-wildfires

See original website for better "after" image.

The Path of Destruction from the Stoughton Tornado (2005)

This image is an aerial photograph of Stoughton, WI in the aftermath of the tornado which went through the area on August 18th, 2005.  This image contains a combination of Landsat MODIS and Aster and represents the change in landscape where the path of the tornado is shown in a red color.  The imagery is important as it can be used by emergency agencies in determining the location and extent (house, town, county) of the damage where the help should be focused.  Additionally, this imagery could be used to help determine what kind of assistance is required to the areas affected.

Deforestation of National Zoo-cum Park & Botanical Garden, Bani Gala

The image shows major changes in forest development after the addition of centralized urban land. The changes in reflectance of the vegetation, within a 4-month period, shows large residential development had taken place. Forested lands are seen as natural beauty in Pakistan. In turn, real estate investments are taken advantage of in these areas. The large housing societies have caused massive deforestation in just a few months. Almost 8km^2 of forested land was demolished by these new residential land coverages.

https://earthenable.wordpress.com/tag/forests/

Tornado Damage in Dallas Suburb Seen From Planet Imagery

This image shows the scar of a recent tornado (October 22nd) through the Preston Hollow suburb of Dallas. You can see the dusty curvy pattern showing the path the tornado took. While assessing the damage on the structures itself is difficult, it is clear that a tornado had a impact on a relatively wide area. The image can be utilized to see extent of damage for federal, state, local, and private agencies that might respond. They could assess images like these to determine what kind of resources are needed.

 

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/23/dallas-tornado-satellite-photos-reveal-twisters-path-above/

 

Deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil

Relevant to our previous course material, this aerial image shows a fire burning in the Amazon rainforest in Porto Velho, Brazil. According to the Brazilian government, deforestation of the Amazon has reached its highest level in over a decade. About 9,762 square kilometers (3,769 square miles) of rainforest were lost in the 12 months leading up to July 2019, a 29.5% increase over the previous year and is reported to be the highest loss of rainforest since 2008, as reported by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Many of these fires can be attributed to illegal activity, such as agriculture, logging, and mining on protected land, as well as a lack of effort to protect the Amazon rainforest by current Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

Aerial images such as these, as well as satellite data, can measure the rate of deforestation across the Amazon, in addition to recording the number and scale of ongoing fires. This can be useful in conservation efforts by not only fighting these fires, but also tracking and stopping the illegal activities that can cause them.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/19/americas/brazil-deforestation-amazon-2019-trnd/index.html

Forest Density near Manoa, Brazil

The LiDAR image is of a swamp near Manoa, Brazil. With LiDAR, it’s possible to map the heights of the trees in the forest as well as the density of the forest like this image does. With this information, one can obtain values that tell how much carbon the forest can sequester. Before LiDAR, measurements had to be made in person to do the same calculation. This cuts time spent obtaining data significantly, and reinforces the idea of reforestation as a way to combat climate change. 

Image of the Day - November 19th, 2019

This is an aerial photo containing a portion of Runit Island, located in the Enewetak Atoll of the Marshall Islands. This atoll was a site of intense nuclear bomb testing by the US from 1946 to 1958, and the two circular features in this image are both nuclear bomb craters. The one in the water remains unaltered since the detonation that caused it, but the one on the island has been altered substantially. In 1958, the US Military detonated an 18 kiloton nuclear bomb nicknamed "Cactus" over Runit Island, which created a crater 105m in diameter. This went untouched until the late 1970's, when the Marshall Islands negotiated control over the Enewetak Atoll from the US. In the negotiations the US agreed to clean up the radioactive debris scattered around the Atoll - an operation that would take 3 years, 4000 US workers, 6 of which lost their lives. In the end the material was mixed with concrete, poured into the crater, and encased in a concrete dome, and that dome is the reason this place has become newsworthy as of late.

The Runit Dome, as it is called, is deteriorating. Cracks are forming in the structure, and rising sea levels over the past 40 years have caused storm and flood events to occur more frequently, working water into the dome and spreading the radioactive material around. Work done by Columbia University and the LA Times has suggested that the dome is at risk of collapsing. If it does, it won't increase the overall radioactivity of the atoll by much - it is already very radioactive - but it does risk the release of Plutonium-239 and other toxic, radioactive heavy metals into the groundwater. The Marshall Islands have had to deal with issues of leftover radioactivity from the era of US bomb testing ever since they regained control of the atoll in 1986.

https://www.iflscience.com/environment/climate-change-is-threatening-to-crack-open-a-cold-war-nuclear-tomb/

https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/the-dome/9198340

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runit_Island

https://marshallislands.llnl.gov/ccc/Hamilton_LLNL-TR-648143_final.pdf

The Retreat of the Taku Glacier, Alaska

This is a true color, vertical satellite image of the Taku Glacier in Alaska, captured in medium resolution by Landsat 8 on August 9, 2019. This snowy glacier dominates the left portion of the image, with vegetation-covered mountains towards the lower right hand corner. The Taku Glacier is one of the thickest alpine glaciers in the world, and it showed no signs of retreat until the 1990’s, when its advance slowed and some thinning occurred; the glacier began its full retreat in 2018. When comparing this image to an image captured on August 14, 2014 (see the NASA link below), the glacier’s mass and snow loss around the terminus are apparent, especially where the glacier meets the river. This image, which shows the sudden retreat of one of the world’s thickest glaciers, forces us to imagine the effect that increasingly warmer global temperatures will have on glaciers of all sizes worldwide. The Taku Glacier’s retreat presents yet another chilling example of the detrimental impact of climate change on Earth’s natural cycles.

New York Post article link to original image (Note that the New York Post article misreports the image date as 2018 when it was really captured in 2019, according to NASA’s official site below):

https://nypost.com/2019/11/08/nasa-images-reveal-worlds-thickest-mountain-glacier-is-melting/

NASA’s Earth Observer link to comparison photo of glacier 2014 versus 2019:

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145830/retreat-begins-at-taku-glacier

Atmospheric Gravity Waves Over Australia

I found this image while I was looking through the CNN website this evening.  It shows how a satellite was able to capture Atmospheric gravity waves over Australia.  I had never heard of this phenomena before reading the article, and I thought that seeing the image was very illuminating in explaining what was going on, as atmospheric gravity waves occur when big bodies of gasses act like fluids, and it was really clear and easy to see in the image. In the article they also had a video that showed some different color combinations, and though I wasn't exactly sure whether the image was true color or not, it was really interesting to see how the different ways of presenting the image showed different characteristics.    

Image of the Day - November 13, 2019

This is a composite image showing the burn scar of the Kincaid Fire in Sonoma County, California, which burned over 77,000 acres in late October and early November. The yellow dots in the image are areas where the fire was still smoldering on November 3, 2019. The yellow dots, from the thermal infrared channel of ASTER, are overlaid on the true-color image from ASTER's visible channels. The burn scar is the large area of dark gray or purple in the image.

Visualizing the Extent of Rural Agricultural Fires Contributing to Delhi's Pollution Crisis

The Indian capital of New Delhi is currently experiencing a severe outbreak of air pollution and toxic foam. Approximately 25% of the city's smog in the winter months has been attributed to the practice of stubble burning by farmers in nearby provinces, which is done to clear remaining crop residue after harvest. The red dots on the satellite image represent active fires in the vicinity of New Delhi. The ubiquity of the dots indicates the widespread nature of stubble burning, despite the existence of a ban on the practice. Over 6,500 fires were recorded on a recent day in the neighboring state of Punjab. The image is a reminder of how seemingly localized adverse environmental practices can impact places hundreds of miles away.

Image of the Day: Easy Fire threatening Reagan Presidential Library

This image is a high resolution oblique aerial photo. The main focus of this image is the man-made structure in the middle which is distinguishable by its rectangular shapes. Directly surrounding the structure there is a lot of greenness which create shadows leading me to believe that they are trees. Due to the fire hazard in the area, the trees could be serving as a fire block. Surrounding the trees, there is a lot of brown area which could be previously burnt area. Another key feature of this photo is the grayish cloudy area in the top of the photo creeping up on the building. There is also a noticeable line of orange by the gray fog signifying that it is a fire and the fog is smoke. 

This image is important and relevant in that it shows the current Easy Fire in Southern California creeping up upon the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. This image was used on the U.S. News website in order to make the public more aware of the severity of this wildfire. 

Gravity Waves in Atmosphere: November 6th

This image shows gravity waves in the atmosphere which is not frequently seen. According to the article, this phenomenon is only spotted if there are clouds to show the wave movement in the atmosphere. This phenomenon does not pose an everyday threat to people but is something pilots should be aware of.  

Kincade Fire, Sonoma Co. California

This is an aerial photo of the Kincade fire in California. Imagery like this play a key role in the fire-fighting process. Fire management are able to create models with technology that will predict where the fire will spread. Not only can they track the future path of the fire, but with photography like this and models, firefighters are able to communicate to the public whether or not it’s safe to return to their homes.

Deforestation in Tambopata, Peru

Deforestation is a major problem all over the globe, and these pictures depict that narrative in the Tambopata province in Peru. The images show the remains of large expanses that have been cleared for various human activities. Illegal miners are rampant in this area and are the cause of much of the destruction. Other areas are carved out for urban or agricultural uses. These images bring more awareness to the issue that is happening in far too many places. Forests are big sinks for carbon, and they also provide the oxygen we breathe and a home for biodiversity. By looking at these images, it is also possible to tell where conservation efforts are needed. A Peru-based NGO has already started reforestation programs in the Madre de Dios region of the Amazon to help restore the forest and all the benefits that come with it.

The Kincade Wildfire in Northern California Seen from Satellite

As we discussed in class, the current fires in California are massive and impact a large portion of California. These fires are so huge that you can see them from satellite, 22,300 miles away. This image of the day was taken in Northern California of the Kincade wildfire by NOAA on October 24, 2019, a day after the fire began.  This is significant because it helps show the extent of the wildfire's impacts around the state and the country. Smoke haze not only affects California, but the wind spreads smoke to other states as well, impacting air quality and visibility on a larger scale. Most importantly, people are losing their homes, their lives, and their livelihoods to these fires that spread so large and fast that you can see them from space only a day after ignition.

Aerial Image of the Paradise, California Fire

This is an image of Paradise, California, on November 8^th, 2018.  Last year, hundreds of thousands of acres of forest were burnt down just north of Sacramento.  In fact, this fire burnt down the entire town of Paradise, California to the ground, killing dozens of people.  

NASA and commercial companies such as DigitalGlobe recorded images of the fire from above in effort to provide information about where it could possibly spread next and how to combat it.  While wildfires and their destruction are very tragic, it is interesting to see how satellite imagery can assist firefighters and other officials when dealing with natural disasters. 

While this image’s spatial resolution is not very small, I do not believe it is necessary to be able to detect very small objects on the ground in the image.  Rather, I believe the purpose of this image was to show the overall form and shape of the fire. 

Flooding of the Arakawa River

On October 12 and 13, Typhoon Hagibis made landfall on several Japanese and North Pacific Islands. This typhoon was the strongest to hit Japan since 1958 when Ida struck. Rainfall exceeded 37 inches in 24 hours, causing the levees on at least 21 rivers to collapse. As of October 22, the death toll has risen to 83, with most deaths occurring in northeastern Japan. The prefecture of Fukushima was hit by flooding and mudslides. Bags of decontaminated waste from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant washed into the Furumichi River, but most have been recovered so far and “present no immediate danger”. Nearly 4,000 individuals remain in evacuation shelters and over 40,000 homes are without running water. The islands are bracing once more as Tropical Cyclone Neoguri hit Japan and the Northern Marianas, and Typhoon Bualoi is approaching.

Using Satellite Imagery to Identify Stranded Whales

The image shows a Sei Whale washed up on the shore of a remote beach in Patagonia, Chile (whale shown as pink crescent in center of image). Scientists are using high resolution satellite imagery (50 cm) to count the number of whales that were beached in 2015 during a mass stranding event. Initial surveys indicated that about 340 whales were stranded during this time, however, through analyzing the satellite imagery from the time of the mass stranding, scientists now estimate that there may have been almost double the amount of beached whales from the initial count. The whales can be picked out from the image easily because when the animal decomposes it turns a pink/orange color.

Image of the day October 17th, 2019

This image shows the affects of flooding from the recent typhoon that hit Japan.  From this image we can see the widespread and devastating flooding that hit the town of Tamagawa.  This image is important because of the information that it provides, in the image it appears that their is a natural river that has flooded over its embankments.  From the typhoon this image may be able to provide help in the future for dealing with rising floodwaters in this region.

1919 to 2019 Mer de Glace Glacier on Mont Blanc in Switzerland

These are two images of the Mer de Glace Glacier on Mont Blanc in Switzerland.    The image on the left was taken in 1919 by a swiss pilot and photographer, and the corresponding image on the right shows the glacier today.  The two images look like they were photographed from the exact same location in the air despite being taken 100 years apart.  This was achieved through a process called monoplotting and using peaks, spires and other significant landmarks on the mountain to find the geolocation of where the original photographs were taken.  The image today shows a significant reduction of size in the glacier today as opposed to 1919, and scientists believe the rate of ice melt at this glacier will continue to speed up.    This image is important as it shows how significantly climate change affects environments, and how glaciers all over the world are in the process of slowly disappearing

Energy Mapping in Southern Africa

This image shows areas that have access to electricity in mid and southern Africa. United Nations uses images like this to map areas that do and do not have access to electricity. They also are able to use this imagery to tell if areas have strong access to electricity or if areas are only using a slight amount by how strong the brightness is. This is important because it shows what areas still need power if they are to achieve their goal of global energy by 2030.

Improving Farming Practices with Drone Images, October 9, 2019

This image shows the Ferguson family orchard which has a very distinct row and column pattern. The orchards are very neatly designed in this pattern with trellises in case they need to integrate a netting system in the future to protect the crops from hailstorms that could ruin and damage their product. They use these drone images to monitor the orchards’ conditions because of the stronger and more random weather patterns in Wisconsin. Farmers are able to adjust their practices not only on a whole field/ orchard but on a specific row or tree because of the information provided by the drone images. 

"Loose Tooth" Finally Separated

The satellite image shows a table iceberg, larger than Los Angeles, recently separated from an ice shelf in Antarctica. Named D-28, the iceberg spans over 600 square miles. It weighs around 315 billion tons, and is potential conflict for overseas shipping companies. A team of researchers has kept watch of the icebergs location for almost 20 years, and named the spot loose tooth because of its semi-detached formation. Although it make seem like an issue derived from climate change, researchers say this a natural cycle for most ice shelves, and since it’s already floating, an increase in sea level is not a problem as well. The ridged texture of the water show signs of solidity, and slight deformation. This gives reason to the ice-shelves natural separation.

For more information on D-28 you can visit, https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/01/world/vast-iceberg-leaves-antarctic-shelf-scli-intl/index.html.

September 14 Saudi Oil Attack

On September 14, 2019 two major Saudi oil facilities were attacked by drone strikes, causing them to lose nearly 6 million barrels of oil. These images found in the New York Times were taken following the strikes and were used to determine the extent of the damage as well as to try and determine who attacked the plants and from where.

Image of the Day October 1st, 2019

This image shows the progression of looting sites at an archaeologically rich part of Egypt, just south of Cairo. The round holes that increase over time are looting sites, which are noticeable due to their shape and their scattered cluster pattern. The observable ruins to the north of the looting sites are archaeological dig sites, and are clearly distinct from looting pits. This makes tracking archaeological looting very easy in exposed desert such as in Egypt. The time scale is also important, as it tracks Egypt through crisis, both 2008 and 2011, and how looting increased over this period of economic and political crisis, respectively. Satellite imagery is thus giving archaeologists new tools to monitor sites which previously would require constant on-the-ground policing, which is expensive and logistically difficult.                                                 

Climate Strike Protests in Hamburg, Germany

This is an image of one of the many climate protests that took place on September 20th. An estimated 4 million people worldwide took part; this photo is from Hamburg, Germany. At this particular protest in Hamburg, 70 thousand people attended. The largest was in New York City were over 300,000 people attended.

Hurricane Dorian Sweeps Across the Atlantic, September 26th, 2019

This image shows a mass of white clouds swirling over a series of islands in the Atlantic. Obtained from NOAA, the storm pictured is Hurricane Dorian as a tropical storm wreaking havoc across the Bahamas, whose tropical blue waters look serene from above the storm. The outlines of the land masses have been highlighted in white, so audiences can identify where in the Atlantic the storm is, and therefore glean some information about where it could be headed next. The magnitude of the storm can also be understood be comparing it to the relative size of the land masses, which most people are generally familiar with. 

Fires Wreak Havoc in Indonesia

For the Image of the day assignment I chose to look overseas in Asia for a source of inspiration. It was in the New York Times that I came across a news story based on an event that I was unaware was occurring. Indonesia has recently been struggling with forest fires in the country that tend to occur annually. However, the recent fires have been recorded as being much worse than the fires they are used to controlling. The lack of media attention on this event is mainly a result of the primary focus being on the fires in the Amazon. The government of Indonesia has made multiple statements asking citizens to refrain from initiating fires on their property to clear land in fear that the small fires may become another large forest fire. The most obvious reason for concern in this news story is that forest fires add more carbon to the atmosphere while simultaneously killing vegetation that would usually be drawing carbon out of the atmosphere to use for photosynthesis, both of which worsen the current climate crisis. The image I have selected is an areal photo of the aftermath of the forest fires that ravaged the area. I thought it was particularly interesting because it resembles an IR image where the vegetation appears red in color, however this image is in fact in true color. The image specifically shows the ash, burned debris from vegetation, uncovered soil and a small amount of remaining trees that have turned red in color due to a loss of water and nutrients.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/world/asia/indonesia-fires-photos.html

Hurricane Dorian Oil Spill Consequences

This image captures an oil spill on Grand Bahama Island at a major oil storage terminal after Hurricane Dorian hit. The company that runs the facility is called Equinor and has released a statement saying that the size of the spill is unclear, however, oil has been observed on the ground outside of the onshore tanks but has yet to reach the sea. When Dorian struck the terminal had 1.8 million barrels of oil on site. Equinor has announced they are mobilizing oil spill response resources as soon as possible but the threat to the surrounding local reefs, wildlife, beaches, and community is immense and will become a bigger issue if action is not taken quickly.

Bahamas Escape Tropical Storm Humberto

This is a low-oblique aerial photo that shows destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian on September 7th, 2019 on Elbow Key Island, Bahamas. You can clearly see debris scattered throughout the photo and homes that were torn apart. There appears to be trees and other vegetation that were destroyed also. The paths seem to have been cleared prior to this image being captured. The Bahamas thought they were going to be struck yet again by the new Tropical Storm Humberto. However, on September 15th, it was announced that the Bahamas were no longer in the storm’s path. If there is a before image of this area, this photo could be used to show the devastation of a storm through before and after pictures. This photo could also be used for insurance purposes if possible.  

Image of the day: September 17, 2019

LIDAR can be utilized alongside archaeological studies and ground surveying to reveal the Chaco Roads. These roads are estimated to have been constructed during the Basketmaker III period (500-700 A.D.) and were used for trade and transportation of people.

Clearly, the impressively parallel outlines of the Great North Road can be seen on the LIDAR results. The ground surveying done by the Farmington Bureau of Land Management field office found ceramic shards concentrated along the same road, noting that the deposits were from different pieces, rather than whole, broken pots.

Hurricane Dorian, September 12, 2019

This image shows the eye of Hurricane Dorian, the storm that hit the Bahamas earlier this month. The storm remained in the area for around 38 hours, devastating communities and businesses before finally changing trajectory. Aerial footage and images in the news have been giving viewers a sense of the magnitude and horror of the event. This image in particular was taken from the International Space Station on September 2. Though it is difficult to tell scale, the image is effective in conveying the power of the storm to completely alter the normal pattern of clouds and obscure the land below. You can also see from the image the rotating motion of the clouds, which alludes to the strength of the winds and their ability to cause damage.