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Featured Article

Power Potential and Pitfalls on the Congo: Developing Africa’s Cleanest and Largest Hydropower Opportunity

The erratic progress made by the Democratic Republic of the Congo in capitalizing on the power of the Congo River for development of its economy is charted in this news analysis by writer Peter Fairley. Read his analysis here. NEW DEVELOPMENT: A Reuters news story confirms that the DRC government is pulling out of Westcor in favor of the Billiton-financed project. That story is linked here.

Peter Fairley, posted on March 8th, 2010
Articles, Economy, Energy, Featured Article, Politics, Water | No Comments »

Featured Person

GEO needs stronger political and financial support to succeed

Dr. Roy Gibson, first Director General of the European Space Agency and the first Director General of the British National Space Centre, made a strong argument for the need of governments to give priority financial and political support to GEO and GEOSS as speaker at the GEO-IGOS Symposium in Washington DC on 19 November 2009. His adapted speech from that event and a biographical introduction are reprinted here.

Roy Gibson, posted on February 22nd, 2010
Earth Observation, Economy, Featured Person, GEOSS/ICEO News, People, Politics | No Comments »

Original Articles

Easy Access to Satellite Weather Data

Whatever the weather in Europe, EUMETSAT’s meteorological satellites will be observing it. The good news for researchers, climate modellers, and amateur meteorologists is that the data they produce are freely available for non-commercial or research purposes. You can even set up your own reception station.

Neil Fletcher, posted on March 11th, 2010
Articles, Earth Observation, Technology, Weather | No Comments »

The Calibration and Validation Program for the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP)

The National Polar-orbiting Operational Satellite System (NPOESS) program will launch its second risk reduction mission, the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) in 2011. NPP is collaboration between the NPOESS program (for risk reduction) and the NASA’s Earth Science program (for continuity of earth science measurements). The NPP sensors will measure 24 environmental data products, and require a comprehensive pre- and post-launch Calibration and Validation program to ensure sensor and data product performance. This paper describes a comprehensive approach to the NPOESS Calibration and Validation program, based on lessons learned over two decades of experience in both operational and science remote sensing.

Karen St. Germain, posted on March 8th, 2010
Articles, Earth Observation, Ecosystems, Technology | No Comments »

The Feb. 27 Magnitude 8.8 Earthquake in Chile May Have Shortened the Length of Each Earth Day

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory research scientist Richard Gross has computed how Earth’s rotation should have changed and shortened the Earth day by about 1.26 microseconds as a result of the Feb. 27 quake.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory , posted on March 4th, 2010
Articles, Disasters, Earth Observation, Would You Believe? | No Comments »

Chilean tsunami was first real scale test of the UNESCO/IOC Pacific Tsunami Warning System and enabled emergency evacuations

The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that wreaked havoc on Central Chile on February 27, 2010 also generated a tsunami which crossed the entire Pacific Ocean, reports the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The Pacific Tsunami Warning System (PTWS) enabled emergency response agencies to warn locals about the risk of tsunami and order evacuations. This is the first real ocean-wide test of a system that was put in place nearly 50 years ago.

Peter Koltermann, posted on March 4th, 2010
Articles, Disasters, Earth Observation, Technology | No Comments »

Restructuring the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

President Barack Obama’s FY2011 budget contains a major restructuring of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) in order to put the critical program on a more sustainable pathway toward success, according to a White House directive. “The satellite system is a national priority — essential to meeting both civil and military weather-forecasting, storm-tracking, and climate-monitoring requirements. However, the program is behind schedule, over budget, and underperforming. Independent reports and an administration task force have concluded that the current program cannot be successfully executed with the current management structure, and with the current budget structure…,” the directive continues. Read the entire directive here.

the White House , posted on February 23rd, 2010
Articles, Earth Observation, Politics, Weather | No Comments »

Syndicated Articles

Earth Imaging For the Masses

Originally Published by Earth Imaging Journal

TerraLook, a joint initiative between the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is making free satellite imagery available to a wide user community for monitoring change.

Posted on March 17th, 2010
Earth Observation, Technology

Featured Article

Power Potential and Pitfalls on the Congo: Developing Africa’s Cleanest and Largest Hydropower Opportunity

Featured Person

GEO needs stronger political and financial support to succeed

Original Articles

Easy Access to Satellite Weather Data

The Calibration and Validation Program for the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP)

The Feb. 27 Magnitude 8.8 Earthquake in Chile May Have Shortened the Length of Each Earth Day

Chilean tsunami was first real scale test of the UNESCO/IOC Pacific Tsunami Warning System and enabled emergency evacuations

Restructuring the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

Syndicated Articles

Earth Imaging For the Masses

Reindeer body clock switched off

IPCC under fire in blogosphere for ’sealevelgate’

Indonesia intensifies forest mapping

New Asteroid Threat Reports Highlight Legal and Institutional Issues

Electric cars jostle for position on the power grid

Dubai, February 2010

World’s Top Scientists to Scrutinize Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

NASA and NOAA’s GOES-P Satellite Successfully Launched

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