Rio+20 logo from conference brochure (pdf).

Following the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, Rio+20 is a high-level conference centered on seven critical global issues in an effort to address sustainable development initiatives from previous summits and “secure renewed political commitment” for sustainable development.

Rio+20 will converge on the themes of a “green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication” and “the institutional framework for sustainable development.”

The seven critical issues at Rio+20 are: Jobs, energy, cities, food, water, oceans, and disasters. Attendees will convene to discuss issues such as “green jobs,” focusing on positions in agriculture and industry aimed at preserving the environment; sustainable energy as a means to strengthen economies; and the building of community resilience in the face of disasters.

Three preparatory meetings were held prior to the conference, the first in May 2010. A 10-member bureau was elected at the first meeting to guide the process in preparing for Rio+20.

In May 2010, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon elected Sha Zukang as secretary-general for Rio+20, who currently heads the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

“Sustainable development is not an option,” Zukang says in a conference brochure. “It is the only path that allows all of humanity to share a decent life on this, one planet. Rio+20 gives our generation the opportunity to choose this path.”

For more information, see the Rio+ website.

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Earthzine invites undergraduate and graduate students from around the world to submit an essay for its 2011 Third Annual College and University Student Essay and Blogging Contest. This year’s contest theme is “How Can Earth Observation Help Us to Build a More Sustainable World?”

Earthzine, an online publication dedicated to promoting the societal benefits of Earth observation and Earth information, is conducting a competition to encourage students to explore the role of Earth observation in creating a sustainable world.

Students are invited to submit original essays that describe, reflect upon, or envision roles for Earth observation in improving sustainability around the globe. Earth observation includes technological solutions such as satellite observation, navigation and positioning systems; in situ observations, international web-based collaboration and data sharing initiatives; and social perspectives that address sustainability through a better understanding of our planet.. From local to global benefits, we are interested in essays that address the potential of Earth observation to meet the environmental challenges we face.

(See Winners from 2010 and 2009)

After an initial judges’ review, Earthzine will post candidate essays on its website. The author(s) of the essay will be invited to lead a blog about their essay and to participate in blogs of competing essays. Winners will be determined based on the overall quality of the essay and blog.

Winners will share $1,200 in prizes, with $500 for the first prize. They also will receive certificates. All finalists will receive an Earthzine T-shirt.

Eligibility: Enrollment in any (e.g. American, European, African, Asian, etc.) undergraduate or graduate degree program at an accredited college or university, attending full or part-time at the time of essay submission. Please indicate your anticipated year of graduation and the contact email of your registrar.

Submission Guidelines:

The submission deadline is Dec. 22, 2011 (Solstice) Jan. 20, 2012.

Winners will be announced on March 20, 2012 (Equinox).

Essays should be no longer than 2,500 words and should conform to Earthzine’s Writer’s Guidelines. See earthzine.org/about.

All essays must be original and previously unpublished.

Please include a brief (<100 words) biographical sketch of the student, corresponding mailing address and T-shirt size.

Images are welcome, but must be either owned by the author or in the public domain.

Failure to comply with the Submission Guidelines may result in disqualification.

Earthzine reserves the right to edit any content posted on its site.

Queries and final essays should be sent to Dr. David Mullins, Associate Editor for Education, at dmullins@sf.edu.

Photo by debabrata

Download Call for Papers PDF here.

2012 Quarterly Theme Issue 2
March 20-June 20, 2012

Earthzine is soliciting articles of 800-3,000 words for its second quarter 2012 theme on multi-scale forest resources information. We are seeking contributions that deal with current issues, and existing and emerging techniques to derive forest resource information at different scales.

In particular, we are interested in papers that support the GEOSS societal benefit areas, the GEO Forest Carbon Tracking Task, and studies that apply Earth observation techniques to support forest multi-scale issues in forest inventories and related projects.

The theme issue is scheduled for March 20 (Equinox) – June 20 (Solstice), 2012. We seek to publish articles from all regions of the globe.

Specific topics of interest for our Forest Resource Information theme include:

• How Earth observation (sensors and techniques) is being used to monitor forests and estimate biophysical parameters from local to global scales, including methods of validation;

• Applications of Earth observation techniques that are being used for REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) activities and the GEO Forest Carbon Tracking Task (GEO-FCT);

• Uses of satellite image-derived forest map products and statistics to support forest planning and policy making;

• How Earth observation and information systems are used to monitor natural hazards affecting forests, in particular, forest fires;

• The use of interoperable Web-based standards to disseminate and share forest resource information between existing geo-information systems and web-processing work flows.

Earthzine is an informative scientific online journal dedicated to promoting the societal benefits of Earth observation and the utilization of Earth information in planning and policy.
We invite you to submit an article and become part of a growing professionally diverse community and global readership network working to build the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

Sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Earthzine supports the Group on Earth Observations in establishing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. Earthzine seeks to explore the application of scientific and technological research as well as policy and its implementation for the benefit of society.

We welcome articles about programs, projects, organizations, examples of interdisciplinary and cross-regional research, latest discoveries, and unusual findings. We also publish opinion essays, and book and art reviews.

Submissions must be in English. Submit inquiries and articles to Daniel McInerney at daniel.mc-inerney@jrc.ec.europa.eu

Please consult the Writer’s Guidelines for further information at http://www.earthzine.org/writers-guidelines.

Important Dates: Queries to the editors may be sent at any time. Submission of content for this theme begins Feb. 29, 2012, and ends June 1, 2012.

Publication: All accepted contributions will be published online at www.earthzine.org from March 20-June 20, 2012, and will be freely accessible to the public.

Information:
Earthzine website: www.earthzine.org
Writer’s Guidelines: www.earthzine.org/writers-guidelines
GEO/GEOSS website: www.earthobservations.org

Editor-in-Chief
Paul E. Racette, DSc
editor@earthzine.org

Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Christoph Aubrecht
christoph.aubrecht@earthzine.org

Managing Editor
Jeff Kart
jkart@earthzine.org

Guest Editor
Daniel McInerney, PhD
Institute for Environment and Sustainability
Joint Research Centre,
European Commission,
Ispra, Italy
daniel.mc-inerney@jrc.ec.europa.eu

Image Source: EuroGEOSS 2012 conference website.

The event will focus on facilitating and demonstrating multi-disciplinary solutions to environmental issues facing humanity.

The challenge for addressing issues such as climate change, food security or ecosystem sustainability is that they require cross-discipline collaboration and the ability to integrate information across scientific domains, according to news release.

These collaborations are difficult because each discipline has its own “language,” protocols and formats for communicating within its community and handling data and information.

A list of keynote speakers includes:

Gilberto Camara, a researcher on Geoinformatics and Environmental Modelling at the Image Processing Division of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research;

Ivan DeLoatch, executive director of the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee;

Ian Jackson, a member of the OneGeology Executive at the British Geological Survey.

The EuroGEOSS 2012 conference is due to include applications presentations as well as information technology.

A post-conference special edition is planned of International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research.

The deadline for journal submissions is Feb. 15.

Image Source: National Space Club.

This award is given to young professionals who have developed an innovative application of Earth observation satellite data that is, or could be, used for operational purposes to assess and/or predict atmospheric, oceanic, or terrestrial conditions.

Examples include the use of Earth observation data for fire monitoring, weather forecasting, climate monitoring or prediction, marine ecosystems monitoring, volcanic ash tracking, vegetation/drought monitoring, oil spill tracking, rainfall measurements or forecasts, hurricane landfall predictions, and fisheries management. The satellite data used may be from any Earth observation satellite in the U.S. or abroad.

An award committee of professionals in the field will select the recipient. The nominee must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident and not more than 40 years of age on Dec. 31, 2011.

Nominations may be submitted for individuals or groups.

The nomination deadline is Dec. 31, 2011. Complete information on the nomination process is here.

The award is presented annually at the Annual Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner.

The sea ice atop the Arctic Ocean can—as shown in this photograph from July 12, 2011—look more like Swiss cheese or a bright coastal wetland. Image source: NASA

2012 Quarterly Theme Issue 1
Dec. 22, 2011-Mar. 21, 2012

Earthzine is an informative scientific online journal dedicated to promoting the societal benefits of Earth observation and the utilization of Earth information in planning and policy.

Earthzine is soliciting articles of 800–3,000 words for its first quarter 2012 theme on climate. We seek contributions addressing current issues, techniques and applications of Earth information for assessing the state of the climate, predicting near and long-term variations, the social benefits of climate monitoring and the humanitarian implications of climate information.

The theme issue is scheduled for Dec. 22, 2011-March 21, 2012. We seek to publish articles from all regions of the globe.

We invite you to submit an article and become part of a growing professionally diverse community and global readership network working to build the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

Sponsored by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), Earthzine supports the Group on Earth Observations in establishing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. Earthzine seeks to explore the application of scientific and technological research as well as policy and its implementation for the benefit of society.

Specific topics of interest for our Climate Consensus theme include:

• The use of Earth observations and historical reconstructions in understanding the Earth’s climate state and climate variation;

• Instruments, measurement capabilities and the challenges in quantifying changes in climate;

• Understanding the integrated Earth system interactions related to climate variability and change;

• The application of global observations to develop and provide international climate services for decision makers;

• The latest improvements in modeling and data assimilation systems in projecting decadal and longer climate;

• Social understanding and communication of climate science.

We welcome articles about programs, projects, organizations, examples of interdisciplinary and/or cross-regional research latest discoveries, and unusual findings. We also publish opinion essays and book and art reviews.

Submissions must be in English. Submit inquiries and articles to Michael Bosilovich at Michael.Bosilovich@gmail.com.

Please consult the Writer’s Guidelines for further information at www.earthzine.org/writers-guidelines.

Important dates: Queries to the editors may be sent at any time. Submission of original articles, letters, opinion essays and book and art reviews begins Dec. 1, 2011 and ends March 1, 2012.

Publication: All accepted contributions will be published online at www.earthzine.org and will be freely accessible to the public.

Information:
Earthzine website: www.earthzine.org
Writer’s Guidelines: www.earthzine.org/writers-guidelines
GEO/GEOSS website: www.earthobservations.org

Editor-in-Chief
Paul E. Racette, DSc
editor@earthzine.org

Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Christoph Aubrecht
christoph.aubrecht@earthzine.org

Managing Editor
Jeff Kart
jkart@earthzine.org

Associate Editor
Michael G. Bosilovich
Michael.Bosilovich@gmail.com

Earthzine is chiefly staffed by volunteers. Check out the Volunteer & Contribute page at www.earthzine.org/contribute. Volunteer and make a difference!

The international conference will focus on the research and development of advanced technologies for application to societal challenges. More than 150 papers have submitted and reviewed in conjunction with presentations to be made at the event.

Papers will be presented by renowned individuals in the field, and highlight new technologies, business models, and social entrepreneurship initiatives that help improve the livelihoods of the under-privileged.

Keynote speaker Tony Marjoram will discuss the UNESCO report on Engineering: Issues, challenges and opportunities for development.

Sessions are planned on a wide range of topics:

— Health, Medical Technology and Telemedicine;
— Disaster Warning and Response;
— Water Planning, Availability and Quality;
— Power for Off-Grid Users;
— Power Infrastructure/Renewable/ Sustainable Energy;
— Connectivity and Communications Technologies for Remote Locations;
— Educational Technologies;
— Agricultural Technologies;
— Humanitarian Challenges and Opportunities.

The conference is an opportunity for professionals to share their work,  network with others involved in humanitarian technology, create new projects and meet with funders.

To help attendees come together, the conference will have a Forum Room open all three days for participants to post information on a project, request help with technology development or implementation, solicit volunteers, and post for opportunities wanted.

The event will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle.

Further information is available at www.ieeeghtc.org.

You can attend selected sessions via the web on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 from 10:30AM until 6:00PM Pacific Daylight Time (17:30 –01:00 UTC).

Access to the sessions on Monday, October 31 is:
https://iceo.webex.com/iceo/j.php?ED=158353782&UID=480449527&PW=NN2VmMGM2NGE2&RT=MiM0
Meeting Number: 797 521 660 and the Meeting access: GHTCvirtual1

Access to the sessions on Tuesday, November 1 is:
https://iceo.webex.com/iceo/j.php?ED=158353797&UID=480449527&PW=NMWM2MGRhMzE4&RT=MiM0
Meeting Number: 799 575 390 and the Meeting access: GHTCvirtualday2

There is no charge for participation.

The list of conference co-sponsors includes NASA and the ASME Foundation.

The WCRP confab, from Oct. 24-28, will involve climate scientists from more than 50 countries, to discuss a unique synthesis of climate research findings.

“A better understanding of the behavior of the climate system and its interactions with other Earth system components is critical to predict its future evolution, reduce vulnerability to high impact weather and climate events, and sustain life,” conference organizers say. “This need is perhaps greater than ever before given that humans have emerged as the dominant agent of future change.”

For this Open Science Conference, the WCRP is assembling its entire research community for the first time ever, and also involving other key international research programs.

The WCRP works to facilitate analysis and prediction of Earth system variability and change for use in an increasing range of practical applications of direct relevance, benefit and value to society. The program’s two main objectives are to determine the predictability of climate and the effect of human activities on climate.

WCRP is sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization, the International Council for Science and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

For more information, see the WCRP 2011 conference web site.

The seminar will focus on the benefits of improved decision-making on local and global scales. The event will last about an hour, with time for questions at the end. It will be presented by Steffen Fritz, Sabine Fuss and Ian McCallum.

The seminar is divided in 4 parts:

• An overview of current methods and tools for socio-economic benefit assessment studies of Earth observation;
• How ordinary citizens interested in Earth observation and land cover can help reduce uncertainties in global land cover and contribute to the discussion on the biofuel debate;
• How the benefit of reducing uncertainties can be accessed within the context of policy-making;
• A systems dynamics model built to analyze the benefit of the Global Earth Observation System of System (GEOSS) in the EuroGEOSS specific themes of forest, droughts and biodiversity.

This is the first in a series of lectures on developments in Earth Observation sponsored by The European Commission-funded EuroGEOSS project.

Download EuroGEOSS Web Seminar PDF here.

A girl drinking water in Rwanda. Image Credit: Jon Gosier

2011 Quarterly Theme Issue 4
Sept. 23-Dec. 21, 2011

Earthzine is soliciting articles of 800-3,000 words for its Fourth Quarter Theme Issue on Water Availability.

We seek contributions addressing current issues, techniques and applications of Earth observation information for measuring water, the social benefits of monitoring water and the humanitarian implications of water availability.

Specific topics of interest for our Water Availability theme include:

• How Earth observation technologies have or can contribute to quantify water resources at or below the Earth’s surface at a global, regional and local scale, including lakes, groundwater, soil moisture, snow and glaciers;

• Advances in the use of Earth observation technologies by countries and organizations for water management related to increasing pressure from global population growth and economic development;

• The use of Earth observation technologies to assess key environmental issues such as climate change, droughts, floods and biodiversity;

• Challenges and opportunities for validation of water-related remotely sensed data with in-situ measurements, initiation of benchmarking activities, and identification of long term trends;

• Innovative applications of Earth observation technologies in water research for validation and improvement of hydrological models and data assimilation for weather forecasting.

We invite you to submit an article and become part of a growing professionally diverse community and global readership network working to build the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Sponsored by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), Earthzine supports the Group on Earth Observations in establishing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. Earthzine seeks to explore the application of scientific and technological research as well as policy and its implementation for the benefit of society.

We welcome articles about programs, projects, organizations, examples of interdisciplinary and/or cross-regional research latest discoveries, and unusual findings. We also publish opinion essays, book and art reviews.

Submissions must be in English. Submit inquiries and articles to Annett Bartsch at annett.bartsch@tuwien.ac.at.

Please consult the Writer’s Guidelines for further information at www.earthzine.org/writers-guidelines.

Important dates: Queries to the editors may be sent at any time. Submission of original articles, letters, opinions, book and art for review begins Aug. 28 and ends Nov. 21.

Publication: All accepted contributions will be published online at www.earthzine.org and will be freely accessible to the public.

Editor-in-Chief
Paul E. Racette, DSc
editor@earthzine.org

Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Christoph Aubrecht
christoph.aubrecht@earthzine.org

Managing Editor
Jeff Kart
jkart@earthzine.org

Guest Editor
Annett Bartsch, PhD
Vienna University of Technology
Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Austria
annett.bartsch@tuwien.ac.at