Articles
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. The Congo River, second only to the Amazon in hydrological significance, has, he writes, the potential to power a continent but until now this promise has been unrealized. Read his analysis here.
Peter Fairley, posted on
March 8th, 2010
Articles, Economy, Energy, Featured Article, Politics, Water
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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Announcement
Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. announces a Call for Participation (CFP) in Phase 3 of the GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP)
The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) announces a Call for Participation (CFP) in Phase 3 of the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP) issued by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). The CFP documents are available at: http://earthobservations.org/geoss_call_aip.shtml.
Lance McKee, posted on
February 11th, 2010
Announcements, Articles, Earth Observation, GEOSS/ICEO News
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Airborne Radar to Study Quake Faults in Haiti
NASA’s Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, aboard a modified NASA Gulfstream III aircraft, will study geologic processes in Hispaniola following the Haiti earthquake. NASA’s flights will help scientists better assess the geophysical processes associated with earthquakes along large faults and better understand the risks, said Paul Lundgren of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the principal investigator for the Hispaniola overflights.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory , posted on
February 10th, 2010
Articles, Disasters, Earth Observation
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Agriculture and Food Availability
Remote Sensing of Agriculture for Food Security Monitoring in the Developing World
For one-sixth of the world’s population – roughly 1 billion children, women and men – growing, buying or receiving adequate, affordable food to eat is a daily uncertainty. The World Monetary Fund reports that food prices worldwide increased 43 percent in 2007-2008, and unpredictable growing conditions make subsistence farming, on which many depend, a risky business. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are part of a network of both private and government institutions that monitor food security in many of the poorest nations in the world.
Michael E Budde, Et al, posted on
February 8th, 2010
Agriculture, Articles, Climate, Earth Observation, Health, Technology
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Earth Information Systems/Capacity Building
Geo-Wiki.org: Harnessing the power of volunteers, the internet and Google Earth to collect and validate global spatial information
Do you want to participate in a really big project? Geo-Wiki.org is looking for volunteers in the global Earth observation community to validate, augment and even disagree with existing spatial information and to aid in the collection of new information through the powerful resource of crowd sourcing. In recent years the ability to collect spatial information from volunteers has greatly expanded through the combination of Google Earth, geo-tagged photos and the Internet. So whether you are a confluence hunter, a geographer, or simply a Very Observant Person (VOP), you may be able to contribute important in-situ data about global land cover to GEO-Wiki.org.
McCallum et al., posted on
February 1st, 2010
Articles, Earth Observation, Technology
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IEEE Haiti Engineering Educational and Professional Development Rebuilding Fund
The tragedy in Haiti is still only in the first stage of triage with valiant efforts being made to alleviate the immediate suffering and provide the basics for sustaining human life. However, challenges just as daunting lay ahead for reconstruction. One of these will be the re-establishing of engineering and technology education and professional activities in Haiti.
Pedro Ray, posted on
January 29th, 2010
Articles, Disasters, Earth Observation
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