Page 26 - Google Earth Engine News Today

Copenhagen, Denmark - UNITAR-UNOSAT and the University of Copenhagen co-organized and delivered a 3-week Masters level course entitled "Geo-information...

African elephants only occupy a fraction of their potential range Many wildlife species are threatened by shrinking habitat. But according to new research, the potential range of African elephants could be more than five times larger than its current extent. Due to 2,000 years of human pressure, African elephants have suffered dramatic population declines, and their range has shrunk to just 17% of what it could be, say researchers who led the new study, in  Current Biology. The dramatic reduct...

Credit: David Griffin A study reported in the journal Current Biology on April 1 has both good news and bad news for the future of African elephants. While about 18 million square kilometers of Africa--an area bigger than the whole of Russia--still has suitable habitat for elephants, the actual range of African elephants has shrunk to just 17%of what it could be due to human pressure and the killing of elephants for ivory. "We looked at every square kilometer of the continent," says lead autho...

A WSU research team uses free satellite imagery and drones to provide data used for ecological monitoring to Whitman County and the Palouse Conservation District, which voluntarily works with community members to restore natural habitats. The team created effective protocols for integrating new technology into Washington conservation districts and counties, said Alexander Fremier, associate professor for WSU’s School of the Environment. The researchers first looked at satellite imagery on Goo...

We can now see through clouds to detect deforestation in near real-time World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch can now track deforestation shortly after it occurs despite being obscured by cloud cover. The functionality will greatly improve efforts to monitor tropical deforestation and degradation. Radar for Detecting Deforestation (RADD) alerts use radar data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellites, which cover the tropics every 6 to 12 days. The long wavelength rad...

Supporting water and disaster risk management in Mozambique using Google Earth Engine Cyclone Eloise just hit Mozambique’s Sofala coastal province at the end of last month, displacing thousands of people and ruining crops [1]. The authorities are still gauging the full extent of the damage by severe winds and heavy rains across the rest of the region, but this is nothing that Mozambique has had to face for the first time. Throughout its history, the country has coped with a succession of cycl...

The BIOAg Project, aimed at helping counties monitor and report compliance in helping riparian, streamside, or ecosystems.   “The state’s program is really a bottom-up approach, where the state encourages local stewardship to improve riparian areas and monitor them,” said Alexander Fremier, an associate professor in WSU’s School of the Environment (SOE). “Stakeholders, including counties, districts, or landowners, propose areas that they can help improve, then monitor the results of...

February 15, 2021 A Sentinel-2 image of an area in Whitman County, showing green vegetation (white) with streamside areas outlined yellow. Source: Google Earth Engine. By Scott Weybright College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash.— Washington State University researchers are using satellites and drones to help local conservation districts monitor areas near rivers and streams to help improve agricultural sustainability. The BIOAg project, part of WSU’s Cente...

Alerts Photo: Vasily Bogoyavlensky (Getty Images) The Siberian tundra is still out here exploding. A new study from the Woodwell Climate Research Center has identified three new craters in the region’s increasingly volatile permafrost, and the climate crisis is to blame. Advertisement Researchers have been seeing giant holes form in western Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula for years. The first, discovered by workers back in 2014, measured 262 feet (80 meters) in diameter. Since then, scientists ha...

Mangroves provide a range of benefits, including protection from storms and the prevention of coastal erosion Mangroves, like these in Madagascar, provide a range of benefits, including protection from storms and the prevention of coastal erosion. (Louise Jasper/Blue Ventures) January 27, 2021 Mangroves are salt-tolerant plants found in intertidal areas throughout much of the world’s tropical and subtropical coastlines. Mangrove ecosystems are highly variable, ranging from sparse, stunted sh...