EOMasters Newsletter #002 16/07/2023 |
|
|
In this Issue:
EOMasters News
EO and RS News Global Heatwave S2 Global Reference Image Available Stunning Lightning Observation Reminiscences of the Envisat MERIS Mission New IdePix Version for SNAP Sentinel-2 Pieces Together Mosaic of Antarctica Tutorial on How to do Storytelling Using Satellite Data
|
|
|
Background Music for the Blog |
|
|
Not sure if you have been waiting for this. Now you can turn on music while you read the blog post on EOMasters. I tried to find a small collection of songs which are relaxing and entertaining. |
|
|
For some reason things are upside down over at Threads. 😆 Besides the flipped image in my first post, Threads was only with a workaround available here in Germany and other European countries. Now Meta blocks the access completely. However, if you can access Threads and you prefer it over other social channels you can already follow EOMasters. |
|
|
First Tutorial Coming Soon |
|
|
The first video tutorial will be available soon. It will be about simplifying bulk processing of Earth observation data. No more writing of complicated scripts. It's worth to already follow the YouTube channel so you don't miss it. |
|
|
Last year, more than 61,000 people died in relation to the 2022 heatwave. This year it might get even worse. The first week of July was the hottest on record. For the first time ever, the global average temperature has exceeded the 17°C mark. To the climate crises is currently further pushed by the recurring phenomenon El Niño and thus these extreme temperatures. |
|
|
But farmers and scientists are collaborating to learn how to grow crops with less water. Years of drought and climate change are causing water resources to dwindle. Agriculture uses about 80% of the water in the Colorado River Basin. The article from Eos discusses how agriculture is adapting to a drier future in the Colorado River Basin. Different planting strategies can improve the health of the soil and increase the water-holding capacity. Evaporation measurements help to determine if farmers are irrigating enough or overwatering. A research team has developed a mobile app that suggests irrigation schedules and amounts for all crops grown at the site based on results from irrigation and soil salinity research, real-time weather data and satellite images. |
|
|
Related to this heat wave we also see that Greenland suffers from the temperatures. Images from Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, captured on 29 June 2023 and 3 July 2023, show the huge reduction of snow coverage on Nares Land, a northern Greenland island. The current high air temperature melted the snow cover in only four days. Only the underlying ice cover remains. |
|
|
S2 Global Reference Image available |
|
|
Since more than two years the ESA Ground Segment uses the Copernicus Sentinel-2 Global Reference Image (GRI) in the Sentinel-2 Level-1 processing chain to geometrically calibrate the data before distribution to users. The multi-temporal co-registration and the absolute geolocation accuracy of the products are improved by using the Global Reference Image (GRI) as source of Ground Control Points (GCPs) to constrain the geometric model of the images. Now this data is publicly available. Four different versions have been generated. Multi-Layer Copernicus Sentinel-2 GRI in Level-1B Multi-Layer Copernicus Sentinel-2 GRI in Level-1C Copernicus Sentinel-2 GRI as Database of Ground Control Points (GCPs) in Level-1B Copernicus Sentinel-2 GRI as Database of Ground Control Points (GCPs) in Level-1C
The GRI can be used to refine the geometric model of satellite data, not only for the Sentinel-2 mission, but also for other satellite missions producing data with a spatial resolution of up to 50m. |
|
|
Stunning Lightning Observation |
|
|
The Lighting Imager is the first ever satellite instrument capable of continuously detecting lightning across Europe and Africa. It provides a continuous monitoring of more than 80% of the Earth disc for detecting lightning discharges taking place either between clouds or from cloud and ground. The Lightning Imager will provide a new capability for European meteorological satellites and will revolutionize the detection and prediction of severe storms. The first animations from the Lightning Imager onboard the first Meteosat Third Generation satellite, which launched on 13 December 2022, have now been released. |
|
|
Reminiscences of the Envisat MERIS Mission |
|
|
ESA puts focus in the MERIS Leve-2 products by providing a new fact sheet. During the Envisat mission the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer took optical data in the visible and near-infrared range with a spatial resolution of ~290m. |
|
|
New IdePix Version for SNAP Pixel classification is one of the most important pre-processing steps before doing the thematic processing. The SNAP IdePix tool, which is available for multiple sensors, just got an update for two of them. The processing performance of Sentinel-2 MSI and Sentinel-3 OLCI has been improved. New GDAL Version GDAL got a new bugfix release. Its current version is now 3.7.1. Besides several other issues it addresses problems in the warp algorithm and in several driver implementations. |
|
|
That's it for this issue. I hope you enjoyed this collection of EO news. Stay tuned for the next edition, which will arrive in your inbox in about two weeks. Tschüss! Marco |
|
|
|
|
