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EOM April 2005 > REMOTE SENSING IN YOUR WORLD
High Resolution Imagery to Aid Citrus Industry
Nancy Bohac
Image courtesy of the USGS
Florida's citrus crops may benefit from the use of high resolution satellite imagery. State and federal agriculture officials plan to use imagery to monitor citrus crops in Brazil, the world's largest orange producing nation and Florida's primary competitor in the citrus industry. A partnership between NASA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Florida Department of Citrus, and other partners will provide approximately $1.3 million for the program. The goals of the citrus program are to count citrus trees in Florida, to improve forecasting, and to learn more about the citrus crops of Brazil and other foreign competitors. Brazil and the United States compete heavily in European and Asian markets. The pricing structure of citrus is based, in part, on crop estimates, meaning that this project may have future fiscal impacts for the Florida citrus industry.
Underwater Research Robot is First to Cross the Gulf Stream
Jeff Sherman of Scripps, Breck Owens and Brian Guest of WHOI, assemble the glider in the WHOI float lab. Image courtesy of Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is making history with its small ocean glider, SPRAY, the first autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to cross the Gulf Stream undersea. Launched September 11, 2004, the 2- meter long glider with a 1.2-meter wingspan, made its way from just south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts to just north of Bermuda. The glider measures various ocean properties as it travels 1,000 meters below the surface. Spray surfaces every seven hours to relay its position and data gathered via satellite to scientists. Sensors on the glider can be changed for each mission making it a dynamic research tool. For the Cape Cod to Bermuda mission, SPRAY was outfitted with instruments to measure temperature, salinity, pressure, and turbidity in the water. For future missions, it will also have an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) to track current speed and velocity. Spray's 6,000 km range means the glider could potentially cross the Atlantic Ocean or other oceans, monitoring circulation patterns and major currents. Spray can stay at sea at a relatively low cost for months at a time, allowing observation of large-scale changes under the ocean.
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Medspiration Program to Produce Best Mediterranean Heat Map
With the help of high resolution satellite imagery, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Medspiration project will produce the most detailed and dynamic surface temperature map of the Mediterranean ever created. Mapping the sea's almost 3 million square kilometers using ground-based mapping methods would require the use of nearly a million and a half thermometers placed into the sea simultaneously. Medspiration will use imagery from multiple high resolution satellites to produce a set of sea surface data and maps that can be fed into ocean forecasting models for waters surrounding Europe as well as the Atlantic Ocean. Sea surface temperatures are a crucial variable in weather forecasting and may be an indicator of climate change. Results from Medspiration will also feed into other projects such as the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Pilot Project (GHRSST-PP) designed to produce worldwide sea surface temperature maps at a resolution of less than 10 km every six hours.
NASA Satellite Monitors Air Quality and May Eventually Predict It
Image courtesy of USDA NRCS
In much the same way as weather satellites revolutionized weather forecasting, scientists believe NASA's AURA satellite can transform air quality monitoring and prediction. In orbit since July, the satellite, which monitors ozone, air quality, and climate change, has already collected direct measurements of lower atmospheric ozone as well as chemicals that are precursors to harmful ozone gas levels. AURA has also supplied new images of the ozone hole over Antarctica. The high resolution images produced by AURA can be used to track daily chemical reactions in the atmosphere and to monitor atmospheric health in an unprecedented way, since current air quality measurements are dependent on less sensitive ground instruments. AURA completes its orbit in 90 minutes and can compile a global map of key molecules in the atmosphere within a day.
Remote Sensing Reveals Clues to Desertification
Image courtesy of NASA
Using remote sensing techniques, the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Global Ecology is helping to unravel how the complex interactions among climate, vegetation, and human actions affect desertification. The Institution is conducting a five year research project that analyzes vegetation and soil changes in response to rain variation over large areas in the Northern Chihuahua region of New Mexico. The study uses NASA Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), aboard a NASA U-2 to observe the physical structure of ecosystems including live and dead plants. (Traditionally such studies have only focused on the greenness of the top layer of vegetation and on bare soil much more than the loss of natural litter as dry areas become desert.) The data are viewed three dimensionally, at very high resolution, allowing for a broader picture of the ecological processes at work, such as carbon cycling and other chemical and biological activities. The study region is approximately 800 square kilometers in size. Each data pixel studied covers an area of 19 square meters. Researchers will look at ecosystem-climate interactions of grasslands, transitional terrain and desert-shrub landscape and will take measurements after wintertime and summer monsoon rains, which can vary in intensity by more than 300 percent.
Insect-Like Micro Air Vehicles Feed Themselves
Insect-sized airborne vehicles that refuel themselves on a diet of dead flies and other organic material could aid in reconnaissance and public safety efforts in the future. One such aircraft, developed by University of Bath researchers, is up to 15 cm long and weighs 1 kilogram. Outfitted with sensors and cameras, its potential uses could include aiding in modern warfare, traffic monitoring, or fire and rescue missions. Historically, micro air vehicles have faced a number of challenges including slow flight speeds that make them vulnerable to high winds and energy (refueling or recharging) requirements. Ecobot II overcomes one of these challenges by using a Microbial Fuel Cell, which relies on microbes to extract electricity from organic matter, as its only power source. Ecobot II is the result of one of five micro air vehicle-related research projects being conducted over the next two years by the University of Bath's Department of Mechanical Engineering.
GIS Project Measures European Coastal Health
Image by Captain Albert E. Theberge, NOAA Corps (ret.); courtesy of NOAA
Factors affecting water quality near European coastlines will be monitored using GIS in a collaborative project between public and private sector partners and the European Commission's Information Society Technologies (IST) group. The IST-funded Information System for Marine Aquatic Resource Quality (I-MARQ) project is designed to integrate high volumes of data from different sources for modeling and mapping. Factors monitored include the amount of suspended sediment in water, temperature, run-off from land, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate levels, chlorophyll (algae) and microbial risk. Data will be gathered from a number of sources including distributed sensor networks, biosensors, and durable fixed sensor platforms. I-MARQ will use a process known as data fusion, which integrates water quality data from sources ranging from those sensed by buoys and hand held instruments to satellite imagery.
Florida Appraiser Loses Mapping Copyright Case
A district court of appeal has ruled that Collier County Property Appraiser Abe Skinner cannot copyright maps and charge royalties for the purpose of making a profit. Skinner was sued by MicroDecisions, an Orlando based real-estate data vendor, after refusing to give the company access to cadastral data compiled by his office unless it signed a license agreement and paid royalties. In October of 2002, MicroDecisions sued Skinner, stating he had violated Florida's open records law. Skinner claimed he had the right to charge royalties on maps because of copyrights held under Federal law. The court ruled in favor of access to public records, regardless of whether the use was personal or for a commercial, profit-making enterprise.
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