IMAGING

Remote sensing to measure water from snowpack and glaciers

Researchers at the Hakai Cryosphere Node are revolutionizing the way we measure snow and are gaining a better understanding of how wildfires influence the melting of the province’s glaciers.

The Hakai Cryosphere Node is a collaboration between the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), Vancouver Island University (VIU) and the Hakai Institute. The Hakai Cryosphere Node is located at UNBC and led by Geography Professor Dr. Brian Menounos, and Dr. Bill Floyd, a Research Hydrologist with the BC Ministry of Forests and a VIU Geography Adjunct Professor.

The researchers have been working on this project since 2018 when the Tula Foundation funded the Hakai Cryosphere Charter. It funded a five-year project to understand the role seasonal snow cover and glaciers play in the hydrology of key watersheds along BC’s Central and Southern Coast.

Researchers are using a plane equipped with LiDAR. The plane flies over watershed areas to get two sets of measurements. The plane is used when there is no snow, a bare Earth measurement, and again for a second measurement when there is snow on the ground. Researchers can subtract them from each other and get an estimate of snow depth.

The LiDAR information is combined with traditional snow-measuring methods that have been used for the past 100 years. These measuring techniques involve people going out into the snowpacks and using a snow tube to measure snow depth and density. www.unbc.ca

China launches four high-resolution remote sensing satellites

China sent a new set of four Beijing-3 optical remote sensing satellites – Beijing- 3C into orbit on May 19, 2024. These are likely to enter roughly circular, 600-kilometer-altitude sun-synchronous orbits.The satellites were launched for Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd. (21AT) of Beijing. The satellites were built by CASC’s China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). spacenews.com

Euro 15M for inflatable heat shield development

A European consortium, led by Spanish mission and system integrator Elecnor Deimos (“Deimos”), is working to develop an inflatable heat shield (IHS) for recovering rocket stages from space. This system could also protect cargo during reentry and may be used for Mars missions.

ICARUS (“Inflatable Concept Aeroshell for the Recovery of a re-Usable launcher Stage”) has received euro 10 million in funding from the European Commission (EC) under the Horizon Europe programme (grant nr. 101134997). This project follows EFESTO-1 ( euro 3 million) and EFESTO-2 ( euro 2 million), funded by Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, respectively. spacewatch.global

Developing a Space-based Air Traffic Surveillance Service

Thales, Spire Global, and European Satellite Services Provider (ESSP) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the goal of introducing a range of innovative global satellite-based surveillance services to the air traffic management (ATM) industry and broader aviation market. These services will be powered by a specialized constellation of over 100 satellites collecting Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) messages broadcast from aircraft and transmitting the data back to Earth in real time.

Spire will develop the space segment, including system design, building the satellites and payloads, ground control and data collection. Thales will provision the ground air traffic management system and the service supervision infrastructure. ESSP will manage the certification and the delivery of the service for air traffic surveillance purposes and perform H24 operation and supervision, ensuring the compliance with real-time, safety-critical requirements imposed to ATC. www.thalesgroup.com

Remote sensing and drone mapping to be done in Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve

Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh, India is set to launch a project using remote sensing and drone mapping technology to monitor the tiger corridor. The initiative aims to identify negative changes in land and water, combat encroachments, and enhance anti-poaching efforts along the 400 km stretch of the Indravati-Sitanadi-UdantiSunabeda Tiger Corridor. The Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, located in Gariaband district around 170 km from Raipur, employs cloud computing and AI-based Google Earth Engine technology to monitor changes in land and water within the tiger corridor. The total cost of this project is just Rs 285,000. This monitoring will cover changes from 2010 to 2023. Mining, illegal tree felling, encroachments and other disturbances have nearly halted the migration of tigers from Maharashtra to Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

Satellite data will enable comparisons of land and water changes every five days. The Water Resources Department can also utilize this data. Through the Drone Mapping Portal, “Jungle Mein Mor Naacha Sabne Dekha”, highresolution imagery will be accessible to the public, allowing zooming in up to 5 centimetres over areas of 50-250 hectares. This offers greater detail than Google Earth’s 65 cm resolution.

Tree plantation areas can be monitored for the number of plants, pits, and annual plant growth. Imagery from different years can be compared to assess changes. For example, the imagery from 2022, 2023, and 2024 of a 2022 plantation area can be analyzed. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

ISRO announces Indo-French Thermal-Imaging Mission

ISRO has announced a joint IndoFrench infrared earth observation satellite mission, TRISHNA (Thermal Infra-Red Imaging Satellite for HighResolution Natural Resource Assessment), to monitor surface temperature and water management around the world.

The mission will study water presence and concentrations, as well as dynamics including melting glaciers, in various parts of the biosphere, quantifying water being used on land and how. The satellite will also monitor thermal anomalies and spikes, emission of heat from land, surface energy, urban heat islands, and other global parameters.

In the process, the satellite will also study aerosols, water vapour, and clouds in the atmosphere around the world. It is currently tentatively set to launch in 2025 with an expected lifespan of 5 years.

ISRO also said the TRISHNA mission will address crucial water and food security challenges, focusing on anthropogenic or human-induced impacts of climate change.

Evapotranspiration monitoring includes soil evaporation and water transpiration from planets. This is an important metric to monitor agriculture, and data will help in maintaining soil moisture levels in the face of increasing droughts affecting Indian farmers.