Bulawayo Operational Observatory and mapping in response to COVID-19 social distancing requirementsGibson, Lesley; Sibanda, Bothwell N.; Gwate, Onalenna; Sibanda, Sikhanyisile; Hargreaves, Peter; Watmough, Gary R.
doi: 10.1117/12.2574088pmid: N/A
Sars-CoV-2 is spread through contact between people and an understanding of where people are in contact with each other is necessary to prevent its spread. In this paper, the residential building density of Bulawayo was considered a proxy for high density of people. OpenStreetMap (OSM) building data was downloaded and converted from polygon to point data for use in the analysis. World View 2 data was used to visually map those areas where data was missing in OSM. More automated methods were attempted using eCognition however the short turnaround time of the project limited the success of this approach and work in this regard in ongoing. Land use attribute data was joined to the building shape file in order to select only those building which were designated as residential in nature. The residential building density was calculated per hectare and a hot spot analysis of the residential building density determined statistically significant clusters of high density residential buildings. The high density areas are mostly located in the west of the City, where new settlements are being created to accommodate new arrivals to the city. The East is typified by low density housing, largely a legacy of the City’s colonial past. A series of maps which could be printed on A3 paper were produced for the City. The maps displayed both the results of the hot spot analysis and land use and these have been made available to City officials to help in planning their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Satellite-derived habitat mapping in Abu Dhabi Emirate: considerations for current and future studiesHamersley, D.; Kumar, A.
doi: 10.1117/12.2572030pmid: N/A
The opportunity to perform an update to the existing habitat map across the whole of Abu Dhabi Emirate provides a unique assessment of the benefits and challenges associated with using satellite imagery for the purposes of establishing a higher accuracy habitat map. The first habitat study of Abu Dhabi using Very-High-Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery, undertaken in 2014, provided a baseline for assessing changes in habitats. The approach for the current update combines the relative computational ease and consistency of processing Landsat-8 data to extract broad habitats with the ability to identify and extract high levels of detail in WorldView imagery accurately, over a compressed project timescale. Variations in habitats over time can be attributed to environmental change and/or human development and provide a basis for investigation of biodiversity stressors and an understanding of the environmental and economic implications of activities within Abu Dhabi and the wider Gulf region. Understanding the direction of change is a valuable precursor to informed decision making and the formation of appropriately targeted mitigation strategies. The new map uses reduced minimum mapping units (MMU), meaning a greater level of detail is present, and also identifies habitats where none were previously mapped. The balance between detail and consistency between map products should be considered carefully for each new map iteration so that map products display pertinent information but also remain comparable.
Comparison of the calculation of the biomass index based on multispectral photogrametric methods, optical methods, and SAR productsPineda, Johan; Guisao, Ana María; Rendón, Jose Manuel; Marulanda, Alejandro
doi: 10.1117/12.2574121pmid: N/A
In the present document, methodologies for non-destructive techniques are developed to estimate the index of vegetable biomass of a study area that will undergo an intervention and whose location is near the city of Medell´ın, Colombia. The techniques proposed and compared are: multispectral photogrammetric images, photogrammetric images in the visible spectrum and analysis of SAR products. These techniques were chosen with the possibility of estimating the biomass index of a forest to perform an intervention of the study area, given that an urban construction will be carried out in this space.
Satellite observations in support of the Copernicus Climate Change ServiceBell, Bill; Hersbach, Hans; Berrisford, Paul; Horányi, András; Muñoz-Sabater, Joaquín; Nicolas, Julien; Radu, Raluca; Schepers, Dinand; Simmons, Adrian; Soci, Cornel
doi: 10.1117/12.2576497pmid: N/A
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), operated by ECMWF on behalf of the European Commission, provides climate services built around a comprehensive suite of data products. These products include multidecadal estimates of the atmospheric state, based on atmospheric reanalysis, and a range of observational datasets on Essential Climate Variables (ECVs). Atmospheric reanalyses are now regarded as valuable sources of information for monitoring trends in the global atmospheric state and employ highly optimised methods for combining observations of meteorological variables, both in-situ and satellite. The most recent C3S global atmospheric reanalysis, ERA5, covering the period 1979-2019 (to be extended to 1950) is now available and since its release in early 2019 has a rapidly growing user base, currently numbering more than 30,000. It uses a recent version of the ECMWF Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) system to assimilate observations (87 billion for the period 1979 - 2018) in order to analyse the atmospheric state. Satellite observations are a key input to reanalyses and the range of observations assimilated are reviewed. ECVs derived from satellite and in-situ observations, spanning land, atmosphere, ocean and biosphere domains, produced as part of international collaborations, are available via the C3S Climate Data Store (CDS). The aspiration of C3S is to further develop the CDS to include a wider range of (∼ 35) ECVs in the next phase of the Copernicus programme (2021-2027).
Satellite Earth observation of socioeconomic conditions for improved poverty reportingHargreaves, Peter K.; Watmough, Gary R.
doi: 10.1117/12.2570831pmid: N/A
The operational integration of Earth observation (EO) into the analysis of rural poverty and broader dynamics of human wellbeing is in its early stages. There is considerable scope for novel applications given the current proliferation of technological and computational capabilities. To develop this research agenda, it is necessary to synthesise scholarly contributions to the field in order to disseminate findings and stimulate debate, while catalysing uptake and development of methodologies. We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature that investigates the novel applications of satellite EO for monitoring socioeconomic conditions and poverty in rural spaces of the Global South. We consider the challenges and opportunities for achieving evidence-based policymaking at finer temporal and spatial scales than is currently practised when measuring socioeconomic conditions. We investigate these challenges and the opportunities for integrating EO into monitoring poverty and human wellbeing in the context of sustainable rural development. Overall evidence suggests that the extensive spatial coverage and accessibility of data at different resolutions, paired with near real-time observations and a five-decade temporal legacy of satellite EO primes these data products for monitoring rural wellbeing. Our findings indicate a requirement to develop EO approaches for monitoring poverty dimensions across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Further requirements include testing the performance of methodologies in different social-ecological systems, to interrogate the performance of EO metrics when predicting different measures of rural poverty and wellbeing, and to operationalise the integration of disparate datasets.