Remote Sensing

Related Pages

• Article: NASA Fosters Innovative Ways to Understand Biodiversity
  "To study and monitor changes in Earth’s biodiversity, or the immense volume of organisms in the world, scientists and citizen scientists record their sightings in the field. At the same time, sensors on the ground and on board satellites and aircraft monitor flora and fauna on a regional to global scale. NASA has funded four projects to create new, virtual portals that bring into focus this wealth of biodiversity information to help inform scientists, land managers and decision makers around the world regarding the status and health of terrestrial ecosystems. Each of these projects highlights a different aspect of biodiversity and lets users create easy-to-use maps and other information products to track healthy and vulnerable species as they compete for resources, migrate to safer habitats and adapt to climate change."
• Article: What is Remote Sensing?
  "Remote sensing is the acquiring of information from a distance. NASA observes the Earth and other planetary bodies via remote sensors on satellites and aircraft that detect and record reflected or emitted energy. Remote sensors, which provide a global perspective and a wealth of data about Earth systems, enable data-informed decision making based on the current and future state of our planet."
• Citizen Science Game: NASA's Nemo-Net
  “NeMO-Net is a single player iPad game where players help NASA classify coral reefs by painting 3D and 2D images of coral...Data from the NeMO-Net game is fed to NASA NeMO-Net, the first neural multi-modal observation and training network for global coral reef assessment. NeMO-Net is an open source deep convolutional neural network (CNN) that leverages NASA’s Supercomputer, Pleiades, to use game data to classify and assess the health of coral reefs around the world. “
• Citizen Science: GLOBE Observer- Clouds
  "GLOBE Observer: Clouds is an app-based tool that will help you document what you see in the sky. Once you have downloaded the app and created an account, the Clouds tool (including the Clouds Wizard if you wish to use it) will guide you through the observation process. Required data includes providing your location, reporting on overall cloud cover and surface conditions that can impact satellite observations. Optional (but very useful) data include cloud types, cloud opacity, sky conditions and visibility, then taking photos of what you see in the sky. Even a basic observation without optional elements is valuable!"
• PDF: Biodiversity from Space
  Mapping and quantifying biodiversity is key to effective conservation planning, yet gathering the necessary data can be costly and time-consuming. Conservationists and land managers therefore place a premium on methods, such as remote sensing, that yield tolerable estimates of biodiversity in the absence of exhaustive ground surveys. Bawa et al. have tested a method of estimating tree diversity from space. Their study, conducted in the Biligiri Rangaswamy hills in the Western Ghats, India, shows a strong and positive correlation between species richness and an index of green biomass—the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)—which can be assessed accurately using satellite imagery. This technique shows promise for estimating broad patterns of tree species diversity at the landscape scale in tropical forests, which may be crucial to identifying areas most in need of protection and where rapid destruction is underway. — AMS
• Resource: NASA Visualization Studio
  "Explore the latest visualizations of NASA's Earth Observing satellites and the data they collect. NASA researchers are constantly tracking remote-sensing data and modeling processes to better understand our home planet."
• Video: Icarus Initiative: Wildlife Observation from Space
  
• Video: What Does Your Sky Look Like? Globe Observer- Clouds
  Clouds are a major component of the Earth's system that reflect, absorb, and scatter sunlight and infrared emissions from Earth. This affects how energy passes through the atmosphere. Different types of clouds have different effects, and the amount of cloud cover is also important. Clouds can change rapidly, so frequent observations are useful to track these changes. Such observations are able to see change over time and help with interpretation of satellite cloud data. The cloud observation tool in the GLOBE Observer app allows you to photograph clouds and record sky observations and compare them with NASA satellite images. Our goal is to provide a step-by-step process that helps you learn about clouds and their classification through simple observations and photography. You are an important part of the puzzle, providing a new perspective of the clouds that our NASA satellites do not have, looking up. We are excited for you to start collecting data through this updated cloud protocol featuring NASA satellite comparison! Learn the basics of how to observe clouds with the GLOBE Observer App. Observations can be made anywhere and anytime. Open the app, select Clouds and follow the directions! Help scientists as a citizen scientist with your observations.