SnowMonit wins GMES Masters Best Service Challenge [GMES Masters Best Service Challenge]

16 October 2012
A service designed to improve natural resource management and detect hydropower generation and areas at risk of drought was selected by an online audience as the winner in one of seven categories of the GMES Masters competition.

The GMES Masters competition awards prizes for the best projects and business ideas involving commercial Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) applications. Its purpose is to support the development of market-oriented applications that use data from the programme. While experts are still assessing the proposals submitted in six of the 2012 GMES Masters categories, the winners of the Best Service Challenge have already been selected by the competition’s online audience.
This year, almost 900 visitors to the GMES Masters website voted for the Earth observation service they found most beneficial to European citizens.
The clear winner of the Best Service Challenge 2012 with a total of 3477 votes was SnowMonit – Monitoring Snow and Water Equivalent.

Submitted by the Italian company GeoBeyond Srl, it improves natural resource management and early-warning tools for detecting hydropower generation and areas at risk of drought. It thus addresses the GMES Masters’ focus area of emergency management.
SnowMonit is also designed to integrate and improve current services that treat snow avalanche information, snow accumulation and derived parameters such as snow water equivalent for mapping the management of resources (hydropower, water) and the predictability of mountain hazards.
This near real-time service will be able to raise the situational awareness of nowcasting and forecasting products at the local, regional, and cross-border level.

Khartoum arms factory fire caused by airstrikes: monitors

Washington (AFP) Oct 27, 2012


An explosion and fire at a Sudanese munitions factory this week appears to have been caused by airstrikes, a US-based non-profit monitoring group said Saturday.
The Satellite Sentinel Project started by Hollywood star George Clooney said satellite imagery showed six large craters, each approximately 16 meters (52 feet) across, at the Yarmouk military factory in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The weapons plant exploded and caught fire shortly after midnight on Wednesday. The SSP said craters at the scene of the explosion were consistent with the kind of damage created upon impact by by air-delivered munitions.
Satellite images made less than two weeks before the blast showed that 40 shipping containers had been stacked next to a shed-like building at the location, according to the SSP, which said those images were "consistent with the presence of highly volatile cargo in the epicenter of the explosions."

Google adds terrain to Maps as default

Mountain View, Calif. (UPI) Oct 26, 2012

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

Google has announced an upgrade to its Maps offering, with the default view featuring shading and color detail to convey terrain information.
Color gradations to depict vegetation and labels for natural land formations are also included, Wired reported Friday.
"This enriched visual data allows you to quickly and easily see where the great forests, deserts, and mountain ranges around the world begin and end," Karl Johann Schmidt, Google Maps Software Engineer, wrote the company's Google Maps blog. "It also conveys how natural land formations can impact where, how and why man-made developments like urban cities, dams and bridges are made."
Which region of the globe a user chooses to examine and how far they zoom in determines the amount and level of the terrain detail shows but major geographic features of the Americas and Europe have received the graphical upgrade treatment.
Google has offered an optional "terrain" layer for Google Maps since 2008 but with the latest update the terrain display mode is the default.
source: http://www.spacedaily.com  

Satellite images tell tales of changing biodiversity

London, UK (SPX) Oct 29, 2012

This image shows, from the top right: average annual rainfall; Middle: satellite imagery for the wet season; Bottom left: satellite imagery for the dry season. Patterns are shown for three consecutive years among the 28 analyzed. Credit: Matteo Convertino.

Analysis of texture differences in satellite images may be an effective way to monitor changes in vegetation, soil and water patterns over time, with potential implications for measuring biodiversity as well, according to new research published Oct. 24 by Matteo Convertino from the University of Florida and colleagues in the open access journal PLOS ONE.
The authors designed statistical models to estimate two aspects of biodiversity in satellite images: the number of species in a given region, or 'species richness', and the rate at which species entered or were removed from the ecosystem, a parameter termed 'species turnover'.
They tested their models on data gathered over 28 years in a water conservation area in the Florida Everglades and compared their results to previous reports from the region. They found that their models were nearly 100% accurate when predicting species turnover; conventional methods only have 85% accuracy.
According to the authors, their automated method using satellite images could help improve the efficiency and decrease the cost of campaigns that monitor biodiversity and guide policy and conservation decisions.
Convertino says, "Texture-based statistical image analysis is a promising method for quantifying seasonal differences and, consequently, the degree to which vegetation, soil, and water patterns vary as a function of natural and anthropic stressors.
"The application of the presented model to other fields and scales of analysis of ecosystems is a promising research direction."
Convertino M, Mangoubi RS, Linkov I, Lowry NC, Desai M (2012) Inferring Species Richness and Turnover by Statistical Multiresolution Texture Analysis of Satellite Imagery. PLOS ONE 7(10): e46616. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046616

source: http://www.spacedaily.com

U.S. Army Awards Northrop Grumman Contract to Modernize Joint Tactical Ground Station

Colorado Springs, CO (SPX) Oct 18, 2012

JTAGS is a relocatable information processing system that receives and processes in-theater, infrared data down-linked from Defense Support Program Space Based Infrared and other satellite sensors.

Northrop Grumman has received a $31.2 million contract from the U.S. Army to modernize the Joint Tactical Ground Station (JTAGS) and improve the warfighter's theater missile warning capability.
The pre-planned product improvement contract includes initial development with several optional production and sustainment efforts expected to continue through 2022.
"Northrop Grumman has a longstanding relationship with the JTAGS program and has partnered with the Army to support its critical mission," said Ed Bush, vice president of Northrop Grumman's C4ISR Networked Systems business unit.
"The enhanced JTAGS system will provide improved detection and reporting of theater ballistic missiles and improved missile defense and situational awareness capabilities anywhere in the world."
JTAGS is a relocatable information processing system that receives and processes in-theater, infrared data down-linked from Defense Support Program Space Based Infrared and other satellite sensors.
The system disseminates warning, alerting and cueing information on tactical ballistic missiles and other tactical events of interest throughout the theater using multiple communications networks.
Work will be performed at Northrop Grumman's Colorado Springs, Colo., and Azusa, Calif., facilities.
source: http://www.spacewar.com

Landsat Science Team to Help Guide Next Landsat Mission

Reston, VA (SPX) Oct 22, 2012

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), which will become Landsat 8 following launch in February 2013, is designed to extend Landsat's comprehensive global record for at least five years.

Landsat satellites have witnessed over four decades of changes on Earth. In advance of the next Landsat spacecraft launch, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), announces the selection of the Landsat Science Team.
This expert team of scientists and engineers will serve a five-year term, from 2012-2017, and provide technical and scientific input to USGS and NASA on issues critical to the success of the Landsat program.
"Landsat is a versatile tool that is used by farmers, scientists, and city planners," said Matt Larsen, USGS Associate Director for Climate and Land Use Change.
"In fact, it's used by a broad range of specialists to assess some of the world's most critical issues - the food, water, forests, and other natural resources needed for a growing world population. This team will help the Landsat program reach its highest potential."

TerraSAR-X images Bonneville salt flats

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 22, 2012

The German Aerospace Center's (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) TerraSAR-X radar satellite orbits Earth at an altitude of 514 kilometres. It acquired this image of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA at 13:40 local time on 23 June 2009. The black represents areas of water, where radar signals transmitted by the satellite are reflected away by the smooth surface of the water. The city of Wendover is conspicuous in the upper half of this space radar image, with the orange colouring indicating a strong increase in the local variance of the return signal, due to direct or multiple reflections off the buildings and streets. Credit: DLR (CC-BY 3.0).

Clouds, darkness, rain - the radar 'vision' of TerraSAR-X is unaffected by these conditions. Dark and light areas contrast clearly in this image, acquired by the German Aerospace Center's (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) TerraSAR-X satellite.
The black areas represent water, where radar signals transmitted by the satellite are not returned, as they are reflected away by the smooth surface of the water. The city of Wendover is conspicuous in the upper half of this space radar image.
"These are not lights shining. The radar is detecting a strong increase in the local variance of the return signal," explains DLR researcher Daniel Schulze. The reason for this is that the colouring of the image is based on a statistical assessment of the data set, where the variance in the roughness of the surface is colour-coded.
Hence, built-up areas appear rough to the radar and appear orange, as there is a high probability that the radar signal will find its way back to the satellite following direct or multiple reflections off the buildings and streets.
The Bonneville Salt Flats is the largest salt pan lying to the west of the Great Salt Lake, in the northern part of the US state of Utah. The salt pan arose towards the end of the last ice age as a consequence of Lake Bonneville drying up.
This was a prehistoric lake that stretched across a large section of the major basin to the west of the Rocky Mountains, and of which only the Great Salt Lake now remains. The former Bonneville Lake is history; today the salt flats stretch out over an area of some 10,360 square kilometres.

Earth Observation Commercial Data Market Remains Strong Despite Slowdown in 2011

Montreal, Canada (SPX) Oct 17, 2012

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According to Euroconsult's latest research report Satellite-Based Earth Observation: Market Prospects to 2021,the market for commercial Earth observation (EO) data slowed significantly in 2011 with growth of 6% to $1.4 billion following five years of strong growth of over 20% from 2006 to 2010. The primary factor for this decrease in percentage was the stabilization in U.S. defense data procurement following the awards of the Enhanced View contracts by the NGA to DigitalGlobe and GeoEye.
This, however, disguises significant growth in further applications and regions. In particular, data sales to international defense continue to grow strongly, reaching a value of $400 million in 2011. Sectors such as engineering, infrastructure and location-based services also continue to develop. The commercial data markets in South-East Asia, Latin America, Russia and CIS are all experiencing high growth rates. With these drivers supporting the industry, commercial data sales are forecasted to reach $3.9 billion by 2021."

Innocon selects Imint's Vidhance video enhancement engine and video tracker for its small unmanned aerial vehicles

Stockholm, Sweden (SPX) Oct 17, 2012

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Innocon integrates Imint's unique low latency Vidhance video processing engine into its ground control station software. Vidhance gives access to very efficient real-time video processing allowing for automatic local contrast optimization, pan, zoom, rotation, mosaicing, stabilization increasing the likelihood of detecting time critical events.
A built-in software tracker off-loads the UAV operator of the task of keeping the detect target in sight freeing him or her to focus on converting video to actionable intelligence.
By selecting a software solution over a hardware ditto we gain a lot of benefits say's Innocon vice president business development Zvika Nave. Additional features can be added through a simple software upgrade.
Innocon joins a growing list of companies that have integrated Imint's Vidhance technology by using its flexible software development kit, SDK.
Imint is extremely proud to welcome Innocon as its partner says Imint managing director Harald Klomp. Innocon is a global leader in unmanned systems and its selection of Imint again confirms the growing appreciation of the unique and flexible capabilities we provide.
Imint has from its first market introduction been designed it's products for efficiency; the Vidhance live video enhancement algorithms are optimized to enable them to run on resource constrained systems, such as ruggedized laptops.
Ihvert is designed to support the rapid analysis and intelligence gathering in the near real time domain. The full feature list of Ihvert can be found on the Imint webpage, www.imint.se.

source:  http://www.spacewar.com

GMES for Europe

Paris (ESA) Oct 15, 2012

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The potential of GMES for crisis management and environmental monitoring is highlighted in a new publication with users demonstrating the importance of Earth observation data to European regions.
The joint ESA-NEREUS (Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies) publication is a collection of articles that provide insight into how the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme is being used in new applications and services across Europe.
The articles, prepared by regional end-users, research institutes and industry providers from 17 different European countries, were received following an open call for papers.
Papers were grouped according to the thematic GMES domains land, maritime, atmosphere, climate and emergency management. They highlight a wide range of uses, needs and benefits of the initiative for regional organisations.

ESA satellites looking deeper into sea ice

Paris (ESA) Oct 10, 2012

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission makes global observations of soil moisture over Earth's landmasses and salinity over the oceans. Variations in soil moisture and ocean salinity are a consequence of the continuous exchange of water between the oceans, the atmosphere and the land - Earth's water cycle. Credits: ESA/AOES Medialab.

This year, satellites saw the extent of Arctic sea ice hit a record low since measurements began in the 1970s. ESA's SMOS and CryoSat satellites are now taking a deeper look by measuring the volume of the sea-ice cover.
Measurements from ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission show that ice has thinned significantly in the seasonal ice zones, with extensive areas less than half a metre thick.
Sea ice has a large influence on the heat exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere. The heat flux can change depending on the sea-ice thickness and the air temperature. Sea ice is also affecting atmospheric circulation at mid-latitudes.
Although not originally designed for looking at ice, the SMOS satellite's data are being evaluated to monitor Arctic sea ice.
The results reveal that radiation emitted by the ice allows SMOS to penetrate the surface, yielding ice-thickness measurements down to 50 cm - mainly the thinner and younger ice at the edge of the Arctic Ocean.
This allows improved evaluation of the volume of the young ice, which is the basis of old ice in subsequent years. Thick, multi-year ice indicates the health of the Arctic sea-ice cover.

First images from e2v imaging sensors on SPOT 6 Earth observation satellite by Staff Writers Chelmsford UK (SPX) Oct 10, 2012

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Launched on the 9th September 2012, SPOT 6 is a high-resolution optical Earth observation satellite built by Astrium. Like its twin, SPOT 7, which is due to launch in 2014, SPOT 6 has a 60-km swath width and produces images with a resolution down to 1.5 metres.
To enable the satellite to take such high resolution images, e2v supplied CCD imaging sensors which equip the satellites Astrium built NAOMI camera.
The image sensors were produced using the latest generation of technologies including:
+ Time Delay Integration (TDI) and stage selections
+ High integration level
High sensitivity / Back side illumination The SPOT 6 and 7 satellites will join the already orbiting, very high resolution, Pleiades 1A and by 2014, Pleiades 2B (both of which are equipped with e2v imaging sensors) to form a complete optical constellation.
It means that all points of the globe will be seen every day once in high resolution and once in very high resolution.

SSTL assists RapidEye ground station upgrade

Guildford, UK (SPX) Oct 09, 2012

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Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) is undertaking a project to assist geospatial information provider RapidEye AG in upgrading and consolidating its ground station facilities.
Engineers from SSTL's Ground Systems Group are providing a new and upgraded Spacecraft Control Centre for RapidEye's headquarters in Brandenburg, Germany and relocating its Tracking, Telemetry and Command (TT and C) ground station equipment to the Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (KSAT) facility in Svalbard, Norway, which receives Earth Observation data from its constellation of five satellites.

New Commercial Imaging Spacecraft Progressing at Lockheed Martin as IKONOS Satellite Achieves 13 Years in Operations

Sunnyvale CA (SPX) Oct 10, 2012

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Lockheed Martin is making steady progress in a key test phase on GeoEye's next-generation, high-resolution imaging satellite, GeoEye-2, as IKONOS, the world's first commercial remote sensing spacecraft marks 13 years of outstanding services for GeoEye's customers around the globe.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is developing GeoEye-2 under a fixed-price contract with GeoEye. The satellite is currently in the midst of Baseline Integrated System Test (BIST), an extensive test designed to characterize the performance of the integrated satellite and establish a performance baseline prior to entering environmental testing.
Beginning later this year, spacecraft environmental testing will validate the overall satellite design, quality of workmanship and survivability during space vehicle launching and on-orbit operations.
Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services will be prepared for a planned launch for GeoEye-2 aboard an Atlas V rocket in 2013. Once operational, GeoEye-2 will be the world's highest resolution commercial satellite, providing highly accurate images to intelligence analysts, warfighters, and decision makers across the globe.

Boeing Releases Updated Geospatial Data Management Tool

Springfield, VA (SPX) Oct 11, 2012

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Boeing has updated its DataMaster geospatial data management software with improved map, terrain and full-motion video management so that defense and Intelligence Community customers can better protect U.S. and allied citizens and assets around the world. DataMaster 5.2 supports emerging industry-standard image formats and faster video processing and analysis.
"Our continued investment in DataMaster enables our customers to query and download imagery faster than they could with other systems," said Jonathan Moneymaker, director of Intelligence Systems Group for Boeing Information Solutions.
"Our product improvements provide our customers advantages in speed, accuracy and efficiency to deliver quality imagery analysis in support of critical decisions."

Japan mini-satellite to flash code from space

Tokyo (AFP) Oct 5, 2012


A palm-sized Japanese satellite in orbit around Earth will flash a Morse code message that will be visible around the world from next month, the mission commander said Friday.
Researchers hope the satellite, measuring 10 centimetres (four inches) cubed and launched from the International Space Station on Friday, will become the first orbiter to transmit an LED message across the night sky.
The message was originally intended to be seen just in Japan, but people around the world have asked for the satellite to communicate when it overflies them, said Takushi Tanaka, professor at The Fukuoka Institute of Technology.
"Requests came from far more people than I expected -- a man in Silicon Valley wanted to see it while another man wanted us to flash it over Central Park in New York," Tanaka told AFP by telephone.
He said he has also received requests from residents of cities in Italy, Germany, Brazil, Britain and Hungary.
Specific timings and locations will be announced later on the institute's website -- http://www.fit.ac.jp/kenkyu/fitsat1/ -- in Japanese and English.

Landsat Satellites Find the 'Sweet Spot' for Crops

by Lisa-Natalie Anjozian for Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (SPX) Oct 02, 2012

Farmers like Gary Wagner rely on zone maps compiled with data from remote-sensing instruments including NASA and the USGS's Landsat satellites. In addition to telling him about the state of his fields, remote sensing is invaluable if he decides to obtain a new piece of land, say from another farmer who decides to retire. As a potential buyer, he can look at historical data, going back over three, four, or five years of remote sensing images to see the variability in the field and know exactly where he needs to make changes or improvements before he ever starts farming that field. And that's critical, says Wagner, because otherwise, such as in his father's day, he'd have to farm that field three or four years before he'd really know what's going on there. With remote sensing data sets, he can understand that field before the very first time he puts his tractor in it. If he needed to, Wagner could go back and find data for his fields at least every year within the 40-year archive of Landsat data managed by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Farmers are using maps created with free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites that show locations that are good and not good for growing crops.
Farmer Gary Wagner walks into his field where the summer leaves on the sugar beet plants are a rich emerald hue - not necessarily a good color when it comes to sugar beets, either for the environment or the farmer. That hue tells Wagner that he's leaving money in the field in unused nitrogen fertilizer, which if left in the soil can act as a pollutant when washed into waterways, and in unproduced sugar, the ultimate product from his beets.
The leaf color Wagner is looking for is yellow. Yellow means the sugar beets are stressed, and when the plants are stressed, they use more nitrogen from the soil and store more sugar. Higher sugar content means that when Wagner and his family bring the harvest in, their farm, A.W.G. Farms, Inc., in northern Minnesota, makes more dollars per acre, and they can better compete on the world crop market.
To find where he needs to adjust his fertilizer use-apply it here or withhold it there-Wagner uses a map of his 5,000 acres that span 35 miles. The map was created using free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites and tells him about growing conditions. When he plants a different crop species the following year, Wagner's map will tell him which areas of the fields are depleted in nitrogen so he can apply fertilizer judiciously instead of all over.
A farmer needs to monitor his fields for potential yield and for variability of yield, Wagner says. Knowing how well the plants are growing by direct measurement has an obvious advantage over statistically calculating what should be there based on spot checks as he walks his field. That's where remote sensing comes in, and NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites step into the spotlight.
The Sensors in the Sky "Trip the Light Fantastic"