Satellite technology which helps scientists observe the land

[bearnard00]

Desertification is a type of degradation of land in which the land becomes more arid. Desertification is a direct result of global warming, and approximately 12 million hectares of productive land becomes barren due to desertification annually. Remote sensing technology can be used to measure the extent of desertification. Could you ever thought that in order to fix that stuff scientists start to use satellite technology which helps scientists observe the land?

[Starship201]

Using satellites seems to be the best solution for this problem because no one other technology will let us observe huge land areas. But as I understand, scientists need to get a high-resolution image that is possible only when using high-quality imagers, like Raptor imager manufactured by Dragonfly Aerospace. This earth observation system is designed for microsatellites, so there's even no need to launch large satellites. Do you know any other images and systems scientists use? I would like to learn more about it.

[bearnard00]

Yeah, you are right. The usage of satellites and microsatellites in the observation campaign assists scientists greatly. Also, I`d like to mention the special type of sats and microsatellites that track rare species of animals to prevent them from being killed by poachers

[GCoyote]

Landsat Overview

Landsat shows us Earth from space. Since the first Landsat satellite launched in 1972, the mission has collected data on the forests, farms, urban areas and freshwater of our home planet, generating the longest continuous record of its kind.

Resolution has not been the limiting factor in turning satellite collected data into useful information that can help humans improve their use, preservation, and protection of the Earth's land and other resources. The real difference has been the dramatic drop in the cost of computing power that has enabled researchers to process massive data sets covering entire regions over time. This is generally referred to as "big data".

This includes the use of technology that allows computers to examine data on scales that no human can possibly absorb. Artificial intelligence and machine learning allow our information systems to "see" a signal in data sets on the petabyte scale. Using these techniques, researchers have been able to reprocess and extract new information from data collected by LandSat and declassified CIA data collected over 40 years ago.

Two other points in regards to desertification. In addition to large scale climate change, humans cause it directly by poor land use. Unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation, and massive diversion of rivers to supply growing populations contribute to regional land degradation.

Separately the Sahara Desert has its own expansion and contraction cycle on the order of ~7 million years. This may have been a factor in the migration of early humans into the Nile valley and the subsequent rise of the early Egyptian civilization.

If I get time, I will get you some links.

[GCoyote]

Some links:

How scientists are using declassified military photographs to analyze historical ecological change - https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 112939.htm

Reveal: Cold War Spy Imagery Now Helping Fight Climate Change - https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/blo ... y-imagery/

For the Sahara specifically see - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara_pump_theory

The a more radical example of unsustainable resource use consider the Aral Sea - http://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/introduction.htm

[bearnard00]

So as we can see the usage of satellites is very important and very diverse for us and for our environment. Personally, I support such programs where environmental issues are involved in. I guess it would be easier and more reasonable to protect the environment on Earth than colonize other planets