According to a report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Norwegian GRID-Arendal organization climate change and land-use change may increase wildfire intensity and frequency globally to unmanageable levels this century. The experts forecast a global increase of extreme fires up to 14% by 2030, 30% by 2050, and 50% by the end of the century. It is hardly unexpected, given how destructive wildfires have become in recent years.
NOAA’s GOES-T is the third satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series, a Western Hemisphere’s weather observing and environmental monitoring system.
The deadline for the Call for Good Practices on Early Warning Systems with Focus on Multi-Hazards has been extended and is still open until 07 March 2022. Further information can be found here.
NASA is launching a prototype instrument that could make monitoring volcanic activity and air quality easier. The “Nanosat Atmospheric Chemistry Hyperspectral Observation System,” or NACHOS, will use a compact hyperspectral imager to locate sources of trace gases in areas as small as 0.4 square kilometers.
On the Iberian Peninsula Portal and Spain are facing a severe drought, that started in November 2021 and worsened in the following months. Officials in Portugal were forced to limit the use of hydroelectric dams for power production and irrigation, as some reservoirs started reaching significant lows.
On 26 January, China launched a Long March-4C carrier rocket, placing the L-SAR 01A satellite in space. Equipped with L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the satellite can be used for monitoring the geological environment, especially for landslide and earthquake monitoring.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru.
It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while Chairman of ISRO acts as executive of DOS as well.
On Monday 14 February 2022, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully injected the Earth Observation Satellite EOS-04 into a sun synchronous polar orbit of 529 km altitude. As a radar imaging satellite, it is designed to provide high quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as Agriculture, Forestry & Plantations, Soil Moisture & Hydrology and Flood Mapping.
This is event is available for participation on an ongoing basis
UN-SPIDER organised the 11th annual coordination meeting of its Regional Support Offices (RSOs) on 12 and 13 October 2021. The coordination meeting brought together focal points of the Regional Support Offices in Algeria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Romania, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. The coordination meeting, held in a virtual fashion due to COVID-19 restrictions, allowed the RSOs to comment on the activities carried out during 2021.
