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African elephants are endangered and declining, their populations squeezed by increased human activity. Wildlife corridors offer a chance for survival in their fractured habitats. In a new study (Chan et al., 2024), researchers used GPS tracking data and satellite imagery to map elephant movement in northwestern Namibia, looking for corridors of connectivity. | | |
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September 23, 2024
We're Losing Non-forest Amazon Ecosystems, Too
While the rainforest looms large in Amazon, the biome is home to other ecosystems, like savannas and grasslands, which are also threatened by human activity. Researchers (Messias et al. 2024) found that, between 2000 and 2022, the Brazilian Amazon lost about 10% of its natural non-forest vegetation.
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September 30, 2024
Landsat at ForestSAT
Scientists from around the world gathered in Rotorua, New Zealand from September 9 to 13, 2024, for the ForestSAT 2024 conference. The meeting, held this year on New Zealand’s north island, focuses on spatial analysis technologies for forestry.
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September 26, 2024
Moongazing with Landsat
The Landsat Outreach team attended Goddard Space Flight Center's celebration of International Observe the Moon Night. The Landsat booth educated participants on Landsat's lunar calibration and its many applications on Earth.
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The Landsat Communications and Public Engagement Team will be at the following events in Oct. 2024: | | |
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October 19-23, 2024
Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor
Baltimore, Maryland
NASA will be at the "Ask a Remote Sensing Scientist" booth, Oct. 22, 9am-12pm.
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PUBLICATION SPOTLIGHT
Green spaces provide substantial but unequal urban cooling globally
| Li et al., 2024
Cities in the Global South are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat exposure, a new study on urban green space cooling and equity finds. Relying on global Landsat-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) measurements and Land Surface Temperatures (LST) for the planet’s ~500 largest cities, the study authors established that Global South cities have only 70% of the cooling capacity of Global North cities. During warm seasons, green infrastructure cools cities by an average of -3º C; however, that average is weighted by the stronger green space cooling amelioration of the Global North’s urban regions. The United States and Canada have the most urban green infrastructure and associated cooling capacity, followed by Europe. Cities in the Global South are more likely to be at the limit of the human thermal comfort and these cities are growing rapidly. Researchers found considerable potential for cities to expand their green spaces and thereby increase local cooling capacity and diminish outdoor heat stress for residents. If such ambitious policies were adopted, urban cooling capacity could be as much as -10º C.
|  | The cooling capacity of green infrastructure in large urban cities is dominated by the Global North; cities in the eastern United States show substantial green space-induced cooling. To determine cities' cooling capacity, researchers relied on the global collection 2 Landsat 8 NDVI & LST for 2018 sourced from Google Earth Engine. Image credit: Li et al., 2024 | | |
September 25, 2024
A is for Azerbaijan
A meandering river birthed an oxbow lake that happens to be shaped like the first letter of the English alphabet. Check out Your Name in Landsat for more Landsat letter lookalikes.
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September 21, 2024
Mount Taranaki's Ring of Forest
The precise geometry of the protected area encompassing an iconic New Zealand volcano is unmistakable from space.
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