Satellite Imagery
ENTRY DATE: 28.04.2015 | LAST UPDATE: 28.04.2015
CATEGORIES:
- Disaster Prevention
- Planning processes
TECHNOLOGIES MATURITY:
Early phases of availability and use
Technology Owners:
- Governments
- Space agencies and disaster management agencies
- Resulting data often publically accessible
- E.g. The Asian Development Bank has been working with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to introduce countries in Asia and the Pacific to satellite-based applications for disaster management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, forest monitoring, and water resources management, and is collaborating with the European Space Agency (ESA) in improving project planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation by using satellite data. This initiative has been called the Earth Observation for a Transforming Asia Pacific, or EOTAP
Needs Address
Disaster prevention
Adaptation effects
Satellite data provide supplementary information to fill in gaps from data collected on the ground
Source: http://www.aprsaf.org/initiatives/sentinel_asia/
Overview and Features
Digital information collected by satellites and processed using computer software, enabling hazard mapping for disaster prevention and response. Satellite data allows large scale mapping of disasters.
Cost
- High costs for installation of equipment, though usually makes use of data already being collected and analyses for relevant information
- Training costs
Energy source
Fuel etc. for equipment
Ease of maintenance
Continuous update of data collection equipment alongside training for analysts is needed
Technology performance
For very remote areas, satellite imagery is often the only practical method for collecting environmental and geographic information
Considerations
Equipment and technical knowledge to handle data
Co-benefit, suitability for developing countries
- The data collected by satellites is useful in a variety of applications, such as insurance, agriculture, forestry, infrastructure planning, environmental management and development work.
- Can provide useful large scale information on climatic events
- Support is needed from governments, intergovernmental and funding agencies to finance necessary data collection
- Community-based activities employed in tandem with satellite data can ensure such data is useful to communities and applied appropriately
Information Resources
ADB, n.d. Satellite Data Bring Innovation to Development. Asian Development Bank. Available at: http://www.adb.org/news/features/satellite-data-bring-innovation-development [20 March 2015]
APRSAF n.d. Sentinel-Asia: Disaster Management Support System In The Asia-Pacific Region. Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum. [20 March 2015]
CASC, n.d. Earthquake Monitoring in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province. China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application. Available at: http://www.cresda.com/n16/n92006/n92123/n98885/117220.html [20 March 2015]
JAXA, n.d. Sentinel-Asia. Available at: http://global.jaxa.jp/article/special/sentinel_asia/index_e.html [27 December 2014]
JICA, 2011. Project for Disaster and Climate Change Countermeasures Using Earth Observation Satellite. Available at: http://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2011/pdf/111102_06.pdf [20 March 2015]
Sobue, S. et al. 2010. The Overview of Space Applications for Environment Initiatives. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Science, Volume XXXVIII, Part 8, Kyoto Japan. Available at: http://www.isprs.org/proceedings/XXXVIII/part8/pdf/JTS11_20100205112948.pdf [27 December 2014].