14.12.2006 - Major Fires in Victoria, Australia – Images from the Disaster Monitoring Constellation
The Disaster Monitoring Constellation is acquiring regular images of the raging fires in Victoria, which are threatening towns across a wide area. DMC images show areas up to 600km wide at a resolution of 32 metres. Data is being delivered to local remote sensing organisations to help fire-fighters to pinpoint areas which are at risk.
Detail of the Eastern fire front
16.10.2006 - DMCii Image featured in Nature magazine.
DMCii supported a Swansea University project to monitor glaciers in Greenland, with data from the DMC satellites. This project was one of several awarded access to free DMC data under an Announcement of Opportunity in 2005 for UK science projects.
A News and Views article published in Nature on 21 Sept 2006 cites Swansea's work on the monitoring of glacial changes, an important indicator of global warming with potential significance for sea level rise.
Dr. Adrian Luckman of the Glaciology Group, Swansea University said:
"Greenland is changing fast. We expect more glaciers to thin, accelerate and retreat in response to increasing atmospheric and oceanic temperatures. A possible mechanism for change is increased surface melt and drainage of ice surface lakes to the bed. DMC is ideal to monitor lake drainage events and frontal retreats around the fast changing periphery of the Greenland Ice sheet."
05.10.2006 - Charter activation for DMC.
DMCii responded to two Charter activations ( #131 and #132 ) on the same day for floods in Luxembourg and France and an oil spill on the Danube in Bulgaria. Data acquisitions have been scheduled on available DMC satellites and will be delivered to the Project manager.
DMCii's operator on duty,Yasir Mohieldeen, was able to immediately provide two good pre-flood images of Luxembourg from the DMC archive, which will help to provide the most up-to-date information about the area before the floods took place. This will be compared with new data, as it is delivered, in order to map the extent of the flooding.
02.10.2006 - DMCii trains International Charter Emergency On-Call Officers in Tokyo
Gary Crowley, Operations Manager for DMC International Imaging Ltd., attended the International Charter ECO (Emergency On-Call Officer) training in Tokyo, Japan to provide training on the Disaster Monitoring Constellation and to learn about JAXA’s (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) Earth Observation assets.
The training, which lasted for 5 days, was hosted by JAXA and RESTEC (Remote Sensing Technology Centre of Japan). Charter representatives from CNES, DMCII, ESA, CSA, and USGS also attended the ECO training.
The training involved learning how to request data from each agency, what data to request in response to a disaster type, the responsibilities of each role within the Charter and the interaction between the different roles.
Click here for more information on the International Charter (www.disasterscharter.org)
Gary Crowley said “Our hosts were very hospitable and made us feel at home. We experienced the Japanese tea ceremony and watched a Sumo tournament where we saw the Yokozuna lose his first fight of the season.”
25.09.2006 - EMERGENCY ON-CALL OFFICER.
This week DMCii is on duty as Emergency On-Call Officer for the International Charter; Space & Major Disasters, coordinating rapid response to international disasters from the world's satellites, including the Disaster Monitoring Constellation. For details of recent activations see the International Charter website.
12.09.2006 - Afghanistan Opium cultivation monitored by international DMC constellation of small satellites.
After extensive trials in 2005, DMC International Imaging Ltd. (DMCii) won a contract from the UK Government to supply high-resolution satellite coverage of the whole of Afghanistan to support the surveying of opium crops. The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) coordinated by DMCii includes the UK’s own satellite, as well as four satellites built at the Surrey Space Centre for other DMC member nations; Algeria, China, Nigeria and Turkey.
Full country coverage at this resolution can be achieved because, unlike single satellites, the Disaster Monitoring Constellation is able to revisit an area every day. This enables data to be collected rapidly and the problems of cloud to be avoided.
DMC images were timed to match the peak in crop growth in different areas of the country. The 32metre resolution multispectral data enables crop characteristics to be measured at a field level, and the 600km wide images help analysts to unify the opium crop estimates from other data sources, including ground surveys, aerial photos and very high resolution satellite spot samples.
The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) stated; “The FCO welcomes the role played by DMC in accurately measuring opium cultivation in Afghanistan. Detailed information is important in assisting the Afghan Government in implementing their Counter Narcotics Strategy.”
DMCii’s Marketing Director, Paul Stephens, said;
“This is the first time that a full country survey of Afghanistan at 32 metre resolution has been carried out to coincide with the peak of the opium poppy crop. It really uses the strengths of the international DMC satellites to the full. The constellation of low cost small satellites enables us to monitor wide areas at a useful level of detail, and can keep repeating the images frequently until we get a cloud free shot. We are delighted that our orthorectified data received gold stars for precision, timeliness and quality from the analysts.”
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan rose 59 percent in 2006, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on 2nd September. UNODC's Annual Opium Survey for Afghanistan showed the area under opium cultivation reached a record 165,000 hectares in 2006 compared with 104,000 in 2005.
 |
|
|
07.09.2006 - DMC International Imaging wins 2nd year contract to monitor Amazonian rainforest.
The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has placed a contract for a second year with DMC International Imaging Ltd., (DMCii) to acquire high-resolution satellite images of the entire 5 million square kilometres of the Amazon rainforest.
In 2005 DMC rapidly acquired images of the whole Amazon Basin in 6 weeks to provide Brazil with vital information for the annual programme to monitor deforestation and combat illegal logging. The programme is now repeated in 2006.
Imagery is provided by the five-satellite international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). The Earth Observation micro-satellites use wide area cameras to capture the high-resolution images. The latest satellite, built for China, was launched into the DMC on 27 October 2005.
Dr. João Vianei Soares, Director of Earth Observation at INPE said, “The DMC has achieved a significant new step in remote sensing through coordination of five nations in space. The unique constellation of low cost micro-satellites enables rapid imaging of large areas at high resolution. This opens up many new possibilities in remote sensing, especially in cloudy areas, because of the ability to re-image an area almost daily if needed.”
Paul Stephens, Marketing Director, DMCii said, “We are proud to supply DMC data to INPE for the important DETER programme monitoring the vital resources of the Amazon rainforest. The recent drought in Brazil highlights the need to collect good information to help understand changes in the environment and their consequences for both the local people and the global climate.”
23.08.2006 - Philippines Oil Spill Disaster; DMCii coordinates world’s satellites for international response.
DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is on duty this week as the Emergency On-Call Officer (ECO) for the International Charter; Space & Major Disasters.
DMCii Operations Manager, Gary Crowley was alerted late last night by an official activation of the Charter (Call no. 129) in response to serious oil leakage from a tanker that has sunk in the Panay Gulf, Philippines. He tasked Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors on two satellites, ENVISAT (European Space Agency) and Radarsat (Canadian Space Agency) to acquire images of the area.
SAR is particularly useful for imaging at night or through cloud, and can detect changes in the surface roughness of the ocean, which can help to identify areas of oil slick. Analysis of SAR images is complex, because wind shadows also create smooth areas, which can be mistaken for oil.
The SAR images will be delivered to a designated Project Manager who will analyse the data, and prepare maps of the affected zone to give to disaster response teams on site.
The Guardian reported “The oil tanker sank last Friday, with some 2m litres of thick bunker fuel on board. Two of the 20 crew are still missing. Only one of the 10 fuel containers is thought to have ruptured but officials fear the stresses of lying on the seabed 900m (3,000ft) below the surface could causes the other containers to leak.”
The SAR image acquired by the European Space Agency with ENVISAT clearly shows the black areas of smooth water surface created by the oil spill.
The SAR image was delivered to the Project Manager, UNOSAT, which then created a map of the area. More information is available on the Charter Website for Call 129.
19.07.2006 - Lord Sainsbury Highlights Successes of DMC at Farnborough International Airshow 2006.
Lord Sainsbury, the UK Minister for Science and Innovation, has spoken today of the strength of UK space activities at the International Future for Space forum at Farnborough Airshow.
He spoke of the leading role the UK plays in the field of Earth Observation:
“The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) of satellites, built by the UK company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, comprises five satellites which are owned by the UK, Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey and China. In 2005, the UK Government, on behalf of the DMC Partnership, formally joined the world’s major space agencies in adhering to the Charter on ‘Space and Major Disasters’. This is an area of enormous importance for the UK.”
Lord Sainsbury concluded:
“These examples illustrate very vividly the many benefits that can be achieved when we co-operate in space. In the future, I am certain we will see an ever-increasing opportunity for working together, as we face the many global challenges ahead.”
For further information see www.bnsc.gov.uk.
30.06.2006 -
DMC successfully competes to deliver images to the European CwRS agricultural monitoring programme.
 DMC competes successfully with SPOT, Landsat and IRS satellites to acquire cloud-free data for the European Commission Control with Remote Sensing (CwRS) programme.
DMC International Imaging Ltd started work in June 2006 for CwRS, delivering images of agricultural targets across Europe.
The CwRS programme is Europe’s premier operational remote sensing application, run by the EC Joint Research Centre at Ispra, and used to administer agricultural funding under the CAP scheme.
DMCii won funding for DMC data of €1.6 meuro over the next 4 years under the JRC Framework budget.
30.06.2006 -
INPE, Brazil visits DMCii to initiate a second Amazon imaging contract.
Dr. João Vianei , Director of Earth Observation, INPE, Brazil visited DMC International Imaging Ltd to plan the 2006 imaging of the Amazon Basin.
Since 1977 INPE has carried out an annual estimate of deforestation in the Amazon Basin using Landsat data. However, in 2005 INPE ordered 5 million sqkm of 32 metres gsd multispectral DMC data.
The coverage provided by DMC has been invaluable in enabling INPE to improve the annual estimates of deforestation and the campaign will be repeated in 2006.
20.06.2006 - DMCii is primary data provider for 1st UK Validation of Land European Remote sensing Instruments) (VALERI) event.
 In the period 13th-2 th June 2006, a group of 54 scientists gathered at the Chilbolton calibration and validation site in Hampshire.
The aim was to assess calibration procedures and the quality of validated data products derived from airborne and spaceborne sensors including ASTER, MERIS, CHRIS and four DMC satellites (AlSat-1, NigeriaSat-1, UK-DMC and Beijing-1).
After calibration of ground instruments using the NPL TSARS instrument a series of ground spectral measurements, atmospheric measurements and biophysical measurements (LAI and NDVI) were made in support of the airborne and spaceborne operations partly for calibration purposes and to assess the effects of scaling on LAI measurements.
Part of the contingent included a group of scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences who have worked on the Beijing-1 calibration.
The results of the studies will be made available to NCAVEO members via the NCAVEO web-site www.ncaveo.ac.uk
DMCii carries out an annual vicarious calibration campaign at the fully instrumented site in RailRoad Valley, Nevada and also acquires monthly calibration images of Arctic or Antarctic test sites.
31.03.2006 - Total solar eclipse imaged by NigeriaSat-1.
In a rare event, the shadow of the total solar eclipse was imaged by DMC satellite NigeriaSat-1 as it crossed Nigeria on 29th March 2006 at 09:30 local time. The event occurred as predicted by the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).
The 400 km wide DMC image which shows Lake Kanji, Nigeria emerging into sunlight from the darkness of total eclipse.
DMCii Marketing Director, Paul Stephens said:
“ It is amazingly rare for a satellite to be in the right place to image an eclipse!
The five satellites of the DMC are coordinated by DMCii to capture high-resolution images all over the world. In this case it was a happy coincidence that NigeriaSat-1 was in position to capture this image.
The wide swath of the DMC imager enabled us to capture the passing shadow even though it was racing away at thousands of miles an hour.”
|
