Opening Remarks
The event, opened by Dr. Polyanna da Conceição Bispo, a Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography in the Department of Geography, began with an overview of GISMEO’s aim and team introduction. The overarching theme was "EO for Environment and Sustainable Development Goals". Polyanna introduced Earth Observation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as EO contributions to SDGs.
Following this, each of the five distinguished speakers delivered a 20-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute interactive session.
Key Presentations
Dr Ana Maria Pacheco-Pascagaza (Principal Earth Observation Consultant at Satellite Applications Catapult) — EO & Machine Learning for Land Preservation
(SDG 13: Climate Action & SDG 15 Life on Land)
Ana Maria Pacheco-Pascagaza from the Satellite Applications Catapult provided a detailed explanation of Earth Observation (EO) and Machine Learning (ML). She also discussed EO and ML in action through case studies and explored key challenges in applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to EO.
Related Links:
- Olawade et al. (2024) Artificial intelligence in environmental monitoring: Advancements, challenges, and future directions - ScienceDirect.
- Freddie Kalaitzis, Maral Bayaraa & Cristian Rossi - White Paper: State of AI for Earth Observation - Satellite Applications Catapult.
Dr. Anna Hughes (Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Department of Geography)— Flow-Pattern Evolution of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet
(SDG 13: Climate Action)
Anna shared information about her collaborative research, which focuses on the interaction between ice sheets, glaciers, and climate. She discussed a multi-scale sampling approach, the ice-sheet-scale jigsaw, her involvement in the ERC-funded PALGLAC project based at the University of Sheffield, and more. During the Q&A session, Anna addressed a variety of questions, such as why she used hexagons in her research for mapping.
Related Links:
- ArcticDEM – Polar Geospatial Center.
- PALGLAC Project.
- A Hughes et al. (2016) The last Eurasian ice sheets: a chronological database and time-slice reconstruction, DATED-1 - Research Explorer the University of Manchester.
- M Johnson et al. (2015) Unraveling Scandinavian Geomorphology: the LiDAR revolution.
Dr. Timothy Foster (Reader in Water-Food Security, Mechanical, Aerospace & Civil Engineering) — EO for Sustainable Agricultural Water Management
(SDG 2: Zero Hunger & SDG 6 Clean Water)
Tim's presentation emphasized the critical importance of monitoring irrigation systems. He identified significant gaps in the current irrigation datasets and explored the contributions of EO data in managing irrigation effectively. While discussing EO data’s potential, Tim also addressed its inherent limitations.
Finally, Tim provided an insightful outlook on the future of EO in irrigation management. During the Q&A session, he answered various questions, including one on the complexities of metering and how farmers perceive remote sensing as an alternative.
Related Links:
- T Foster et al. (2019) Assessing landscape scale heterogeneity in irrigation water use with remote sensing and in situ monitoring - IOPscience.
- Thomas P Higginbottom et al. (2023) Rapid expansion of irrigated agriculture in the Senegal River Valley following the 2008 food price crisis - IOPscience.
- Foster, T., Mieno, T., & Brozovic, N. (2020) Satellite‐Based Monitoring of Irrigation Water Use: Assessing Measurement Errors and Their Implications for Agricultural Water Management Policy | Water Resources Research.
- OpenET – Filling the Biggest Gap in Water Data.
- Sam Zipper et al. (2024) Estimating irrigation water use from remotely sensed evapotranspiration data: Accuracy and uncertainties at field, water right, and regional scales - ScienceDirect.
Dr. Rose Pritchard (Presidential Fellow in Socio-Env Systems, Global Development Institute) — EO & Environmental Justice
(SDG 13: Climate Action & SDG 15: Life on Land)
Rose discussed the question “What are the social justice implications of increased use of EO in the governance of land and natural resources?” and concluded EO – like many technologies and forms of data – has dual potentials for justice and injustice (Fish & Richardson, 2022).
Related Links:
- EJAtlas - Global Atlas of Environmental Justice.
- Strassburg, B.B.N., Iribarrem, A., Beyer, H.L. et al. (2020) Global priority areas for ecosystem restoration | Nature.
- Rose Pritchard et al. (2020) Data justice and biodiversity conservation | The Society for Conservation Biology.
- Natalie D.L. York et al. (2023) Justice and ethics in conservation remote sensing: Current discourses and research needs - ScienceDirect.
- Justice in EO for Conservation (JEOC) sign-up to newsletter at the Global Development Institute.
Dr. Johan Oldekop (Reader in Environment & Development, Global Development Institute) — Remote Sensing for Environmental Policies
(SDG 1: No Poverty & SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing & SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities)
Johan mainly discussed forest dataset choice. He pointed out that there is a high degree of variation among datasets and forest and emphasized that forest data choice can massively influence estimates.
Related Links:
- Oldekop, J.A., Sims, K.R.E., Karna, B.K. et al. (2019) Reductions in deforestation and poverty from decentralized forest management in Nepal | Nature Sustainability.
- den Braber, B., Oldekop, J.A., Devenish, K. et al. (2024) Socio-economic and environmental trade-offs in Amazonian protected areas and Indigenous territories revealed by assessing competing land uses | Nature Ecology & Evolution.
- Global Forest Watch Open Data Portal.
Closing Remarks
Dr. Gail Millin-Chalabi, Project Manager in Research IT and one of the GISMEO Co-leads, announced several exciting upcoming activities, including a lunchtime seminar, a student career event, and a drop-in session. She also encouraged participants to provide feedback and thanked everyone who attended and contributed to the event. Finally, she shared ways to stay engaged with the GISMEO community:
- Become a member of the GISMEO Community – Members Form
- Provide event feedback – Feedback Form
- Join the GISMEO Teams channel (staff only) – https://bit.ly/CaDiRGISMEO
- Subscribe to the RIT newsletter – eepurl.com/b0uwDv
Thank you to all who joined and contributed! Let’s continue utilising EO for a sustainable future. Stay tuned for more GISMEO events!
For members of staff the presentations from the event can be accessed in the CaDiR Teams space