United States of America

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States Government (NASA) signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 17 December 2020 pledging cooperation in areas of science and technology to support the peaceful uses of outer space.

The MoU brings together NASA's wealth of open-source spacecraft data, tools, and expertise and UNOOSA's unique position as the only UN entity dedicated to outer space affairs, to expand global opportunities to leverage the benefits of space. The partners will design capacity-building programmes, particularly for institutions in countries that do not yet have or that are developing space capabilities, to help them access space.

Together, UNOOSA and NASA will develop ways to leverage the Artemis programme as part of UNOOSA's Access to Space 4 All Initiative, which offers opportunities for international researchers and institutions, especially in... read more

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Republic of Korea are working together on a global satellite constellation of three space-based instruments that could track global pollution on an hourly basis. These air quality satellites will measure pollutants, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols in order to enhance our understanding of air quality and air pollution. To date, air quality satellites have collected data only once a day. These three new instruments will provide hourly, highly detailed and near-real-time data that will improve air quality science and forecasting around the world, in particular around the most densely populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere. 

Collecting data hourly will allow to capture pollution that appears episodically, like rush-hour traffic or a power plant that switches on to meet peak power demands, as well... read more

In June 2019, NOAA upgraded its flagship weather model, the Global Forecast System (GFS), with a new dynamic core, called Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core (FV3). This upgrade of the GFS will enhance global numerical weather forecasting and better forecast precipitation, heavy rainfall and weather types at both regional and global level. Besides, the FV3-based GFS revealed improvements in predicting the track and intensity of tropical cyclones compared to the older GFS.

Combining the superior dynamics of global climate modeling with the everyday reliability and speed of operational numerical weather forecasting, the latest weather model upgrade makes the new dynamical core to the engine of the GFS. The new dynamic core is an important model component that calculates wind and air pressure in order to obtain a successful numerical weather forecast. This upgrade to the dynamic core of the model is the first major upgrade in almost 40 years. 

Earthquakes are a major concern in increasingly populated regions, however their prediction is a difficult task. Researchers have recently made progress in the use of complex simulation and modeling techniques to better forecast the occurrences of earthquakes.

In a recent study, researchers used Gradient Boosted Regression Trees, a machine learning technique for regression and classification problems that incorporates training data, to better determine spatiotemporally complex loading histories within subduction zones. The researchers simulated tens of earthquakes using a small‐scale experimental replica of a subduction zone and show that machine learning predicts well the timing and size of laboratory earthquakes by reconstructing and properly interpreting the spatiotemporally complex loading history of the system. These results promise substantial progress in real earthquake forecasting as they suggest that the complex motion recorded by geodesists at... read more

While several studies have already highlighted how global warming and its consequences are predicted to increase the frequency and magnitude of geohazards such as landslides, the relation between ongoing climate shifts and landslide behaviour is still difficult to assess, especially due to uncertainties in both models. In a new research paper, researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and collaborating institutions have now documented the transition of a stable, slow-moving landslide into catastrophic collapse for the first time.

Their  observations lasted eight years and took place on the California Coast Ranges, which, due to their morphological structure, are an ideal natural laboratory to investigate how stress and fluid pressure changes govern the stable and unstable sliding of landslides. In recent years, more than 650 slow-moving landslides have been identified and mapped in the area. Yet, on May 20, 2017, the Mud Creek landslide suddenly... read more

Delta State University became the 23rd member of the network of UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices (RSO) on 1 October. As an RSO, Delta State University will communicate and coordinate with UN-SPIDER on a regular basis, engage in outreach and capacity-building efforts, and contribute to the programme’s technical advisory support activities.

Through its Geospatial Information Technologies Centre (GIT), Delta State University provides in-depth education about the theory, ethics, and practice of GIT that encompasses the use of geographic information systems, remote sensing, global positioning systems (GPS), spatial analysis techniques, and similar approaches to understand problems from a geographic perspective.

Mr. Talbot Brooks, Director of the Geospatial Information Technologies Centre (... read more

The International Charter Space and Major Disasters has been activated for an earthquake and eruption of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, USA on Monday.

The volcano erupted on 4 May alongside a 6.9 magnitude earthquake, spraying lava up to 70 metres and causing the evacuation of 2000 individuals, in addition to the destruction of several buildings. Dangerous levels of toxic sulfur dioxide from the lava flows also present a hazard. Residents are urged not to return to hazardous areas until the risk has subsided.

This activation was requested by the US Geological Survey on behalf of USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory/Cascades Volcano Observatory. This project was also managed by the USGS.

275 people were rescued within the United States of America and its surrounding waters in 2017 with the help of satellites operated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Of the 275 rescues, 186 were in water, 15 were from aviation incidents and 74 were on land using personal locator beacons (PLBs).

The COSPAS-SARSAT system

NOAA satellites are part of COSPAS-SARSAT (Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking) – an international satellite system for search and rescue. The system which uses a network of international spacecraft to detect and locate distress signals quickly from emergency beacons aboard aircraft, boats and from handheld PLBs. The COSPAS-SARSAT programme provides accurate, timely, and reliable distress alert and location data to help Search and Rescue (SAR) authorities to assist persons in distress. The objective of the programme system is to reduce, as far as possible, delays in the provision of distress alerts to SAR... read more

On the 1 September 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration caught this image of Hurricane Hermine reaching Florida.

The storm reached Florida coasts on the 2 of September with winds up to 120 kilometers announced the National Hurricane Center. 

On the 16^th of August 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) detected smoke and warm surfaces affecting San Bernardino, California. 

 On the 17^th, the fire had burned 30,000 acres and forced more than 82,000 people to abandon their houses. 

"In my 40 years of fighting fire, I've never seen fire behavior so extreme," Incident Commander Mike Wakoski told the Associated Press (https://weather.com/news/news/california-wildfire-emergency-bluecut-fire-clayton-fire). As this... read more

On the 16^th of July 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) caught smoke images from space which are related to a fire on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The red spot on the picture show where the MODIS system detected unusual high temperatures.

The fire was still burning on the 26^th of July, according to the National Interagency Fire Fighter.

A wildfire called Erskine started on 23 June 2016 in California due to an unknown cause. It burnt 18,368 hectares of forest and 250 structures in the southwest of the United-States, causing the death of two people.

The space-based images have been captured by the Suomi NPP satellite of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Thanks to the day-night band (DNB) of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the satellite, the latter could capture the glow of the wildfire and locate with precision its geographical extent. 

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the number of wildfires expected for the summer 2016 could be bigger than usual due to the excessive heat in some regions in the United-States.