Harmful Algal Bloom

Harmful algal blooms endanger the health of both humans and animals through poor water quality and can cause economic loss to coastal communities. Such algal blooms are composed of an excess of cyanobacteria, which becomes dangerous when subjected to certain conditions, such as extended sunlight exposure, stagnant water, and the increased presence of various nutrients from fertilizers. Under such circumstances, cyanobacteria aggressively multiply, causing water to have a viscous, green appearance, discernible from space. The unique perspective from Earth-observing satellites by NASA and its partners facilitates the study of the relationship between water and other Earth systems, as well as addresses its consequences, especially on water quality.

The striking green color of algal blooms is caused by chlorophyll-a, a photosynthesizing pigment in cyanobacteria. Scientists can estimate the quantity of cyanobacteria in a body of water through satellite measurements of the…

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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…

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A recent study has produced a 20-year time series of primary production by marine phytoplankton, one of the largest fluxes of carbon on our planet. Studying phytoplankton primary production is important because it provides useful information about ocean biology, climate, and global carbon cycle. Observing primary production over long-time scales or quantifying its small variations can help the scientific community to determine carbon dioxide concentrations, as well as the effect of climate variability on these processes. The study uses in -situ measurements and satellite data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Climate Change Initiative,

The study assesses global annual phytoplankton primary productivity between 1998 and 2018 and aims at identifying its long-term patterns and its variability with seasons and…

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To meet the global challenges, the United Nations adopted several framework agreements, including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). The framework builds the international reference point for disaster preparedness and focuses on reducing existing and future disaster risks as well as enhancing disaster resilience. In the Sendai framework, seven global targets have been agreed to measure global progress in implementing the framework through quantifiable indicators and to present, compare and evaluate the status and progress uniformly worldwide. The recording of the status and degree of target achievement using the agreed indicators requires the use of various data sources, which must be consistent and comparable in time and space in order to ensure global monitoring.

Algal blooms are indicators of marine ecosystem health; thus, their monitoring is a key component of effective management of coastal and oceanic resources. Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) imagery provides continuous, high frequency water quality monitoring of coastal waters.

This webinar aims to teach the basics of image processing for ocean colour monitoring. It shows how to access the RUS Service and how to download, process, analyse and visualise the free data acquired by the Copernicus satellites.

The course employs the ESA SNAP Sentinel-3 Toolbox to demonstrate the methodology for the detection and mapping of phytoplankton blooms.

Free advanced webinar from the Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET)  programme at NASA.

This webinar series will help to perform advanced image processing of satellite data. It also incorporates the learning about using satellites to track indicators of harmful algal blooms. This will include monitoring water temperature and chlorophyll-a concentrations. Finally,  the information course can be use for reporting around UN SDG 6.

The learning objectives are:

• Access MODIS and Landsat data
• Perform image processing of MODIS and Landsat data
• Monitor water temperature and chlorophyll-a concentrations as harmful algal bloom indicators

ESA's Earth Observation Thematic Exploitation Platform (TEP) is a browser for satellite imagery and specific products on an environmental topic. The TEP platforms are divided into 7 categories: Coastal; Forstry; Geohazards; Hydrology; Polar; Urban; and Food Security. Each platform is a collaborative, virtual work environment providing access to EO data and the tools, processors and Information and Communication Technology resources required to work with them. TEP aims to bridge the gap between the users and the data and tools.