Via The Source, an interesting article on the use of satellite remote sensing techniques to assess changes in water quality:
Satellites have a long history, with the American writer, Edward Everett Hale, writing speculative fiction containing the first known depiction of an artificial satellite to measure longitude in The Brick Moon, back in 1869. During the intensity of World War II, the first space-based picture of Earth was taken, demonstrating the potential for space-based cameras to help us monitor our changing world. Soon after, space became the battlefield where the US and the Soviet Union tested their supremacy during the Cold War, giving way to, amongst others, the first commercial communications satellite. Today, from atmospheric satellites that can predict weather conditions to remote sensing satellites that monitor our environment’s resources from afar, there’s little on Earth’s surface that escapes from satellites’ sight. How can we apply satellite information to improve the quality of our waters and optimise decision making in water supply services?
Our freshwater resources are severely affected by climate change, urbanisation, population growth, and competing demands from other uses, such as ecosystem protection, agriculture, energy production and recreation. Water utilities’ treatment operations, costs, and the resulting services to consumers are heavily determined by both the quantity and quality of water upstream in the catchments and reservoirs.
Changes in climate are resulting in increased frequency and intensity of precipitation, topping up reservoirs, which can result in excess water runoff. This may lead to flooding and even destruction of the water stored, compromising water supplies.
Increased urbanisation also aggravates the quality of water bodies. The expansion of paved areas and increased urban runoff are major sources of water pollution in urban areas. Another big threat to water quality comes from diffuse pollution caused by intensive farming and its associated use of pesticides and fertilisers to feed an increasing population worldwide.
These increasing pressures pose additional challenges to water utilities, many of which already struggle to secure a reliable supply of safe and clean water. Having access to real-time and forecasted information about the conditions of water quality and quantity is essential to proactively manage upstream risks, improve responses to water incidents, or improve their operational efficiency and quality of their services.
SPACE-O integrates Earth Observations and in-situ monitoring with advanced hydrological, water quality models and ICT tools, into a powerful decision support system that will generate up-to-the-minute data, as well as forecasting of water flows and water quality data in reservoirs. This knowledge about the conditions in the ground, now and in the near future, will help optimise water treatment plant operations, and increase the responsiveness of water managers against incidences, such as algal blooms, droughts and floods.
“High resolution pictures from earth observation could assist our water company in knowing when it’s the best time to take water from the river when the water stored during winter isn’t enough to supply for the summer months, highly reducing our maintenance costs,” said Ingrid Keupers, Technical Director of De Watergroep, during one of the first project consultation meetings with water utility operators.
Ensuring uptake of the resulting products is indeed crucial to the philosophy of SPACE-O. The products are centered around a decision support system (DSS) which aims to make use of satellite date and other technical tools to help water operators make informed decisions around issues such as water quality in reservoirs. From the start, a series of consultations with utility operators has been undertaken to cater the products to users’ needs. This creates ownership and interest in application of the relevant tools to their operations. Utilities that are interested to learn more can contact info@space-o.eu, and follow all the latest developments on the project’s website and social media channels.
Via Quartz, an interesting article on a “Pokemon Go” game based on the movements of real animals that directs in-app purchases towards conservation:
Over the course of five months, Manyara, a 26-year-old elephant in Tanzania, traveled 695 kilometers with her herd of elephants. They stayed close to a river, but occasionally strayed into areas close to human settlements and once crossed a highway in search of more acacia trees. A lone wildebeest named Neatoo in Kenya traversed more than 3,000 kilometers in one month in search of fresh grass. Two lions, a pair of sisters looking after six teenage cubs, traveled entirely at night, staying close to each other 90% of the time.
National parks and conservationists rely on GPS data to understand the resource needs and patterns of animals living in the wild. Now, that data is going into a mobile game where players track animals, based on their natural movements, in their own cities. In the augmented reality game, Safari Central, players follow real animals like Manyara or Neatoo. In-app purchases go towards conservation projects for those animals.
“Think of it as Pokemon Go, but where the animals are real animals, and where they move around a city based on their actual movements, not where we tell them to go,” says Gautam Shah, founder of Internet of Elephants, a US and Kenya-based start up, making Safari Central.
Shah says the game is the first to use real tracking data. They have data on elephants, lions, grizzly bears, jaguars, wolves, giant anteaters, frigate birds, vultures and other animals from organizations like WWF Brazil, Conservation International in the US, the Chicago Zoological Society, as well as conservation groups and parks based in Kenya and South Africa.
The goal is to connect more people with the daily lives of animals and raise support for conservation efforts. “Conventional fundraising approaches are not reaching enough people or raising enough funds to turn the tide,” the company said in a press release. African forest elephants, for example, will need 100 years to recover losses in the species over just the last decade.
Players track real animals in the augmented reality mobile game, Safari Central. (Internet of Elephants)Mobile game Safari Central uses GPS data from real animals. (Internet of Elephants)
The startup, which is currently holding a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the game, plans to release a preview of the app in August and a full launch in December of 2018.
Shah is exploring other ways to gamify the data. The movement of the animals can act as a randomizer, dictating what happens in the game, in the same way a roll of the dice affects a game like Monopoly or Settlers of Catan. “This is just the first game. There are many other ways that the data can be used,” Shah says.
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New technical innovations such as location-tracking devices, GPS and satellite communications, remote sensors, laser-imaging technologies, light detection and ranging” (LIDAR) sensing, high-resolution satellite imagery, digital mapping, advanced statistical analytical software and even biotechnology and synthetic biology are revolutionizing conservation in two key ways: first, by revealing the state of our world in unprecedented detail; and, second, by making available more data to more people in more places. The mission of this blog is to track these technical innovations that may give conservation the chance – for the first time – to keep up with, and even get ahead of, the planet’s most intractable environmental challenges. It will also examine the unintended consequences and moral hazards that the use of these new tools may cause.Read More
