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Forest ecosystems of the future will have to cope with very different conditions to those of today. For this reason, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) state that a strategic approach to forest management is crucial. To this end, the research team has developed iLand: a simulation model that can compute long-term developments ...

Skykraft, an Australian company, has signed a Participating Project Partner Agreement for the “Demonstration of Collaborative Position Navigation and Timing (PNT) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO)” project. This agreement, supported by an International Space Investment (ISI) India Projects grant from the Australian Government, will promote joint space projects between Australia and India. The primary goal ...

Many recent studies assume that elderly people are at particular risk of dying from extreme heat as the planet warms. A new study of mortality in Mexico turns this assumption on its head: it shows that 75% of heat-related deaths are occurring among people under 35―a large percentage of them ages 18 to 35, or ...

The Nature Conservancy and UC Santa Barbara release the first comprehensive maps of coconut agriculture, and the subsequent loss of native forests, on atolls throughout the tropical Pacific. Over the last 200 years, this pervasive land cover change has profoundly altered ecosystems and hydrologic resources, potentially affecting atoll communities’ resilience to climate change and other environmental ...

Arizona State University and St. Mary’s Food Bank (SMFB) have joined forces to create an interactive data dashboard that tracks and maps food insecurity rates across Arizona. This innovative tool aims to analyze patterns, provide critical insights and optimize resource allocation to address disparities in food access. By combining ASU’s research expertise with SMFB’s decades of community ...

The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) Director General Brig. Hillary Kipkosgei hosted an executive delegation from Expertise France, led by its Director General, Jeremy Pellet. During this meeting, the two leaders signed a landmark cooperation agreement aimed at fostering greater synergy in space-related collaborations. KSA, a state corporation mandated to promote, coordinate, and regulate space activities ...

On Thursday December 5, 2024, the Vega C launcher (VV25 mission) lifted-off from the Guiana Space Center, French Guiana, at 6:20 pm local time (9:20 p.m. UTC, 10:20 p.m. CET). Vega C successfully placed the Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite into Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of 700 km. Spacecraft separation occurred 1 hour and 43 minutes ...

Humans are leaving consistent patterns in forest disturbance structures across the world, according to a new study from the University of Leicester, the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) and the University of Birmingham, based on remote sensing data. Forests play a critical role in maintaining biodiversity, regulating the climate, and supporting ecosystems. However, disturbances ...

The Sun’ll come out tomorrow, and you no longer have to bet your bottom dollar to be sure of it. Google’s DeepMind team released its latest weather prediction model this week, which outperforms a leading traditional weather prediction model across the vast majority of tests put before it. The generative AI model is dubbed GenCast, and it ...

In response to the rising threat of GPS jamming in drone warfare, researchers at the University of South Australia (UniSA) have pioneered a celestial navigation system that uses star-based visual data as an alternative to the global positioning system. Combining celestial navigation with vision-based technology, UniSA’s remote sensing engineers have created a lightweight, cost-effective system ...

A nearly three-century-old map that helped the Philippines win its territorial dispute against China was formally received at the Malacañang Palace on Friday, December 6, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. hailing it as a historic document that has “defined the Philippines.”   The Murillo Velarde map of 1734 — officially titled “Carta Hydro-graphica y Choro-graphica ...

On a crystal-clear afternoon above a desert ghost town, a NASA aircraft scoured the ground for minerals. The plane, a high-altitude ER-2 research aircraft, had taken off early that morning from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Below pilot Dean Neeley, the landscape looked barren and brown. But to the optical sensors installed on the ...

The Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry has refuted reports claiming that tradesmen and shopkeepers will be required to pay a “map license fee” for sharing map or location data. In a statement issued on Dec. 5, the ministry clarified that the proposed changes to the Law on Geographical Information Systems do not apply to small business owners. It ...

Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent in a warming world, as rising ocean temperatures trigger these mysterious and damaging phenomena. The profound effects of marine heatwaves on ecosystems – from coral bleaching to disruptions in biodiversity – explain why scientists believe great urgency is required to understand their development and longevity. As we grapple with the challenges of climate change, ...

An interactive high-resolution dataset has been released to the public, showing the active faults running through New Zealand. The data set, made available by GNS Science, shows the locations of faults that have broken or deformed the surface in the last 125,000 years. Scientists made the information available in a bid to help further research, hazard assessment, ...

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has reopened its doors five years after the devastating fire, showcasing its restored interior after extensive rebuilding work. The restoration, costing approximately €700 million ($737 million), was financed entirely by donations from around the world.  On April 15, 2019, Notre Dame went up in flames, with the spire collapsing and ...

In a unique initiative, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has launched the GIS-based Road Asset Management System (RAMS) to overhaul the city’s road maintenance and management process. The initiative addresses critical challenges that have plagued urban road management for years, including the absence of centralised data, inefficient resource allocation, and ad-hoc repair decisions. Furthermore, road ...

NASA, IBM, and Forschungszentrum Jülich have released an expanded version of the open-source Prithvi Geospatial artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model to support a broader range of geographical applications. Now, with the inclusion of global data, the foundation model can support tracking changes in land use, monitoring disasters, and predicting crop yields worldwide.  The Prithvi Geospatial foundation model, ...

The relationships between a population of people, their health outcomes, and their local contexts can be very complex. Nevertheless, developing an understanding of these population dynamics can be crucial for addressing complex social problems, such as disease, economic security, disaster response, and much more. Despite the importance, however, accurate predictions for these population dynamics have been elusive ...

In a significant leap forward for vehicle navigation, researchers have developed an advanced system that integrates Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Odometry (LO). This novel approach addresses key challenges in urban navigation, offering a substantial boost in positioning accuracy and reliability, particularly in densely built ...

The European Space Agency-funded DANGO project has developed a method for transforming Galileo high-accuracy service (HAS) signals for use in the Danish national reference frame (ETRS89DK). Speaking at the recent final presentation of the DANGO project, DTU (Technical University of Denmark) Space Research Assistant Magdalena Golofit said, “HAS PPP corrections are delivered within the framework ...

According to the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the updated space-related export controls will promote the USA’s innovation and technology leadership while protecting its national security and foreign policy interests. The relaxed restrictions also apply to the United Kingdom and Canada. Specifically, the new ruling removes licensing requirements for items involving ...

Last month, the Government announced the establishment of the National Energy System Operator (NESO), a new publicly owned organisation aimed at bolstering energy security, reducing long-term energy costs and advancing the country’s clean power by 2030 agenda. The Nationgal Grid’s Electricity System Operator (ESO) has been transferred into public ownership as part of the new ...

Approximately 71 to 95 million people in the Lower 48 states—more than 20% of the country’s population—may rely on groundwater that contains detectable concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, for their drinking water supplies. These findings are according to a U.S Geological Survey study published in the journal Science. The predictive ...

Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela, assistant professor of environmental studies, and a team of Colombian researchers have introduced a transformative approach to mapping bird species distribution across Colombia, harnessing community science data and innovative modeling techniques. Their latest study, published with open access in the journal Diversity and Distributions, presents high-resolution range and Area of Habitat (AOH) maps ...

A new atlas by human rights groups assessed tree cover and biodiversity hotspots on lands belonging to Afro-descendant peoples in 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the Black Communities’ Process (PCN), the Universidad Javeriana’s Observatory for Ethnic and Peasant Territories (OTEC) and the National Coordination of Black ...

Tesla, Mobileye, Alibaba, and Didi have denied speculation that they have been involved in conducting illegal map-making activities after China’s top security agency said it found an incident of spying in which a foreign enterprise used a local company to collect sensitive map data. The unidentified international firm illegally conducted geographic mapping activities in the ...

The Nature Discovery Map Scotland (NDMS) is designed to engage and empower students to maximise their school grounds and improve them for nature and climate resilience. This interactive mapping toolkit has been co-designed with teachers to help support Learning for Sustainability (LfS). This versatile toolkit can be used in many ways and on many levels ...

As the world’s largest rice exporter and a crucial player in global food security, India has made impressive strides in agricultural productivity since the Green Revolution. However, a significant gap remains between the rice yields that farmers currently achieve and what they could potentially produce. A recent study published in Nature Communications titled “Context-dependent agricultural ...

Observing sites such as the Amazon basin from space has underscored the capability of satellites to better detect signs of drought, according to a new study. Led by Military University of Technology Poland and Griffith University, the researchers combined two advance satellite-based methods to improve monitoring of hydrological droughts.  Advance satellite-based methods, such as the ...