{"id":11763,"date":"2015-11-17T15:09:52","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T20:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11763"},"modified":"2015-11-17T18:39:46","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T23:39:46","slug":"satellite-images-fight-drought-in-ethiopia-help-earthquake-victims-reveal-ancient-kazakh-earthworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11763","title":{"rendered":"Satellite images: Fight drought in Ethiopia + Help earthquake victims + Reveal ancient Kazakh earthworks"},"content":{"rendered":"

A small sampling of the use of satellite earth observation imagery:<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Satellites help fight drought in Ethiopia<\/strong> – UNICEF Connect<\/a><\/p>\n

Ethiopia is currently in one of its periodic droughts. Satellites are<\/p>\n

One of the most affected areas in the country is the Afar Region in the Great Rift Valley where daily temperatures can exceed 44 degrees Celsius and there is less than 300mm of rain annually.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most of the Afar region\u2019s population of 1.5 million people survive mainly on herding (92 percent), and the animals need water. Water the existing wells aren\u2019t providing.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is where satellites come in. UNICEF analyzes information the satellites provide on ground vegetation, topology and morphology, combined with hydro-geological information on the region, and pinpoints the best place to drill wells.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ethiopia-satellite-1[1]\"<\/a>
UNICEF Ethiopia\/ 2015\/Tesfaye – Launching the mini-village water scheme project north of Samera in Ethiopia<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just 84 km north of Afar\u2019s capital of Samera, UNICEF put its remote sensing satellite plan into action. The government identified the district of Elidar as a priority location\u2014shepherds head there due to water shortages elsewhere.<\/em><\/p>\n

Currently, people rely on expensive commercial trucks to haul in water because most of the water found by digging wells is very salty. Deep underground, however, lies fresh water, and the UNICEF-directed remote sensing investigations have found just the right places to drill boreholes down between 250 and 300 metres.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three boreholes will be drilled by end December 2015. These wells will provide more than 100,000 people with access to safe water. A contract has been awarded to a private drilling contractor at a cost of 9 million birr (US$ 433,264), and UNICEF will supervise the works with the local water bureau.<\/em><\/p>\n

* Radar satellites to provide faster response to earthquake victims<\/strong><\/p>\n

Compare and contrast: A better way to use satellite images to save lives after tremors – The Economist<\/a><\/p>\n

Sang-Ho Yun and his team at\u00a0the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed techniques to use satellite radar images automaticalluy to locate the specific areas that were\u00a0shifted\u00a0up or down the most by\u00a0a\u00a0large earthquake. Such information could be used by first responders to go to the places with the worst damage.<\/p>\n

They recently tested the approach with radar taken of Nepal taken shortly after the magnitude 7.8\u00a0earthquake happened in April. They\u00a0found that their analysis of the images\u00a0matched well with independent determinations of regional damage\u00a0by teams from the UN, the US Geological Survey, and the US\u00a0National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.<\/p>\n

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* Mysterious 8000 year old earthworks in Kazakhstan spotted by satellites<\/strong><\/p>\n