April 22nd 2022 is Earth Day. This is the chance to reflect on the condition of our planet, on how we are treating it and on what we can do to improve it.
In a video message for Earth Day 2022, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warns of a ‘triple planetary crisis’ affecting Earth: climate disruption, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. This is threatening the well-being of millions of people around the world and preventing the Sustainable Development Goals to be met.
Such a crisis calls for urgent measures to mitigate climate change, support green transition and boost sustainable growth and well-being.
This year’s theme of Earth Day is “Invest in Our Planet”. Business, governments and citizens are all called to play their part and take action to preserve and protect our health, families and livelihoods.
Earth Observation is a powerful tool support climate action. It provides key data to improve climate models and, thus, forecasts and decision-making. A number of satellite applications already exists and research continues to advance in order to improve the amount, frequency, reliability and quality of data. Take a look at how satellite data can be used to monitor methane emissions, vegetation distribution and density, oceans’ temperature, wave height and level.
Therefore, SURPRISE plays its part too, contributing to advance Earth Observation research. We use two disruptive technologies, spatial light modulators and compressive sensing, to develop a demonstrator of a super-spectral EO payload (sensor) with enhanced capability in spatial resolution, on-board data processing and encryption functionalities.
Cover picture: Photo by Fateme Alaie on Unsplash