Aerosol direct radiative effect of smoke over clouds over the southeast Atlantic Ocean from 2006 to 2009

The aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE) of African smoke was analyzed in cloud scenes over the southeast Atlantic Ocean, using Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) satellite observations and Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 2 (HadGEM2) climate model simulations. The observed mean DRE...

Earth observation based assessment of the water production and water consumption of Nile basin agro-ecosystems

The increasing competition for water resources requires a better understanding of flows, fluxes, stocks, and the services and benefits related to water consumption. This paper explains how public domain Earth Observation data based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Second Generation Meteosat (MSG), Tropical Rainfall...

Monitoring of irrigation schemes by remote sensing: Phenology versus retrieval of biophysical variables

The appraisal of crop water requirements (CWR) is crucial for the management of water resources, especially in arid and semi-arid regions where irrigation represents the largest consumer of water, such as the Doukkala area, western Morocco. Simple and (semi) empirical approaches have been applied to estimate CWR: the first one is called Kc-NDVI...

Remotely sensed monitoring of small reservoir dynamics: A Bayesian approach

Multipurpose small reservoirs are important for livelihoods in rural semi-arid regions. To manage and plan these reservoirs and to assess their hydrological impact at a river basin scale, it is important to monitor their water storage dynamics. This paper introduces a Bayesian approach for monitoring small reservoirs with radar satellite images....

Mapping evapotranspiration trends using MODIS and SEBAL model in a data scarce and heterogeneous landscape in Eastern Africa

Evapotranspiration (ET) accounts for a substantial amount of the water use in river basins particular in the tropics and arid regions. However, accurate estimation still remains a challenge especially in large spatially heterogeneous and data scarce areas including the Upper Pangani River Basin in Eastern Africa. Using multitemporal Moderate...

Parameterization of Surface Roughness Based on ICESat/GLAS Full Waveforms: A Case Study on the Tibetan Plateau

Glaciers in the Tibetan mountains are expected to be sensitive to turbulent sensible and latent heat fluxes. One of the most significant factors of the energy exchange between the atmospheric boundary layer and the glacier is the roughness of the glacier surface. However, methods to parameterize this roughness for glacier surfaces in remote...

Robotization in Seismic Acquisition

The amount of sources and detectors in the seismic method follows "Moore’s Law of seismic data acquisition", i.e., it increases approximately by a factor of 10 every 10 years. Therefore automation is unavoidable, leading to robotization of seismic data acquisition. Recently, we introduced a new source concept that replaces today’s complex, local...

Air quality over the Canadian oil sands: A first assessment using satellite observations

Results from the first assessment of air quality over the Canadian oil sands–one of the largest industrial undertakings in human history–using satellite remote sensing observations of two pollutants, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2), are presented. High-resolution maps were created that revealed distinct enhancements in both...

Nearshore subtidal bathymetry from time-exposure video images

Time-averaged (over many wave periods) nearshore video observations show the process of wave breaking as one or more white alongshore bands of high intensity. Across a known depth profile, similar bands of dissipation can be predicted with a model describing the time-averaged cross-shore evolution of organized wave and roller energy. This close...