Hurricane Patricia made landfall on Oct. 24, 2015, along the southwestern coast of Mexico. NASA's Aqua satellite captured Patricia making landfall, while the Global Precipitation Measurement mission core satellite added up Patricia's high rain totals, which exceeded more than 409 millimeters (16.1 inches) over open waters.
NASA recently released the Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET), an API that provides a curated collection of natural events as well as a way to link those events to image layers. EONET is expected to enable developers to build their own client applications on top of NASA data.
Researchers from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Earth Observation Center (EOC) used Earth-observation satellites to determine that the ozone hole over Antarctica currently extends more than 26 million square kilometers”an area larger than the North American continent. It's approximately 2.5 million square kilometers larger than at the same time in 2014, and just less than the record in 2006, when it was 27 million square kilometers.
The Commercial UAV Expo debuted from Oct. 5-7, 2015, at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and more than 1,500 attendees from 30 countries attended the show. The exhibit floor had 120 exhibitors from 14 countries showcasing solutions including airframes, components, sensors, software and services.
NASA and The Aerospace Corp. received confirmation that the Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) CubeSat spacecraft is in orbit and operational, but it currently is experiencing a problem with its attitude control system.
At the Second Eye on Earth Summit, which was held Oct. 6-8, 2015, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UAE Space Agency highlighted the importance of satellite and space technology for environmental-monitoring purposes.
As record ocean temperatures cause widespread coral bleaching across Hawaii, NOAA scientists confirm the same stressful conditions are expanding to the Caribbean and may last into 2016, prompting the declaration of the third global coral-bleaching event ever on record.
Image-sensor developer Teledyne Dalsa is partnering with South Africa-based Denel Spaceteq, a high-performance satellite systems and solutions provider to the African and international aerospace market, to develop a new multispectral image sensor for advanced Earth observations.
Scientists eager to study the bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) of northeastern Brazil”especially interesting because they use stone tools to crack open the hard casings of palm nuts to eat the meat inside”are concerned the monkeys will lose critical habitat as industrial agriculture is rapidly expanding and intensifying in the region.
MDA's Information Systems group introduced two new RADARSAT-2 imaging modes for commercial use. The modes are designed specifically for maritime monitoring and are expected to enhance RADARSAT-2 capabilities.
