{"id":107607,"date":"2019-12-10T14:41:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T00:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=107607"},"modified":"2019-12-11T10:00:04","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T20:00:04","slug":"satellites-monitor-surfaces-more-efficiently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/12\/10\/satellites-monitor-surfaces-more-efficiently\/","title":{"rendered":"Study finds geostationary satellites monitor land surfaces more efficiently"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"illustration\"
Seasonal variations in the vegetation index of temperate forests, using images taken by the Himawari-8 new-generation geostationary satellite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Environmental scientists are always in search of new tools that can better characterize the Earth\u2019s surface. In a new study published in Scientific Reports<\/em><\/a>, a team of researchers in the U.S.<\/abbr> and Japan, led by a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa<\/a> professor, reported a new-generation geostationary satellite was able to capture the seasonal changes of vegetation in central Japan more accurately than before. <\/p>\n

Under the leadership of Tomoaki Miura<\/strong>, from the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources<\/a>\u2019 Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, researchers including Shin Nagai and Mika Takeuchi from Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Kazuhito Ichii from Chiba University, and Hiroki Yoshioka from Aichi Prefectural University, found that Himawari-8\u2019s Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI<\/abbr>) acquired approximately 26 times more observations than one of the latest polar-orbiting satellite sensors, for the year 2016. As a result, there were a larger number of days with “cloud-free” observations with Himawari-8 AHI<\/abbr>. <\/p>\n

“Detailed vegetation seasonal information from the Himawari-8 geostationary satellite can be useful for many applications such as short-term drought monitoring and assessing the impact of heavy rainfall events,” said Miura. It is expected that AHI<\/abbr> geostationary sensor data would contribute to improving understanding of vegetation dynamics and the effect of climate change in the cloud-prone tropical region. <\/p>\n

Satellite remote sensing has widely been used to monitor and characterize the spatial and temporal changes of the Earth\u2019s vegetative cover. Satellites used in these analyses have conventionally been polar-orbiting satellites, which orbit from pole to pole and obtain only one to two images of the Earth per day. The utility of these polar-orbiting satellites has, however, often been limited because frequently occurring clouds block their view of the land surface. <\/p>\n

Being in geostationary orbit (a circular orbit above Earth’s Equator in which a satellite’s orbital period is equal to Earth’s rotation), the AHI<\/abbr> sensor onboard Himawari-8 can obtain multi-band color images over Japan every 10 minutes, increasing the chance of obtaining “cloud-free” observations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of researchers, led by a UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa professor, reported a new-generation geostationary satellite was able to capture the seasonal changes of vegetation in central Japan more accurately than before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[212,1363,544,9],"class_list":["post-107607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-manoa-research","tag-natural-resources-and-environmental-management","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t