29 June 2007
The Landsat-5 satellite has captured images of the flooded region around Bairnsdale and Sale in south-east Victoria. This image, acquired on 29 June, shows the Mitchell River at Bairnsdale close to its predicted peak, inundating local areas as the river breaches its banks.
Go to the following link to see before and after satellite images of the affected area.
18 June 2007
The following images capture the port of Newcastle and surrounding area located on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia, before and during the June 2007 floods. These images were captured by the AVNIR-2 instrument (Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2) on-board ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite) on 19 November 2006 and 10 June 2007. The pre-flood image at left shows Newcastle and the surrounding area with jet vapour trails present as north-south oriented grey/white streaks and rivers at their usual level. The image on the right shows the effects of flooding including: inundation of lowland areas; brown sediment discharging from the Harbour entrance; and the stranded red freighter, the Pasha Bulker, located on Nobbys Beach on the south side of the entrance to Newcastle Harbour (at centre of right image).
4 June 2007
Geoscience Australia (GA)has recently signed a Collaborative Heads Agreement with the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) that encompasses key areas including remote sensing data acquisition and processing, coastal vulnerability, digital elevation modeling, and the archiving and distribution of national data sets. The detailed project schedules covering those activities are still being negotiated.
The collaboration is closely related to the Government's announcement on 29 March to establish the Global Initiative on Forests and Climate. This initiative was given $200 million in funding to help Australia work with other countries to take practical action in helping to sustain the world's forests and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
Of relevance to ACRES is the requirement to monitor forests in south-east Asia. This will require new satellite downlink stations to be constructed in Australia. These stations will likely be located in northern Australia and will significantly enhance the national remote sensing capability. GA is looking forward to a fruitful partnership with the AGO on these and other related matters.
4 June 2007
Geoscience Australia was represented at the recent Landsat Technical Working Group meeting held in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil from 14 to 18 May 2007 which, provided international cooperators with much information on the Landsat programme.
The news from the meeting is all good! The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has obtained a waiver that will allow them to maintain the orbits of both Landsat-5 and Landsat-7 until 2012. There will be some effect on the mean local crossing time as the final orbit manoeuvres are performed. Both spacecraft continue to perform well and, whilst Landsat-5 has a number of potential single points of failure, none of the systems are showing any trend toward failure.The USGS is planning a celebration to mark Landsat-5 entering its 25 year of operations next year and they are optimistic about it continuing to provide high-quality data past its 25th anniversary in 2009.
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM)is progressing well, with requests for tender issued for most of the major systems. The expected launch date is July 2011 which enables an opportunity for on-orbit cross calibration with Landsat-5 and 7. While the spacecraft is currently known as LDCM, it is anticipated that it will be named Landsat-8 once on orbit. It is designed for a five year life, but will carry ten years of consumables. Further information and status on LDCM can be obtained from http://ldcm.usgs.gov and http://ldcm.nasa.gov
4 June 2007
ACRES has just finished installing and testing a new upgrade to our software that processes raw ALOS data into products. As a result, customers will see a number of improvements in the quality of ACRES ALOS products, including:
More specific figures on the new radiometric and geometric accuracies may be found at ALOS geometric and radiometric specifications.
4 June 2007
We have now successfully installed and tested a system upgrade to enable processing of Landsat 7 Bumper Mode data - i.e. all Landsat 7 data acquired after 1 April 2007. Consequently, as of 4 June, Landsat 7 Bumper Mode products are available from ACRES.
The Landsat 7 satellite was transitioned into Bumper Mode on 1 April to account for some expected wear to some of the satellite's moving parts. Bumper Mode results in alternate scan lines (each 16-pixels wide) being offset to each other, necessitating the need for software adjustments.
ACRES has still been collecting Landsat 7 data since the transition to Bumper Mode, but has been unable to process this data until now. The ACRES processing system will automatically recognise LS7 bumper mode data by their date of acquisition
30 April 2007
Geoscience Australia (GA) will be well represented at the upcoming Spatial Sciences Institute Biennial International Conference in Hobart from 14 - 18 May 2007. Our double exhibition booth will be the focal point for customers and other stakeholders to ask questions or discuss issues with GA staff from various parts of the organisation, including ACRES. We expect strong interest in ALOS satellite data and look forward to meeting those of you who are able to attend the conference. For more information on the Conference please see the SSC2007 website.
18 April 2007
ACRES is presenting an opportunity to research agencies, universities and others to use ACRES data for developing applications. Research proposals that demonstrate the value of data from Landsat and meet the objectives of this AO are sought. Applications close on Wednesday 30th May 2007. Full details of the Announcement of Opportunity can be found here www.ga.gov.au/acres/prod_ser/ls_ao.jsp
29 March 2007
In response to the Solomon Islands' tsunami on April 2, the ALOS satellite has been tasked to acquire emergency response imagery. The Sentinel Asia Disaster Management Support System has responded positively to Geoscience Australia's request for imagery with the satellite currently tasked to make observations over the tsunami affected areas. We will update our website as data becomes available (focused on the Island of Gizo) to aid in disaster management activities.
Solomon Islands sample imagery from ALOS is available via FTP.