MESA PROGRAM
Monitoring and Evaluating NR in the drylands: the Add value of Earth
Observation, the continental perspective
Done by MESA TAT
3rd Africa Dryland Week: 8-12 August 2016Windhoek - Namibia
Objective of the presentation
1. Introducing earth observation2. Sentinel 2 – current and potential applications for Dryland3. Added value of earth observation for dry land areas in Africa4. The continental Perspective: the example of MESA 5. MESA Service usage examples: Botswana Drought Assessment
- Earth observation is the gathering
of information about planet Earth's
physical, chemical and biological
systems via remote sensing
technologies + earth surveying
techniques.
- EO is used to monitor and assess
the status of and changes in the
natural environment and built
environment
What is Earth Observation ?
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Possible uses:
1.Forecasting weather
2.Tracking biodiversity and wildlife trends
3.Measuring land-use change (such as deforestation)
4.Monitoring and responding to natural disasters, including fires, floods,
5.Managing natural resources, such as energy, freshwater and
agriculture • addressing emerging diseases and other health risks
6.Predicting, adapting to and mitigating climate change
What is Earth Observation ?
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• EO is usually done by launching remote sensing
satellites and using in situ instruments generating
comprehensive, near-real time observations
• These satellites can assist environmental
monitoring by detecting changes in the Earth's
vegetation, land degradation, deforestation, natural
habitat, bush fire, agricultural status etc.
• By monitoring vegetation changes over time, land
degradation and droughts can be monitored by
comparing the current vegetation state to its long
term average
• *
Earth Observation
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• European Space Agency (ESA) is deploying a new family of missions calledSentinels.
• The Sentinels are a fleet of satellites designed to deliver data and imagery.
• The Sentinel-2 mission offers continuity and expands the coverage with itsmultispectral imager.
• It has a spatial resolution of 10 m
• Sentinel-2A was launched on 23 June 2015 and Sentinel-2B will follow in thesecond half of 2016.
• The mission’s revisit time is just 5 days, when both satellites are operational,and currently only 10 days with Sentinel-2A alone, a
• This implies that changes in plant health and growth can be more easilymonitored.
• Data is free.
Sentinel-2 and African Drylands
(a) Water erosion with gullies
(b) The loss of woody vegetation (red
color) caused by poor management
and climatic changes induces
wind/water erosion of fertile topsoil
(bright yellow color) and leaves only
stony laterite (dark gray color).
Matched satellite images and ground photos of
degradation phenomena in the Sahel:
RapidEye composites (left) and photos (right): Mali December
2011,
(c) Outcropping of hard rocks (black
color) caused by soil degradation and
forest/tree loss.
(d) Clogging of ferruginous soils
(white color), loss of topsoil and
woody (red) and herb vegetation
(gray) caused by
overgrazing/trampling.
.
Matched satellite images and ground photos of
degradation phenomena in the Sahel:.
RapidEye composites (left) and photos (right): (c) Mali
December 2011, (d) Senegal September 2012
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MESA AUC CONTINENTAL BULLETTINGENERAL FEATURES
Continental monitoring of he African drylands using Earth Observation (EO)
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• MESA produces continental Environmental Bulletins twice a year (April andSeptember) in English and French (translated later into Portuguese)
• The monitoring is based on the analysis of environmental indicators which arederived from satellite imagery (i.e. rainfall, vegetation growth, fire conditionetc)
• Unique overview of the environmental situation at the continental level
• Evidence based monitoring uses observed information derived from EO,complemented with climate forecast information to give an outlook on theenvironmental situation
• Produced by thematic experts from the 7 MESA implementation centres,supported by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and theTechnical Assistance
• THEMES: Protected areas, agriculture (crops and rangeland), fishing and waterresources
• The bulletin is distributed to automated e-mailing and published on MESAwebsite
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• Classification of the anomalies invegetation growth shows unusualgrowth patterns – in this case verylow growth in southern Africacompared to a long term average.
Analysis of vegetation growth over 6 months
• Statistical analysis of thevegetation indices
• Shows vegetation growth inspace and time in the 6 monthperiod
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Analysis of vegetation and rainfall
• Graph of vegetation growth and rainfall over 6 months in an area of Botswana
• This shows vegetation growth near to the long term minimum (1999-2014)
• And rainfall well below the long term average (2000-2014) Outlook for weather events,
highlighting 2 dryland areas
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Examples of dryland monitoring during an El Niño period
• Very bad vegetation growth ineastern and southern Africa
• September 2015 to March 2016
• Very good vegetation growth inwestern Africa (8)
• April to September 2015
Two Inter-ministerial
teams go on drought
assessment tour around
the country
Validating of Drought
indices with field work
Report presented to
the Ministers at
Parliament.
Vegetation-VCIRainfall- Anomaly
Fie
ld w
ork
ME
SA
RS
Data
Re
po
rt
Declare drought / No
drought
MESA Service usage examples: Botswana Drought Assessment
Credit: Drought service NFP- Esther Jansen, Met Dept, Botswana
THANK YOU
MERCI
OBRIGADO
MAHADSANID
MESA PROGRAM
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