New Image Data Source: TerraLook

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Just got word from our colleague Gary Geller at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory about a new source of free, full-resolution, multi-decade satellite imagery: TerraLook, from the US Geological Survey. The great thing about this site is the images are provided in JPEG format, a standard graphic that can be displayed using most office software and picture viewers. You can choose Landsat and ASTER satellite images from the 1970s up through the 2000s. Delivery is via FTP (no more messy CDs to deal with!).

For those of you interested in foolin’ around with image processing and GIS mapmaking, you can also download free TerraLook software.

We’ve just ordered a set of images from the Upper Green River Valley area of western Wyoming; we’ll let you know how this new data source works out.

Pebble Mine, Alaska

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What could become one of the world’s biggest open-pit gold mines, called the Pebble Mine, is being proposed in southwest Alaska. Opponents of the plan, including sportsmen, commercial fisherman, many native Alaskans, and former Alaska governor Jim Hammond, are concerned that the mine could affect the economically important wild-salmon fishing and tourism industries. The mine site is located in the headwaters of streams flowing into Lake Iliamana and Bristol Bay.

SkyTruth has generated a gallery of satellite images showing what the mine site looks like now, and a series of simulations based on several versions of the mine development plan that have been published by the mining company, Northern Dynasty. A tip o’ the hat to one of SkyTruth’s talented volunteers, Andrew Vernon, who produced this simulation showing the most recent plan.

And another nod to Erin and Hig McKittrick for their excellent Pebble Mine website, including a blog, photo gallery, and interactive Google map of the Pebble Mine site and surrounding area. All in all, this is an outstanding example of the “ground truth” comment Paul discussed a few days ago. Expect to see a whole lot more of this in 2008!

Roan Plateau – EWG Report

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Environmental Working Group just released a compelling report that shows the history of gas and oil drilling on and around the Roan Plateau in western Colorado. This work puts the numbers behind the tremendous burst of drilling illustrated by SkyTruth images.

GroundTruth

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Ground Truth: Information that is collected on location, on the ground, from a close up perspective, in fine detail. From Wikipedia: Ground Truth

Sky Truth: Information that is collected from above, with a broad vision, giving the big picture.

We at SkyTruth spend a lot of time working out how to give people an “elevated” perspective on environmental issues. Most of the time we do this by providing top-down views from satellites in space or from aircraft.

We often find the SkyTruth perspective illuminates new questions and identifies sites of interest that local environmental groups may be unaware of. Or we simply wish we had more local, first-hand knowledge contributed from folks with boots on the ground to complement and help explain our high-flying images to our global audience.

In these cases, we strive to augment our images with targeted “Ground Truth” for these sites. This may mean someone on the ground needs to go to the site with a camera and a GPS and take some pictures. Or it could mean a visit to the county courthouse to find out who owns the property, or when construction got underway.


One example is the recent work we did on habitat loss for the threatened Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse in Colorado. In this case we identified dozens of locations where construction and development is clearly taking place – or already existed – within designated “critical habitat” areas. For each of these sites we’d like to know if the development was already there before the mouse was officially recognized as a threatened species (1998), or if it’s been constructed since then, a very important distinction. Ground Truth could consist of recent and historic on-location photos, and documentation from the county on when construction permits were issued and approved. Concerned local citizens could provide this with fairly modest effort, if they know what to get and where to send it.

To harness this potential citizen-army of ground-truthers, SkyTruth is building a system to organize “help wanted” requests, publicize the needs, and collect and organize the responses. That, however, is keeping us very busy, and is a topic for another post…

Please share your thoughts and comments on how you think we should go about this.

SkyTruth Image Galleries

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By the way, SkyTruth features an ever-growing collection of online image galleries that address issues like hardrock mining, oil and gas drilling, habitat loss, and pollution. The galleries include a variety of maps and pictures taken from public and commercial orbiting satellites, government aerial surveys, and out-the-window shots taken from low-flying aircraft (most of those aerial pics are provided by our friends at EcoFlight). And important ground-truth photos taken by ordinary folks all over the world that complement the high-flying SkyTruth perspective.

We’ve also created simulations to show what proposed developments – such as gold mines and natural-gas fields – could look like if they are built:
Browse the complete list of galleries here. Once you’re in a gallery, click on any pic to get a bigger version accompanied by a descriptive caption; click on “Medium” or “Large” to display even larger versions, and “Original” to download the highest-resolution version available.

Please contact us (info@skytruth.org) if you’d like to use any of the pictures from our site. We typically grant permission for non-profit, educational and media use.

Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse

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Here’s an animal you’ve probably never heard of. The Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse is native to the eastern slope of the Rockies in Wyoming and Colorado. Unfortunately for the mouse, it lives exactly where many of us want to: nestled in the hills at the foot of those beautiful mountains. Urban sprawl is tough on this critter. Conservationists are trying to give the mouse a hand: in 1998 it was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, with “critical habitat” designated for protection in 2003. The attempts to protect the mouse and its habitat have been controversial, and in November 2007 the Fish and Wildlife Service “delisted” the mouse from protection in Wyoming, while reaffirming the protection in Colorado.

In partnership with Center for Native Ecosystems, SkyTruth decided to take a look at what’s been happening in the “critical habitat” areas in Colorado. We overlaid those areas on the high-resolution satellite imagery in Google Earth, and found 25 places where development of some kind already existed or has since occurred within the critical habitat. The Google images are probably no more than a few years old; this example shows a new subdivision obviously under construction that is encroaching on a critical-habitat zone. It certainly looks like the mouse is losing the battle.

Google Earth users can explore this for themselves using the KMZ file we created. And all are welcome to browse our online image gallery: click on any image in the gallery to see a bigger version with a descriptive caption; then click on “Large” to see an even bigger pic.

Roan Plateau, Colorado – Drill It, Too?

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Lots of controversy surrounding the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s plan to allow drilling for natural gas on top of the stunning Roan Plateau in western Colorado. The governor asked for extra time to review the plan, and sportsmen’s groups have taken a stand against drilling. Even surrounding towns have adopted resolutions against drilling the Plateau.

It’s not as if Colorado is unfriendly to drilling: the foot of the Plateau is busy with rigs, as is private land up on top. This area, known to geologists as the Piceance Basin, is one of the most active natural-gas plays in the nation. Check out the SkyTruth image gallery to see the scope of drilling impacts on the landscape here. Lots of satellite images showing the spread of drilling over time, and great aerial shots with more detail taken by our friends at EcoFlight.