Preventing environmental disasters from space
After a forest fire or a leakage of polluting chemicals, the non visible dangers are certainly those that, besides being more difficult to detect, can have the worst long-term consequences for public health.
In order to inform the population and the authorities in case of water pollution after a fire, or if some polluting materials are being invisibly spilled into the soil, Tel Aviv University has developed a system called “Hyperspectral Remote Sensor”.
This system acquires hundreds of satellite optical images, each one shot on a different frequency, which, when combined together, allow the creation of a spectrographic map of the area, thus creating “thematic” maps in order to be able to literally “see” the polluting agents from the sky.
For example, when a forest fire hits a particular area, thanks to this imaging system it will be possible to see changes in the mineralogy. According to these changes, it will be possible to define how, for example, a rainstorm after the fire would wash out polluting agents, which could penetrate the soil in a different way than they would do before the fire.
Furthermore, the soil analysis carried out thanks to HRS mapping, could prove useful before signing the contract for purchase of a plot of land, providing valuable information for irrigation procedures and for detection of lack of certain minerals.
Another possible field of application is analyzing the environmental footprint of a chemicals storage plant, or a service station, which could release polluting elements into the ground. In short, a valuable help to solve problems of the Earth might come from the sky!
