UNIDIR — UN Institute for Disarmament Research’s Post

As Labor Day weekend approaches each year, I know peak hurricane season is upon us. This annual occurrence is the culmination of a summer’s worth of warmth and energy being absorbed into the ocean and becoming fuel for one of nature’s awe-inspiring beings. Watching the coverage of Idalia, I was reminded, once again, of the mystique of these storms. How the conditions must be just right for them to form, and how these storms should be regarded for the power they hold. With new technology, we’re learning more about the world around us and above us. The James Webb Space Telescope continues to bring us unimaginable images. But, not one of those images has come even close to showing another place as perfect as the pale blue dot we call, Earth. Having experienced my fair share of summers and winters, it’s easy to see that things are changing. The weather is different than what it used to be. Records seem to fall on a daily basis. One area has too much water while another doesn’t have enough. It was the hottest July on record. The ocean temperatures are at levels never seen before… Even though the climate is changing, I remain an optimist. I see a ground swell of effort from many entrepreneurs that are looking for solutions using new technology, available for the first time. I continue to be enamored with the thought leadership and creativity that is going into solving problems. It’s absolutely fascinating to have a front row seat in an industry that is utilizing Space in new and innovative ways. I can’t wait to see what ideas will become reality on our journey to solve problems, right here on Earth. https://lnkd.in/dbP2uQQN

Hurricane Harvey was a Category 4 that dropped over 4 feet of rain on Texas and Louisiana. The storm unleashed devastating floods and caused over 100 deaths. Wind intensity is not the only factor when forecasting the damage and severity of a hurricane. One reason I do not like the idea of a “Category 6” hurricane is that a Category 4 or 3 would not seem “dangerous” to the public. Tropical Weather Analytics, Inc. was carrying out validation and testing of it’s unique 3D wind and hurricane modeling technology onboard the space station during Hurricane Harvey. You can see images from that mission in the below link. Harvey cost $155 Billion and is tied with Katrina as the most costliest hurricane in US history. https://lnkd.in/etGu2grh

When I moved to Paris, some 8 years ago, the humanitarian life chose me. At the time, I joined a team of engineers from the United Nations Environment Programme and together we mapped the extent and scenarized the management of debris generated by conflicts in Aleppo, Aghdam and Mosul, earthquakes in Turkey, hurricanes in the Caribbean and floods in France. This past week I found myself in the unfortunate position of being right in the middle of a disaster when it hit my home state Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil. The state has suffered from overwhelming rain since April 29. Storms, landslides and floods have directly affected over 600,000 and left 81,000 homeless in 446 of the State’s 497 cities. This weekend I had a flight to Rotterdam to catch, where I was supposed to receive the 50 Geospatial World Rising Stars award at the Geospatial World Forum. As even the Porto Alegre international airport is currently flooded, fate had me where I'm more useful, instead: helping out a group of amazing volunteer scientists from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, coming from a range of fields, set up a scientific geospatial database, along with visuals, to inform the general population and support the local government's response. We provided the first numbers on affected homes and the extent of the flooded area in record time by processing satellite imagery from the European Space Agency - ESA and joining it with publicly available demographic geospatial data. You can check that database in the Esri StoryMap: https://shorturl.at/FHUWZ The map below, fruit of that work, shows the extent of the flooded area in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region, superposed to the Parisian agglomeration for comparison. Read more about it here: https://lnkd.in/dsJU96bY If you'd like to make a donation to help the families affected, see here: https://lnkd.in/dukbKpM4

Interesting outline of the conditions which enable rapid intensification of hurricane strength. Hurricane Idalia, for instance, grew from a tropical storm to a CAT 4 in less than 24 hours, and took less than 12 hours to transform from a CAT 1 to CAT 3. Hurricanes Ian and Ida followed a similar pattern in recent years. Should sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic and Gulf remain elevated (this was the basis for NOAA's revised outlook for an above-normal hurricane season this year), this phenomenon of rapid intensification may occur more regularly. Sucker punch: Here’s why Hurricane Idalia intensified so quickly (orlandosentinel.com)

🔥 The forest fire that sweeps through northeastern Greece in #Evros, started on August 19th, and after nine days of continuous burning, has ravaged an expanse of land covering more than 80,000 hectares of land, as reported by the #Copernicus Emergency Management Service of the European Commission. 🔥 One year ago, the area faced another massive forest fire in the eastern part of the front, destroying over 4,000 hectares of forest at the #Dadia #NationalPark in Evros, a #Natura2000 site. 🌍 The following #timelapse shows the devastated areas of these two large forest fires using Copernicus #Sentinel2 satellite imagery. 🔗 Read our latest blog article for more info: https://lnkd.in/dfm4TQDy

ICYMI: The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) cubesat constellation is ready for the Atlantic hurricane season. For the first time, scientists will have high-revisit-rate microwave observations of tropical cyclones, helping to provide more accurate data on storms to help save lives. https://ow.ly/OViV50PyPLF

U.N. report warns of 6 possible tipping points that could “spell disaster for humanity:” Accelerating extinctions, Groundwater depletions, Mountain glaciers melting, Space debris, Unbearable heat and an Uninsurable future. One quote: “520,940. That’s how many homes in Australia alone the researchers predict will be uninsurable by 2030. This is largely due to increasing flood risk.” #insurance #underwriting #insuranceindustry #reinsurance

🌌 Space Wednesday and Map of Poland - 2050 🇵🇱 Space and satellite imagery play an important role in our everyday lives. There are even chances that you're reading this text thanks to space technology 😉🛰️ For me, however, the most important aspect is their significant role in preserving nature (once an environmental protection student, always a nature lover 🌱♥️). Here's a prime example of using satellite data for environmental purposes (but not only!). Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Clark Labs at Clark University and Esri an interactive map has been developed based on decades of satellite observation data from the European Space Agency - ESA Space Agency - ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI). As a result, an interactive map of our world's landscape by the year 2050 has been created! 🤓 Using a simple slider, you can compare landscapes from today to projections for 2050. Some cities of Poland will be gone forever underwater, while some green woods will turn into agricultural land. Just explore on your own! 🌊🌳 🗺️The map is available here: https://lnkd.in/d7Uh9xwY And here is a brief explanation of the colors used in it: 🎨 Pink for farmlands, 💛 Yellow for grassy areas, 🌳 Light green for leafy forests, 🌲 Dark green for evergreens, ⛰️ Gray-white for sparse vegetation, 🏜️ Beige for barren lands, 💧 Mint green for flood-prone zones, 🎈And red for bustling cities. ____________ ❗️If this post has sparked your curiosity, please give me a sign (👍🏻). For more posts, hit the follow button and ring 🔔 to see them more often. You can also follow hashtag #spacewednesday, where you’ll find all my Space Wednesday posts. Hope to see you next Wednesday! ✨ #spacewednesday #esrilandcover #space #spaceindustry

Did you know that the Disasters team at NASA Goddard jumps into action to provide data, analysis, mapping, etc. after all sorts of disasters? This data helps in rescue efforts, aid efforts, recovery efforts, and more. Huge kudos to our very talented Disasters Applications Coordinator, Rachel Brooke Soobitsky, who mapped almost 4,000 landslides in Brazil caused by the recent flooding. Rachel’s work helps folks in every corner of the world, and we are so proud to have her on our HBG team! Check out this article featuring Rachel’s landslide mapping efforts: https://lnkd.in/evv75RgA