Earth observation highlighted at UN biological diversity conference



 
Tracks of hammerhead sharks overlaid on sea-surface temperature. Using Earth observation data, derived from ESA's Medispiration and GlobColour projects along with shark-tracking data allows the animals movements to be compared to conditions in the ocean.

COP9 meeting
 
The ninth meeting of the UN's Convention of Biological Diversity Conference of Parties (COP) was held in Bonn, Germany from 19-30 May 2008 and was attended by almost 7000 participants from 191 countries.

ESA side event
 
Olivier Arino (ESA) and Gerald Braun (DLR) at the side event hosted by ESA at COP9. Speakers from various UN agencies highlighted the overarching role that Earth observation (EO) satellites play in providing vital information to implement and assess the progress of several UN treaties related to biodiversity.

Earth’s land cover
 
A global portrait taken from space detailing Earth’s land cover with a resolution 10 times sharper than any of its predecessors. The map is based on 20 Terabytes of imagery – equivalent to the content of 20 million books – acquired from May 2005 to April 2006 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument. There are 22 different land cover types shown in the map, including croplands, wetlands, forests, artificial surfaces, water bodies and permanent snow and ice.

Hammerhead shark
 
Hammerhead shark equipped with pop-up tag for tracking migration habits. Using Earth observation data, derived from ESA's Medispiration and GlobColour projects along with shark-tracking data allows the animals movements to be compared to conditions in the ocean.



Release date: 3 December 2009