| Electronic Newsletter |
September-October 2004 |
1. Status: International Charter on Space and Major Disasters
On October 19, 2000, the Canadian Space Agency signed the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, which was initiated by the European and French space agencies (ESA and CNES). The Charter provides a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those in need when natural or man-made disasters strike. Later on, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Indian Space Research Organization, as well as the Argentine Space Agency also became members of the Charter.
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Sudan/Darfur - Al Junaynah city and Wadi flood map.
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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is the next agency to become a member of the Charter; their request to join has been accepted, and operational integration will start soon. United Nations agencies can request Charter activation through United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, which is now a Charter Cooperating Body.
As of September of 2004, the Charter has been activated a total of 60 times since it became operational on November 1, 2000. Fifteen organizations have initiated calls; they are from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States, as well as the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and European Union Civil Protection Unit.
Disasters covered by the Charter include floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, oil spills, forest fires, storms and hurricanes. For more information, please contact:
Christine Giguère
Project Manager
International Charter on Space and Major Disasters
Canadian Space Agency
Tel.: (450) 926-6559
E-mail: christine.giguere@space.gc.ca
or
Ahmed Mahmood
Executive Secretariat
International Charter on Space and Major Disasters
Canadian Space Agency
Tel.: (450) 926-4432
E-mail: ahmed.mahmood@space.gc.ca
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2. Studying the Aral Sea with RADARSAT
The Aral Sea in Central Asia was once the fourth-largest inland body of water in the world. Since the 1960s, evaporation and extensive irrigation schemes along inflowing rivers have caused rapid water loss from this inland sea. At one time, it covered 66,000 square km, but currently the sea is only about 20% of this size. With this dramatic decrease in size of the Aral Sea, there's been an increase in the salinity of the water. This has caused many ecological problems that affect the health and welfare of people living in the area.
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Aral Sea monitoring.
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International concern over the effects of the desiccation of the Aral Sea has lead to numerous studies of the area. CSA acquired a RADARSAT image in February 2004. CSA also supplied an archived RADARSAT image, acquired in July 1997. Dendron Resource Surveys Inc., a value-added reseller pre-qualified in the standing offer for disaster management information products and services, provided image processing and mapping services. Dendron used these images along with additional data to map the water level changes of the Aral Sea between 1960 and 2004.
For more information, please contact:
Carol Hopkins
Project Manager
Dendron Resource Surveys Inc.
Tel.: (613) 725-2971
E-mail: carol@dendron.com
Christine Giguère
EOADP Project Officer
Canadian Space Agency
Tel.: (450) 926-6559
E-mail: christine.giguere@space.gc.ca
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3. Next-Generation Technologies Club: Leadership, Innovations, and Outreach for Students
Created by students in Quebec and now bringing together dozens of Canadian and foreign universities (Strasbourg, Phnom Penh, Hanoi, and others), the Next-Generation Technologies Club/Club de la Prochaine Génération de Technologies (NGTC/CPGT) was selected in August 2004 as a finalist in the 2004 edition of the Gala Forces AVENIR. They were selected in the “Project – Science and Technology Applications” category.
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Photo (from left to right): Benoît Ricard, Guy Aube, Claude Marcoux (Vice-President of CGI) and Nicolas Gignac.
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The annual gala, which was created to recognize, honour and promote the commitment by young people to projects that increase our knowledge, presented the awards in Sherbrooke on October 6. The students were awarded first place in their category abd received $4,000 form the President of CGI. According to a recent article featured in La Presse, the CPGT/NGTC represents "a new launch pad for tomorrow's leaders in Earth Observation and geomatics".
To earn the citation of excellence, the NGTC/CPGT received support from the Association québécoise de télédétection (AQT), CSA, and the Canada Research Chair in Earth Observation. The NGTC/CPGT's President (Guy Aubé -- CARTEL, University of Sherbrooke) and its Vice-President (Nicolas Gignac -- INRS-ETE) were interviewed by RDI and Radio-Canada after receiving the award. Mr. Jean-Marc Chouinard, Manager of the Canadian Space Agency Commercialization Office added that "the NGTC is an outstanding example of the students' initiative and commitment which is both refreshing and reassuring. This is also indicative of the frame of mind of a new scientific generation geared towards innovation" (La Presse, Le Soleil, Le Droit, La Tribune, October 9, 2004). During the 2005 Winter, the NGTC will invest the sum awarded to the Club in a first geomatics and Earth observation micro-project in a developing country.
Contacts:
Guy Aubé, President
guyaube@yahoo.com
Nicolas Gignac, Vice-President
nicolas_gignac@inrs-ete.uquebec.ca
Website:
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4. Polarimetry Workshops in Preparation for RADARSAT- 2
Following the success of the polarimetry workshops held in Montréal and Saskatoon, CSA, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing of Natural Resources of Canada and RADARSAT International are pleased to announce that the next workshop will be held in Vancouver, November 9 to 10, 2004.
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The Canadian RADARSAT-2 satellite.
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These workshops are designed for beginner-level use of polarimetric, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image analysis techniques. The presentations will cover simplified theory of SAR and polarimetry and polarimetric tools. A series of exercises have been prepared to familiarize you with SAR images and polarimetric tools. The SOAR data access program for RADARSAT-2 will also be presented.
Registration
Registration is $100. You will receive a CD that will include lecture notes, image data, and the SARP3 freeware. Because of the interactive nature of the workshop, places are limited. Registrants will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Please send your registration and any questions to Polarimetry.Workshops@space.gc.ca no later than October 22, 2004. Confirmation will be sent by e-mail.
Note: This polarimetry workshop will be presented in English only.
Contact person
Mahmod R. Sahebi
Commercialization Office
Space Technologies
Canadian Space Agency
6767 Route de l'Aéroport
Saint-Hubert, QC J3Y 8Y9
Tel:(450) 926-6557
Fax:(450) 926-4449
E-mail: Polarimetry.Workshops@space.gc.ca
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5. Papers for Marine and Coastal Environment Remote Sensing Conference
The Altarum Institute (formerly ERIM), in collaboration with the Alliance for Marine Remote Sensing, requests papers for the 8th International Conference on Remote Sensing for Marine and Coastal Environments. The symposium is scheduled for May 17 to 19, 2005 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The objective of the symposium is to bring together internationally recognized technologists and end-to-end users from government, industry, and academia to bridge the research gap between marine and coastal operations. In addition to operations, the symposium will also address the issue of an effective integrated response (models, monitoring and measuring, predictions, decision support systems, and assessments) to coastal and marine policy requirements.
The conference will focus on integration of remote sensing and in situ data, local and regional models, and non-spatial data for marine and freshwater coastal assessments and resource management.
You are invited to contribute a paper for an interactive or oral poster presentation and for publication in the conference proceedings. Submit a 250-word summary by November 1, 2004. For information, see
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6. Simulating RADARSAT-2 imagery
The Canadian Space Agency, in collaboration with the Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada as well as National Defence, took part in a major deployment of the Convair 580 aircraft over Canada's west coast. This aircraft is equipped with synthetic aperture radar, which can simulate images captured by the soon-to-be-launched RADARSAT-2 satellite.
In all, more than 20 flight lines will be acquired between Ottawa and Vancouver, covering applications from geology to ship detection. A dozen companies and some departments are involved to take ground truth measurements during the campaign between September 18 and October 1.
For more information, contact:
Daniel De Lisle
Commercialization Office
Canadian Space Agency
Tel: (450) 926-6611
E-mail: daniel.delisle@space.gc.ca
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7. Register for the TIGER Workshop in Pretoria
If you are interested in attending the TIGER workshop November 8 to 10, register at ; the application form is under the "Participation" menu. You obtain a copy of the form by e-mail, if that is more convenient from the organizers.
Registrants will receive a letter of invitation to help them obtain a visa for South Africa.
There is no charge for participation in the workshop, and in principle, all organizations involved in water resource management in Africa are welcome. However, the total number of participants is limited to 150. Thus, if too many people register—which is unlikely—our prime target group will be water resource managers and decision makers in Africa.
There will also be an awareness and training day for people not used to using remote sensing techniques. This will take place after the workshop on Thursday, November 11.
For more information please visit or contact the organizers at the ESA Conference Bureau at esa.conference.bureau@esa.int
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