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DATA ACQUISITION / FREE SATELLITE IMAGES

At the World Parks Congress in Durban, Gary N. Geller, Ph.D., SDSIO Contract Technical Manager of the ASTER Science Project with NASA informed the delegates that very low cost satellite images are available for downloading. On our request he prepared an overview of sites and links so that you may have easily accessible imagery that can serve for many conservation management purposes.  

A very large volume of low costs is available; the links below will help you find it.
Also...here is an update on the three Landsat datasets that NASA is in the process of releasing. There is one each from the '70s, 1990, and 2000. These satellite cover virtually the entire earth, are available at no cost, are as cloud-free as possible, and are orthorectified (geometrically excellent). These are/will be available at the first two websites (the first one may apply a nominal handling charge). A large number of scenes are available now and others are forthcoming. The release of this huge volume of free very high quality data at no cost is truly a fantastic thing.
Lastly, with so many free data, and with some fairly friendly search tools now available to help find it, the limiting factor for many conservation people now seems to be in actually viewing and using these satellite images. Special formats and sophisticated and expensive tools can make this difficult. We are hoping to try to fix that, and the ASTER Protected Area Archive should be a good start once it becomes available. APAA will allow users with no experience in remote sensing to view ASTER (and hopefully other) images and perform some basic functions. For more information on APAA or to download a demonstration go to http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/APAA/default.htm

Some Options for Obtaining low-cost or free Satellite images:
1. http://lpdaac.usgs.gov <http://lpdaac.usgs.gov/> An archive that includes ASTER and Landsat data (and MODIS--see below). ASTER is available at US$60 per scene, or at no cost, depending on the type of product you order (all "higher-level" products are free and this should work well for most people, especially the Surface Radiance product--see the Custom ASTER Data link). 

Landsat satellite images is about US$600 per scene.
Recommend you use the "GloVis tool" (also called the Browse Viewer) for locating the scenes of interest as it is much friendlier than the alternative.
The steps are:
a) Find the scenes of interest using GloVis (Browse Viewer). Be sure to select ASTER or Landsat as appropriate b) Order them--follow instructions
c) For ftp orders...wait for the order to be filled (usually within 24 hours...note this option requires a very fast network connection)
d) Download the data or wait until they come in the mail
2. http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml 

The Global Land Cover Facility, University of Maryland. Provides free and low cost satellite images (and also other products, including MODIS)
3. http://www.bsrsi.msu.edu/trfic/

Tropical Rain Forest Information Center, University of Michigan. Low cost and free Landsat satellite images, including very recent scenes. Focus is on tropical areas but some others are included. Some radar data are also available. (US$25-50)

A lower-spatial-resolution alternative (250 m pixels, compared to 15 or 30 for ASTER and Landsat) would be MODIS satellite images, available at the first two websites for free.

When comparing costs between ASTER  and Landsat, one must take in consideration that Aster cover 60 X 60 km, while Landsat covers an area of 180 X 180 km, which is 9 time larger. As a result, the difference in price per area covered is rather small. 

MODIS goes back to 2000. A strong point for MODIS is its frequent repeat coverage--it now covers the entire earth every day (which is pretty incredible). MODIS also has special support for monitoring fires--and can send you an email if a fire is detected in your area of interest.

Finally, for those of you with lots of time on your hands, and a good Internet connection...if you are looking for a nice portal to many useful remote sensing sites, you might try this one:
http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/monitor/lulc_rs.htm

Gary continues to be a great supporter of protected areas and has worked hard at facilitating what he called the Protected Area Archive. Its purpose is to make recent and historical satellite images available at no charge in a simple "jpg" format. A user-friendly software tool to view and work with these images as well as with overlays such as park boundaries and vegetation maps is also provided. This often is needed for quick consults of materials. The news is that this system is now called TerraLook. It is fully operational and available for use. Images in "jpg" format and "TerraLook Viewer" can be downloaded from http://www.terralook.cr.usgs.gov. This material is also great for high schools and all students making their first exploring steps into the fascinating world of maps and satellite images. We feel that every field biologist and protected areas manager should have the "TerraLook Viewer" on his/her computer, along of course with the free open source user-friendly raster and vector GIS software "ILWIS", which is available from the Nature Worldwide Website http://www.ilwis.org 

Other important sites to visit:

http://glovis.usgs.gov/  

http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov 

http://edc.usgs.gov/

http://edc.usgs.gov/products/satellite.html 

 

Thanks Dr. Gary N. Geller for helping us all with access to completely free and low cost satellite images and other tools and sources for data acquisition DO NOT CLICK HEREDO NOT CLICK HEREDO NOT CLICK HERE

WHAT'S NEW

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March

The data on protected areas have been re-loaded
Updated review of essential and free software
US Government kills Yellowstone National Park bisons or buffaloes

February

"Slaughtering of Seals in Namibia": Take a look at a long ignored nature management issue

Updated info on free satellite images as well as a great new viewer tool on gis4biologists

December

Updated text for ILWIS

November

Important updates for the birds for all the provinces of Canada
New bird list for Canada
New bird lists for North America and the USA
 

This broadband speed test has been created by AuditMyPC

 

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NATURE WORLDWIDE es la página Web oficial del World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE, Es una red de páginas Web tratando de temas diferentes relacionados a la naturaleza, la conservación el manejo de recursos naturales, parques nacionales y áreas protegidas. Nuestra Methodology explica como produjimos la información. Nuestro Site Map le ayuda encontrar su información en nuestra página web. Usted desea un enlace a su  página Web? Mandenos un correo. También nos gusta tener un enlace de nuestra página en la suya. Así fortalecemos nuestras páginas mutualmente en Google. Disfrute!

NATURE WORLDWIDE é o Web site oficial do World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE, Es uma red de páginas Web tratando de temas diferentes relacionados à natureza, la conservação el manejo de recursos naturaleiss, parques nacionais y áreas protegidas. Nossa Methodology explica como produjimos a informação. Nosso Site Map le ayuda encontrar sua informação no web site. Você desea um link a seu website? Mandenos um correo. Também gostamos ter um link de nosso site na sua. Assím fortalecemos nossos sites mutualmente em Google. Desfrute!

NATURE WORLDWIDE ist, die offiziellen Website der World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE. Es ist ein einheitliches Netzwerk von Web Sites, über Themen wie Natur, Natur-Schutz und natürlichem Ressourcen Quellen Hege. Unsere Methodology erklärt, wie wir unsere Informationen produziert würde. Unsere Site Map  hilft Ihnen Ihren Weg im website zu finden. Wünschen Sie Ihr Glied auf unserem Website? Schicken Sie uns ein Mail. Wir lieben auch ein Glied zu unseren Website, auf Ihrem Site. Dieser Weg, wirden wir unseren Websites beide in Google stärken.  Viel Spaß!

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