Topic 4f Part 1: The Changing Role of Satellite and In-Situ data

Topic 4f Part 1: The Changing Role of Satellite and In-Situ data

In this audio lecture, David Vaughan discusses the changing roles of satellite and in-situ data. He reflections on how EO technology has changed during the time that he has spent researching the cryosphere.

Earth observation technology is constantly being developed and there are various new satellite missions coming in the near future.

Sentinel-6 was launched on the 21st November 2020 and it will measure sea-level rise and ice thickness. Its design is based on CryoSat-2.

The latest NASA Landsat satellite (Landsat-9) launched on 27 September 2021.

Featured Educator:

  • Professor David Vaughan


An in depth Audio lecture with Dr Anna Maria Trofaier on Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) imagery:

LANDSAT 8

Course topics

The core videos of this course are labelled as topic videos.

We have also provided a range of optional further reading, links, and additional resources to help consolidate your learning. Here is a summary of what is available:

Topic links and resources

In each topic, once you have watched the video and read the accompanying text, you will find the following information:

  • Optional Further Reading: These are external links to further reading.
  • Featured Images and Animations: Below the text on each video page, you’ll find the featured images and featured animations.
  • Interactives: On the 'Interactives' tab on relevent topic pages, you will find a satellite tracking application showing the current location of the satellites, a data viewer from the ESA WEkEO platform, as well as a data viewer, specially created for this course, allowing you to  explore a selection of data relevant to the themes and topics in this course. (Please note that due to maintenance, the data viewer is currently unavailable).

Quizzes and comments

  • Quizzes: At the end of each week there will be a quizz consisting of around five questions. These will help you consolidate your understanding of new topics, but are not scored. The feedback given with each answer also will also provide you with important information.

Weekly interactive exercises

At the end of each week, we have included a guided exercise, using interactive apps available on other websites, to help you become more familiar with looking at and working with EO datasets. You will be guided through the process of searching for, comparing and drawing conclusions from data relevant to some of the topics covered in that week.

An in depth Audio lecture with Dr Anna Maria Trofaier on Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) imagery:
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