Space blog - Entries tagged as uk-dmc2

UK-DMC2 satellite captures Oregon wildfires

Wednesday, September 7. 2011

This week DMCii has acquired satellite images of the Dollar Lake Fire in Oregon, USA showing the devastation caused by the current wildfires. According to officials, the fire is burning across 4,378 acres. There are now concerns that that strong winds and high temperatures may fuel the fire that is running close to Bull Run watershed, which is the main source of drinking water for people in Portland and many of its suburbs.

Dollar Lake Fire, Oregon. UK-DMC2 Image © DMCii, 2011. All rights reserved.
Click to view larger image.

The fire started on the Labor Day holiday, September 5, 2011 at 5:06 p.m and is believed to have been caused by lightning. Emergency services are fighting to contain the fire with some nine helicopters and twenty four fire engines.

This satellite image is shown for illustrative purposes only. For news updates you may wish to visit on the Oregon Live website. There are updates on the Dollar Lake Fires at the Northwest Inter-agency Coordination Center.

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in Remote sensing at 16:21 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: disaster

, dmcii

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Satellite images aid Colombian flood relief

Friday, December 10. 2010

Heavy rains have caused major rivers in the Sucre/San Marcos region in Colombia to burst their banks, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless. DMCii was activated via the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters to acquire images of the area giving rescue workers and officials a better estimate of the full impact of the flooding.

Images from 29 October 2010, revealing the full impact of the flooding. UK-DMC2 Image © DMCii, 2010. All rights reserved

The image above was provided to Augustin Codazzi Geographic Institute (IGAC) which coordinates Earth observation imagery with Colombian organisations involved in disaster response such as IDEAM, COCLCIENCIAS.

The extreme weather further caused a hillside to collapse near the Colombian city of Medellin and according to BBC reports yesterday, 24 bodies were recovered with more than 100 people missing and feared dead. Several hundred people, including Red Cross rescue workers, soldiers and police, are digging through the deep mud in an effort to find survivors. More than 20 sniffer dogs have also been brought in.

View Larger Map The area seen from Google maps

The extreme weather is attributed to the La Nina climatic phenomenon, which is caused by water currents that are colder than usual along the Pacific coast. According to the Washington Post, Colombia's government says 1.6 million people have either lost their homes or had homes suffer partial damage. About 70 percent to 80 percent live in inundated flood plains and have not abandoned them "because they don't want to leave their homes and belongings for fear of losing everything," Luz Amanda Pulido, Colombia's national disaster management office, said.

DMCii regularly responds to disasters throughout the world, providing up to date imagery to help authorities and relief agencies to plan disaster relief efforts.

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in In the news at 14:40 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: colombia

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, flooding

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Gulf of Mexico oil slick captured by satellite

Thursday, June 3. 2010

SSTL’s satellite imaging subsidiary DMCii has used its UK-DMC2 satellite to monitor the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

Satellite imagery is being supplied to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), and the US Geological Survey (USGS) following an activation of the International Charter : Space and Major Disasters.

UK-DMC2 Image (C) DMCii, 2010.

UK-DMC2 and its five siblings in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) of satellites are able to provide daily imaging of the oil slick if required, detecting changes in the spill and tracking changes in direction. Current reports indicate that the oil click is moving towards the Florida coastline, having already reached land and affected Louisiana fisheries.

The DMC satellites use specially designed SSTL imaging payloads to image the Earth at resolutions between 4m and 32m across an ultra-wide 600km-plus swath (width).

Continue reading "Gulf of Mexico oil slick captured by satellite"

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in In the news at 15:37 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: disaster

, dmcii

, gulf of mexico

, oil spill

, satellite imaging

, uk-dmc2

New DMC satellites deliver stunning images

Thursday, August 20. 2009

It's a busy time for both SSTL and DMCii as the new DMC satellites UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1, which were launched on the 29th July are commissioned and their imaging systems thoroughly tested and calibrated.

Just a week after launch, DMCii had already begun acquiring stunning satellite imagery from both satellites using the new 22m multi-spectral imaging payloads that they carry onboard. This would not have been possible without the new 22m multi-spectral imager that was developed by SSTL's Optical Payloads Group (OPG) in Sevenoaks, Kent. In a addition to the more obvious resolution increase it has over the previous 32m DMC imager, it includes a number of technological advances that improve the quality and calibration of the images DMCii receives.

First UK-DMC2 satellite image

This first image shows the states of Texas and Oklahoma, USA. The DMC satellites are specifically designed to image very large areas with rapid response and at regular intervals, as shown in this first multi-state image. The new satellites can image much larger areas in a single pass than the previous DMC satellites due to advances in onboard storage and high speed satellite downlinks to the Earth.