USGS Monitors Climate Impact on Colorado Forests
Brandenburg / Havel, Germany, November 10, 2009 – RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that they have penned a contract with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to image a substantial portion of the state of Colorado.
“USGS will be replicating a study that was done in 2008 to better understand how climate changes are impacting the conifer forest conditions in Colorado, and we are excited that our higher resolution imagery and unique Red Edge band have been chosen, which should give them improved results,” commented Joerg Widmer, Sales Team Member of RapidEye.
The contract stipulates that over 130,000 km² (about 50,200 mi²) of imagery collected from June through August 2009 over the state of Colorado will be delivered to the USGS this month. The imagery will be used to support the 2009 Colorado Forest Heath Assessment project, which is being led by the USGS and the Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center (RMGSC). Additionally, the contract is open for the same time frame in 2010.
RapidEye’s remote sensing based solutions for the forest industry range from supporting carbon credit trading to customized alert services. Drawing on the experience of their forestry experts, RapidEye has developed a series of products and services specifically designed to meet the information requirements of individual foresters, private and governmental forest managers, and international institutions.
More about RapidEye’s Forest Industry solutions can be found by visiting their website at www.rapideye.de/home/solutions/forestry/index.html, or by sending an inquiry via email to sales@rapideye.de.
About USGS
As the Nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collects, monitors, analyzes, and provides scientific understanding about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems. The diversity of their scientific expertise enables them to carry out large-scale, multi-disciplinary investigations and provide impartial scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers. The USGS serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect quality of life. USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov. Subscribe to USGS News Releases via their electronic mailing list or RSS feed.
About RapidEye
RapidEye is an ISO-certified geospatial information provider focused on integrating customized and industry specific solutions into the workflow of global customers in agriculture, forestry, energy, infrastructure, government, security and emergency. RapidEye experts and the satellite system – a constellation of five satellites capable of imaging and downloading over 4 million km² of high resolution, multi-spectral imagery per day, and a ground segment for processing and archiving data – allow for cost-effective customized services. The unique combination of large area coverage, high spatial resolution and the possibility of daily revisit to an area provide for superior management information solutions. Currently, more than 110 experts from more than 20 countries are employed by RapidEye, with plans to grow the team to 140 by late 2009. RapidEye benefits from a public-private partnership with the Space Agency of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. RapidEye is also cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). For more information on ERDF please contact efreinfo@mw.brandenburg.de. RapidEye is a “Selected Landmark in the Land of Ideas” and therefore part of the event series “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”. This program is run by the initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas” and Deutsche Bank. Being a “Selected Landmark” RapidEye will stand for Germany being a “Land of ideas” in 2009 and will demonstrate Germany’s spirit of innovation. The initiative is under the patronage of Germany’s federal president Horst Köhler. www.land-of-ideas.org. For more information about RapidEye, please visit www.rapideye.de.