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Society for Conservation GIS WebinarsUpcoming Webinars:Advancing Conservation and Community Resilience with Thermal and Hyperspectral Remote Sensing: Applications from NASA’s ECOSTRESS and EMIT Missions (PART 1) - Nov 5, 2025 4:00 - 5:00 PM EasternRegister here!Advances in thermal infrared radiometry and hyperspectral imaging are revolutionizing how we observe and understand Earth’s environmental systems. These technologies provide detailed data on land surface temperatures, vegetation health, plant functional traits and phenology, water quality, and other critical indicators for tracking ecosystem change and climate impact. In this two-part webinar series, we highlight real-world applications using data from two NASA instruments aboard the International Space Station: 1) Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) and 2) Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT). Part 1 will explore the use of ECOSTRESS data for monitoring coral reefs in Belize and assessing drought resilience in Arizona, USA. It will also highlight key takeaways from a new NASA-funded project that is helping college and university students and teachers learn how to work with and communicate discoveries from data acquired from the ECOSTRESS mission. Speaker line-up: 1- Dr. Ileana Galdamez, Biola University: Improving Coral Reef Monitoring and Risk Assessment using High Resolution Thermal Data from ECOSTRESS Coral reefs are vital marine ecosystems that support biodiversity, fisheries, and coastal protection. However, they are increasingly threatened by rising ocean temperatures, with the most recent global bleaching event occurring in 2023–2024. This study examined the relationship between observed coral bleaching events using in-situ data from Belize and NOAA’s satellite-based thermal stress alert data (Coral Reef Watch; CRW). While the CRW alerts generally correlated with bleaching severity, their coarse 5-km resolution limited the detection of localized temperature extremes. By incorporating high-resolution ECOSTRESS Land Surface Temperature (LST) data, we detected finer-scale temperature anomalies and microclimates—particularly during the 2023 Belize heatwave—that were not captured by CRW. Our results underscore the importance of high-resolution thermal imagery for improving coral reef monitoring, risk assessment, and management in a warming climate. Dr. Ileana Galdamez is an Assistant Professor at Biola University and a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the Water & Ecosystems group. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from UCLA. Prior to joining JPL, she taught biology courses at Biola University and Mount Saint Mary’s University. She collaborates with institutions such as the Belize Coastal Zone Management Authority & Institute and the Belize Wildlife Conservation Society to use satellite remote sensing for coastal water quality monitoring. 2- Dr. Temuulen Tsagaan Sankey, Northern Arizona University: ECOSTRESS Data Reveal how Semi-Arid Forest Restoration Enhances Drought Resilience Semi-arid forests across the western United States are experiencing severe drought and wildfires. Forest thinning is increasingly used as a forest restoration and management strategy used to improve ecosystem health and reduce further wildfire risk. This study analyzes ECOSTRESS-derived land surface temperature (LST) and evapotranspiration (ET) data in a semi-arid forest affected by both severe regional drought and forest thinning. ECOSTRESS data revealed significant impacts on both LST and ET from forest thinning practices, drought, and their combination. First, thinned forests were hotter than non-thinned forests. Second, thinned forests had lower rates of evapotranspiration, leading to greater soil moisture availability for plants, making thinned forests more resilient to drought. The presentation highlights the potential for ECOSTRESS LST and ET data to examine impacts of regional drought and of forest management strategies across large spatial extents in semi-arid ponderosa pine forests. Dr. Sankey studies semi-arid and arid environments using remote sensing techniques. She uses spaceborne, airborne, and ground-based images as well as lidar data to quantify environmental changes associated with climate drivers and land management. In Arizona, Dr. Sankey and her lab group combine various remote sensing data sources with in situ measurements to examine the impacts of forest management efforts on the forest ecohydrological cycle and on ecosystem drought resilience. 3- Dr. Joshua Fisher, Chapman University: I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M.: Integrating Communication of ECOSTRESS into Community Research, Education, Applications, and Media How do we empower the next generation to use remote sensing data to engage in observing and diagnosing our planet? One of the most effective means of growing the impact of remote sensing data is to conduct and communicate research directly through education using emerging current events. Here, we describe a new class developed specifically to empower students to track climate disasters around the world within weeks, creating a sense of identity, inspiration, and aspiration with advanced pedagogical methods. The curriculum materials, which include a combination of science, engineering, art, and journalism, have been distributed worldwide and are now adopted by multiple universities and individual users. We focus on NASA’s ECOSTRESS thermal instrument on the International Space Station. Student work has been published widely throughout NASA and the scientific literature and has set the students up to obtain internships at NASA. Dr. Joshua B. Fisher is a Climate Scientist focusing on terrestrial ecosystems, water, carbon, and nutrient cycling using a combination of remote sensing, supercomputer models, and field campaigns from the Amazon to the Arctic, with applications in water and ecosystem management, food security, wildfire, and environmental justice. He completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees from UC Berkeley and his postdoctoral work from the University of Oxford. Dr. Fisher was a NASA Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for over a decade and the founding Science Lead for the ECOSTRESS mission on the International Space Station. Dr. Fisher is now the Science Lead for Hydrosat and Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at Chapman University. With over 250 publications, Dr. Fisher has been named one of the world’s “most influential” researchers for the past 7 years in a row. INTERESTED IN SHARING?We're always looking for new webinar speakers. If you're interested in sharing your work or technical expertise with SCGIS members in a webinar, please contact communications(at)scgis.org.
Applying geospatial technology in conservationThe Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) presented an SCGIS webinar series in partnership with the Society for Conservation GIS. We hosted webinars using geospatial technology for conservation. All webinars and recordings are public and free.
Stay tuned.... we are working to add the full Webinar archive soon!
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