Image source: ESA
KEY TECHNOLOGIES
We consider research as a fundamental activity that allows us to offer cutting-edge solutions. We are actively involved in research projects and our team develops new algorithms in data science, efficient, automated services and modern information products that supports positive environmental change.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Although RSS is a commercial enterprise, research and innovation is a fundamental part of our work. Satellite technology is evolving rapidly and continuously offers new monitoring capabilities. Through our research activities in cooperation with leading research institutions, we are able to offer innovative mapping and monitoring solutions. We have published more than 150 research papers in renowned scientific journals and led numerous studies concerning the latest satellite instruments.
Featured research projects
RESEARCH TOPICS
ALL RESEARCH
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
January 10, 2020
New, spatially transferable method to map drought using remote sensing
A new study published in collaboration with ICIPE this May looks at the effect of agro-ecological landscape fragmentation and its effect on honey bee habitats in Eastern Kenya.read moreResearch
September 22, 2019
Evaluating the impacts of Payment for Ecosystem Services interventions
The IMPACTED project aims to understand how agro-forestry systems capture carbon stocks. Project related agro-forestry sites were established as part of a Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) project incentive scheme in the Sofala Province in Mozambique. PES is an asset-building landscape conservation and climate mitigation strategy that is being increasingly seen as a viable land use option in rural Africa.read moreResearch
May 6, 2019
Earth Observation can support public health
Climate change has emerged as a major risk factor for global public health acting on its own or modifying the effect of the wide array of the well-studied immediate and intermediate determinants of health. A DFG-funded Research Unit in Public Health studies how weather variability influences three major climate-sensitive health outcomes: (i) childhood undernutrition, (ii) malaria and (iii) heat stress.read moreResearch
June 6, 2018
GlobeDrought – large-scale identification of drought hazard, vulnerability and risk
Drought events pose a threat to crop productivity, can cause socioeconomic impacts such as decreased farmer income, and may even result in the need for international food aid. GlobeDrought combines spatially explicit, historical information on drought hazard, exposure and vulnerability from meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socioeconomic sources to provide reliable and comprehensive information on drought risk at a global level.read moreResearch
April 25, 2018
Burned area mapping using Sentinel-1 SAR time series
The ESA Fire CCI project focuses on the development of long time series of burned area constructed from multi sensor satellite data. It is part of the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) of the European Space Agency (ESA). As a project partner, RSS produced the first spatial estimates of burned area for the fire prone year 2015 using on high-resolution Sentinel-1 SAR imagery.read moreResearch
April 12, 2018
Monitoring of tropical Wetlands using Copernicus satellite data
Demo-Wetlands is a research project, designed to explicitly address the need of international conventions for standardized methods of wetland monitoring by satellite remote sensing. As these fragile ecosystems are facing increasing pressure through global warming, pollution, overuse and land use change, up to date information on the state of global wetlands are key to support their protection.read moreResearch
March 12, 2018
Using InSAR to determine above-ground biomass in tropical forests
The international research project Pol-InSAR4AGB focused on the development of algorithms and the creation of process chains for the integrative use of multi-sensor X- and C-band SAR data using Pol-InSAR techniques for the determination of forest height and above-ground biomass in tropical forests.read moreResearch
February 15, 2018
Mapping global forest biomass using satellite imagery
Biomass is a fundamental biophysical variable that quantifies the Earth’s living vegetation. It has profound social and economic importance as a source of materials and energy, and its state, dynamics and resilience have impacts on the whole Earth system. The main purpose of the GlobBiomass project was to better characterize and to reduce uncertainties of above ground biomass estimates.read moreResearch
February 3, 2018
Indonesian Peat Prize competition – a new method to map tropical peatlands
We are very pleased to announce that RSS, as lead of the International Peat Mapping Team, won the 1 Million USD Indonesian Peat Prize challenge! The competition aimed to find a new, more accurate and efficient way of mapping tropical peatland extent and thickness.read more
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