GC007
Applications of Earth Observations for Addressing Environmental and Development Challenges in Africa

Session ID#: 80510

Session Description:
Recurring extreme events across Africa, in the form of droughts, fires, storms, and their associated floods and landslides, have fueled food insecurity, destroyed critical infrastructure, caused loss of human lives and suffering, and degraded environmental quality and services. Nevertheless, in a world of increasing scientific capabilities, such phenomena have both been observed by orbiting environmental satellites and simulated using a wide range of physical models. These have contributed to a growing body of data, tools, products, and services available to African decision-makers for addressing such challenges. In that context, the purpose of this session is to examine the impacts of recent Earth observation-related research efforts which help to address development challenges and promote societal benefit across the continent. Submissions are welcome from researchers and practitioners, focusing on how Earth observation data are and can be used to address environmental and development challenges in Africa.
Index Terms:

1616 Climate variability [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1632 Land cover change [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1640 Remote sensing [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1655 Water cycles [GLOBAL CHANGE]


Primary Convener:  Emily Caitlin Adams, University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA-SERVIR, Huntsville, AL, United States
Conveners:  Robinson M Mugo, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, Emil A. Cherrington, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Earth System Science Center, Huntsville, AL, United States and Bako Mamane, AGRHYMET Regional Center, Niamey, Niger
Primary Liaison:  Emily Caitlin Adams, University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA-SERVIR, Huntsville, AL, United States
 
Quantifying increased groundwater demand from prolonged drought in the East African Rift Valley (491718)
Evan Thomas1, Joseph A Needoba2, Doris Kaberia3, John Butterworth4, Emily Caitlin Adams5, Phoebe Oduor6, Denis Macharia7, Faith Mithieu8, Robinson M Mugo6 and Corey Nagel9, (1)Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Oregon Health & Science University, School of Public Health, Portland, OR, United States, (3)Chief of Party, Nairobi, Kenya, (4)IRC WASH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, (5)NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, United States, (6)Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (7)Regional Center for Mapping Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (8)Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (9)University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, United States
 
The promise of satellite nowcasting for storms over tropical Africa (492482)
Jennifer Kathleen Fletcher1, Alexander James Roberts2, James Groves3, Abdou Lahat Diop4, John H Marsham5, Alan M Blyth3, Douglas J Parker6 and Bernard Chanzu7, (1)National Centre for Atmospheric Science, Leeds, United Kingdom, (2)University of Leeds, School of Earth and Environment, Leeds, LS2, United Kingdom, (3)University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, (4)Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie, Dakar, Senegal, (5)University of Leeds, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, Leeds, United Kingdom, (6)School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, ICAS, Leeds, United Kingdom, (7)Kenya Meteorological Department, Nairobi, Kenya
 
Quantifying Forest Cover at Mount Kenya: Use of Sentinel-2 for a Discrimination of Tropical Tree Composites (498954)
Martin Kappas1, Jonas Fierke2 and Daniel Wyss2, (1)University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, (2)University of Goettingen, Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Goettingen, Germany
 
Navigating through Historical Data Gaps: Time-Series Analysis of Landsat for Annual Forest Degradation Monitoring in Data-Poor Tropical West Africa (506957)
Francis K. Dwomoh1, Michael C Wimberly1, Izaya Numata2 and Foster Kwame Mensah3, (1)University of Oklahoma, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, Norman, OK, United States, (2)South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, United States, (3)Center for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services (CERSGIS), University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
 
Mapping climate vulnerability hotspots: Turning data into decision-relevant information for sustainable development in East Africa (516139)
Grace Koech1, Denis Macharia2, Robinson M Mugo1, Anastasia Mumbi Wahome1 and Emily Caitlin Adams3, (1)Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (2)Regional Center for Mapping Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (3)NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, United States
 
Co-Designing an Environmental Observatory to Support Eco-Entrepreneurship in Benin (Invited) (516235)
Danielle Wood1, Fohla Mouftaou2, Temilola Fatoyinbo3, David Lagomasino4, Ufuoma Ovienmhada5, Eric Ashcroft6, Lelia Hampton5, Lisa Orii5, TojumiOluwa Adegboyega5, Anisha Nakagawa5 and Julliet Wanyiri5, (1)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States, (2)Green Keeper Africa, Cotonou, Benin, (3)NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)University of Maryland, Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD, United States, (5)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Space Enabled Research Group, Cambridge, United States, (6)Blue Raster LLC, Arlington, VA, United States
 
DEVELOPING A SATELLITE IMAGE-BASED MAPPING SERVICE FOR MONITORING ILLICIT ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE GOLD MINING IN GHANA (517391)
Foster Kwame Mensah1, Stella Ofori-Ampofo1, Mary Amponsah2, Emil A. Cherrington3 and Rebekke Muench4, (1)Center for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services (CERSGIS), University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana, (2)Center for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services (CERSGIS), , University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana, (3)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Earth System Science Center, Huntsville, AL, United States, (4)NASA DEVELOP National Program, Hampton, VA, United States
 
Drought Projection and Modeling Causal Feedbacks with Earth Observations in East Africa (518434)
Rachel Kayla Green1, Kelly K Caylor2, Chris C Funk3,4 and Dar A Roberts2, (1)University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, (2)University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Geography, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, (3)USGS, Sioux Falls, SD, United States, (4)UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
 
Enabling access and usage of earth observations in environmental decision making in Eastern and Southern Africa through capacity building (Invited) (520269)
Shraddhanand Shukla1, Denis Macharia2, Gregory J Husak1, Christopher Funk3, Martin Francis Landsfeld1, Michael Ngugi Kimani4, Patrick Kabatha5, Pete Peterson1 and Emily Caitlin Adams6, (1)University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, (2)Regional Center for Mapping Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (3)USGS, Baltimore, MD, United States, (4)Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (5)Regional Center for Mapping Resources of Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (6)NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, United States
 
The Effect of Global DEM Topographic Errors in Niger, West Africa (527857)
Rebekke Muench1, Emil A. Cherrington1, Robert Griffin2 and Bako Mamane3, (1)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Earth System Science Center, Huntsville, AL, United States, (2)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, United States, (3)AGRHYMET Regional Center, Niamey, Niger
 
Land use dynamics and landscape change pattern on the patch dry Afromontane forest hydrology of Northern Ethiopia (533008)
Belay Manjur Gebru, Sungeun Cha and Woo-Kyun Lee, Korea University, Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Seoul, South Korea
 
Development of Innovative Low-cost Atmospheric Observation Networks to Improve Monitoring in Data-sparse Regions (534101)
Paul A Kucera and Martin Steinson, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, COMET, Boulder, CO, United States
 
EARTH OBSERVATION BASED MONITORING OF PLANT BIOMASS BY THE CENTRE DE SUIVI ECOLOGIQUE IMPROVED WITHIN THE SERVIR PROJECT (534684)
Adama Sarr1, Julius Anchang2, Abdoul A Diouf3, Niall P Hanan4, Amadou Moctar Dieye3, Emil A. Cherrington5 and Rebekke Muench6, (1)Servir West Africa, Dakar, Senegal, (2)New Mexico State University Main Campus, Plant and Environment Sciences, Las Cruces, NM, United States, (3)Centre de Suivi Ecologique, Dakar, Senegal, (4)New Mexico State University, Plant and Environmental Sciences Department, Las Cruces, NM, United States, (5)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Earth System Science Center, Huntsville, AL, United States, (6)NASA DEVELOP National Program, Hampton, VA, United States
 
Mapping woody canopies using Sentinel-1 and Sentine-2 data in savannas (535892)
Wenmin Zhang, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China, Martin Brandt, University of Copenhagen, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, København K, Denmark and Rasmus Fensholt, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
 
Integrating multiple earth observation data for monitoring forest cover change in cloud-prone, Western Rwanda. (538839)
Bernadette Arakwiye, Clark University, Geography Department, Worcester, MA, United States, Ronald Eastman, Clark Labs, Worcester, MA, United States and John Rogan, Clark University, Graduate School of Geography, Worcester, MA, United States
 
USING EARTH OBSERVATION FOR LAND DEGRADATION ASSESSMENT & MONITORING IN THE IGAD REGION (541220)
David Ongo1, Eunice Wangui2, Stephen SANDE Ngondi1 and Lawrence Okello3, (1)Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya, (2)RCMRD, Nairobi, Kenya, (3)Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Developement, Nairobi, Kenya
 
P-Locust for a timely identification of areas at risk of Desert Locust swarming in the western region of Africa (544400)
Bako Mamane1, Idrissa Maiga2, Paul Bartel2, Emil A. Cherrington3 and Rebekke Muench4, (1)AGRHYMET Regional Center, Niamey, Niger, (2)Colleague, Niamey, Niger, (3)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Earth System Science Center, Huntsville, AL, United States, (4)Partner, Allabama, United States
 
Assessment of a spatially and temporally consistent MODIS derived NDVI product for application in index-based drought insurance (557202)
Sara Miller, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Middletown, OH, United States, Emily Caitlin Adams, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, United States, Kel Markert, Researcher, Huntsville, United States, Lilian W. Ndungu, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, SERVIR E&SA, Nairobi, Kenya, Walter Lee Ellenberg, Earth System Science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama, AL, United States, Vikalp Mishra, University of Alabama, Huntssville, Huntsville, AL, United States and Eric Anderson, University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA-SERVIR, Huntsville, AL, United States
 
Demonstration of self-updating landslide hazard maps with dynamic crowd-sourced data in Rwanda (558713)
Eric Ross Anderson, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Earth System Science Center, Huntsville, AL, United States; NASA/SERVIR Science Coordination Office, Huntsville, AL, United States, Kel Nicolas Markert, University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA-SERVIR, Huntsville, AL, United States, Robert Griffin, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, United States, Phoebe Oduor, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya and Denis Macharia, Regional Center for Mapping Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya
 
A Deep Learning Approach for Mapping Distribution of Forest Canopy Height Across Africa from Radar Imagery (562390)
Liang Xu, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Pasadena, CA, United States and Sassan Saatchi, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
 
Assessing the Landscape Ecological Changes of Murchison Bay, Lake Victoria Using Satellite Imagery (565282)
Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar, Texas Southern University, Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, Houston, TX, United States and Anthony Gidudu, Makerere University, Department of Geomatics and Land Management, Kampala, Uganda
 
Leveraging Earth Observation for agriculture monitoring in Eastern Africa (570938)
Catherine Lilian Nakalembe1, Inbal Becker-Reshef1, Christina Jade Justice1, Jan Dempewolf2, Lilian WANGUI Ndungu3, Kenneth Mwangi4, Tom Dienya5, Martin Owor6, Marystella Mtalo7 and Christopher Owen Justice8, (1)University of Maryland College Park, Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD, United States, (2)University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States, (3)SERVIR, Nairobi, Kenya, (4)IGAD/ICPAC, Nairobi, Kenya, (5)SDCD (Min of Ag), Nairobi, Kenya, (6)Uganda Office of the Prime Minister, Department of Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Management, Kampala, Uganda, (7)Antigonish, NS, Canada, (8)University of Maryland, Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD, United States
 
Integration of Earth observations with an expanded hydroclimate monitoring network for resilient water resources in Tanzania (572396)
ASHA MOHAMED Msoka1, Denis Macharia Muthike2, Leif Kindberg1 and Anastasia Mumbi Wahome2, (1)WARIDI, Morogoro, Tanzania, (2)Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya
 
Topographical Map Updating Using Sentinel 2A (580090)
Stephen SANDE Ngondi, Josphat Makanga, Leonard Sweta, Julius Buyengo, Vincent Mtaroni and Anastasia Mumbi Wahome, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya
 
Utilizing NASA Earth Observations in the RHEAS Framework to Enhance Drought Monitoring and Mitigation in Kenya (582328)
Ryan Zachary Good, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States, Chiara Phillips, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Ryan Marshman, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, United States and Amanda Tomlinson, Berry College, Rome, GA, United States
 
Assessing Changes and Quantifying Loss in African Mangrove Forests Using SAR/Optical Data Fusion (596788)
Katherine Strattman1, Emily Caitlin Adams2, Emil A. Cherrington3, Robert Griffin1, Rebekke Muench4 and Andi Brinn Thomas5, (1)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, United States, (2)University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA-SERVIR, Huntsville, AL, United States, (3)University of Alabama in Huntsville, Earth System Science Center, Huntsville, AL, United States, (4)Partner, Allabama, United States, (5)HX5—Jacobs JETS Contract, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, United States
 
Analysis of Belg Rainfall Trend over Agropastoral Regions of Ethiopia (615769)
Diego H Pedreros1, Diriba Korecha2, Christopher Funk3, Gregory J Husak4 and Laura Harrison4, (1)USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls, SD, United States, (2)FEWS NET, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, (3)USGS, Baltimore, MD, United States, (4)University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States