Assessing COVID-19 environmental impacts through remote sensing

Abstract:

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) relies on a variety of Earth Observation data from space and air for Earth surface condition assessment, change monitoring and future projection. The USGS holds the longest spaceborne Earth observing data archive dating back to 1972 and a diverse set of land surface, water quantity and quality, geographical and geological long-term data records. Since the global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, human behaviors have dramatically changed due to stay-at-home and shelter-in-place measures. Concurrently, certain industries and businesses have seen dramatically decreased or increased activities due to these changes. Although satellites can’t directly trace the spread of the disease, indirect impacts can be detected through remote sensing using satellite and airborne data where historical remote sensing data can provide a baseline for tracking the environmental, economic and societal impacts due to COVID-19. Some short-term environmental COVID-19 impacts can be seen from space already. For example, industrialization and anthropogenic activities have been contributing to pollution in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. Since the first quarter of 2020 when numerous industries suddenly halted, Landsat-8 satellite imageries have shown significant improvement in water quality. On the contrary, deforestation in the Amazon and Asia is speeding up as illegal loggers and miners continue to operate with reduced enforcement. In the meantime, other longer-term COVID-19 impacts may require more time to observe through remote sensing. For example, COVID-19 impact on forest cutting could be a multi-year process. Fewer new housing starts and therefore reduced lumber products demand can lead to a slow-down of the timber industry. Meanwhile, reduced tree planning and increased demand on pulp for paper products can also impact the forest products industry. Thus, the COVID-19 impact will unfold over the course of several years or longer through land cover change detection using satellite imagery. This presentation aims to illustrate USGS activities using remote sensing imagery to assess short-term land and water surface change due to COVID-19 and highlight additional areas for long-term change detection and monitoring of COVID-19 impacts where remote sensing can play a key role.