remote-sensing

The first time I stood on sea ice, I could not tell which direction the coast was. A community member named Bryan could. That gap in situational awareness, between what a trained remote sensing scientist could read from the landscape and what a local hunter understood instinctively, turned out to mirror almost exactly the gap in our satellite data: ICESat-2 produces reliable freeboard across the …

Scientific Data, Published online: 12 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41597-026-07519-2 A global dataset of land-atmosphere coupling metrics based on observations for evaluating Earth system models

1. INTRODUCTION Land cover classification is one of the most important applications of remote sensing, as it helps in monitoring urban expansion, studying vegetation cover, identifying water bodies, and analyzing land use. Many traditional classification methods rely on classifying each pixel independently; however, this approach can produce noisy maps, especially when using Sentinel-2 imagery wi…

A compact, multifrequency radar built by a team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will make it easier to collect information about dynamic cloud systems. Called CloudCube, this new instrument simultaneously probes the atmosphere with three radar signals, spanning 36 to 240 GHz, for optimized sensitivity to a wide range of water droplet and ice particle sizes.

Scientific Reports, Published online: 10 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-57084-2 RT-DETR-FCES: a lightweight ship detection algorithm from remote sensing perspective

A 2020 astronaut photo shows three uniquely colored lakes — Tahoe, Walker and Mono — straddling contrasting biomes on either side of the California-Nevada border.

IntroductionThe growing emphasis on sustainable practices in sports facilities highlights the need for advanced methodologies in environmental monitoring and sustainability assessment. This study presents a machine learning framework, EnviroNet, specifically developed for remote sensing-based environmental monitoring to evaluate sustainability and support climate action.MethodsEnviroNet incorpora…

A rainbow blanket of patchwork colors sprawls across South Africa in this new composite image created using data from NASA's latest Earth-observing mission.

Florida State University research published today in Science Advances demonstrates a new framework for predicting the motion of kilometer-scale underwater waves that complicate satellite readings of the ocean. By accurately modeling these subsurface waves, scientists can remove their interference from NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite, improving the satellite's signal …

Global warming is driving a significant increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, posing serious challenges to regional ecological security and sustainable agricultural development. Northeast China, situated at the climatic transition between temperate monsoon and cold temperate zones, is particularly sensitive to extreme heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and prolonged drought. …

Scientific Data, Published online: 02 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41597-026-07524-5 Remote sEnsing obServations of source Parameters and data IntegRation at EtnA: the RESPIRA database

A team of researchers has developed a knowledge-guided machine learning algorithm that uses satellite measurements to provide much more precise estimates of soil moisture across the globe. The researchers hope the data can eventually help farmers make better decisions about when to sow crops or irrigate fields, explains one of the scientists behind the project.

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 01 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41561-026-01996-1 Global soil mineral data from orbital spectroscopy reduce uncertainty in dust’s solar radiative impact and improve estimates of Earth’s energy imbalance, according to analyses integrating high-resolution soil composition into Earth system models.

Antarctica plays a crucial role in Earth’s radiative energy balance, with the surface albedo of its snow cover being a key parameter. Snow albedo depends strongly on the optical properties of snow grains in the near-surface layers. Other factors including illumination geometry, cloud conditions and impurities influence albedo, though Antarctic snow is generally pristine. Surface roughness (SR), o…

This book delivers digital tools to manage arid deltas facing climate change, sea-level rise, and growing demand. It covers remote sensing, GIS, groundwater modeling, and AI forecasting. Case studies: Nile, Indus, and Colorado deltas (models to policy), including digital twins and sensor networks.

Award: The William T. Pecora Award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions toward a better understanding of Earth through satellite or aerial remote sensing. The award is presented annually by the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA. Awarded to: Eric Vermote, a research physical scientist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Vermote is recognized for […] The post Tw…

Glacier surges are dynamic instabilities that dramatically alter glacier flow and geometry. Their triggers remain poorly understood, and improved methods of monitoring to further constrain the phenomenon are therefore important. We present a novel method for detecting glacier surges automatically using surface elevation data from NASA’s ICESat-2 laser altimetry satellite. Elevation changes from 2…