Google has unveiled an online technology that allows scientists and researchers to track and measure changes to the environment using 25 years worth of satellite data. It utilizes "trillions" of scientific measurements" collected by NASA's LANDSAT satellite. Google is already working on applications for tracking deforestation and mapping land use trends, including the creation of the most comprehensive scale map of Mexico's forest and water resources. Google will offer 20 million CPU hours free to developing nations and scientific organizations to utilize the platform, which could emerge as a critical tool in the enforcement of such land management initiatives as the UN's REDD program in which wealthier nations pay developing nations to preserve rain forests. Technology is not always a good thing as it tends to create more problems environmentally when trying to dispose of artifacts such as computers, cellphones, etc, but this new technology that google has developed seems to be a great step towards keeping track of environmental changes and seeing what areas are most affected, if our efforts to help the environment are creating a positive effect and the time it takes to do so.
Link to site:http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/42080
No comments:
Post a Comment