Satellite data helps analyze environmental damage

(CONNECT) Researchers at the The University of Zurich and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences(ZHAW) are working on documenting the impact of industrial plants and raw material extraction with the help of satellite data. In the Spatial Sustainable Finance project, Alexander Damm-Reiser, Professor of Remote Sensing of Water Systems at UZH, is working with Maria J. Santos and Leon Hauser from the Institute of Geography at UZH as well as with financial scientist Peter Schwendner and geoinformatician Patrick Laube from the ZHAW. The aim of the project is to provide investors with a scientifically sound basis for incorporating the ecological footprint of companies into their investment decisions, UZH explains in a press release.

The images from space are generated using optical sensors, thermal sensors and radar or microwave sensors. "These different wavelengths interact differently with the atmosphere and the surface and contain corresponding complementary information," explains Damm-Reiser in the press release. "Remote sensing allows an insight into ecosystems that is not possible with the naked eye."

In an interdisciplinary collaboration with the aquatic research institute Eawag, the researchers also want to use measurement data on photosynthesis in plants to analyze their environmental stress. Damm-Reiser is currently involved in the development of the Fluorescence Explorer Satellite(FLEX) of the European SpaceAgency (ESA). This can be measured optically via the fluorescent light during photosynthesis. ce/hs