Best satellite image of the Earth announced!

06 grudnia 2021

The results of the 2nd edition of the international competition "Seize the beauty of our planet" have just been announced. Internet users and a jury consisting of the representatives of leading space institutions in Europe selected the best image of our planet taken from space showing climate and environmental change. The first prize went to Jaroslaw Bajer, who depicted shrinking ice between King Christian Island and Devon Island in the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. People from all over the world took part in the competition.

The theme of this year's contest edition was: "Together for Green Earth!" as the images were to show the real environmental problems of our planet. The aim of the competition was to draw attention to the ongoing changes in the Earth’s ecosystem and the phenomena that result from them, such as fires, floods, droughts, melting glaciers or the decreasing forestation. All of them have an enormous impact on the quality of life on our planet.

1st Shrinking Ice by Jarek Bajer

According to Jaroslaw Bajer, the author of the winning photo, the analysis of satellite data is a crucial element in the study of climate change and the endeavors to tackle them:

- Satellite data offers a lot of possibilities. We can systematically receive optical, radar and meteorological data for places of special importance, such as oceans, forests or glaciers. Thanks to the improvements introduced by satellites, such as communication and navigation, we can significantly optimize the transport of goods and their travel time. This reduces the emission of harmful exhaust gases. The possibilities are endless, and I think it is worth continuing to work on new methods of analyzing and obtaining this data.

2nd Madagaskar - Betsiboka by Marek Gryboś

As a member of the Earth Observation team, Mr. Bajer works with satellite data daily to detect and monitor aviation obstacles. The scope of the changes is clearly visible from the perspective of the satellite orbit. Experts have emphasized for a long time that satellite Earth observation data gives an abundance of opportunities to analyze the ecosystems of our planet:

- Satellite images allow us to look at our planet from a completely different, much wider perspective. Scientists, including climatologists, can more closely analyze the processes taking place on Earth and in the Earth's atmosphere. The collected satellite data are an important source of information, including about the occurrence of extreme weather events, which confirm that changing climatic conditions require us to act quickly and prudently. Only this attitude will allow future generations to take better care of our planet

- comments PhD Agnieszka Wypych from the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management at the Jagiellonian University.

The contest participants generated Earth observation images on one the platforms developed and operated by CloudFerro: CREODIAS and WEkEO – the European DIAS (Data and Information Access Services) and the German CODE-DE. Every day, the platforms receive altogether about 25 terabytes of data as part of the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation programme. Such projects create ample opportunities thanks to free access to satellite images and the use of tools to process them in a cloud environment. The barriers of owing complex IT infrastructure or time consuming download of large volumes of data are reduced to minimum as the data is available immediately online and can be processed in cloud environment directly on the platform.

3rd Brilliance of Salt Pans of Kutch Region India by Chancy Shah

– We are happy to see such a great interest in the contest. We have received many magnificent images that perfectly capture the environmental changes on Earth. The works come from as diverse places as Spain, Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Poland, Canada, India or the Philippines – to name just a few. The contestants and their works will surely contribute to increasing the social awareness in terms of negative environmental changes and the need to counteract them immediately

- summarizes Joanna Małasnicka from CloudFerro, the organizer of the competition.

The contestants demonstrated extensive knowledge of the climate damage currently taking place on Earth. Chancy Shah, 3rd prize winner in the competition, talks about the theme of her imagery:

- I chose the Salt Pan Image of Kutch, India, as I am a resident of Anjar city at Kutch, Gujarat, India. Salt is considered an essential food ingredient. Salt production is, typically, the capturing of salt water in shallow ponds where the sun evaporates most of the water. The concentrated brine precipitates the salt which is then gathered by mechanical harvesting machines and refined in the industries. Salt production in Kutch is hit by climate change. High salinity causes salt stress that leads to leakage of cells and releases toxins into the water. Increased saltiness creates a condition that allows algae to invade freshwater. Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns affect salt production and increase algae.

From the entries submitted to the contest, 13 winning works were selected that best reflect the changes in the Earth's natural environment. Internet users chose the first seven winners in an online voting, and the other 6 were indicated by a jury consisting of the representatives of the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), the German Space Agency (DLR) and CloudFerro - the organizer. The winning works will create a dedicated calendar for 2022. They can be viewed on the competition website.