SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF / AP) – A coalition of the world’s leading space agencies has released a unique dashboard to show the impact of COVID-19 from images captured by its satellites, including views of the San Bay area Francisco.
Click to view control panel
Using data from 17 satellites, three space agencies have created a website that serves as a global dashboard for observed temporal changes from orbit. The European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA presented the Earth Observation Panel on Thursday.
How to use the dashboard
The data, to be expanded in the future, monitors 30 environmental indicators, 17 economic signals and three agricultural indices.
The dashboard reflects some signs of a return to normality in some parts of the world.
For example, with nitrogen dioxide, an indicator of pollution from cars and industry, “we see an immediate reaction from the blockade” with levels falling around 50% in some parts of Europe in April, said Josef Aschbacher, director from ESA’s Earth observations. Similar declines were observed at different times in the United States and China.
But now those pollution levels are increasing again because cars have got back on the road and the industry has started in Europe, Aschbacher said.
Pollution levels are dropping in South America and could be dropping again with a virus rebound in China, NASA scientist Ken Jucks said.
Other data, such as airplanes on the runway, do not show such a rapid return. You can zoom in on a map and even see the night lights of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center shine from January to April.
You can also check for changes in air and water quality.
“This is the beauty of the board,” said Aschbacher. “You can see which ones react immediately.”
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