Atlas Content - ESA Schoolatlas

ESA Schoolatlas Case Studies

This Digital Atlas provides students and teachers with a selection of case studies highlighting the use of satellite data. The case studies can be accessed via the globe, the gallery below or the menu above. Find information about the use of the Digital Atlas in the classroom in the menu “About this Atlas”.

Select case studies from the 3D globe or from the gallery below!

Anthroposphere	Biosphere	Lithosphere	Cryosphere
Hydrosphere	Atmosphere	Climate	Earth Observation Methods

Anthroposphere

Our world as modified by humanity

1. 1. Urbanisation
    - Las Vegas, USA – desert city with water issues
    - Shanghai, China – rapid economic growth and land use change
    - Tokyo Bay, Japan – megacity expanding into the sea
    - Suqian, China – rapid economic growth and urbanisation
    - Cairo, Egypt – city growth and cultural heritage
    - Doha, Qatar – city development in the desert
    - Niamey, Niger – growth of an African capital
    - Wenzhou, China – land reclamation in the East China Sea
  2. Energy
    - Olkiluoto, Finland – nuclear power in northern Europe
    - Belo Monte, Brazil – hydropower plant in Amazonia
    - Tengger, China – solar power plant
    - Bhadla, India – solar power plant in the Thar desert
  3. Traffic
    - Istanbul Airport, Türkiye – new intercontinental hub
    - Suez Canal, Egypt – bottleneck for shipping
    - Yangshan, China – international container harbour
    - Gibraltar, Spain – ship traffic and internal waves

Biosphere

Our living environment

1. 1. Biomass distribution
    - Gdansk, Poland – phytoplankton and algal blooms.
    - Taihu Lake, China – eutrophication caused by human landuse.
    - Lancaster, U.S.A. – superblooms after rainfall
  2. Deforestation
    - Rondonia, Brazil – loss of rain forest
    - Madre de Dios – gold mining in the Amazon Basin
  3. Agriculture
    - El Ejido, Spain – greenhouses and Mar de Plástico
    - New Valley, Egypt – agriculture in the desert
    - Ha’il, Saudi Arabia – fossile groundwater for irrigation
    - Taihu Lake – eutrophication and algal bloom
  4. Nature protection
    - Donana, Spain – nature and agriculture as neighbors
    - Bissagos Archipelago, Bissago – nature protection in a coastal environment

Lithosphere

The solid ground of our planet

1. Landscape Formation
  - Himalayas, India – Colliding tectonic plates
  - East African Rift, Ethiopia – Separating tectoning plates
  - Himalayas, Nepal – Ice, water and wind forming landscapes
  - Grand Canyon, USA – Deeply carved into a sedimentary plain
2. Volcanism
  - Etna, Italy – Europes highest active volcano
  - La Palma, Spain – Eruption on a volcanic island
  - Kilimanjaro, Tanzania – tropical glacier on a volcano
  - Grindavík, Iceland – Eruptions forming new Earth crust
3. Mining
  - Salar de Atacama, Chile – Lithium production on a salt lake
  - Bełchatów, Poland – Europe’s largest open pit lignite mine
  - Aitik, Sweden – open pit Copper mine in Scandinavia
  - Madre de Dios – gold mining in the Amazon Basin

Cryosphere

The frozen regions of our Earth

1. Polar Ice
  - Arctic Ocean – The sea ice coverage around the North Pole
  - Jakobshavn Isbrae, Greenland (Denmark) – The shrinking of the Greenland ice sheet contributes to the global sea level rise
  - Antarctic Ice – The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest ice body on Earth
  - Iceberg A23a, Antarctic Ocean – A large iceberg on the move through the Antarctic Ocean
2. Glaciers
  - Columbia Glacier, USA – retreating tidal glacier
  - Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland – shrinking Alpine glacier
  - Kilimanjaro, Tanzania – loss of a tropical glacier
3. Permafrost
  - Batagaika Crater, Russia – Thawing permafrost and erosion

Hydrosphere

Issues around the element of life

1. Sea Surface Temperature
  - North Atlantic – Gulf Stream
  - Equatorial Pacific – El Niño and La Niña
  - Europe – Sea Surface Temperatures
2. Coastal Changes
  - Alexandria, Egypt – changing coastline at the Nile Delta
  - Mississippi Delta, USA – landuse change influences the delta
  - Mont Saint-Michel, France – an abbey between ebb tide and flood
3. Water supply
  - Lake Oroville, USA – water supply for California
  - Almendra Dam, Spain – water for Spain
4. Fishery and Aquaculture
  - Tianjin, China – aquaculture at the Bohai Bay
5. Floods and Flood Protection
  - Plattsmouth, USA – flood at a river junction
  - Derna, Libya – flash flood after heavy rain
  - Venice, Italy – protection of man and cultural heritage

Atmosphere

Case studies about the air that we breathe

1. Trace Gases
  - Methane – Methane concentration in South-East Asia
  - Ozone Hole – reduction of stratospheric ozone in the Antarctic region

Climate and Climate Change

Signs of Climate Change in satellite data

1. Ice loss
  - Columbia Glacier, USA – retreating tidal glacier
  - Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland – shrinking Alpine glacier
  - Kilimanjaro, Tanzania – loss of a tropical glacier
2. Natural Disasters
  - Southeast Australia, Australia – between bushfires and floods
  - British Columbia, Canada – forest fires get larger
3. Permafrost
  - Batagaika Crater, Russia – Thawing permafrost and erosion

Satellite Remote Sensing

Properties of and methods with satellite data

1. Spectral Information – acquistion of optical data
2. Infrared Data – true colour and false colour infrared
3. Spectral Indices – reducing the complexity of information
4. Radar Satellite Data – looking through night and clouds