SIOS’s Earth Observation (EO), Remote Sensing (RS), and Operational Activities in Response to COVID-19

Abstract

Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) is an international partnership of research institutions studying the environment and climate in and around Svalbard. SIOS is developing an efficient observing system, where researchers share technology, experience, and data, work together to close knowledge gaps, and decrease the environmental footprint of science. SIOS maintains and facilitates various scientific activities such as the State of the Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report, international access to research infrastructure in Svalbard, Earth observation and remote sensing services, training courses for the Arctic science community, and open access to data. This perspective paper highlights the activities of SIOS Knowledge Centre, the central hub of SIOS, and the SIOS Remote Sensing Working Group (RSWG) in response to the unprecedented situation imposed by the global pandemic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (COVID-19). The pandemic has affected Svalbard research in several ways. When Norway declared a nationwide lockdown to decrease the rate of spread of the COVID-19 in the community, even more strict measures were taken to protect the Svalbard community from the potential spread of the disease. Due to the lockdown, travel restrictions, and quarantine regulations declared by many nations, most physical meetings, training courses, conferences, and workshops worldwide were cancelled by the first week of March 2020. The resumption of physical scientific meetings is still uncertain in the foreseeable future. Additionally, field campaigns to polar regions, including Svalbard, were and remain severely affected. In response to this changing situation, SIOS initiated several operational activities suitable to mitigate the new challenges resulting from the pandemic. This article provides an extensive overview of SIOS’s Earth observation (EO), remote sensing (RS) and other operational activities strengthened and developed in response to COVID-19 to support the Svalbard scientific community in times of cancelled/postponed field campaigns in Svalbard. These include (1) an initiative to patch up field data (in situ) with RS observations, (2) a logistics sharing notice board for effective coordinating field activities in the pandemic times, (3) a monthly webinar series and panel discussion on EO talks, (4) an online conference on EO and RS, (5) the SIOS’s special issue in the Remote Sensing (MDPI) journal, (6) the conversion of a terrestrial remote sensing training course into an online edition, and (7) the announcement of opportunity (AO) in airborne remote sensing for filling the data gaps using aerial imagery and hyperspectral data. As SIOS is a consortium of 24 research institutions from 9 nations, this paper also presents an extensive overview of the activities from a few research institutes in pandemic times and highlights our upcoming activities for the next year 2021. Finally, we provide a critical perspective on our overall response, possible broader impacts, relevance to other observing systems, and future directions. We hope that our practical services, experiences, and activities implemented in these difficult times will motivate other similar monitoring programs and observing systems when responding to future challenging situations. With a broad scientific audience in mind, we present our perspective paper on activities in Svalbard as a case study.

The role of remote sensing during a global disaster: COVID-19 pandemic as case study

“…Satellite imagery also supplemented data for research and other projects when field surveys were inhibited by travel restrictions. The Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) research network hosted a campaign to help their researchers identify suitable remote sensing data alternatives to substitute cancelled field surveys during the period of global travel restrictions ( Jawak et al, 2021 ) . Government and private entities also used satellite imagery to substitute fieldwork that couldn't happen due to the pandemic ( Maroney and Robillard, 2020 ; Politzer, 2020 ).…”

Combined Use of Aerial Photogrammetry and Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Detecting Geomorphological Changes in Hornsund, Svalbard

“…Imagery acquisition over the research area was carried out during a SIOS crewed aircraft campaign on 22 June 2020. The aircraft, a Dornier DO228, is fitted with an RGB camera (Phasone IXU-150, Schneider LS 55 mm f/2.8) and a hyperspectral imager (VNIR-1800, Norsk elektrooptikk; [18]). The RGB camera and the hyperspectral imager can acquire images with a ground resolution of 0.1 m and 0.3 m from a flight altitude of 1000 m, respectively.…”

“…Aerial images for the studied area were provided by SIOS through a dedicated call of proposals (https://sios-svalbard.org/AirborneRS (accessed on 23 December 2021)). One of SIOS's missions is to reduce the environmental footprint of scientific observations in Svalbard [18]. To achieve this mission, SIOS supports and Remote Sens.…”

“…2022, 14, 601 2 of 17 23 December 2021)). One of SIOS's missions is to reduce the environmental footprint of scientific observations in Svalbard [18]. To achieve this mission, SIOS supports and coordinates the usage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and a crewed Dornier aircraft to acquire imagery and hyperspectral data for the Svalbard research community to support scientific projects (https://sios-svalbard.org/AirborneRemoteSensing (accessed on 23 December 2021)).…”

Capacity Development for Use of Remote Sensing for REDD+ MRV Using Online and Offline Activities: Impacts and Lessons Learned

“…Be flexible-the ability to convert an in-person training event to an online format could be useful given uncertainties surrounding COVID-19. Follow existing experiences of how activities can move online as a response to COVID-19 [27].…”