By Álvaro Paredes, data scientist at Data Observatory
Back in 1970 the UN established International Earth Day (April 22), a date that seeks to raise awareness among humanity about the problems caused by overpopulation, pollution, biodiversity conservation and other environmental concerns. It is essential to recognize the urgent call to action for the protection and restoration of our planet’s ecosystems, a call that has been made countless times by the scientific community.
Today we face several ecological and public policy challenges, with climate change being the main problem. Experts in the field agree that we must act as quickly as possible if we want to avoid a catastrophe for the planet and humanity. In this regard, data science and remote sensing are excellent tools that can be used to help mitigate the negative effects of climate change and why not, think if not about reversing them, at least stopping them.
Data science, together with artificial intelligence tools, have enormous potential and capacity to handle large amounts of information, which is essential in remote sensing, since large volumes of images are processed. Over time, this volume of data will increase exponentially, as new, more powerful sensors with better resolution are put into operation and their data is accessed by the community.
The advancement of science and technology has enabled the development of a wide range of increasingly efficient and sophisticated models, such as image recognition, which can detect patterns, track changes, and find anomalies in ecological and environmental data sets. . New models are also allowing us to have a better understanding of our planet’s ecosystems, which, added to tools for monitoring changes and trends over time, can generate a rich and complete source of information that can then be used by decision makers to direct public policy and conservation efforts. After all, we need a sustainable economy that works for both people and our Earth.
One of the tools to highlight is Data Cube Chile, which combines remote sensing and large-scale geospatial data analysis, thanks to its enormous flexibility and capacity, which allows it to sustain any type of study that a researcher wishes to carry out; from a simple visual analysis, to the use of artificial intelligence tools. At the same time, it allows uploading of different products, from satellite imagery to UAV imagery, providing powerful product customization. With Data Cube Chile, initiatives have already been developed to monitor fires and wetlands, and this year we hope to add others of interest for the conservation of our natural resources and the development of public policies.
We have a major challenge ahead of us and we have a responsibility to use everything within humanity’s reach to prevent a catastrophe. Technologies such as those described play a fundamental role in this. We have little time left.
***
Data Observatory is a public, private and academic Foundation in which the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation participates; the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Adolfo Ibáñez University, whose mission is to acquire, store, process, analyze and make available large volume and quality data sets, to contribute to the development of knowledge, science , technology and innovation, thanks to data science and artificial intelligence. The State’s contribution to the Data Observatory is made by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID). www.dataobservatory.net
