Images from space can reveal a range of human activities that might otherwise go unnoticed or be difficult to measure. These include illegal logging or mining in remote areas, oil spills or slicks from stricken ships in the ocean, and more general forest degradation (i.e. not outright forest loss, but gradual decline due to low-level logging, small scale agriculture and so on).

Organisations such as WWF are increasingly using satellite data as a key part of their conservation, campaigning and research activities, including in the areas of wildlife monitoring and protection, and in highlighting illegal activity which harms the environment.

Featured Educators:

• Dr Aurelie Shapiro

• WWF GLOBIL

View featured satellites on the satellite tracking app

• IKONOS-2

• Landsat-7

• Landsat-8

• Sentinel-1a

• Sentinel-1b

• Sentinel-2

• Worldview-2