Projects such as Eyes on Darfur and the continuing monitoring of the civil war in Syria attempt to report what is happening on the ground in places where there may be no safe way to get information. Eyes on Darfur revealed the number of villages being destroyed in Sudan. Satellite images of Syria and Iraq have shown changes to the landscape, whilst over the border in Jordan, refugee camps have been seen growing in size every week.

People can be internally displaced or forced to leave their countries as refugees by famine, conflict, and natural disasters. Satellite images can show where people are sheltering on a temporary basis, as tented camps appear on what had been blank landscapes. Sometimes these camps develop into long-term dwelling places and aid agencies and local governments need to consider how to cater for the new settlement.

Featured Experts:

• Dr Mathias Disney

• Dr Kanta Kumari Rigaud

• Lars Bromley

View featured satellites on the satellite tracking app

• Sentinel-2

• Rapideye-1

Don’t forget you can download the video, transcript and take any quizzes available with the links on the right.