From its role in sustaining and nurturing our bodies to its cultural and social significance, food is a key component of human life. It’s also in serious jeopardy due to climate change. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Inbal Becker-Reshef about her work in the field of food security. Together, we delve into the critical role of geospatial technologies in monitoring agricultural systems, assessing crop health, and predicting yield fluctuations through programs including the GEOGLAM Crop...

According to the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health, water-related disasters (WRDs), including floods and droughts, account for 90% of natural disasters. These disasters result in significant loss of life each year, not to mention the billions spent on managing and rebuilding afterwards. As the global water crisis continues to grow, so too does our need for tools, techniques, and policy that will help us more effectively predict, respond to, and prevent WRDs. In this episode, we...

What’s the difference between glaciers and sea ice and why do we need to be studying sea ice to better understand climate change? In this episode, we speak to two experts who study sea ice in the arctic and antarctic respectively. Dr. Anja Frost and Dr. Sven Jacobsen share their concerns about the pressing issue of the Arctic’s vanishing sea ice, the need to understand the relationship between ocean waves and sea ice depletion, and how remote sensing techniques are improving our understanding...

As far back as 2014, Dr. Eric Rignot, specialist in glaciology, has been informing us that some of our glaciers are melting faster than we can save them. Yet, this knowledgeable and passionate scientist continues to advocate for hope. In this episode we’ll dive deep into the meltwater to not only understand glacier behaviour, but how we can proactively deal with the results.

Methane is a dangerous gas has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Methane is a major contributor to global warming. But the good news is, unlike CO2, methane has a very short atmospheric lifespan – around 10 years to be exact. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Ritesh Gautam who is an expert in atmospheric sciences, explores the impact of methane as a potent greenhouse gas and shares news of a new satellite mission that will help us cut methane...

Whenever we think of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is top of mind. But a more nefarious gas is gaining notoriety: Methane. Not just restricted to agricultural emissions, methane is also found in the Earth’s permafrost, which is melting at an increased rate due to climate change. It’s a vicious cycle that we seriously need to interrupt. So in this episode, we delve into the critical issue of permafrost thaw and its implications for methane release with Dr. Annett Bartsch. Dr. Bartsch, a...

Wetlands are the Earth’s greatest natural carbon stores, however, since 1900, we have lost 64% of our wetlands due to both human activity and climate change. Coastal wetlands and deltas–wetlands that form as rivers–are particularly vulnerable due to their position at the land-sea interface and many are, in fact, sinking. In this episode, we speak to Dr. Marc Simard about the crucial role of wetlands in climate regulation and adaptation. We also dig into his Delta-X project to look at how he...

The Global Carbon Cycle refers to the continuous flow of carbon from the land and water, through the atmosphere and living organisms. Within the cycle there are carbon sinks and carbon emitters. As one of the largest reservoirs of carbon on Earth, forests play a huge role in the global carbon cycle. But how do we know? In this episode, we speak to geoscientist Dr. Ralph Dubayah to explore the applications of GEDI and NISAR in assessing carbon capture in Earth's forests. Dr. Dubayah sheds...

In a world grappling with the pressing challenges of climate change, I bring you stories of optimism, resilience, and scientific insight: Welcome to Season five of Down to Earth: A podcast for geoscientists, by geoscientists! This season is being sponsored by The Remote Sensing Environment, Analysis and Climate Technologies technical committee of the I-Triple-E Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. Together, we'll be speaking with some amazing geoscientists who have dedicated their lives to...

The open science movement is an experiment, but it’s an experiment that has a lot of merit when it comes to its vision of equitable transparency, accessibility and collaboration for better science, and a better world. So how do we begin to transition our own practices towards those of open science? In this episode, we speak with Julia Stewart Lowndes, Founding Director of Openscapes, and her collaborator, Erin Robinson, CEO and Co-Founder of Metadata Game Changers, about Openscapes, an...

Open science has been an almost exclusively voluntary endeavor for the past two decades, with passionate individuals piecing together collaboratives, nonprofits, grants, and donations to support their work of ensuring science is open and accessible. A relief to these dedicated individuals, as the concept of open science has gained in popularity, so too has new funding started to emerge. However, alongside the boon of no longer having to do open science as a side hustle, there are also...

Part of the thinking behind the open science movement is that, if science is open, more people will trust the scientific process. But, as previous guests have pointed out, opening up science requires more than just the act of making it open. It also requires letting people know the science is out there, and ensuring it is findable, accessible, and reproducible! In today's episode, we speak with Professor Christopher Jackson, Director of Sustainable Geoscience at Jacobs, Visiting Professor of...

There’s a technological revolution happening right now that is having a massive impact on our interactions with each other, and the world around us. That revolution? Artificial Intelligence. Touted as a tool that will enable the average individual to generate groundbreaking developments for the betterment of humanity, AI is being seen as a panacea for many of our challenges in healthcare, education, agriculture, and transport. But as the saying goes, “With great power comes great...

It’s all well and good to have open source software, but if end-users have no clue how to operate it, open data becomes useless. That’s why Open Education is another important component of open science. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Leah Wasser, Executive Director of pyOpenSci, who developed a publicly accessible curriculum to teach python and R to anyone who wants to learn!

How can we ensure open source is open to everyone? In this episode we speak to Demetris Cheatham, Senior Director of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at GitHub, about how she’s building “open opportunities” and equity into a diversity, inclusion, and belonging strategy to ensure GitHub’s infrastructure is just.

Open science and open data easily go hand-in-hand, but one area of open science that’s often forgotten is open source. What is open source and how does it allow us to actually use open data? In this episode, we speak to Yuvi Panda, Co-Founder of 2i2C – a nonprofit devoted to developing, operating, and supporting infrastructure for interactive computing – about how we can make tools work for the open science movement.

Every day 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is being created. This is an unfathomable number, but the reality is, we are constantly generating data with every app we use on or phone, every purchase we make, even every time we see a doctor. As the creators of data, what rights do we have to governing it? And with the push to make data more open, how we can ensure our science continues to uphold the values of ethics, justice, and equity? In this episode, we speak to Sativa Cruz, Applied Scientist...

Data is EVERYWHERE. In fact, there’s so much of it, we now have the term “Big Data” to describe the increased volume and velocity at which we’re accruing data. With such a large quantity and assortment of data available, it begs the question: How the heck are we going to organize it and make it open? In this episode, we bring this question to two open data experts: Dr. Monica Granados, Open Climate Campaign Manager at Creative Commons and Dr. Gracielle Higino, Open Science mentor and...

Climate change. Poverty. Inequality. Violence. These days, we are facing an unprecedented number of global challenges that require collaboration across countries to resolve. That’s why some scientists in particular are pushing for a move towards open science – namely, science that is more transparent, accessible and inclusive. But what exactly is open science, and what does it entail? In this episode, we speak with Yo Yehudi, Executive Director of Open Life Science to examine exactly what’s...

Open science! It's a thing! Welcome back to “Down to Earth”, a 30-minute podcast about innovative geoscience and the incredible people behind it. For season 4, we’re collaborating with NASA and the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society to dig deep into this fascinating frontier. Whether you're an active researcher or you just love science, join me, Stephanie Tumampos, and our guests as we explore the depth and gravity of all things open science! Our new season of Down To Earth: A podcast...

As we continue to face unprecedented climate challenges that disrupt our ways of living, organizations like Space4Innovation and GEO Indigenous Alliance are turning to citizen science to design innovative climate change solutions that are culturally relevant. In this episode, we speak to Diana Mastracci Sanchez, founder of Space4Innovation and International Strategic Liaison of the GEO Indigenous Alliance, about her work seeking creative ways to maximize the impact of current technologies and...

While scientists are building new remote sensing networks in Costa Rica, others are merging networks to build capacity across Africa. Through her work as the Co-Founder of African Women in GIS, Geospatial Analyst Chidimma Umeogu Maduka is supporting other women in pursuing geoscience. At the same time, she’s also applying her geospatial knowledge to tackle the socio-economic barriers Nigerians are facing on the climate change front. From helping assess when and where to plant trees as part of...

With fires raging, permafrost thawing, urbanization increasing air pollution, and more, staying positive about the future of our planet can be challenging. But as the scientists in our previous episodes have demonstrated, there’s still hope yet. And in Costa Rica, a small country with a big dream of becoming the first carbon neutral country in the world, two researchers are pooling their collective knowledge and experience towards this goal. Dr. Alejandra Rojas González, associate professor...

Similar to Arizona, Australia is no stranger to a hot, dry climate–one that sets a yearly stage for bushfire season. In 2019, Australia experienced one of its worst bushfire seasons to date, with fires consuming swaths of land, causing significant wildlife death, and even burning some of Australia’s remaining rainforest. That same year, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the Amazon rainforest experienced a longer dry season than normal. This resulted in a surge in fires that consumed...