CASE STUDY - SkyWatch

Leveraging satellite imagery for reforestation starts with the act of environmental monitoring. Environmental monitoring often relies on satellite imagery due to its unobtrusive, cost-effective, and consistent analytical capabilities. Land preservation is a common motivation for organizations to practice environmental monitoring and, when it comes to forestry, satellite data has proven to be a valuable tool.Forest health can be affected by various factors, such as disease and insect infestation. A common culprit for insect infestations in both European and North American trees is the bark beetle. These beetles consume the bark and other nutrients from the trees, depleting the tree’s defences within two to three days, ultimately leading to its death. The beetles repeat this process throughout the season, causing damage to the whole woodland ecosystem. The more trees this species feeds off, the more the beetles will return in future seasons—a big feat for a tiny bug.To combat this species and to preserve our woodlands, organizations such as SPACETREES turn to satellite imagery to assess the damage and prevent the spread of bark beetles to preserve the woodland's ecosystem. SPACETREES is one of the leading companies in satellite image processing for the forestry sector, and they have made incredible strides in forest monitoring. This piece is a case study on SPACETREES and how SkyWatch has supported their journey in preserving our Earth's forests. Who is SPACETREES? Founded in 2018 in the Czech Republic, SPACETREES' mission is to bring innovation and technology to forestry in Central Europe. They aim to be leaders in forest monitoring and want to make foresters' jobs easier. Their goal is to support forest biodiversity, provide a holistic view of the forest ecosystem, and protect our precious forests for future generations. The founders of SPACETREES started as foresters who offered forest monitoring as a service and adopted unique tactics to track down bark beetles in infected trees caused by global warming. In time, this method switched from a more manual style to an automated style using satellite technology. Choosing Between Dogs, Drones and Satellite Imagery SPACETREES aimed to be efficient and accurate in the detection phase of their analysis. The quicker and more accurate the detection, the faster they could take action and mitigate the spread of disease in both private and public forest contracts. The key forest pests to combat are the bark beetles (Ips typographus) as they overpopulated and caused massive damage to the Norway Spruce Trees (Picea abies). The first innovation to track infected trees was with human’s best friend, dogs These specially trained detection dogs can locate an infested tree by smell. Although effective, this posed challenges when in difficult remote areas and increased safety risks for both the handlers and the dogs. The next innovation was drones Drones complemented the dog method as it increased its efficiency with their view from above. These trees can be detected based on the change in the spectral characteristics of the canopy using remote sensing. When a Norway Spruce tree is infested by the bark beetle, it gradually dies and loses chlorophyll in its needles. Remote sensing has become the key to fast and effective detection, but there is another limitation found with drones. The drones could not manage the distance by hectares when the demand for SPACETREES services expanded. Satellite data was the next innovation executed by SPACETREES and became the method that fit their needs. Starting with 10m resolution data, the team concluded that if their services were going to be accurate, they had to use data with a minimum resolution of 50 cm/pixel. SPACETREES learned that forest estate owners and managers spend a significant amount of time in the office handling timber sales, selecting contractors, and overseeing forestry staff. For large forest estates, satellite monitoring is a valuable tool for these individuals as it enables them to gain an overview of the current state of the forest, identify potential threats to forest management, and plan effectively for the future. Satellite monitoring can help in identifying illegal logging activities, verifying reported logging levels, and adapting the forest to future conditions in response to climate change. SPACETREES is dedicated to enhancing forest management efficiency and reducing the cost of forest inventory through continuous monitoring, making it the perfect choice for its operations and customers. Why Choose SkyWatch? In the beginning, when the company was really small with two founders, SkyWatch was the only provider willing to partner with SPACETREES and provide them with high-resolution data. In time, SPACETREES transitioned from 50cm data to 30cm data and are engaged in precision forest inventory monitoring and early detection of bark beetle-infested trees.By partnering with SkyWatch to obtain 30cm data, SPACETREES can now focus on their core services, including:Easily performing analyses on individual trees.Detecting individual trees infested with bark beetles or dead trees, which tend to be localized, even in poorly accessible locations.Automatic detection of cleared areas created after forest clearing, including calculation of the resulting area for reforestation.Determine the height of individual trees from satellite data and count trees automatically, so it is possible to use this data as an inventory tool. “Right from the start, SkyWatch provided us with excellent customer support and treated us as a full partner, even when our tasking was minimal. Throughout our cooperation, every request we made was addressed promptly and efficiently, leaving us with full confidence in SkyWatch for future projects.” Petr Klapste SPACETREES Data Types and Ordering Frequency Each forest property analyzed gets scanned at least once a year. Most commonly, satellites are tasked to get timely data on their specific AOIs. The “imaging season” for SPACETREES is typically from May to November. In 2023 SPACETREES had imaged and analyzed a forest area of 80,000 hectares in Central Europe. The data type used in this analysis is typically multispectral satellite data by Pléiades NEO. These sensors offer high resolution, quality, and spectral consistency. Other data types include near-infrared, red-edge and, in certain cases, digital elevation data. This data, combined with the efficiency of machine learning and AI, is a powerful tool and resource that gives them the precision needed to take tactful action. Scaling up with HUB SPACETREES are also new customers for SkyWatch HUB. HUB is a turnkey management solution that allows organizations to manage your data within your organization. The team switched to HUB to help manage their operations as they began to scale. "It started with the ability to adjust the angle of the satellite imagery during tasking, which is very important to us. The larger storage for our archive data will also relieve our server storage, with the ability to quickly preview large satellite data, which we will also use on our team. Undoubtedly, the better price for the data will help us improve the quality of our product, by being able to offer our customers higher-resolution data-based results for the same price." Petr Klapste Finding success with satellite imagery We asked the SPACETREES team how their success story can influence others in similar industries. They believe that high-resolution satellite monitoring can revolutionize not only the forestry sector but also other industries. Organizations can react promptly to global climate change by using current imagery and tasking. For instance, the bark beetle is spreading rapidly across Europe, leading to extensive economic and ecological damage. Satellite monitoring enables SPACETREES to obtain information quickly from vast and inaccessible areas, where they can perform detailed analysis and devise further action. Advancements in technology have empowered SPACETREES to comprehend climate change better and take measures to mitigate it, ensuring a better world for future generations. Visit SPACETREES to learn more about their services.

Leveraging Satellite Imagery For Reforestation

Category: Case Study

Leveraging Satellite Imagery For Reforestation

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