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Tiny satellites reveal water dynamics in thousands of northern lakes
https://news.brown.edu/articles/2019/02/cubesatTiny satellites reveal water dynamics in thousands of northern lakes
February 14, 2019 Media contact: Kevin Stacey 401-863-3766
In a finding that has implications for how scientists calculate natural greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds that water levels in small lakes across northern Canada and Alaska vary during the summer much more than was assumed.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Using an army of small satellites, researchers have shown that water levels in small lakes across northern Canada and Alaska are far more variable during the summer than previously thought. The findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters, could have implications for how scientists calculate the natural greenhouse gas emissions from these northern lakes.
The study used images taken by a network of more than 150 CubeSats — small satellites about the size of shoeboxes — which made nearly daily observations of more than 85,000 small North American lakes during the summer of 2017. The images enabled the researchers to see how the lakes changed over time. They found small but significant shoreline changes in individual lakes that added up to hundreds of square kilometers of lake area change across the study region.
“There’s been a lot of research on climate-driven changes in lake area, but it’s mainly focused on long-term changes,” said Sarah Cooley, a Ph.D. student at Brown University and the study’s lead author. “This is the first time that anyone has looked at fine-scale, short-term changes, and we found that there’s much more variability within a season than expected.”
…
https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018GL081584February 14, 2019 Media contact: Kevin Stacey 401-863-3766
In a finding that has implications for how scientists calculate natural greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds that water levels in small lakes across northern Canada and Alaska vary during the summer much more than was assumed.
Lots of lakes
A new study uses CubeSats to measure short-term changes in northern hemisphere lakes. The study region includes (clockwise starting at the top left): Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada; Canadian Shield, north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada; Yukon Flats, Alaska and Tuktoytaktuk Peninsula, Northwest Territories, Canada.
Credit: Planet
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Using an army of small satellites, researchers have shown that water levels in small lakes across northern Canada and Alaska are far more variable during the summer than previously thought. The findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters, could have implications for how scientists calculate the natural greenhouse gas emissions from these northern lakes.
The study used images taken by a network of more than 150 CubeSats — small satellites about the size of shoeboxes — which made nearly daily observations of more than 85,000 small North American lakes during the summer of 2017. The images enabled the researchers to see how the lakes changed over time. They found small but significant shoreline changes in individual lakes that added up to hundreds of square kilometers of lake area change across the study region.
“There’s been a lot of research on climate-driven changes in lake area, but it’s mainly focused on long-term changes,” said Sarah Cooley, a Ph.D. student at Brown University and the study’s lead author. “This is the first time that anyone has looked at fine-scale, short-term changes, and we found that there’s much more variability within a season than expected.”
…
