How scientists are using drones to understand climate change
From collecting data and monitoring glacial melt to mapping the impact of natural disasters, drones are helping climate scientists understand our changing planet.
Image courtesy of rachman reilli
The present climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, with far-reaching and varied impacts. Human consumption of fuel sources like coal, gas, and oil continues to release excess carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to climate changes such as increasingly frequent and extreme droughts, heat waves, and floods. These changes have disrupted ecosystems and led to decreased biodiversity. They also have a significant social and economic impact: almost half the world’s population lives in places “highly vulnerable” to climate change. However, the good news is that investments in adaptation work. And these steps towards adaptation will save lives — both human and otherwise.
Drones are one form of technology that can help advance climate research. Drones can collect data to inform climate science by monitoring and mapping glacial melt, surveying the impact of natural disasters, and assessing air quality. Drones are an especially useful tool for climate science because they can access places people cannot, including hard-to-reach terrestrial, aerial, and underwater environments, while also reducing research costs and protecting researcher safety. They even help implement solutions, such as drone reforestation projects.
Image courtesy of Matt palmer
What does it look like to use drones for climate research?
Drones can play a central role in projects that plan for the impacts of the changing climate. One way this kind of work can be applied is by mapping flood risk. In some places, flooding events are expected to occur more frequently and with more intensity because of climate change.
A project with GLOBHE modeled flood risk in Kasungu, Malawi, to determine how vulnerable the nearby community was to rising river levels during their annual wet season. To start, they used satellite imagery to understand the historical context and realized that since 2017 the river channel had started to widen. They used drones to survey the area, collecting higher-resolution imagery at consistently spaced points. After, they processed the data into an orthomosaic, correcting distortion and balancing colors so that the collection of images could be combined into one accurate image. Then, they extracted elevation data from the orthomosaic and exported it to GIS software to analyze how increased river rise would impact the community.
Ultimately, this project determined that the village would lose 35 hectares of agricultural land with any additional river level rise, and with 5 meters of river level rise, the waters would reach the village. With information from these models based on drone data, villages can make informed decisions for community planning and work towards disaster prevention and mitigation.
Where is climate research using drones taking place?
Drones are helping conduct climate research on every continent. Because there are so many applications — from glacier surveying to air quality monitoring to disaster prediction mapping — there are many different kinds of climate research projects using drones. Here is a short list of some interesting applications from across the world:
Mozambique – Mapping flood-prone areas
Australia – Mapping coastal erosion from rising sea levels using drones
Peru – Using drones to monitor air quality in illegal mining areas
United Arab Emirates – Experimenting with drone cloud-seeding to cause rain during periods of drought
United States – Monitoring glacier lake flooding to prevent community infrastructure damage
Image courtesy of jéan Béller
Image courtesy of wolfgang hasselmann
How can I get involved?
While climate research might seem like a pretty technical field for a layperson, the exciting news is that, now more than ever, researchers around the world are relying on data and information collected by non-expert citizens to do their work.
A great example of this is GLOBHE’s Crowddroning platform, which matches local drone operators with clients in need of data. This model reduces carbon emissions from travel associated with fieldwork and supports local livelihoods. There are over 6,000 operators in over 100 countries associated with Crowddroning who together set the Guinness World Record for the largest online photo album of aerial images. Over a two-month period, drone pilots collected 22,909 images, including footage from each continent. These photos highlight the local effects of climate change, which has different impacts at various locations worldwide.
For more on GLOBHE’s Crowddroning Platform, check out their webpage.
Another example of citizen science in the drone world is GeoNadir, an Australian company that collects crowd-sourced drone data to protect ecosystems. GeoNadir’s hope is to provide a central repository for drone footage that can be easily searchable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. They provide anyone who is shooting drone footage with their camera pointing down with free data hosting and basic processing services. They also connect scientists with imagery collected by drone operators.
For more on GeoNadir, check out their website.
Want to learn more?
Check out these publicly available eBooks on the topic from Pix4D and GeoNadir:
Pix4D’s ebook offers an overview of drone applications for climate research.
GeoNadir’s ebook provides an introductory guide to drone mapping.
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