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Powered by Google Earth Engine ’ s cloud-based artificial intelligence , Dynamic World uses satellite imagery with a resolution of 10 by 10 meters ( 33 by 33 feet ) from the European Space Agency ’ s Sentinel-2 satellites to reveal up-to-date coverage of a suite of different land and water types , including urban development , wetlands , forests , crops and trees .
While satellite images are typically processed as soon as they become available , up until now , global land cover maps often take months to produce and are updated only on a monthly or annual basis . As a result , decision-makers at times lack timely data that could lead to rapid actions to address environmental disturbances , such as unprecedented changes to seasonal ecosystem cycles , the impacts of storms , floods and fires , or human disturbances like illegal logging .
“ We ’ ve heard from a number of governments and researchers that they ’ re committed to taking action … but they ’ re lacking critical environmental monitoring information that they need [ in order ] to understand what ’ s happening on the ground ,” Moore said . She added that the level of detail available through Dynamic World will now enable scientists and policymakers to rapidly detect and quantify the extent of environmental change anywhere on Earth .
Figure 3 . A Dynamic World land use land cover map of the Mekong River delta , showing classification of different land cover types like urbanized Ho Chi Minh ( red pixels ). Image courtesy of Google / WRI .
A new study about the tool , published June 9 in Scientific Data , says Dynamic World ’ s features will “ enable unprecedented flexibility for a diverse community of users across a variety of disciplines .”
The Dynamic World tool leverages the systematic orbit of the ESA ’ s Sentinel-2
Figure 4 . Land use mapping via the new tool can enable monitoring groups to hold oil palm companies accountable for the clearing of natural forests . Image by Rhett A . Butler for Mongabay .
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