An overview of remote sensing products used from the 1980s to the present for monitoring rainfall and vegetation used in FAO's global Desert Locust early warning system.

1. Remote sensing used by FAO DLIS
past & present
Keith Cressman
Senior Locust Forecasting Officer
Desert Locust Information Service (DLIS)
1 December 2015

2. Desert Locust global
early warning & forecasting
Breeding Migration Outputs
•location
•scale
•timing
•location
•scale
•timing
•Bulletin (monthly)
•Forecast (6-week)
•Forecast (6 mos)
•warnings+alerts
•updates
+

3. Desert Locust require moist sandy soil & green vegetation
rainfall
Meteosat
ARTEMIS CCD
CMORPH RFE
GIMMS NASA GFSC
NOAA AVHRR
SPOT
LANDSAT
MODIS
SENTINEL
vegetation

4. remote sensing evolution 1980s-2015
201019901980 2000
IRI RFE
(0.25 sq deg)
(digital colour)
Meteosat V+IR
(1st generation)
(hard BW copies)
2020
ARTEMIS CCD
(FAO RSC)
(hard colour copies)
GIMMS NASA GFSC
NOAA AVHRR NDVI
(1-7 km)
SENTINEL
(10 m)
SPOT
(1 km)
MODIS
(250 m)
RAIN
VEG

5. Meteosat First Generation (1981-1995)

6. FAO ARTEMIS cold cloud duration (1995-2005)

7. IRI rainfall estimates (CMORPH 0.25 x 0.25 lat/long)
0-40N/20W-80E

8. remote sensing evolution 1980s-2015
201019901980 2000
IRI RFE
(0.25 sq deg)
(digital colour)
Meteosat V+IR
(1st generation)
(hard BW copies)
2020
ARTEMIS CCD
(FAO RSC)
(hard colour copies)
GIMMS NASA GFSC
NOAA AVHRR NDVI
(1-7 km)
SENTINEL
(10 m)
SPOT
(1 km)
MODIS
(250 m)
RAIN
VEG

9. GIMMS NASA/GSFC (1985-2000) - 7 km

10. SPOT VEG (2000-2005) - 1 km

11. MODIS (2005-present) - 250 m

12. MODIS (2005-present) - 250 m

13. MODIS greenness (2010-present) - 250 m
number of decades since vegetation onset

14. some real examples …
1. Western Sahara (Oct 2015)
2. Yemen & cyclone Chapala (Nov 2015)
3. Somalia & cyclone Megh (Nov 2015)
4. SE Iran (spring 2015)

15. Unusually heavy rains (16-24 Oct 2015)
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 200 mm

16. MODIS greenness (11-20 Nov 2015)
number of decades since vegetation onset

17. MODIS greenness (11-20 Nov 2015)
0 25 km
number of decades since vegetation onset

18. MODIS greenness (11-20 Nov 2015)
MAURITANIA
WESTERN SAHARA
0 10 km

19. MODIS greenness (11-20 Nov 2015) CYCLONE CHAPALA ,YEMEN
0 25 km

20. MODIS greenness (11-20 Nov 2015) CYCLONE MEGH, NORTHERN SOMALIA
0 100 km

21. MODIS greenness (spring 2015) SOUTHEASTERN IRAN
0 100 km

22. MODIS greenness (11-20 Mar 2015) SOUTHEASTERN IRAN
0 100 km

23. MODIS greenness (21-31 Mar 2015) SOUTHEASTERN IRAN
0 100 km

24. MODIS greenness (1-10 Apr 2015) SOUTHEASTERN IRAN
0 100 km

25. MODIS greenness (11-20 Apr 2015) SOUTHEASTERN IRAN
0 100 km

26. SPOT
MODIS
SENTINEL
1 km
resolution improvements:
MODIS 784x > NOAA AVHRR
Sentinel 625x > MODIS
NOAA AVHRR

27. CAUTION ! “too high resolution” may become difficult to interpret
0 200 m

28. 10-day period
high spatial - high temporal
timely delivery
common attributes
Remote sensing used by FAO DLIS

29. Desert Locust Breeding map
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IRI RFE MODIS greenness
soils map soil moisture