The Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), Kochi, Kerala, is set to join the research project backed by the Space Application Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) under the (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) NASA–ISRO collaborative programme.
- KUFOS is selected as one of the nodal agencies in South India to implement the project.
- The project will be headed by Girish Gopinath, Associate professor of Remote Sensing and geographic information system (GIS) at KUFOS and U Surendran, senior scientist at Centre for Water Resources Development and Management(CWRDM).
About the project:
i.Under this project, the ground truth data validation is planned prior to NISAR launch through collaboration with other research institutions like CWRDM.
ii.Under this project, KUFOS will establish a long term plots and its inventory in Shimoga (Karnataka) and Nilambur (Kerala) for validation of NISAR Forest biomass products.
iii.The outcome of the partnership with KUFOS is expected to address the critical issues of forest biomass estimation, carbon stock estimation and monitoring and carbon sequestration.
NASA-ISRO collaboration:
i.NASA and ISRO are jointly working on developing a space borne NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), which is to be launched in January 2023.
ii.NISAR will produce high resolution data for large areas with the capabilities for systematic observation of earth resources.
iii.It will also provide time series data for eco systems applications that will benefit the operational activities related to agriculture, forestry, wetlands and soil moisture estimation.
NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR):
i.NISAR is a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and ISRO which aims to make global measurements of the causes and consequences of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging.
ii.This will be the first satellite mission to use 2 different radar frequencies, L-band and S-band, to measure changes in our Earth’s surface less than a centimeter across.
- In September 2014, NASA and ISRO signed the partnership agreement to collaborate and launch NISAR.
About Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS):
Chancellor– Arif Mohammed Khan (Governor of Kerala)
Location– Kochi, Kerala
Established in 2010
About Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO):
Chairman– Dr. K Sivan
Established in August 1969
Headquarters– Bengaluru, Karnataka
