Photo courtesy of I. Callejas
A study entitled, “A GEE toolkit for water quality monitoring from 2002 to 2022 in support of SDG 14 and coral health in marine protected areas in Belize,” was featured on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)/ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website.
The UCLA-led paper – a collaboration with JPL, Belizean scientists and other universities – used satellite imagery to determine how rising water temperatures are affecting Belize’s coastal areas. The aim is to guide governments on how to conserve coastal areas, starting with Belize. The same studies can essentially be replicated all around the world.
Lead author and civil and environmental engineering graduate student Ileana Callejas stated, “We were trying to make the data and our approach as accessible as possible. Our main purpose was to make a toolkit that would be easy to use, that would produce an index that was easy to understand, and that could be used to see which marine protected areas may need closer attention.”
Callejas is advised by civil and environmental engineering vice chair and professor Jennifer Jay.
Link to the study, “A GEE toolkit for water quality monitoring from 2002 to 2022 in support of SDG 14 and coral health in marine protected areas in Belize”: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsen.2022.1020184/full
Link to the press release on the JPL/NASA site entitled, “Scientists Use NASA Satellite Data to Determine Belize Coral Reef Risk”: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/scientists-use-nasa-satellite-data-to-determine-belize-coral-reef-risk