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CSIR ANNUAL REPORT 2010/11
Outputs
There are currently three PhD students
and two Master’s students studying in the
marine and freshwater Earth observation
field, with one postdoctoral student
focusing on bio-optics and the Southern
Ocean.
The Earth observation science and
information technology field has two PhD
students and one Master’s student working
on remote sensing research. Two Master’s
students are working in the ICT for Earth
observation domain.
The GEONETCast group also offered
a very successful African Operational
Oceanography training workshop,
attended by 29 delegates from fourteen
institutes across nine African countries.
They received training in GEONETCast
Receiving Station Operations; marine
Earth observation; ocean modelling and
data analysis.
Outcomes
AFIS is a satellite-based fire monitoring
system which monitors the whole country
and generates alerts via SMS when there
are large fires that pose a threat. These
SMS alerts are sent to Eskom and fire
protection associations in South Africa.
This is done using data from two sensors,
MSG and MODIS, which are processed
at the CSIR.
The CSIR’s expertise in developing fire
products has seen it take on an important
role in the South African Development
Community (SADC) economic region
as part of the African Monitoring of the
Environment for Sustainable Development
(AMESD) project. An innovative
combination of ICTs is being used to
ensure that fire services and products
developed at the CSIR are replicated in
the SADC.
The AMESD project is unique as
information is disseminated via a
communications satellite, which makes
it independent from the Internet. The
An active fire detected using data from the MODIS sensor on NASA’s Aqua and
Terra satellites.
GEONetCast dissemination portal requires
the CSIR to provide daily products via a
file transfer protocol server to Germany.
These products are then relayed up to the
communications satellite and downloaded
to receiving stations.
A total of 20 receiving stations, one for
each ministry of the environment in the
SADC region, are being rolled out. The
AFIS terminal will be used as part of the
receiving stations. Through remote access,
software will be continuously downloaded
to ensure that receiving stations remain
in prime working condition. Fixed mesh
antennas of 2.1 m are the second vital
component of these receiving stations to
be installed.
Also under the banner of GEONETCast,
CSIR researchers were involved with
establishing nine GEONETCast receiving
stations in African countries with
established marine research institutions.
The countries are Egypt, Senegal, Côte
d’Ivoire, Benin, Ghana, Namibia,
Uganda, Mozambique and Tanzania. Five
of these stations are currently operational
and sending data to African users, who
would otherwise not have had access
to this information because of limited
bandwidth.
In the SWEOS project, CSIR researchers
developed a low-cost robotic observation
system for marine and freshwater – this
serves as ‘proof of concept’ that the CSIR
has the capability to design and build
low-cost robotic observation systems for
aquatic ecosystems.
For South Africa to have this kind of
technology at hand and at low cost will
have a huge impact on our ability to
monitor water quality issues such as red
tide on the west coast or problems with
cyanobacteria and eutrophication in
inland waters.
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