?ISC Kosmotras successfully launched a cluster of small spacecraft by the RS-20 rocket (Dnepr) on 20 June 2014. The first Russian private Earth remote sensing satellite of SPUTNIX Company, named TabletSat-Aurora also was set into its target orbit. It is planned to receive the data from the microsatellite to a SCANEX ground network UniScanTM, with the data to be used in commercial, scientific, educational and environmental projects. “It is an important event for us, — says Alexander Serkin, ISC Kosmotras CEO.

A study of greenness in Mato Grosso, Brazil: Forestland remains green all year cropland turns green only as crops ripen. A NASA satelite can detect those changes, allowing researchers to analyze land use over the years.

ESA designates as Fellows of the Society certain members who have made outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by ESA. Such contributions include, but are not restricted to, those that advance or apply ecological knowledge in academics, government, non-profit organizations, and the private sector through outstanding contributions to research, education and/or outreach. The designation of Fellow is an honorific title, and all Fellows will be listed on the ESA website.

BARD is pleased to announce that BARD’s cooperative efforts with NIFA have been expanded to an additional Request For Applications (RFA) – National Integrated Water Quality Program (NIWQP). This is in addition to the previously announced cooperation with NIFA and their Water For Agriculture RFA. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BARD. Israeli scientists may join a US scientist/team applying for a grant to the NIWQA.

UGEC Co-Chair Karen Seto was recently interviewed on the MacMillan Report, where she discussed her work on human transformation of land and the links between urbanization, global change, and sustainability. Professor Seto's research is on the human transformation of land and the links between urbanization, global change, and sustainability. A geographer by training, her research integrates remote sensing, field interviews, and modeling methods to study land change and urbanization, forecast urban growth, and examine the environmental consequences of urban expansion.

Changes in Earth's forest cover impact cycles of water, energy, carbon, and other nutrients, as well as the ability of ecosystems to support biodiversity and human economies. Knowledge of these processes is critical to understand the rates, causes, and consequences of land use change and ultimately, to manage ecosystems sustainably. A number of national and international programs call for routine monitoring of global forest changes, including the Global Observation for Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD), Global Climate Observing System (GCOS, 2004), and the U.S.

Britaldo Soares-Filho, Raoni Rajăo, Marcia Macedo, Arnaldo Carneiro, William Costa, Michael Coe, Hermann Rodrigues, and Ane Alencar: Cracking Brazil's Forest Cod: Science 25 April 2014: 344 (6182), 363-364. [DOI:10.1126/science.1246663]

Britaldo Soares-Filho, Raoni Rajăo, Marcia Macedo, Arnaldo Carneiro, William Costa, Michael Coe, Hermann Rodrigues, and Ane Alencar: Cracking Brazil's Forest Cod: Science 25 April 2014: 344 (6182), 363-364. [DOI:10.1126/science.1246663]

5880 days, that is how long the SPOT-VEGETATION mission has been delivering images on the global vegetation status to more than 10.000 users worldwide on a daily basis. Now, 16 years later, it is time for SPOT-VEGETATION to hand over the torch to its successor, the micro-satellite PROBA-V. The SPOT-VEGETATION mission is a collaboration between France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden and the EC that has been monitoring the global vegetation status for more than 16 years. The VEGETATION instruments (VGT1 and VGT2) were incorporated in the SPOT programme, a programme that was founded in 1978.

The second meeting of GOFC-GOLD South Central and East European Regional Information Network (SCERIN-2) is planned for 9-10 June 2014. It will be hosted by Drs. K. Ostapowicz and J. Kozak, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (http://www.gis.geo.uj.edu.pl/ZGIS/eng/aboutus/contact.ht). SCERINs goals are to promote the use and improve the quality and availability of Earth System remote-sensing data in South Central and Eastern Europe (SCE).