December 03, 2019

This year Ecuador's indigenous communities had a landmark victory in court to keep oil extraction off of some Waorani lands. In nearby Yasuni National Park, deforestation related to oil extraction continues just outside of Waorani land. 

October 02, 2019

This week's blog with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science focuses on environmental economics and valuation of the environment. 

December 11, 2018

GEOG Ph.D. student Alison Thieme was selected as one of the grand prize winners for AGU's Data Visualization and Storytelling Competition. Alison's presentation is entitled "Earth Observations and Conservation: Protecting the Amazon with Imagery". It highlights the use of Landsat and high resolution imagery to inform policy decisions in the Amazon basin. Catch her presentation on December 11th between 12 - 1:15 pm at AGU's NASA Hyperwall. 

November 06, 2018

Katie Hill's campaign for U.S. Congress in CA's 25th district features maps made by Ms. Thieme. This swing district was a tight race. In the end, Katie Hill won her congressional race to be the first Democrat elected to the position in more than 25 years. 

October 18, 2018

A recent Mongabay article discusses the potential fate of Colombia's forests and uses Alison's maps to illustrate recent deforestation in Colombia. 

June 25, 2018

NASA DEVELOP and GEF (World Bank Group) research incorporates geospatial analyses into an evaluation report of past projects in the Mount Kenya ecosystem. Results were presented at the 54th GEF Council Meeting.

July 03, 2018

After recent reports that the Amazon forest in this region is highly threatened, the Colombian government has expanded Chiribiquete National Park to the largest in the Amazon basin. This expansion adds roughly 50% of the the previous area to make a 4.3 million hectare protected area. 

August 18, 2018

El Comercio, Ecuador's largest newspaper, recently featured research done by Ms. Thieme with Amazon Conservation and Amazon Conservation Team. The research focuses on deforestation rates across Ecuador from 2000-2017 and drivers of deforestation.. 

July 17, 2018

Here, we highlight deforestation hot spots, the areas with the highest deforestation densities, in the mega-diverse Ecuadorian Amazon. We then zoom in and focus on a dynamic area in the north that is located between three important protected areas (Sumaco, Yasuní and Cuyabeno).

We show a series of satellite images that indicate that the primary deforestation drivers (causes) in these hot spots are oil palm and other agricultural activities.

June 18, 2018

The Colombian government is finalizing plans to expand the boundaries of Chiribiquete National Park, an important step for conservation. However, we show (with high-resolution images) that deforestation is surging in the area and rapidly expanding towards these new boundaries. In fact, in 2018, deforestation has entered the proposed park expansion.

April 25, 2018

The recent StoryMap visualizing and quantifying deforestation in iNational Park, the most biodiverse area in the world, has appeared in a recent Mongabay Latam article. It further discusses the history of oil extraction in the region, the recent referendum, and the referendum's implications for the park. 

April 16, 2018

After a referendum was passed to reduce the limit on oil infrastructure in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador. This article details the current extent of oil extraction and associated colonization in the protected area using a combination of Planet and DigitalGlobe imagery.

April 02, 2018

The NASA DEVELOP Niger Water Resources team, together with Mercy Corps, made a Google Earth Engine tool to use Earth observations to analyze and visualize water resources in Niger, West Africa. This is now freely available for download on GitHub.

January 29, 2018

This report is the second in a series investigating deforestation hotspots in the Colombian Amazon. These hotspots indicate areas with the highest rates and densities of deforestation. Our goal is to identify and prioritize the hotspots, and use high-resolution satellite imagery to identify the primary deforestation drivers. 

January 12, 2018

A short article on Alison's career path and entry into the Earth sciences. Here she describes both the evolution of her experiences and goals to present. 

November 03, 2017

The Middle Atlantic Division Association of American Geographers meeting held at the University of Maryland hosted a variety of presentations. Fittingly, Ms. Thieme presented on the relationship between the health of the Chesapeake Bay and agricultural runoff along with the efforts being done to improve bay health. 

October 10, 2017

Submission by Alison Thieme for the AGU Data Visualization and Storytelling Competition 2017 selected as runner up. Entries were judged based on the creativity of the presentation and the applicant’s ability to present data and complex problems; perceived level of impact and engagement the planned presentation incites in audience; and organization and conceivability of proposed presentation of data. This entry was visualizing work created during the NASA DEVELOP Niger Water Resources project which partnered with Mercy Corps. 

August 04, 2017

This year's Annual Earth Science Applications Showcase (AESAS) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC featured two presentations on Niger Water Resources. This project is a collaboration between NASA DEVELOP and Mercy Corps examining the relationships between water resources and population resilience in Niger. 

July 05, 2017

We are excited to present our initial analysis of the Colombian Amazon, a work that reflects an important collaboration with our colleagues at Amazon Conservation Team and Amazon Conservation Association. This report has two objectives: 1) Illustrate the major deforestation hotspots in the Colombian Amazon between 2001 and 2015 and 2) Focus in on one of the most important hotspots, located in the Caquetá department. In short, we show satellite imagery of the expanding forest loss in one of the most important deforestation hotspots in the Colombian Amazon.

June 15, 2017

A team consisting of Alison Thieme, Sunita Yadav, John Fitz, Sean McCartney, and Perry Oddo were published in IEEE's Earthzine!  Their paper, entitled Catchment in the Rye: Conservation in the Chesapeake Bay, covers the partnership with Maryland Department of Agriculture, USDA Agricultural Research Service, USGS, and US EPA and their continued conservation work in the Chesapeake Bay. 

April 26, 2017

NASA DEVELOP's Chesapeake Bay Agriculture team at Goddard Space Flight Center is featured as NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day!  The article highlights the partnership with Maryland Department of Agriculture, USDA Agricultural Research Service, USGS, and US EPA. 

April 10, 2017

Alison Thieme is presenting the NASA DEVELOP Kenya Ecological Forecasting Project at US-IALE 2017 in Baltimore!  This project was in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility Independent Evaluation Office.

February 13, 2017

Alison Thieme, Kathleen Moore, and Kristen Hocutt presents on Esri's ModelBuilder at FedGIS 2017 in Washington, DC!  Alison will discuss the use of ModelBuilder in the NASA DEVELOP Southern Arizona Ecological Forecasting project done at JPL!

January 19, 2017

A team consisting of Alison Thieme, Thomas McCarthy, Philippe Masson, Peter Leimgruber, and Brian Gratwicke were published in Geo: Geography and Environment!  Their paper, entitled The relationship between climate and adult body size in redback salamanders (Plethodon cinereus), covers the relationship with amphibian morphology and the relationship with the climate.

December 17, 2016

The Kenya Ecological Forecasting Team (Madeline Ruid, Perry Oddo, Erin Glennie, and Alison Thieme) won the NASA DEVELOP Video Competition!  

October 06, 2016

NASA DEVELOP's Puerto Rico Agriculture team at Goddard Space Flight Center is featured as NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day!  The article highlights the partnership with USDA Agricultural Research Service and the University of Puerto Rico.