ESA Symposium on Earth Observation for Soil Protection and Restoration, 06 – 07 March 2024 | ESA-ESRIN | Frascati (Rome), Italy

The ESA-European Space Agency, in collaboration with the OpenGeoHub Foundation, has organized an unique opportunity for researchers to participate in the upcoming EO4Soil Protection hackathons. Sustec/IPB has participed in the hackathon Topic #1: Predicting Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) Density, where we have had opportunity to connect with leading experts in the fields of earth observation and soil science, share knowledge, sharpen our skills, and craft cutting-edge monitoring solutions to achieve climate neutrality. SOC is one of the key indicators of soil health and one of the three key monitoring indicators of the UNCCD's Land Degradation Neutrality initiative. Sustec/ IPB has obtained the second placed in this hackathon to develop an innovative solutions for predicting SOC density at site. So, we would like contribute to ESA and researchers around the world to produce the most accurate SOC monitoring systems. The authors of this world contribution are Arthur Aparecido Janoni Lima and Júlio Castro Lopes, FCT research fellows of Sustec, supervised by Tomas de Figueiredo (CIMO) and Rui Pedro Lopes (CEDRI) and Zulimar Hernández, who have developed an algoritm with high capacity to predict SOC. The hackathon winners have be awarded the opportunity to show their results at ESA's Symposium on Earth Observation for Soil Protection and Restoration today, March 7, in Frascati, Italy. And they will received a €12.5k voucher for cloud processing at ESA's NoR.