Schistosomiasis japonica is an infectious disease caused by Schistosoma japonicum, and it remains endemic in China. Flooding is the main hazard factor, as it causes the spread of Oncomelania hupensis, the only intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum, thereby triggering schistosomiasis outbreaks. Based on multi-source real-time remote sensing data, we used remote sensing (RS) technology, especially synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and geographic information system (GIS) techniques to carry out warning research on potential snail habitats within the snail dispersal range following flooding. Our research result demonstrated: (1) SAR data from Sentinel-1A before and during a flood were used to identify submerged areas rapidly and effectively; (2) the likelihood of snail survival was positively correlated with the clay proportion, core area standard deviation, and ditch length but negatively correlated with the wetness index, NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index), elevation, woodland area, and construction land area; (3) the snail habitats were most abundant near rivers and ditches in paddy fields; (4) the rivers and paddy irrigation ditches in the submerged areas must be the focused of mitigation efforts following future floods.

GRACE observations revealed that rapid mass loss in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) abruptly paused in 2015, followed by a much lower rate of mass loss ( Gt yr⁻¹) until the decommissioning of GRACE in 2017. The critical 1‐year GRACE intermission data gap raises the question of whether the reduced mass loss rate persists. The Swarm gravimetry data, which have a lower resolution, show good agreement with GRACE/GRACE‐FO observations during the overlapping period, i.e., high correlation (0.78) and consistent trend estimates. Swarm data efficiently bridge the GRACE/GRACE‐FO data gap and reveal that WAIS has returned to the rapid mass loss state ( Gt yr⁻¹) that prevailed prior to 2015 during the GRACE intermission data gap. The changes in precipitation patterns, driven by the climate cycles, further explain and confirm the dramatic shifts in the WAIS mass loss regime implied by the Swarm observations.

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has the largest number of high-altitude glaciers on Earth. As a source of major rivers in Asia, this region provides fresh water to more than one billion people. Any terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes there have major societal effects in large parts of the continent. Due to the recent acceleration in global warming, part of the water environment in TP has become drastically unbalanced, with an increased risk of water disasters. We quantified secular and monthly glacier-mass-balance and TWS changes in water basins from April 2002 to December 2021 through the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment and its Follow-on satellite mission (GRACE/GRACE-FO). Adequate data postprocessing with destriping filters and gap filling and two regularization methods implemented in the spectral and space domain were applied. The largest glacier-mass losses were found in the Nyainqentanglha Mountains and Eastern Himalayas, with rates of −4.92 ± 1.38 Gt a⁻¹ and −4.34 ± 1.48 Gt a⁻¹, respectively. The Tien Shan region showed strong losses in its eastern and central parts. Furthermore, we found small glacier-mass increases in the Karakoram and West Kunlun. Most of the glacier mass change can be explained by snowfall changes and, in some areas, by summer rainfall created by the Indian monsoon. Major water basins in the north and south of the TP exhibited partly significant negative TWS changes. In turn, the endorheic region and the Qaidam basin in the TP, as well as the near Three Rivers source region, showed distinctly positive TWS signals related to net precipitation increase. However, the Salween River source region and the Yarlung Zangbo River basin showed decreasing trends. We suggest that our new and improved TWS-change results can be used for the maintenance of water resources and the prevention of water disasters not only in the TP, but also in surrounding Asian countries. They may also help in global change studies.

The high spatial-temporal variability of soil moisture necessitates monitoring at a high resolution in order to improve our understanding of Earth system processes. Current large-scale soil moistures inferred from the microwave satellites have limited spatial resolution, typically in the range of tens of kilometers. Recent studies have revealed that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter exhibits qualitative relationships with soil moisture, suggesting the potential for large-scale high-resolution mapping of soil moisture. Here, we proposed a method for directly estimating soil moisture content based on the Advanced Integral Equation Model (AIEM) and Mironov dielectric model. The approach involves establishing a series of semi-empirical models, independent of preceding surface roughness determination, using two Envisat ASAR alternating polarization (AP) model precision products. We generate a time series of high-resolution soil moisture using Envisat ASAR AP data acquired from 2004 to 2011, with an uncertainty of approximately 0.05 m ³ /m ³ . Our soil moisture retrievals demonstrate very good agreement with European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) soil moisture products and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA5 re-analysis hourly products, even in the absence of synchronous ground measurements. Furthermore, our study reveals good temporal coherence between drought and heavy rainfall events, and SAR-derived soil moisture, which suggests a potential to capture heavy rainfall and drought events. We conclude that SAR-derived soil moisture is a more direct and efficient method in quantifying soil moisture at a high spatial resolution, making it more suitable for watershed scale hydrological studies.

Quantifying the kinematic evolution patterns of mountain glaciers near Yarlung Tsanpo River performs a major role in evaluating the glacial instability and the secondary disasters. For the Sedongpu Basin near the Yarlung Tsanpo River Valley, the dramatic geomorphic landscape variations triggered by the ice-rock avalanche events were visually identified as the dominant texture deficiencies in time-series optical images. To improve the image correlation quality broken by these image texture deficiencies, the Landsat-8/Sentinel-2 optical images were divided into different groups, then a stepwise combination strategy was innovatively proposed to derive the glacier time-series displacement velocities in different temporal stages. The standard deviations (STD) of the optical measurements in the stable area maintained around 0.04 m/yr for the normalized displacement velocity and maintained from 0.6 to 1.7 m for the cumulative displacement time series. The obvious variations in glacier displacement velocity were identified before each collapse event. Subsequently, the offset-tracking procedures were performed on 7 Sentinel-1A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images to acquire the range and azimuth displacement velocities. To better reveal the dynamic mechanism of the glacier activity, the three-dimensional (3D) glacial displacement velocity was also derived by using optical and SAR results. The precipitation, temperature, and seismic activities were assumed as the main triggering factors of controlling the glacial dynamic mechanism and final collapse events. Additionally, the dynamic mechanism of the active glaciers in Sedongpu Basin conformed to a power law, which was limited by the changes of the internal stress friction force on the sliding base surface. The aim of this study is to shed a light on interpreting the precursory displacement patterns and their implicit failure mechanism of these ice-rock avalanche events with the conventional freely optical and SAR observations.

Lunar-based synthetic aperture radar repeat-track interferometry (LB-SAR RTI) is expected to play a significant role in addressing science issues pertaining to Earth dynamics because of its large-scale, long-term, and stable Earth observation (EO) ability. The distribution of the spatiotemporal baseline and effective spatial coverage are of great importance in the observation mode design and data acquisitions plan of LB-SAR RTI. Here, we describe the observation geometry and present the calculation method of the spatiotemporal baseline and effective spatial coverage of LB-SAR RTI. Using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory DE430 ephemeris, the results show that, first, the 1, 26, and 27 repeat cycles temporal baselines have the highest number of effective interferometric combinations, accounting for 50% of the effective observations; second, the optimal temporal baselines of LB-SAR RTI for large-scale EO are 26 and 27 repeat cycles, and the effective spatial coverage could reach up to 360° × 40° (longitude × latitude) in one day; and third, LB-SAR RTI can be used to observe the Earth's surface between latitudes 80° N and 80° S with different frequencies of observation that reach a maximum at latitudes 40° N and 40° S and decrease gradually toward the polar and equator regions. The lunar-based observation plan should take into account the initial observation time, temporal baseline, and effective spatial coverage.