Found 336 publications. Showing page 1 of 14:
The AlphaEarth Foundations model, recently released in Google Earth Engine as annual satellite embeddings, provides a new way to work with multi-sensor Earth observation data. Each 10-m pixel is summarized as a 64-dimensional vector that captures the yearly trajectory of surface conditions using information learned from optical, radar, LiDAR, and other datasets, including climatic model outputs and digital terrain data. Rather than representing physical measurements directly, these embeddings condense complex spatial and temporal patterns into compact descriptors that can be used as inputs for machine-learning regression models. This allows researchers to explore environmental patterns—such as air quality—that are influenced by geographical, environmental, and meteorological conditions in cities.In this study, we evaluate whether these annual embeddings, represented as 64 bands (A00–A63), can describe spatial patterns of urban NO₂ without explicitly supplying additional land-use, meteorological, or emission datasets. We present first results from two contrasting environments: Quito, a high-altitude Andean basin in Ecuador, and Essen, a dense urban–industrial region in western Germany. Models trained only with the embedding bands and ground-based NO₂ observations reproduce meaningful spatial gradients in both cities, suggesting that the embeddings encode attributes relevant to emission intensity, urban structure, and pollutant dispersion.These early results highlight the potential of foundation-model satellite embeddings as lightweight, scalable predictors for urban air-quality analyses. They also show how these embeddings can be combined with advanced AI-based regression models, offering a new option for studying air pollution patterns in cities where data availability is often limited by the small number of air-quality monitoring stations.
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As climate change impacts intensify across Europe and globally, societies are confronted with increasingly frequent and severe hazards that challenge public health, urban livability, and environmental sustainability. While adaptation measures are urgently needed to cope with current and near-term climate risks, it is becoming increasingly evident that mitigation efforts are essential to ensure a resilient and sustainable future. Too often, however, adaptation and mitigation strategies are planned and implemented in isolation, within sectoral silos, overlooking their potential interdependencies, synergies, and co-benefits. This contribution draws on the on-going experience and perspectives of the EU-funded healthRiskADAPT project, which addresses climate-related health risks by explicitly linking adaptation and mitigation pathways across multiple hazards.The project adopts a broad and integrated perspective that combines existing technical solutions, nature-based interventions, and engagement strategies, with a strong emphasis on co-benefits for health and well-being in the face of climate hazards namely heatwaves, air pollution including wildfire emission, and pollen. Central to this framework is the use of cost–benefit and co-benefit analyses to support decision-makers in identifying, prioritizing, and implementing measures that maximize societal resilience while delivering climate resilience solutions, considering natural based solutions (e.g., greening) as well as technical solutions (e.g., smart-buildings, do-it-yourself air purifier devices, evaporative cooling, high efficiency filtering). Beyond technical assessments, the healthRiskADAPT project recognizes that increasing resilience requires engagement beyond institutional actors. Social solutions such as education, awareness-raising, and capacity building at the stakeholder level are considered essential components of effective climate strategies. The contribution therefore also explores participatory formats and stakeholder engagement approaches designed to enhance understanding of climate-related health risks and support the co-design of locally relevant policies and interventions.By presenting the project’s methodological pathways, tools, and engagement strategies, this contribution illustrates how integrated adaptation–mitigation planning can be operationalized in practice. It highlights the value of moving beyond sector-specific solutions toward systemic approaches that acknowledge complex interdependencies between climate, environment, health, and society. Ultimately, the contribution aims to demonstrate how such integrated frameworks can support cities and regions in developing more coherent, evidence-based, and socially inclusive climate policies, strengthening resilience in the face of a changing climate.
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