Using Google Earth engine for geological remote sensing

Geological remote sensing is an essential tool in mineral exploration, employing satellite, airborne, and drone-based imagery to identify and analyse potential mineral deposits from a distance. This technique allows geologists to survey vast and often inaccessible areas, identifying critical geological features indicative of minerals without needing immediate physical sampling. Remote sensing geology is possible in areas with “good exposure”, which typically refers to arid and semi-arid areas. Surface cover is often considered to be invariant (or only changing on a geological timescale), which holds for rocks and minerals and, to a lesser degree, for soils. What of course does change over time is the acquisition environment, driven by seasonal change and the weather. Mapping at regional scale however requires an image collection acquired over a longer time span, and possibly including temperate and cultivated regions. For small-scale studies, data acquired at a single moment seem to suffice, but results still differ from image to image.Sensors with a continuous multi-temporal operation (e.g. Landsat 8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI) enable to monitor land surface processes over time, but also allow to choose an optimal moment of seasonal acquisition. Handling the vast amount of data from ESA and NASA’s earth observation programmes has led to the development of cloud-based processing environments. This presentation will shed a light on the use of Google Earth Engine for mapping surface dynamics and studying the influence of time on geological remote sensing results

What influences public acceptability of sustainable energy policies? The crucial role of funding and who benefits

Public acceptance of sustainable energy policies is critical for successfully transitioning towards a sustainable energy system. However, relatively little is known about when and why people find energy policies acceptable. We examined to what extent policy characteristics and individual motivational factors influence sustainable energy policy acceptability among a representative sample in the Netherlands. Using a within-participants experimental design, 261 respondents rated the acceptability of 24 energy policies which systematically varied based on the energy behaviour targeted by the policy, whether the policy was a push or pull design, and whether the policies indicated they would generate funds from or allocate funds to individuals, an environmental fund, or a general fund of pooled finances. We replicated previous findings that the stronger people's biospheric values, the more acceptable they find sustainable energy policies. Moreover, we found that a policy's target behaviour may influence acceptability, but that this is no longer the case when controlling for biospheric values. Lastly, we found push policies were considered more acceptable when revenues benefited individuals or the environment instead of general funds, and pull policies were more acceptable when they were paid for by general funds and to a lesser extent environmental funds, compared to being paid for by individuals, and that these results held when controlling for people's biospheric values. Overall, our findings suggest sustainable energy policy acceptability depends on the extent to which individuals benefit from the policy. However, importantly, acceptability also strongly depends on the extent to which the environment benefits

De ecoploeg: grondbewerking gebaseerd op minimale ploegdiepte.

Results of experiments with the Rumpsted Eco-plough, designed to minimize the disruption of the soil ecosystem (Lovinkhoeve, Marknesse; Minderhoudhoeve, Swifterbant). Effects on soil compaction, surface roughness, energy use, soil structure and expected soil structure on the long term, mineralization and leaching, weed suppressio