Mountain Gorilla Protection: A Geomatics Approach
 
"Gorillas in the data base"

 

 

Future Directions

 

The various individual participants and projects are making important progress.  Some future activities will include:

Improved Digital Elevation Module from the

NASA/NIMA SRTM mission

 

In 2000 NASA and the National Image and Mapping Agency of the US Defense Department flew a third flight of the SIR-C radar. The SIR-C/S-SAR missions of 1994 proved that interferrometry from space was practical using the system. 

Interferometry is the creation of Digital Elevation Models using two different radar images taken from different angles. These can be compared and processed to create extremely accurate terrain models anywhere on Earth.

The Shuttle Radar Terrain Mapping (SRTM) Mission flew Feb. 11-22, 2000 using  the same radar instrument that comprised the SIR-C/X-SAR that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C.

 

Once the data are processed this will give us a superbly accurate 30 meter Digital Elevation Model of the entire region for analysis. The data have already been processed (see image below), but have not been released ouside of NASA and DOD. We are working to be some of the first to have access to this data of our study area. This will be an great improvement over the original DEM produced from 1930's contour maps, as described above.

 

Nyiragongo volcano draped on SRTM elevation data

Click on the image for a larger version

NASA SRTM website
USGS SRTM website

ASTER Data
 
The With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)  images Earth  to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Learn more about ASTER data

 

GIS Modeling
 

The original hand-drawn monthly gorilla movement maps that were produced by Dian Fossey will be scanned and digitized into the GIS. These data will be compared with modern movements recorded by GPS.

In her original research, Dian Fossey plotted the movement of Gorilla groups in the Virungas using a felt tip marker on xeroxed and enlarged Belgian Colonial Service maps. These daily maps of gorilla movements were produced each month of her field research. The image below shows the movements of three gorilla bands each day in the month of February. Some 18 of these maps were produced. They were salvaged from the Karisoke Research Center after it was ransacked by fighters in the 1990's.

Dian Fossey monthly gorilla movement map

 

 

  

 

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For more information contact Scott Madry

or the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund