POTENTIAL USES OF SATELLITE IMAGERY IN JUNIOR ACADEMY OF SCIENCES STUDENTS’ RESEARCH WORK DURING THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

Remote sensing technologies play a significant role in education as a credible and objective source of information. Since 2017, the National Center “Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine” has been supervising the “GIS and Earth Remote Sensing” laboratory, which provides scientific, methodological, and procedural support for the 14 “GIS and Earth Remote Sensing” regional branches’ academic activities. In 2022 a corresponding section has been launched for the ІІІ stage of the nationwide Contest-Presentation of Scientific Research Projects held by the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. This article examines two approaches to using remote sensing data in education: theoretical (based on current situation with monitoring the consequences of the russian-ukrainian war) and practical (considering the research process and results of two runners-up among the final stage participants of the 2023 JASU Contest-Presentation of Scientific Research Projects in the “GIS and Earth Remote Sensing” section). Remote sensing technologies can be a critical tool for exploring the devastating impact of high scale military actions on the environment and infrastructure. Satellite imagery analysis provides access to the most precise data on landscape changes, infrastructure destruction and air pollution levels without the need of researcher’s physical presence in the military action zone, and therefore, without risk to life and health. This monitoring approach allows obtaining up-to-date information crucial for decision making on providing emergency humanitarian assistance, identifying resource requirements for potential infrastructure restoration and environmental renewal. Studying the catastrophic consequences of the russian-ukrainian war using remote sensing tools makes it possible to conduct a professional expertise of the damage and losses inflicted on Ukraine as a result of the russian aggression, and to assess the necessary resources and means for the further restoration of our country. The article reveals three significant events that took place since the beginning of the full-scale invasion and demonstrates how satellite imagery can be used to monitor the battlegrounds around the Gostomel military airfield, the territory of the Dnipro river overflow caused by the undermining of the Kakhovska HPP, and the zone heavily affected by air pollution as a result of an intentional arson at the Lysychansk oil refinery after the russian airstrike.