In Focus: Travelling through space and time: Remote sensing of natural World Heritage sites

Humankind has already been using Earth observation satellites as a tool for over 50 years, and observation data archives provide valuable information to fill in the gap due to lack of documentation and statistical records in the past. For example, the Earth observation data archives are available to the public right from the earliest images taken from 1960 to 1984 by the very first USA photoreconnaissance satellite CORONA, to the data acquired today by the latest satellite constellations. Recognizing the socio-economic value of this information, several satellite data providers are offering open access to their archives, which makes it possible to monitor natural and cultural heritage sites and assess their condition. As countries are relaxing their policies towards the use of drones, collecting aerial images is coming within everyone’s reach and would complement the Earth observation data collected from space.