SkyTruth is a nonprofit environmental watchdog that uses satellite imagery and remote sensing data to identify and monitor threats to the planet's natural resources. Its stated mission is to "use the view from space to motivate people to protect the environment". Areas of focus range from issues such as offshore drilling, oil spills, urban development, hydraulic fracturing, mountaintop removal mining, and illegal fishing. SkyTruth releases all of its imagery and data to researchers and the public for free, with the goal of greater transparency, motivating individuals, policymakers, governments, and corporations towards more responsible stewardship of the planet Earth.
History
SkyTruth was founded in 2001 by John Amos, a geologist working in the private sector who became concerned with humankind's growing impact on the planet. Amos spoke with advocates in various environmental groups to discuss their communication needs and resource limitations and found a niche in providing analysis of satellite and aerial imagery to non-governmental organizations, environmental advocates, and government resource managers. Early SkyTruth projects included mapping the landscape impact of natural gas drilling in the Rocky Mountains, revealing commercial fishing vessel activity on the outskirts of marine protected areas, and showing the growing environmental impact of strip mining for coal and other minerals throughout the United States.
In April 2010, the offshore oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operated by BP P.L.C., exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and triggered the largest accidental oil spill in history. In cooperation with Florida State University, SkyTruth estimated the amount of oil flow from the damaged well-using satellite imagery and determined based conservative estimates using the visible surface slick that the flow of oil was between 5 and 25 times greater than BP reported. SkyTruth was the first organization to challenge BP's claims, and continued to monitor and document flow from the well until it was successfully sealed.
Recent Projects
FrackFinder
SkyTruth's FrackFinder project utilizes public crowd sourcing to map fracking operations on the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations. SkyTruth has mapped out fracking well pads and retainment ponds in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, with further plans to quantify the total impact halos of fracking operations underway. FrackFinder data is publicly available through GitHub. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University used SkyTruth's FrackFinder data to link hydraulic fracturing activity to premature birth, high risk pregnancies, migraines, fatigue, and chronic nasal and sinus symptoms.
On September 16, 2015, SkyTruth in partnership with Google and marine conservation organization, Oceana, launched Global Fishing Watch at the Our Ocean Conference hosted by then-Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington, DC. Global Fishing Watch continuously publicizes the locations of over 200,000 vessels via their onboard Automatic Identification Systems so that users can individually track vessels through exclusive economic zones, marine protected areas, and other features. Global Fishing Watch has been used by governments, such as that of Kiribati in 2016, to crack down on illegal fishing and fishing in protected waters.
Mountaintop Removal Mining
SkyTruth collected data for their mountain top removal survey in a partnership with Appalachian Voices, to map the location and growth of mountain top removal mines over a 30-year period.
