Live Online Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course
Live online, instructor-led · next cohort Nov 2, 2026 · from USD 1,700
Governments, conservation bodies and climate programmes need evidence of what is changing on the ground: forests lost, wetlands shrinking, rangelands drying, glaciers retreating and croplands under stress. Satellites now provide free, repeated coverage of the whole continent, but turning pixels into trusted indicators takes skill. Over ten days you learn how optical, radar and thermal sensors work, where to obtain Landsat, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and MODIS data, and how to correct, mosaic and classify it in QGIS and Google Earth Engine.
You then build climate-relevant products: vegetation indices and anomalies, land cover change maps, surface water and flood extent, burned area, drought indices, land surface temperature and biomass estimates for carbon accounting. Accuracy assessment, time series analysis and reporting for national communications and project monitoring are covered in depth. Remote sensing analysts, GIS specialists, environmental scientists, forestry and agriculture officers, climate and disaster risk teams and researchers will benefit. Delivery is classroom, online or in-house, closing with a capstone project and a CPD-accredited certificate.
At a Glance
How Live Online Training Works
Live online training, led by a trainer in real time, for participants anywhere.
More about live online training →- Format
- Live online, instructor-led
- Duration
- Mon - Fri (10 Days)
- Fee
- USD 1,700 (KES 160,000)
- Next start dates
- Nov 2, 2026, Nov 30, 2026, Dec 28, 2026
- Certificate
- Certificate of Completion
- What you need
- A computer with a reliable internet connection, a webcam and a headset
About this course
Climate change is altering land, water and vegetation faster than ground surveys alone can record. Satellite archives reaching back four decades now let analysts see how a catchment, forest or farming region has responded to drought, clearing and warming, and to check whether adaptation and mitigation projects are delivering. Demand for these skills is growing in ministries, universities, utilities, insurers and international programmes that must report verifiable results.
This ten-day course builds that capability from first principles to project delivery. The first half covers the physics of remote sensing, sensor characteristics, image acquisition, pre-processing and classification, so that participants can handle imagery with confidence. The second half applies those foundations to climate monitoring themes: vegetation health, land use change, hydrology, fire, drought, urban heat and biomass. Throughout, participants practise reproducible workflows and learn to quantify uncertainty rather than simply produce attractive maps.
Every day includes computer laboratory work with real imagery from African landscapes. Participants complete an individual monitoring project, presenting methods, results, accuracy figures and a plan to repeat the analysis operationally.
Training Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Explain how optical, thermal and radar sensors capture information relevant to climate monitoring.
- Locate, download and manage Landsat, Sentinel and MODIS archives.
- Pre-process imagery through atmospheric correction, cloud masking and mosaicking.
- Compute vegetation, water, moisture and burn indices and interpret anomalies.
- Classify land cover and detect change using supervised and time series methods.
- Run workflows in Google Earth Engine for large-area and multi-year analysis.
- Map flooding, surface water and drought using optical and radar data.
- Assess map accuracy and estimate land cover change areas with uncertainty.
What you'll learn
Key Takeaways
Participants complete the programme with:
- A tested workflow for downloading and preparing multi-sensor imagery.
- Reusable Google Earth Engine scripts for time series and change detection.
- Maps of vegetation, water and land cover change for an area of interest.
- A drought and anomaly monitoring routine based on long-term baselines.
- An accuracy assessment table that supports credible reporting.
- A completed monitoring project ready to adapt for their organisation.
Training Methodology
The programme is computer-lab driven. Participants work through:
- Daily guided labs in QGIS and Google Earth Engine on African study areas
- Short concept briefings that precede each practical task
- Scripted workflows that are provided for reuse and adaptation
- Peer review of map products and accuracy results
- A supervised capstone project on a theme of the participant's choice
Day 1: Principles of Remote Sensing and Climate Indicators
- Electromagnetic spectrum and surface interactions
- Optical, thermal and radar sensor types
- Essential climate variables observable from space
- Spatial, spectral, temporal and radiometric resolution
- Project design and choice of imagery
- Exercise: matching indicators to sensors
Day 2: Accessing and Managing Satellite Data
- Landsat, Sentinel and MODIS missions compared
- Data portals and catalogue searches
- Cloud-based and offline data management
- Metadata, projections and file formats
- Introduction to QGIS for raster analysis
- Lab: downloading and organising an image archive
Day 3: Pre-processing and Image Enhancement
- Radiometric and atmospheric correction
- Cloud and shadow masking
- Mosaicking, clipping and resampling
- Band composites and contrast enhancement
- Pan-sharpening and image fusion
- Lab: preparing a clean Sentinel-2 scene
Day 4: Spectral Indices and Vegetation Monitoring
- NDVI, EVI and SAVI formulation
- Water and moisture indices such as NDWI and NDMI
- Phenology and seasonal curves
- Vegetation anomalies and condition indices
- Linking indices to crop and rangeland stress
- Lab: computing and mapping anomalies
Day 5: Land Cover Classification
- Training data design and field sampling
- Supervised classification algorithms
- Random forest and machine learning classifiers
- Object-based image analysis concepts
- Post-classification filtering
- Lab: land cover map of a study area
Day 6: Change Detection and Time Series Analysis
- Bi-temporal change detection methods
- Trend analysis in long image time series
- Breakpoint and disturbance detection
- Deforestation and degradation monitoring
- Urban expansion and land use change
- Lab: forest loss detection over two decades
Day 7: Google Earth Engine for Climate Monitoring
- Platform architecture and JavaScript API basics
- Image collections, filtering and reducers
- Cloud masking and compositing at scale
- Exporting results and charts
- Building reusable scripts and apps
- Lab: national scale NDVI time series
Day 8: Water, Flood, Drought and Fire Applications
- Surface water mapping and lake or wetland dynamics
- Flood extent mapping with Sentinel-1 radar
- Drought indices from rainfall and vegetation data
- Burned area and fire severity mapping
- Land surface temperature and urban heat
- Lab: flood and burn scar mapping
Day 9: Carbon, Biomass and Accuracy Assessment
- Forest cover and biomass proxies for carbon accounting
- Reference levels and monitoring, reporting and verification needs
- Sampling design for accuracy assessment
- Confusion matrices, user and producer accuracy
- Area estimation with uncertainty
- Lab: accuracy assessment of a change map
Day 10: Capstone Project, Reporting and Operationalisation
- Individual monitoring project work
- Cartographic design and communication of results
- Documenting methods for reproducibility
- Integrating outputs into national and project reports
- Building an operational monitoring routine
- Project presentations and course review
The course is designed for professionals who monitor environmental change from space, including:
- GIS and remote sensing analysts
- Environmental and climate change officers
- Forestry, wildlife and conservation managers
- Agriculture and food security analysts
- Water resources and disaster risk management specialists
- Researchers and lecturers in earth and environmental sciences
- Monitoring, reporting and verification staff on carbon projects
- Development agency staff overseeing resilience and landscape programmes
Participants who attend the ten days and present a completed monitoring project receive a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion from Vision Reach Global Consultancy.
Choose Where You Want to Learn
Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course Venues
KenyaNairobiNext Nov 9· 13 dates$3,000- KenyaMombasaNext Oct 26· 13 dates$3,200
- KenyaNaivashaNext Nov 2· 13 dates$3,000
- KenyaKisumuNext Oct 26· 13 dates$3,000
- KenyaMachakosNext Nov 2· 13 dates$3,200
UgandaKampalaNext Nov 2· 13 dates$3,800
RwandaKigaliNext Oct 26· 13 dates$3,800
TanzaniaArushaNext Nov 9· 13 dates$3,800- TanzaniaDodomaNext Oct 26· 13 dates$3,600
- TanzaniaDar es SalaamNext Oct 26· 13 dates$4,000
- TanzaniaZanzibarNext Nov 16· 13 dates$5,200
NigeriaLagosNext Nov 16· 13 dates$5,600- NigeriaAbujaNext Nov 9· 13 dates$5,600
South AfricaPretoriaNext Nov 2· 13 dates$6,400- South AfricaJohannesburgNext Nov 2· 13 dates$6,800
- South AfricaCape TownNext Oct 26· 13 dates$7,600
UAEDubaiNext Oct 26· 13 dates$7,600
GhanaAccraNext Nov 16· 13 dates$9,000
Scroll sideways to see all 18 cities →
Frequently Asked Questions About Live Online Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course
Everything you need to know about this course before you register.
By the end of the Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring programme, you'll be able to explain how optical, thermal and radar sensors capture information relevant to climate monitoring, locate, download and manage landsat, sentinel and modis archives, pre-process imagery through atmospheric correction, cloud masking and mosaicking, and compute vegetation, water, moisture and burn indices and interpret anomalies. The full breakdown of topics is covered session by session in the Course Outline tab above.
The course is designed for professionals who monitor environmental change from space, including: GIS and remote sensing analysts, Environmental and climate change officers, Forestry, wildlife and conservation managers, Agriculture and food security analysts, Water resources and disaster risk management specialists, Researchers and lecturers in earth and environmental sciences, Monitoring, reporting and verification staff on carbon projects, and Development agency staff overseeing resilience and landscape programmes.
Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course typically runs as 10 Days. It's available as in-person classroom, live virtual, and in-house corporate training — every course can also be delivered on-site for your team on dates that suit you.
Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course is scheduled in-classroom in Nairobi, Kenya, Mombasa, Kenya, Naivasha, Kenya, and Kisumu, Kenya, and 14 other locations, plus a live interactive virtual classroom you can join from anywhere. Check the schedule panel above for exact upcoming dates and fees in each location.
The next live virtual cohort of Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring starts November 2, 2026, with new classroom cohorts also running on a rolling basis. Pick a date and location in the schedule panel above, then click "Register for the Course" — it takes a few minutes and your seat is confirmed once payment or a signed purchase order is received.
Yes — delegates who meet the attendance requirement receive a Certificate of Completion for Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course from Vision Reach Global Consultancy, issued in the name you register with, so double-check the spelling at checkout.
Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course is pitched at intermediate professionals. If you're unsure whether it's the right fit for your current role or background, message our training advisors before you register and they'll help you confirm.
Fees for Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course vary by delivery location and format and are shown in real time in the schedule panel above once you pick a date. Register 3 or more delegates on the same course together and a 5% team discount is applied automatically — larger cohorts can request a custom corporate quote.
Yes — Satellite Imagery and Climate Change Monitoring Training Course can be delivered on-site at your offices (or virtually for distributed teams), with case studies and examples tailored to your industry and the specific challenges your team is working through. Switch to the "In-House" tab in the schedule panel above to request a proposal.
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