Jordanian researcher honoured for work on thermal remote sensing

AMMAN — Jordanian researcher Heba Al Zaben was honoured by L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Middle East for her research on thermal remote sensing to monitor ecosystem health.

The honouring ceremony was held at Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday, bringing together 14 women from the MENA region to honour their remarkable discoveries in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). 

Five of the winners were from the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) and the other nine winners were from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. 

The aim of the ceremony is to recognise the remarkable scientific discoveries of women in the Arab World, underscoring their role in solving today’s challenges, as well as inspiring the future generation of females, according to a statement by the organisers. 

“Ecosystem stress is a serious issue that affects the ecological and agricultural sectors,” Zaben told The Jordan Times. 

Zaben highlighted the importance of thermal remote sensing to detect ecosystem stress at its early stages.

She added that the main objective of the proposed research is to investigate the behaviour of thermal signatures of different ecosystems, such as for crops.

“The research tends to help farmers and ecologists monitor and evaluate the health of an ecosystem,” Zaben noted.  

Zaben stated that the aim of the research is to use thermal remote sensing to improve the agriculture sector on a small scale and ecology on a larger scale. 

This will sequentially increase crop production. and reduce the contamination of the environment, she added.