18 June 2008

As one of the 208 torchbearers on the 7.43-kilometer relay, Prof. Guo Huadong, Secretary General of ISDE, Director General of the Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, run the fourteenth leg of the Olympic Torch Relay in Kashi city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China. The torch was set off from Ida Kah Square, which is adjacent to the Id Kah Mosque, at 9:45 AM, ended at Kashi People's Square. The whole journey lasted one and forty-five minutes.

After the torch relay, Prof. Guo Huadong shared his experience with journalists online. He showed his warmly welcome to the people all over the world to enjoy the Olympic Games. As soon as he heard the news that Beijing will hold the 29th Olympic Games, an idea came into his mind; that was to make a dynamic monitoring of the environmental change of Olympic areas using Remote Sensing technology. His proposal on this was approved and supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology, PRC. This work, conducted from 2001 to 2007, has established a system for remote sensing dynamic monitoring of the Olympic environment, which provided useful information for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In addition, he also introduced the work about the remote sensing for Sichuang earthquake disaster conducted at the Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth, CAS immediately after the earthquake. The Center had acquired high-resolution SAR and optical airborne remote sensing data as well as different satellite data of almost all the quake-hit areas. After analysis by the taskforce in Beijing, the information about the earthquake areas was presented to decision-makers at various levels, playing an important role in the relief operations. Prof. Guo showed his best wishes to the quake-afflicted people, best wishes to the construction of the hit area and best wishes to the Olympic Games.

ISDE Secretariat