An open-access book from AGU and the Geological Society of London brings together current research on using Earth observation data for disaster adaptation, mitigation, and resilience. The volume covers technologies such as drones, synthetic aperture radar, and optical imagery, and it explores how AI is accelerating near-real-time response, planning, and resource allocation.
The editors say open access was the most effective path because it removes subscription barriers and lets chapters be published digitally as soon as they are ready. They note that researchers and practitioners worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries, can access the material without limitations—important because those regions often face higher exposure to extreme events and have fewer resources for recovery.
The book also flags emerging challenges for the next decade. Generative and agentic AI may produce biased or inaccurate outputs that mischaracterize community vulnerability, and AI systems can be corrupted through data poisoning or noisy datasets. The authors call for ethical and legal frameworks, data provenance safeguards, and more transparent, reproducible model development to keep AI-driven disaster tools reliable.