EG2234 Earth Observation

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EG2234Earth Observation

• Applications of
• Remote sensing

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TOPICS

• Quantitative remote sensing
• Rainfall estimation
• Land surface temperature
• Proxy air temperature
• NDVI, albedo, wind-speed and others
• Disaster Management
• Human Health
• Hydrodynamics

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Quantitative remote sensing?

• Estimation of a physical quantity
• Proxy environmental variables
• Application driven
• Less science and more operational
• Makes use of algorithms
• Interfaces with environmental models

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Applications that use quantitative RS

• Agriculture
• NDVI, temperature, rainfall
• Health
• NDVI, temperature, rainfall, dust, wind
• Hydrology
• Rainfall
• Climate change
• NDVI, temperature, rainfall
• Weather forecasting
• Winds, rainfall

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Rainfall estimation

• Cold Cloud Duration (CCD) using Meteosat
• Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission using radar
  (TRMM)
• Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) rainfall
  measurement using microwave instruments

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Land Surface Temperature

• Thermal infrared images provide an estimate of
  the magnitude of radiant energy
• Radiance (usually expressed as watts per square
  metre) can be converted to temperature via an
  instrument-specific algorithm
• Energy (and hence temperature) is of the land
  surface (LST)
• LST may be converted to a proxy air temperature
  by means of a solar correction algorithm

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Other quantitative measurements

• NDVI
• Albedo
• Wind speed
• Potential Evapotranspiration (PET)
• Soil moisture
• Tropospheric humidity

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NDVI

• Monitoring
• Habitat modelling
• Hydrology

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VISIBLE

• Albedo
• Weather Fcst.

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WATER VAPOUR

• Cloud motion
• Troposphere

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Disaster Management
Uses of RS for Disaster Management

• Wildfires Volcanic eruptions
• Avalanche Tsunami
• Earthquake Landslides
• Flooding Extreme weather
• Drought Disease
• Refugees Military

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Disaster Management
PLANNING
MITIGATION
Monitoring situations Deployment of
resources Decision-making Public relations
Modelling Assessment Prediction Contingency
COST EFFECTIVENESS !!!
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QuickBird used extensively throughout Asian
Tsunami Disaster
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Human Health

• Health and disease often has a spatial component
• Climatic, environmental and socio-economic
  variables affect health
• Epidemics and outbreaks spread across a region
  either as a function of movement of people or
  environmental factors

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Hydrodynamics
stream
stream
stream
river
river
river
stream
estuary
THE SEA
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Hydrodynamics
From DeMers, 2002
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Hydrodynamics
From DeMers, 2002
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Further Reading
Cresswell MP, Morse AP, Thomson MC and Connor SJ.
(1999). Estimating surface air temperatures from
Meteosat land surface temperatures using an
empirical solar zenith angle model. International
Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol 20 (6),
1125-1132. Lethbridge M. (1967). Precipitation
probability and satellite radiation data. Monthly
Weather Review, Vol 95 (7), 487-490 Milford J
and Dugdale G. (1990). Estimation of rainfall
using geostationary satellite data. In
Applications of Remote Sensing in Agriculture.
Edited by Steven M and Clark J. Published by
Butterworths, London Dugdale G, Hardy S and
Milford J. (1991). Daily catchment rainfall
estimated from Meteosat. Hydrological Processes,
Vol 5, 261-270
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Further Reading
TRMM Website http//www.eorc.nasda.go.jp/TRMM/ind
ex_e.htm SSM/I Website http//nsidc.org/data/docs
/daac/ssmi_instrument.gd.html/ TAMSAT (CCD
Rainfall) Website http//www.met.reading.ac.uk/ta
msat/