Environmental Monitoring Using Gnss

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are revolutionizing the world in a way their original developers never envisaged. From being military “war” tools, GNSS satellites are rapidly becoming “peace” tools that play a potentially critical role in enabling changing environmental phenomenon that do not permit direct measurements to be remotely observed via their all-weather, highly accurate and continuously updatable positional time series. This is evident, for example, in their use in emerging environmental monitoring methods that are considered in this book. These include: GPS-based radio telemetry, which is enhancing ecological and conservation monitoring by more accurately mapping animal movements, their behaviours, and their impact on the environment; GNSS-meteorology, which is contributing to weather and climate change studies; GNSS-remote sensing, which, for example, allows the rapid monitoring of changes in fresh water resources and cryosphere; Geosensor network techniques, which are earning a crucial role in disaster response management; Epidemiology, for improved efficiency in tracking and studying the spread of infectious diseases and climate change effects on vector-borne diseases; and Economics, to provide data for the econometric modelling of casual impact of policies. In Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA), and Sustainability Assessments (SA), GNSS, together with other spaced-based remote sensing techniques, are emerging, not only as modern tools that connect the developers to the community, but also provide information that support Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) methods, which inform decision making and policy formulations. By bringing the two fields of geodesy (the parent of GNSS technology) and environmental studies (potential users of this technology), this book presents the concepts of GNSS in a simplified way that can, on the one hand, be understood and utilised by environmentalists, while on the other, outlines its potential applications to environmental monitoring and management for those engaged more with its technology, which hopefully will further energise the already innovative research that is being carried out. Lastly, this book is most relevant to all the professionals whose work is related to the environment such as hydrologists, meteorologists, epidemiologists, economist, and engineers, to name just a few. A comprehensive yet candid and compelling presentation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems and its application to environmental monitoring and a host of other socio-economic activities. This is an essential and new ground breaking reading for all professional practitioners and even academics seeking to study and become involved in using Global Navigation Satellite Systems in diverse fields ranging from environmental monitoring to economic activities such as monitoring weather and climate in order to design crop failure insurance. Nathaniel O. Agola, Professor of Business and Financial Economics, Ritsumeikan University, Japan

This book is the second edition of Environmental Monitoring using GNSS and highlights the latest developments in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). It features a completely new title and additional chapters that present emerging challenges to environmental monitoring—“climate variability/change and food insecurity.” Since the publication of the first edition, much has changed in both the development and applications of GNSS, a satellite microwave remote sensing technique. It is the first tool to span all four dimensions of relevance to humans (position, navigation, timing and the environment), and it has widely been used for positioning (both by military and civilians), navigation and timing. Its increasing use is leading to a new era of remote sensing that is now revolutionizing the art of monitoring our environment in ways never imagined before. On the one hand, nearly all GNSS satellites (Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo and Beidou) have become operational, thereby providing high-precision, continuous, all-weather and near real- time remote sensing multi-signals beneficial to environmental monitoring. On the other hand, the emerging challenges of precisely monitoring climate change and the demand for the production of sufficient food for ever-increasing populations are pushing traditional monitoring methods to their limits. In this regard, refracted GNSS signals (i.e., occulted GNSS signals or GNSS meteorology) are now emerging as sensors of climate variability, while the reflected signals (GNSS reflectometry or GNSS-R) are increasingly finding applications in determining, e.g., soil moisture content, ice and snow thickness, ocean heights, and wind speed and direction, among others. Furthermore, the increasing recognition and application of GNSS-supported unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV)/drones in agriculture (e.g., through the determination of water holding capacity of soil) highlights the new challenges facing GNSS. As such, this new edition three new chapters address GNSS reflectometry and applications; GNSS sensing of climate variability; and the applications in UAV/drones. Moreover, it explores the application of GNSS to support integrated coastal zone management.

There is no doubt that today, perhaps more than ever before, humanity faces a myriad of complex and demanding challenges. These include natural resource depletion and environmental degradation, food and water insecurity, energy shortages, diminishing biodiversity, increasing losses from natural disasters, and climate change with its associated potentially devastating consequences, such as rising sea levels. These human-induced and natural impacts on the environment need to be well understood in order to develop informed policies, decisions, and remedial measures to mitigate current and future negative impacts. To achieve this, continuous monitoring and management of the environment to acquire data that can be soundly and rigorously analyzed to provide information about its current state and changing patterns, and thereby allow predictions of possible future impacts, are essential. Developing pragmatic and sustainable solutions to address these and many other similar challenges requires the use of geodata and the application of geoinformatics. This book presents the concepts and applications of geoinformatics, a multidisciplinary field that has at its core different technologies that support the acquisition, analysis and visualization of geodata for environmental monitoring and management. We depart from the 4D to the 5D data paradigm, which defines geodata accurately, consistently, rapidly and completely, in order to be useful without any restrictions in space, time or scale to represent a truly global dimension of the digital Earth. The book also features the state-of-the-art discussion of Web-GIS. The concepts and applications of geoinformatics presented in this book will be of benefit to decision-makers across a wide range of fields, including those at environmental agencies, in the emergency services, public health and epidemiology, crime mapping, environmental management agencies, tourist industry, market analysis and e-commerce, or mineral exploration, among many others. The title and subtitle of this textbook convey a distinct message. Monitoring -the passive part in the subtitle - refers to observation and data acquisition, whereas management - the active component - stands for operation and performance. The topic is our environment, which is intimately related to geoinformatics. The overall message is: all the mentioned elements do interact and must not be separated. Hans-Peter B ahr, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.h.c., Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany.

This second edition includes updated chapters from the first edition as well as five additional new chapters (Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), CORONA historical de-classified products, Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs), GNSS-reflectometry and GNSS applications to climate variability), shifting the main focus from monitoring and management to extreme hydro-climatic and food security challenges and exploiting big data. Since the publication of first edition, much has changed in terms of technology, and the demand for geospatial data has increased with the advent of the big data era. For instance, the use of laser scanning has advanced so much that it is unavoidable in most environmental monitoring tasks, whereas unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs)/drones are emerging as efficient tools that address food security issues as well as many other contemporary challenges. Furthermore, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are now responding to challenges posed by climate change by unravelling the impacts of teleconnection (e.g., ENSO) as well as advancing the use of reflected signals (GNSS-reflectometry) to monitor, e.g., soil moisture variations. Indeed all these rely on the explosive use of “big data” in many fields of human endeavour. Moreover, with the ever-increasing global population, intense pressure is being exerted on the Earth’s resources, leading to significant changes in its land cover (e.g., deforestation), diminishing biodiversity and natural habitats, dwindling fresh water supplies, and changing weather and climatic patterns (e.g., global warming, changing sea level). Environmental monitoring techniques that provide information on these are under scrutiny from an increasingly environmentally conscious society that demands the efficient delivery of such information at a minimal cost. Environmental changes vary both spatially and temporally, thereby putting pressure on traditional methods of data acquisition, some of which are highly labour intensive, such as animal tracking for conservation purposes. With these challenges, conventional monitoring techniques, particularly those that record spatial changes call for more sophisticated approaches that deliver the necessary information at an affordable cost. One direction being pursued in the development of such techniques involves environmental geoinformatics, which can act as a stand-alone method or complement traditional methods.

This book offers a new framework that facilitates the development of more intelligent systems and methods for data analysis and international information sharing, such as the use of satellite imaging and geospatial data to predict changes in weather conditions and shifts in water levels, and to assess the extent of the forest cover remaining on Earth that is visible from space. It brings together the many aspects of science and technology, as well as formula and analytical approaches required for more informed decision-making. It also highlights the vital importance of understanding the technological, economic and social dimensions of environmental projects that have short-term results and long-term impacts. It is unique in that it clearly distinguishes between environmental project management (EnvPM) and green project management (GreenPM), and presents an amalgamation of environmental management and project management concepts, using geospatial methods to form an EnvPM concept. The book sets a benchmark for the professionalism with which environmental projects should be planned, executed, monitored, assessed and delivered. While primarily intended for professionals responsible for the management of environmental projects or interested in improving the overall efficiency of such projects, it is also a useful handbook for managers in the private, public and non-for-profit sectors. It is a valuable resource for students at both undergraduate and master’s levels and an indispensable guide for anyone wanting to develop their skills in modern project management, environmental management and geospatial techniques. ``We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and the last generation that can do something about it.'' US President Obama's address to the United Nations on Climate Change and Global warming (2015) hison: This book provides an in-depth, well-researched and science-based approach to applying key project-management and spatial tools and practices in environmental projects. An important read for leaders considering projects that balance social-economic growth against minimising its ill-effects on Planet Earth. - Todd Hutchison, Global Chairman of Peopleistic group.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "UAV Sensors for Environmental Monitoring" that was published in Sensors

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) monitoring of the atmosphere is an interdisciplinary topic: a collaboration between geodetic and atmospheric communities. As such, this topic requires sufficient basic knowledge about both GNSS and the atmosphere. Global Navigation Satellite System Monitoring of the Atmosphere begins by introducing GNSS, its components, and signals. It then explains the basics of the atmosphere, starting from the ionosphere to the troposphere. The GNSS tropospheric monitoring is separated for application in numerical weather prediction and nowcasting. Further chapters focus on the application of GNSS for monitoring the climate as well as soil moisture. Finally, the book concludes by discussing GNSS processing along with introducing the latest developments and applications for using atmospheric data to provide precise real-time GNSS products. Explains the basics of GNSS positioning and signals Includes the state of the art in GNSS observations of the atmosphere and hydrosphere Presents the basics of numerical weather prediction and analysis

This book reviews the key conceptions and economic theories of poverty, explains poverty-environment nexus, and finally offers innovative socio-economic and scientific geospatial solutions for the 21st Century. The book makes it possible for our readers to understand poverty thorough a concise review of the major theoretical economic frameworks, measures of poverty, and points out the need to understand rural-urban dichotomy of poverty. We find the theories and measures to be less-than perfect and therefore point out the need to treat these measures and theories as convenient tools lacking perfect accuracy and utmost scientific reliability. It follows then that the supposedly knowledgeably crafted poverty reduction and environmental preservation solutions are inherently imperfect. The economic solutions proposed in this book transcend extant humdrum macroeconomic and policy measures targeting poverty and environmental issues. We point to a new paradigm in which private sector and other stakeholders can create new and inclusive markets where value is co-created and shared. Above all, this book offers timely state-of-the-art geospatial solutions targeting the most pressing global problems of water, e.g., the use of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) missions to estimate changes in stored water in the water-poverty-environment nexus, pollution, agriculture and disaster management, where geospatial techniques are applied under strong environmental impact assessment regulatory regimes. This book provides a good summary of economic theories of poverty as well as a vivid depiction of the state of environmental degradation in the world. People often work separately on different issues that are, in fact, closely intertwined. The principle of holism is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and I believe that this joint-venture of two experts on poverty and environment has produced something more than a sum of two separate monographs on the issues. Various points raised in this volume are worth heeding when we think of formulation and implementation of a truly effective post-MDGs development agenda. Yoichi Mine, Professor of Human Security and African Area Study, Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University, Japan