Satellite Based Applications On Climate Change

Climate and other environmental changes are drawing unprecedented concern and attention from national governments, international organizations and local communities. Global warming has left noticeable impacts on the environment and the ecosystems it supports (including humans), and has important implications for sustainable economic and social development in the future. Satellite observations of climate and environmental change have become an increasingly important tool in recent years in helping to shape the response of international communities to this critical global challenge. The book presents the latest advances in satellite-based remote sensing of the Earth’s environment - ranging from applications in climate and atmospheric science to hydrology, oceanography, hydrology, geomorphology, ecology and fire studies. Introductory chapters also cover key technical aspects such as instrumentation, calibration, data analysis, and GIS tools for decision-making.

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 highlights several opportunities that exist in satellite remote sensing of large-scale terrestrial hydrology. It lays bare the novel concept of remote sensing hydrology and demonstrates key applications of advance satellite technology and new methods in advancing our fundamental understanding of environmental systems. This includes, using state-of-the-art satellite hydrology missions like the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment and other multi-mission satellite systems as important tools that underpin water resources planning and accounting. This book discusses and demonstrates how the efficacy, simplicity, and sophistication in novel computing platforms for big earth observation data can help facilitate environmental monitoring and improve contemporary understanding of climate change impacts on freshwater resources. It also provides opportunities for practitioners and relevant government agencies to leverage satellite-based information in a transdisciplinary context to address several environmental issues affecting society. This book provides a general framework and highlights methods to help improve our understanding of hydrological processes and impact analysis from extreme events (e.g., droughts, floods) and climate change.

Currently, the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Commerce (DOC) acquire and operate separate polarorbiting environmental satellite systems that collect data needed for military and civil weather forecasting. The National Performance Review (NPR) and subsequent Presidential Decision Directive (PDD), directed the DOD (Air Force) and the DOC (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA) to establish a converged national weather satellite program that would meet U.S. civil and national security requirements and fulfill international obligations. NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS), and potentially other NASA programs, were included in the converged program to provide new remote sensing and spacecraft technologies that could improve the operational capabilities of the converged system. The program that followed, called the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), combined the follow-on to the DOD's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and the DOC's Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) program. The tri-agency Integrated Program Office (IPO) for NPOESS was subsequently established to manage the acquisition and operations of the converged satellite. Issues in the Integration of Research and Operational Satellite Systems for Climate Research analyzes issues related to the integration of EOS and NPOESS, especially as they affect research and monitoring activities related to Earth's climate and whether it is changing.

This book examines the contributions that space technologies can make in tackling some of the serious problems posed by climate change, focusing on examples of water management, marine resources and maritime transport.

More than 30-year operational satellite data have already been used for monitoring land, ocean and atmosphere. These applications have contributed to improve sustainable economy, produce healthy environment and enhance human life. The Advanced Research Workshop sponsored by NATO and organized by the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Ukrainian’s Space Agency bring the scientists with the most mature research designed for practical use. The goals were to select those which is used for services today and identify the areas to expand research and services. Scientific and application results of the Workshop presented in this book can be used today in agriculture, forestry, water resources, healthy coastal life and fisheries, climate and land cover change, anthropogenic activities and others. The presented papers provide information on how to use operational satellites and in situ measurements for early detection of large-scale droughts, floods and fires, diagnose crop and pasture annual losses, predict periods with health/unhealthy vegetation based on such climate forcing events as ENSO, monitor air quality and geomagnetic activities, assess land cover trends in responce to global warming etc. The available satellite/ground information and method is currently warn with a lead time sufficient to respond, recover and protect.

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.