EG5503GIS & Earth Observation

Applications

TOPICS

Quantitative remote sensing Rainfall estimation Proxy Air Temperature Agriculture Disaster Management Human Health Hydrodynamics

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

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

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

Rainfall estimation

Pioneered by work of Lethbridge, 1967 Became an operational system thanks to

Milford and Dugdale at TAMSAT (University of Reading)

Based on relationship between period during which convective cloud tops are below a specific threshold and rainfall measured beneath them

Cold Cloud Duration (CCD):

Rainfall estimation

TRMM mission is a joint US/Japan effort coordinated by NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan)

TRMM was launched in 1997 – with an initial mission life of 3 years

TRMM data is relayed to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM):

Rainfall estimation

Precipitation Radar (PR) TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy

System (CERES) Lightning Image Sensor (LIS)

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM):

Rainfall estimation

System coordinated by NOAA Became operational in 1987 Uses a 7-channel passive microwave

radiometer

Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I):

Rainfall estimation

Data collected from the SSM/I are used to estimate several geophysical parameters including:

Rainfall Rate Rainfall Frequency Cloud Liquid Water Cloudiness Frequency Total Precipitable Water Snow Cover Sea-Ice Sampling Frequency Ocean Surface Wind Speed (1.0 degree only!)

Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I):

Proxy Air Temperature

LST (land surface temperature) may be converted to a proxy air temperature by means of a solar correction algorithm

Knowing the position of the Sun at the time an image is acquired allows the LST to be transformed into a proxy for air temperature (approx 1m above the ground)

WMO Vs Meteosat Temperatures

R2 = 0.8746

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Introduction

Agriculture is big business A nation’s food supply affects both its

economic status and political stability In Europe and the US the greatest concern is

profit and getting crops to market and obtaining a good price – whilst staying cheap

In the developing world the issue is food security and the wellbeing of the population

Introduction

Monitoring of crops from space or aircraft aids decision making

When to irrigate and what fertilizer is needed Management of crop rotation and set-aside

Most large-scale commercial farms are so large that monitoring cannot be made on foot so remote sensing is the clear choice

Spectral signatures of sugar cane species. Source: Galvao et al, 2005

Disaster Management

Uses of RS for Disaster Management

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

Disaster Management

PLANNING MITIGATION

ModellingAssessmentPredictionContingency

Monitoring situationsDeployment of resourcesDecision-makingPublic relations

COST EFFECTIVENESS !!!

Disaster Management

DisasterManagement

PLANNING

MITIGATIONLEARNING

QuickBird used extensively throughout Asian Tsunami Disaster

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

NOAA-AVHRR station: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)

Rainfall maps from Cold Cloud Duration - Meteosat

NDVI and proportion of children testing positive for P. falciparum

Ancilliary geographical information

Malaria Model prevalence and ERA rainfall

Hydrodynamics

stream stream

stream

stream

riverriver river

estuary

THE SEA

Hydrodynamics

From DeMers, 2002

Hydrodynamics

From DeMers, 2002

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

Further Reading

TRMM Website:

http://www.eorc.nasda.go.jp/TRMM/index_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/tamsat/