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Venugopala Rao et al. (2010) listed a few potential applications of remote sensing and GIS in
urban planning, under three broad classes:
Road alignment
Utility planning (Sewage treatment plant , garbage dump site selection, water
works)
For example, in Fig.1 satellite imageries of the San Jose area of two time periods are
compared. The first figure is the Landsat TM images taken in 1973 and the second image is
the Landsat ETM+ image taken in 1999. Comparison of the images shows that the urban
development has spread out to larger areas during the 26 year time period.
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Fig.1 Landsat images of the San Jose area during different time period
Source: http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect4/Sect4_1.html
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Other than the urban sprawl mapping, remote sensing data can also be used for three
dimensional mapping of the urban areas. With the advancement of satellite technology, now
it is possible to collect stereo pairs of imageries for any area which enable the user to create
3-dimentional models of cities (e.g., DigitalGlobe satellites).
Fig. 2 shows a 3-D model of an urban area developed using stereo pairs of DigitalGlobe
images.
Fig.2. Three dimensional model of an urban area developed from DigitalGlobe images
Source: http://www.earthzine.org/2011/06/27/very-high-spatial-resolution-imagery-forurban-applications/
3. Geo-thermal Energy
Geo-thermal energy has been gaining wide attention recently. Geo-thermal energy is
produced from underground reservoirs of steam or hot water. Being the most reliable, and
sustainable source of energy, several studies have been ongoing to develop technologies to
tap these geo-thermal energy resources for human use.
Following are some essential conditions required to be met by a good geo-thermal reservoir
(Sabbins, 1973).
A large high-temperature heat source must be present at a relatively shallow depth
Porous and permeable reservoir rocks to hold steam or water must be present near the
heat source
There must be a natural recharge system to produce the steam or hot water
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An impermeable zone above the reservoir is necessary to prevent the escape of steam
to the surface.
All these being the features below ground surface, it is difficult to locate geo-thermal
reservoirs from surface observations.
However, many geothermal reservoirs have some sort of surface expressions in the form of
minute increase in the surface temperature. Such phenomenon can be monitored with the aid
of thermal remote sensing data. Moreover, the thermal energy reservoirs are generally
associated with faults and fractures. Remote sensing data can also be used to identify the
faults and fractures to a large extent.
4. Snow cover and water equivalent
Periodic snow cover depth and extent are some of the essential informations required for
snow-melt runoff forecasting. Field-based surveys for periodic monitoring of Snow covered
areas (SCA) are not easy due to the difficulties in the physical access to the snow covered
areas. Satellite remote sensing techniques, being operational from space-borne platforms,
help to overcome the accessibility issues. With the capability to provide images of fine spatial
resolution and frequent temporal sampling, satellite remote sensing is becoming a vital tool
for the near-real time monitoring of the SCA with good accuracy.
Both optical and microwave (both passive and active) remote sensing techniques have been
used for SCA mapping.
Optical remote sensing:
Cloud cover commonly observed over SCA is generally one of the major hindrances
in optical remote sensing.
Backscattering of the microwave signals by SCA is different from that by the bare
ground.
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o Difference is maximum in case of wet snow and hence can be easily identified
o Difference is insignificant in case of dry snow and hence is difficult to
differentiate from bare ground
Microwave signals reflected from the surface are used to estimate the brightness
temperature of the surface, which in turn are used to estimate snow depth, snow extent
and snow water equivalent.
For example, Schmugge et al (2002) used the following equation to relate snow water
equivalent (SWE) to the brightness temperature.
SWE
A B
TB ( f1 ) TB ( f 2 )
f 2 f1
(1)
where A and B are the regression coefficients, TB is the brightness temperature and f1
and f2 are the frequencies of the low scattering and high scattering microwave
channels, respectively.
Advantageous over optical remote sensing due to their capability to penetrate through
the cloud cover.
Reduced cost involved and availability of global coverage are the advantages of
passive microwave imaging over the radar remote sensing for snow mapping.
Table 1 gives a list of satellites/sensors used for snow mapping and the spectral ranges used
(Nagesh Kumar and Reshmidevi, 2013).
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Table 1. List of satellites/sensors that are most commonly used for snow mapping (Nagesh
Kumar and Reshmidevi, 2013)
Satellite / Sensor
Spectral
bands
Characteristics
Reference
Nimbus-7 /
SMMR
Passive
microwave
Daily data at 25 km
spatial resolution
Passive
microwave
VIS
NIR
AQUA / AMSR-E
Landsat TM
VIS, NIR
Active
microwave
Acronyms
AMSR-E: Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System
AVHRR: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
ERS: European Remote Sensing Satellite
MODIS: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
SAR: Synthetic Aperture Radar
SMMR: Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer
NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
With the introduction of remote sensing technology in snow mapping, global level, daily
snow cover maps are now available by aggregating the data available from multiple satellites.
Daily maps of global snow cover at about 4 km spatial resolution are now available from
NOAA by combining IR and microwave data from multiple satellites including NOAAs
GOES Imager, Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) AVHRR, US Air Force
DMSP/SSMI, and EUMETSAT MSG/SEVIRI sensors. Fig.3 shows the snow depth data over
United States on 9th March 2013, obtained from the NOAA.
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Fig. 3. Map of snow depth over United States on 9th March, 2013, generated using the data
from multiple satellites (Source: http://www.eldoradocountyweather.com/climate/worldmaps/world-snow-ice-cover.html)
5 Groundwater Studies
Another important application of remote sensing is in groundwater assessment and
management.
Remote sensing application in the groundwater studies are generally classified into three
broad areas:
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Satellite image of the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe is shown in Fig. 4. Fig.5 shows the Landsat-1
FCC image of the central California coast with the geologic structures map superimposed
over it.
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Fig.5 Landsat-1 FCC image of the central California coast with the geologic structures map
superimposed over it
Source: https://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect2/Sect2_8.html
Remote sensing techniques can also be used to extract the water levels in the lakes and rivers,
which is an essential input for the groundwater modeling.
Another essential information that remote sensing can provide is the terrain height. With the
use of modern techniques like radar interferometry and Lidar altimetry, fine resolution DEM
is now available, which can provide the terrain height for the groundwater studies.
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Fig. 6. Identification of potential groundwater recharge zones using remote sensing data
(Images in the figure are taken from Rao, 2008
http://cssteap.org/pilote_project/rs_gis/twelfth_course/rao/rao_text.htm)
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The position and velocity of the satellites is measured using onboard GPS antenna, whereas
the exact separation between the two satellites are measured using a K-band microwave link
between these satellites. These measurements are related to the variations in the continental
hydrological cycle and changes in the glacier ice mass. In addition, GRACE satellites are
used to measure the temporal variation in the gravity field. Observed temporal variations in
the gravity field are used to estimate the changes in the TWS (Rodell et al., 2009).
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TWS consists of both soil moisture storage and groundwater storage. Therefore, if the soil
moisture information is available through in-situ measurements, TWS data from GRACE
may be used to estimate the groundwater storage.
Yeh et al. (2006) used the following algorithm to retrieve the groundwater storage in Illinois
using the TWS data from GRACE and the in-situ soil moisture measurements.
TWS SM GW nD
ds
dh
Sy
dt
dt
(2)
where, n is the soil porosity, D is the root zone depth, s is the soil relative saturation, t is the
time period, Sy is the specific yield, h is the groundwater level.
In another study, Rodell et al. (2009) clubbed the soil moisture simulations from a hydrologic
model with the TWS change derived from the GRACE data to show the drastic groundwater
depletion in the Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana states in India.
Fig.8 shows the groundwater storage map of the United States, in terms of current wet or dry
conditions expressed as percentiles relative to those during the period 1948 to 2009. The map
is generated using TWS from GRACE satellite data as the basic information.
Fig. 8 Groundwater storage map of the United States derived from the GRACE satellite data
Source: http://droughtdev.unl.edu/MonitoringTools/NASAGRACEDataAssimilation.aspx
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7. Reservoir Sedementation
Reservoirs are usually located towards the end of a large watershed. Knowledge regarding the
sedimentation in various zones of a reservoir is highly beneficial for the balance life of
reservoir. Remote sensing imageries provide means to access synoptic views regarding the
sedimentation characteristics in a reservoir. The water spread area of a reservoir at different
levels between Full Reservoir Level (FRL) and Minimum Draw Down Level (MDDL) in
different months can be monitored for a particular elevation using satellite information. A
reduction in this water spread area for an elevation will essentially indicated sediment
deposition at that particular elevation level. Once knowledge regarding the reservoir levels on
the date of satellite pass if known, it helps in the calculation of Elevation-Capacity curves. A
shift in these curves will strongly indicate a loss in the reservoir capacity. Thus, use of
satellite imageries acquired on multiple dates helps in computation of volume of storage due
to sedimentation.
Bibliography / Further reading
1. Akyrek
areas
using
NOAAAVHRR data in the eastern part of Turkey Hydrolo. Sci. J., 47 (2), pp 243252.
2. Baghdadi N, Fortin JP, Bernier M (1999). Accuracy of wet snow mapping using
simulated Radarsat backscattering coefficients from observed snow cover
characteristics Int. J. Remote Sens., 20 (10), pp: 2049-2068.
3. DellAcqua F and Gamba P. (2012) Remote sensing and earthquake damage
assessment: Experience, limits, and perspectives Proc. IEEE, 100(10), 2876-2890.
4. Huang L, Li Z, Tian BS, Chen Q, Liu JL, Zhang R (2011). Classification and snow
line detection for glacial areas using the polarimetric SAR image Remote Sens.
Environ., 115, pp 1721-1732. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2011.03.004.
5. Kelly RE, Chang AT, Tsang L, Foster JL (2003). A prototype AMSR-E global snow
area and snow depth algorithm IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 41 (2). pp:230242.
6. Krishnamurthy J, Mani A, Jayaraman V, Manivel M (2000). Groundwater resources
development in hard rock terrain- an approach using remote sensing and GIS
techniques Int.J. Applied Earth Obs. Geoinformation, 2(3-4), pp 204-215.
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from
MODIS
Adv.
Water.
Resour.,
51,
pp
367-380.
doi:
10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.03.002.
14. Rodell M, Velicogna I, Famiglietti J S (2009). Satellite-based estimates of
groundwater depletion in India Nature, 460, pp 999-1002.
15. Rosenthal W, Dozier J (1996). Automated mapping of montane snow cover at
subpixel resolution from the Landsat Thematic Mapper Water Resour. Res., 32 (1),
pp 115-130.
16. Rott E, Nagler T (1995). Monitoring temporal dynamics of snowmelt with ERS-1
SAR In Proceedings of IGARSS95, Firenze (Italy), July 1995 (Piscataway: IEEE),
pp. 1747-1749.
17. Sabbins Jr. F. F., 1978. Remote Sensing Principles and Interpretation. W.H.
Freeman and Company, San Francisco.
18. Schmugge TJ, Kustas WP, Ritchie JC, Jackson TJ, Rango A (2002). Remote sensing
in hydrology Adv. Water Resour., 25, pp 13671385.
19. Stramondo S. (2013) The Tohoku-Oki earthquake: A summary of scientific
outcomes from remote sensing IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett., 10(4), 895-897.
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20. Venugopala Rao K, Ramesh B, Bhavani SLV, Kamini J. (2010) Urban and Regional
Planning In Remote Sensing Applications (Roy PS, Dwivedi RS, Vijayan D Eds.),
National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad.
21. Yeh PJ-F, Swenson SC, Famiglietti JS, Rodell M (2006). Remote sensing of
groundwater storage changes in Illinois using the Gravity Recovery and Climate
Experiment
(GRACE)
Water
Resour.
Res.,
42
(W12203).
doi:
10.1029/2006/WR005374.
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