7.

Climate change Research and Monitoring:

Climate is a long-term change (30+ years) in the average weather patterns that have come to
define Earth’s local, regional, and global climates. It encompasses global warming, but refers
to the broader range of changes that are happening to our planet, including shrinking
mountain glaciers; accelerating ice melt in Greenland, Antarctica, and the Arctic; rising sea
levels; shifts in phenology; ocean acidification; coral bleaching; and extreme weather.
Natural processes can contribute to climate change, including internal variability (e.g.,
cyclical ocean patterns like El Niño and La Niña) and external forcing (e.g., volcanic activity,
changes in the Sun’s energy output, variations in Earth’s orbit).
Changes observed in Earth’s climate since the early 20th century are partly driven by human
activities, particularly fossil fuel burning and deforestation, which increases heat-trapping
greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, raising Earth’s average surface temperature.

 Graph illustrating the change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average
temperatures, with the year 2020 tying with 2016 for warmest on record (Source:
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/ )

Earth's climate has changed continuously throughout its history. In the last 650,000 years,
there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice
age about 11,700 years ago, marking the beginning of the modern climate era—and of human
civilization. The current warming trend is of particular significance because has been
accelerated by human activity since the mid-20th century.
Climate scientists’ separate factors that affect climate change into three categories: forcing,
feedbacks, and tipping points.
 Forcing: The initial drivers of climate
o Solar Irradiance
o Greenhouse Gas Emissions
o Aerosols, Dust, Smoke, and Soot
 Feedbacks: Processes that can either amplify or diminish the effects of climate
forcing.
o Clouds
 o Precipitation
o Greening of the Forests
o Ice Albedo
 Climate Tipping Points: When Earth’s climate abruptly moves between relatively stable
states.
o Ocean Circulation
o Ice Loss
o Rapid Release of Methane

Land Surface Temperature Monitoring:

LST is the thermodynamic temperature of a thin layer in the interface between soil,
vegetation or other surface components and the atmosphere. It reflects how hot or cold is the
earth’s surface would feel to the touch. In the context of remote sensing, this thin layer is a
continuous projected surface comprising all visible components within the sensor depth is the
distance after which the intensity of the radiation decreases by 1/e (about 37).
LST is the crucial geophysical parameter related to surface energy and water balance of the
land-atmosphere system. Satellite remote sensing provides the best way to measure LST and
generates LST products at regional and global scales.

 Increase of LST from 2000 to 2020 through Satellite Remote Sensing

Vegetation Health Monitoring:

Vegetation is an important component of terrestrial ecosystems, playing a crucial role in
climate regulation, the water cycle, soil conservation, and other aspects. It provides essential
ecosystem services, and also provides habitats for many threatened and endangered species.
However, at present, many vegetated areas are threatened by continuous deforestation,
overgrazing, fires, climate change, and various other factors, leading to the degradation of
vegetation ecosystem services. Therefore, continuous large-scale monitoring of vegetation
conditions is needed.
Remote sensing monitoring of vegetation ecosystem conditions and change characteristics
has become an essential tool for ecological research and resource management. In September
2015, the United Nations adopted the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” during
the Sustainable Development Summit, which set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
to be achieved by 2030. The results of ecological environmental remote sensing monitoring
for vegetation ecosystems can provide accurate and effective information support for
countries to fulfil their SDGs on sustainable development, ecological environmental
protection, and the development and utilization of natural resources.
Remote sensing techniques have evolved from the initial assessment of vegetation
classification and composition indicators to the current precise monitoring of various
indicators such as coverage, Leaf Area Index (structural indicators) and primary productivity,
vegetation health, and phenology (functional indicators).
The distribution of the global annual Average Leaf Area Index in 2016 and 2020 (Figure 3)
reveals the following: in 2016, the total coverage area of forests, grasslands, and croplands
worldwide was 102.929 million square kilometres, accounting for approximately 69.13% of
the global land surface area. The maximum value of the annual ALAI was 6.88. By 2020, the
global vegetation coverage area decreased to 102.8018 million square kilometres,
representing approximately 69.04% of the global surface area. The vegetation coverage area
was reduced by approximately 127,200 square kilometres, accounting for approximately
0.85‰ of the global land surface area. The maximum value of the annual ALAI was 6.89.
These data indicate that, during this five-year period, global vegetation coverage decreased
slightly, while the annual ALAI showed a slight increase.

 Distribution of global annual ALAI in 2016 (a) and 2020 (b).

Sea Level Monitoring:
Climate scientists monitor sea levels to understand how they have changed over time, and to
inform projections of how they might change in the future and the impacts that these changes
might cause. Sea level is monitored by tide gauges and from space by satellites.

The Global Climate Indicators are a set of parameters that describe the changing climate,
looking beyond temperature as the only indication of climate change. They comprise key
information for the most relevant domains of climate change: temperature and energy,
atmospheric composition, ocean and water as well as the cryosphere. These indicators
provide additional information and allow a more detailed picture of changes to our climate.
In August 2019, the Met Office Hadley Centre produced a set of UK- focused sea level
projections for a report which was published by the Environment Agency. The projections
demonstrated that under all emissions scenarios, sea levels would continue to rise well
beyond the year 2100, although the rate and severity of the rise would depend on the level of
emissions.

 Figure 1. Time series of the time-mean relative sea level change for UK capital cities based
on the nearest Class A tide gauge location (indicated in brackets). Notes: Solid lines indicate
the central estimate and dashed lines indicate the 5th to 95th percentile range for each RCP
 scenario as indicated in the legend (top left panel). All projections are presented relative to a
baseline period of 1981 to 2000.

Sea level rise impacts

Rising sea levels can cause a myriad of impacts, from changing the shape of our coastline and
beaches, to threatening infrastructure and the homes of people who live in coastal
communities. Rising sea levels can also threaten the survival of already fragile wildlife
habitats.
As the sea level rises around the UK it exposes more areas of coastal land to larger and more
frequent storm surges and wind-driven wave impacts. In February 2014, a storm destroyed a
section of the seawall in Dawlish, Devon, leaving the railway line suspended in mid-air. This
line was the only one linking Cornwall to the rest of the country, so its damage caused
significant travel disruptions. Reconstruction of the sea wall and train line cost millions of
pounds, and it wasn’t until April 2014 that the line was reopened.

 Major infrastructure close to the sea such as the main Devon to Cornwall rail link at
Dawlish will be increasingly vulnerable to rising sea levels and storm surges.

Climate Change Impact Assessment:

Role of Earth Observations in Climate Change Assessment

NASA Earth observing satellites observe changes across the entire planet, from the
atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere. They provide consistent,
timely, global, accurate measurements, from the tropics to the polar regions. NASA conducts
a program of breakthrough research on climate science, enhancing the ability of the
international scientific community to advance globally-integrated Earth system science.
  NASA’s Earth Observing Fleet (2021)

The AIRS instrument is the most advanced water vapor sensor ever built (60% of the
greenhouse effect of the global atmosphere comes from water vapor). It observes trace gases
in the atmosphere, such as ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane.
The AMSR instrument measured geophysical parameters including precipitation, oceanic
water vapor, cloud water, near-surface wind speed, sea surface temperature, soil moisture,
snow cover, and sea ice parameters.
The Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument measures both solar-
reflected and Earth-emitted radiation from the top of the atmosphere to the Earth’s surface
providing measurements of the spatial and temporal distribution of Earth’s radiation budget.
Increases in greenhouse gases trap emitted thermal radiation from the surface and reduce how
much is lost to space, resulting in a net surplus of energy into the Earth system.

8. Natural Disaster Response and recovery:

Flood Monitoring and Management:
Floods can be mapped and monitored with remotely sensed data acquired by aircraft and
satellites, or even from ground-based platforms. The sensors and data processing techniques
that exist to derive information about floods are numerous. Instruments that record flood
events may operate in the visible, thermal and microwave range of the electromagnetic
spectrum. Due to the limitations posed by adverse weather conditions during flood events,
active radar is invaluable for monitoring floods; however, if a visible image of flooding can
be acquired, retrieving useful information from this is often more straightforward.
Apart from providing direct information about flooding, remote sensing data can also be
integrated with flood models (via model calibration or validation, and data assimilation
techniques) or provide floodplain topography data to augment the amount and type of
information available for efficient flood management. There have been notable studies on
integrating remotely sensed data with flood modelling since the late 1990s and there is now a
general consensus among space agencies to strengthen the support that satellite missions can
offer. This trend has stimulated more research in this area, and significant progress has been
achieved in recent years in fostering our understanding of the ways in which remote sensing
can support flood monitoring and management.
 This Special Issue presents a collection of work on current efforts to aid advancing flood
monitoring and management through remotely sensed data. The following section gives a
brief overview of the large variety of papers contributed to this Special Issue, presenting the
use of remote sensing data and methods in flood research and applications.

 With the dawn of September, Punjab faced one of the deadliest monsoon floods in its
history. Punjab Information Technology Board, therefore, rose to the occasion and
helped the government by creating a real time flood monitoring dashboard. The
system not only keeps a track of the latest flood development but also keeps the
concerned departments informed and in close collaboration; which further assists in
managing the disaster in the shortest possible time span.
 The dashboard is designed in a way where PITB in alliance with various other
government departments, updates the dashboard with an hourly based disaster
bulletin. The bulletin reveals the most recent flood story by giving details about the
flood effected areas, the injuries and the death toll. Moreover, it also highlights the
development at the water works, i.e. either the water flow is normal or on an alert,
along with situation of the roads. The Inundation Map, further, reveals the overall
flood hit areas.
Furthermore, where the monitoring system has facilitated the government to keep a track
record of the flood condition, it has also assisted the government in taking real time relief and
evacuation measures; thus, minimizing the possible chaos in such disastrous circumstances .

Land sliding Monitoring and Management:

Hills and Mountains are a creation of violent eruptive formations and the gradual process of
erosion. However, they are still not very permanent and ever-lasting. Other processes of
erosion like Landslides are a part of the natural phenomenon that contributes to the changes
in the mountains/hills. The landslide threats are increasing due to enhanced developments in
vulnerable terrain, construction activity, climate change, deforestation, etc. However, a
forewarning system along with prediction can help curb and control landslides, thereby
considerably reducing the destruction caused.
Advances in geotechnical instrumentation, surveying technologies, and data transmission
systems have made it possible to monitor slopes remotely. The economic monitoring systems
also provide warnings and alarms in case of any failure or unusual behaviour.
Remote monitoring of slope movement and other parameters can reduce the risk of an
unstable or potentially unstable slope. Landslide monitoring helps to prevent any mishaps and
accidents. Vibrating wire piezometers can be used for the accurate measurement of pore
water pressure. The lateral movement and deformation can be estimated with the help of
sensors like in-place inclinometers, extensometers, crack meters, tiltmeters, etc.
The geotechnical instruments are connected to a data logger that records the readings at
regular intervals. In case the output surpasses the selected intervals, it will trigger an alarm
and send out an alert message to the required authorities. Data can be transferred using SDI-
12 bus, cellular network, or radiofrequency technologies, depending on site conditions.
The collected data is then evaluated by an engineering geologist and consultant, allowing
them to take corrective measures and prevent landslides.
Landslide monitoring and instrumentation are extremely crucial for the safety of the
surrounding areas and people. Here are a few steps that can be adopted in landslide-prone
areas:
1. Monitoring the slope for any hint of instability can help perform remedial measures
even before alarm conditions are generated.
2. Slope Stabilization Techniques can be employed to stabilize slopes that need
corrective action.
3. Curate an online monitoring program to ensure that the stability of the slope is
accomplished.
Landslide monitoring involves the usage of a durable prediction and forewarning system,
coupled with effective efforts to curb slope movement. The destruction can be drastically
reduced with the help of monitoring and instrumentation. A reliable plan for corrective and
preventive measures in a landslide or prone area must be based on a detailed integrated
geological and geotechnical investigation and monitoring.
(a) Sub-surface instruments
1. Subsurface lateral movement monitoring can be done with in-place inclinometers.
2. Pore water pressure variations and monitoring of the landslide area are carried on
by piezometers.
3. Borehole extensometers are used for the monitoring of sub-surface settlements at
specified points.
(b) Surface Instruments
1. Tiltmeters are used in one or more locations of the retaining wall/building falling
within the zone of influence. It measures any change in slope inclination near cracks
and areas of maximum anticipated rotational movement.
2. Landslide instrumentation makes use of crack and joint meters for accurate
monitoring of displacement/opening of cracks in the rock mass, buildings, and
structures.
3. Creep meter with invar wire for monitoring displacement/opening of faults in the
ground.
 4. Tension in anchors is monitored with the help of the centre hole load cell.
5. Rain gauge for monitoring rainfall.
Fire Monitoring and Management:
Mapping fires is the primary mode of representation. Typically, mapping of forest fires is
based on satellites like TERRA (MODIS), LANDSAT, SENTINEL, and PLANET.
Subsequently, statistical and phenomenological analysis is conducted. Interactive diagrams
and maps summarize key statistical data, such as information about forests in Russia.
Statistical data includes forest change rates, forest area, deforestation factors, as well as
warnings about deforestation and fires. It also includes data on regions with the highest
number of fire alerts and a comparison of current fires with historical trends.

Satellite remote sensing is currently capable of: creating models for climate and hydrological
applications based on images (pre-fire); detecting forest fires based on vegetation (pre-fire);
actively monitoring fires (during the fire); smoke modelling and forecasting; Earth system
modelling for climate and hydrological applications (post-fire); detecting forest fires based on
vegetation data (post-fire).
Satellite remote sensing can confidently detect forest fires in areas ranging from 10–15
hectares when the fire area is not covered by clouds. The main task of satellite forest fire
monitoring is to provide forest management authorities in the subjects of the Russian
Federation with operational information on the forest fire situation.

Additionally, there is a significant issue with obtaining cloud-free data, as high-quality

images with high spatial resolution can only be obtained when cloud cover is no more than
15%.

Forest land, where satellite monitoring of forest fires is carried out, is divided into two levels:

 1st level – remote areas (11% of forest land), where planned aviation patrolling is not
carried out, and ground and aviation zones are not allocated. Extinguishing forest fires
can be done using aviation forces and means. Patrol flights are recommended for
areas with high fire hazard levels across the entire protected territory;

 2nd level – remote and hard-to-reach areas (38.5% of forest land), where aviation
patrolling is not carried out, and extinguishing forest fires is only done when there is a
clear threat to settlements or economic facilities. The main method of detecting forest
fires is the data from the ISDM–Rosleskhoz.
 The colours are based on the count of fires (not size) observed in an area of 1000 square kilometres.
White pixels indicate the upper limit of the count — up to 30 fires in the area of 1000 square
kilometres per day. Orange pixels show up to 10 ignitions, and red areas represent only 1 ignition per
day.
Some global patterns that emerge on fire maps over time are the result of natural cycles of
rain, drought, and lightning. For example, natural fires often occur in the boreal forests of
Canada during the summer. In other parts of the world, patterns result from human activity.
For instance, intense burning in the heart of South America from August to October is the
result of human-caused fires, both intentional and accidental, in the tropical forests of the
Amazon and the Cerrado (a pasture/savannah ecosystem) to the south. Across Africa, a belt
of widespread agricultural fires sweeps from north to south across the continent as the dry
season sets in each year. Agricultural burnings occur annually in late winter and early spring
in Southeast Asia.

Earthquake Demage and Assessment:

Remote sensing data interpretation techniques have dramatically improved in the last decade,
and have been actively employed for many different applications. Current procedures include
the possibility to process Earth Observation (EO) data within days, if not hours, of their
acquisition. As a consequence, EO data is a natural choice for disaster monitoring, thanks to
the wide area coverage, the above-mentioned possibility of a fast processing and the huge
impact of the monitored phenomena with respect to human and economic losses.
Accordingly, while there are on-going activities including EO data within other phases of the
so called “disaster cycle”, a big role for EO data is so far in the post-event phase. Within the
pool of the numerous natural and man-induced disasters that humans face, a special role is
played by earthquakes, due to their unpredictability, the usually high impact on a country or a
region, and the need for a fast and accurate response in the hours immediately following the
event. Earthquakes are major disasters with a consistently high frequency of occurrence.
According to the United Stated Geological Survey, globally there were more than 17
earthquakes per year with a magnitude 7 and higher in the last 18 years [1]. Big earthquakes
are likely to affect a large number of people and a wide geographical area. Just to list the
numbers for one of the last major events, the May 2008 earthquake in China caused the
destruction of 420,000 homes, more than 70,000 fatalities and 5 million homeless, according
to the Multidisciplinary Centre for Earthquake Engineering Research
With respect to earthquakes, EO data are currently used to provide many different
information, usually by means of printed maps for the rescue teams on the ground, or digital
layers for use in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) platforms. Although there is no
unique way to assess the needs of the final “users” of these information, it is commonly
assumed that they can be fulfilled by means of three different products: basic mapping or
background space-map products: maps of the built-up areas and of the population density,
trafficability maps identifying roads, transport networks and their state at the time of the
crisis rapid damage assessment products: maps of the extent of the damaged area and maps of
the estimation of the damage (level of destruction, etc.) that in all cases are produced rapidly;
they typically provide the extent of the damaged area with different damage levels, either
based on a regular grid (e.g. with a 500 m or 1000 m cell size) or on image segmentation.
While the first product is common to different disasters, the second and third ones are
specific to earthquakes and are usually obtained either: by means of an interpretation
technique applied to a single post-event data set; by means of a change detection technique
using a pre-post image pair with same sensor/same geometry; by means of a change detection
technique using pre- and post-event data from different sensors. Additionally, data fusion
with existing pre-event GIS layers and in situ information (e.g. by seismic sensors) may also
be considered.