Remote Sensing of the Oceans

This book covers different topics in the framework of remote sensing of the oceans. Latest research advancements and brand-new studies are presented that address the exploitation of remote sensing instruments and simulation tools to improve the understanding of ocean processes and enable cutting-edge applications with the aim of preserving the ocean environment and supporting the blue economy. Hence, this book provides a reference framework for state-of-the-art remote sensing methods that deal with the generation of added-value products and the geophysical information retrieval in related fields, including: Oil spill detection and discrimination; Analysis of tropical cyclones and sea echoes; Shoreline and aquaculture area extraction; Monitoring coastal marine litter and moving vessels; Processing of SAR, HF radar and UAV measurements

Integrated Applications of Geo-Information in Environmental Monitoring

This book focuses on fundamental and applied research on geo-information technology, notably optical and radar remote sensing and algorithm improvements, and their applications in environmental monitoring. This Special Issue presents ten high-quality research papers covering up-to-date research in land cover change and desertification analyses, geo-disaster risk and damage evaluation, mining area restoration assessments, the improvement and development of algorithms, and coastal environmental monitoring and object targeting. The purpose of this Special Issue is to promote exchanges, communications and share the research outcomes of scientists worldwide and to bridge the gap between scientific research and its applications for advancing and improving society

Storm Tide and Wave Simulations and Assessment II

Storm tides, surges, and waves associated with typhoons/tropical cyclones/hurricanes are the most severe threats to coastal zones, nearshore waters, and navigational safety. Therefore, predicting typhoon/tropical cyclone/hurricane-induced storm tides, surges, waves, and coastal erosion is essential for reducing the loss of human life and property and mitigating coastal disasters. There is still a growing demand for novel techniques that could be adopted to resolve the complex physical processes of storm tides, surges, waves, and coastal erosion, even if many studies on the hindcasting/prediction/forecasting of typhoon-driven storm tides, surges, waves, and also morphology evolution have been carried out through numerical models in the last decade. This Special Issue intends to collect the latest studies on storm tide, surge, and wave modeling and analysis utilizing dynamic and statistical models and artificial intelligence approaches to improve our simulating and analytic capabilities and our understanding of storm tides, surges, and waves. Five high-quality papers have been accepted for publication in this Special Issue; these papers cover the application and development of many high-end techniques for storm tides, surges, waves, and on-site investigation of coastal erosion and accretion

Selected Papers from the 2018 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea

This Special Issue is devoted to recent developments in instrumentation and measurement techniques applied to the marine field. ¶The sea is the medium that has allowed people to travel from one continent to another using vessels, even today despite the use of aircraft. It has also been acting as a great reservoir and source of food for all living beings. However, for many generations, it served as a landfill for depositing conventional and nuclear wastes, especially in its deep seabeds, and we are assisting in a race to exploit minerals and resources, different from foods, encompassed in it. Its health is a great challenge for the survival of all humanity since it is one of the most important environmental components targeted by global warming. ¶ As everyone may know, measuring is a step that generates substantial knowledge about a phenomenon or an asset, which is the basis for proposing correct solutions and making proper decisions. However, measurements in the sea environment pose unique difficulties and opportunities, which is made clear from the research results presented in this Special Issue

GEOSPATIAL-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING FOR COASTAL DUNE ZONE MANAGEMENT

Tomaintain biodiversity and ecological functionof coastal dune areas, itis important that practical and effective environmentalmanagemental strategies are developed. Advances in geospatial technologies offer a potentially very useful source of data for studies in this environment. This research project aimto developgeospatialdata-basedenvironmentalmodellingforcoastaldunecomplexestocontributetoeffectiveconservationstrategieswithparticularreferencetotheBuckroneydunecomplexinCo.Wicklow,Ireland.Theprojectconducteda general comparison ofdifferent geospatial data collection methodsfor topographic modelling of the Buckroney dune complex. These data collection methodsincludedsmall-scale survey data from aerial photogrammetry, optical satellite imagery, radar and LiDAR data, and ground-based, large-scale survey data from Total Station(TS), Real Time Kinematic (RTK) Global Positioning System(GPS), terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).The results identifiedthe advantages and disadvantages of the respective technologies and demonstrated thatspatial data from high-end methods based on LiDAR, TLS and UAS technologiesenabled high-resolution and high-accuracy 3D datasetto be gathered quickly and relatively easily for the Buckroney dune complex. Analysis of the 3D topographic modelling based on LiDAR, TLS and UAS technologieshighlighted the efficacy of UAS technology, in particular,for 3D topographicmodellingof the study site.Theproject then exploredthe application of a UAS-mounted multispectral sensor for 3D vegetation mappingof the site. The Sequoia multispectral sensorused in this researchhas green, red, red-edge and near-infrared(NIR)wavebands, and a normal RGB sensor. The outcomesincludedan orthomosiac model, a 3D surface model and multispectral imageryof the study site. Nineclassification strategies were usedto examine the efficacyof UAS-IVmounted multispectral data for vegetation mapping. These strategies involved different band combinations based on the three multispectral bands from the RGB sensor, the four multispectral bands from the multispectral sensor and sixwidely used vegetation indices. There were 235 sample areas (1 m × 1 m) used for anaccuracy assessment of the classification of thevegetation mapping. The results showed vegetation type classification accuracies ranging from 52% to 75%. The resultdemonstrated that the addition of UAS-mounted multispectral data improvedthe classification accuracy of coastal vegetation mapping of the Buckroney dune complex

Advanced Geoscience Remote Sensing

Nowadays, advanced remote sensing technology plays tremendous roles to build a quantitative and comprehensive understanding of how the Earth system operates. The advanced remote sensing technology is also used widely to monitor and survey the natural disasters and man-made pollution. Besides, telecommunication is considered as precise advanced remote sensing technology tool. Indeed precise usages of remote sensing and telecommunication without a comprehensive understanding of mathematics and physics. This book has three parts (i) microwave remote sensing applications, (ii) nuclear, geophysics and telecommunication; and (iii) environment remote sensing investigations

A gravel-sand bifurcation:a simple model and the stability of the equilibrium states

A river bifurcation, can be found in, for instance, a river delta, in braided or anabranching reaches, and in manmade side channels in restored river reaches. Depending on the partitioning of water and sediment over the bifurcating branches, the bifurcation develops toward (a) a stable state with two downstream branches or (b) a state in which the water discharge in one of the branches continues to increase at the expense of the other branch (Wang et al., 1995). This may lead to excessive deposition in the latter branch that eventually silts up. For navigation, flood safety, and river restoration purposes, it is important to assess and develop tools to predict such long-term behavior of the bifurcation. A first and highly schematized one-dimensional model describing (the development towards) the equilibrium states of two bifurcating branches was developed by Wang et al (1995). The use of a one-dimensional model implies the need for a nodal point relation that describes the partitioning of sediment over the bifurcating branches. Wang et al (1995) introduce a nodal point relation as a function of the partitioning of the water discharge. They simplify their nodal point relation to the following form: s*=q*k , where s* denotes the ratio of the sediment discharges per unit width in the bifurcating branches, q* denotes the ratio of the water discharges per unit width in the bifurcating branches, and k is a constant. The Wang et al. (1995) model is limited to conditions with unisize sediment and application of the Engelund & Hansen (1967) sediment transport relation. They assume the same constant base level for the two bifurcating branches, and constant water and sediment discharges in the upstream channel. A mathematical stability analysis is conducted to predict the stability of the equilibrium states. Depending on the exponent k they find a stable equilibrium state with two downstream branches or a stable state with one branch only (i.e. the other branch has silted up). Here we extend the Wang et al. (1995) model to conditions with gravel and sand and study the stability of the equilibrium states

Between the tides: modelling the elevation of Australia’s exposed intertidal zone at continental scale

The intertidal zone represents a critical transition between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, supporting a complex mosaic of highly productive and biologically diverse habitats. However, our understanding of these important coastal environments is limited by a lack of spatially consistent topographic data, which can be extremely challenging and costly to obtain at continental-scale. Satellite remote sensing represents an important resource for monitoring extensive coastal zones. Previous approaches to modelling the elevation of the intertidal zone using earth observation (EO) data have been restricted to small study regions or have relied on manual image interpretation, thus limiting their ability to be applied consistently over large geographic extents. In this study, we present an automated open-source approach to generate satellite-derived elevation data for over 15,387 km2 of intertidal terrain across the entire Australian coastline. Our approach combines global tidal modelling with a 30-year time series archive of spatially and spectrally calibrated Landsat satellite data managed within the Digital Earth Australia (DEA) platform. The resulting National Intertidal Digital Elevation Model (NIDEM) dataset provides an unprecedented three-dimensional representation of Australia's vast exposed intertidal zone at 25 m spatial resolution. We validate our model against LiDAR, RTK GPS and multibeam bathymetry datasets, finding that modelled elevations are highly accurate across sandy beach (±0.41 m RMSE) and tidal flat environments (±0.39 m RMSE). Model performance was least accurate (±2.98 m RMSE) within rocky shores and reefs and other complex coastal environments with extreme and variable tidal regimes. We discuss key challenges associated with modelling intertidal elevation including tidal model performance and biased observations from sun-synchronous satellites, and suggest future directions to improve the accuracy and utility of continental-scale intertidal elevation modelling. Our model can be applied to tidally-influenced coastal environments globally, addressing a key gap between the availability of sub-tidal bathymetry and terrestrial elevation data

Remote Sensing Applications in Coastal Environment

Coastal regions are susceptible to rapid changes, as they constitute the boundary between the land and the sea. The resilience of a particular segment of coast depends on many factors, including climate change, sea-level changes, natural and technological hazards, extraction of natural resources, population growth, and tourism. Recent research highlights the strong capabilities for remote sensing applications to monitor, inventory, and analyze the coastal environment. This book contains 12 high-quality and innovative scientific papers that explore, evaluate, and implement the use of remote sensing sensors within both natural and built coastal environments

Novel Approaches in Landslide Monitoring and Data Analysis

Significant progress has been made in the last few years that has expanded the knowledge of landslide processes. It is, therefore, necessary to summarize, share and disseminate the latest knowledge and expertise. This Special Issue brings together novel research focused on landslide monitoring, modelling and data analysis