Advances in Earth Observation of Global Change

Global Change studies are increasingly being considered a vital source of information to understand the Earth Environment, in particular in the framework of human-induced climate change and land use transformation. Satellite Earth Observing systems provide a unique tool to monitor those changes. While the range of applications and innovative techniques is constantly increasing, this book provides a summary of key case studies where satellite data offer critical information to understand the causes and effects of those environmental changes, minimizing their negative impacts. This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of remote sensing, geographical information, meteorology and environmental sciences. Also scientists and graduate up to post-graduate level students in environmental science will find valuable information in this book. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii The Role of Small Satellite Missions in Global Change Studies....Pages 1-15 Spatial Pattern Analysis of Water-Driven Land Cover Change in Aridzone, Northwest of China....Pages 17-26 A Spatial Logistic Regression Model for Simulating Land Use Patterns: A Case Study of the Shiraz Metropolitan Area of Iran....Pages 27-42 Abu Dhabi Island: Analysis of Development and Vegetation Change Using Remote Sensing (1972–2000)....Pages 43-53 Remote Sensing of Coastal Water Quality in the Baltic Sea Using MERIS....Pages 55-67 Remote Sensing for Water Quality Monitoring in Apalachicola Bay, USA....Pages 69-78 Extracting Cryospheric Information over Lowlands from L-Band Polarimetric SAR Data....Pages 79-95 Variability of Northern Hemisphere Spring Snowmelt Dates Using the AVHRR Polar Pathfinder Snow Cover During 1982–2004....Pages 97-110 MODIS Snow Monitoring Over the Tibetan Plateau....Pages 111-124 The Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS): Detecting the Fingerprints of Global Change in Geodetic Quantities....Pages 125-143 Monitoring Radial Tectonic Motions of Continental Borders Around the Atlantic Ocean and Regional Sea Level Changes by Space Geodetic Observations....Pages 145-157 GNSS Activities for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Climate Change Detection at GFZ – An Overview....Pages 159-171 Satellite Imagery for Landslide Mapping in an Earthquake-Struck Area....Pages 173-186 Relations Between Human Factors and Global Fire Activity....Pages 187-199 The Use of Remote Sensing Data and Meteorological Information for Food Security Monitoring, Examples in East Africa....Pages 201-216 Application of an Early Warning System for Floods....Pages 217-237 L-Band and C-Band Combined Interferometric Monitoring of the Wenchuan Earthquake....Pages 239-253 Uncovering the Space–Time Patterns of Change with the Use of Change Analyst – Case Study of Hong Kong....Pages 255-268 Change Detection of Sea Ice Distribution in SAR Imagery Using Semi-variogram of Intrinsic Regionalization Model....Pages 269-280 Back Matter....Pages 281-283