Info
Besides an oil spillage area scanning of sheen thickness allows to define the quantity of the spilled oil. Depending on the temperature of water, properties of oil (viscosity, density) thickness of oil spill layer will be different. A critical gap in responding to oil spills is the present lack of capability to measure and accurately map the thickness of spilled oil on the water surface. There are no operational sensors, currently available that provide absolute measurement of oil thickness on...
Present Constellation of Indian EO Satellites
The Indian EO programme evolved from experimental satellites to operational satellites and to present-generation of theme-specific satellites, presently has one of the world's largest constellations of remote sensing satellites, with current constellation of five satellites in operation (Table 1). A few geostationary satellites in INSAT series (with imagers for coarse resolution & higher repetitivity mapping and also for meteorological applications), and aerial remote sensing capability with...
Domestic Water Supply
The choice of technology in the urban areas is embedded in the actor knowledge frameworks of urban living standards. These frameworks imply independence, individuality and symbolise the affluence of the location, which is linked to the willingness and ability to pay for the service and the standard of service expected. However, these symbols are affected by the capacity to operate and maintain the technology whether by the community or a water supplier. The technology installed also impacts the...
Challenges Faced by the Planet
In today's global society, it appears that economic prosperity is the most important human goal however, the foremost goal of the human race should be to sustain a livable biosphere. Our prime objective must be to implement a coordinated and concerted effort to improve sustainable development activities over the next decade. The planet is facing some fundamental challenges, which are expected to become more devastating over the next couple of decades. The problems that must be addressed extend...
Smos Data Processor
The purpose of the SMOS data processor is to convert the raw data downloaded from the satellite into calibrated microwave brightness temperature maps at the top of the atmosphere which, using suitable algorithms and ancillary data, can ultimately be used to product useful geophysical measurements such as global soil moisture and ocean salinity data products. To this end, the SMOS Level 1 processor is a vital element in the space segment to ground processor chain which forms the minimum...
Synopsis of Book Chapter Sections
This book is a compilation of work undertaken by authors from 15 countries including USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherland, France, Germany, Russia, India, Australia, Canada, Tunisia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. The authors are from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds such as space scientists, agricultural scientists, medical doctors, professors, policy analysts, engineers, botanists, and computer specialist. The authors represent a diverse group of organizations such as the European Space...
Conclusion
The sustainability desired in development and the use of natural resources, particularly interventions that aim to ensure positive change require the concerted efforts of various actors, local and external and the minimisation of the negative impacts embedded in the application of knowledge frameworks and the resulting technological choices. This can be phrased as a rescaling of the spaces in which the frameworks and technology interact and influence the water management practices. As...
Miras Calibration
Calibration of any earth observation sensor is a key stage which encompasses those tasks which are necessary to convert the raw measurement data into science data. Calibration is an important prerequisite to performance verification (which demonstrates the instrument meets its requirements) and the validation of geophysical parameters produced as higher level products. Equally, characterization activities, mainly performed on-ground before launch, are a prerequisite for the calibration...
Natural Resources Repository
Indian EO programme recognises the importance of organising the spatial databases with GIS capabilities created through many applications projects into a repository where from the users can easily access the information. Towards this, the Indian EO programme is planning to setup a Natural Resources Repository (NRR) with a front-end NNRMS Portal for data and value added services. As part of the NRR programme, NNRMS has launched an initiative for systematically generating national level databases...
Water Scarcity
Scarcity indicates limitations in supply or an imbalance in supply and demand for water resources. It produces opportunities for cooperation or competition and sometimes conflict over the water resources. A significant number of studies focus on the scarcity of water resources and methods of addressing them (Turton et al., 2001 Feitelson and Chenoweth, 2002). To assess the second order scarcity the demand side is explored primarily through the various water uses in a particular location and...
The Miras Payload
MIRAS is the single-instrument payload of SMOS. The mechanical layout of the antenna is Y-shaped with a central support structure (McMullan). With its arms extended, the instrument-weighing 360 kg-has a wingspan of 8 m. Sixty-nine Lightweight Cost Effective (LICEF) receivers distributed uniformly along the three antenna arms and within the centre section constitute the main elements of the 2-D synthetic aperture interferometric design. Three dual LICEF-sets at the centre double as Noise...
The Smos System
The SMOS System consists of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, dedicated ground segment and launcher. A block diagram of the system architecture is shown in Fig. 6. The satellite incorporates the EADS CASA Espacio Payload Module MIRAS and a platform based on the THALES ALENIA Space generic PROTEUS bus (Barre et al.). The ground segment of SMOS is sub-divided into two functional groupings, the Satellite Operations Ground Segment (SOGS) for spacecraft monitoring and control and the Data...
Acronyms
AIBP Accelerated Irrigation Benenfit Programme AWiFS Advanced Wide Field Sensor CAPE Crop Acreage and Production Estimation CEOS Committee of Earth Observation Systems CRD Cadastral Referenced Database FASAL Forecasting Agricultural Output using Space-borne, Agro-meteorological and Land Observations GEOSS Global Earth Observation System of Systems GIS Geographical Information System ICT Information & Communication Technology INSAT Indian National Satellite IRS Indian Remote Sensing Satellite...
Slstr
The SLSTR measures Sea and Land Surface Temperature, with performance equivalent to or exceeding that of the ENVISAT AATSR. The SLSTR design and development are based on the re-use of AATSR concept. Its detectors cover the visible and the infrared spectrum, including thermal (TIR) and short wave (SWIR) infrared. The SLSTR uses rotary scan mirror mechanism(s) to produce a wide swath. It features 1 km spatial resolution at nadir for TIR channels and 500 m spatial resolution for visible and SWIR...
About the Authors
Aguirre is Senior Mission Engineer in the Science, Applications and Future Technologies Departments. He was in charge of the definition phase of Sentinel-3 and he presently continues working on new space mission ideas for Earth observation. e-mail Miguel.Aguirre esa.int G. Armuzzi is HR Transformation and Knowledge Management responsible in Mercer, Italy. Before the leading consultancy company in learning processes, for which he has been working since 1985, and has become partner in 1996,...
Bibliography
Bosma, H., On the Theory of Linear Noisy Systems, PhD dissertation, Eindhoven Technical University, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, January 1967. Chren, W. A., Walsh Function Generator for the Electronically Scanned Thinned Array Radiometer (ESTAR) Instrument, NASA Technical Memorandum 4449, 1993. Chren, W. A., Zomberg, B. G., Phase Aligner for the Electronically Scanned Thinned Array Radiometer (ESTAR) Instrument, NASA Technical Memorandum 4518, 1993. Dudgeon, D. E., Mersereau, R. M.,...
Marpol Lidar Sar Slar
Olsen (1993) Oil Spill Detection Using Satellite Based Sar Experience From A Field Experiment, Photogrammetric Engineering And Remote Sensing, 59(3), pp. 423-428. Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli Azerbaijan International Operating Company Compact Air-Borne Spectrographic Imager Global Positioning Systems Hydrocarbons Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships Light Detection and Ranging Synthetic Aperture Radar Side - Looking Airborne Radar Carl E. Brown,...
The Corbella Equation
The visibility equation used in radio-astronomy for five decades (Thompson et al., 1988) is not valid for arrays with elements spaced at a fraction of a wavelength -as in MIRAS- because of antenna coupling. Dr. Ignasi Corbella of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia derived the general formulation of an interferometer in (Corbella et al. 2004) of which the traditional visibility equation is the limiting case for large spacings. Moreover, the Corbella equation leads to the Bosma theorem...
