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.
Advances in Earth Observation of Global Change Emilio Chuvieco · Jonathan Li · Xiaojun Yang Editors Advances in Earth Observation of Global Change 123 Editors Prof. Dr. Emilio Chuvieco Universidad Alcalá de Henares Department of Geography Depto. Geografia Calle Colegios 2 22801 Alcalá de Henares Spain
[email protected] Prof. Dr. Jonathan Li University of Waterloo Department of Geography and Environmental Management 200 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontarrio N2L 3G1 Canada
[email protected] Prof. Xiaojun Yang Florida State University Dept. Geography Tallahassee Florida 32306 USA
[email protected] ISBN 978-90-481-9084-3 e-ISBN 978-90-481-9085-0 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-9085-0 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2010932447 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface In the last years, public opinion and political managers increasingly consider global change studies as a vital field to better address the current environmental challenges. Climate alterations, natural hazards, biodiversity, water resources and other critical phenomena need to be understood at different spatial scales, from local to global. Reliable and long-term databases are indispensable in these studies, to establish temporal and spatial trends that will provide a better conception of the sources and impacts of changes. Earth Observation of global changes is increasingly considerable as an indispensable tool to have such a comprehensive view of current problems and challenges. Images acquired by EO satellites provide a synoptic and repetitive inspection on the state of natural resources. Sensor systems currently acquired images from different spectral bands (visible, near, medium and thermal infrared and microwave), with a wide range of spatial resolutions (from 1 m to 3 km pixel size), and at different temporal intervals (from 15 min to several weeks). This information may be easily integrated into geographical databases, thus providing an ideal scenario for spatial planning at different spatial