About Book

Ecology and conservation are both equally important fields of research. With concerns such as the changing climate and the decline in biodiversity, the need to improvement our understanding of these two subject areas in always ongoing. Particularly so that natural resources and ecosystems can be managed in an efficient way and the sustainability of biodiversity can be maintained. In, general the study of these two areas requires manually collecting data in the field. Although this type of data collection is considered as highly accurate, it can be costly in terms of labour and time, and there can also exist restrictions. Remote sensing can overcome these restrictions, for example, remote sensing measurements are non-intrusive, the problem of accessibility is eliminated and measurements can be quick and made at large scales. With their constant development and improvement in technologies and data analysis, remote sensing techniques can be key in the areas of ecology and conservation. This book elucidates the concepts and innovative models around prospective developments with respect to remote sensing, ecology and conservation. It provides detailed information about sensing-based change, spectral remote sensing, remote sensing applications, evapotranspiration, tsunami disaster, acceleration visualization marker, forest fires and remote sensing. Most of the topics covered in this important book cover new techniques and application of remote sensing. The aim of this book is to give students complete information about this vast and complex subject. The topics included in the book offer thorough insights to the readers about remote sensing. It is an essential guide for graduates and post-graduates in the fields of geology, geography, hydrology and ecology, wireless communication devices, computational analysis and aerial photography and radiometry.

Preface............................................................................................................v

Chapter 1 Forest Fires and Remote Sensing...........................................................1

1. Introduction............................................................................................1

2. Fires and climate...................................................................................5

3. Fire detection ........................................................................................6

4. Fire monitoring....................................................................................19

5. Atmospheric impact of fire emissions............................................25

6. Conclusion............................................................................................30

Chapter 2 Acceleration Visualization Marker Using Moiré Fringe for

Remote Sensing.........................................................................................36

1. Introduction..........................................................................................36

2. Principle................................................................................................38

3. Method of extracting acceleration value by image processing..42

4. x- and y-axis acceleration visualization marker............................44

5. Experiment............................................................................................45

6. Conclusion............................................................................................53

Chapter 3 Application of Remote Sensing for Tsunami Disaster...................56

1. Introduction..........................................................................................56

2. General satellite image analysis for tsunami-affected areas......57

3. Tsunami damage detection and classification by remote

sensing...................................................................................................63

4. Developing a tsunami vulnerability function by applying a

numerical model..................................................................................74

5. Conclusion............................................................................................83

6. Acknowledgment................................................................................84

Chapter 4 Operational Remote Sensing of ET and Challenges ......................87

1. Introduction..........................................................................................87

2. Model overview...................................................................................89

3. Adjusting for background evaporation........................................103

4. Dealing with clouded parts of images ........................................109

5. Other remaining challenges with operational models for spatial

ET ........................................................................................................114

6. Conclusions .......................................................................................114

Chapter 5 Guidelines for Remote Sensing of Evapotranspiration ...............120

1. Introduction........................................................................................120

2. Principles of remote sensing algorithms for

evapotranspiration............................................................................122

3. Data requirements and sensitivity.................................................136

4. Conclusions........................................................................................145

Chapter 6 High-Speed VLSI Architecture Based on Massively Parallel

Processor Arrays for Real-Time Remote Sensing Applications .151

1. Introduction........................................................................................151

2. Remote sensing background...........................................................153

3. VLSI architecture based on Massively Parallel Processor

Arrays ................................................................................................160

4. Performance analysis........................................................................169

5. Conclusions........................................................................................173

Chapter 7 Spectral Remote Sensing of the Responses of Soybean Plants to

Environmental Stresses.........................................................................176

1. Introduction........................................................................................176

2. Remote sensing methods ...............................................................181

3. Materials and treatments.................................................................188

4. Biochemical methods........................................................................193

5. Spectral measurements ..................................................................194

6. Results and discussion ...................................................................197

7. Conclusions........................................................................................215

Chapter 8 Tropical Dry Forests in the Global Picture: The Challenge of

Remote Sensing-Based Change Detection in Tropical

Dry Environments .................................................................................230

1. Introduction........................................................................................230

2. Global importance and specificity of tropical dry forest..........232

3. Remote sensing as a tool to monitor forested ecosystem........238

4. Potential monitoring techniques....................................................243

5. Conclusion..........................................................................................255

Citation......................................................................................................263

Index...........................................................................................................265

About Author

Regan Cusack pursued her M.Sc. in Geography- Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing from University College, Cork. She is a guest lecturer in many universities and teaches courses on data acquisition techniques in remote sensing. Cusack is a veteran in the field of global positioning system and geographic information system with numerous revolutionizing books, articles and research papers to her credit. Her interests include field spectroscopy, image processing, spectral analysis, field data collection, and investigating new data analysis methods for remote sensing techniques, all within the areas of environmental, plant atmospheric and related sciences.