Remote Sensing Commons^™

Changes In Atmospheric, Meteorological, And Ocean Parameters Associated With The 12 January 2020 Taal Volcanic Eruption, Feng Jing, Akshansa Chauhan, Ramesh P. Singh, Prasanjit Dash

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The Taal volcano erupted on 12 January 2020, the first time since 1977. About 35 mild earthquakes (magnitude greater than 4.0) were observed on 12 January 2020 induced from the eruption. In the present paper, we analyzed optical properties of volcanic aerosols, volcanic gas emission, ocean parameters using multi-satellite sensors, namely, MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder), OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument), TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) and ground observations, namely, Argo, and AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) data. Our detailed analysis shows pronounced changes in all the parameters, which mainly occurred in the western and south-western regions because the …

Mult-Spectral Imaging Of Vegetation With A Diffractive Plenoptic Camera, Tristan R. Naranjo

Theses and Dissertations

Snapshot multi-spectral sensors allow for object detection based on its spectrum for remote sensing applications in air or space. By making these types of sensors more compact and lightweight, it allows drones to dwell longer on targets or the reduction of transport costs for satellites. To address this need, I designed and built a diffractive plenoptic camera (DPC) which utilized a Fresnel zone plate and a light field camera in order to detect vegetation via a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). This thesis derives design equations by relating DPC system parameters to its expected performance and evaluates its multi-spectral performance. …

Is It Possible To Discern Striga Weed (Striga Hermonthica) Infestation Levels In Maize Agro-Ecological Systems Using In-Situ Spectroscopy?, Bester Tawona Mudereri, Timothy Dube, Saliou Niassy, Emily Kimathi, Tobias Landmann, Zeyaur Khan, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The invasion by Striga in most cereal crop fields in Africa has posed a significant threat to food security and has caused substantial socioeconomic losses. Hyperspectral remote sensing is an effective means to discriminate plant species, providing possibilities to track such weed invasions and improve precision agriculture. However, essential baseline information using remotely sensed data is missing, specifically for the Striga weed in Africa. In this study, we investigated the spectral uniqueness of Striga compared to other co-occurring maize crops and weeds. We used the in-situ FieldSpec® Handheld 2™ analytical spectral device (ASD), hyperspectral data and their respective narrow-band indices …

Predicting The Spatial Suitability Distribution Of Moringa Oleifera Cultivation Using Analytical Hierarchical Process Modelling, T. Tshabalala, B. Ncube, H. P. Moyo, E. M. Abdel-Rahman, O. Mutanga, A. R. Ndhlala

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Moringa oleifera Lam, often grows well under cultivation in the tropics and sub-tropics. It does well in sandy to clayey soils and tolerates low rainfall. The plant is well-known for its nutritional and medicinal properties, hence it is fast gaining popularity in South Africa and the rest of the world. The objective of this study was to predict the suitable areas for cultivating M. oleifera in South Africa using climate and edaphic variables that significantly affect its growth and development. We used an Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Geographic Information System (GIS) weight function to assign suitability weights to criteria …

Microwave Brightness Temperature Characteristics Of Three Strong Earthquakes In Sichuan Province, China, Feng Jing, Ramesh P. Singh, Yueju Cui, Ke Sun

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Passive microwave remote sensing technology is an effective means to identify the thermal anomalies associated with earthquakes due to its penetrating capability through clouds compared with infrared sensors. However, observed microwave brightness temperature is strongly influenced by soil moisture and other surface parameters. In the present article, the segmented threshold method has been proposed to detect anomalous microwave brightness temperature associated with the strong earthquakes occurred in Sichuan province, China, an earthquake-prone area with high soil moisture. The index of microwave radiation anomaly (IMRA) computed by the proposed method is found to enhance prior to the three strong earthquakes, 2008 …

Regional Forest Volume Estimation By Expanding Lidar Samples Using Multi-Sensor Satellite Data, Bo Xie, Chunxiang Cao, Min Xu, Barjeece Bashir, Ramesh P. Singh, Zhibin Huang, Xiaojuan Lin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Accurate information regarding forest volume plays an important role in estimating afforestation, timber harvesting, and forest ecological services. Traditionally, operations on forest growing stock volume using field measurements are labor-intensive and time-consuming. Recently, remote sensing technology has emerged as a time-cost efficient method for forest inventory. In the present study, we have adopted three procedures, including samples expanding, feature selection, and results generation and evaluation. Extrapolating the samples from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanning is the most important step in satisfying the requirement of sample size for nonparametric methods operation and result in accuracy improvement. Besides, mean decrease Gini …

Spatial And Topological Analysis Of Urban Land Cover Structure In New Orleans Using Multispectral Aerial Image And Lidar Data, Shuxian Liu

LSU Master's Theses

Urban land use and land cover (LULC) mapping has been one of the major applications in remote sensing of the urban environment. Land cover refers to the biophysical materials at the surface of the earth (i.e. grass, trees, soils, concrete, water), while land use indicates the socio-economic function of the land (i.e., residential, industrial, commercial land uses). This study addresses the technical issue of how to computationally infer urban land use types based on the urban land cover structures from remote sensing data. In this research, a multispectral aerial image and high-resolution LiDAR topographic data have been integrated to investigate …

Remote Sensing Monitoring Of Vegetation Dynamic Changes After Fire In The Greater Hinggan Mountain Area: The Algorithm And Application For Eliminating Phenological Impacts, Zhibin Huang, Chunxiang Cao, Wei Chen, Min Xu, Yongfeng Dang, Ramesh P. Singh, Barjeece Bashir, Bo Xie, Xiaojuan Lin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Fires are frequent in boreal forests affecting forest areas. The detection of forest disturbances and the monitoring of forest restoration are critical for forest management. Vegetation phenology information in remote sensing images may interfere with the monitoring of vegetation restoration, but little research has been done on this issue. Remote sensing and the geographic information system (GIS) have emerged as important tools in providing valuable information about vegetation phenology. Based on the MODIS and Landsat time-series images acquired from 2000 to 2018, this study uses the spatio-temporal data fusion method to construct reflectance images of vegetation with a relatively consistent …

Geomorphology And Chronology Of Sand Stringer Deposition Beyond The Ice Margin: Southeastern Minnesota And Western Wisconsin, Usa, Richard J. Mataitis

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate linear, aeolian deposits termed “sand stringers” located within western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota. Previous research has investigated their spatial distribution, and to a minor extent, their composition and absolute age. However, further sedimentological and absolute age data are needed from a greater distribution of sand stringers to understand their formation and depositional chronology. To build on previous research we 1) remotely mapped the spatial distribution and orientation of sand stringers in western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota, 2) collected absolute age data using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) from four stringers in western …

Vicarious Methodologies To Assess And Improve The Quality Of The Optical Remote Sensing Images: A Critical Review, Sakib Kabir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, number of optical Earth observing satellites performing remote sensing has increased substantially, dramatically increasing the capability to monitor the Earth. The quantity of remote sensing satellite increase is primarily driven by improved technology, miniaturization of components, reduced manufacturing, and launch cost. These satellites often lack on-board calibrators that a large satellite utilizes to ensure high quality (e.g., radiometric, geometric, spatial quality, etc.) scientific measurement. To address this issue, this work presents “best” vicarious image quality assessment and improvement techniques for those kinds of optical satellites which lacks on-board calibration system. In this article, image quality categories …

Responses Of Land Surface Phenology To Wildfire Disturbances In The Western United States Forests, Jianmin Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Land surface phenology (LSP) characterizes the seasonal dynamics in the vegetation communities observed for a satellite pixel and it has been widely associated with global climate change. However, LSP and its long-term trend can be influenced by land disturbance events, which could greatly interrupt the LSP responses to climate change. Wildfire is one of the main disturbance agents in the western United States (US) forests, but its impacts on LSP have not been investigated yet. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the LSP responses to wildfires in the western US forests, this dissertation focused on three research objectives: (1) to …

Use Of Gis Spatial Analysis, Remote Sensing, And Unmanned Aerial Systems In Determining The Susceptibility To Wildfires In Barber County, Kansas, Kara Sill

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Wildfires are becoming more frequent each year not only in the United States, but throughout the world. Barber County, Kansas experienced a devastating wildfire in March 2016, and continues to be at risk of wildfires during the fire season months. This study involved creating a functional GIS Database with layers corresponding to communication, transportation, and infrastructure throughout the county. This will allow responders and officials to have one unified reference space, which will facilitate communication and navigation. Within the ArcGIS environment, route maps can be created to show potential routes and quickest drive time to the scene of the emergency. …

A Karst Feature Predictability Model Within Barber County, Kansas, Gary M. Kelner

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This research consisted of two topics: 1) geographic predictive models of karst features and 2), a petrographic study examining the lithology of the study area. The study area is a privately owned ranch in the Gypsum Hills of Barber County, Kansas and is known to have karst features. Two predictive models for karst features were utilized. Previously identified features, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery aided in the creation of these predictive models. These predictability models also used the ESRI ArcMap software platform. The data for these models consists of slope, …

A Photometric Study Of The South Polar Terrain Of Enceladus, Bereket Daniel Mamo

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Saturn's moon, Enceladus, is a unique body in the Solar System. It is an icy world with ongoing geologic activity that spews out jets of ice particles, water vapor, and other gases from active tectonic fractures (called sulci) near its south pole. Emission from these jets is the dominant source of particles for Saturn's diffuse E ring, which envelops other icy satellites. The south polar fractures are also sources of tidally generated high heat flow. Accurate determination of this endogenic thermal output requires knowledge of the thermophysical properties of the surface, which are reliably estimated by modeling the photometric behavior …

Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems To Identify Invasive Species, Tithe Ahmed

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Invasive species serve as a threat to native biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability. Combatting the spread of invasive species requires long-term physical and monetary commitments. In Balule Nature Reserve of Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa, Opuntia ficus-inidica (the common prickly pear) has been a relentless invader, displacing the local flora and fauna. The goal of this project is to battle invasive species such as prickly pear using efficient and inexpensive technology: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) and multispectral sensors.

Using a 4-bandwidth Parrot Sequoia multispectral sensor in tandem with the DJI Phantom Pro 3^TM UAV, images of land …

Estimating Free-Flow Speed With Lidar And Overhead Imagery, Armin Hadzic

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Understanding free-flow speed is fundamental to transportation engineering in order to improve traffic flow, control, and planning. The free-flow speed of a road segment is the average speed of automobiles unaffected by traffic congestion or delay. Collecting speed data across a state is both expensive and time consuming. Some approaches have been presented to estimate speed using geometric road features for certain types of roads in limited environments. However, estimating speed at state scale for varying landscapes, environments, and road qualities has been relegated to manual engineering and expensive sensor networks. This thesis proposes an automated approach for estimating free-flow …

Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones) With A Thermal Sensor To Map And Count Deer Population, Maxwell C. Ott

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The number of deer in an area is an important statistic for land managers to know, as overabundance has many negative effects. There are many methods that have been used to count deer in the past, such as using manned helicopters and airplanes, walking on foot, and conducting controlled hunts. UAS (unmanned aerial systems) is a growing field that provides many benefits over traditional methods of counting deer, such as lower cost and missions being less time consuming. Using a thermal sensor attached to a UAS makes it simple to spot any deer during a flight. Two main methods of …

Gendered Access To Wetland Gardens (Dimba) In Northern Malawi, Rhoda Nyirenda

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Due to increasing degradation of upland fields and in the face of erratic rains and increasing occurrence of droughts and floods and increasing food prices, smallholder farmers in many places across sub Saharan Africa engage in wetland cultivation for livelihoods security (Mutambikwa et al., 2000). A cultivatable wetland area is considered prime land, and a desired opportunity that every rural family need for the purpose of food production. Studies have indicated that wetland cultivation significantly contributes to household’s income and food security. Wetland agriculture, however, in Malawi and most of the sub-Saharan African countries is marred with issues of access …

Mapping Surficial Geology In The New River Gorge National River And Bluestone National Scenic River, West Virginia, Using Lidar-Derived Digital Elevation Data, Marla K. Denicola

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this thesis was to determine if the surficial geology of Bluestone National Scenic River (BLUE) and New River Gorge National River (NERI), two areas of similar geology, can be mapped using visual interpretation methods applied to digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. Surficial geology in BLUE was field mapped using GPS, following definitions and characterizations for surficial geology units established with the guidance of Dr. J. Steven Kite. A 2m x 2m LiDAR-derived DEM was used for BLUE and most of NERI using US Army Corps of Engineers (USCOE) LiDAR data, …

Glacier Segmentation In Satellite Images For Hindu Kush Himalaya Region, Bibek Aryal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Climate change poses a risk to individuals whose livelihoods depend on the health of glacier ecosystems. Monitoring glaciers in the Himalayan Hindu Kush (HKH) region is of high importance especially when we consider the impact of recent climate change on them. Our work aims to provide an automated method to outline glaciers using machine learning techniques and publicly available remote sensing imagery.In this work, we present ways to delineate glaciers from Landsat-7 imagery using various machine learning and computer vision techniques. The multi-step methodology that we present in this work is generalizable across different types of satellite and overhead imagery, …

Accounting For Training Data Error In Machine Learning Applied To Earth Observations, Arthur Elmes, Hamed Alemohammad, Ryan Avery, Kelly Caylor, J. Ronald Eastman, Lewis Fishgold, Mark A. Friedl, Meha Jain, Divyani Kohli, Juan Carlos Laso Bayas, Dalton Lunga, Jessica L. Mccarty, Robert Gilmore Pontius, Andrew B. Reinmann, John Rogan, Lei Song, Hristiana Stoynova, Su Ye, Zhuang Fang Yi, Lyndon Estes

Geography

Remote sensing, or Earth Observation (EO), is increasingly used to understand Earth system dynamics and create continuous and categorical maps of biophysical properties and land cover, especially based on recent advances in machine learning (ML). ML models typically require large, spatially explicit training datasets to make accurate predictions. Training data (TD) are typically generated by digitizing polygons on high spatial-resolution imagery, by collecting in situ data, or by using pre-existing datasets. TD are often assumed to accurately represent the truth, but in practice almost always have error, stemming from (1) sample design, and (2) sample collection errors. The latter is …

Change Points Detected In Decadal And Seasonal Trends Of Outlet Glacier Terminus Positions Across West Greenland, Ashley V. York, Karen E. Frey, Sadegh Jamali, Sarah B. Das

Geography

We investigated the change in terminus position between 1985 and 2015 of 17 marine-terminating glaciers that drain into Disko and Uummannaq Bays, West Greenland, by manually digitizing over 5000 individual frontal positions from over 1200 Landsat images. We find that 15 of 17 glacier termini retreated over the study period, with ~80% of this retreat occurring since 2000. Increased frequency of Landsat observations since 2000 allowed for further investigation of the seasonal variability in terminus position. We identified 10 actively retreating glaciers based on a significant positive relationship between glaciers with cumulative retreat >300 m since 2000 and their average …

Examining Spatial Inequities In Green Space Distribution And Access Around The Historic City Of Savannah, Georgia., Chiamaka F. Chimah

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Green space supports recreational activities and environmental sustainability which has proven to aid physical and social well-being as well as environmental health. However, spatial inequities are observed in the distribution and accessibility of urban green space. This norm identified as an environmental justice issue has left racial minorities and people of low socioeconomic status at a disadvantage. This study adopted a geospatial approach to assess green space quantity, quality, and accessibility, and generate a green space index. This research assessed the relationship between racial structure, socioeconomic characteristics and green space inequities in all municipalities in Chatham County, Georgia with a …

Remote Sensing Approaches To Predict Forest Characteristics In Northwest Montana, Ryan P. Rock

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Remote sensing can be utilized by land management organizations to save money and time. Mapping vegetation using either aerial photographs or satellite imagery and the applications for forest management are of particular interest to the Montana Department of Natural Resources. In 2018, the organization began a pilot program to test the incorporation of raster analysis of remotely sensed data into their inventory program and had limited success. This analysis identified two areas of improvement: the selection method of inventory plots and the imagery used for classification and metrics. This study found that selecting inventory plots using a generalized random tessellation …

Characterizing Burn Severity Of Beetle-Killed Forest Stands Leveraging Google Earth Engine-Derived Normalized Burn Ratios, Sofronio Catalino Propios Iii

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Following numerous studies, a general consensus on burn severity in forests affected by bark beetle outbreaks has not yet been achieved. The purpose of this study is to characterize burn severities in forest stands affected by mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks, especially in relation to “time since outbreak”, vegetation cover, and topographic factors. This study focuses on wildfires that occurred in the northern Rocky Mountains of Idaho and Montana during the 2012 fire season within forested areas that had previously experienced prior MPB outbreaks. Remote sensing techniques were used to quantify and compare the burn severities of MPB-outbreak stands with …

Change Is The Only Constant: A Snowpack Retention Analysis And Climate Vulnerability Road Map For The Skalkaho Creek Sub-Basin, Zachary Freeman Goodwin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change is impacting the whole of North America, although the impacts differ depending on regional geography. In the Intermountain West, climate change is contributing to lower overall snowpack totals and diminished late season streamflows. These changes will likely contribute to vulnerabilities in how much water is available to irrigators, municipalities, and fisheries dependent upon a consistent yearly flow of meltwater. This paper explores how snowpack retention has changed via the NASA dataset Daymet, which provides gridded estimates of weather parameters including Snow Water Equivalent in the Bitterroot River Basin of western Montana. This analysis showed that snowpack retention from …

A Feasibility Study On The Application Of Tvdi On Accessing Wildfire Danger In The Korean Peninsula, Kwang Nyun Kim, Seung Hee Kim, Myoung Soo Won, Keun Chang Jang, Won Jun Choi, Yun Gon Lee

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Wildfire is a major natural disaster affecting socioeconomics and ecology. Remote sensing data have been widely used to estimate the wildfire danger with an advantage of higher spatial resolution. Among the several wildfire related indices using remote sensing data, Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) assesses wildfire danger based on both Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST). Although TVDI has physical advantages by considering both weather and vegetation condition, previous studies have shown TVDI does not performed well compare to other wildfire related indices over the Korean Peninsula. In this study we have attempted multiple modification to …

High-Resolution Intertidal Topography From Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Imagery: Synergy Between Remote Sensing And Numerical Modeling, Md Jamal Uddin Khan, Md Nazmuddoha Ansary, Fabien Durand, Laurent Testut, Marufa Ishaque, Stéphane Calmant, Yann Krien, A.K.M. Saiful Islam, Fabrice Papa

OES Faculty Publications

The intertidal zones are well recognized for their dynamic nature and role in near-shore hydrodynamics. The intertidal topography is poorly mapped worldwide due to the high cost of associated field campaigns. Here we present a combination of remote-sensing and hydrodynamic modeling to overcome the lack of in situ measurements. We derive a digital elevation model (DEM) by linking the corresponding water level to a sample of shorelines at various stages of the tide. Our shoreline detection method is fully automatic and capable of processing high-resolution imagery from state-of-the-art satellite missions, e.g., Sentinel-2. We demonstrate the use of a tidal model …

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Lake Water Quality Indicators On Small Lakes, Lake Bloomington And Evergreen Lake In Central Illinois, Using Satellite Remote Sensing, Gare Ambrose-Igho

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the use of Sentinel-2 satellite to determine the spatiotemporal patterns of lake water quality indicators (e.g. chlorophyll a) in Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake. Lake water quality issues related to algal blooms is a serious problem in basins with abundant agricultural lands causing harmful effects to freshwater ecosystems such as pollution of beaches, taste and odor problems in drinking water, depletion of oxygen levels causing fish kills and the issue of water exceeding safe drinking water standards. Developing monitoring techniques using various water quality indicators of algal blooms is crucial. In this project, remote sensing and field …

Assessing Environmentally Sensitive Land To Desertification Using Medalus Method In Mongolia, Eun Jung Lee, Dongfan Piao, Cholho Song, Jiwon Kim, Chul-Hee Lim, Eunji Kim, Jooyeon Moon, Menas Kafatos, Munkhnsan Lamchin, Seong Woo Jeon, Woo-Kyun Lee

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Desertification is a global phenomenon caused by various processes, including climate change, vegetation processes, and human activities. The need to combat desertification is increasing in many countries. A reasonable assessment of the vulnerability or sensitivity of land cover to desertification at national scales is crucial to formulate appropriate strategies or policies for combating it. The main purpose of this work was to quantitatively assess the sensitivity of land cover to desertification in Mongolia using the MEDALUS approach. The MEDALUS method is a widely known technique for assessing desertification in the Mediterranean area. In this study, the method was adjusted to …