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Remote Sensing of Natural Disasters

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Earth System Monitoring

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Abstract

Remote sensing involves the use of instruments to study phenomena from a distance. Natural disasters derive from natural hazards such as volcanoes, flooding, fires, and weather. Practically speaking, “remote sensing of natural disasters” principally refers to the use of airborne or spaceborne sensors to study natural disasters for detecting, modeling, predicting, analyzing, and mitigating effects on human populations and activities.

This chapter was originally published as part of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology edited by Robert A. Meyers. DOI:10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3

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Abbreviations

MODIS:

The MODerate resolution Imaging Spectrometer is a general purpose instrument flying on the Terra and Aqua spacecraft that can sense both visible and thermal infrared information on the earth’s surface and atmosphere.

GOES:

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system is a set of satellites that continuously cover fixed regions of Earth. For example, GOES-East provides continuous coverage of North and South America.

AVHRR:

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer is a sensor carried on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) family of polar orbiting platforms (POES). AVHRR has five wide spectral bands that sense principally the near-infrared and thermal infrared spectrum.

ASTER:

Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer is an instrument on the Terra satellite that senses visible, near-infrared, short infrared, and long-wave/thermal infrared spectrum.

Earth Observing One (EO-1):

An Earth orbiting, pointable spacecraft that has been used to demonstrate a wide range of automation and autonomic technologies including onboard mission replanning and sensorwebs.

Hyperion:

The Hyperspectral instrument on EO-1 used onboard to detect flooding, volcanic activity, and cryosphere change. Hyperion is able to measure in the Very Near to Short Wave infrared spectrum.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR):

A radar remote sensing technique in which motion of the radar is used to synthesize a large array through radar processing. SAR can be used to distinguish between various surface types such as water, land, vegetation cover type and density, and others.

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR):

A remote sensing technique which enables detailed topography, change detection, and motion tracking with great precision. InSAR has applications to deriving digital elevation maps (DEMs) as well as tracking land motion (e.g., after earthquakes), ice sheet motion, and change detection after major disturbances such as landslides, fires, flooding, and other natural disasters.

Lahar:

A mud or debris flow–caused volcanic activity combined with water, snow, or ice.

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Acknowledgments

Portions of the research described in this entry were carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, M/S 301-260, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, 91109-8099, USA

    Steve Chien

  2. Forest Fire Control Division, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department of Thailand, 61 Pholyothin Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand

    Veerachai Tanpipat

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  1. Steve Chien
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Correspondence to Steve Chien .

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  1. , Scripps Insitution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, Gilman Drive 9500, La Jolla, 92093, California, USA

    John Orcutt

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Chien, S., Tanpipat, V. (2013). Remote Sensing of Natural Disasters. In: Orcutt, J. (eds) Earth System Monitoring. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5684-1_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5684-1_17

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