Geospatial Technology Fostering Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines sustainable development as 'sustainable development is the management and conservation of natural resources base and the orientation of technological and institutional changes in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such sustainable development conserves land, water, plant, and animal genetic resources that are environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable, and socially acceptable.

The unsustainable patterns of production and consumption in industrialized society and developing countries have led to environmental degradation and so, sustainable development goals should be the prime agenda for governments and environmental agencies around the world. This can be achieved by planning and management of land resources, combating deforestation and conservation of biodiversity, combating desertification and drought, protection of the quality and supply of freshwater, protection of the oceans and coastal areas, rational use and development of their living resources, and protection of the atmosphere from pollution.

Sustainability refers to qualitative and quantitative continuity in the use of a resource. It implies a state of equilibrium between human activities as influenced by social behavior, acquired knowledge, and applied technology, on one hand, and food production on the other. There are several perspectives of sustainability, namely economic, ecological, social, and an optimum mix of ecological and economic perspective Sustainability attempts not only to address global issues, such as resource degradation, deforestation, and ozone layer depletion but also local issues, such as maintenance of eco- and socio-eco-systems or a combination of these.

 

Role of GIS and Remote Sensing

Information on the nature, extent, spatial distribution, and potential and limitations of natural resources is a prerequisite for planning the strategy for sustainable development. Along with that, socio-economic and meteorological, and other related ancillary information can be integrated to generate an action plan/development plan for sustainable development. By providing a synoptic view over a large extent of an area at a regular interval, GIS and Remote Sensing technology using high-resolution satellite imagery have proved to be an unparalleled tool to assist in achieving sustainability and sustainable development. Satellite imagery holds a plethora of information that can be useful at operational levels to generate baseline data on mineral resources, soils, groundwater, and surface water, land use/land cover, forests, etc. at various scales and monitoring the changes, if any, over a period of time. High spatial-spectral-temporal resolution satellite data available from a wide variety of government and commercial satellite constellations makes the task of fostering sustainable goals much easier nowadays.

Few Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing for Sustainability and Sustainable Development

Thematic Mapping

• Thematic maps on hydro geomorphological condition, soil resources, and present land use/land cover can be generated through systematic visual interpretation and digital analysis of high-resolution multispectral satellite data in conjunction with the collateral information supported by adequate ground truth. The information, thus derived, on the lithology of the area and geomorphic features therein can be used to infer the ground water potential of each lithological unit based on geomorphic features and recharge conditions.
• Soil resources map of the area can be prepared by delineating sub-divisions within each geomorphic unit based on erosion status, land use/land cover, and image elements, namely color, texture, shape, pattern, association, etc.
• The soil composition of each geomorphic unit can also be defined by studying the typical soil profiles in the field and classifying them up to series levels according to Soil Taxonomy based on morphological characteristics and chemical analysis data.
• Also, derivative maps, namely land capability and irrigation maps can be generated from the information on soils and terrain conditions.

A detailed Landuse/landcover map with 15 feature classes was prepared by SATPALDA using high-spectral resolution satellite data from WorldView 2.

Remote Sensing of Forest Damage by Diseases and Insects

• Sustainable forest management is essential to mitigating the destructive impacts of diseases or insects on forest ecosystems. This is especially true when major disturbance events have the potential to reduce the dominant native species, causing a permanent change in forest structure. One prerequisite for effective management is to understand the spatial distribution and severity of forest damage. . Remote sensing provides a timely and accurate approach to scale up field measurements and characterize spatially explicit information about the Earth’s surface at landscape to regional scales. Rapid and accurate delineation of large-area forest damage allows decision-makers to take prompt and informed actions, supporting the sustainable management of forests.
• SATPALDA utilizes a variety of spectral indices (i.e., combinations of spectral bands) such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index(EVI), disturbance index (DI), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), normalized difference infrared index (NDII), and enhanced wetness difference index (EWDI) for effective monitoring of forest damage subject to disease and insect attacks.

 

Monitoring Water Quality with Remote Sensing Data

• Remote sensing techniques can be used to monitor water quality parameters i.e., suspended sediments (turbidity), chlorophyll, and temperature. High-resolution satellite data provide both spatial and temporal information needed to monitor changes in water quality parameters for developing management practices to improve water quality.  A large number of different sensors onboard various satellites can be used to measure the amount of radiation at different wavelengths reflected from the water’s surface.

• SATPALDAs expert team of remote sensing professionals can evaluate 11 water quality parameters including chlorophyll-a, colored dissolved organic matters, Secchi disk depth, turbidity, total suspended sediments, water temperature, total phosphorus, sea surface salinity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, and chemical oxygen demand, using a wide variety of satellite data available in the market.

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Chlorophyll-a level Monitoring

Turbidity Distribution Monitoring

 

Mapping Urban Air Quality in Near Real-Time

• Air pollution around the world is a growing problem, and achieving clean air for breathing is one of the top priorities of sustainable development goals.
• GIS and Remote Sensing technology  provides a  framework for using multi-sensor, multitemporal, and multispectral satellite images to better understand the cause-and-effect relationships between urbanization and trends in climatology and air quality,
• The increasing availability of earth-observing satellite systems and onboard imaging sensors together with advances in digital image processing techniques provide a new avenue to monitor urban air quality at a citywide and regional scale.
• SATPALDA follows four major satellite-based approaches: measuring the thickness of aerosol in the atmosphere, satellite image visual inspection, black particle measurement, and land-use/land-cover change analysis to determine urban air quality.
• In urban areas, the area resolution for air quality models is less than 2 km. Since the main emissions agent in urban areas is predominantly vehicular engines, the situation becomes worse when pollutants are trapped between buildings and disperse inside the street canyon and move vertically to create a recirculation vortex. Studying and visualizing the recirculation zone in 3D visualization is conceivable by using 3D city models as physical data input. The Level of Details (LoD) in 3D city models ascertains the potentials of implementing air quality modeling for urban areas. SATPALDAs photogrammetry team produces highly accurate and precise 3d model data using high-resolution stereo satellite imagery.

 

Satellite data derived land surface temperature for meteorology and climatology

• Global climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge today. Climate change exerts added stress on urban areas through increased numbers of heat waves threatening people’s well-being and, in many cases, human lives. Earth observation systems and the advances in remote sensing technology helps to determine LST which is the base for understanding and analyzing energy and temperature changes on our planet.
•  Land surface temperature is derived from measured thermal infrared, or TIR radiation, and SATPALDA can determine this with the help of different sensors, which have varying characteristics.
• The land surface temperature influences the energy distribution between soil and plants, as well as buildings. It is also a measure of the temperature of the air layers near the Earth’s surface.
• A detailed understanding of this parameter helps us to model climate models and the variables that depend on them.

 

Assessing Solar Energy Potential using Satellite Data

• Renewable energy systems, which include but are not limited to wind power, hydropower, solar energy, and geothermal energy, have become vital parts of future energy use resources because fossil fuels are declining but energy demands keep growing.
• Solar energy has become a fast-growing energy source in the last few years as compared to other renewable sources of energy and geospatial technology is a great tool to assess and forecast solar energy potential in an urban environment.
• Buildings are the most prominent component in the urban environment. The geometric identification of urban buildings plays an important role and in particular, 3D building models can provide a comprehensive assessment of surfaces exposed to solar radiation to increase solar energy supply efficiency.
• SATPALDA performs automatic building footprint extraction from very high-resolution satellite imagery (15cm HD/30 cm) which is a very accurate and quick process. We also determine the building height based on shadow information from the satellite data and by integrating both these information, we generate a 3D model of the urban environment.
• With the help of a 3D model, we identify the rooftop area, facing, shape, and elevation and later calculate the amount of solar irradiance that exists for the rooftops. Such rooftop analysis helps to determine the position and direction of solar panels to be placed and the amount of solar energy that can be generated.