Environmental monitoring and protection using remote sensing

Protected Areas

Protected areas are designated land or sea areas that are conserved for their high ecological values, wherein, biodiversity, wildlife, ecosystems, natural and cultural resources are protected by the law or private organizations. The protected area network (PAN) is widespread globally to ensure the continued existence of global biodiversity alike. Monitoring of the PAN is essential to keep an updated record of various natural aspects of the environment. The various opportunities and advancements provided by remote sensing render it a useful tool for monitoring the environment at a regional to global scale. A few of these include nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, biodiversity conservation, and the impact of human activities in changing the course of natural events.

Nature reserves

Nature reserves are protected areas of importance for faunal and floral components of an ecosystem. These geographical entities can be monitored using remote sensing. The land use/cover change (LUCC) in the reserves can be mapped and monitored, and this would provide a time series of changes in the shaping of these reserves, both natural and man-made. The image classification or ecological indices derived from satellite datasets enable the monitoring of LUCC. The readily available vegetation indices products from satellites (MODIS) may also be used for the same purpose. Landsat TM mapped time-series of change detection is a commonly utilized product for this purpose. The protected areas are often in contact with human habitations. A field survey of the human impact on the land will help determine what land type is caused by human activities, at any given time. Integration of this data with classified LUCC data will help analyze how nature reserves are used. This can be a two-way treat, as exploring the spatial distribution of the land types will help analyze the course of human activities. The ecological footprint is an estimate to measure the land resources that are required by humans. The ecological footprint model is also an effective means to evaluate the LUCC.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variability of life on earth. It encompasses all life forms, in all of their stages; genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity. Remote sensing is widely used to monitor biological species, habitat and species distribution, and landscape ecosystems. Biodiversity Conservation Priority Areas (BCPA) are core areas of conservation. Remote sensing monitoring of these areas will allow for continuous management of them. Vegetation cover reflects the ecological status of the protected areas. Continuous spatiotemporal monitoring of the vegetation cover gives detailed information on the health of the ecosystem, which is possible by remote sensing. Invasive species are often a threat to the local biodiversity. The extent of invasive species can be mapped using remote sensing and these can be accordingly controlled to preserve the native biodiversity. The classification methods using hyperspectral datasets are effective in extracting the extent of invasiveness by a foreign species. Many such studies have been accomplished to successfully monitor and control the invasive species and their spread. 

Rural Areas

Rural areas are often near forested or agricultural regions. This increases their dependence on natural resources. This also increases the negative impact on rural areas. The major problems, most often noticed, are solid waste management and soil pollution. High-resolution imagery is useful in the change detection of informal waste dumps. Automatic change detection methods have also been initiated in integration with such imagery which would take input from learning samples and human-computer interactions. Hyperspectral imagery can retrieve information of soil composition and, hence, are effective for monitoring soil pollution. Regression modeling approach between soil pollution concentration and hyperspectral data using the field data is a common method to quantify soil pollution.