Environmental Remote Sensing and Systems Analysis (Electronic book text)

Using a systems analysis approach and extensive case studies, Environmental Remote Sensing and Systems Analysis shows how remote sensing can be used to support environmental decision making. It presents a multidisciplinary framework and the latest remote sensing tools to understand environmental impacts, management complexity, and policy implications.

Organized into three parts, this full-color book provides systematic coverage of water quality monitoring, air quality monitoring, and monitoring of land use patterns and degradation. Chapters elaborate on the interactions between human and natural systems, addressing questions such as what are the regional impacts of an oil spill in coastal environments? and how does urbanization affect the rate of infiltration of water at urbanOCorural interfaces? Throughout, contributors discuss new techniques and methods for measurements, mathematical modeling, and image processing.

Key features:

• Compares data mining, machine learning, and image processing methods to help you select the best one for your needs
• Incorporates ground-based monitoring networks as part of air and water quality management
• Emphasizes environmental information management, with proper integration of GPS, GIS, and existing environmental databases
• Shows how modeling can be used for decision making
• Examines how remote sensing can be used to understand environmental health implications and to shape environmental management policies
• Demonstrates how systems analysis can be used to aid in environmental policy analysis
• Discusses opportunities for integrated field and laboratory studies in remote sensing education

A useful reference for students, professionals, scientists, and policy makers in environmental management and informatics as well as environmental, agricultural, forest, and sustainability sciences, this book shows readers how to monitor air, soil, and water quality using state-of-the-art remote sensing tools.