Using ontology and rules to retrieve the semantics of disaster remote sensing data

Remote sensing data plays an important role in natural disaster management.However,with the increase of the variety and quantity of remote sensors,the problem of“knowledge barriers”arises when data users in disaster field retrieve remote sensing data.To improve this problem,this paper proposes an ontology and rule based retrieval(ORR)method to retrieve disaster remote sensing data,and this method introduces ontology technology to express earthquake disaster and remote sensing knowledge,on this basis,and realizes the task suitability reasoning of earthquake disaster remote sensing data,mining the semantic relationship between remote sensing metadata and disasters.The prototype system is built according to the ORR method,which is compared with the traditional method,using the ORR method to retrieve disaster remote sensing data can reduce the knowledge requirements of data users in the retrieval process and improve data retrieval efficiency.

The Review of Land Use/Land Cover Mapping AI Methodology and Application in the Era of Remote Sensing Big Data

With the increasing number of remote sensing satellites,the diversification of observation modals,and the continuous advancement of artificial intelligence algorithms,historically opportunities have been brought to the applications of earth observation and information retrieval,including climate change monitoring,natural resource investigation,ecological environment protection,and territorial space planning.Over the past decade,artificial intelligence technology represented by deep learning has made significant contributions to the field of Earth observation.Therefore,this review will focus on the bottlenecks and development process of using deep learning methods for land use/land cover mapping of the Earth’s surface.Firstly,it introduces the basic framework of semantic segmentation network models for land use/land cover mapping.Then,we summarize the development of semantic segmentation models in geographical field,focusing on spatial and semantic feature extraction,context relationship perception,multi-scale effects modelling,and the transferability of models under geographical differences.Then,the application of semantic segmentation models in agricultural management,building boundary extraction,single tree segmentation and inter-species classification are reviewed.Finally,we discuss the future development prospects of deep learning technology in the context of remote sensing big data.

Dynamic of Chinas cultivated land and landcover changes of its typical regions based on remote sensing data

Using the multi-temporal Landsat data and survey data of national resources, the authors studied the dynamics of cultivated land and landcover changes of typical ecological regions in China. The results of investigation showed that the whole distribution of the cultivated land shifted to Northeast and Northwest China, and as a result, the ecological quality of cultivated land dropped down. The seacoast and cultivated land in the area of Yellow River Mouth expanded by an increasing rate of 0.73 kma-1, with a depositing rate of 2.1 kma-1. The desertification area of the dynamic of Horqin Sandy Land increased from 60.02% of the total land area in1970s to 64.82% in1980s but decreased to 54.90% in early 1990s. As to the change of North Tibet lakes, the water area of the Namu Lake decreased by 38.58 km2 from year 1970 to 1988, with a decreasing rate of 2.14 km2a-1.

Review of large scale crop remote sensing monitoring based on MODIS data

China has a vast territory with abundant crops,and how to collect crop information in China timely,objectively and accurately,is of great significance to the scientific guidance of agricultural development.In this paper,by selecting moderateresolution imaging spectroradiometer(MODIS)data as the main information source,on the basis of spectral and biological characteristics mechanism of the crop,and using the freely available advantage of hyperspectral temporal MODIS data,conduct large scale agricultural remote sensing monitoring research,develop applicable model and algorithm,which can achieve large scale remote sensing extraction and yield estimation of major crop type information,and improve the accuracy of crop quantitative remote sensing.Moreover,the present situation of global crop remote sensing monitoring based on MODIS data is analyzed.Meanwhile,the climate and environment grid agriculture information system using large-scale agricultural condition remote sensing monitoring has been attempted preliminary.

Novel Vegetation Mapping Through Remote Sensing Images Using Deep Meta Fusion Model

Preserving biodiversity and maintaining ecological balance is essential in current environmental conditions.It is challenging to determine vegetation using traditional map classification approaches.The primary issue in detecting vegetation pattern is that it appears with complex spatial structures and similar spectral properties.It is more demandable to determine the multiple spectral ana-lyses for improving the accuracy of vegetation mapping through remotely sensed images.The proposed framework is developed with the idea of ensembling three effective strategies to produce a robust architecture for vegetation mapping.The architecture comprises three approaches,feature-based approach,region-based approach,and texture-based approach for classifying the vegetation area.The novel Deep Meta fusion model(DMFM)is created with a unique fusion frame-work of residual stacking of convolution layers with Unique covariate features(UCF),Intensity features(IF),and Colour features(CF).The overhead issues in GPU utilization during Convolution neural network(CNN)models are reduced here with a lightweight architecture.The system considers detailing feature areas to improve classification accuracy and reduce processing time.The proposed DMFM model achieved 99%accuracy,with a maximum processing time of 130 s.The training,testing,and validation losses are degraded to a significant level that shows the performance quality with the DMFM model.The system acts as a standard analysis platform for dynamic datasets since all three different fea-tures,such as Unique covariate features(UCF),Intensity features(IF),and Colour features(CF),are considered very well.

Agricultural remote sensing big data:Management and applications

Big data with its vast volume and complexity is increasingly concerned, developed and used for all professions and trades. Remote sensing, as one of the sources for big data, is generating earth-observation data and analysis results daily from the platforms of satellites, manned/unmanned aircrafts, and ground-based structures. Agricultural remote sensing is one of the backbone technologies for precision agriculture, which considers within-field variability for site-specific management instead of uniform management as in traditional agriculture. The key of agricultural remote sensing is, with global positioning data and geographic information, to produce spatially-varied data for subsequent precision agricultural operations. Agricultural remote sensing data, as general remote sensing data, have all characteristics of big data. The acquisition, processing, storage, analysis and visualization of agricultural remote sensing big data are critical to the success of precision agriculture. This paper overviews available remote sensing data resources, recent development of technologies for remote sensing big data management, and remote sensing data processing and management for precision agriculture. A five-layer-fifteen- level （FLFL） satellite remote sensing data management structure is described and adapted to create a more appropriate four-layer-twelve-level （FLTL） remote sensing data management structure for management and applications of agricultural remote sensing big data for precision agriculture where the sensors are typically on high-resolution satellites, manned aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles and ground-based structures. The FLTL structure is the management and application framework of agricultural remote sensing big data for precision agriculture and local farm studies, which outlooks the future coordination of remote sensing big data management and applications at local regional and farm scale.

Improved strategy for estimating stem volume and forest biomass using moderate resolution remote sensing data and GIS

This study presents the utility of remote sensing （RS）, GIS and field observation data to estimate above ground biomass （AGB） and stem volume over tropical forest environment. Application of those data for the modeling of forest properties is site specific and highly uncertain, thus further study is encouraged. In this study we used 1460 sampling plots collected in 16 transects measuring tree diameter （DBH） and other forest properties which were useful for the biomass assessment. The study was carded out in tropical forest region in East Kalimantan, Indo- nesia. The AGB density was estimated applying an existing DBH - biomass equation. The estimate was superimposed over the modified GIS map of the study area, and the biomass density of each land cover was calculated. The RS approach was performed using a subset of sample data to develop the AGB and stem volume linear equation models. Pearson correlation statistics test was conducted using ETM bands reflectance, vegetation indices, image transform layers, Principal Component Analysis （PCA） bands, Tasseled Cap （TC）, Grey Level Co-Occurrence Matrix （GLCM） texture features and DEM data as the predictors. Two linear models were generated from the significant RS data. To analyze total biomass and stem volume of each land cover, Landsat ETM images from 2000 and 2003 were preprocessed, classified using maximum likelihood method, and filtered with the majority analysis. We found 158±16 m^3.ha^-1 of stem volume and 168±15 t.ha^-1 of AGB estimated from RS approach, whereas the field measurement and GIS estimated 157±92 m^3.ha^-1 and 167±94 t.ha^-1 of stem volume and AGB, respectively. The dynamics of biomass abundance from 2000 to 2003 were assessed from multi temporal ETM data and we found a slightly declining trend of total biomass over these periods. Remote sensing approach estimated lower biomass abundance than did the GIS and field measurement data. The earlier approach predicted 10.5 Gt and 10.3 Gt of total biomasses in 2000 and 2003, while the later estimated 11.9 Gt and 11.6 Gt of total biomasses, respectively. We found that GLCM mean texture features showed markedly strong correlations with stem volume and biomass.

Algorithmic Foundation and Software Tools for Extracting Shoreline Features from Remote Sensing Imagery and LiDAR Data

This paper presents algorithmic components and corresponding software routines for extracting shoreline features from remote sensing imagery and LiDAR data. Conceptually, shoreline features are treated as boundary lines between land objects and water objects. Numerical algorithms have been identified and de-vised to segment and classify remote sensing imagery and LiDAR data into land and water pixels, to form and enhance land and water objects, and to trace and vectorize the boundaries between land and water ob-jects as shoreline features. A contouring routine is developed as an alternative method for extracting shore-line features from LiDAR data. While most of numerical algorithms are implemented using C++ program-ming language, some algorithms use available functions of ArcObjects in ArcGIS. Based on VB .NET and ArcObjects programming, a graphical user’s interface has been developed to integrate and organize shoreline extraction routines into a software package. This product represents the first comprehensive software tool dedicated for extracting shorelines from remotely sensed data. Radarsat SAR image, QuickBird multispectral image, and airborne LiDAR data have been used to demonstrate how these software routines can be utilized and combined to extract shoreline features from different types of input data sources: panchromatic or single band imagery, color or multi-spectral image, and LiDAR elevation data. Our software package is freely available for the public through the internet.

Establishing evaluation index system for desertification of Keerqin sandy land with remote sensing data

Keerqin sand land is located in the transitional terrain between the Northeast Plain and Inner Mongolia （42°41′-45°15′N, 118°35′-123°30′ E） in Northeast China and it is seriously affected by desertification. According to the configuration and ecotope of the earths surface, the coverage of vegetation, occupation ratio of bare sandy land and the soil texture were selected as evaluation indexes by using the field investigation data. The evaluation index system of Keerqin sandy desertification was established by using Remote Sensing data. and the occupation ratio of bare sandy land was obtained by mixed spectrum model. This index system is validated by the field investioation data and results indicate that it is suitable for the desertification evaluation of Keerqin.Foundation Item： This study is supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China （No. 30371192）

Modeling and predicting dengue fever cases in key regions of the Philippines using remote sensing data

Objective: To correlate climatic and environmental factors such as land surface temperature, rainfall, humidity and normalized difference vegetation index with the incidence of dengue to develop prediction models for the Philippines using remote-sensing data.Methods: Timeseries analysis was performed using dengue cases in four regions of the Philippines and monthly climatic variables extracted from Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation for rainfall, and MODIS for the land surface temperature and normalized difference vegetation index from 2008-2015.Consistent dataset during the period of study was utilized in Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models to predict dengue incidence in the four regions being studied.Results: The best-fitting models were selected to characterize the relationship between dengue incidence and climate variables.The predicted cases of dengue for January to December 2015 period fitted well with the actual dengue cases of the same timeframe.It also showed significantly good linear regression with a square of correlation of 0.869 5 for the four regions combined.Conclusion: Climatic and environmental variables are positively associated with dengue incidence and suit best as predictor factors using Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models.This finding could be a meaningful tool in developing an early warning model based on weather forecasts to deliver effective public health prevention and mitigation programs.

Progress of Geological Survey Using Airborne Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Data in the Gansu and Qinghai Regions

Hyperspectral remote sensing is now a frontier of the remote sensing technology. Airborne hyperspectral remote sensing data have hundreds of narrow bands to obtain complete and continuous ground-object spectra. Therefore, they can be effectively used to identify these grotmd objects which are difficult to discriminate by using wide-band data, and show much promise in geological survey. At the height of 1500 m, have 36 bands in visible to the CASI hyperspectral data near-infrared spectral range, with a spectral resolution of 19 nm and a space resolution of 0.9 m. The SASI data have 101 bands in the shortwave infrared spectral range, with a spectral resolution of 15 nm and a space resolution of 2.25 m. In 2010, China Geological Survey deployed an airborne CASI/SASI hyperspectral measurement project, and selected the Liuyuan and Fangshankou areas in the Beishan metallogenic belt of Gansu Province, and the Nachitai area of East Kunlun metallogenic belt in Qinghai Province to conduct geological survey. The work period of this project was three years.

The Identification and Geological Significance of Fault Buried in the Gasikule Salt Lake in China based on the Multi-source Remote Sensing Data

The salinity of the salt lake is an important factor to evaluate whether it contains some mineral resources or not,the fault buried in the salt lake could control the abundance of the salinity.Therefore,it is of great geological importance to identify the fault buried in the salt lake.Taking the Gasikule Salt Lake in China for example,the paper established a new method to identify the fault buried in the salt lake based on the multi-source remote sensing data including Landsat TM,SPOT-5 and ASTER data.It includes the acquisition and selection of the multi-source remote sensing data,data preprocessing,lake waterfront extraction,spectrum extraction of brine with different salinity,salinity index construction,salinity separation,analysis of the abnormal salinity and identification of the fault buried in salt lake,temperature inversion of brine and the fault verification.As a result,the study identified an important fault buried in the east of the Gasikule Salt Lake that controls the highest salinity abnormal.Because the level of the salinity is positively correlated to the mineral abundance,the result provides the important reference to identify the water body rich in mineral resources in the salt lake.

Geometrical feature analysis and disaster assessment of the Xinmo landslide based on remote sensing data

At 5:39 am on June 24, 2017, a landslide occurred in the village of Xinmo in Maoxian County, Aba Tibet and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture(Sichuan Province, Southwest China). On June 25, aerial images were acquired from an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV), and a digital elevation model(DEM) was processed. Landslide geometrical features were then analyzed. These are the front and rear edge elevation, accumulation area and horizontal sliding distance. Then, the volume and the spatial distribution of the thickness of the deposit were calculated from the difference between the DEM available before the landslide, and the UAV-derived DEM collected after the landslide. Also, the disaster was assessed using high-resolution satellite images acquired before the landslide. These include Quick Bird, Pleiades-1 and GF-2 images with spatial resolutions of 0.65 m, 0.70 m, and 0.80 m, respectively, and the aerial images acquired from the UAV after the landslide with a spatial resolution of 0.1 m. According to the analysis, the area of the landslide was 1.62 km2, and the volume of the landslide was 7.70 ± 1.46 million m3. The average thickness of the landslide accumulation was approximately 8 m. The landslide destroyed a total of 103 buildings. The area of destroyed farmlands was 2.53 ha, and the orchard area was reduced by 28.67 ha. A 2-km section of Songpinggou River was blocked and a 2.1-km section of township road No. 104 was buried. Constrained by the terrain conditions, densely populated and more economically developed areas in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River basin are mainly located in the bottom of the valleys. This is a dangerous area regarding landslide, debris flow and flash flood events Therefore, in mountainous, high-risk disaster areas, it is important to carefully select residential sites to avoid a large number of casualties.

Principle and mathematical method for inverting stress state of a medium from the remote sensing data

It has been proved through experiments that the electromagnetic radiation energy of a substance will vary when stress acts on the substance. This moment, the electromagnetic radiation energy (observation value) received by the remote sensor is triggered not only by the substance temperature and also by the stress. Separating quantitatively these two kinds of electromagnetic radiation energy and then inversing the actual temperature state and stress state of a medium is a matter with practical significance in earthquake prediction and stability monitoring for the large-scale geotechnical engineering. In this paper the principle and the mathematical method for inversing stress by using multiband remote sensing data are discussed in detail. A calculation example is listed.

Groundwater Resource Mapping through the Integration of Geology, Remote Sensing, Geographical Information Systems and Borehole Data in Arid-Subarid Lands at Turkana South Sub-County, Kenya

The integrated approach of various techniques which historically have been used independently is key to successful exploration, development, exploitation and management of the groundwater resources. The integration of Remote Sensing (RS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Borehole data has been used in the study area to assess their applicability in groundwater investigation. The area of study lies in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) where principally remote sensing data has been used in extraction of various thematic maps (lithology, lineament, drainage density, and Digital Elevation Model Maps) for groundwater assessment. The GIS platform was used in integrating the RS data and data of productive boreholes. The lineaments generated through remote sensing agree well with structural geology of the area, where high density lineament points overlays the points of intense faulting. Lineaments found in the area correlate well with fault zones, fractures, and lithological contrasts as supported by geological map and structural map. Weathering, faulting and fracturing of the rocks mean a possible increase or a reduction in specific capacities as observed in productive boreholes in sedimentary rocks or igneous/basaltic rocks of the area. Similarly, it is noted that the degree of faulting affects the degree of radius of influence of a borehole in a particular area. These analyses show that groundwater potential within the Sub-County varies spatially with high dependency on geological structures in the basement region and more on geology within the volcanic and younger sediments.

Red Tide Information Extraction Based on Multi-source Remote Sensing Data in Haizhou Bay

[Objective] The aim was to extract red tide information in Haizhou Bay on the basis of multi-source remote sensing data.[Method] Red tide in Haizhou Bay was studied based on multi-source remote sensing data,such as IRS-P6 data on October 8,2005,Landsat 5-TM data on May 20,2006,MODIS 1B data on October 6,2006 and HY-1B second-grade data on April 22,2009,which were firstly preprocessed through geometric correction,atmospheric correction,image resizing and so on.At the same time,the synchronous environment monitoring data of red tide water were acquired.Then,band ratio method,chlorophyll-a concentration method and secondary filtering method were adopted to extract red tide information.[Result] On October 8,2005,the area of red tide was about 20.0 km2 in Haizhou Bay.There was no red tide in Haizhou bay on May 20,2006.On October 6,2006,large areas of red tide occurred in Haizhou bay,with area of 436.5 km2.On April 22,2009,red tide scattered in Haizhou bay,and its area was about 10.8 km2.[Conclusion] The research would provide technical ideas for the environmental monitoring department of Lianyungang to implement red tide forecast and warning effectively.

Mapping a Paleodrainage System of the Keriya River Using Remote Sensing Data and Historical Materials

Keriya River, one of the ancient Four Green Corridors in the Tarim Basin, recording the changes of climate-environment and the ancient Silk Road of the region. According to the archaeological data, historical materials and paleoclimates information, its eeo-environment and climate have taken great changes since the 1.09 Ma B.P, especially during the recent 2,000 years, many famous ancient cities having been abandoned and the south route of the Silk Road has been moved southward. This study illustrates the capability of the remote sensing data （radar data, topographic data and optical images） and historical materials, in mapping the ancient drainage networks. A major paleodrainage system of Keriya River has linked the Kunlun Mountains to the Tienshan Mountains, possibly as far back as the early Pleistocene. The Keriya River will have important implications for not only the understanding of the paleoenvironments and paleoclimates of Tarim Basin from the early Pleistocene to the Holocene, but also the changes of the Silk Road.

Remote Sensing Multitemporal Data for Geomorphological Analysis of the Murghab Alluvial Fan in Turkmenistan

Archaeological studies are ever more landscape-oriented, in order to study archaeological evidences in relation with their territorial contexts. In such a framework, reconstruction and understanding of ancient landscapes assume a crucial role for archaeological research. This study proposes a first morphological analysis of the whole Murghab alluvial fan in Turkmenistan, by means of the SRTM-DEM datum, and then the reconstruction of the ancient hydrography in the northeastern fringe of the fan, based on medium-high geometric resolution satellite data, and in continuity with previous studies. The importance to know historical fluvial network is due to the strict relationship between fresh water availability and human settlement distribution. SRTM-DEM, Corona, Soyouz KFA, Landsat, and Aster data were used, overlaying them in a GIS, and digitizing palaeochannels through photo-interpretation were done. Today, this is an almost desert area of the fan, and that is why it is easier to recognize buried forms by means of photo-interpretation, even though sometimes in a doubtful way. Despite the uncertainties, this model provided a useful tool for next and focused archaeological field surveys and excavations, aimed to find out human settlement evidences in correlation with ancient waterways.

Extraction of altered minerals from Aster remote sensing data in Gongchangling iron deposit of Liaoning, China

The precision of Aster data is higher than that of Landsat series of multispectral remote sensing data,which can more accurately reveal the distribution of altered minerals.It plays an important role in prospecting,but it is rarely used in areas with complex terrain and high vegetation coverage.Based on this purpose,this study used Aster remote sensing data,and took Gongchangling iron deposit as a case study.It combined the mineral spectrum theory and the basic geologic data of the study area,using the model of principal component analysis(PCA)and color synthesis to extract abnormal altered minerals.The results show that the distribution of identified anomalies is basically consistent with the existing geological data in this study area,which provides a reliable reference for the mineral resources ex-ploration and delineation of mining areas.

Framework of SAGI Agriculture Remote Sensing and Its Perspectives in Supporting National Food Security

Remote sensing, in particular satellite imagery, has been widely used to map cropland, analyze cropping systems, monitor crop changes, and estimate yield and production. However, although satellite imagery is useful within large scale agriculture applications （such as on a national or provincial scale）, it may not supply sufifcient information with adequate resolution, accurate geo-referencing, and specialized biological parameters for use in relation to the rapid developments being made in modern agriculture. Information that is more sophisticated and accurate is required to support reliable decision-making, thereby guaranteeing agricultural sustainability and national food security. To achieve this, strong integration of information is needed from multi-sources, multi-sensors, and multi-scales. In this paper, we propose a new framework of satellite, aerial, and ground-integrated （SAGI） agricultural remote sensing for use in comprehensive agricultural monitoring, modeling, and management. The prototypes of SAGI agriculture remote sensing are ifrst described, followed by a discussion of the key techniques used in joint data processing, image sequence registration and data assimilation. Finally, the possible applications of the SAGI system in supporting national food security are discussed.