The use of Earth resources satellites in the development of Latin America

Remote Sensing Technology has been used since 1972 by the governments of Latin America to promote national and regional development activities. Dedicated centers totally involved in remote sensing research and development were created. Major investment programs were also promoted by the Latin American countries to include satellite remote sensing technology in their national projects.     

Low cost training in remote sensing applications for developing countries

This presentation introduces the Polish Remote Sensing Centre /OPOLiS/, which offers various types of training possibilities in remote sensing techniques and applications. It deals with a wide range of applications and experiences reached by OPOLiS for various branches of national economy, as well as introduction to analog and digital satellite data processing possibilities with the existing equipment.The offered training possibilities include analog and digital data handling and its interpretation such as visual and computer assisted integration of multiple data sets, as well as image processing, enhancements, mosaics etc.It also includes training and applications of interpretations results for exploration of minerals, energy, and ground water resources, as well as inventories, monitoring and forecasting for agriculture, forest, and natural environmental purposes.The cost factor of the offered training possibilities includes a reasonable input from the Polish Government, which results in low cost input by the participants from developing countries. It also accepts the participation fee in non - convertible currency.     

A decade of remote sensing in India — Some salient results

Remote sensing activities in India over the past decade are briefly described in the paper; some important application areas are explained. Some results are highlighted. Activities in India for building remote sensing spacecraft, sensors and ground segment are summarised. Some facilities in India for remote sensing applications including low cost interpretative equipment developed are described. The paper also outlines the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series, the first of which is presently under development for launch in 1986 and the National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) under evolution.     

The role of the society of Latin American specialists on remote sensing (SELPER) in the analysis and actions related to the main advances and needs of spatial remote sensing for Latin America

The existence of SELPER (Sociedad de Especialistas Latinoamericanos en Percepción Remota / Society of Latinamerican Specialists on Remote Sensing) has filled a great gap among latinamerican countries. SELPER was formed in 1980 and several important activities, having international support, have been performed and are planned in the near future. SELPER consolidation will help develop several important regional cooperation programs and the next years look very promisory in this sense. Different steps are planned but the most important is related with the formation of such a Latin American Council on Remote Sensing, having official support from different countries of the region; SELPER can help this important objective. Main advances and needs are summarized in this paper and it is possible to conclude that SELPER will be important for regional and inter-regional scientific and technical cooperation on remote sensing.     

Responses to satellite remote sensing opportunities in East and Southern Africa

Since 1978 the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has funded a regional remote sensing project for East and Southern Africa. The project, hosted by the Regional Centre for Services in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing, has provided a programme of training courses, user services and project support. This included the equipping and establishment of a photo-laboratory complex for processing Landsat images and the provision of advice and support for agencies undertaking natural resources analysis.Response to the training programme has been very good. Courses are usually over subscribed and there is a continued demand for training. Assessments of the courses by participants are highly positive and the courses have featured consultants of international calibre. Requests for follow-up courses, and for specialist group training indicate a strong response to this training activity. User services are active, consultations with staff, use of the browse file and interpretation equipment and the purchase of data for project work all produce an average demand of 12 active enquiries per working week. The photo-laboratory is particularly active and demand for products exceeds available capacity.Project work is now being supported but limited resources restrict the range and amount of project activity. Response to the opportunities offered for projects has been favourable and this activity is ripe for expansion. The difficulty in expanding to meet the expressed demand is primarily financial. The east and southern Africa region is not economically strong and has a great need for natural resources data for development work and planning. The responses to satellite remote sensing opportunities will be limited by these financial constraints which effectively means by the level of international aid directed to this activity. For such aid to be effective it must be coordinated and firmly attached to the region. Such coordinated aid programmes would avoid fragmentation of distribution and applications work. Fragmentation could seriously disrupt the present growth in natural resources activity based on remote sensing data from satellites. The lack of financing for a regional ground receiving station is also a significant limiting factor.     

建立航天遥感器战略储备的初步构想

结合中国国情及研制航天遥感器的现状 ,阐述了对航天遥感器实行战略储备的初步构想 ;并根据航天遥感器在实际应用中的技术特点 ,对实施遥感器战略储备的必要性、可行性和重要意义进行了分析。     

Basic space sciences in Africa

Through space applications, a number of social and economic programmes in education, communications, agro-climatology, weather forecasting and remote sensing are being realized within the African continent. Regional and international organizations and agencies such as the African Remote Sensing Council, the Pan-African Telecommunication Union and the United Nations system have been instrumental in making Africa conscious of the impact and implications of space science and technology on its peoples.The above notwithstanding, discernible interests in space research, to date, in Africa, have been limited to the work on the solar system and on interplanetary matters including satellite tracking, and to the joint African-Indian proposal for the establishment of an International Institute for Space Sciences and Electronics (INISSE) and the construction, in Kenya, of a Giant Equatorial Radio Telescope (GERT).During this “Transport and Communications Decade in Africa,” Africa's basic space research efforts would need to initially focus on the appropriateness, modification and adaptation of existing technologies for African conditions with a view to providing economic, reliable and functional services for the continent. These should include elements of electronics, communications, structural and tooling industries, and upper-atmosphere research. The experience of and collaborative work with India, Brazil and Argentina, as well as the roles of African scientists, are examined.     

The private sector: A global pool of technical talent for remote sensing training and program support

The growing global pool of highly trained, technical talent in the private sector throughout the world reflects the degree of maturation that remote sensing from air and space vehicles has undergone, especially during the past ten years. This has been further spawned by the US Government move to commercialize the Landsat system. The number of qualified technicians and scientists has grown in proportion to the amount of data that has become available for public and private use. Applications of the data have matured from research investigations to operational use in many disciplines and geographic areas. Private and public industry corporations have established their own image processing and analytical laboratories to ensure their competitive positions. This has been further enhanced by the simultaneous availability of lower cost, analytical computer systems. Training and operational project development remain prominent objectives.While these are all very positive aspects a note of caution must be raised. Concern has recently been expressed by representatives of developing nations that not enough attention is given by remote sensing specialists to spelling out the limitations of the sensing systems or qualifying the degree of accuracy of the results obtained. Such criticisms are probably justified and it is recommended that remote sensing workers be mindful of such concerns.     

Capability of Bhaskara-II satellite microwave radiometer brightness temperature data to discriminate soil moisture conditions of Indian landmass

With the objective of developing Microwave Remote Sensing technology in the country, India has launched a series of Satellites Bhaskara-I and II with the microwave radiometer capability. In this paper, an attempt is made to demonstrate the capability of the brightness temperature data acquired by these radiometers to discriminate various soil moisture conditions of Indian land mass. The analysis show that large areas assessment of soil moisture is possible to a limited extent.     

Remote sensing and mineral exploration in China

In recent years, considerable efforts have been exerted in China in the application of remote sensing in regional geological survey and geotectonic research with some results. Case histories of some areas with different geologic problems are presented. Remote sensing as a means for mineral reconnaissance is still in tentative stage, as its current applications are largely restricted to the study of geologic conditions relating to metallogeny or mineralization so as to delineate prospective areas. Examples are given to illustrate its actual use or trial in energy or mineral exploration and its great potential.     

The use of remote sensing in global biosystem studies

Remote sensing techniques, if properly employed, offer definite advantages to studies of the Earth's environment and resources on a global scale. A remote sensing strategy is presented for selective sampling of the properties and changes in the atmosphere, the oceans and on land in support of global biosystems research as proposed by NASA, including mineral cycling, ocean and terrestrial productivity, perturbation effects and biospheric responses. It is shown that remote sensors on satellites and aircraft should be used to update existing data bases and to monitor areas of high productivity or rapid change, rather than attempting to produce a costly inventory of all biosphere resources and processes.     

New improved orbit solutions for the ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites

Improved orbit solutions of the European Remote Sensing Satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2 have been computed in the ITRF2005 terrestrial reference frame using the recent models based mainly on IERS Conventions 2003. These solutions cover the periods 3 August 1991 to 8 July 1996 for ERS-1, and 3 May 1995 to 4 July 2003 for ERS-2. For each satellite, the final orbit solution is based on a combination of three separate orbit solutions independently computed at the Delft Institute of Earth Observation and Space Systems (DEOS) of the Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands), the Navigation Support Office of the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC, Germany) and the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Germany) using three different software packages for precise orbit determination, but using the same models in the same terrestrial reference frame within the European Space Agency (ESA) project ‘Reprocessing of Altimeter Products for ERS (REAPER)’. Validation using radar altimeter data indicates that the new combined orbits of ERS-1 and ERS-2 computed by us are significantly more accurate, approaching the 2–3 cm level in radial direction, than previously available orbit solutions.     

Distribution of chlorophyll and harmful algal blooms (HABs): A review on space based studies in the coastal environments of Chinese marginal seas

Monitoring of spatial and temporal distribution of chlorophyll (Chl-a) concentrations in the aquatic milieu is always challenging and often interesting. However, the recent advancements in satellite digital data play a significant role in providing outstanding results for the marine environmental investigations. The present paper is aimed to review ‘remote sensing research in Chinese seas’ within the period of 24 years from 1978 to 2002. Owing to generalized distributional pattern, the Chl-a concentrations are recognized high towards northern Chinese seas than the southern. Moreover, the coastal waters, estuaries, and upwelling zones always exhibit relatively high Chl-a concentrations compared with offshore waters. On the basis of marine Chl-a estimates obtained from satellite and other field measured environmental parameters, we have further discussed on the applications of satellite remote sensing in the fields of harmful algal blooms (HABs), primary production and physical oceanographic currents of the regional seas. Concerned with studies of HABs, satellite remote sensing proved more advantageous than any other conventional methods for large-scale applications. Probably, it may be the only source of authentic information responsible for the evaluation of new research methodologies to detect HABs. At present, studies using remote sensing methods are mostly confined to observe algal bloom occurrences, hence, it is essential to coordinate the mechanism of marine ecological and oceanographic dynamic processes of HABs using satellite remote sensing data with in situ measurements of marine environmental parameters. The satellite remote sensing on marine environment and HABs is believed to have a great improvement with popular application of technology.     

真空低温环境红外亮温标准装置设计

对遥感技术现状及面临的问题进行了介绍,明确了建立真空低温环境红外亮温计量标准装置的意义,对国内外研究现状进行了梳理,对研究的标准装置的技术路线和设计方案进行了详细叙述。     

真空低温环境红外亮温标准装置设计

对遥感技术现状及面临的问题进行了介绍，明确了建立真空低温环境红外亮温计量标准装置的意义，对国内外研究现状进行了梳理，对研究的标准装置的技术路线和设计方案进行了详细叙述。     

Selection of spectral bands for Indian remote sensing satellite (IRS)

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to launch a Remote Sensing Satellite around 1985 for acquiring resources information in the visible and near infrared region. For this a number of projects under Joint Experiments Program (JEP) were taken up between ISRO and various departments under Government of India to define the mission parameters including the spectral bands. This paper presents the results obtained in the selection of spectral bands and their widths for IRS program.     

The application of remote sensing techniques to regional geological survey in China

Information is provided on the applications of remote sensing to regional geological survey and mapping on medium and small scale over recent years in China. The work began from establishing interpretation key for strata, magmatic rocks and regional structures. Preliminary results have been obtained. It is explained through case histories in Sichuan Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. By means of remote sensing the time of compilation has been shortened and the cost was reduced, the accuracy and quality of geological maps was improved, and abundant basic geological data were provided for exploration. In addition, prediction of various ore targets were defined along with new ideas for geological scientific research.     

高光谱遥感成像技术的发展与展望

地表形态和目标特性是空间对地遥感的两个重要问题.经过近40年的发展,高光谱遥感技术已取得了巨大的进展,从数据获取、处理到应用都积累了大量成果.作为涉及多学科交叉的年轻学科,高光谱遥感技术的发展经历了一个以需求为导向,在发展中又不断探索完善需求的历程.高光谱成像仪作为获取目标图谱数据的重要仪器,其发展对于整个高光谱遥感的...     

Establishing satellite data bases in developing countries: A critical view

Remote sensing is a data gathering and analysis technique that offers the possibility of natural resource evaluation. Countries that have not yet evaluated their main resources owing to the lack of basic knoweldge of their territory, are attracted by the idea of rapidly creating data banks through the use of remote sensing. While such a technique offers advantages over traditional means of data acquisition, it requires special systems and methods of analysis that are not particularly easy to assimilate. The building of data bases is taken here as the framework for analyzing some problems confronted by developing countries when trying to incorporate the techniques of teledetection.