Kamlesh Lulla

Monitoring tropical environments with Space Shuttle photography

Abstract Orbital photography from the Space Shuttle missions (1981–88) and earlier manned spaceflight programs (1962–1975) allows remote sensing time series to be constructed for observations of environmental change in selected portions of the global tropics. Particular topics and regions include deforestation, soil erosion, supersedimentation in streams, lacustrine, and estuarine environments, and desertification in the Greater Amazon, Tropical Africa and Madagascar, South & Southeast Asia, and the Indo‐Pacific archipelagoes.

Fuzzy neural network models for supervised classification: Multispectral image analysis

Abstract It has been well established that neural networks provide a reasonable and powerful alternative to conventional classifiers. During the past few years there has been a large and energetic upswing in research efforts aimed at synthesizing fuzzy logic with neural networks. This combination of fuzzy logic and neural networks seems natural because two approaches generally attack the design of “intelligent” systems from quite different angles. Neural networks provide algorithms for learning, classification, and optimization whereas fuzzy logic deals with issues such as reasoning on a higher (semantic or linguistic) level. Consequently the two technologies complement each other. In this paper we propose two novel fuzzy‐neural network models for supervised learning. The first model consists of three layers, and the second model consists of four layers. In both models, the first two layers implement fuzzy membership functions and the remaining layers implement the inference engine. Both models use the gr...

Mapping small‐scale vegetation changes of Mexico

Abstract This research attempts to map small‐scale vegetation changes in Mexico. Forty‐eight weeks of coarse resolution AVHRRNDVI, a digitized climax vegetation map, land cover samples from space shuttle photographs and actual vegetation samples were used as inputs. Principal components analyses and a clustering algorithm were applied to the NDVI data to generate a single layer that was stratified by the climax vegetation zones map. The purpose is to create a new layer that differentiates climax vegetation (hypothesized potential vegetation) from non‐climax vegetation land covers. One of the keys to developing a present‐day vegetation map was differentiating intrazone land covers based on the stratification; as great as 75% of the sampled land cover types differed from the climax vegetation. The present‐day vegetation map achieved 80% classification accuracy when calculated from available ground reference data. About 55% of the temperate zones and 37% of the tropical zones were found to contain original c...

The Landsat 8 is ready for geospatial science and technology researchers and practitioners

The remarkable legacy of the Landsat series of satellites continues with Landsat 8, both in terms of operations and ready-to-supply data for the worldwide community of researchers and educators. This is also a significant on-going collaboration between NASA and Department of Interior United States Geological Survey (USGS). The Landsat 8 is orbiting the Earth every 99 minutes and images the entire Earth every 16 days in the same orbit previously used by Landsat 5. It is using Worldwide Reference System-2 (WRS-2) path/row system with these characteristics: Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km (438 mi), 233 orbit cycle; covers the entire globe every 16 days (except for the highest polar latitudes), Inclined 98.2° (slightly retrograde), Equatorial crossing time: 10:00 a.m. ± 15 minutes. The Landsat 8 sensors include: Operational Land Imager (OLI) with nine spectral bands, including a pan band:

Remote Sensing in Ecological Studies

SUMMARYThis paper examines some selected examples of applications of remote sensing to ecological studies. Several recent significant studies are cited and the results of ecologically important papers are included. Specific examples of applications include ecological mapping, biomass and primary productivity estimations and leaf area index estimations.

Earth observations during Space Shuttle flight STS-26: Discovery's mission to earth - September 29-October 3, 1988

Summary During the late September‐early October, 1988 flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery, astronauts took 1505 photographs of Earth using handheld cameras. The resulting pictures provide an overview, not available from any other source, of dynamic environmental phenomena on five continents. The Discovery photographs show that (a) atmospheric clarity has improved in the Northern Hemisphere, (b) widespread burning of natural vegetation throughout the Southern Hemisphere continues to generate immense smoke palls and extensive sedimentation in rivers and estuaries, and (c) although the drought in Africa was partially relieved by heavy rains in autumn, 1988, Lakes Chad and Nasser are at the lowest levels ever seen from space.

Smoke palls induced by Kuwaiti oilfield fires mapped from space shuttle imagery

Abstract The Kuwaiti oil fires and their associated smoke have led to many speculations and hypotheses by various scientists and the world press. The environmental impact of this phenomenon has yet to be modeled and understood with confidence. Some models predict adverse effects impacting millions of people from Africa to the Indian subcontinent; others predict regional impacts, or do not aggregate to the level of large‐scale and deleterious environmetal consequences. We have initially mapped and delineated the oil fires and attendant smoke palls using Space Shuttle imagery in order to initiate further scientific analyses required to assess this environmental disaster.

Earth observations during space shuttle flight STS‐41: Discovery's mission to planet earth

An overview of space flight STS-41 is presented, including personal observations and comments by the mission astronauts. The crew deployed the Ulysses spacecraft to study the polar regions of the sun and the interplanetary space above the poles. Environmental observations, including those of Lake Turkana, Lake Chad, biomass burning in Madagascar and Argentina, and circular features in Yucatan are described. Observations that include landforms and geology, continental sedimentation, desert landscapes, and river morphology are discussed.

Earth observations during space shuttle flight STS‐35: Columbia's mission to planet earth, December 2–10, 1990

Some of the most significant earth-viewing imagery obtained during Space Shuttle Columbias flight STS-35, December 2-10, 1990, is reviewed with emphasis on observations of the Southern Hemisphere. In particular, attention is given to environmental observations in areas of Madagascar, Brazil, and Persian Gulf; observation of land resources (Namibia, offshore Australia); and observations of ocean islands (Phillipines, Indonesia, and Reunion). Some of the photographs are included.

Earth observations during Space Shuttle flight STS-29 - Discovery's voyage to the earth

The environmental, geologic, meteorologic, and oceanographic phenomena documented by earth photography during the Space Shuttle STS-29 mission are reviewed. A map of the nadir point positions of earth-viewing photographs from the mission is given and color photographs of various regions are presented. The mission photographs include atmospheric dust and smoke over parts of Africa and Asia, Sahelian water sites, center pivot irrigation fields in the Middle East, urban smog over Mexico City, isolated burning in the Bolivian Amazon, and various ocean features and cloud formations.