Stanley A. Morain

Surveying China's agricultural resources: Patterns and progress from space

Abstract The creation of an agricultural remote sensing center at Beijing Agricultural University (BAU) and an initial network of participating subcenters located in Harbin, Nanjing, and Chengdu marks the beginning of Chinas efforts to assess, monitor, and tabulate its agricultural production. The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Fisheries (MAAF) has designated BAU as its lead research and applications center to develop remote sensing technologies throughout the six agro‐economic zones of the country. Working with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funding and implemented through the assistance of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN/FAO), the center and subcenters have been staffed, equipped, and trained to inaugurate their own research and development programs in agriculture. Three of their initial activities are described here to alert the scientific community to the existing infrastructure and breadth of current interests. These studies include (1) an aerial,...

Estimating Agricultural Production by the Use of Satellite Information: An Experiment with Laotian Data

Accurate estimates of agricultural output are particularly important in less developed countries (LDCs) because of the large relative size of the agricultural sector. In most LDCs, estimates of national product are hardly useful to the analyst unless the data on agricultural production can be taken as a reasonably accurate measure of the volume of agricultural activity. Two common ways of measuring value added in agriculture are from the production side and from the income side. The first requires data on agricultural production, intermediate goods used, and, for net value added, an estimate of capital consumption. The second method requires data on income, rents, taxes and subsidies, and estimates of capital consumption. A presumed advantage of estimating agricultural production within the framework of a system of national accounts is that independent estimates of value added are made from both the production and income side. The accounting

Design and test of an object-oriented GIS to map plant species in the Southern Rockies

Abstract Elevational and latitudinal shifts occur in the flora of the Rocky Mountains due to long term climate change. In order to specify which species are successfully migrating with these changes, and which are not, an object‐oriented, image‐based geographic information system(GIS) is being created to animate evolving ecological regimes of temperature and precipitation. Research at the Earth Data Analysis Center (EDAC) is developing a landscape model that includes the spatial, spectral and temporal domains. It is designed to visualize migratory changes in the Rocky Mountain flora, and to specify future community compositions. The object‐oriented database will eventually tag each of the nearly 6000 species with a unique hue, intensity, and saturation value, so their movements can be individually traced. An associated GIS includes environmental parameters that control the distribution of each species in the landscape, and satellite imagery is used to help visualize the terrain. Polygons for the GIS are d...

Science Data Products for Public Health Decision Support

The Public Health Applications in Remote Sensing (PHAiRS) project is engineering an enhanced syndromic surveillance system for dust-related respiratory diseases in the southwestern United States based on assimilating Earth observation (EO) data from NASA experimental satellites. There is a rich literature describing the roles and benefits of using EO data in public health, but most of the documentation is based on anecdotal inferences derived from traditional image interpretation. For several reasons, public health communities cannot rely on evidence of this type because: (1) they need science results that verify, validate, and benchmark the statistical and economic benefits from these exotic inputs; and, (2) they lack the systems that can deliver such reliable information economically and swiftly. In PHAiRS, several data sets are being assimilated as replacement parameters in the Dust Regional Atmospheric Model (DREAM) to improve simulations of particulate matter entrainment, timing of entrainment, concentrations, and subsequent movement as governed by hourly weather variables available in a regional version of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP/Eta) model. On-going simulations from DREAM measure hourly, daily and weekly model improvements from individual EO data replacements that are refreshed on a weekly, seasonal, or inter-annual basis. The overall aims are to: (a) combine the measured improvements from several EO data series that optimize dust forecast scenarios for public health authorities; (b) benchmark each step in the process to document the benefits of EO data inputs into respiratory health care; and (c) develop retrospective and forecast statistics from model runs that boost system reliability and user confidence. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a reliable respiratory public health syndromic surveillance system that can be translated into routine uses of EO data from future NPOESS sensors.

Four-dimensional terrain model for tracking floristic changes induced by climate warming

Elevational and latitudinal shifts will occur in the flora and vegetation of the Rocky Mountains due to climate warming. If we are to specify which species are successfully migrating in tune with these changes, and which are being adversely impacted, a 4-dimensional image-based GIS is required to visualize and animate new ecological regimes imposed by changing temperature and precipitation patterns. Research at TAC aims to develop a new algorithm for a terrain model that includes the spatial, spectral, and temporal domains. It is designed to visualize changes in the Rocky Mountain flora, and to specify the predicted community compositions at any future time. The strategy is to assign unique hue, intensity, and saturation values for each of the nearly 6000 species comprising the flora of the Rockies. Hue is assigned on the basis of elevational zone; intensity on the basis of slope and aspect; and saturation, on the basis of abundance. Polygons for an associated GIS are delineated as landform facets that are expected to be stable in ecological time (i.e., over the next few thousand years). The analysis then assesses the gradual progression of species as they migrate upslope and poleward through these polygons. At any future year over the next several thousand, the modeling process can be stopped to assess both the rate and directions of change, as well as the species composition of each plant community occupying a specific polygon.

From Columbus to Columbia

Abstract On the eve of Christopher Columbuss historic voyage to the New World, the international community of remote sensing and mapping sciences is poised to lead a new, environmentally conscious world into the 21st century. Developments in remote sensing and GIS technology during the past 25 years have paved the way for a modern round of earth exploration that could well equal in lasting importance the geographic achievement of Columbus, 500 years ago. Human experience has evolved from land-lubbing to sea-faring, air-faring and now space-faring so that in future all four modes will be used to enhacce our understanding of earth systems. Columbus “dead reckoned” his place into history by sailing the southern arm of the Atlantic Gyre westward to the Bahamas. For reasons beyond his knowledge, he was “lost” almost from the moment he departed; and to this day, his landfall is placed at several islands between Grand Turk at latitude 21.5°N and San Salvador at 24°N. His headings, nautical speeds, and drift are all subjects of controversy. Today, with global positioning systems, scientists and entrepreneurs can triangulate with considerable accuracy almost any point on the earths surface, day or night; and, with a fourth satellite, can determine elevation. The same satellite constellation can monitor the speeds and headings of land, sea, and air transportation carriers for the benefit of all international commerce - a knowledge that would have been the envy of Spains Admiral of the Ocean Seas throughout his search for spices, souls, and gold. We can only imagine what he and his captains might have given for a nightly satellite weather report, let alone images by which to navigate.

Improving Public Health Services through Space Technology and Spatial Information Systems

Every day there are natural and human caused disasters that impact public health and that have adverse impacts on the affected societies and their economic productivity. In addition, there are very subtle, evolutionary forces of global change with profound impacts on human health and well being. Satellites have long been used to illustrate and measure global and regional Earth system processes by observing circulation patterns in the atmosphere and hydrosphere; but, the direct impacts of these patterns on human health have only recently been thrust into “prime time” awareness of the scientific, economic, and policy arenas. Public health infrastructures and mechanisms that link less dramatic environmental events to public health outcomes are just beginning to emerge. Earth system science requirements needed to integrate environmental monitoring with health services rest on (a) verifying, validating, and benchmarking the medical value of spectral and spatial observations for health; and (b), developing decision-support tools that enhance and streamline disease surveillance and information dissemination. This paper describes an effort to link air quality to respiratory health, reviews initiatives that address how data and information can be accessed to improve health services and explain how these services can assist in developing the etiology of air quality factors in health.

Critical Infrastructure Protection Using Image Intelligence From Space-Based Aerial Sensors

America’s transportation systems are predicated on economic, social, and political stability. After the epiphany of September 11, and subsequent national alerts, however, all sectors of transportation, not just in the USA, but around the world have become keenly aware of the vulnerabilities inherent in such systems; and of the cascading consequences that can arise from attacks at critical nodes in any one or more of the transportation sectors. Critical infrastructure protection can be enhanced significantly through better and more routine use of intelligence extracted from real time, time sequential, and archival images obtained by aerial and satellite sensors. Since we cannot, and probably never would, re-engineer current transportation infrastructures to harden them against random attacks, planners can use image-derived intelligence to redesign their information and decision support systems to detect, prepare, prevent, protect, and respond to incidents. In many instances technology already exists to begin these redesigns, but before 9/11 there was little incentive to invest in the effort. Measures that were once difficult to justify as protection against acts of nature are now justifiable as protection against deliberate acts of aggression. These measures, once learned and implemented, will be applicable to both natural and deliberate incidents.Copyright

Commercialization of remote-sensing technology

Abstract The Technology Application Center (TAC) has 10 years of experience transferring applied remote-sensing technology and has assisted numerous organizations in their commercialization efforts. Management and cost data for 48 completed projects are presented that shed light on small business expectations regarding frequency and duration of projects, levels of effort required to complete projects and before-profit revenues. TACs projects have averaged almost 10 months in length with a 4 month interval between contracts at an average contract amount of about

Comparison of TRMM and water district rain rates over New Mexico

27000. The gross average salary per full time equivalent ( FTE) has averaged only