Advances in Earth Observation of Global Change [Hardcover]

Global Change studies are increasingly being considered a vital source of information to understand the Earth Environment, in particular in the framework of human-induced climate change and land use transformation. Satellite Earth Observing systems provide a unique tool to monitor those changes. While the range of applications and innovative techniques is constantly increasing, this book provides a summary of key case studies where satellite data offer critical information to understand the causes and effects of those environmental changes, minimizing their negative impacts.This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of remote sensing, geographical information, meteorology and environmental sciences. Also scientists and graduate up to post-graduate level students in environmental science will find valuable information in this book.PrefaceList of contributors1. Small satellite missions - the tool for global change studies2. Spatial pattern analysis of water-driven land cover change in Aridzone, Northwest of China3. A spatial logistic regression model for simulating land use patterns: a case study of the Shiraz Metropolitan Area of Iran4. Abu Dhabi Island: analysis of development and vegetation change using remote sensing (1972-2000)5. Remote sensing of coastal water quality in the Baltic Sea using MERIS6. Remote sensing for water quality monitoring in Apalachicola Bay, USA7. Extracting cryospheric information over lowlands from L-band polarimetric SAR data8. Variability of Northern hemisphere spring snowmelts dates using the AVHRR polar pathfinder snow cover during 1982-20049. MODIS snow monitoring over the Tibetan Plateau10. The global geodetic observing system (GGOS): detecting the fingerprints of global change in geodetic quantities11. Monitoring radial tectonic motions of continental borders around the Atlantic Ocean and regional sea level changes by space geodetic observations12. GNSS activities for natural disaster monitoring andl#"