The book provides a systematic review of the different applications for remote sensing and geographical information system techniques in research and management of forest fires. The authors have been involved in this field of research for several years. The book also benefits from data generated within the Megafires project, founded under the DG-XII of the European Union. A clear integration of research and experience is provided. New data gathered from fires affecting European countries between 1991 and 1997 are included as well as satellite images and auxiliary cartographic information. Geographic Information System files have been included in the attached CD-ROM depicting land cover, elevation, Koeppen classification climates and NOAA-AVHRR data of all European Mediterranean Europe at 1 sq km resolution. All these files are in Idrisi format and can be easily accessed from any GIS program. An Idrisi viewer has also been included in the CD-ROM.

Wildland fires are occurring more frequently and affecting more of Earth's surface than ever before. These fires affect the properties of soils and the processes by which they form, but the nature of these impacts has not been well understood. Given that healthy soil is necessary to sustain biodiversity, ecosystems and agriculture, the impact of fire on soil is a vital field of research. Fire Effects on Soil Properties brings together current research on the effects of fire on the physical, biological and chemical properties of soil. Written by over 60 international experts in the field, it includes examples from fire-prone areas across the world, dealing with ash, meso and macrofauna, smouldering fires, recurrent fires and management of fire-affected soils. It also describes current best practice methodologies for research and monitoring of fire effects and new methodologies for future research. This is the first time information on this topic has been presented in a single volume and the book will be an important reference for students, practitioners, managers and academics interested in the effects of fire on ecosystems, including soil scientists, geologists, forestry researchers and environmentalists.

Extreme weather and climate change aggravate the frequency and magnitude of disasters. Facing atypical and more severe events, existing early warning and response systems become inadequate both in scale and scope. Earth Observation (EO) provides today information at global, regional and even basin scales related to agrometeorological hazards. This book focuses on drought, flood, frost, landslides, and storms/cyclones and covers different applications of EO data used from prediction to mapping damages as well as recovery for each category. It explains the added value of EO technology in comparison with conventional techniques applied today through many case studies.

Wildland fire has and continues to impact humans and our environment both positively and negatively. Being able to co-exist with fire on the landscape is becoming increasingly more important as man expands his use of the world's ecosystems. This book is the latest contribution dedicated towards the scholarship surrounding the subject of wildland fires. The present volume consists of a collection of essays covering fire science and technology topics that support the management of wildfires and prescribed fires written by specialists in their respective fields. The nine chapters cover the following: (i) the need of fire and the consequences of policies of attempted fire exclusion to try and manage the wildfire problem; (ii) a review of the current state-of-knowledge of the role of remote sensing technologies in managing wildfires; (iii) a description of how the Canadian system of forest fire danger rating has been introduced into Argentina; (iv) the rationale for adding an "QA" for anchor point(s) to the LCES (Lookout(s)-- Communication(s) -- Escape routes -- Safety zone(s)) safety system for wildland firefighters, thus denoting LACES; (v) a case study involving the use of cloud-based geographic information system on the 2013 Silver Fire in southern California; (vi) the deaths that have occurred amongst rural firefighters and members of the public in Greece since 1997; (vii and viii) two separate overviews of the history, ecology and management of two large Argentinian regions of South America; and (ix) an assessment undertaken of wildland firefighter fatalities in South Africa over the past twenty years or so.

Wildland fires are becoming one of the most critical environmental factors affecting a wide range of ecosystems worldwide. In Mediterranean ecosystems (including also South-Africa, California, parts of Chile and Australia), wildland fires are recurrent phenomena every summer, following the seasonal drought. As a result of changes in traditional land use practices, and the impact of recent climate warming, fires have more negative impacts in the last years, threatening lives, socio-economic and ecological values. The book describes the ecological context of fires in the Mediterranean ecosystems, and provides methods to observe fire danger conditions and fire impacts using Earth Observation and Geographic Information System technologies.

Approaches to Managing Disaster - Assessing Hazards, Emergencies and Disaster Impacts demonstrates the array of information that is critical for improving disaster management. The book reflects major management components of the disaster continuum (the nature of risk, hazard, vulnerability, planning, response and adaptation) in the context of threats that derive from both nature and technology. The chapters include a selection of original research reports by an array of international scholars focused either on specific locations or on specific events. The chapters are ordered according to the phases of emergencies and disasters. The text reflects the disciplinary diversity found within disaster management and the challenges presented by the co-mingling of science and social science in their collective efforts to promote improvements in the techniques, approaches, and decision-making by emergency-response practitioners and the public. This text demonstrates the growing complexity of disasters and their management, as well as the tests societies face every day.

Land Surface Remote Sensing: Environment and Risks explores the use of remote sensing in applications concerning the environment, including desertification and monitoring deforestation and forest fires. The first chapter covers the characterization of aerosols and gases by passive remote sensing. The next chapter presents the correlation of optical images for quantifying the deformation of the Earth's surface and geomorphological processes. The third chapter is examines remote sensing applications in the mining environment. The fourth chapter depicts the strong potential of radar imagery for volcanology and urban and mining subsidence studies. The next two chapters deal respectively with the use of remote sensing in locust control and the contribution of remote sensing to the epidemiology of infectious diseases. In the last ten years, spatial observation of the Earth—particularly continental surfaces—has expanded considerably with the launch of increasing numbers of satellites covering various applications (hydrology, biosphere, flow of surface, snow, ice, landslide, floods). This has paved the way for an explosion in the use of remote sensing data. This book offers essential coverage of space-based observation techniques for continental surfaces. The authors explore major applications and provide a corresponding detailed chapter for the physical principles, physics of measurement, and data processing requirements for each technique, bringing you up-to-date descriptions of techniques used by leading scientists in the field of remote sensing and Earth observation. - Provides clear and concise descriptions of modern remote sensing methods - Explores the most current remote sensing techniques with physical aspects of the measurement (theory) and their applications - Provides chapters on physical principles, measurement, and data processing for each technique described - Describes optical remote sensing technology, including a description of acquisition systems and measurement corrections to be made

Water management and disasters, including droughts and floods are becoming very important subjects in the international platforms. This book will provide information about high technology techniques to solve important problems using remote sensing and GIS for topics such as the environmental security, water resources management, disaster forecast and prevention and information security.

Introduction to Functional Data Analysis provides a concise textbook introduction to the field. It explains how to analyze functional data, both at exploratory and inferential levels. It also provides a systematic and accessible exposition of the methodology and the required mathematical framework. The book can be used as textbook for a semester-long course on FDA for advanced undergraduate or MS statistics majors, as well as for MS and PhD students in other disciplines, including applied mathematics, environmental science, public health, medical research, geophysical sciences and economics. It can also be used for self-study and as a reference for researchers in those fields who wish to acquire solid understanding of FDA methodology and practical guidance for its implementation. Each chapter contains plentiful examples of relevant R code and theoretical and data analytic problems. The material of the book can be roughly divided into four parts of approximately equal length: 1) basic concepts and techniques of FDA, 2) functional regression models, 3) sparse and dependent functional data, and 4) introduction to the Hilbert space framework of FDA. The book assumes advanced undergraduate background in calculus, linear algebra, distributional probability theory, foundations of statistical inference, and some familiarity with R programming. Other required statistics background is provided in scalar settings before the related functional concepts are developed. Most chapters end with references to more advanced research for those who wish to gain a more in-depth understanding of a specific topic.