This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8795, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.

The potential of spaceborne lidar to monitor aerosol layering and mixing with high vertical resolution is reviewed. An overview is presented on aerosol lidar techniques of past, present, and future NASA and ESA lidar missions. The potential of a standard backscatter lidar (LITE, 1994), a backscatter/polarization lidar (CALIPSO, since 2006), a polarization High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL, ATLID, EARTHCARE), and of a multiwavelength polarization HSRL are discussed regarding their ability to derive height profiles of optical and microphysical properties of aerosols and to resolve aerosol types and mixtures as a function of height. The important role of ground-truth activities is emphasized. Measurement examples taken with ground-based lidars illustrate that these systems provide a detailed characterization of complex aerosol scenarios in contrast to the snapshot-like observations with spaceborne lidars.

The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal for an e-learning course in the field of remote sensing and environmental applications. E-learning is an educational process supported by specially developed educational material. The students can study and learn without, necessary, the physical presence of a teacher. The educational profile of students is determined. These are High School students in the Secondary Education Grade. The educational material is described in such a way that it would be suitable for distance learning and to cover the educational needs and requirements of students that could be used as an additional material in the Physical Sciences. The educational material includes electronic components designed with Courselab and presented in the Moodle platform. The objective is the transfer of knowledge regarding remote sensing environmental applications in a "friendly" way to the students. Thus, students attending the course will have the ability to fulfill their knowledge and adapt new skills.

European school education has so far, by and large, ignored geospatial developments like remote sensing, despite the fact that geo-technology has already become a significant employer. There are small pockets of intense activity, the challenge is to scale these developments up. This article reports on networking initiatives developed by the digital-earth.eu project to connect organisations involved in geospatial education like remote sensing, to share practice, provide advice and guidance on the use of geographic information to others and be a place for new initiatives. The digital-earth.eu network project raises awareness of the role of digital earth education, informing politicians of the significance of digital earth tools and technologies. digital-earth.eu also establishes a teacher support network infrastructure which incorporates geo-services for teachers such as the use of ArcGIS Online for Organisations and the European Environment Agency EyeonEarth platform. The project has made recommendation concerning the growing shortage of a geospatial workforce in Europe, the significance of open data and the usability of EU INSPIRE Directive. It suggests that Digital Earth education and training developments are urgently needed as part of the European Qualifications Framework. European policy makers have to be made much more aware of geospatial concepts and then actively encouraged by stakeholders to respond to them in policy terms through developing a “Digital Earth education for all”.

Leaf Area Index (LAI) is considered to be a key parameter of ecosystem processes and it is widely used as input to biogeochemical process models that predict net primary production (NPP) or can be a useful parameter for crop yield prediction and crop stress assessment as well as estimation of the exchanges of carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients in forests. LAI can be derived from satellite optical data using models referred to physical-based approaches, which describe the physical processes of energy flow in the soil-vegetation-atmosphere system, and models using empirically derived regression relationships based on spectral vegetation indices (VIs). The first category of models are more general in application because they can account for the different sources of variability, although in many cases the information needed to constrain model inputs is not available. In contrast, empirical models depend on the site and time. The aim of this paper is to create a reliable semi-empirical method, applied in two Mediterranean sites, to estimate LAI with high spatial resolution images. The model uses a minimum dataset of a Landsat 5 TM or SPOT 4 XS image, land cover map and DEM for each area. Specifically, this model calculates the reflectance of initial bands implementing topographic correction with the aid of DEM and metadata of the images and afterwards uses a list of NDVI values that correspond to certain LAI values on different land cover types which has been proposed by the MODIS Land Team. This model has been applied in two areas; in the river basin of Nestos (Greece and Bulgaria) and in the river basin of Tamega (Portugal). The predicted LAI map was validated with ground truth data from hemispherical images showing high correlation, with r reaching 0.79 and RMSE less than 1 m²/m².

Remote sensing (RS) has long been a useful tool in global and regional applications. The Water Footprint (WF) of a crop is defined as the volume of water consumed for its production, where green and blue WF stand for rain and irrigation water usage. RS provides new tools for global WF assessment and represents an innovative approach to regional and global irrigation mapping, enabling the estimation of green and blue water use. This paper presents an overview of the EU COST Action ES 1106 "Assessment of European agriculture water use and trade under climate change (EURO-AGRIWAT)", regarding the evaluation of the potential of remote sensing to improve the WF and Virtual Water Trade (VWT) assessment. The main objective is the analysis of the role of satellite data in the suitable models and indices concerned with the analysis of WF and VWT. The main tasks include: an inventory of the existing and near future satellite data records for several European regions that could be used for the WF and VWT assessment; the study of satellite data resolution requirements, in time and space; the analysis of the assimilation of satellite data into models for the determination of green and blue water use; conclusions and recommendations concerning the possibility to integrate remote sensing into WF and VWT accounting. The combination of RS data to assess the volume of irrigation applied, and the green and blue WF faces several limitations with respect to discrepancies in spatial and temporal resolution and data availability, which will be studied.

Remote sensing may be used for quick and cost effective detection and monitoring of water leakages, since traditional field survey methods for detection of water pipeline leakages are costly and time consuming. Vegetation indices are widely used by researchers for many applications. Among them, NDVI, RVI and SAVI are indices that can be used for pipeline leakage detection. In this study, the above vegetation indices were evaluated based on Landsat ETM+ multispectral images in a multi-temporal mode. The evaluation was performed in the semiarid environment in Cyprus, in order to detect the position of points/areas where water leakage occurs and to examine the accuracy of the vegetation indices in detecting such events. In addition, a low altitude system was used to record spectral differences before and after a leakage event. The results showed that there are leakage points that could be detected using satellite images due to the increasing and decreasing of the surrounding vegetation affected by the water leaked of the pipeline. Other characteristics such as the soil type and precipitation were also examined. Finally, the low altitude system highlighted the advantages of using such non contact techniques for monitoring water leakages.

In this study, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) was used to derive daily actual evapotranspiration (ET_a) distributions from Landsat and MODIS images separately. The study area is the Lake Karla basin in Thessaly, Central Greece. Meteorological data from the archive of Center for Research and Technology, Thessaly (CERETETH) have also been used. The methodology was developed using satellite and ground data for the period of summer 2007. Landsat and MODIS imagery were combined in order to have data with high temporal and spatial resolution (downscaling). The downscaling technique applied is the output downscaling with regression between images. This technique disaggregates imagery by applying linear regression between two MODIS products to the previous or subsequent Landsat product. After the calculation of a first order linear regression between two MODIS-derived ET_a maps the next step is the regression to the ET_a map derived from the prior Landsat image to predict the disaggregated subsequent Landsat ET_a map. The results are satisfactory, giving the general trend of ET_a derived from the original SEBAL procedure.

In recent years 3D information has become more easily available. Users' needs are constantly increasing, adapting to this reality and 3D maps are in more demand. 3D models of the terrain in CAD or other environments have already been common practice; however one is bound by the computer screen. This is why contemporary digital methods have been developed in order to produce portable and, hence, handier 3D maps of various forms. This paper deals with the implementation of the necessary procedures to produce holographic 3D maps and three dimensionally printed maps. The main objective is the production of three dimensional maps from high resolution aerial and/or satellite imagery with the use of holography and but also 3D printing methods. As study area the island of Antiparos was chosen, as there were readily available suitable data. These data were two stereo pairs of Geoeye-1 and a high resolution DTM of the island. Firstly the theoretical bases of holography and 3D printing are described, and the two methods are analyzed and there implementation is explained. In practice a x-axis parallax holographic map of the Antiparos Island is created and a full parallax (x-axis and y-axis) holographic map is created and printed, using the holographic method. Moreover a three dimensional printed map of the study area has been created using 3dp (3d printing) method. The results are evaluated for their usefulness and efficiency.

The current paper focuses on the capture, fusion and process of aerial imagery in order to leverage full motion video, giving analysts the ability to collect, analyze, and maximize the value of video assets. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have provided critical real-time surveillance and operational support to military organizations, and are a key source of intelligence, particularly when integrated with other geospatial data. In the current workflow, at first, the UAV operators plan the flight by using a flight planning software. During the flight the UAV send a live video stream directly on the field to be processed by Intergraph software, to generate and disseminate georeferenced images trough a service oriented architecture based on ERDAS Apollo suite. The raw video-based data sources provide the most recent view of a situation and can augment other forms of geospatial intelligence – such as satellite imagery and aerial photos – to provide a richer, more detailed view of the area of interest. To effectively use video as a source of intelligence, however, the analyst needs to seamlessly fuse the video with these other types of intelligence, such as map features and annotations. Intergraph has developed an application that automatically generates mosaicked georeferenced image, tags along the video route which can then be seamlessly integrated with other forms of static data, such as aerial photos, satellite imagery, or geospatial layers and features. Consumers will finally have the ability to use a single, streamlined system to complete the entire geospatial information lifecycle: capturing geospatial data using sensor technology; processing vector, raster, terrain data into actionable information; managing, fusing, and sharing geospatial data and video toghether; and finally, rapidly and securely delivering integrated information products, ensuring individuals can make timely decisions.

Water resources management is a comprehensive planning process dimensioning all water related components. With this in mind, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires reliable and continuous water monitoring and collection of qualitative information in order to support decision making concerning water pollution events, focusing primarily on civil protection. The present research study initiates the coupling of water quality - quantity monitoring techniques and telemetric systems with geographic information system (GIS) based map server technologies for the near real time warning about potential water pollution events. The study is being implemented in the Greek part of the transboundary Nestos river basin and forms part of the Bulgarian and Greek European Territorial Cooperation Programme 2007-2013. The aim of this partnership is to develop an operational supportive mechanism for the Competent Authorities of water management in both countries in order to facilitate the planning and implementation of sustainable water management along with civil protection.

Protecting of ecologically important areas in today’s heavily, strongly changing world requires digital surveying of the status quo and the use of DTM for their rational management and protection. Aim of this paper is the application of modern digital technology in data acquisition and data elaboration process, in order to result to as far as possible more supervisory and better survey, with ultimate goal the better comparison and decision – making among several alternatives based on reliable background of study. The study area is the Kouri forest. The Kouri forest has joined the network "Natura 2000", whilst also has been characterized as a biogenetic reserve by UNESCO, which demonstrates the importance of its existence of both ecological and aesthetic aspect. The main phases of the digital photogrammetric method used are briefly described: 1st phase: Feature scanning. 2nd phase: Definition of work (project). 3rd phase: Insertion of digital images to the station. 4th Phase: Import of the span report. 5th Phase: Orientations (internal and external-relative and absolute - orientation). 6th Phase: Photogrammetric diagrams. 7th Phase: Creation of a Digital Terrain Model (DTM). 8th Phase: Creation of interpolation or condensation. 9th Phase: Creation of contours, Phase 10th: Corrections. 11th phase: Final files - Patterns. The survey of the aesthetic forest will lead to better presentation and distribution of the recreation works. The investigation will not only be useful for the aesthetic Kouri forest, but also can provide guidelines for what can be done in the remaining 18 aesthetic forests of our homeland.

The elevation at which wildfire smoke is injected into the atmosphere has a strong influence on how the smoke is dispersed, is a key input to aerosol transport models and can influence air quality far from the burning areas via longrange transport. Here, we analyze a record of aerosol smoke plume heights derived from observations over Greece made by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on board the NASA Earth Observing System Terra satellite. Two case studies of wildfires over Greece (Chios and Agio Oros) are presented to illustrate the methodology followed. The impact of those fires on air quality at surface is examined using high resolution advanced in-situ instrumentation. Our analysis clearly indicates the importance of long range transport on air quality as emissions from wildfires strongly affect atmospheric aerosol chemical composition and concentrations at surface.

At the middle eighties, strong stratospheric ozone depletion during spring was discovered over Antarctica. Since then, the scientific community has put large efforts in performing studies directed to evaluate the magnitude and consequences of this depletion and to take the necessary measures to revert the situation to the scenarios before 1970. In 1987, the Montreal Protocol established a list of ozone depleting products and faced out policies. As consequence of these restrictions on ozone depleting substances, the ozone layer should start to recover in the 21st century. In order to study the evolution of the Antarctic ozone depletion, we analyzed the ozone hole area and mass deficit and seasonal total ozone column (TOC) minimum. We also performed a seasonal and bi-monthly analysis for TOC time series (1979-2012), at twenty Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic stations. The number of days inside the vortex (TOC below 220DU) per season (September-December) and for September-October and November-December were analyzed, fitting the time series with a second degree polynomial According to this study, ozone hole area would have peaked between 2001 and 2002 (R=0.91, p<0.01), while the minimum TOC would have occurred between 2000 and 2001(R=0.91, p<0.01). Mass deficit is only provided since 2005 and it showed a decrease since then, although ot statistically significant as consequence of the short time series. From the 20 analyzed stations, 80% showed that the number of days per season inside the vortex peaked between 2000 and 2003 and for 55% of the stations the number of days inside the vortex for September-October peaked between 1999 and 2004.

The cultural heritage of a country includes, among other things, places, “buildings” and other monuments with historical value. It forms the identity of the country and is undoubtedly a national asset. For this reason, recording - documentation, protection, monitoring and management of cultural heritage is necessary. Different scientific and technological disciplines are involved in the study of cultural heritage. Photogrammetry and remote sensing, with their continuous scientific and technological advances, contribute substantially in this study. This paper refers to the above and includes a relevant example of Dodoni archaeological site, using VHR satellite data.

In the moment of global change, the “monitoring of change” is identified as one of the key challenges. The analysis of the territorial transformations increasingly rely upon integrated services based on geospatial information, creating thus a progressive demand of data sets and service providers and aiming at an extensive availability of these information. Such request, gradually distinguished in time-scale or frequency, resolution or territorial extension, requires shifting from Web Map Services (WMS) towards Web Processing Services (WPS) in order to fully interact with the end-user. To this purpose, technological progress and aspect of territorial dimension should be considered, especially when dealing with built environment. In order to integrate geospatial data into decision making processes, remote sensing data need to be integrated by in-situ data collection so as to support the local scale of intervention. The two examples of open source geo-portal here illustrated are: Atl@nte (Atlas of historical cadasters and topographic maps of Lombardy) and Geocluster mapping tool (Project GE2O, FP7). The first example shows how geo-referenced historic maps at territorial (regional) and cadastral (local) scale can be integrated with remote sensing data sources to address regional and local interventions, while the second example provides an illustration of mapping and geo-clustering of the phenomena relevant to energy efficiency in buildings. The paper investigates the potentials of geo-portals as planning instruments developed to share multi-temporal/multi-scale spatial data, responding to end-users’ demands and in relation with specific INSPIRE themes, to provide exhaustive monitoring and ensure informed decision making.

^{The city of Demetriada was constructed around 294-292 BC and became a stronghold of the Macedonian navy fleet, whereas in the Roman period it experienced significant growth and blossoming. The ancient theatre of the town was constructed at the same time with the foundation of the city, without being used for 2 centuries (1st ce. BC - 1st ce. A.D.) and being completely abandoned after the 4th ce. A.D., to be used only as a quarry for extraction of building material for Christian basilicas in the area. The theatre was found in 1809 and excavations took place in various years since 1907. Geophysical approaches were exploited recently in an effort to map the subsurface of the surrounding area of the theatre and help the reconstruction works of it. Magnetic gradiometry, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Tomogrpahy (ERT) techniques were employed for mapping the area of the orchestra and the scene of the theatre, together with the area extending to the south of the theatre. A number of features were recognized by the magnetic techniques including older excavation trenches and the pilar of the stoa of the proscenium. The different occupation phases of the area have been manifested through the employment of tomographic and stratigraphic geophysical techniques like three-dimensional ERT and GPR. Architectural orthogonal structures aligned in a S-N direction have been correlated to the already excavated buildings of the ceramic workshop. The workshop seems to expand in a large section of the area which was probably constructed after the final abandonment of the theatre.}

Two are the risks associated to archaeological heritage. The first one is economic and it is related to the costs needed to perform field survey in all the territory. The second one is scientific, that is the risk to lose artifacts and, consequently, witnesses of the human past [1], in particular in case of large-scale infrastructure works and looting linked to the illicit trade of antiquities. Predictive models are useful to archaeological research to look for the right compromise between the reduction of costs and effectiveness of results. It enables to identify the site locational behavior [2], more in particular environmental site location preferences [3]. From the eighties the development of more user friendly GIS softwares and the increased easiness of relative tools allowed the diffusion of predictive models, that were improved thanks to the greater availability of remotely sensed data and the image processing routines, which are effective for the detection of archaeological features. The proposal of this paper is to make a brief review of existing predictive models and to propose a new model that takes in count spatial properties of archaeological datasets to predict neolithic settlements in Tavoliere in the Apulian region (Southern Italy), already investigated by preventive archaeological methods including geophysics and remote sensing [4].

One of the main characteristics of the Internet era we are living in, is the free and online availability of a huge amount of data. This data is of varied reliability and accuracy and exists in various forms and formats. Often, it is cross-referenced and linked to other data, forming a nexus of text, images, animation and audio enabled by hypertext and, recently, by the Web3.0 standard. Search engines can search text for keywords using algorithms of varied intelligence and with limited success. Searching images is a much more complex and computationally intensive task but some initial steps have already been made in this direction, mainly in face recognition. This paper aims to describe our proposed pipeline for integrating data available on Internet repositories and social media, such as photographs, animation and text to produce 3D models of archaeological monuments as well as enriching multimedia of cultural / archaeological interest with metadata and harvesting the end products to EUROPEANA. Our main goal is to enable historians, architects, archaeologists, urban planners and affiliated professionals to reconstruct views of historical monuments from thousands of images floating around the web.

Air pollutants, together with climatic parameters, are of major importance for the deterioration of cultural heritage monuments. Atmospheric pollution is widely recognized as one of the major anthropogenic threats to architectural cultural heritage, in particular when associated with water absorption phenomena. Atmospheric particle deposition on surfaces of Monuments (of cultural heritage interest) may cause an aesthetic impact induced by a series of chemical reactions. Therefore there is a need for systematic monitoring and mapping of air pollution for areas where important archaeological sites and monuments are found. observation techniques, such as the use of satellite image for the retrieval of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), are ideal for this purpose. In this paper, all important monuments of the Paphos District, listed by the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, have been mapped using Geographical Information Systems. Several recent (2012) MODIS satellite images (both Aqua and Terra) have been used to extract the AOT values in this area. Multi-temporal analysis was performed to identify areas of high risk where AOT values are considered to be high. In situ observations have been also carried out to verify the results.

Data Interpolating Empirical Orthogonal Functions (DINEOF) is a special technique which is based on Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) in order to reconstruct missing data from satellite images. It is an innovative method, especially useful for filling in missing data from geophysical fields. Interesting examples could be clouds in sea-surface temperature (SST). Past studies have shown that filtering the temporal covariance matrix allows to reduce spurious variability and therefore a more realistic data reconstruction can be obtained. There is also provision in the estimation of the error covariance of the reconstruction of the data. Moreover, the error fields can be obtained with some calculation rearrangement. Error fields reflect the data-coverage structure and furthermore the covariance of the physical fields. Successful experiments on the Western Mediterranean encouraged the extension of the application of the method eastwards using similar experimental implementation. The present study summarizes the experimental work done, the implementation of the method and its ability in reconstructing the sea-surface temperature field over the Eastern Mediterranean basin, and specifically over Levantine sea and Cyprus.

The cloudiness represents one of the basic climate elements. It plays an important role in the global energy and water cycle, dominates the planetary albedo and takes part in many climate feedback processes. Its traditional man-made observation provides usually high-quality data. But it is partly influenced by the observer capabilities to see various cloud layers if lower layers are presented hiding the higher ones. Of course, the quality usually differs between observations made during day and by night. On the other side, manual observation is quite expensive if you want to have uninterrupted long-time series of high density network over large area. Here, you can benefit from satellite data that provide more complex view of the cloudiness above given area and definitely are less expensive. On the other hand, satellite data sustain some problems regarding its limited horizontal resolution that can lead to fact that some details can be hidden or not properly recognized. Some satellite information is provided on daily or larger time frequency only and this can be sometimes problem, too. Nowadays, due to better geometric resolution and more exact calibration, more and more applications for satellite data in climatology can be found and it has also sufficient length to be used in climate analysis as noted by Schulz¹. In this paper we focus on cloudiness satellite data usage for the climatology purposes in the Czech Republic area. For this reason, data provided by Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM-SAF) supported by the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) have been used. CM-SAF data products are distinguished between operational monitoring products and retrospectively produced data sets. We have used products, so far. Studies describing validation of cloud products or cloud detection schemes with synoptic or other kinds of data can be found in literature (e.g. Reuter², Karlsson^{3, 4}). The basic motivation for this work was to find answer whether it is possible to replace surface cloud observation by satellite measurements and/or in which case or under which circumstances. For this reason, features of operatively available daily products of CFC (Cloud Fractional Cover) and CTY (Cloud Type) were analyzed in the area of the Czech Republic territory.

Increases in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have been recorded to occur globally, with the Mediterranean SSTs rising about twice as much as those of the global oceans. Here we analyse and compare satellite remote sensing SST data with in-situ data for the period 1996-2012 in the Eastern Mediterranean, Levantine basin. Further, temperature profiles from oceanographic cruises and autonomous underwater vehicles (gliders) in this region, we processed to study the interannual variability at the surface layer (0-10m). These data were collected during the several CYBO (Cyprus Basin Oceanography) oceanographic cruises that the Oceanography Centre, University of Cyprus has conducted over the years, as well as during the missions of the two gliders owned and operated by the Oceanography Centre. We show that the Levantine basin has undergone SST increases, during the last 16 years. The SST variability is characterized by a broad, basin-wide warming occurring at both seasonal and interannual time scales. Further, satellite SST data are correlated with in-situ SST data, especially during the summer months. The driving mechanisms of these changes need to be investigated, in order to understand the future trends and impacts of climate change in the region.

In typical case 2 waters an accurate remote sensing retrieval of chlorophyll a (chla) is still challenging. There is a widespread understanding that universally applicable water constituent retrieval algorithms are currently not feasible, shifting the research focus to regionally specific implementations of powerful inversion methods. This study takes advantage of regionally specific chlorophyll a (chla) algorithms, which were developed by the authors of this abstract in previous works, and the characteristics of Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) in order to study harmful algal events in the optically complex waters of the Galician Rias (NW). Harmful algal events are a frequent phenomenon in this area with direct and indirect impacts to the mussel production that constitute a very important economic activity for the local community. More than 240 10⁶ kg of mussel per year are produced in these highly primary productive upwelling systems. A MERIS archive from nine years (2003-2012) was analysed using regionally specific chla algorithms. The latter were developed based on Multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural networks and fuzzy c-mean clustering techniques (FCM). FCM specifies zones (based on water leaving reflectances) where the retrieval algorithms normally provide more reliable results. Monthly chla anomalies and other statistics were calculated for the nine years MERIS archive. These results were then related to upwelling indices and other associated measurements to determine the driver forces for specific phytoplankton blooms. The distribution and changes of chla are also discussed.

The aim of this work was to produce water quality parameter maps for the marine area of the Danube Delta using remotely sensed data and to validate the results with in-situ measurements. For this reason, satellite images from ENVISAT/MERIS and Aqua/MODIS were used along with collocated in-situ measurements. The latter were in-sync with the satellite images acquisition so that rigorous and validation could be performed. Chlorophyll-a concentration and total suspended matter were estimated using the CASE-II algorithm and MERIS satellite images, while sea surface temperature was estimated from MODIS Ocean Team products. The results show that the satellite images covered the study area completely, with some data gaps due to cloud coverage. Comparisons show a good correspondence with in-situ measurements. Thus, the time series of satellite images that was produced suggests that it is possible to monitor the biological changes on an operational basis. The produced maps described a detailed spatial pattern of chlorophyll-a and total suspended matter that could not have been identified from the sparse in-situ measurements.

The main goal of this research is to examine the optical properties of different water bodies such as coastal water; oligotrophic and eutrophic inland water by observing their spectral signatures. Spectral profiles of sampling points, which correspond to water bodies with different water quality characteristics, are extracted and analyzed. Field spectroscopy is a very important tool giving critical information for the comprehension of spectral signatures of different water bodies. Field spectroradiometric measurements can assist to improve or develop new algorithms and methodology enables to classify several water bodies according to their water quality characteristics using remotely sensed data. Field spectroradiometric data presented at this study were obtained for inland water in Asprokremmos Dam, Paphos District/Cyprus; in Larnaca’s Salt Lake, Larnaca District/Cyprus; and in Karla Lake, Volos District/Greece and for coastal water in Zugi-Vasilikos-Old Harbour, Limassol District/Cyprus.

Satellite products are utilized for numerous environmental applications nowadays including water quality monitoring and assessment. Various techniques have been developed during the last two decades for estimating environmental parameters such as chlorophyll-a and turbidity. In the context of this research effort, various algorithms have been developed to retrieve chlorophyll-a and turbidity values in Evros river, Greece, using satellite imageries of Landsat 5 TM. These imageries were obtained from United States Geological Survey (USGS) and covered the summer periods of 2008-2009 for chlorophyll-a and 2008-2011 for turbidity, respectively. Field data of relevant dates have been used for the development and validation of the remote sensing retrieval algorithms (separate datasets for the algorithm development and the validation process). The best applicable algorithms, using both the point sampling values and the remotely sensed data under different regression models, proved to be the ratio of TM4 /TM3 bands and logarithmical ratio of TM1/TM2 bands for the estimation of chlorophyll-a concentration and turbidity values, respectively. This process resulted in the generation of maps showing the distribution of chlorophyll-a and turbidity along the river. Validation of the selected algorithms was also conducted by comparing the estimated chl-a concentrations and turbidity values with the corresponding in-situ measurements of the validation datasets. The results indicated a relatively high coefficient of determination (R2), fact that characterizes the satellite developed algorithms reliable and efficient to monitor the chlorophyll-a concentration and turbidity in the particular riverine system.

Continuous topography from Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data is frequently segmented into terrain classes based on local morphological characteristics of terrain elevation, e.g., local slope gradient and convexity. The resulting classes are often used as proxies for the average shear wave velocity up to 30 m, and the determination of ground types as required by the Eurocode (EC8) for computing elastic design spectra. In this work, we investigate the links between terrain related variables, particularly slope gradient, extracted for the area of Greece from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 30 arc second global topographic data available from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), with: (a) the global terrain classification product of Iwahashi and Pike (2007) in which 16 terrain types are identified for the same spatial resolution, and (b) information on geological units extracted at the same resolution from the geological map of Greece at a scale of 1/500000 as published from the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGME). An interpretation of these links is presented within the context of understanding the reliability of using geology, slope and terrain classes for site characterizations of earthquake risk in a high seismicity area like Greece. Our results indicate that slope is a somewhat biased proxy for solid rocks, whereas in Alluvial deposits the distance to and type of the nearest geological formation appears to provide qualitative information on the size of the sedimentary deposit.

In this study, the framework of an integrated method for the estimation and analysis of potential wind energy resources in Cyprus is presented and applied, at three selected sites at the western coast-line of the island. Firstly, a statistical analysis of wind speed and direction data for selected meteorological stations at the Cyprus coast is carried out. Daily, monthly and annual variations of wind speed are established. The Weibull distributions of the sites are also determined and examined. The wind statistics obtained serve as the basis in order to estimate corrected statistical distributions over the extended areas of application through Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP) which modifies the wind flow due to local topographic effects. As a result, a geo-data and wind resource base is formulated around each station. Aggregation of the data with statistical weighting methods, allows the extrapolation of the results and the visualization over the western part of the island. The application indicates the strong influence of the sea-breeze on the wind potential of the island and recovers interesting points with higher wind energy potential, suitable for wind resource exploitation. The particular methodological framework applied and the results obtained can be utilized by potential investors and wind energy developers.

This study examines whether Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) can be used to highlight zones of neotectonic deformation. Away from well-exposed coastal zones, the assessment of regional tectonic deformation is often hampered by dense vegetation, steep-sided high relief and rugged, poorly-accessible terrain. Such regions are of prior interest in examining and understanding their neotectonic status. The test region for this study is the island of Crete, located in the outer forearc of the Hellenic subduction zone, associated with collision of the African plate and the Eurasian plate. This tectonic setting affects the island’s landscape, with mountainous relief and geomorphological processes that are strongly influenced by neotectonic deformation of the ground surface. A set of geomorphometric analyses of SRTM DEMs (such as asymmetry factor, mountain front sinuosity, stream-length gradient index, amplitude relief etc.), were compared with drainage basin geomorphological variations. Some of the characteristic features associated with the deformation of the bedrock and the landscape of the study area were: i) tectonically active mountain fronts; ii) uplifted and tilted blocks and; iii) migration of streams due to tectonic control. Consideration of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach combines various extracted SRTM DEM-based geomorphometrics for detecting zones of neotectonic deformation. The methodology developed in this study provides a low-cost reconnaissance tool for assessing regional tectonic regimes and zones of neotectonic activity. It can provide a useful alternative to Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data for highlighting zones of neotectonic deformation, particularly where vegetation or snow cover limits the effectiveness of InSAR.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted by vegetation play an important role in atmospheric chemistry contributing to tropospheric ozone and secondary organic aerosol formation. Quantification of biogenic VOC may be performed using emission modeling tools that require information on vegetation dynamics. For this purpose satellite-derived parameters such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) are considered. However, spatial resolution of the satellite data could be an important source of uncertainties in biogenic VOC quantification. The main objective of the current study is to accomplish a sensitivity analysis of the biogenic emission modeling to the changes in data resolution of the satellite-derived vegetation parameters. This study is performed for an area of 80x 80km² in Portugal for 2011. Satellite observations provided by DEIMOS-1 (22 m resolution) and MODIS (250m and 1000m resolution) are analyzed for NDVI and LAI. Also, meteorological data from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and detailed land cover data are considered by the emission quantification algorithm. Multi-scale analysis of LAI and NDVI was performed. Also, the modeling results are analyzed in terms of spatial and temporal variations of the emissions. The results confirm high sensitivity of the emission model to spatial resolution of the satellite-derived data resulting in about 30% difference in total isoprene emissions for the study area.

The application of vegetation indices is a very common approach in remote sensing of burned areas to either map the fire scar or estimate burn severity since they minimize the effect of exogenous factors and enhance the correlation with the internal parameters of vegetation. In a recent study we found that the original spectral channels, based on which these indices are estimated, are sensitive to external parameters of the vegetation as for example the spectral reflectance of the background soil. In such cases, the influence of the soil in the reflectance values is different in the various spectral regions depending on its type. These problems are further enhanced by the non-homogeneous pixels, as created from fractions of different types of land cover. Parnitha (Greece), where a wildfire occurred on July 2007, was established as test site. The purpose of this work is to explore the sensitivity of vegetation indices when used to estimate and map different fractions of fire-scorched (burned) and non fire-scorched (vegetated) areas. IKONOS, a very high resolution satellite imagery, was used to create a three-class thematic map to extract the percentages of vegetation, burned surfaces, and bare soil. Using an overlaid fishnet we extracted samples of completely “burned”, completely “vegetated” pixels and proportions with different burn/vegetation ratios (45%-55% burned – 45%-55% vegetation, 20%-30% burned – 70%- 80% vegetation, 70%-80% burned – 20%-30% vegetation). Vegetation indices were calculated (NDVI, IPVI, SAVI) and their values were extracted to characterize the mentioned classes. The main findings of our recent research were that vegetation indices are less sensitive to external parameters of the vegetation by minimizing external effects. Thus, the semi-burned classes were spectrally more consistent to their different fractions of scorched and non-scorched vegetation, than the original spectral channels based on which these indices are estimated.

The present paper describes the development of a novel monitoring system (e-FlyWatch system) for managing and controlling the population of two of the world’s most destructive fruit pests, namely the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae, Rossi - formerly Dacus oleae) and the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata, also called medfly). The novel monitoring system consists of a) novel automated traps with optical and motion detection modules for capturing the flies, b) local stations including a GSM/GPRS module, sensors, flash memory, battery, antenna etc. and c) a central station that collects, stores and publishes the results (i.e. insect population in each field, sensor data, possible error/alarm data) via a web-based management software.The centralised data collection system provides also analysis and prediction models, end-user warning modules and historical analysis of infested areas. The e-FlyWatch system enables the SMEs-producers in the Fruit, Vegetable and Olive sectors to improve their production reduce the amount of insecticides/pesticides used and consequently the labour cost for spraying activities, and the labour cost for traps inspection.

Field spectroscopy is a part of the remote sensing techniques and very important for studies in agriculture. A GER-1500 field spectro-radiometer was used in this study in order to retrieve the necessary spectrum data of the spring potatoes for estimating spectral vegetation indices (SVI’s). A field campaign was undertaken from September to the end of November 2012 for the collection of spectro-radiometric measurements. The study area was in the Mandria Village in Paphos district in Cyprus. This paper demonstrates how crop canopy factors can be statistically related to remotely sensed data, namely vegetation indices. The paper is a part of an EU cofounded project regarding estimating crop water requirements using remote sensing techniques and informing the farmers through 3G smart telephony.

Floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters in terms of human and economic loss and are considered to be a weather-related natural disaster. This study strives to highlight the potential of active remote sensing imagery in flood inundation monitoring and mapping in a catchment area in Cyprus (Yialias river). GeoEye-1 and ASTER images were employed to create updated Land use /Land cover maps of the study area. Following, the application of fully polarimetric (ALOS PALSAR) and dual polarimetric (ERS - 2) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data for soil moisture and inundation mapping is presented. For this purpose 2 ALOS PALSAR images and 3 ERS-2 images were acquired. This study offers an integrated methodology by the use of multi-angle radar images to estimate roughness and soil moisture without the use of ancillary field data such as field measurements. The relationship between soil moisture and backscattering coefficient was thoroughly studied and linear regression models were developed to predict future flood inundation events. Multi-temporal FCC images, classification, image fusion, moisture indices, texture and PCA analysis were employed to assist soil moisture mapping. Certain land cover classes were characterized as flood prone areas according to statistics of their signal response. The results will be incorporated in an integrated flood risk assessment model of Yialias catchment area.

Due to its highly fragmented geomorphology, Greece comprises hundreds of small- to medium-size hydrological basins, in which often the terrain is fairly steep and the streamflow regime ephemeral. These are typically affected by flash floods, occasionally causing severe damages. Yet, the vast majority of them lack flow-gauging infrastructure providing systematic hydrometric data at fine time scales. This has obvious impacts on the quality and reliability of flood studies, which typically use simplistic approaches for ungauged basins that do not consider local peculiarities in sufficient detail. In order to provide a consistent framework for flood design and to ensure realistic predictions of the flood risk –a key issue of the 2007/60/EC Directive– it is essential to improve the monitoring infrastructures by taking advantage of modern technologies for remote control and data management. In this context and in the research project DEUCALION, we have recently installed and are operating, in four pilot river basins, a telemetry-based hydro-meteorological network that comprises automatic stations and is linked to and supported by relevant software. The hydrometric stations measure stage, using 50-kHz ultrasonic pulses or piezometric sensors, or both stage (piezometric) and velocity via acoustic Doppler radar; all measurements are being temperature-corrected. The meteorological stations record air temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and precipitation. Data transfer is made via GPRS or mobile telephony modems. The monitoring network is supported by a web-based application for storage, visualization and management of geographical and hydro-meteorological data (ENHYDRIS), a software tool for data analysis and processing (HYDROGNOMON), as well as an advanced model for flood simulation (HYDROGEIOS). The recorded hydro-meteorological observations are accessible over the Internet through the www-application. The system is operational and its functionality has been implemented as open-source software for use in a wide range of applications in the field of water resources monitoring and management, such as the demonstration case study outlined in this work.

Satellite time-series data, coupled with ground based observations where available, can enable scientists to survey pre-earthquake signals in the areas of strong tectonic activity. Cumulative stress energy in seismic active regions under operating tectonic force manifests various earthquakes’ precursors. Space-time anomalies of Earth’s emitted radiation (radon in underground water and soil, thermal infrared in spectral range measured from satellite months to weeks before the occurrence of earthquakes etc.), and electromagnetic anomalies are considered as pre-seismic signals. This energy transformation may result in enhanced transient thermal infrared (TIR) emission, which can be detected through satellites equipped with thermal sensors like AVHRR (NOAA), MODIS (Terra/Aqua). This paper presents observations made using time series NOAA-AVHRR and MODIS satellite data–derived land surface temperature (LST) and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) values in case of 27^th 2004 earthquake recorded in seismic Vrancea region, Romania, using anomalous TIR signals as reflected in LST rise and high OLR values which followed similar growth pattern spatially and temporally. In all analyzed cases, starting with almost one week prior to a moderate or strong earthquake a transient thermal infrared rise in LST of several Celsius degrees (°C) and the increased OLR values higher than the normal have been recorded around epicentral areas, function of the magnitude and focal depth, which disappeared after the main shock. As Vrancea area has a significant regional tectonic activity in Romania and Europe, the joint analysis of geospatial and in-situ geophysical information is revealing new insights in the field of hazard assessment.

Volcanic eruptions inject ash and non-ash particles into the atmosphere, modifying regional Aerosols Optical Depth (AOD) and aerosols size distribution, which affect irradiance at the earth’s surface. In this paper, we analyze the effect of the eruption of Puyehue-Cordon Caulle (Chile) on irradiance in the area of the Nahuel Huapi National Park (NHNP) (~100 km southeast of Puyehue-Cordon Caulle), at different altitudes. In this paper we only included the results for direct and AOD obtained during field campaigns at two consecutive years, before and after the eruption. Three days presented clear skies during most of the day in 2011. Two of those days, showed AOD similar to the values in 2010. On the third days, at the lowest altitude site (804m.s.l.), AOD were near 200% larger than in 2010. The largest decreases observed, at noon, in the direct irradiance was ~30% at 380 nm and 25% at 500nm, increasing with Solar Zenith Angle (SZA). The effect was less pronounced at the site at highest altitude (1930 m.s.l.), where the AODs increase was near 90% and the direct noon irradiance decrease 10% at 380 nm and 7% at 500nm.

For the seismic action estimation according to Eurocode (EC8) one has to characterize site conditions and suitably estimate soil amplification and corresponding peak ground motion for the site. For this reason, as specified, one has to define a design spectrum through the ground-type/soil-category (S), and the peak ground acceleration (PGA) of the reference return period (TNCR) for the corresponding seismic zone and for structural technical requirements chosen by the designer. Ground type is defined through geophysical/geotechnical parameters, i.e. (a) the average shear wave velocity up to 30 meters depth, (b) the Standard Penetration Test blow-count, and (c) the undrained shear strength of soil. Through the “GEO-CHARACTERIZATION” THALIS-PROJECT we combine different geophysical and geotechnical methods in order to more accurately define the ground conditions in selected sites of the Hellenic Accelerometric Network (HAN) in the area of Crete Island. More specifically in the present efforts, geological information shear wave velocity and attenuation model calculated from seismic surface geophysical measurements is used. Additionally we utilize the ground acceleration recorded through HAN from intermediate depth earthquakes in the broader area of South Aegean Sea. Using the recorded ground motion data and the procedure defined in EC8, the corresponding elastic response spectrum is calculated for selected sites. The resulting information are compared with the values defined for the corresponding EC8 spectrum for the seismic zone comprising the island of Crete. As a final outcome of this work we intend to propose regional normalized elastic spectra for seismic design of structures and urban development planning and compare them with Eurocode.

In recent years, Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (AUAV) became popular among researchers across disciplines because they combine many advantages. One major application is monitoring and mapping. Their ability to fly beyond eye sight autonomously, collecting data over large areas whenever, wherever, makes them excellent platform for monitoring hazardous areas or disasters. In both cases rapid mapping is needed while human access isn’t always a given. Indeed, current automatic processing of aerial photos using photogrammetry and computer vision algorithms allows for rapid orthophomap production and Digital Surface Model (DSM) generation, as tools for monitoring and damage assessment. In such cases, control point measurement using GPS is either impossible, or time consuming or costly. This work investigates accuracies that can be attained using few or none control points over areas of one square kilometer, in two test sites; a typical block and a corridor survey. On board GPS data logged during AUAV’s flight are being used for direct georeferencing, while ground check points are being used for evaluation. In addition various control point layouts are being tested using bundle adjustment for accuracy evaluation. Results indicate that it is possible to use on board single frequency GPS for direct georeferencing in cases of disaster management or areas without easy access, or even over featureless areas. Due to large numbers of tie points in the bundle adjustment, horizontal accuracy can be fulfilled with a rather small number of control points, but vertical accuracy may not.

For the purposes of a research project, for the compilation of the archaeological and environmental digital map of the island of Antiparos, the production of updated large scale orthophotos was required. Hence suitable stereoscopic high resolution satellite imagery was acquired. Two Geoeye-1 stereopairs were enough to cover this small island of the Cyclades complex in the central Aegean. For the orientation of the two stereopairs numerous ground control points were determined using GPS observations. Some of them would also serve as check points. The images were processed using commercial stereophotogrammetric software suitable to process satellite stereoscopic imagery. The results of the orientations are evaluated and the digital terrain model was produced using automated and manual procedures. The DTM was checked both internally and externally with comparison to other available DTMs. In this paper the procedures for producing the desired orthophotography are critically presented and the final result is compared and evaluated for its accuracy, completeness and efficiency. The final product is also compared against the orthophotography produced by Ktimatologio S.A. using aerial images in 2007. The orthophotography produced has been evaluated metrically using the available check points, while qualitative evaluation has also been performed. The results are presented and a critical approach for the usability of satellite imagery for the production of large scale orthophotos is attempted.

TerraSAR-X was the first from a series of very high resolution SAR satellites, which have significantly enlarged the range of cartographic applications of SAR data. For such applications the use of photogrammetric processing, either independently or combined with optical images became meaningful. In this paper the procedures that may be applied on a single SAR image are developed and the quality and accuracy of their products are investigated regarding the impact of using various models or changing the parameters of external data (GCPs, DTM). A Spotlight mode TerraSAR-X image is used for a case study. The area is a mountainous terrain, of 5x10km size, located in the north-eastern region of Athens, Greece. Three alternative registration/georeferencing methods are investigated: the Physical Sensor Model (Range- Doppler method), the DLT and the 2nd order RPF. Orthoimage production using four different DTMs of various quality and density are investigated. Geometric accuracy and quality are investigated using Independent Check Points and through an analysis of the slopes and aspects of the terrain in combination with the geometry of the sensor. Automatic techniques for the extraction of the road network are used; however the results are not satisfactory. In addition, a manual extraction of the roads using visual interpretation is made and the results are evaluated in terms of completeness, correctness and quality. According to the results derived from the above procedures, the use of high resolution TerraSAR- Χ images is very promising for a variety of applications for which medium scale geometric accuracies are required.

Aerosols can have a complicated influence on climate conditions, directly as well as indirectly via cloud formation. The southeastern Mediterranean region can be characterized as a cross road of aerosols originating from European, Asian and African continents. Complex vertical aerosol distributions are frequently detected over Cyprus by means of active remote sensing. Observations of such complex aerosol layering and comparison of the measurements with aerosol products of regional and global atmospheric transport models are required to improve our understanding of life cycles of aerosol mixtures and their impact on climate as well as on satellite remote sensing products. In this study, a case of an intense desert dust outbreak from Syria and Saudi Arabia towards the eastern Mediterranean in September 2011 is presented. The observations used in this study were performed with a 532-nm polarization Lidar and a sun/sky AERONET photometer operated at 8 channels from 340 to 1640 nm wavelength. Both instruments belong to remote sensing station of the Cyprus Technical University at Limassol, Cyprus (34°N, 33°E). The lofted dust plume was doped with air masses that crossed sources of biomass burning smoke and anthropogenic pollution. In addition, the shallow marine boundary layer over the Mediterranean Sea and over Limassol became mixed with the anthropogenic haze by sea breeze circulations. The case study demonstrates the potential of combined lidar/photometer observations to deliver detailed vertically resolved information of the aerosol characteristics in terms of particle optical and microphysical properties, separately for the spherical particle fraction as well as for the non-spherical aerosol mode.

This is a technical paper, in the context of CASCADE project, describing an overgrazed area in Cyprus and how remote sensing techniques can assist the procedure for detecting land degradation sourcing from animal overgrazing. Remote sensing is a tool recently introduced to such studies but indeed very useful and vital. Using satellite images it is possible to retrieve consecutive vegetation indices which can identify if there is any further land-vegetation degradation in a specific area of interest. This is crucial in the procedure for monitoring semi or highly overgrazed areas since this change detection can inform policy makers regarding the status of an area, in terms of degradation. In this paper remotely sensed data is analyzed to detect, in specific areas which are known as overgrazed, to detect if there is a change using three main vegetation indices, namely WDVI, NDVI and SAVI. Change detection techniques are applied on these three vegetation indices maps in order to detect any further areas overgrazing.

Mediterranean landscape has undergone many significant changes during last decades. Especially river catchments are among the threatened landscapes in the world, mainly due to human activities and land cover changes. This description demonstrates the case of Acheron River catchment, which is a typical of many Mediterranean catchments cases. Human activities, through its impact on land cover and use, affect this ecological succession at various degrees in the whole catchment area. The proposed analysis focuses on the use of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which can provide important information in terms of vegetation productivity and status, which represents one of the most sensitive landscape components to environmental degradation. Emphasis is given to the spatiotemporal dynamic patterns of land cover/use changes for the period 1984 – 2011 with Landsat-TM imagery. Land use disturbances in the catchment’s area decreased habitat integrity, with maximum habitat integrity recorded in the upper river reaches, known as the Straits of Acheron, through a narrow and magnificent gorge created by mountains. Human interventions have changed the river beds, increased landscape fragmentation, and led to the degradation and loss of wetland habitats. Additionally the current research could be a valuable tool for the river managers to develop area-specific policies that minimize human influences.

This paper examines the capability of remote sensing radar interferometry to monitor land movements, as it varies with time, in areas close to open pit lignite mines. The study area is the “Mavropigi” lignite mine in Ptolemais, Northern Greece; whose continuous operation is of vital importance to the electric power supply of Greece. The mine is presently 100-120m deep while horizontal and vertical movements have been measured in the vicinity of the pit. Within the mine, ground geodetic monitoring has revealed an average rate of movement amounting to 10-20mm/day at the southeast slopes. In this work, differential interferometry (DInSAR), using 19 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images of ALOS satellite, has been applied to monitor progression of land movement caused my mining within the greater area of “Mavropigi” region. The results of this work show that DInSAR can be used effectively to capture ground movement information, well before signs of movements can be observed visually in the form of imminent fissures and tension cracks. The advantage of remote sensing interferometry is that it can be applied even in inaccessible areas where monitoring with ground equipment is either impossible or of high-cost (large areas).

The development of Landscape Typologies in Europe relies upon advances in geospatial tools and increasing availability of digital datasets. Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) is a technique used to classify, describe and understand the combined physical, ecological and cultural characteristics of a landscape. LCA uses a range of data sources to identify and describe areas of common character and can operate at a range of scales i.e.national and regional and local. The paper describes the steps taken to develop an island wide landscape typology for Cyprus, based on the use of GIS and remote sensing tools. The methodology involved integrating physiographical, ecological and cultural information about the Cypriot landscape. Datasets on the cultural attributes (e.g. settlement and field patterns) were not available, so they were created de novo based on information from topographical maps (for settlement dispersion and density) and medium resolution satellite imagery from Google Earth, from which a number of distinctive field patterns could be distinguished. The mapping work is carried out on two levels using a hierarchical approach. The first level at a 1:100, 000 scale has been completed resulting in a map with 17 distinct landscape types. The second level is under way with the view of producing a more detailed landscape typology at 1:50, 000 scale which will incorporate the cultural aspects of the island. This is the first time that such a typology has been produced for Cyprus and it is expected to provide an invaluable tool for landscape planning and management.

Shape analysis is of interest in many fields of spatial science and planning including land management in rural areas. In particular, evaluating the shape of existing land parcels is critical when implementing rural development schemes such as land consolidation. However, existing land parcel shape indices have major deficiencies: completely different shapes of parcels may have the same index value or similar parcel shapes may have different index scores. Thus, there is a clear requirement for a more accurate and reliable measurement method. This paper therefore presents a new parcel shape index (PSI) which integrates a geographical information system (GIS) with a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) method. It involves the amalgamated outcome of six geometric measures represented by value functions involving a mathematical representation of judgements by experts that compare each geometric measure with that of an optimum parcel shape defined for land consolidation projects. The optimum shape has a PSI value of 1 while the worst shape has a value close to 0. The shape measures used in the model include length of sides, acute angles, reflex angles, boundary points, compactness and regularity. The paper uses data for two case study areas in Cyprus to demonstrate the superiority of the new PSI over three existing shape indices employed in other studies. The methodology utilized here can be implemented in other disciplines dealing with the assessment of objects that can be compared to an optimum.

The LIFE+ Project PM³: Particulate Monitoring, Modeling, Management is coordinated by the Department of Labour Inspection in Cyprus and funded in part by LIFE+ Environment Policy & Governance. The project aims at the analysis of dust emissions, transport, and control options for Cyprus, as well as at the identification of “natural” contributions (Directive 2008/50/EC). The ultimate objective is to provide inputs for the design of a dust management plan to improve compliance to EC Directives and minimise impacts to human health and environment. This paper presents a short analysis of historical monitoring data and their patterns as well as a description of a dynamic dust entrainment model. The pyrogenic PM₁₀ emissions combined with the wind driven emissions, are subject to a two phase non-linear multi-criteria emission control optimization procedure. The resulting emission scenarios with an hourly resolution provide input to the Comprehensive Air quality Model with extensions (CAMx) 3D fate and transport model, implemented for the 4,800 km master domain and embedded subdomains (270 km around the island of Cyprus and embedded smaller city domains of up to 30 km down to street canyon modeling). The models test the feasibility of candidate emission control solutions over a range of weather conditions. Model generated patterns of local emissions and long-range transport are discussed compared with the monitoring data, remote sensing (MODIS derived AOT), and the chemical analysis of dust samples.

Although ground-level PM_2.5 monitoring sites provide accurate measurements, their spatial coverage within a given region is limited and thus often insufficient for exposure and epidemiological studies. Satellite data expand spatial coverage, enhancing our ability to estimate location- and/or subject-specific exposures to PM_2.5. Recently, a new Multi- Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm was developed for MODIS which provides AOD at 1 km resolution. Using MAIAC data, the relationship between MAIAC AOD and PM_2.5 as measured by the 27 EPA ground monitoring stations was investigated. These results were also compared to conventional MODIS 10 km AOD retrieval (MOD04) for the same days and locations. The coefficients of determination for MOD04 and for MAIAC are R2=0.45 and 0.50, respectively, suggesting that AOD is a reasonably good proxy for PM_2.5 ground concentrations. Finally, we studied the relationship between PM_2.5 and AOD at the intra-urban scale (≤10km) in Boston. The fine resolution results indicated spatial variability in particle concentration at a sub-10 kilometer scale.

The determination of the atmospheric humidity profile has been traditionally conducted on a relatively local basis by ground-based radiosondes which are special types of instruments used for monitoring atmospheric parameters, such as temperature, humidity, wind and pressure at various altitudes in the atmosphere. An alternative modern technique for measuring atmospheric profiles is the GPS (Global Positioning System) Radio Occultation conducted by means of signals transmitted by GPS satellites (orbiting the Earth at ~ 20200 km) and received by LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites. The profiles based on this technique are inferred indirectly exploiting radio signals crossing the Earth’s troposphere and undergoing refraction. The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate) satellite constellation is such a system based on 6 satellites (at an orbit of ~ 800 km) and has been in operation since 2006 providing excellent spatial coverage with more than 2000 occultations per day. In this paper a comparison of the atmospheric humidity profiles over Cyprus is investigated in terms of these two different measurement techniques, within a period of six years.

Temporal changes and spatial patterns are often studied by analyzing land-cover changes (LCCs) using spaceborne images. LCC is an important factor, affecting runoff regime within watersheds through processes such as urbanization, agricultural activities, quarries and afforestation. The objective of this research was to estimate the effects of 20 years of LCCs on rainfall-runoff relations in an extreme rainfall event, in a sub-basin scale. A Landsat TM-derived classification map was used as an input for the Kinematic Runoff and Erosion (KINEROS2) hydrological model along with precipitation data of an extreme rainfall event. Model calibration was performed by using total runoff volume data based on hydrometric measurements taken during this rainfall event. Validation of the model performance was conducted by comparing the model results to measured data in order to receive output accuracy estimation. A similar procedure was then used with a 2009 land-cover classification map, derived from a Landsat TM image, as an input to KINEROS2 model, along with the same precipitation data and calibration parameters, in order to understand the possible outcomes of a rainfall event of such magnitude and duration after 20 years of LCCs. The results show a slight increase in runoff volume and peak discharge values between the examined time periods as a result of LCCs. In addition, a strong relationship was spotted between vegetation cover along the six sub-basins and the runoff volume. The LCCs that had the most pronounced effects on runoff volumes were related to urbanization and vegetation removal.

Spatial resolution of river and riverine area is an important aspect of hydraulic flood modeling that affects the accuracy of flood extent. This study compares the accuracy of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) produced from three methods of land surveying measurements and their effect on the results of river flow modeling and mapping of floodplain. Four data sets have been used for the creation of the DEMs: Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) point cloud data (raw data and processed), classic land surveying and digitization of elevation contours from 1:5000 scale topographic maps. LiDAR offers advantages over traditional methods for representing a terrain. Optech ILRIS-3D (Intelligent Laser Ranging and Imaging System) is a land based LiDAR system and has been used in this study. Separating LiDAR points into ground and non-ground is the most critical and difficult step for DEM generation from LiDAR data. In this study, geomorphologic filters, GIS operations and expert knowledge have been applied to produce the bare earth DEM. The HEC-GeoRAS and HEC-RAS software have been used as pre- and post-processing tools to prepare model inputs, simulate of river flow, and delineate flood inundation maps. The methodology has been applied in the suburban part of Xerias river at Volos-Greece, where typical hydrologic and hydraulic methods for ungauged watersheds have been used for flood modeling and inundation mapping. The results show that flood inundation area is significantly affected by the accuracy of DEM spatial resolution and could have significant impact on the delineation and mapping of flood hazard areas.

Vegetation indices have been widely used in remote sensing literature for burned land mapping and monitoring. In the present study we used satellite data (IKONOS, LANDSAT, ASTER, MODIS) of multiple spectral (visible, near, shortwave infrared) and spatial (1-500 meters) resolutions, acquired shortly after a very destructive fire occurred in the mountain of Parnitha in Attica, Greece the summer of 2007. The aim of our study is to examine and evaluate the performance of some vegetation indices for burned land mapping and also to characterize the relationships between vegetation indices and the percent of fire-scorched (burned) and non fire-scorched (vegetated) areas. The available satellite images were processed geometrically, radiometrically and atmospherically. The very high resolution IKONOS imagery was served as a base to estimate the percent of cover of burned areas, bare soil and vegetation by applying the maximum likelihood classification algorithm. The percent of cover for each type was then correlated to vegetation indices for all the satellite images, and regression models were fit to characterize those relationships. In total 57 versions of some classical vegetation indices were computed using LANDSAT, ASTER and MODIS data. Most of them were modified by replacing Red with SWIR channel, as the latter has been proved sensitive to burned area discrimination. IPVI and NDVI showed a better performance among the indices tested to estimate the percent of vegetation, while most of the modified versions of the indices showed highest performance to estimate the percent of burned areas.

The ArcFuel project aims to develop a generic methodology, which will enable the regular production of consistent forest vegetation fuel maps over Europe. Such maps can be used to simulate fire scenarios and support the design and implementation of effective prevention and mitigation measures against fires. ArcFuel uses the results of a recent effort of JRC Ispra, which aimed to create a standardized scheme of fuel types, representative of the vegetation occurring in the European forest regions. Based on this approach and using existing European spatial datasets and multi-temporal remotely sensed images ArcFuel defines a methodology for producing vegetation fuel maps compatible with the relevant scheme of JRC. The choice of input material was mainly driven by the need of keeping the production cost low and updating regularly the European vegetation fuel map. The proposed methodology can be applied in all EU regions and is currently tested and validated in pilot areas in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

Employing technological advances in communications along with the available aerial and space platforms can enable us, to setup a safety monitoring and management system for delivering proactive and reactive surveillance of our forests. This work stresses the importance of protecting our forests considering the socioeconomic impact they have on our world. It also outlines the available platform technologies and proposes a tool for setting up a monitoring system that employs current technologies. This tool simulates forest fires and uses wireless sensors to monitor the fire. Results show that the number and the location of the sensors in a forest are critical in increasing the chances of sensing the fire on time. Since positioning sensors in an organized manner within a forest is tedious if not impossible to implement, it is recommended that areas with higher flammability are equipped with greater number of sensors.

Nutrient sources and fate are investigated in the Evrotas, a temporary river in Greece. We assess field monitoring and modelling tools for the estimation of nutrient fate and transport through various diffuse pathways. The ‘total daily maximum load’ approach is used to estimate the nutrient flux status by flow class and measures are recommended and applied for each flow status. Using this approach in Evrotas basin, it was estimated that almost 60% of the river network fails to meet nitrogen criteria and 50% phosphate criteria. We recommend that existing well-documented remediation measures such as reforestation of the riparian area should be implemented to achieve load reduction in close conjunction with social needs.

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was evaluated while modeling daily stream flow in Limnatis basin, Cyprus over a period of seven years. Stream flow data from 2006-2008 were used as a warm up period, the period 2008- 2010 was used to calibrate the model and stream flow, data from 2008-2012 were used for the validation. The model could adequately predict daily stream flow trends with Nash-Sutcliffe values of 0.68. Overall the results of the simulation indicate that SWAT model can be an effective tool for the modeling of stream flow in intermittent rivers like Limnatis, and could contribute valuable information for successful catchment management.

We present a method for the separation of the non-algal absorption coefficient into its independent components of dissolved species and non-algal particulate absorptions from remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) measurements in the visible part of the spectrum. This separation is problematic due to the similar absorption spectra of these substances. Due to this complication, we approach the problem by constructing a neural network which relates the remote sensing reflectance at the available MODIS visible wavelengths (412, 443, 488, 531, 547 and 667nm) with the ratio of the absorption coefficient of non-algal particulates to the absorption coefficient of dissolved species, thereby permitting analytical separation of the total non-algal absorption into particulate and dissolved components. The resulting synthetically trained algorithm is tested on simulated data as well as independently on the NASA Bio-Optical Marine Algorithm Data set (NOMAD). Very good agreement is obtained, with R² values of 87% and 78% for the non-algal particulate and dissolved absorption components, respectively for the NOMAD. Finally, we apply the algorithm to MODIS data and present global distributions for these parameters.

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) is becoming an increasingly attractive water management option, especially in semiarid areas. Nevertheless, field studies on the fate and transport of priority substances, heavy metals and pharmaceutical products within the recharged aquifer are rare. Based on the above, the objective of this project is to study the hydrological conditions of the coastal aquifer of Ezousa (Cyprus) and its ability to attenuate pollutants. The Ezousa riverbed is a locally important aquifer used for a MAR project where treated effluent from the Paphos Waste Water Treatment Plant is recharged into the aquifer through a number of artificial ponds along the riverbed. Additionally, groundwater is pumped for irrigation purposes from wells located nearby. The hydrological conditions of the area are unique due to the construction of the Kannaviou dam in 2005 that reduced natural recharge of the Ezousa aquifer significantly, inducing the saltwater intrusion phenomenon. A three-dimensional finite element model of the area was constructed using the FEFLOW software to simulate the groundwater flow conditions and transport of Phosphorous and cooper in the subsurface from the recharge process. The model was calibrated using hydraulic head and chemical data for the time period of 2002-2011. The groundwater model was coupled with a geochemical model PHREEQC attempting to evaluate nitrate and Copper processes. Inverse modeling calculation was used to determine sets of moles transfers of phases that are attributed to the water composition change in groundwater between the mixture of natural groundwater and reclaimed wastewater and the final water composition.

The Dead Sea coastal area is exposed to the destructive process of sinkhole collapse. The increase in sinkhole activity in the last two decades has been substantial, resulting from the continuous decrease in the Dead Sea's level, with more than 1,000 sinkholes developing as a result of upper layer collapse. Large sinkholes can reach 25 m in diameter. They are concentrated mainly in clusters in several dozens of sites with different characteristics. In this research, methods for mapping, monitoring and predicting sinkholes were developed using active and passive remote-sensing methods: field spectrometer, geophysical ground penetration radar (GPR) and a frequency domain electromagnetic instrument (FDEM). The research was conducted in three stages: 1) literature review and data collection; 2) mapping regions abundant with sinkholes in various stages and regions vulnerable to sinkholes; 3) analyzing the data and translating it into cognitive and accessible scientific information. Field spectrometry enabled a comparison between the spectral signatures of soil samples collected near active or progressing sinkholes, and those collected in regions with no visual sign of sinkhole occurrence. FDEM and GPR investigations showed that electrical conductivity and soil moisture are higher in regions affected by sinkholes. Measurements taken at different time points over several seasons allowed monitoring the progress of an 'embryonic' sinkhole.

Water allocation to crops has always been of great importance in agricultural process. In this context, and under the current conditions, where Cyprus is facing a severe drought the last five years, purpose of this study is basically to estimate the needed crop water requirements for supporting irrigation management and monitoring irrigation on a systematic basis for Cyprus using remote sensing techniques. The use of satellite images supported by ground measurements has provided quite accurate results. Intended purpose of this paper is to estimate the Evapotranspiration (ET) of specific crops which is the basis for irrigation scheduling and establish a procedure for monitoring and managing irrigation water over Cyprus, using remotely sensed data from Landsat TM/ ETM+ and a sound methodology used worldwide, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL). Finally Crop Water Requirements derived from the specific research are disseminated to crop producers through a network of 3^rd generation mobile phones.

Land Surface Temperature (LST) is an extremely important parameter that controls the exchange of long wave radiation between surface and atmosphere. It is a good indicator of the energy balance at the Earth’s surface and it is one of the key parameters in the physics of land-surface processes on regional as well as global scale. This paper utilizes monthly night and day averaged LST MODIS imagery over Cyprus for a 9 year period. Fourier analysis and Least squares estimation fitting are implemented to analyze mean daily data over Cyprus in an attempt to investigate possible temperature tenancy over these years and possible differences among areas with different land cover and land use, such as Troodos Mountain and Nicosia, the main city in the center of the island. The analysis of data over a long time period, allows questions such as whether there is a tenancy to temperature increase, to be answered in a statistically better way, provided that ‘noise’ is removed correctly. Dealing with a lot of data, always provides a more accurate estimation, but on the other hand, more noise in implemented on the data, especially when dealing with temperature which is subject to daily and annual cycles. A brief description over semi-automated data acquisition and standardization using object-oriented programming and GIS-based techniques, will be presented. The paper fully describes the time series analysis implemented, the Fourier method and how it was used to analyze and filter mean daily data with high frequency. Comparison of mean monthly daily LST against day and night LSTs is also performed over the 9 year period in order to investigate whether use of the extended data series provide significant advantage over short.

The development mechanisms of an explosive cyclone over Central Mediterranean are examined, by relating the cloud patterns in the infrared, water vapour and visible channels of the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite images, to the surface-upper air operational analyses and thermodynamic parameters, including potential and geostrophic vorticity analyses, potential and equivalent potential temperature, static stability and thermal heat fluxes. The specific case study derived from an updated climatology of Mediterranean explosive cyclones for the 2002-2010 period, being performed with the aid of the University of Melbourne Cyclone Tracking scheme (MS algorithm) and ERA-INTERIM datasets. It was found that during the ordinary cyclogenesis the increased mid-upper level relative humidity over Northern Algeria along with the enhanced moisture gradient in the area between Portugal and Spain; indicate the existence of a jet -streak, with the dry zone to be located on the cold side of the jet axis. The descent of the dry air is more pronounced within the left exit region of the jet streak in the poleward portion of an upper confluence zone. Six hours later, the eastward movement of the cloud pattern in the Northern African coasts significantly resembles the structure of a baroclinic leaf, being related to the early stages of surface frontogenesis, due to the deformation process within a strong wind field. During the time of rapid deepening, when the surface cyclone propagated from the Northern African coasts towards the area of Sicily - Gulf of Taranto, the development is characterised by the transition from the baroclinic leaf structure to the comma cloud one and finally the formation of a bent-back occlusion.

According to the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) there are still uncertainties in climate change predictions due to the impact of aerosols in the solar irradiance. The scattering procedure of aerosols depends strongly on their shape and size distribution while lidar techniques could give the vertical distribution of them. Southeastern Mediterranean is affected by air masses of different sources thus layers with complicate aerosol composition are frequently observed over Cyprus. A backscatter lidar has been established at Cyprus University of Technology’s (CUT) premises (34°N, 33°E) since 2010, in order to provide vertical profiles of the aerosol optical properties such as backscatter coefficient and particle depolarization ratio. More than 2 years of daily measurements have been analyzed for the period of May 2010 to May 2012. From this dataset, there are almost 45 CALISPO coincidence overpasses at a distance of less than 105km from the location of the ground-based lidar and from those two cases were selected. Both, ground based and space born active remote sensing techniques were used in order to characterize aerosol layers in the free troposphere over SE Mediterranean. The layers of CALIPSO and CUT’s lidar observations have been examined with respect to their origin, in order to retrieve the backscatter coefficient and the particle depolarization ratio at 532nm. The analysis of the presented cases, together with the air mass back-trajectories calculations, in accordance with depolarization retrievals, show that non-spherical particles originated from Africa whereas marine layer consist of spherical particles. Furthermore aerosol optical properties such as Ångström exponents (AE) derived from the sun-photometer belonging to the AERONET network at Limassol city were used complementary in order to support our analysis.

Concrete reinforced with steel rebars remains one of the most widely used construction materials. Despite its good mechanical performance and expected service life of at least 50 years, reinforced concrete is subjected to corrosion of the steel rebars which normally leads to concrete spalling, deterioration of the reinforced concrete’s (RC) mechanical properties and eventual reduction of the structural load capacity. In Cyprus, especially in coastal regions where almost 60% of the population resides, many structural problems have been identified in RC structures, which are caused by the severe corrosion of steel rebars. Most RC, located in coastal areas, show signs of corrosion within the first 15-20 years of their service life and this affects their structural integrity and reliability, especially against seismic loading. This paper presents the research undertaken as part of the ‘STEELCOR’ project which aims to extensively evaluate the steel corrosion of RC buildings in coastal areas of Cyprus and conduct a risk assessment relating to steel corrosion. GIS are utilized in conjunction with non-destructive testing of corroded RC structures to develop a digital structural integrity map of Cyprus which shows the areas with high risk of steel corrosion of RC buildings.

This paper introduces the development of a web- platform for sharing of environmental data in the framework of EvK2 – CNR Committee SHARE Project (Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment). This system intends to meet the requirement of access to the complex information concerning the acquisition of climate data at high altitude and to the data themselves. The tool that is being studied and developing proposes an environment for the research, dedicated mainly to high-altitude studies, allowing researchers to access the wealth of resources that are acquired by the climatologic stations. With regards to remote sensing data processing, the system gives the opportunity to free access to the data relevant either for atmospheric corrections or ground data calibrations. Moreover, into SHARE GeoNetwork, a specific topic is dedicated to the description of the new technologies developed in the SHARE Project. The core of the system is the catalogue of metadata based on GeoNetwork open source application, proposed on the principles of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and International and Open Standards for services and protocols (from ISO/TC211 and OGC). A new hierarchical structure has been implemented into SHARE for the description of metatada of the stations, sensors and measures The first release of SHARE-GeoNetwork is working from 2011 and it is accessible for public at http://geonetwork.evk2cnr.org. The integrated activity of the SHARE GeoNetwork is the implementation of the Data Base for the management of the measures acquired since 1987 by the Ev-K2 CNR Committee. These data have been ordered and stored in a coherent form by an open source database management system, Weather and Water Database (WDB), developed by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. The geographic component of the system has been implemented and the publication of maps and georeferenced data is allowed.

Forests in Europe have been shaped considerably by human activities during most of the Holocene. Changes in forest structure, distribution of tree species and forest biodiversity are partly driven by management history, and many current forest types result from former management. The interdisciplinary project "Long-term woodland dynamics in Central Europe: from estimations to a realistic model" (LONGWOOD) aims to reconstruct long-term dynamics of woodland cover, structure and management in the eastern Czech Republic (Moravia, ca. 27,000 km²), compare the historical and present state of forests, and analyze general patterns of changes and stability of woodlands as well as the role of humans in these processes. In the LONGWOOD project, palaeoecological, archaeological, historical and ecological sources of information on woodland cover, species composition, and human activities (management, settlement density) over the past 7500 years are collected and integrated in the form of a geodatabase. Combining data of different origin, scale, degree of spatial precision and detail into a single geodatabase is a challenging task. The level of detail, information content, and spatiotemporal distribution of data varies between layers as well as individual records according to the nature of the data source and the data itself. The limited and incomplete sources of information until ca. 1100 AD provide a coarser view on forest history while the historical period (especially the past ca. 250 years) is covered by large amounts of precisely located ecological and historical data enabling detailed spatial and temporal analyses. Data on forest structure, history and management will be related to environmental factors (soil type, climate, elevation and other topographic variables derived from DEM) and social historical data (settlement distribution, population density, landuse). A spatio-temporal forest landscape model will be built to assess the forest changes and the main drivers of change.

The lifelines seismic risk assessment is based on a fuzzy classification on parameters related to geometry (effective length distribution L) and constructive details (material type C) along with urban (U) and economic (E) parameters. Then a functional value G = f(L, C, U, E) is constructed as an indicator of risk of the element/system under investigation. In the present study a new functional Fg is introduced in a GIS environment. The application of spatial analysis methods provides a better understanding of the possible failure patterns and trends in water distribution networks. The Fg parameter takes into account the influence of geological and seismotectonic environment in a local scale, constructed in a way to reflect the amplification factor A (X), where X local coordinate of the cell, which experimentally could be estimated. The Fg= f(A(X), U(X), L(X)) is strongly affected by the local geotectonic conditions as well the spatial distribution of population and the geometrical lattice of pipe line system. The proposed index was applied in the city of Chania, Crete island, as the functioning of the infrastructure during and especially after a destructive earthquake, in the front of the Hellenic Arc, is of vital importance for the society and contributes to the rescue and emergency operations. We propose Fg mainly for systems where site effects are important and present a significant spatial inhomogeneity while at the same time the examined urban system has no constructive variability it time and space.

During last years urban vegetation with significant health, biological and economical values had experienced dramatic changes due to urbanization and human activities in the metropolitan area of Bucharest in Romania. We investigated the utility of remote sensing approaches of multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis (MESMA) applied to IKONOS and Landsat TM/ETM satellite data for estimating fractional cover of urban/periurban forest, parks, agricultural vegetation areas. Because of the spectral heterogeneity of same physical features of urban vegetation increases with the increase of image resolution, the traditional spectral information-based statistical method may not be useful to classify land cover dynamics from high resolution imageries like IKONOS. So we used hierarchy tree classification method in classification and MESMA for vegetation land cover dynamics assessment based on available IKONOS high-resolution imagery of Bucharest town. This study employs thirty two endmembers and six hundred and sixty spectral models to identify all Earth’s features (vegetation, water, soil, impervious) and shade in the Bucharest area. The mean RMS error for the selected vegetation land cover classes range from 0.0027 to 0.018. The Pearson correlation between the fraction outputs from MESMA and reference data from all IKONOS images 1m panchromatic resolution data for urban/periurban vegetation were ranging in the domain 0.7048 - 0.8287. The framework in this study can be applied to other urban vegetation areas in Romania.

To preserve urban vegetation land cover quality and mitigate its degradation is an important task for urban planning and environmental management of Bucharest metropolitan area in Romania. Since vegetation land cover dynamics directly affect the urban landscape characteristics and air quality, remote sensing represents an effective tool for vegetation land cover quality assessment at regional scale. In particular, the use of satellite-based vegetation indices, like the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), can provide important information when evaluating Urban Vegetation Cover Quality (UVCQ) patterns in urban areas, which represents one of the most sensitive landscape components to urban environmental degradation. This paper proposes an approach for the regional-scale assessment of UVCQ by means of an NDVI-based (functional) indicator using freely available time series MODIS Terra/Aqua (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite data. As a case study, Bucharest metropolitan area landscape experiencing climate and anthropogenic changes, increasing human pressure and high vulnerability to degradation was chosen. As UVCQ indicator, the NDVI-based vegetation cover classification was produced by means of unsupervised multivariate statistical techniques and compared with spatio-temporal changes during 2002-2012 period, statistical indicators, and field data related to land cover management observed in the study area. Results demonstrate that the obtained remotely sensed vegetation land cover characterization can be effectively considered as a proxy of the UVCQ status of the examined area. Due to the large availability over time and low cost of satellite images, the proposed approach can be applied to wider urban/periurban regions, to monitor vegetation quality and indirectly control vegetation land degradation.

This paper presents a new methodology for the discrimination of plant species and their varieties using hyperspectral data. The concept lies on the combination of spectral pre-processing algorithms (SPPA) that enhance spectral discrimination between species and their varieties. SPPA use as input a single spectral signature and transform it according to the SPPA function. A k-step combination of SPPA uses k pre-processing algorithms serially. Initially each spectral signature is used as input to the first SPPA. The result of this SPPA is used as input to the second SPPA, and so on until the desired pre-processed signatures are reached. These signatures are then discriminated by applying spectral matching algorithms. The performance of the combination is evaluated based on the number of correctly matched signatures. In this work a k-step combination of SPPA has been set up, with k ranging from 1 to 3. The following SPPA have been investigated: vector normalization, Fourier transformation, Logarithm transformation, Kubelka-Munck transformation, derivatives, continuum removal, band depth, value normalization, n order square root transformation, and smoothing. There is a very large number of possible combinations of the aforementioned SPPAs, thus a Simple Genetic Algorithm has been used for finding optimum combinations. The input hyperspectral data were the spectral signatures of 9 varieties of vetches and 9 varieties of lentils, measured by the GER1500 spectroradiometer. For all the samples, the spectral signatures were measured at two slightly different times in the growing season. The results showed that several combinations exist which can successfully discriminate and label the spectral signatures in terms of variety, and they are independent from the time of the spectral signature measurement.

Burnt areas as a result of wildfires can be readily detected from high resolution aerial photographs or satellite imagery of the zone that includes the wildfire. Moderate resolution remote sensing data, as provided by MODIS, can also be used to detect active or past wildfires, most usually from daily records of a suitable combination of reflectance bands. The objective of the present work was to test some simple algorithms and variations for automatic blind detection of burnt areas from MODIS biweekly vegetation indices time series data. MODIS derived NDVI 250m time series data for the Valencia region, Southeast Spain, were subjected to a two-steps process for the detection of candidate burnt areas, and the results compared with the record of wildfires with affected area greater than 100 hectares. For each pixel and date in the data series, a model was fitted to both the previous and posterior time series data. Discrepancies or jumps between the pre- and post- models exceeding a certain threshold were used as seeds to define cluster of pixels, the candidate burnt areas, with similarities between pixels either from their extreme discrepancy dates or from their parameters in the fitted models. Results using a simple combination of a constant fitted model and pixel similarity from jump dates were in good agreement with the perimeters of the actual burnt areas. A computationally efficient implementation of the method was developed using a digital filter type approach.

The successful implementation of habitat protection requires ecological and spatial monitoring of system dynamics. Data collection and mapping of habitats has been boosted by the rapid growth of remote sensing. An island-wide combined survey, focused on Aleppo oak (Q.infectoria) habitats, was undertaken using freely available on-line satellite imagery (Google Earth) and field inspection. The results of the survey, in combination with a weighting methodology, identified areas with high conservation value-Important Oak Areas (IOAs), for potential habitat protection. It is suggested that World Wide Web- based methodologies of habitat identification could be a complementary ecological and conservation tool for remote mapping and assessment of habitats over a broad spatial scale

NDVI time series data exhibit cyclic behaviors derived from the phenological characteristics of the vegetation. Different forms of Fourier analysis have been effectively used to analyze remote sensed NDVI data, allowing the simultaneous fitting of secular and cyclic components. However, variations in frequencies and/or phases of the cyclic components may exist, that are not considered in typical spectral analysis. In this work, MODIS derived NDVI biweekly time series data are analyzed considering secular and quasi-periodic components, fitted to the data using a smoothing algorithm based on a spectral time-frequency analysis. The algorithm works well with equispaced data, and allows the analysis of temporal variations in cyclic frequencies and phases. Examples of applications in different types of vegetation and conditions in Southeast Spain are shown.

The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the Crete Island with a resolution of approximately 20 meters was used in order to delineate watersheds by computing the flow direction and using it in the Watershed function. The Watershed function uses a raster of flow direction to determine contributing area. The Geographic Information Systems routine procedure was applied and the watersheds as well as the streams network (using a threshold of 2000 cells, i.e. the minimum number of cells that constitute a stream) were extracted from the hydrologically corrected (free of sinks) DEM. A number of a few thousand watersheds were delineated, and their areal extent was calculated. From these watersheds a number of 300 was finally selected for further analysis as the watersheds of extremely small area were excluded in order to avoid possible artifacts. Our analysis approach is based on the basic principles of Complexity theory and Tsallis Entropy introduces in the frame of non-extensive statistical physics. This concept has been successfully used for the analysis of a variety of complex dynamic systems including natural hazards, where fractality and long-range interactions are important. The analysis indicates that the statistical distribution of watersheds can be successfully described with the theoretical estimations of non-extensive statistical physics implying the complexity that characterizes the occurrences of them.

Biofuel production from microalgae can be both sustainable and economically viable. Particularly in the case of algal growth in wastewater an extra benefit is the removal or biotransformation of pollutants from these types of waters. A continuous monitoring system of the microalgae status and the concentration of different wastewater contaminants could be of great help in the biomass production and the water characterisation. In this study we present a system where spectral fluorescence signature (SFS) techniques are used along with absorption measurements to monitor microalgae cultures in wastewater and other mediums. This system aims to optimise the microalgae production for biofuel applications or other uses and was developed and tested in prototype indoor photo-bioreactors at the University of Vigo. SFS techniques were applied using the fluorescence analyser INSTAND-SCREENER developed by Laser Diagnostic Instruments AS. INSTAND-SCREENER permits wavelength scanning in two modes, one in UV and another in VIS. In parallel, it permits the on-line monitoring and rapid analysis of both water quality and phytoplankton status without prior treatment of the sample. Considering that different contaminants and microalgae features (density, status etc.) have different spectral signatures of fluorescence and absorption properties, it is possible to characterise them developing classification libraries. Several algorithms were used for the classification. The implementation of this system in an outdoor raceway reactor in a Spanish wastewater treatment plant is also discussed. This study was part of the Project EnerBioAlgae (http://www.enerbioalgae.com/), which was funded by the Interreg SUDOE and led by the University of Vigo.

This work is part of a research project named as ‘HYDROGIS LAB’. A preliminary underground survey using the newly acquired ground penetrated radar is presented. This technology provides accurate scanning and 3D spatial representation of the underground piping network. The main aim is to refine the digital imprint of the water supply network under consideration. Work has also been initiated in the development of a GIS platform for managing all information (maps, satellite imaging, 3D scans, network system components etc). The geo-radar scanning is required to support the modeling of water supply network, design and operation.

This study describes the spatial and temporal variations observed at the Limassol Harbor area covering a period of more than 25 years. All multi-date satellite imagery data used for this study acquired during the summer period, covering a period from May to August. The goal is to examine the temporal alterations been observed at the Limassol Harbor area during the years passed and the spatial variation according to the distance from the Harbor. Two areas were selected, one covering the area inside the Harbor and one other covering a larger area involving the area inside and outside the Limassol Harbor. Those two areas where cut off and water area was masked in order to indicate the differences observed. Temporal and spatial variations were apparent after applying unsupervised classification and stretching methods.

The lack of available precipitation data in certain areas can be problematic, especially if the area is used as a calibration target. The study was conducted to identify differences between wet and dry sand and to apply the methodology for verifying precipitation from archived satellite images, where rainfall data do not exist. A study area was selected near Limassol Cyprus, consisting of a 250x250 meter area of volcanic beach sand. In-situ spectroradiometric measurements were taken using field spectrometers to obtain the reflectance values of volcanic sand over wet and dry conditions. The varying saturation levels of the sand due to rainfall were examined. The darkest pixel method was used to atmospherically correct a series of Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellite images. The mean in-situ in-band reflectance values as found from the ground measurements were compared with the at-satellite reflectance values following atmospheric correction. It was found that precipitation conditions such as rainfall affected the reflectance values of sand. The study found that wet sand had a significantly lower reflectance value compared to dry sand. Therefore, volcanic beach sand can be used as an indicator of precipitation in satellite images.