Building on its heritage in planetary science, remote sensing of the Earth's at- sphere and ionosphere with occultation methods has undergone remarkable dev- opments since the rst GPS/Met 'proof of concept' mission in 1995. Signals of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) satellites are exploited by radio occ- tation while natural signal sources are used in solar, lunar, and stellar occultations. A range of atmospheric variables is provided reaching from fundamental atmospheric parameters such as density, pressure, and temperature to water vapor, ozone, and othertracegasspecies. Theutilityforatmosphereandclimatearisesfromtheunique properties of self-calibration, high accuracy and vertical resolution, global coverage, and (if using radio signals) all-weather capability. Occultations have become a va- able data source for atmospheric physics and chemistry, operational meteorology, climate research as well as for space weather and planetary science. The 3rd International Workshop on Occultations for Probing Atmosphere and Climate (OPAC-3) was held September 17-21, 2007, in Graz, Austria. OPAC-3 aimed at providing a casual forum and stimulating atmosphere for scienti c disc- sion, co-operation initiatives, and mutual learning and support amongst members of alldifferentoccultationcommunities. Theworkshopwasattendedby40participants from 14 different countries who actively contributed to a scienti c programme of high quality and to an excellent workshop atmosphere. The programme included 6 invited keynote presentations and 16 invited pres- tations, complemented by about 20 contributed ones including 8 posters.

Based on detailed research funded across two continents and involving universities in Argentina, Spain and the UK, this book sets out an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to assessing both environmental and social risks in a given territorial area. Using data from a number of Ibero-American nations, the study combines environmental, socio-economic and geographic factors to construct a set of spatial and technical indicators that measure the social vulnerability and industrial hazardousness of a defined area. Aggregating these indicators in a geographic information system (GIS) allows researchers to assess the potential risk to which a certain area and its population are subject as a result of the environmental deterioration caused by co-located industrial activity.

The book introduces the reader to the fundamentals of rock mechanics and to its application to economic construction in rock. Models describe the mechanical properties and the permeability of rock. Numerical methods for evaluating the stability of structures in rock are given to solve special problems related to tunnels, caverns, pressure tunnels, dam foundations and slopes. Methods for testing the rock mechanical properties are described. A number of case histories enable the reader to make use of the content in his or her own work.

This volume is a compilation of studies on interactions of land-cover/land-use change with climate in a region where the climate warming is most pronounced compared to other areas of the globe. The climate warming in the far North, and in the Arctic region of Northern Eurasia in particular, affects both the landscape and human activities, and hence human dimensions are an important aspect of the topic. Environmental pollution together with climate warming may produce irreversible damages to the current Arctic ecosystems. Regional land-atmosphere feedbacks may have large global importance. Remote sensing is a primary tool in studying vast northern territories where in situ observations are sporadic. State-of-the-art methods of satellite remote sensing combined with GIS and models are used to tackle science questions and provide an outlook of current land-cover changes and potential scenarios for the future. Audience: The book is a truly international effort involving U.S. and European scientists. It is directed at the broad science community including graduate students, academics and other professionals in this field.

1.1 Basic idea and main task of photogrammetry If you want to measure the size of an object, let's say the length, width and height of a house, then normally you will carry this out directly at the object. Now imagine that the house didn't exist anymore - it was destroyed, but some historic photos exist. Then, if you can determine the scale of the photos, it must be pos- ble to get the desired data. Of course you can use photos to get information about objects. This kind of - formation is different: So, for example, you may receive qualitative data (the house seems to be old, the walls are coloured light yellow) from photo interpre- tion, or quantitative data like mentioned before (the house has a base size of 8 by 6 meters) from photo measurement, or information in addition to your background knowledge (the house has elements of the "art nouveau" style, so may be c- th structed at the beginning of the 20 century), and so on.

Light scattering by densely packed inhomogeneous media is a particularly ch- lenging optics problem. In most cases, only approximate methods are used for the calculations. However, in the case where only a small number of macroscopic sc- tering particles are in contact (clusters or aggregates) it is possible to obtain exact results solving Maxwell's equations. Simulations are possible, however, only for a relativelysmallnumberofparticles,especiallyiftheirsizesarelargerthanthewa- length of incident light. The ?rst review chapter in PartI of this volume, prepared by Yasuhiko Okada, presents modern numerical techniques used for the simulation of optical characteristics of densely packed groups of spherical particles. In this case, Mie theory cannot provide accurate results because particles are located in the near ?eld of each other and strongly interact. As a matter of fact, Maxwell's equations must be solved not for each particle separately but for the ensemble as a whole in this case. The author describes techniques for the generation of shapes of aggregates. The orientation averaging is performed by a numerical integration with respect to Euler angles. The numerical aspects of various techniques such as the T-matrix method, discrete dipole approximation, the ?nite di?erence time domain method, e?ective medium theory, and generalized multi-particle Mie so- tion are presented. Recent advances in numerical techniques such as the grouping and adding method and also numerical orientation averaging using a Monte Carlo method are discussed in great depth.

The impact of anthropogenic activities on our atmospheric environment is of growing public concern and satellite-based techniques now provide an essential component of observational strategies on regional and global scales. The purpose of this book is to summarise the state of the art in the field in general, while describing both key techniques and findings in particular. It opens with an historical perspective of the field together with the basic principles of remote sensing from space. Three chapters follow on the techniques and on the solutions to the problems associated with the various spectral regions in which observations are made. The particular challenges posed by aerosols and clouds are covered in the next two chapters. Of special importance is the accuracy and reliability of remote sensing data and these issues are covered in a chapter on validation. The final section of the book is concerned with the exploitation of data, with chapters on observational aspects, which includes both individual and synergistic studies, and on the comparison of global and regional observations with chemical transport and climate models and the added value that the interaction brings to both. The book concludes with scientific needs and likely future developments in the field, and the necessary actions to be taken if we are to have the global observation system that the Earth needs in its present, deteriorating state. The appendices provide a comprehensive list of satellite instruments, global representations of some ancillary data such as fire counts and light pollution, a list of abbreviations and acronyms, and a set of colourful timelines indicating the satellite coverage of tropospheric composition in the foreseeable future. Altogether, this book will be a timely reference and overview for anyone working at the interface of environmental, atmospheric and space sciences.

This book gives a general picture of research-driven activities related to location and map-based services. The interdisciplinary character of the topic leads to a variety of contributions with backgrounds from academia to business and from computer science to geodesy. While cartography is aiming at efficient communication of spatial information, the development and availability of technologies like mobile networking, mobile devices or short-range sensors lead to interesting new possibilities of achieving this aim. By trying to make use of the available technologies, a variety of related disciplines looks specifically at user-centered and context-aware system development, especially in wayfinding and navigation systems.

'Trading zone' is a concept introduced by Peter Galison in his social scientific research on how scientists representing different sub-cultures and paradigms have been able to coordinate their interaction locally. In this book, Italian and Finnish planning researchers extend the use of the concept to different contexts of urban planning and management, where there is a need for new ideas and tools in managing the interaction of different stakeholders. The trading zone concept is approached as a tool in organizing local platforms and support systems for planning participation, knowledge production, decision making and local conflict management. In relation to the former theses of communicative planning theory that stress the ideals of consensus, mutual understanding and universal reason, the 'trading zone approach', outlined in this book, offers a different perspective. It focuses on the potentiality to coordinate locally the interaction of different stakeholders without requiring the deeper sharing of understandings, values and motives between them. Galison's commentary comes in the form of the book's final chapter.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Geographic Information Science, GIScience 2014, held in Vienna, Austria in September 2014. The 23 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections such as information visualization, spatial analysis, user-generated content, semantic models, wayfinding and navigation, spatial algorithms, and spatial relations.

Imagine yourself as a military officer in a conflict zone trying to identify locations of weapons caches supporting road-side bomb attacks on your country's troops. Or imagine yourself as a public health expert trying to identify the location of contaminated water that is causing diarrheal diseases in a local population. Geospatial abduction is a new technique introduced by the authors that allows such problems to be solved. Geospatial Abduction provides the mathematics underlying geospatial abduction and the algorithms to solve them in practice; it has wide applicability and can be used by practitioners and researchers in many different fields. Real-world applications of geospatial abduction to military problems are included. Compelling examples drawn from other domains as diverse as criminology, epidemiology and archaeology are covered as well. This book also includes access to a dedicated website on geospatial abduction hosted by University of Maryland. Geospatial Abduction targets practitioners working in general AI, game theory, linear programming, data mining, machine learning, and more. Those working in the fields of computer science, mathematics, geoinformation, geological and biological science will also find this book valuable.

Frequently it is suggested that the 'golden age' of television was during the period 1950-1960. It is true that television almost ruined Hollywood's fortunes during this period. But if this was the authentic golden age, then it was an age of black and white, somewhat limited creativity, poor reception, lack of competition (except in the United States) and - by and large - public service broadcasting. However, if we take 1950 as a generic 'starting point' for modern television broadcasting, then we talk about a kind of prehistoric stage of the medium - in which it remained for the best part of three decades. The younger days of broadcasting were the 1980s; the time when commercial television started on a large scale and, in this youth, was getting younger in terms of programming. Luxembourg-based SES Astra appeared on the scene at exactly this time. Astra was instrumental in the dramatic developments in television that we have witnessed since then. This is the story we want to tell in this book. Without satellite technology and the success of satellite reception, without the resulting mass-market penetration of television sets and general economic prosperity we would not have the necessary base ingredients to make the great leap forward into digital, into HDTV, 3D-television, and the prospects of Ultra High Definition now in sight.

Statistical Processing Techniques for Noisy Images presents a statistical framework to design algorithms for target detection, tracking, segmentation and classification (identification). Its main goal is to provide the reader with efficient tools for developing algorithms that solve his/her own image processing applications. In particular, such topics as hypothesis test-based detection, fast active contour segmentation and algorithm design for non-conventional imaging systems are comprehensively treated, from theoretical foundations to practical implementations. With a large number of illustrations and practical examples, this book serves as an excellent textbook or reference book for senior or graduate level courses on statistical signal/image processing, as well as a reference for researchers in related fields.

This volume presents a state-of-the-art assessment of the Earth's climate system in Siberia and relationships between climate, ecosystems and people in that region. Changes in climatic variables and land cover in Siberia are among the earliest indicators of the Earth's response to climate warming. The volume is a compilation of results from studies on climate, land-cover and land-use changes and their interactions with biogeochemical and water cycles, atmospheric aerosol, and human and wildlife populations in Siberia. Regional changes in Siberia are predicted to affect climate and people on a global scale. NASA, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and several European institutions have supported these studies. The primary supporter of the projects that produced the results compiled in this volume is the NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program, hence most studies use remote sensing in their research. The chapters in this volume were written by an international team of scientists from the USA, Europe and Russia under the auspices of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI). This book will be of interest to those involved in studying recent and ongoing changes in Siberia, be they senior scientists, early career scientists or students.

Remote Sensing image analysis is mostly done using only spectral information on a pixel by pixel basis. Information captured in neighbouring cells, or information about patterns surrounding the pixel of interest often provides useful supplementary information. This book presents a wide range of innovative and advanced image processing methods for including spatial information, captured by neighbouring pixels in remotely sensed images, to improve image interpretation or image classification. Presented methods include different types of variogram analysis, various methods for texture quantification, smart kernel operators, pattern recognition techniques, image segmentation methods, sub-pixel methods, wavelets and advanced spectral mixture analysis techniques. Apart from explaining the working methods in detail a wide range of applications is presented covering land cover and land use mapping, environmental applications such as heavy metal pollution, urban mapping and geological applications to detect hydrocarbon seeps.

The book is meant for professionals, PhD students and graduates who use remote sensing image analysis, image interpretation and image classification in their work related to disciplines such as geography, geology, botany, ecology, forestry, cartography, soil science, engineering and urban and regional planning.

This two volume set (CCIS 398 and 399) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Geo-Informatics in Resource Management and Sustainable Ecosystem, GRMSE 2013, held in Wuhan, China, in November 2013. The 136 papers presented, in addition to 4 keynote speeches and 5 invited sessions, were carefully reviewed and selected from 522 submissions. The papers are divided into 5 sessions: smart city in resource management and sustainable ecosystem, spatial data acquisition through RS and GIS in resource management and sustainable ecosystem, ecological and environmental data processing and management, advanced geospatial model and analysis for understanding ecological and environmental process, applications of geo-informatics in resource management and sustainable ecosystem.

This two volume set (CCIS 398 and 399) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Symposium on Geo-Informatics in Resource Management and Sustainable Ecosystem, GRMSE 2013, held in Wuhan, China, in November 2013. The 136 papers presented, in addition to 4 keynote speeches and 5 invited sessions, were carefully reviewed and selected from 522 submissions. The papers are divided into 5 sessions: smart city in resource management and sustainable ecosystem, spatial data acquisition through RS and GIS in resource management and sustainable ecosystem, ecological and environmental data processing and management, advanced geospatial model and analysis for understanding ecological and environmental process, applications of geo-informatics in resource management and sustainable ecosystem.

This book describes the algorithms, validation and preliminary analysis of the Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) products, a long-term, high-quality dataset that is now freely available worldwide to government organizations and agencies, scientific research institutions, students and members of the general public.

The GLASS products include leaf area index, broadband albedo, broadband emissivity, downward shortwave radiation and photosynthetically active radiation. The first three GLASS products cover 1981 to 2012 with 1km and 5km spatial resolutions and 8-day temporal resolution, and the last two GLASS products span 2008 to 2010 with 3-hour temporal resolution and 5km spatial resolution. These GLASS products are unique. The first three are spatially continuous and cover the longest period of time among all current similar satellite products. The other two products are the highest spatial-resolution global radiation products from satellite observations that are currently available.

These products can be downloaded from Beijing Normal University at http: //glass-product.bnu.edu.cn/and the University of Maryland Global Land Cover Facility at http: //www.glcf.umd.edu/

The GLASS productsare the outcome of a key research project entitled Generation & Applications of Global Products of Essential Land Variables, supported by funding from the High-Tech Research and Development Program of China and involving dozens of institutions and nearly one hundred scientists and researchers.Following an introduction, the book contains five chapters corresponding to these five GLASS products: background, algorithm, quality control and validation, preliminary analysis and applications. It discusses the long-term environmental changes detected from the GLASS products and other data sources at both global and local scales and also provides detailed analysis of regional hotspots where environmental changes are mainly associated with climate change, drought, land-atmosphere interactions, and human activities.

The book is based primarily on a set of published journal papers about these five GLASS products and includes updated information. Since these products have now begun to be widely used, this bookis an essential reference document. It is also a very helpful resource to anyone interested in satellite remote sensing and its applications."

This book is a focused, comprehensive reference on recent research on severe convective storms and tornadoes. It will contain many illustrations of severe storm phenomena from mobile Doppler radars, operational Doppler radars, photographs and numerical simulations.

The book introduces the topic of geochemical modeling of fluids in subsurface and hydrothermal systems. The intention is to serve as a textbook for graduate students in aqueous, environmental and groundwater geochemistry, despite the fact that its focus is on the special topic of geochemistry in hydrothermal systems, it also provides new insights for experienced researchers with respect to the topic of reactive transport. The overall purpose is to give the reader an understanding of the processes that control the chemical composition of waters in hydrothermal systems and to highlight the interfaces between chemistry, geothermics and hydrogeology.

From the reviews:

.."is a nice, compact introduction to the principles of modeling coupled fluid flow and fluid-mineral reactions in active geothermal systems, as used for heating and electricity generation." ( Christoph A. Heinrich, ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, June 2004)

The main activities of the economically active population around The Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl volcanoes region lie in the primary sector (65- 90%). Of the people working in this sector, those dependent on agricultural or pastoral activities generally have an income significantly lower than the minimum wage in Mexico. Of the activities in the area, these agricultural, pastoral, and forestry activities probably have the most direct effect on the ecology of the volcanoes and its immediate surroundings. Traditional farmers, producing crops such as beans, pumpkins and cucumbers, generally work on small fields using traditional methods and animal traction. Modern farming, geared towards intensive production develops on larger sites making use of modern machinery, fertilizers, and pesticides. As the area under agriculture continues to increase every year, the attendant opening of large forested areas, soil modification, and ensuing erosion make it almost impossible for forest recovery. Extensive forestry in the region mainly concerns cutting and collecting wood, cutting Pinus-branches for torches or for utensils for open-fire cooking, collection of mushrooms, and hunting. Although these (often clandestine) activities seem to be small-scale, their adverse effects on the forest have been substantial. Weekend visitors from Mexico City heavily dominate recreation, with tourism concentrated near the roads leading to and inside the park. Lacking organization and facilities, most recreational activities have had significant environmental impact on the area In many countries, the decline of nature has occurred because of changes in land use.

Intense uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in Late Cenozoic Era is one of the most important events in geological history of the Earth. The plateau offers an ideal region for studying of lithospheric formation and evolution, probing into the mechanism of crustal movement, and understanding of changes in environments and geo-ecosystems in Asia. Intense uplift ofthe plateau resulted in drastic changes of natural environment and apparent regional differentiation on the plateau proper and neighboring regions. The plateau therefore becomes a sensitive area of climate change in Asian monsoon region, which is closely related to the global change. As a special physical unit, its ecosystems occupy a prominent position in the world. Due to its extremely high elevation and great extent, natural types and characteristics of physical landscapes on the plateau are quite different from those in lowlands at comparable latitudes, and environments are also different from those in high latitudinal zones. Consequently, the Tibetan Plateau has been classified as one of three giant physical regions in China and considered as a unique unit on Earth. Scientific surveys and expeditions to the Tibetan Plateau on large scale began from 1950's. Amongst them, a number of comprehensive scientific expeditions to the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, Hengduan Mts. areas, Karakorum and Kunlun Mts. regions, as well as the Hoh Xii Mts. areas, have been successively carried out by the Integrated Scientific Expedition to Tibetan Plateau, sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1973.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) - either as "standard" GIS or custom made Historical GIS (HGIS) - have become quite popular in some historical sub-disciplines, such as Economic and Social History or Historical Geography. "Mainstream" history, however, seems to be rather unaffected by this trend. More generally speaking: Why is it that computer applications in general have failed to make much headway in history departments, despite the first steps being undertaken a good forty years ago? With the "spatial turn" in full swing in the humanities, and many historians dealing with spatial and geographical questions, one would think GIS would be welcomed with open arms. Yet there seems to be no general anticipation by historians of employing GIS as a research tool. As mentioned, HGIS are popular chiefly among Historical Geographers and Social and Economic Historians. The latter disciplines seem to be predestined to use such software through the widespread quantitative methodology these disciplines have employed traditionally. Other historical sub-disciplines, such as Ancient History, are also very open to this emerging technology since the scarcity of written sources in this field can be mitigated by inferences made from an HGIS that has archaeological data stored in it, for example. In most of Modern History, however, the use of GIS is rarely seen. The intellectual benefit that a GIS may bring about seems not be apparent to scholars from this sub-discipline (and others). This book wants to investigate and discuss this controversy. Why does the wider historian community not embrace GIS more readily? While one cannot deny that the methodologies linked with a GIS follow geographical paradigms rather than historical ones, the potential of GIS as a 'killer application' for digital historical scholarship should be obvious. This book brings together authors from Geography and History to discuss the value of GIS for historical research. The focus, however, will not be on the "how", but on the "why" of GIS in history.

Regional development is intrinsically related to the way in which the land is used. Given the rising awareness of the multifunctionality of the world's land resources, policy makers now face the complex task of accommodating multiple objectives of an increasing number of stakeholders in regional development. This implies a need for tools that can be employed to provide insights into the opportunities and limitations of land use. Those tools should be capable of quantifying trade-offs between socio-economic, sustainability, and environment-related policy objectives.
This book offers a detailed account of a range of interdisciplinary methodologies for land use analysis, developed over a twelve-year period (1986-1998) in Costa Rica, through collaborative research between three institutions: one from the North (Wageningen Agricultural University of The Netherlands), and two from the South (the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center CATIE] and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock MAG]). The methodologies span a number of spatial scales, ranging from the field level all the way to the national level. Concepts of systems analysis and information technology play a pivotal role in each of the methodologies. Together, they form a unique toolbox that deserves ample use in the process of agricultural policy design.
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Reflectance and emittance spectroscopy are increasingly important tools in remote sensing and have been employed in most recent planetary spacecraft missions. They are primarily used to measure properties of disordered materials, especially in the interpretation of remote observations of the surfaces of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. This book gives a quantitative treatment of the physics of the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with particulate media, such as powders and soils. Subjects covered include electromagnetic wave propagation, single particle scattering, diffuse reflectance, thermal emittance and polarisation. This new edition has been updated to include a quantitative treatment of the effects of porosity, a detailed discussion of the coherent backscatter opposition effect, a quantitative treatment of simultaneous transport of energy within the medium by conduction and radiation, and lists of relevant databases and software. This is an essential reference for research scientists, engineers and advanced students of planetary remote sensing.