Category Archives: Science
Iczm Plan for Rutland Island – India, Using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System
INTRODUCTIONICZM is a continuous and dynamic process that unites government and the community, science and management, sectoral and public interests in preparing and implementing an integrated plan for the protection and development of coastal system and resources. Coastal area management needs an integrated, interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach in the development of good management plans. Solutions to problems and issues are seldom straightforward and require an integrative approach.A fundamental objective of resource planners, managers and indeed of most human societies is to manage the natural resources. Development need to be aimed at enhancing nature’s contribution to human welfare and not just anticipating and preventing undesirable effects. To overcome the effects caused by the human intervention, climatic change, over exploitation etc., recent technology such as remote sensing and GIS are the effective tools that could be used to putforth management solutions through interdisciplinary studies with an integrative approach and in a perspective way.The objective of the present work is to provide the best long term and sustainable use of coastal natural resources as well as perpetual maintenance of the most beneficial natural environment. The only possibility for maintaining spatial environment could be achieved through an integrated planning and hence integrated coastal zone management was attempted for the study. ICZM can minimize the costs and costly delays in project implementation; minimize the losses to various users; minimize damage to the marine environment; make the most efficient use of infrastructure, information and technology available to marine development sectors; and avoid conflicting use of coastal and marine environment.STUDY AREARutland lies south east of Little Andaman and 55 km south of South Andaman across the Duncan passage; and is an area of high biological productivity. It is located between latitude 11°28’00” to 11°20’00” and longitude 92°35’00” to 92°45’00”
Chandrayaan 1 – The Indian first mission to moon
In Ancient India language Sanskrit “Chandrayaan” means “Moon Craft” or Moon Vehicle.Chandrayaan-1 is India’s first mission to the Moon launched by India’s national space agency the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In Chandrayaan-1, the lunar craft launched using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) weighing 1304 kg at launch and 590 kg at lunar orbit. Lunar craft would orbit around moon 100 km from moon surface. The unmanned lunar exploration mission includes a lunar orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft by a modified version of the PSLV, PSLV C11 on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh about 80 km north of Chennai. The mission is a major boost to India’s space program, as India competes with Asian nations China and Japan in exploring the Moon. The vehicle was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.Succesful Launched of Chandryaan 1On November 14, 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Moon-orbiting Chandrayaan at 20:06 and impacted the lunar south pole in a controlled manner, making India the fourth country to place its flag on the Moon.[8] The MIP impacted near the crater Shackleton, at the lunar south pole, at 20:31 on 14 November 2008 releasing subsurface debris that could be analysed for presence of water ice.Cost of the Chadrayaan 1 ProjectThe estimated cost for the Chandrayaan 1 project is Rs. 386 crore (US$ 80 million).Description of Chandrayaan 1The remote sensing lunar satellite had a weight of 1,380 kilograms (3,042 lb) at launch and 675 kilograms (1,488 lb) in lunar orbit and carries high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, and soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete
Disaster Management Practices Using Arcgis, Arcims, Arcsde and Sql
IntroductionEmergency management is a dynamic process. Emergency preparedness for disaster management is the process of preparing, mitigating, responding, and recovering from any emergency situation. Individuals and organizations responsible for emergency management use different tools to save lives reduce human suffering and preserve economic assets before, during and after any catastrophic event. But nowadays, correct and timely information is a critical part of any successful emergency management program. The unique tool for emergency purpose is a web enabled Geographic Information System (GIS), which could provide accurate and timely information.Generally, disasters are characterized by the scope of an emergency. An emergency becomes a disaster when it exceeds the capability of the local resources to manage it. Disaster is an event “… meeting at least one of the following criteria: kills 10 or more persons; affects 100 or more persons; leads to a declaration of state of emergency; or leads to call for international assistance.” Disaster also involves humanitarian emergency, humanitarian actions, mass casualities etc. Effective disaster management requires rapid decisions and actions on behalf of relief workers. The scope of disasters is large (in terms of the number of people affected) and also the most important thing is the lack of resources to manage disasters.Disaster management in developing countries exists within a complex political, social and economic environment, where a coherent and coordinated approach can be difficult to implement. As such, large-scale high magnitude – low frequency disasters will continue to overwhelm local disaster managers, prohibiting effective management, particularly during the response phase. Although most natural disasters cannot be prevented, disaster losses can be minimized when appropriate actions are taken which utilize the latest technology and real-time spatial data/information. Through GIS and remote sensing we can make data / information available, and answer questions
Methodology for Assessment of Natural Hazard Vulnerability in U.s. Coastal Zone Using Remote Sensing
INTRODUCTIONCoastal zone is defined as “the coastal waters (including the lands therein and thereunder) and the adjacent shorelands (including the waters therein and thereunder), strongly influenced by each other and in proximity to the shorelines of the several coastal states, and includes islands, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and beaches.” Coastal locations were some of the first settled in the country, and have always accounted for a major percentage of the overall population. They were the primary centers for transportation, tourism, recreation, commercial fishing, and other industry. This coastal zone remains a crucial segment of the nation’s overall economy. A variety of natural hazards regularly threaten this coastal zone. Severe meteorological events such as hurricanes, tropical cyclones, and nor’easters are particularly harsh on coastal areas, often resulting in damages from high winds, storm surge, flooding, and shoreline erosion. Tsunamis, whose destructive force is characterized by potentially devastating flood inundation, are uniquely coastal events resulting from offshore earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic activity. Coastal locations are also subjected to the impacts of long-term hazards such as chronic coastal erosion, potential sea-level rise, and global climate change.Coastal hazard events can significantly affect or even alter the natural environment. Their impacts are generally not considered to be “disastrous” unless they involve damages to human populations and infrastructure. When people and property are not present, hazards are merely natural processes that alter the environment. When people and property is present then the impacts of hazards are viewed quite differently. The primary focus is no longer on the natural processes associated with a major hazard event, but instead on the disastrous results that can be measured by lives lost, property damages, and economic and environmental impacts.The impacts of natural hazards are becoming increasingly costly and devastating
Communication for Sustainable Agriculture Production
1. IntroductionThe green, white and blue revolutions gave us food security. The high yielding varieties and new technologies were webbed with chemical farming. Even today we have critical gaps existing in production of food through technology use and at traditional farmer’s field. The chemical farming resulted in the soil degradation, water pollution, soil erosions and soil salinity .By now we face land degradation problems in 173 million hectares which is around 53% of cultivated land. Annually we loose 5000 Million Tones of top soil with NPK losses of 5-8 Million Tones per year. In Mahrastra a survey showed that the depth of black soil was 60 cms in 1910 which has reduced now. About 18% of it has turned as shallow land. Reduced soil depth has resulted into low productivity, increases soil runoffs and drought like conditions. Therefore to avoid these ill effects we have to link strong information and communication methods for soil mapping, annual rainfall data, rain and climatic forecasts with farming operations (Wani, 2005). Resource conservation & proper utilization needs adequate knowledge, which could be obtained through advanced satellite system and relied back through communication mechanism. For enhancing agricultural production communication tools have to be used.2.Land Holding Thus, we have to use more technology based cropping system to increase productivity per unit land. Horizontal expansion is not possible. Embargo on indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other farm-use-agents is another constraint to increase productivity of food grain. Unfortunately our food grain-production pace has declines. Growth rate of 1-2% has put pressures on our economy. We now have more imports of food grains, an anomaly over past decade. What is the cause? Wrong policies at the top? To some extent yes. The whole system of National Agricultural Research, extension
Chandrayaan-1, India’s First Mission to Moon
It was a tremendous achievement in Indian space research programme soon after historic launching of Chndrayaan-1 to the orbit of the Moon. Once again India has proved that India is one of the advanced countries as concern to the space borne technology in the world. This achievement came to harness the goal of success due to some important relevant India’s space organizations which are mainly of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Space Application Centre (SAC), National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), National Physical laboratory (NPL), Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) etc. India is also very advanced in techniques of space borne application due to availability and dissemination of good digital satellite data. There are good resolution of satellite data derived from sensors like LISS-III, LISS IV and Panchromatic camera in the visible and Near Infra Red band of EMR spectrum which are the important tools as concern to the management and exploration of natural resources in the earth. The satellite data has been derived from many Remote Sensing & Cartographic Satellites (IRS Series) and Communication & Metrological Satellites (INSAT Series). Being a one of the world’s advanced research centre the ISRO have had ambitious moon mission plan before long time ago but it had implemented since 2003. The mass of Chandrayaan-1 was 1380 kg at the Launching pad and it was projected successfully by indigenous Polar Satellite Launce Vehicle (PSLV-11) at 6-21 am on 22nd Oct’08 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre located Sriharikota of Andhrapradesh which is about 100 km north of Chennai. The mass of Chandrayaan –1 was 1050 Kg at Geostationary Trajectory Orbit (GTO) located at 36,000 km from the earth surface. The Chandrayaan-1 has finally reached after performing 20 days of journey
Shoreline Change Monitoring in Tuticorin Coast – India, Using Remote Sensing and Gis Tools
IntroductionShoreline or coastline, the boundary between land and sea keeps changing its shape and position continuously due to dynamic environmental conditions. The change in shoreline is mainly associated with waves, tides, winds, periodic storms, sealevel change, the geomorphic processes of erosion and accretion and human activities. Shoreline also depicts the recent formations and destructions that have happened along the shore. Waves change the coastline morphology and forms the distinctive coastal landforms. The loose granular sediments continuously respond to the ever-changing waves and currents. The beach profile is important, in that it can be viewed as an effective natural mechanism, which causes waves to break and dissipate their energy. When breakwaters are constructed, they upset the natural equilibrium between the sources of beach sediment and the littoral drift pattern. In response, shoreline changes its configuration in attempt to reach a new equilibrium (Ramesh and Ramachandran 2001). Monitoring changes in shoreline helps to identify the nature and processes that caused these changes in any specific area, to assess the human impact and to plan management strategies. Remote sensing data could be used effectively to monitor the changes along the coastal zone including shoreline with reasonable accuracy. Remote sensing data helps and / or replaces the conventional survey by its repetitive and less cost-effectiveness. Hence, in order to study the coastal processes in Tuticorin coastal area, the shoreline change, wave action, bathymetry and coastal geomorphology were analyzed using Remote Sensing and GIS tools.Study areaTuticorin coast has a major port and it is a rapidly developing area. The study area falls in the latitudinal and longitudinal extensions of 8° 40’ – 8° 55’ N and 78° 0’ – 78° 15’ E on the Tamil Nadu, East Coast of India (fig 1). Major Industries such as Southern
Windmill Site Selection Using Remote Sensing and Gis– a Case Study in , Andaman India
1. INTRODUCTIONThe Andaman and Nicobar Islands are the summits of a submarine mountain range lying on the great tectonic suture zone that extends from the eastern Himalayas to the Arakan along the Myanmar border and finally to Sumatra and lesser Sundaes. This archipelago consists of a group of 572 islands, islets and rock outcrops, but there are a total of 352 important islands comprising the main chain of Andaman and Nicobar, Ritches Archipelago and the out laying volcanic islands of Narcondam and Barren. The islands are spread over an area of 8,249 sq.km, of which 6,408 sq. km of area is occupied by the Andaman group and 1,841 sq.km by the Nicobar groups of Islands. The Andaman group consists of 324 islands of which 24 are inhabited while the Nicobar group includes 28 islands of which 12 are inhabited. Undulating topography and intervening valleys characterize the physiography of this Archiepelago. There are several rain-fed streams, which dry up during summer. All the major islands support a luxuriant growth of evergreen, semi evergreen, moist deciduous and littoral forests from the water edge to the mountain top depending on the topography and nature of the soil. For administrative purposes, the Islands are divided into two districts, namely Andaman and Nicobar. There are a total of 204 revenue villages of which 197 are in the Andaman District. The Andaman and Nicobar is having a good economic turnover through Tourism Industry because of its rich natural scenic beauty and natural resources. At the same time these islands are facing problems such as population growth, commercial development etc and inturn facing acute power shortage.The ever increasing energy needs of the islands will have to be taken into account in the long term Master Plan even at this
Capacity Building and E.extension for Enhancing Agriculture Productivity in India
AbstractThe green, white and blue revolutions gave us food security. The high yielding varieties and new technologies were webbed with chemical farming. Even today we have critical gaps existing in productivity of food grains between technology using farms and traditional farming practices. The chemical farming resulted in the soil degradation, water pollution, soil erosions and salinity. By now, we face land degradation problems in 173 million hectares which is around 53% of cultivated land. Annually we loose 5000 Million Tones of top soil with NPK losses of 5-8 Million tones per year.In Mahrastra a survey showed that the depth of black soil was 60 cms in 1910 which has reduced now. About 18% of it has turned as shallow land. Reduced soil depth has resulted into low productivity, increases soil runoffs and drought like conditions. Therefore to avoid these ill effects we have to link strong information and communication methods for soil mapping, annual rainfall data, rain and climatic forecasts with farming operations (Wani, 2005).Resource conservation & their proper utilization needs adequate knowledge, which could be obtained through advanced satellite system and relied back through communication mechanism. Thus, for enhancing agricultural production, communication tools have to be used. It is time for sustainable agriculture. We should make use of mud waste, farm yard manure, waste cakes, municipality wastes and green wastes for increasing phosphorus, nitrogen and micro nutrients in the soil. It has been found that these substitutes have a capacity of giving 1-2% of Phosphorus and Nitrogen and provide about 40-45% micro nutrients. Therefore, a new strategy to use crop stubs, waste tree leaves, waste orchard residues and other agriculture waste material for improving soil has to be advocated. Although we use pesticides worth 3500 crores. In urban India we use