Remote sensing is indeed a very useful tool. However to say the level of usefulness is needed a more specific example. Let's say in the case of hurricanes, it is a really valuable resource to determine size, velocity, forecast the track and give warning to all the places that can be affected....each location that can be affected though will suffer of different effects due to the hurricane, for example rains, gale-force winds, storm surge, waves, etc. To forecast the specific type of effect it is needed though to have ancillary data in situ. What I want to say is that you cannot solve everything with remote sensing.... it can be a really good guide....
Moving into another example....in the case of tsunamis and earthquakes.... its use would be rather limited. Terrible disasters have occurred due to tsunamis and earthquakes worldwide, and its prediction and early warning is very difficult to predict....Tsunamis could be possible to predict (or detect early warnings) by the constant monitoring of the earth movement at precise locations in the whole planet!....There is a large network to detect earths movement. That information is not provided by remote sensing.
Hope this help you to understand capabilities and limitations of remote sensing.
Remote sensing is indeed a very useful tool. However to say the level of usefulness is needed a more specific example. Let's say in the case of hurricanes, it is a really valuable resource to determine size, velocity, forecast the track and give warning to all the places that can be affected....each location that can be affected though will suffer of different effects due to the hurricane, for example rains, gale-force winds, storm surge, waves, etc. To forecast the specific type of effect it is needed though to have ancillary data in situ. What I want to say is that you cannot solve everything with remote sensing.... it can be a really good guide....
Moving into another example....in the case of tsunamis and earthquakes.... its use would be rather limited. Terrible disasters have occurred due to tsunamis and earthquakes worldwide, and its prediction and early warning is very difficult to predict....Tsunamis could be possible to predict (or detect early warnings) by the constant monitoring of the earth movement at precise locations in the whole planet!....There is a large network to detect earths movement. That information is not provided by remote sensing.
Hope this help you to understand capabilities and limitations of remote sensing.
Early warning of some events would not be very viable because they happen so quickly - such as earthquakes and close tsunamis. Slow moving events that are far away would be easier to detect using remote sensing.
A satellite-based study has indicated that a huge glacial lake has formed atop the Himalayas in Sikkim with a "very high" potential for it to burst and create devastation downstream. Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/the-good-earth/Satellite-identifies-potential-danger-atop-Himalayas/articleshow/18438499.cms
Early warning is a crucial topic for the next years in seismology. The delay between the occurrence of the earthquake and the arrival of the destructive waves in populated area depends strongly of the distance of this area from the source. Therefore in many places this delay is to short for human warning (which is not the case in case of the large tsunami accross Pacific ocean). But some automatic procedures can be established in very short time as stop the train before tunnels or bridges, cut the gaz distribution in some sensitive pipes ... which can prevent from some cascade effects.
Remote sensing observation in the source areas and securized transmision of the data in an operational center is the only way to be able to achieve a thrustable early warning.
For drought and forest fire, I think remote sensing could be used as a tool for early warning system. Some remote sensing Indexes such as NDVI, VHI, SAVI, etc. are useful for that. We are in Indonesia, use the remote sensing data such Terra/Aqua MODIS and NOAA AVHRR for the drought and fires early detection.
Ok just I would like to point out the difference between early warning and likely places to be affected by fires or floods. Remote sensing can guide you to detect those places that are likely to have fires or floods for example....so is possible to develope a system to be alert, and have a suitable action plan to extinguish the fire as soon as detected. The early warning is in situ.
The problem is not the technology. Is how you use the information...
Let's suppose that there is a prototype of sensor able to PREDICT an earthquake...
Obviously you need to test this technology. What if during this phase you have an alarm for a disaster. Scenario 1: This is a prototype to be validated and so no information is spread. Then the earthquake hit and many people die.
Scenario 2: You decide to spread the information. You ask people to evacuate a city like San Francisco. You shut down power plants and so on. The earthquake doesn't come. False Alarm.
There will be no politician, no administration willing to take such risk. The information of an earthquake is simply too hot to be handled.
It is a dead end.
Hi, it depending of the type of disaster do you want to monitoring. The types of early warning system are not the same. They are mostly linked with terrestrial or sea sensors. It is for example to detect some days before the Volcano's activities by MeteoSat Seconde Generation. Remote sensing are most used for the monitoring of the natural disaster with the use of radar imagery (case of flood) or optical with specific satellite as FormatSat; for the analysis of the impacts on the populations and the infrastructure by diachronic approach.
A good example on “Use of Remote Sensing data for disaster early warning” can be like following:
In 2001, NASA scientists thought that an unexpected land surface temperature rise can be explained as pre-quake behavior. Later on some research have found that the temperature rises 2 to 4 °C in the days preceding the quake (e.g., earthquake study in Gujarat, India). MODIS data (higher temporal resolution) can be used to monitor land surface temperature (if the assumption found to be true) and we can easily devise a system for earthquake early warning.
Note: One of my colleagues, recently has done a study on one earthquake in Iran and have found that the land surface temperature rises due to weather phenomenon and not a precursor of the earthquake. But in order to make this idea useful, one would need to observe it at several earthquakes.
Thank you
If there will be a correct correlation or match before the days to come for any catastrophy to be happen.
Please read book series by Charles Finkl on Coastal Hazards. Springer Publishers, 2013.
Please read book on Coastal Hazards by Charles Finkl (Springer, 2013)
Remote sensors can provide early warning for some disasters, like estimated landfall of a hurricane,but not for many others,like earthquakes,etc. Again, I urge you to read the book by C.Finkl on Coastal Hazards, Springer,2013.
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As an early warning system it is highly dependent on the type of disaster. It is already used to predicate and track hurricanes. Others such as volcanic eruptions could be monitored probably predicted. But earthquakes and tsunami's would be much more difficult since there are very few signs one is going to happen.
The true use of RM in disasters is disaster monitoring to help the emergency response.
There will be an UN-SPIDER conference on the use of (satellite) remote sensing for disaster risk assessment/management, including monitoring and early warning, in October in Beijing (see http://www.un-spider.org/beijingdisasterrisk). Maybe look at the outcomes of that meeting for further ideas
Remote sensing is very useful and can help disaster management. This article will explains how remote sensing can be used to help manage natural disasters and highlights ongoing efforts and obstacles.
http://www.scidev.net/global/earth-science/feature/remote-sensing-for-natural-disasters-facts-and-figures.html
...remote sensed data on wind patterns and trends in ocean rise have been useful in predicting the onset of hurricane and flood disasters. Such information have been used predict likely land areas to be affected and early relocation of identified vulnerable groups.
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