Daniel Hogan 19. CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa Natural Resources & Environment Earth Observations

Transcription

1 Daniel Hogan 19 CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa Natural Resources & Environment Earth Observations

2 My (initial) Work Initially, my project was an extension of the work from last year. I was to download and process SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images taken from the Sentinel-1 satellite mission for the entirety of 2016 focusing on Kruger National Park. This data was going to be used to further support the hypothesis that C-band SAR data can be effectively used to analyze fire scars in low-lying grassland environments. After processing these images, I would compare certain regions that were exposed to fire by using a data set provided by FIRMS (MODIS project) and measure the backscatter (amount of energy returned to the satellite) difference to detect fire scars in the region.

3 A Problem with NASA... KRUGER KRUGER The images to the left demonstrate the problem that we ran into. Essentially, FIRMS, a project run by NASA that records fires and their progression using data acquired by the MODIS satellite, did not record an overwhelming majority of the fires in Kruger for (compare to 2015). Thus, without a reference to base our SAR fire detection model off of, this project had to be sidelined. KRUGER Each point represents a fire Top Left: FIRMS fire data for Kruger National Park 2015 Top Right: FIRMS fire data for Kruger National Park 2017 Bottom: FIRMS fire data for Kruger National Park 2016

4 My (Alternative) Work With this unexpected problem, I instead got to work other projects that gave me a broad exposure to remote sensing: Processed and analyzed SAR and SRTM data through ArcGIS to form the building blocks of a comprehensive backscatter analysis for the Buffalo City Municipality (around East London, SA) Using a variety of edited batch scripts I recorded point density information for an ongoing LiDAR project that is working towards creating a vegetation map for the entire country of South Africa On this same project, I used batch scripts to convert and produce compressed.laz files that could then be processed into a shapefile Created a project in ArcGIS covering site projects from 2007 and to efficiently view specific sites, projection information and other data

5 Examples of Buffalo City Work A preprocessed SAR image, requires 4 processing steps Processed image after recent rain event (high backscatter) Processed image after dry period (2 weeks later), low backscatter Red outlined area is the Buffalo City Municipality

6 What I Learned I became much more adept in ArcGIS, ArcMap, QGIS Python scripting Batch scripting and processing using LAStools A lot about SAR and LiDAR Image processing Data acquisition Big lesson: Always find something beneficial out of negative experience, especially when it is out of

7 The Best of the Best Everyone in the office, while still focused on their work, was friendly and always willing to chat I learned a wide variety of applications for SAR and other remote sensing data I became familiar with free satellite data providers I was given loads of educational information and tools regarding remote sensing I witnessed the highs and lows of academic work (first hand too!) Southern Africa is a place like no other, and South Africa is just different enough to keep things interesting!

8 How my work will be used at the organization My work with the fire data in Kruger can be used as a template for the project s continuation in the future Could possibly be used for fires outside of the park, although this is not as desired since much of the land is commonly burned for agricultural use The SAR work done for the Buffalo City Municipality will be used by the Department of Forestry in the Eastern Cape to monitor vegetation and soil moisture in the area The LiDAR data acquired and processing will be added to the ongoing comprehensive vegetative map of South Africa

9 Living abroad in South Africa gave me exposure to a diverse region and an even more diverse people. I made lifelong friendships and learned so much about an area that is often overlooked by much of the world. I will be returning. It is truly a place like no other. How I will use my experience Coming into this experience I had essentially no history working with remote sensing data, however, I now know about the many applications for this type of data. I believe I am going to model my thesis work around using remote sensing data because I see it as such a valuable source of information.