We are IntechOpen, the world's leading publisher of Open Access books Built by scientists, for scientists

4,400+

Open access books available

117,000+

International authors and editors

130M+

Downloads

Our authors are among the

Top 1%

most cited scientists

12.2%

Contributors from top 500 universities

Selection of our books indexed in the Book Citation Index in Web of Science™ Core Collection (BKCI)

## Interested in publishing with us? Contact book.department@intechopen.com

Numbers displayed above are based on latest data collected. For more information visit www.intechopen.com

## Meet the editors

Qing Zhao obtained a bachelor's degree in Surveying and Mapping from Central South University, China, in 2004, an MSc in Remote Sensing and Cartography from Wuhan University, China, in 2006, and a PhD in Geo-information Science from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, in 2010. Dr. Zhao joined the Key Laboratory of Geographical Information Science, Ministry of Education, East China Normal Universi-

ty, in 2010. Since 2014, she has worked as an associate professor in the College of Geography Science at East China Normal University. In 2015, she served as a course instructor at New York University Shanghai. Her research interests include synthetic aperture radar interferometry, ocean remote sensing, and air quality monitoring and forecasting.

Antonio Pepe obtained an MSc in Electronics Engineering and a PhD in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy, in 2000 and 2007, respectively. In 2001 he joined the Institute of Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment (IREA) of the National Research Council (CNR) where he is a permanent senior researcher. He was a Visiting Scientist at the University of Texas, Austin, in

2005, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Caltech, Pasadena in 2009 and 2019, and at the East China Normal University, Shanghai, in regular periods from 2014 to 2018. Dr. Pepe acts as a reviewer for several peer-reviewed international journals. From 2012 to 2016 he was also an adjunct professor of Signal Theory and Wireless Communication at the Università della Basilicata, Potenza and University of Naples, Federico II, respectively. He was the recipient of the 2014 Best Reviewer mention of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters and of the Best Reviewer mention of the MDPI Remote Sensing Journal in 2017.

His main research interests include the development of advanced DInSAR algorithms aimed at monitoring surface deformation phenomena induced by subsidence, volcano activities, and earthquakes, with a particular interest toward the phase unwrapping problems. More recently, he has developed research activities for the generation of DInSAR products through the new generation of SAR instruments, for the generation of hybrid ScanSAR-to-stripmap DInSAR analyses, and for the integration of SAR and optical images.

Contents

**Preface III**

**Chapter 1 1**

**Chapter 2 33**

**Chapter 3 47**

**Chapter 4 67**

**Chapter 5 79**

**Chapter 6 93**

**Chapter 7 105**

Application of Topographic Analyses for Mapping

Clay Minerals Mapping from Imaging Spectroscopy *by Gilles Grandjean, Xavier Briottet, Karine Adeline,* 

The Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Changes

Advanced Methods for Spatial Analysis of Bioaerosol

*by Claudia Giardino, Kerttu-Liis Kõks, Rossano Bolpagni, Giulia Luciani, Gabriele Candiani, Moritz K. Lehmann, Hendrik Jan Van der Woerd and Mariano Bresciani*

Bacubirito: An Outstanding Cosmic Sample on Earth

Spatial Coordinate Transformations with Noisy Data

The Color of Water from Space: A Case Study

on the Nkula Dam in the Middle Shire River Catchment, Malawi

*by Daniel A. Pickersgill, Hartmut Müller and Viviane R. Després*

*by Maureen Kapute Mzuza, Weiguo Zhang, Fanuel Kapute and Xiaodao Wei*

Spatial Patterns of Soil Properties *by Xia Li and Gregory W. McCarty*

*Anne Bourguignon and Audrey Hohmann*

Long-Range Transport Processes

for Italian Lakes from Sentinel-2

*by Emiliano Terán*

*by Christopher Kotsakis*

## Contents


Preface

This book presents an overview of some geospatial analyses carried out by using Earth Observation (EO) data and terrestrial measurement campaigns. The chapters cover different aspects related to: (1) the monitoring and investigation of lands and subsurface, (2) the study of atmospheric processes, (3) the investigation of water colour as revealed from satellites, (4) the physical characteristics of an ancient meteorite that impacted on Earth, and (5) the study of spatial coordinate transformations to correctly represent geospatial data in georeferenced systems in the

Chapter 1 addresses the problem of detecting the landscape topography of areas on Earth and its potential modifications over the time. Detecting Earth's surface topography is also important for mapping spatial patterns of soil properties. The chapter provides an overview of the impacts of topographic heterogeneity on the spatial variability in soil properties and presents topography-based models commonly used in soil science. A large-scale soil property map is obtained based on topographic information derived from high-resolution remotely sensed data. The authors show how Remote Sensing (RS) technology enables to obtain valuable information, and this is particularly important in areas with limited data accesses or when it is needed to extrapolate findings from representative sites to larger

Chapter 2 discusses methods for mapping subsurface clay minerals, which is an important issue in terms of mechanics and hydrology. As a matter of fact, clayed soils have a direct impact on ground stability as well as constrain infiltration processes during flooding. The main goal of detecting and characterizing clay minerals in soils is to serve urban planning issues and improve risk reduction by predicting impacts of subsidence on houses and infrastructures. Some recent results are shown in Chapter 2 to characterize clay species and their abundances from spectrometry, used either from a ground spectrometer or from hyper-spectral cameras. The most performing methodology is identified after adequate pre-processing algorithms, coupled with un-mixing methods evaluated from laboratory and real case

Chapter 3 shows the land use and land cover (LULC) changes over a 26-year period in the middle Shire River catchment, Malawi, Southern Africa, as assessed by using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and RS techniques. High rate of deforestation averaging 4.3% per annum was observed. Rapid population growth and increase in gross domestic product (GDP) were identified as the major drivers of deforestation and forest degradation due to clearing of vast fields for agriculture, land expansion for urban settlement, and cutting down of trees for wood fuel energy. Combined techniques such as GIS, RS, and socio-economic factors are used. The authors of this investigation provide a clear indication on the potential extension of the proposed methods to other places on Earth where similar chal-

presence of noise.

regions.

measurements.

lenges occur.
