VOLUME 75, NUMBER 5
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE
SENSING
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY
AND REMOTE SENSING
A devastating earthquake, measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, struck
Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province,
China at 14:28 on May 12, 2008.
After intensive rescue of survivors
in the first week, the effort was then
focused on prevention of, and preparedness
for the secondary disasters,
i.e., landslides and mudslides,
especially, those in and around the
barrier lakes. The figure shows the
digital elevation model of the quake
lakes in Tangjiashan, one of the areas
worst affected by the earthquake. The
digital elevation model was generated based on ALS50 II airborne LiDAR data with a sampling interval
of 2 m, collected on May 31, by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, and
Wuda Geo Information Company (the barrier dam is shown with the inset). A virtual geographic environment
was created for the Tangjiashan barrier lakes for visualization and risk analysis concerning the
barrier lakes and difficulty in ducts digging. Algorithms were developed for calculating the reservoir
capacities in the barrier lakes for dynamic monitoring. With distributed hydrological models incorporated,
it was possible to simulate the flows to the barrier lakes under given rain falls, to forecast in-flux
volumes and times, to analyze their impact upon the reservoir capacities, and thus to assess the risks
posed by the barrier lakes. The full story is described in Li’s Highlight Article.
A methodology using ancillary land-cover information to
enhance the spatial resolution of thermal satellite images for
detailed studies of land surface temperature, such as in urban
heat island analysis.
Based on the pixel-swapping algorithm, its initialization process
is replaced by a sub-pixel mapping approach with a subpixel/
pixel spatial attraction model; the modifi ed algorithm
can improve sub-pixel mapping accuracy and computation
efficiency.
A new method of closest spectral fit for cloud and cloud
shadow removal is developed, and then it is evaluated using
QuickBird, Landsat, and MODIS data.
Decision tree classifiers can be learned with alternative decision
nodes for handling missing data in multi-source information
fusion where one or more measurements do not exist for
some locations.
An inversion algorithm based on spectral angle minimization
to improve the retrieval of optically active constituents from
MODIS data in spectrally complex seawaters.
SAR data acquired from two sensors during several consecutive
years to assess the potential of C-band SAR imagery for
characterizing and monitoring wetland vegetation in a coastal
flood zone.