long way
in using space technology to mitigate environmental problems and promote sustainable
development
The important role of space science and technology for mankind as well as its immediate and continuous impact on sustainable development of various aspects of societies cannot be denied. In recent decades the Islamic Republic of Iran has followed intensive activities on space science and technology and its applications including establishment of research centers and several aerospace institutions at academic level, however, more increasing demand in this respect was felt by the Iranian authorities which led to the final approval of the establishment of new set up for space affairs, on 10th December 2003. It is believed a long and practical step forward not only towards concentrating the efforts in advancing relevant science and technology in effective use of space peacefully but also to enhance cooperation at the international level for this very well deserved goal. Iranian Space Agency covers and supports all the activities in country concerning the peaceful applications of space science and technology under leadership of a Supreme Council of Space chaired by the President of the I. R. Iran. To follow and implement the strategies set by the Supreme Council of Space, Iranian Space Agency affiliated to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has the straightforward responsibility.
Nowadays space technology emerges as a vital and important
mean for the development in the national and international levels. It has led
to advance in various fields of human activities, from management and control
of natural disasters to navigation and from monitoring of the natural resources
and the environment to tele-health and tele-education. Some examples
among of the wealth of the practical activities in using space technology to mitigate
environmental problems and promote sustainable development
in
Drought Monitoring
Due to its negative impacts on the country’s economy, people’s life and relevant losses, droughts are considered as the natural disasters that strike the country as well as the neighboring regions frequently. Accordingly the planners and the authorities pay high attention to the studies in this connection leading to promising results for mitigation or control of droughts.
From 1998 to 2002, the country experienced a drought
period. Remote sensing as the effective
tool in drought studies was applied broadly. A team of specialists in Iranian
Space Agency then the
Secondary impact of this drought period was observed in
many wetlands of the country. These wetlands and marshlands which were covered
by a considerable amount of waters were completely dried with a very important
effects not only on the life of the people living in their peripheral areas but
also associated with a serious environmental, social, and economic changes in
their nearby areas. The largest of these wetland are two vast marshlands in
Iran-Iraq southeastern border which studied by the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP). To carry out these studies Landsat data including MSS, TM and
ETM+ imageries were used. These data assists to collect valuable multi-temporal
information on different parameters involved and to extract information
required to establish a GIS-based databank. Generation of DEM by integrating of
collected data is part of the approach.
DEM and DSM Generation
Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and Digital Surface Models (DSMs) are considered as comprehensive and efficient tools for studies using geo-referenced data and information. There are some approaches for DEM and DSM generation. The conventional method applies optical satellite data and maps for DEM and DSM generation.
In a national project supported by the Radio-Communication Office of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, a team of specialists from the Technology Application Department of Iranian Space Agency commissioned to generate DEM and DSM of the whole country. Radio-Communication Office needs these DEMs and DSMs for its countrywide project to find and locate the convenient and suitable locations and sites for mounting telecommunication installations and antennas to provide a full coverage of the country for radio communications. The project aiming to set up a position based dataset for telecommunication link design comprised of 3 operational phases as follows.
Generating the mosaic of the 1/250,000-scale maps of the whole country and the mosaic of the 1/25,000 scale maps of the cities were the supplements to the project that is reportedly carried out with success.
Earthquake and Landslide Impact Investigation
Earthquakes and landslides are the most destructive natural hazards with wide environmental, economic, social and human impacts. Regardless of on-going activities by numerous scientists and specialists around the world, presently main concentration of those involved in this subject, is to prevent the event through different approaches.
One of the basic steps in this regard, is based on mapping of active faults and using the maps prepared to define seismic-prone areas and their zones which itself are used to reduce the probable casualties and financial impacts. Based on this effective approach that is mainly carried out by the Geological Survey of Iran, different earth space data have been used to map basement and unknown faults to be added to previously mapped faults and to update the existing information. Such the information extracted by conventional interpretation techniques, was associated with a huge amount of new findings which were presented in the form of Seismic-Faulting Risk Map. This map itself was later used for production of Seismic Risk Map of Iran to be utilized in National Spatial Plan of the country.
Since commercialization of the radar remote sensing data
early in 1990's, following launch of ERS, RADARSAT and JERS and recently Envisat
satellites, continued attention and care has been given in
Flood Monitoring and Mapping
Almost all of the watershed areas of large and long
rivers of
In addition to Khuzestan, other areas of
A new set of data acquired in the Iranian Space Agency
through Terra satellite and its MODIS sensor has added new and valuable
information to the existing knowledge about flooding in different areas of
Parviz Tarikhi is a space science and technology expert, freelance
journalist and technical writer based in
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Image captions:
[NDVI.jpg]
The findings show that the annual NDVI decrease for
3D mapping supports broadband wireless worldwide;
integration of IKONOS image and 1/25,000 topo-map.
Top image is the coherence image of Bosporus in
Flood of
June 2006
