Chapter 5
Geographic Information Systems
and Remote Sensing Applications
in Environmental and Water Resources
Samuel O. Darkwah, Michael D. Scoville, and Lawrence K. Wang
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
2 Fundamentals of Remote Sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
2.1 Characteristics of Various Sensor Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
2.2 Satellite Data Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
3 Fundamentals of GIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
3.1 GIS Subsystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
3.2 Data Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
4 Applications to Water Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
4.1 Mapping and Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
4.2 Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
5 US Environmental Protection Agency Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Abstract The fundamentals of both remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) are introduced in detail. For RS, the characteristics of various
sensor data and the satellite data processing technology are explained. For GIS, the
authors describe various GIS subsystems and data models. There are many applications to water resources, such as mapping, monitoring, and modeling. The US
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has established many useful programs
to support the activities of American water resources engineers and planners. These
important USEPA support programs are presented.
S. O. Darkwah (*)
Lenox Institute of Water Technology, Lenox, MA, USA
M. D. Scoville
Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc., Syracuse, NY, USA
L. K. Wang
Lenox Institute of Water Technology, Newtonville, NY, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
L. K. Wang, M. -H. S. Wang, Y. -T. Hung, N. K. Shammas (eds.), Integrated Natural
Resources Management, Handbook of Environmental Engineering 20,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55172-8_5
197