Károly Róbert College

The GREEN College

Remote sensing applications in disaster management

Tibor Bíró dean

Károly Róbert CollegeFaculty of Natural Resources Management and

Rural Development

Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object.

Aerial remote sensing is one of the most efficient and, in many cases, the only objective tool for

• prevention• forecast• mapping • and analysing (investigation and simulation) disasters.

It is suitable for studying the given area rapidly and with great accuracy.

The emphasis is on multi-sensor application:

operating several sensors at the same time, it is capable of assessing different levels of terrain data

The elements of multi-sensor

remote sensing• airborne hyperspectral sensor

(visible, near and mid infrared)

• airborne laser scanner

• medium format digital camera

• airborne digital thermal infrared sensor

Examples of successful application

• monitoring of the coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico after the oil spill

• surveying of red sludge disaster of Ajka

Aerial application of modern sensors

Hyperspectral technology

The sensors can detect hundreds of channels in the visible range up to the thermal.The interval between 400-2450 nm is divided to 498 spectral channels.Beside the large number of channels high-resolution is provided.

Source: Specim

Typical spectrums

forest

building

soil

water

Hyperspectral application

•Identifying polluted surfaces in case of disasters or industrial accidents •Identifying contaminations

•inorganic compounds (e.g. heavy metals)•organic compounds (e.g. hydrocarbons)

•Mapping concentrations •Monitoring changes in vegetation

Source: Specim

Mapping oil contaminations

Source: Galileo Inc. Co.

Red sludge spill Devecser

RGB image

Classified image of flooded area by red mud

green: vegetation, red: red mud

Al concentration

(Al2O3)

vegetation

Searching of contaminant in spectrums

Aluminium oxide distribution

Thickness of red mud

Classified thickness map with cadastre data

LiDAR technology

• Technology is a result of combination of the aircraft, the GPS navigation and the laser measurement tool which is combined with an IMU (Inercial Measurement Unit).

• Similar technology, such as radar, but in this case concentrated light of different frequencies (~ laser) is used

LiDAR technology

• The distance is determined by emitting laser pulses and sensing the reflected signals from the scanned object

• The LIDAR works in ultraviolet, visible and infrared range

• The accuracy of the measurement are strongly depend of the flying height and speed and the sensor.

LiDAR applications

•The high-resolution survey of surface •Making dynamic inundation predictions due to floods (flood simulation)•Scanning the surface of sludge spilled•Surveying and checking of dam geometries and the storage capacity of reservoirs•Mapping the effects of earthquakes•Assessing the impact of storm damage

Detailed 3D modell of damaged reservoir

Detailed 3D modell of damaged reservoir

Multi-sensor application

Thermal infrared technology

• A high resolution airborne digital thermal infrared sensor that is suitable for measuring the temperature of the surface with a programmable 8-12μm wavelength spectrum.

Thermal sensor application

•Detecting bush and forest fires, as well as locating the epicentre of the fire •Detecting the extension of air pollutants in the atmosphere • Thermal mapping of technological constructions to identify the critical (e.g. overheated) areas •Surveying the dampness of dams•Finding missing persons

Dampness conditions of dams

Detection of infiltration

Mapping of liquid phase

Mapping of dams – in case of flood

The Károly Róbert College has developed a remote sensing protocol, which greatly assists both the

domestic and international disaster management (forecast, damage surveying and control).

The aerial multi-sensor monitoring system applied by the College is able to reach any part of Europe within

a few hours

Thank you for your attention