Environmental monitoring is the aim of many scientific researches and also a necessary management and assessment actions tool. The main criticality is to make a complex and integrated system discrete. The study of surface water through in situ sampling is difficult because of current high variability. Coastal zone velocity fields exhibit considerable heterogeneity, manifested in secondary flows of a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Remotely sensed imagery offers a unique method of investigating estuary and coastal zone water quality dispersion patterns. The “anomalies” on the surface waters can be easily identified using their thermal infrared signatures. The intensity of emitted radiation is, indeed, dependent upon the nature of the surface of the emitting material. The analysis of the radiometric matrix permits the characterization of the thermal anomalies as “energetic” anomalies linked to the materials. Thus, a specific thermal pattern characteristic of the investigated object can be acquired considering the magnitude and the way the object emits energy. The effectiveness of infrared thermography can be increased using aerial platforms that carry on-board ad-hoc sensors (e.g. IR Camera). Increasing the field of view a direct thermal comparison of the targets with other objects can be easily performed. Further studies are currently underway that show that this thermal pattern approach can be used to identify different phenomena (e.g. oil spills, surface water streams, aquaculture, etc.) and several pollutants. In this study it is shown how IR aerial thermography can detect several environmental criticalities (e.g. water pollution) and how this method is an improvement upon conventional observation and random in situ sampling methods.

Advanced technologies in coastal waters monitoring: aerial infrared thermography.

LEGA, MASSIMILIANO;FUSCO, Giannetta
2012-01-01

Abstract

Environmental monitoring is the aim of many scientific researches and also a necessary management and assessment actions tool. The main criticality is to make a complex and integrated system discrete. The study of surface water through in situ sampling is difficult because of current high variability. Coastal zone velocity fields exhibit considerable heterogeneity, manifested in secondary flows of a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Remotely sensed imagery offers a unique method of investigating estuary and coastal zone water quality dispersion patterns. The “anomalies” on the surface waters can be easily identified using their thermal infrared signatures. The intensity of emitted radiation is, indeed, dependent upon the nature of the surface of the emitting material. The analysis of the radiometric matrix permits the characterization of the thermal anomalies as “energetic” anomalies linked to the materials. Thus, a specific thermal pattern characteristic of the investigated object can be acquired considering the magnitude and the way the object emits energy. The effectiveness of infrared thermography can be increased using aerial platforms that carry on-board ad-hoc sensors (e.g. IR Camera). Increasing the field of view a direct thermal comparison of the targets with other objects can be easily performed. Further studies are currently underway that show that this thermal pattern approach can be used to identify different phenomena (e.g. oil spills, surface water streams, aquaculture, etc.) and several pollutants. In this study it is shown how IR aerial thermography can detect several environmental criticalities (e.g. water pollution) and how this method is an improvement upon conventional observation and random in situ sampling methods.
2012
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11367/23700
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