Remote Sensing Of Environment Research Articles

Global impact of urbanization on ecosystems: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis

This paper demonstrates a comprehensive assessment of bibliometric analysis of published research on the global impact of urbanization on environmental consequences. Scopus database was used to collect data on the global impact of urbanization on ecosystem research from 2000 to 2023 and scrutinizes the progression of publications, keyword analysis, co-citation of authors, citation of documents, co-authorship of authors, and most efficient and influential authors, countries, and institutions. A total of 4322 research papers (journals) were published during the period (2000–2023). This bibliometric study was carried out with the Vos Viewer software. The study's findings demonstrate that the number of publications has continuously increased between 2000 and 2023. In 2020 and 2022, there were 396 and 635 publications, respectively. The top three influential journals in terms of citations are Remote Sensing of Environment (2415 citations), Ecological Economics (1456 citations), and PLoS (1410). From 2000 to 2023, the most often appearing terms were urbanization (3028), urban area (1111), people (853), land use (769), environmental monitoring (594), environmental effect (570), sustainable development (567), and climate change (534). We created a time series with four periods (2000–2005, 2006–2011, 2012–2017, and 2018–2023) based on the periodic changes, which also shows the trend. In more specific terms, this study demonstrates not just a logical structure but also the development of keywords throughout time. The empirical evidence also shows that while this field initially focused on a few themes, it has since broadened to include the many aspects of urban sustainability. This analysis also identifies the most efficient and influential authors, institutions, and nations in terms of total publishing (TP), proportion of cited publications (PCP), total citation (TC), h-index, and g-index. Yang K is the most prominent author, China and the United States are the most efficient nations, and the Chinese Academy of Science is the most powerful organization. The top two nations by co-authorship are China (40 ​695 citations and 1527 publications) and the United States (41 ​119 citations and 833 publications). Additionally, it is noted that while environmental concerns continue to dominate, basic socioeconomic problems like equality, justice, and public participation are underrepresented. Sustainable development indicators, energy, ecologically friendly infrastructure, water, the use of land, and urban planning are prominent subject topics, with the first three exerting a larger influence in shaping the field's growth. This research may be utilized as a resource for people intrigued in learning more about the evaluation of urban sustainability and its advancement.

Evaluating the Research Status of the Remote Sensing-Mediated Monitoring of Forest Biomass: A Bibliometric Analysis of WOS

Forests serve as the largest carbon reservoir in terrestrial ecosystems, playing a crucial role in mitigating global warming and achieving the goal of “carbon neutrality”. Forest biomass is intrinsically related to carbon sinks and sources in forest ecosystems, and thus, the accurate monitoring of forest biomass is of great significance in ensuring ecological security and maintaining the global carbon balance. Significantly, remote sensing is not only able to estimate forest biomass at a large spatial scale but does so quickly, accurately, and without loss. Moreover, it can obtain forest biomass in areas inaccessible to human beings, which have become the main data source for forest biomass estimation at present. For this reason, this study analyzes the current research status, research hotspots, and future research trends in the field of remote sensing monitoring of forest biomass based on 1678 forest biomass remote sensing monitoring results from 1985 to 2023 obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database. The results showed that the following: (1) The number of publications showed an exponential upward trend from 1985 to 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 2.64%. The top ten journals contributed to 53.76% of the total number of publications and 52.89% of the total number of citations in the field. (2) In particular, Remote Sensing of Environment has maintained a leading position in the field for an extended period, boasting the highest impact factor. Additionally, the author Saatchi S. stands out with the highest total number of citations for articles. (3) Keyword clustering analysis revealed that the main research topics in the remote sensing monitoring of forest biomass can be categorized into the following: optical remote sensing, LiDAR remote sensing, SAR remote sensing, and carbon stock. The explosion of keywords in the last six years indicates that an increasing number of researchers are focusing on carbon, airborne LiDAR data, biomass mapping, and constructing optimal biomass models.

Bibliometric Analysis of Land Degradation Studies in Drylands Using Remote Sensing Data: A 40-Year Review

Drylands are vast and face threats from climate change and human activities. Traditional reviews cannot capture interdisciplinary knowledge, but bibliometric analysis provides valuable insights. Our study conducted bibliometric research of scientific production on climate change and land degradation in drylands using remote sensing. We examined 1527 Scopus-indexed publications to identify geographic and thematic hotspots, extracting leading authors, journals, and institutions. China leads in publications, followed by the US, Germany, and Australia. The US has the highest citation count. Collaboration networks involve the US, China, and European countries. There has been an exponential increase in remote sensing of land degradation in drylands (RSLDD) publications since 2011. Key journals include “International Journal of Remote Sensing” and “Remote Sensing of Environment”. The analysis highlights the growing interest in the field, driven by Australia, the US, and China. Key areas of study are vegetation dynamics and land use change. Future perspectives for this scientific field involve promoting collaboration and exploring emerging technologies for comprehensive land degradation and desertification research.

Shadow is related to roughness but MODIS BRDF should not be used to estimate lateral cover

A simple geometric-optical model is used to show that shadow in optical remote sensing imagery contains information about surface roughness. The use of MODIS albedo products for the purpose of estimating surface roughness so that these products may aid in dust emission modeling has been proposed in previous studies (Chappell et al. 2010; Chappell and Webb 2016; Chappell et al. 2018). This approach is evaluated through geometric-optical modeling and by analysis of existing MODIS data. Little support is found for the utility of this approach for dust emission modeling. However, because there is clearly information about surface roughness in optical satellite imagery, some suggestions for the proper use of optical data to estimate surface roughness are made.Chappell, A., Van Pelt, S., Zobeck, T., & Dong, Z. (2010). Estimating aerodynamic resistance of rough surfaces using angular reflectance. Remote Sensing of Environment, 114, 1462–1470.Chappell, A., & Webb, N.P. (2016). Using albedo to reform wind erosion modeling, mapping and monitoring. Aeolian Research, 23, 63–78.Chappell, A., Webb, N.P., Guerschman, J.P., Thomas, D.T., Mata, G., Handcock, R.N., Leys, J.F., & Butler, H.J. (2018). Improving ground cover monitoring for wind erosion assessment using MODIS BRDF parameters. Remote Sensing of Environment, 204, 756–768.

The Global Pattern and Development Trends and Directions on the Drought Monitoring Research from 1983 to 2020 by Using Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract As impacted by climate change and further global warming, drought turns out to be the most frequent meteorological extreme event worldwide, which severely affects agriculture, ecosystem, water management, and even human survival. In this study, the global pattern and development trends and directions on drought monitoring were presented based on Web of Science database by conducting a bibliometric analysis from 1983 to 2020. The following conclusions were drawn. 1) The United States and China were found as the most productive and influential nations, accounting for 24.63% and 14.30% in publication outputs and taking up 5,023 and 2,040 in local citations, respectively. 2) Chinese Academy of Science was reported as the core institution with 5.73% publication outputs and 829 local citations. 3) Remote Sensing of Environment and Remote Sensing were found as the most influential journals and the most productive journals with 1,045 local citations and 210 publication outputs, respectively. 4) Agricultural drought profoundly affecting food security was found as the most concerning drought type in the world. The drought monitoring research mainly focus on the research and development of drought index, the response of terrestrial ecosystems to drought, and the trends and dynamics of drought in context of climate change. This study explored key findings, contradictions, and limitations of drought monitoring studies were summarized and explored. In addition, the development trend and research direction of drought monitoring research in the future were also explored.

Research Trends in the Remote Sensing of Phytoplankton Blooms: Results from Bibliometrics

Phytoplankton blooms have caused many serious public safety incidents and eco-environmental problems worldwide and became a focus issue for research. Accurate and rapid monitoring of phytoplankton blooms is critical for forecasting, treating, and management. With the advantages of large spatial coverage and high temporal resolution, remote sensing has been widely used to monitor phytoplankton blooms. Numerous advances have been made in the remote sensing of phytoplankton blooms, biomass, and phenology over the past several decades. To fully understand the development history, research hotspots, and future trends of remote-sensing technology in the study of phytoplankton blooms, we conducted a comprehensive review to systematically analyze the research trends in the remote sensing of phytoplankton blooms through bibliometrics. Our findings showed that research on the use of remote-sensing technology in this field increased substantially in the past 30 years. “Oceanography,” “Environmental Sciences,” and “Remote Sensing” are the most popular subject categories. Remote Sensing of Environment, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, and International Journal of Remote Sensing were the journals with the most published articles. The results of the analysis of international influence and cooperation showed that the United States had the greatest influence in this field and that the cooperation between China and the United States was the closest. The Chinese Academy of Sciences published the largest number of papers, reaching 542 articles. Keyword and topic analysis results showed that “phytoplankton,” “chlorophyll,” and “ocean” were the most frequently occurring keywords, while “eutrophication management and monitoring,” “climate change,” “lakes,” and “remote-sensing algorithms” were the most popular research topics in recent years. Researchers are now paying increasing attention to the phenological response of phytoplankton under the conditions of climate change and the application of new remote-sensing methods. With the development of new remote-sensing technology and the expansion of phytoplankton research, future research should focus on (1) accurate observation of phytoplankton blooms; (2) the traits of phytoplankton blooms; and (3) the drivers, early warning, and management of phytoplankton blooms. In addition, we discuss the future challenges and opportunities in the use of remote sensing in phytoplankton blooms. Our review will promote a deeper and wider understanding of the field.

The track, hotspot and frontier of international hyperspectral remote sensing research 2009–2019—— A bibliometric analysis based on SCI database

Hyperspectral remote sensing is widely used in earth observation and environmental survey. However, the research on the development, applications and hot spots of hyperspectral remote sensing is very limited. Metadata taken from 4122 literature records is used to visualize the state of hyperspectral remote sensing research. The records were published between 2009 and 2019, and Citespace software is employed to visualize key data about the research contained on the SCI and SSCI platform. It has the following findings. In recent 10 years, hyperspectral remote sensing related research literature has shown a trend of rapid growth. There are more publications in China, the United States, Germany, and other countries, and the publishing institutions are mostly concentrated in the universities of various countries. Remote Sensing of Environment and IEEE journals are authoritative journals in this field. Anatoly Gitelson, Camps-valls, Asner GP and other authors have made important contributions to basic research. The highly cited documents of hyperspectral remote sensing are distributed in the research directions of spectral imaging technology, support vector machine, and spectral data classification, and 12 research clusters are formed, such as vegetation research, data feature extraction, SVM classification, and de-mixing algorithm. The research hotspots in this field are mainly in image classification, algorithm model, spectral resolution/reflectance and vegetation analysis. The research frontiers include spectral characteristics and reflectance, end element extraction, radar and data dimension reduction, UAV and so on. The development of hyperspectral remote sensing technology promotes the cross research in the fields of environment, ecology, chemistry, computer and so on.

Mapping sub-field maize yields in Nebraska, USA by combining remote sensing imagery, crop simulation models, and machine learning

Crop yield maps are valuable for many applications in precision agriculture, but are often inaccessible to growers and researchers wishing to better understand yield determinants and improve site-specific management strategies. A method for mapping sub-field crop yields from remote sensing imagery could increase the availability of crop yield maps. A variation of the scalable crop yield mapping approach (SCYM, Lobell et al. in Remote Sensing of Environment 164:324–333, 2015) was developed and tested for estimating sub-field maize (Zea mays L.) yields at 10–30 m without the use of site-specific input data. The method was validated using harvester yield monitor records for 21 site-years for irrigated and rainfed fields in eastern Nebraska, USA. Prediction error ranged greatly across site-years, with relative RMSE scores of 10.8 to 38.5%, and R2 values of 0.003 to 0.37. Significant proportional bias was detected in the predictions, but could be corrected with a small amount of ground truth data. Crop yield prediction accuracies without calibration were suitable for some precision applications such as mapping relative yields and delineating management zones, but model improvements or calibration datasets are needed for applications requiring absolute yield estimates.

Dr. Marta Yebra: Balancing a Thriving Career and a Rich Personal Life [Women in GRSS

In this "Women in GRSS" column, we spotlight Dr. Marta Yebra and discuss some of her ongoing research, her contributions to the important process of scientific peer review as an associate editor (AE) of the Elsevier journal <i>Remote Sensing of Environment (RSE)</i>, and her experience finding her personal sweet spot for a healthy work-life balance.

Status of geoinformatics education and training in Sub-Saharan Africa: initiatives taken and challenges

ABSTRACTThis paper presents an update on some of the activities that have taken place since a World Bank report; “Guidelines for Education and Training in Environmental Information Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Some Key Issues” was published and provides details on the current situation. It shows how organizations such as the African Association on Remote Sensing of Environment, International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, European Association of Remote Sensing Companies, Group on Earth Observation, and several others have helped to increase manpower resources in the region and strengthened institutional capacity in the field of geoinformatics, through capacity building, technology transfer, international cooperation and the provision of internal African resources. After reviewing what has happened in the field of geoinformatics education and training, we focused on current initiatives taken and challenges in five Sub-Saharan countries: Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. We reviewed GIS education and training in the private sector, government, information communications technology in higher education institutions, GIS application areas and challenges facing GIS education and training. Findings show that; change should involve education stakeholders in all levels of education and curriculum quality, regional and international cooperation through exchange programs, should be a priority for Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

Macro- and micro-level studies using Urban Heat Islands to simulate effects of greening, building materials and other mitigating factors in Mumbai city

ABSTRACTA problem common to cities around the world is the formation and intensification of Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) [Weng, Dengsheng, and Schubring 2004. “Estimation of Land Surface Temperature – Vegetation Abundance Relationship for Urban.” Remote Sensing of Environment 89: 467–483]. Heat Islands are present in almost every city [Sobrino and Leonardo. 2004. “Land Surface Temperature Retrieval from LANDSAT TM 5.” Remote Sensing of Environment 90: 434–440]. Urbanization leads to replacement of forest and vegetative regions with the impervious materials like concrete, asphalt, bricks, etc. [Rizwan, Dennis, and Liu 2008. “A Review on the Generation, Determination and Mitigation of Urban Heat Island.” Journal of Environmental Sciences 20 (1): 120–128; Turner, 2016. “Land System Architecture for Urban Sustainability: New Directions for Land System Science Illustrated by Application to the Urban Heat Island Problem.” Journal of Land Use Science 11 (6): 689–697]. A large amount of land cover is transformed into the concrete and asphalted surface [Akbari, Pomerantz, and Taha 2001. “Cool Surfaces and Shade Trees to Reduce Energy Use and Improve Air Quality in Urban Areas.” Solar Energy 70 (3): 295–310]. The study analyses UHIs at two different levels, macro-level and micro-level. Macro-level study is carried out on whole Mumbai city to find out the hotspots on different landuse/landcover. The main reasons for differences in temperatures in these areas were studied. Land surface temperature in the areas like Airport in Mumbai increased by 6.5% from January 1999 to January 2013 and around 12% from April 1999 to 2013. In the micro-level, two areas were selected, one barren and other green to analyse the impact of land cover on the heat in the city.

Developing algorithm for estimating chlorophyll-a concentration in the Thac Ba Reservoir surface water using Landsat 8 Imagery

Developing algorithm for estimating chlorophyll-a concentration in the Thac Ba Reservoir surface water using Landsat 8 Imagery

Анализ пространственно-временных изменений лесистости на юге лесостепи Среднерусской возвышенности по спутниковым данным

Анализ пространственно-временных изменений лесистости на юге лесостепи Среднерусской возвышенности по спутниковым данным

Глубина прогорания торфа и потери углерода при лесном подземном пожаре

Глубина прогорания торфа и потери углерода при лесном подземном пожаре

Application of MODIS land surface temperature data: a systematic literature review and analysis

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, which provides a very high temporal (four times per day) and spatial (1 km) resolution, has become one of the most important and widely used sensors for a broad range of applications. We analyze 529 articles from 159 journals in the Scopus database from 2009 to 2018 to understand the global and longitudinal trends of MODIS land surface temperature (LST) data applications. The results show that the publications of papers related to MODIS LST data have been steadily rising annually. They spanned 19 subject areas from environmental, agricultural, and biological science to social science and medicine, indicating a wide range of MODIS LST data applications. Among the 159 journals, Remote Sensing of Environment, Remote Sensing, and the International Journal of Remote Sensing published the most articles. The study also showed that urban heat island (UHI), air temperature estimation/mapping (Ta estimation), soil moisture, evapotranspiration estimation, and drought monitoring/estimation were the most popular applications of MODIS LST data. Furthermore, we discuss the strengths, limitations, and future direction of research using MODIS LST data.

The role of structure cooling to reduce the effect of urban heat island in Mumbai

ABSTRACTIn India, for centuries, structure cooling principles have been part of strong architectural heritage. Buildings like Taj Mahal, Gol Gumbaz and temples of Hampi are a few notable examples of naturally cooled buildings. Some have used thermal mass, some have used water, while others use the combination of both to provide thermal comfort in the building as well as outside the building. Anthropogenic activities in urban areas increase usage of devices like air conditioning for human comfort inside a building. Typically, these principles discourage any external and/or induced forms of cooling. Less use of artificial systems means less heat and emitting less greenhouse gases in the environment. In an illustrative experiment, structural cooling system is introduced in a commercial building in Mumbai (hot and humid climate) to reduce the cooling load of the conventional air-conditioning system reducing overall heat load. An air-conditioning system typically adds ∼30% more heat from the compressors. This increases the ambient temperature of the area. In dense urban environments, this process escalates till a heat island is formed [Oke, T. (1982). The energetic basis of the urban heat island. Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 108(455), 1–24; Weng, Q., Dengsheng, L., & Schubring, J. (2004). Estimation of land surface temperature – vegetation abundance relationship for urban heat island studies. Remote Sensing of Environment, 89, 467–483]. A combination of structure cooling and an air conditioner can be used to significantly reduce load on the air conditioners. It will drastically reduce the energy consumption and resultantly the pollution in the environment. In Mumbai, India’s largest city, the ambient temperatures are sometimes 40–45°C in peak summers. To reduce the cooling load of the air-conditioning system, the structural cooling system was introduced as an innovative technique to reduce heat inside the structure and also in the environment. Application of such technique will be very useful on the structures like airport, station areas and commercial complexes to reduce the heat and pollution in the environment.

Google Earth Engine Applications Since Inception: Usage, Trends, and Potential

The Google Earth Engine (GEE) portal provides enhanced opportunities for undertaking earth observation studies. Established towards the end of 2010, it provides access to satellite and other ancillary data, cloud computing, and algorithms for processing large amounts of data with relative ease. However, the uptake and usage of the opportunity remains varied and unclear. This study was undertaken to investigate the usage patterns of the Google Earth Engine platform and whether researchers in developing countries were making use of the opportunity. Analysis of published literature showed that a total of 300 journal papers were published between 2011 and June 2017 that used GEE in their research, spread across 158 journals. The highest number of papers were in the journal Remote Sensing, followed by Remote Sensing of Environment. There were also a number of papers in premium journals such as Nature and Science. The application areas were quite varied, ranging from forest and vegetation studies to medical fields such as malaria. Landsat was the most widely used dataset; it is the biggest component of the GEE data portal, with data from the first to the current Landsat series available for use and download. Examination of data also showed that the usage was dominated by institutions based in developed nations, with study sites mainly in developed nations. There were very few studies originating from institutions based in less developed nations and those that targeted less developed nations, particularly in the African continent.

AN ASSESSMENT OF SPATIAL VARIATION OF LAND SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS OF MINNA, NIGER STATE NIGERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNIQUES

AN ASSESSMENT OF SPATIAL VARIATION OF LAND SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS OF MINNA, NIGER STATE NIGERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNIQUES

Bibliometric Analysis of Global Remote Sensing Research during 2010–2015

Bibliometric analysis based on the Science Citation Index Expanded published by Thomson Scientific was carried out to identify the research status and future trends of remote sensing (RS) during 2010–2015. The analysis revealed the institutional, national, spatio-temporal, and categorical patterns in remote sensing research both from the WP (whole publications) viewpoint and the HCP (highly-cited publications) viewpoint. Statistical analysis results showed that remote sensing research almost doubled during 2010–2015. Environmental sciences comprised the most attractive subject category among remote sensing research. The International Journal of Remote Sensing was the most productive journal, and Remote Sensing of Environment published the most HCP among the 31 distributed journals. The productive ranking of countries was led by the U.S. both from the WP viewpoint and the HCP viewpoint, and CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences) was the most productive institute both from the WP viewpoint and the HCP viewpoint with lower CPP (average number of citations per paper). Keyword analysis illustrated that model and algorithm research were the key points in RS during 2010–2015. RS data including Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Landsat, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) were the most frequently adopted, but the data usage of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and small satellites will be promoted in the future. With the development of data acquisition abilities, big data issues will become the challenges and hotspots of RS research, and new algorithms will continue to emerge.

Research development, current hotspots, and future directions of water research based on MODIS images: a critical review with a bibliometric analysis.

Water is essential for life as it provides drinking water and food for humans and animals. Additionally, the water environment provides habitats for numerous species and plays an important role in hydrological, nutrient, and carbon cycles. Among the existing natural resources on Earth's surface, water is the most extensive as it covers more than 70% of the Earth. To gather a comprehensive understanding of the focus of past, present, and future directions of remote sensing water research, we provide an alternative perspective on water research using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery by conducting a comparative quantitative and qualitative analysis of research development, current hotspots, and future directions using a bibliometric analysis. Our study suggests that there has been a rapid growth in the scientific outputs of water research using MODIS imagery over the past 15years compared to other popular satellites around the world. The analysis indicated that Remote Sensing of Environment was the most active journal, and "remote sensing," "imaging science photographic technology," "environmental sciences ecology," "meteorology atmospheric sciences," and "geology" are the top 5 most popular subject categories. The Chinese Academy of Sciences was the most productive institution with a total of 477 papers, and Hu CM (Chinese) was the most productive author with 76 papers. A keyword analysis indicated that "vegetation index," "evapotranspiration," and "phytoplankton" were the most active research topics throughout the study period. In addition, it is predicted that more attention will be paid to research on climate change and phenology in the future. Based on the keyword analysis and in consideration of current environmental problems, more studies should focus on the following three aspects: (1) develop methods suitable for data assimilation to fully explain climate or phenological phenomena at continental or global scales rather than at local scales; (2) accurately predict the effect of global change and human activities on evapotranspiration and the water cycle; and (3) determine the evolutionary process of the water environment (i.e., water quality, macrophytes, cyanobacteria, etc.), ascertaining its dominant factors and driving mechanisms. By focusing on these three aspects, researchers will be able to provide timely monitoring and evaluation of water quality and its response to global change and human activities.