J. Environ. Nanotechnol.

Volume 2, No.2 92-101 pp.

ISSN (Print) : 2279-0748
ISSN (Online) : 2319-5541
doi : 10.13074/jent.2013.06.132025

Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Environmental Sciences –

A Review
S. Senthil Kumar1, S. Arivazhagan2, N. Rangarajan 3
1, 2
Department of Civil Engineering, KSR College of Engineering, Tiruchengode, TN, India.
3
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, KSR College of Engineering, Tiruchengode, TN,
India.

Received : 25.04.2013 Revised : 10.05.2013 Acccepted : 02.06.2013

Abstract

Remote sensing and Geographic Information System play a pivotal role in environmental mapping,
mineral exploration, agriculture, forestry, geology, water, ocean, infrastructure planning and management,
disaster mitigation and management etc. Remote Sensing and GIS has grown as a major tool for collecting
information on almost every aspect on the earth for last few decades. In the recent years, very high spatial
and spectral resolution satellite data are available and the applications have multiplied with respect to
various purpose. Remote sensing and GIS has contributed significantly towards developmental activities
for the four decades in India. In the present paper, we have discussed the remote sensing and GIS applications
of few environmental issues like Mining environment, Urban environment, Coastal and marine environment
and Wasteland environment.

Keywords: Remote sensing; Geographic Information System; Environment.

1. INTRODUCTION kind faces environmental challenges greater in

magnitude than ever before because the scale of the
The environment is something we are very problem is shifting from local to regional and even
familiar with our day to day life. It’s everything that to globally. Indeed, the footprint of human activity
makes up our surroundings and affects our ability continues to expand to the point that it is exerting a
to live on the earth, the air we breathe the water that major effect on nearly all of the Earth’s systems.
covers most of the earth’s surface, the plants and Global environmental problems such as global
climate change, threat of biological and chemical
animals around us, and much more. In recent years,
warfare and terrorism, and unsustainable
scientists have been carefully examining the ways development in many parts of the world are evolving
that people affect the environment. They have found as significant issues for the future of the planet and
that we are causing air pollution, deforestation, acid of mankind. At local and regional scales,
rain, and other problems that are dangerous both to acidification of surface waters, loss of biotic
the earth and to ourselves. These days, when you integrity and habitat fragmentation, eutrophication
hear people talk about “the environment”, they are of lakes and streams, and bioaccumulation of toxic
often referring to the overall condition of our planet, substances in the food constitute some of the many
or how healthy it is. examples of how human- induced changes have
impacted the Earth’s systems and its environment
(Tim and Mallavaram, 2003).
With the start of a new millenium, human
*Senthil Kumar Tel. : +91 9788624207 Several developmental projects are taken
E-mail : senthil.env@gmail.com up in the all over the world either for industrial or
 S.Senthil Kumar et al. / J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Vol. 2(2), 92-101, (2013) 93

power sectors. Whatever the developments may be, various environments. i.e., Land surface changes
the impacts are leading to deterioration of (degradation), water quality, soil and atmosphere
environment in the adjoining area and surroundings. etc. Integrated GIS and remote sensing have already
The lack of adequate data base on the pre- successfully been applied to map the distribution
establishment stage, developmental stage and the of several plant and animal species, their
post developed stage, environmental impact studies ecosystems, landscapes, bio-climatic conditions and
(EIS) with respect to every sector need to be studied factors facilitating invasions (Stow et al., 1989,
in an integrated manner attaching top priority for 2000; ; Rowlinson et al., 1999; McCormick, 1999;
environmental conservation. The damage to Haltuch et al., 2000; Los et al., 2002). Remote
agriculture, quality of life in terms of ambient air sensing (satellite) imagery is available for most of
quality by way of air pollution, dust falls etc. the world since 1972. The multidate nature of
Clearance of forest due to hydro power projects, satellite imagery permits monitoring dynamic
increased urbanization, industrialization, mining features of landscape environments and thus
etc., need an alternative strategies suitably to provides a means to detect major land cover changes
compensate the losses without causing much and quantify the rates of change (Joshi et al., 2004).
difference to the already existing environment and The interpretation and analysis of Landsat TM
the available natural resources. image since 1987, provided a comprehensive
information of the area especially regarding the
This review shows that the application of various land uses and the associated environmental
remote sensing and GIS in the field of broad problems. The use of remote sensing is becoming
environmental issues like mining environment, increasingly frequent in environmental studies. In
Urban waste management, Coastal, wetland and the 1970s and 1980s satellite images were mostly
marine environment management which could be used in simple interpretations or as a map
identifiable from aerial photographs and satellite background (Merifield and Lamar 1975, Rib and
imagery. Liang 1978).

1.2 Multispectral remote sensing

1.1 Remote Sensing
Multispectral remote sensing is generally
“Remote Sensing” is the science and art
based on acquisition of image data of Earth’s surface
of acquiring information (spectral, spatial, temporal)
simultaneously in multiple wavelengths. Due to that,
about material objects, area, or phenomenon,
we can use the fact that different types of surfaces
without coming into physical contact with the
reflect the light of different wavelengths with various
objects, or area, or phenomenon under investigation.
intensity. Different spectral behavior is leading to
Without direct contact, some means of transferring detailed classification of specific types of land
information through space must be utilized. In surfaces (depending on the spatial, spectral and
remote sensing, information transfer is radiometric resolution of the used sensor).
accomplished by use of electromagnetic radiation Multispectral remote sensing involves the
(EMR). acquisition of visible, near infrared, and short-wave
infrared images in several broad wavelength bands.
Remote sensing technology has many Different materials reflect and absorb differently at
attributes that would be beneficial to detecting, different wavelengths. As such, it is possible to
mapping and monitoring invaders. Remote Sensing differentiate among materials by their spectral
using space-borne sensors is a tool, par excellence, reflectance signatures as observed in these remotely
for obtaining repetitive (with a range from minutes sensed images, whereas direct identification is
to days) and synoptic (with local to regional usually not possible. NASA’s Landsat, one of the
coverage) observations on spectral behavior of more common multispectral imagers, is widely used
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for monitoring a wide range of landscape scale applicability of remote sensing and field based
properties. Prior to the Hyperion and other airborne analysis is ‘Geographic Information System (GIS).
hyperspectral data, mostly multispectral remote
sensing data were used to map the feasibility of The field and science of GIS have been
environmental impacts in almost the world. transformed over the last two decades. Once
Multispectral satellite data are highly useful for considered a Cinderella technology in selected
monitoring temporal changes and continuous disciplines and application domains, GIS has grown
monitoring of environmental impacts due to mining quite rapidly to become a multi-billion industry and
activities. Similarly Synthetic Aperture Radar a major player in the broader field of the ubiquitous
images are useful in detecting land use information technology. Advancements in computer
morphological changes due to mining activities. hardware and software, availability of large volumes
of digital data, the standardization of GIS formats
1.3 Hyperspectral remote sensing and languages, the increasing interoperability of
software environments, the sophistication of geo-
The hyperspectral data has significant processing functions, and the increasing use of real-
advantages over the multispectral data, which has time analysis and mapping on the Internet have
hundreds of contiguous spectral bands with narrow increased the utility and demands for the GIS
spectrum. The high spectral resolution and technology. Apart from that, researchers, resource
reflectance spectra allow direct identification of planners and policy makers are realizing the power
individual materials based upon the reflectance of GIS and its unique ability to enhance
characteristics (Pieters and Mustard, 1998). It allows environmental issues (Tim and Mallavaram, 2003).
measurements of materials spectra, making it GIS can be a powerful tool for understanding these
possible to identify an area specific mineral, rocks, processes and for managing potential impacts of
soils and vegetation of the changes over time with human activities on environment.
high resolution (Frederick and Henderson, 2000).
Due to its unique capability to resolve mineral 1.5 Applications
absorption features, it has been successfully applied
for the detection of mine waste (Swayze et al., 2000). In the present review, an approach has been
made to review the applications of Remote sensing
1.4 Geographic Information System and Geographic Information System applications to
the mining environment, urban environment
Geographic information systems (GIS) are management, coastal and marine environment,
used to collect, store, analyse, disseminate and wasteland environment etc.
manipulate information that can be referenced to a
geographical location. GIS can be used to 2. MINING ENVIRONMENT
representative application areas of foster effective
short-and-long term decision making, socio- The application of Remote sensing
economic and environmental problems, techniques in the mining environmental study has
transportation, local government and business. unique advantages, because of its multispectral
Burrough and McDonnell (1998) has defined GIS mode, synoptic view and repetitive coverage. The
is a powerful set of tools for collecting, storing, advancement of high resolution multispectral
retrieving, transforming and displaying spatial data satellite data, imaging spectrometry is an excellent
from the real world for a particular set of purposes. tools to study the environmental impacts due to
Application of GIS is revolutionizing planning and mining activities. To monitor the land use changes
management in the field of environment. The due to opencast strip mining, effect of underground
technology that has given vast scope to the mining and subsidence, evolution of dumping of
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mine wastes, deforestation and erosion due to (Das and Nizamuddin, 2002) have
mining activities Remote sensing techniques have successfully utilized the hyperspectral sensor
successfully applied (Gupta, 2005). (‘Hyperion’) data to map the mineral abundance,
lithological mapping and processing methodology
The impact due to mining causes rapid and for detecting iron and manganese mines in parts of
drastic environmental changes. Because of complex Singhbum district, Orissa and spectral signature and
problems and frequent changes in the landscape in spectral mixture modelling techniques utilized for
the mining area, monitoring of these environmental targeting laterite & bauxite ore deposits. Levesque
changes is becoming extremely difficult. Mining et al., (2001) used the hyperspectral remote sensing
causes direct landscape changes and in many cases data to monitor and assess the rehabilitation of mine
it enables the emission of hazardous substances into tailing sites. Chevrel et al, (2001) effectively utilized
the environment. The extent of this change varies airborne hyperspectral remote sensing sensors in the
from minor to extreme events. Hyperspectral remote six mining areas (Europe and Greenland) to study
sensing techniques could provide vital information the mining related contamination and its impact on
on various environmental aspects such as land use, vegetation. Different primary granites and
land cover changes, vegetation condition, soil water subsequent kaolinization in the mining area were
quality and acid mine drainage locations. identified using hyperspectral data analysis (Ellis
et al., 2004). Lalan kumar et al, (2007) applied the
The field and laboratory based radiometric application of Geographical Information system to
techniques have been successfully used to predict underground mining studies including land
certain properties of water bodies, grasslands, ownership and mineral claims, exploration
minerals and rocks, forests, crops and several other management production and mine site.
surface features from their reflectance spectra
(Milton (1987). Environmental monitoring data Multi-date infra red Landsat images were
obtained from adjacent locations of mining area utilized to study the environmental changes in Sierra
water quality, mineralogical and gecochemical Leone, West Africa, especially to understand the
studies (Amonoo-Neiser & Busari, 1980; Clement
impact on hydrogeomorphology (Akiwumil and
et al.,1997). Mularz (1998) mapped the problem of
Butler, 2007). An attempt has made to delineate the
environmental monitoring and land-use/land cover
magnesite ore deposits in Salem using hyperspectral
changes over the lignite open-cast mine and power
remote sensing data, which reveals that potential of
plant area was investigated using airborne remote
using narrow band hyperspectral data for further
photography along with Landsat TM and SPOT
mapping of impact mining on environment (Sathish
imageries in the central part of Poland to
Kumar et al., 2011). The management and
discriminate, assess and even to measure these
controlling factors of environment affected due to
destructive phenomena.
mining to be adopted both during production and
The degradation of land use due to coal after closure. Sufficient data collection and accurate
mining using remote sensing techniques at Jharia processing should be done with respect to place and
coal filed have been studied by Prakash and Gupta time for control and planning the environmental
(1998). The open cast mining activities like lignite management.
and other materials lead to loss of fertile agricultural
land, elimination of surface water bodies and ground 3. URBAN ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT
water depletion in deeper aquifers. Oxidation
process at surface of dumped mine waste may Urbanization is an index of transformation
produce acid water drainage, which can affect the from traditional rural economies to modern
surface and groundwater quality (Ramanathan et al, industrial one. It is a progressive concentration of
2000). population in urban unit. During the last fifty years
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the global population is increased dramatically, as mapping and environmental monitoring (Patkar,
a result most urban settlements are characterized 2003). A numbers of significant studies were made
by shortfalls in stock housing and water supply, for environmental quality management.
urban encroachments in fringe area, inadequate Uncontrolled urbanization has been responsible for
sewerage, traffic congestion, pollution, poverty and several problems, our cities facing today, resulting
social unrest making urban governance a difficult in substandard living environment, acute problems
task to maintain healthy urban environment. High of drinking water, noise and air pollution, disposal
rate of urban population growth is a cause of of waste, traffic congestion etc. To minimise these
concern among India’s urban and town planners for environmental degradations in and around cities, the
efficient urban planning. Therefore, there is an technological development in related fields have to
urgent need to adopt modern technology of remote address to these problems caused by rapid
sensing which includes both aerial as well as satellite urbanization, only then the fruits of development
based systems, allowing us to collect lot of physical will percolate to the most deprived ones. The
data rather easily, with speed and on repetitive basis, modern technology of remote sensing which
and together with GIS helps us to analyze the data includes both aerial as well as satellite based
spatially. systems, allow us to collect physical data rather
easily, with speed and on repetitive basis, and
Floods cause damage to natural resources together with GIS helps us to analyze the data
and environmental quality and indirectly contribute spatially, offering possibilities of generating various
to increasing poverty, which in turn further add to options (modeling), thereby optimizing the whole
the vulnerability of both natural and human systems planning process.
mostly urban area compare to the rural areas. The
environment and flood linkage has been recognized, The dynamic nature of urban
and many environmental programs such as environmental necessitates both macro and micro
reforestation, forest protection, upland fixed level analysis. Therefore, it is necessary for policy
cultivation and resettlement, could be been makers to integrate remote sensing with urban
implemented through remote sensing and GIS. planning and management. The trend towards using
remotely sensed data in urban studies began with
GIS has been widely used in first-generation satellite sensors such as Landsat
characterization and assessment studies which MSS and was given impetus by a number of second
require a watershed-based approach to manage the generation Satellites: Landsat TM, ETM+ and
water level and waste management in the urban SPOT. The recent advent of a third generation of
locations. Basic physical characteristics of a very high spatial resolution (5m/pixel) satellite
watershed such as the drainage network and flow sensors is stimulating. The high resolution PAN and
paths can be derived from readily available Digital LISS III merged data may be used together
Elevation Models (DEMs). When faced with effectively for urban applications. Data from IRS
challenges involving water quality and quantity due P-6 satellites with sensors on board especially LISS
to natural as well as human-induced hazards (e.g., IV Mono and Multispectral (MX) with 5.8 m/pixel
droughts, hazard material spills, floods, and spatial resolution is very useful for intensive urban
studies (Rai and Kumra, 2011).
urbanization), planning becomes extremely
important so as to mitigate their impacts and ensure 4.COASTAL AND MARINE ENVIRONMENT
optimal utilization of the available resources (Tim
and Mallavaram, 2003). Coastal zones in India are constantly
undergoing wide-ranging changes in shape and
Remote sensing can provide an important environment due to natural as well as human
source of data for urban land use/land cover development activities. Natural processes such as
 S.Senthil Kumar et al. / J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Vol. 2(2), 92-101, (2013) 97

waves, erosion, changes in river courses etc., cause Satellite based remote sensing techniques
long time effect at slower rate; but manmade have proved successful in providing a
activities, such as settlement, industrial activities, comprehensive, reliable and up-to date information
recreational activities, waste disposal etc., affect the on land use/land cover in the offshore areas of east
coastal environment at comparatively much faster coast of Andhra Pradesh in the most cost effective
rate. Continued loss of these wetlands may lead to manner. Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) and
the collapse of coastal ecosystems. It is, therefore, Reach Sensitivity Index (RSI) identified through
necessary to monitor coastal zone changes with time. modern methods like Digital Image processing and
Remote sensing technology in recent years has GIS for preparedness in case of oil spill incidents in
proved to be of great importance in acquiring data offshore areas (Saxena et al.,2008).
for effective resources management and hence could
also be applied to coastal environment monitoring The combination of remote sensing and
and management (Ramachandran, 1993, GIS technologies provides an ideal solution for
Ramachandran et.al., 1997, 1998).The high understanding the spatial/temporal distribution of oil
temporal resolution provided by the satellite data is spills in the marine environment and is considered
found to be a major improvement in studying the as the core of the oil spill monitoring system. The
behavior of suspended sediments in the coastal advantages of the remote sensing and GIS provides
waters, which would help in understanding the the ability to extract the oil pollution parameters such
movement of sediments and pollutants (Nayak et.al., as location and spill areas including spatial and
1996). temporal information allows the users to establish
the major cause and source of oil spills and then
GIS in addition to providing efficient data outline the risk areas to save the marine environment.
storage and retrieval facilities also offers a cheaper One of the major advantages of GIS is the ability to
option of monitoring forest conditions over time extract oil pollution parameters such as location, size
(Ramachandran et al., 1998). Remote sensing and and spill areas. Spatial and temporal information (oil
GIS are increasingly used in mangrove forestry spill distribution at sea and its evolution in time)
worldwide to assist in gathering and analysing allows the users to establish the major cause and
images acquired from aircrafts, satellites and even source of oil spills, and then outline the risk area
balloons. The notable advantages of using GIS (Eljabri and Gallagher, 2012).
include the ability to update the information rapidly,
to undertake comparative analytical work and The products derived from geospatial
making this information available as required. The technologies support informed decision making with
area covered by mangroves in the islands of
respect to marine spatial planning and management.
Andaman was calculated using SPOT 1993 and IRS
1D LISS III 2003 imageries. The change in
5. WASTELAND ENVIRONMENT
mangrove area within a span of ten years has
presented in the form of a table (IOM report, 2003).
Wetlands consist of 3 - 6% of the earth’s
Twumasi and Merem (2006) assessed change within
a coastal environment in the Niger delta region of land surface, while they make available supplies and
Nigeria using remotely sensed satellite imagery and services such as: water quality maintenance,
GIS modeling, quickened the analysis of the spatial agricultural production, fisheries, and recreation
distribution of environmental change involving land floodwater, retention, provision of wildlife habitat,
use, land cover classification, forest and hydrology and control of soil erosion (Acreman and Hollis,
and demographic issues facing the Niger Delta and 1996). Wetlands are transitional lands between
successful implemented some of the strategies could Terrestrial and aquatic system that provide many
lead to effective management of the coastal goods and services including flood water retention,
environment in the Niger Delta region. water quality maintenance, wildlife habitat, and soil
98 S.Senthil Kumar et al. / J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Vol. 2(2), 92-101, (2013)

erosion control. To prevent further loss of wetlands, for land cover classification is less costly and less
and conserve existing wetland ecosystem for time-consuming than aerial photography for large
biodiversity and ecosystem services and goods, it geographic areas. For wetland studies such as
is important to inventory and monitor wetlands and monitoring and inventory use and apply satellite
their adjacent uplands. The area of wetlands are remote sensed data can suitable in developing
reducing constantly for the last few decades due to countries, where the budget are restricted and the
wetland reclamation, population pressure, water data about the wetland like wetland area, landuse,
diversion, dam construction, pollution, biological and wetland losses are limited (Ozemi and Bauer,
incursion, desertification, climate change, and 2002).
misguiding policies (Augustine and Warrender,
1998; Chen, 2002). Remotely sensed data have been Remote sensing has served as an efficient
utilized to measure the qualitative and quantitative method of gathering data about glaciers since its
terrestrial land-cover changes (Seto et al., 2002). emergence. The recent advent of Geographic
During last two decades a diversity of remotely Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning
sensed data and change detection methods have been Systems (GPS) has created an effective means by
developed and assessed (Finlayson et al., 1999; which the acquired data are analyzed for the
Rogan, et al., 2002; Healey et al., 2005).. Remote effective monitoring and mapping of temporal
sensing (RS) data and Geographic information dynamics of glaciers. A large number of researchers
systems (GIS) are appropriate tools for monitoring have taken advantage of remote sensing, GIS and
of the wetland distribution area and spatial-temporal GPS in their studies of glaciers.
dynamic multiplicity (Emadi et al., 2010) Satellite
remote sensed data have been widely utilized for 6. CONCLUSION
inventorying and monitoring wetlands and can also
provide information on surrounding land use and For every establishment sector there is also
their change over the time (Ghobadi et al., 2012). an equally important to draw out the base line
Ghobadi et al., (2012) successfully utilized the information needs for environmental appraisal
Multi-temporal remote sensing data and GIS for before undertaking any major programmes which
wetland mapping in the southwest of Iran near to might endanger the quality of life. This essentially
the Karkheh River using four Landsat images 1985 calls for concerted effort by all the industrial, mining
(Landsat MSS), 1999 (Landsat ETM+), 2002 and urban sectors to evolve ecologically sustained
(Landsat ETM+) and 2011 (Landsat ETM+) and growth in terms of energy, power, irrigation and all
found that, increase in agricultural activity, climate other basic resources. The remote sensing and GIS
change and construction engineering projects caused provides hands on tools to monitor, estimate,
wetland surface area reduction. evaluate manage and controlling factors the
environmental endangers to save the life and society.
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