Remote Sensing activities in India
M G Chandrasekhar, V. Jayaraman, K. Radhakrishnan, B. MAnikiam and H Honne Gowda
Indian Space Research Organization
Antariksh Bhawan, New BEL Road
Abstract
In recent time the need for sustainable development of natural resources in consonance with the environment is felt in view of the rapidly increasing population and the impacts of human activities on climate and ecology. Space Remote Sensing is contributing significantly through its capability for periodical and accurate monitoring of the resources. India has made significant progress in operational utilization of Remote Sensing in various resource sectors. The most significant event of the year has been the successful launch and operationalization of IRS-1B satellite. IRS-1A, launched in March 1988, continues to provide Remote Sensing services beyond its expected life of three years. IRS-1B, identical to IRS-1A together provide a repetitivity of 11 days thus enhancing the scope for monitoring dynamic processes associated with natural resources and environment. The receiving station at Hyderabad has been upgraded to receive microwave data from ERS-1 satellite besides data from IRS-1 , Landsat and NOAA. The development programme for the second generation IRS satellites – IRS-1C and IRS-1D scheduled for launch during 1993-94 and 1996-97 respectively is progressing on schedule. These satellites will have better capabilities byway of higher spectral and spatial resolutions, stereo-viewing and on-board recording.
Remote Sensing applications in the country under the umbrella of the National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) has achieved operationlization in diverse themes, such as crop acreage/yield estimation, drought assessment, flood management, current agricultural landuse/landcover for agroclimatic zonal planning, wasteland development, water resources management, snow-melt-run-off prediction, fisheries potential, forecasting, coastal zone management, urban development, mineral prospecting and forest resources surveys. Several major projects have been completed with active involvement of the users at central, state and district level so as to ensure effective harnessing of this technology at grass root level. Mapping of ground water potential zones, land use / cover, wastelands, forests and coastal zones have been completed for the entire country. These concreted efforts have led to the development of a National (Natural) resources information system (NRIS) encompassing multidisciplinary themes. As part of the associated modeling efforts, several resource management models have been developed especially in the areas of urban development, wasteland management, mineral targeting and district level planning. Indigenous development of Geographic Information System (GIS) packages has been accomplished to support the NRIS efforts.
The state Remote Sensing application centres continued to provide support for the major national efforts besides taking up projects of direct relevance to the sate. Towards human resources development, several training institutions in the country are offering regular training programmes towards meeting the demand for trained manpower and so far over 4,800 scientists/engineers have been trained in Remote Sensing in the country. The need to strengthen the Remote Sensing components of education in order to cater to the growing demand for trained personnel has been realized and several steps has been initiated.
Specific projects have been initiated on soil moisture, ocean dynamics and monsoon forecasting as per of microwave Remote Sensing programme using data from ERS-1 satellite. An airborne version of C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been developed and test flights have been conducted.
As a logical sequence to the operationalisation of Remote Sensing applications in various themes and the indigenous capabilities developed for GIS applications, a National Mission on integrated study by land and water resources using Remote Sensing data mainly for generating action plan for sustainable development has been launched in the country. Under this programme 149 districts, representing diverse terrains, agroclimatic zones and social practices have been selected with the objective of arriving at locale specific prescriptions to ensure sustained and environmental friendly development plans. This programme will from a major contribution form India during the International Space Year.
Introduction
Over the past two decades, India has achieved significant progress in space technology and applications for monitoring and management and natural resources. The successful launch and operationalization of IRS-1B and the continued satisfactory functioning of IRS-IA beyond its
design life of three years are noteworthy millstones in the Indian Remote Sensing programme. The capability of space technology for obtaining systematic, synoptic, rapid and repetitive coverage on a time and cost effect manner has virtually revolutionized natural resources management and has led towards its use of sustainable development of natural resources in consonance with maintaining the environment. This aspect is gaining momentum in recent times in view of the rapidly increasing population and impacts of human activities on climate and ecology. Several nationwide, Remote Sensing applications projects have been complete during the year under the overall umbrella of National Natural Resources Management system (NNRMS). Rapid advances in computer processing and data handling capability combined with advances in sensor technology have resulted in the realization of progressively increasing spectral and spatial resolutions and in reducing the turn-around-time, crucial in disaster forecast and management.
Space Remote Sensing in India has established beyond doubt its potential and important role in providing vital inputs towards monitoring agricultural crops, forests, water resources, minerals, wastelands, ocean and marine resources, besides aiding drought and flood management. The availability of active microwave Remote Sensing data recently has provided further impetus to the use of Remote Sensing especially in areas such as oceanic studies in view of its additional advantages of all weather capability. The present paper reviews the state of the art of space technology and its applications/activities in the country.
