Deliverables from Space Data Sets for Disaster Management – Present and Future Trends

Natural disasters strike several parts of the globe at different seasons through out the year, resulting in enormous destruction of properties and untold human sufferings. Due to diverse geo-climatic conditions prevalent in different parts of the world, different types of natural disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, volcanoes, etc, strike respective vulnerable areas. India is one of the world's most disaster prone countries that has witnessed devastating natural disasters in recent past like tsunami, floods, drought, earthquakes, cyclones, etc. These disasters have been causing great economic loss. The potential risk can be minimized by developing disaster early warning strategies, preparing and implementing developmental plans to provide resilience and to help in rehabilitation.Many types of disasters will have certain precursors that satellite can detect. Remote sensing also allows monitoring the event during the time of occurrence while the forces are in full swing. Satellite remote sensing systems from their vantage position have unambiguously demonstrated their capability in providing vital information and services for disaster management. The Earth observation satellites provide comprehensive and multi temporal coverage of large areas in real time and at frequent intervals. Thus they have become valuable for continuous monitoring of atmospheric as well as surface parameters related to natural disasters. Polar orbiting satellites have the advantage of providing much higher resolution imageries, even though at low temporal frequency, which could be used for detailed monitoring, damage assessment and long-term relief management. Geostationary satellites provide continuous and synoptic observations over large areas on weather including cyclone monitoring. The vast capabilities of communication satellites are available for timely dissemination of early warning and real-time coordination of relief operations. The advent of Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) and Ultra Small Aperture Terminals (USAT) have enhanced the capability further by offering low cost, viable technological solutions towards management and mitigation of disasters. Satellite communication capabilities-fixed and mobile is vital for effective communication, especially in data collection, distress alerting, position location and co-ordinating relief operations in the field. The use of remote sensing has become an integrated, well developed and successful tool in disaster management, and the requirement for hazard mitigation and monitoring rank high in the planning of new satellites.The deliverables that can be expected from space data sets at the present scenario include high temporal revisit, high spatial resolution, stereo mapping capability, interferometric SAR and onboard processing. Since each individual satellite covers a small proportion of the Earth’s surface, a rapid response using high-resolution satellites can only be achieved with several satellites operating simultaneously. Hence, a separate constellation of satellites for disaster management was already being attempted by some countries. With the increased co-operation among the countries in the field of disaster management, the tendency in the future is towards intelligent satellite systems. These systems will be a space-based configuration for on-board integration of earth observing sensors, data processors and communication systems. These proposed sensor systems detect any changes in the data such as forest fire, flood, etc, automatically alters its coverage area, acquire and analyse data, delivers the end product to the users. Department of Space Govt. of India has launched a major programme for providing space based inputs to the nation for disaster management support. Though space data provides invaluable information during certain disasters, still there is gap with regard to earth observation, frequency, resolution, information dissemination etc. In order to full fill some of the gaps appropriate activities are being initiated. The present capabilities and the future trends in utilization of space data sets are discussed in the paper. The paper mainly focuses on the deliverables that can be expected at present scenario from space data sets which in turn provide vital inputs for efficient disaster management and it also discusses the future trends that arise with the rapid developments in different technological fronts.