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Cover Page: Cartosat-2 Series Satellite image - part of Mumbai.

 Contents
Page No.
1. Inventorying, Monitoring and Aquaculture 1-8
Planning in Village Water Bodies using
RS & GIS: Malguzari Tanks of
Gondia Taluk, Maharashtra
Anand Arur, Arun S Suryavanshi,
Kameswara Rao SVC and Krishna Murthy YVN
2. Remote sensing for mapping source 9-12
rock of fertilizers
Arindam Guha, Vinod Kumar K, Raju PV and
Diwakar PG
3. Space Based Geospatial GAIL Pipeline 13-14
Monitoring and surveillance
Venugopala Rao K
4. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) 15-16
Housing for all (Urban) (2015-2022)
Venugopala Rao K
5. Aerosols and South Asian 17-21
Regional Climate: ISRO GBP Efforts
Suresh Babu S
6. Usage of MODIS Multichannel Thermal 22-25
IR Data for Targeting Specific
Mineralized Areas
Majumdar TJ and Pal SK
7. Geoinformation Based Monitoring and 26-31
Evaluation of Integrated Watershed
Management: Context and Perspectives
Ravisankar T, Pujar GS, Reddy KM, Fyzee MA,
Shyamsunder B and Diwakar PG
8. Assessment of Forest Vegetation 32-38
Carbon Pools
Chandra Shekhar Jha, Rajashekar Gopalakrishnan,
Sudhakar Reddy Chintala, Kiran Chand Thumaty,
Gaurav Srivastava, Suraj Reddy Rodda, Rakesh,
Jayant Singhal, Piyush Joshi,
Vinay Kumar Dadhwal and Krishna Murthy YVN
9. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) - 39-45
for the Management and Monitoring of Natural
Resources and Disasters
Chirag Gupta, BK Handique, Dibyajyoti Chutia, Victor
Saikhom, Puyam S Singh, Avinash Chouhan,
KK Sarma & PLN Raju
10. Intraseasonal Variability of Indian Summer 46-51
Monsoon and its Regional climate modelling
Jyoti Bhate, U. Umakanth, Amit Kesarkar, V. P. M. Rajasree,
Vikas Singh and A. Jayaraman
11. Tapping Solar Energy potential 52-55
using satellite data
Shashikant A Sharma, Gaurav Jain and Bimal Bhattacharya
p r e fa c e
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
Natural resources are the economic and
environmental backbone for any nation. National
Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS)
play a critical role in enabling optimal utilization of
the country’s natural resources through systematic
inventory and mapping of the resources and
reducing regional imbalances through effective
planning.
While, some of the major remote sensing applications
are contributing towards mapping of periodic
land use/ land cover, forest cover change alerts;
crop production forecasts; snow and glaciers
dynamics; horticulture assessment & site suitability,
decentralised planning, etc., further emphasize has
been given to enhance space technology utilization
in governance and development.
Towards this, ISRO interacted with most of the
Central Ministries/ Departments and prepared joint
action plans with about 58 Ministries/ Departments.
About 160 new projects have emerged out as part
of this initiative. This issue of the bulletin highlights
some of the major remote sensing application
projects taken up recently apart from a few other
articles on atmosphere and climate.
Shantanu Bhatawdekar
Director, EOS
NNRMS Bulletin (B 41) –
Editorial Team
Editorial Advisors
Tapan Misra, Director, SAC
Krishnamurthy YVN, Director, NRSC
Annadurai M, Director, ISAC
Editorial Board
Shantanu Bhatawdekar, Director, EOS
Rao PVN, Deputy Director (RSA), NRSC
Sarnam Singh, Dean (Academics), IIRS
Technical Guidance
Krishnamurthy J, Dy. Dir. (US&U), EOS
Technical Support and Compilation
1. Paul MA, Scientist/Engineer SF, EOS
2. Bandyopadhyay S, Scientist/ Engineer SG, EOS
3. Shamsudeen T, Scientist/ Engineer SD, EOS
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Inventorying, Monitoring and Aquaculture Planning

in Village Water Bodies using RS & GIS:
Malguzari Tanks of Gondia Taluk, Maharashtra

Introduction
Aquaculture refers to farming activities involving fish and other
aquatic organisms for meeting dietary needs or commercial
purposes. People in major areas of Africa and Asia are highly
dependent on fish as part of their daily diet: in 18 countries
in Africa and Asia, fish provide at least 40% of dietary animal
protein. They also provide highly digestible energy, and are a
rich source of fat and water-soluble vitamins, minerals and
fatty acids. Aquaculture has contributed in the past towards
poverty reduction in poor societies in countries like China,
Indonesia & Vietnam, where it is a traditional practice and which
is even continued today. It contributes to the livelihoods of the
poor through improved food supply, employment and income.
“Poverty-focused” aquaculture comprises low risk, small-scale,
extensive to semi-intensive fish farming systems, based on
low cost intermediate technologies using locally available feed,
seed and materials affordable and accessible by resource-poor
groups (Edwards, 1997). Community/village pond/tank based
culture systems in these areas have the greatest potential
because aquaculture can be integrated with the existing
agricultural practices of small-scale farming households.

Aquaculture in Irrigation waterbodies

Although, small-scale storage of water for irrigation has been in
vogue for a long time among the farmers, attempts to integrate
fish production into these waterbodies were few and have been
considered relatively recently. The integration of fish production
into existing agricultural systems is encouraged as one of the
means of optimising the efficiency of water use and enhancing
food security and is recommended as a course of action for
aquaculture development by the FAO (Harrison, 1996; Pretto,
1996). Water resources form the prime backbone of Indian Anand Arur1 *, Arun S Suryavanshi1,
agriculture. Most of the states in the country are endowed Kameswara Rao SVC1 and Krishna Murthy YVN2
1
Regional Remote Sensing Centre (Central)
with large number of waterbodies with varying size from NRSC, ISRO, Dept. of Space, Amravati Road
village ponds to tanks, small, medium to large irrigation tanks Nagpur-440 033
2
National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad
and major dams. The waterbodies serve not only agricultural *Email: anand_a@nrsc.gov.in

1
 purposes and ground water recharge, but also as
village common resources, catering to the needs
of entire village community (Pant & Verma, 2010).
With water available year round, some of them
can also serve as potential sources for fish
culture. According to an estimate of National
Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Min. of
Agri., GoI, about 2.41 million hectares of water
bodies are available for fresh water aquaculture in
the country. By adopting scientific management
practices of fishing in these waterbodies, the
livelihood opportunities of the village people can
be improved, leading to increased income levels
and ensured food and nutritional security.
Village Waterbodies (VWB)
Village waterbodies include the smaller tanks,
lakes and ponds (of areas usually lesser than15ha)
under the administrative control of the Gram/ Zilla
Panchayats (GP/ZP). These waterbodies are utilised
for agriculture, domestic and other activities in the
village. These are undrainable waterbodies which
are filled by rainfall and dried up due to evaporation.
Fishing in these waterbodies is restricted to
stocking and lease of fishing rights by the GP. Most
of these waterbodies are plagued by management-
related problems like aquatic weed infestation,
siltation etc, resulting in reduced utilisation of
these waterbodies for fish culture. Aquatic weed
infestation reduces the oxygen availability to the
fish and siltation reduces the water holding capacity
and storage volume of waterbodies, leading to poor
fish growth and yield. For sustainable fish culture,
the utilisation of waterbodies needs to be planned
on sound scientific principles.
Planning and Management of Health of
Waterbodies
Planning for the utilization of the village waterbodies
requires a very good spatial database of the
available resources and further monitoring &
management of the resource on a regular interval.
2
It is required to identify the number and type of
the waterbodies in the district and quantify the
water-spread area and estimate the minimum water
spread area available in the post-rainy season,
which can be effectively utilized for fish culture.
The waterbodies affected by aquatic vegetation
and siltation need to be identified for planning
curative action in terms of deweeding and
catchment treatment to restore waterbodies to
healthy levels for fish production. Satellite imagery
provides a synoptic coverage of the area and
gives accurate data on the extent of water spread.
Multi-season data can be used for extracting the
water spread area.
The Study and Results
With the aim of demonstrating the utilisation of
high resolution satellite data in the inventorying,
monitoring of village waterbodies (under the control
of Village Panchayats) and in the assessment of
their potential for scientifically managed fish culture,
a pilot study was undertaken in Gondia district of
Maharashtra. The district has the highest density
of village tanks. Maji Malguzari (MM) tanks, as
they are called, which were made by the erstwhile
Malguzaars in eastern Vidarbha, Maharashtra
two centuries ago. These waterbodies, besides
providing water for irrigation also increased the
availability of fish for local consumption and have
the legacy of community based management.
There are more than 1000 such tanks presently
in the Vidarbha region. Considering the huge
traditional and agro-ecological value of these tanks,
even the state government of Maharashtra has
embarked on programmes for the revival of these
heritage waterbodies. The specific objectives of this
study were to (A) Inventory the village waterbodies
by identification and delineation and using high
resolution satellite merged data and waterbody
thematic layers, (B) Study the water spread area
in these VWBs using multi-temporal (2-3 seasons)
higher resolution multispectral satellite imagery,
(C) Identify other VWB management issues
like siltation and aquatic weed infestation and
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

(D) Estimate potential yields of fish culture in the

VWBs using scientific management principles of
fish culture and help generate workable Fishery
Resource Development Plans (FRDP).

Inventorying of Waterbodies in Gondia

Taluk
Waterbodies from the smallest village pond of
size about 1 Acre to very large reservoirs were
mapped from high resolution remote sensing
imagery, Resourcesat LISS III + Cartosat PAN
merged imagery of 2.5m resolution. From the digital
waterbody map, area statistics and numbers were Fig. 1: Waterbody map of Gondia Taluk, Maharashtra
calculated. Village/Taluk/District wise waterbody
census was extracted from the GIS layers. Estimation of Seasonal Water
The number of village waterbodies and tanks Availability in the Waterbodies
is summarised in Table 1, for Gondia taluk and The kharif imagery during the month of September
District. More than 98% of the waterbodies in the usually depicts the post-monsoon water levels
taluk belong to the size group of less than 15ha
of the waterbody in ter ms of the water
Table 1: Number of village waterbodies and tanks availability. This usually can be assumed to
Gondia Gondia be the maximum level of the water spread
District Taluk area of water by the waterbody following the
Geographical area 5507 668 monsoon. The rabi season imagery during the
(Sq. Km) month of January/ February shows the status
No. of Villages 980 150 of water in the receding phase of the water
Ponds/Tanks Nos Nos levels. Summer image shows the lowest
<1 acre 2166 239 level of water availability as the water is
0.4 - 1ha 1670 196 used by irrigation activities and subjected
1 - 2ha 972 133 t o eva p o r a t i o n a n d c a n b e a s s u m e d t o
2-5ha 794 118 b e t h e m i n i m u m wa t e r l eve l a n d wa t e r
5 - 10ha 342 48 spread area. Combining multi-season layers/
10- 15ha 116 14
information gives a combination of water
15 -25ha 86 4
availability during the three seasons. A snapshot
>25ha 104 9
of the Taluk as seen in the three-season
Total Waterbodies 6250 761
imagery is given in Figure 2. Similarly, the
Average No. of 6.06 5.07
three season-water spread is shown
waterbodies per village,
of size less than 10 ha i n F i g u re 3 w i t h ex a m p l e s fo r a l a rg e
irrigation tank (>15ha), a 1ha tank and a
which are Malguzari Tanks, and are managed by s m a l l ( 1 a c re ) wa t e r b o d y a l o n g w i t h t h e
the Zilla Panchayat. This shows the significance of respective three-season interpreted water
the smaller waterbodies in the role of irrigation and spread map. Thus the season-wise water
fisheries. A map of the waterbodies in the taluk is availability can be easily mapped using remotely
shown in Figure 1. sensed imagery.

3

Fig. 2: Three-season satellite imagery of Gondia taluk
Management Measures: Aquatic Weed
Infestation
It is commonly observed that waterbodies in
India are covered with vegetation. The vegetation
includes native flora beneficial to the waterbody
ecosystem and also some weed species which
grow in an uncontrolled way leading to deterioration
of the water quality and proving a threat to the
pond/tank ecosystem. Such common aquatic
weeds include Floating weeds like Eichhornia
(Water Hyacinth), Pistia (Water lettuce), Lemna
(Duck weed), other submerged and emergent
weeds etc. Water bodies covered with aquatic
weeds have lesser fish productivity due to physical
hindrance, less plankton productivity and oxygen
availability. A clear distinction needs to be made
between presence of native vegetation local to the
water bodies which is beneficial to the ecology of
the waterbody and non-native weeds that infest the
waterbody. Regular de-weeding of excess/harmful
weeds is necessary for maintaining optimal fish
productivity of village water bodies and maintaining
their health. Aquatic weeds are easily seen and
monitored using multispectral imagery as shown
in Figure 4.

High Resolution Three season

Merged Image Kharif Image Rabi Image Summer Image Water Spread Area Map
Large Waterbody
1 Ha Waterbody
1 Acre Waterbody

Map Legend
Water in Kharif & dry in Rabi and Summer
Water in Kharif and Rabi. Dry in Summer
Water available in three seasons
Aquatic weeds/Highly turbid or shallow water
Dry bed/silted

Fig. 3: Multi-season LISS III Imagery depicting the water availability in the different seasons and a water spread area map derived from
the imagery

4
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Aquatic
weeds

Fig. 4: Aquatic weed infestation is observed in satellite imagery Fig. 5: Tanks with shallow water and suspended silt visible in
satellite image

Management Measures: Siltation

Fine silt from the upstream catchment area of
the waterbody is carried into the waterbed along
with the rainwater, which is called siltation. The silt
deposited over a period of years leads to reduction
in the water holding capacity of the waterbody.
Due to silt suspended in the water column, the
biological productivity in terms of phytoplankton
growth is reduced. Subsequently, fish growth
and fish yield are also affected. De-silting or
mechanical removal of silt in the waterbodies
and soil conservation measures in the catchment
reduce the problem of siltation. Silt suspended in
Fig. 6: Tanks with reduced water capacity due to siltation
the water can be easily identified from the shallow
water in the waterbodies using satellite imagery as
shown in the figures 5, 6 & 7. Based on the satellite
image observations, the treatment measures can
be planned. The areal extent of the problem is also
observed from the imagery.

Mapping Fish Culture Suitability Area

from Available Water Spread
After the monsoon, when the waterbody is filled
to its maximum during the year, fish culture is
augmented in the malguzari tanks by stocking with Fig. 7: Larger tanks with shallow water and suspended silt from
catchment area siltation

5
 young fish. The commonly used culture fish are • No fertilization by external fertilizer sources
the varieties Catla, Rohu, Mrigal, Common carp, • No feeding from artificial feeds
Magur, Murrel etc., depending on the tank and • Presence of predatory fish - challenges to
people’s preferences. Here, the requisite number stocking
of young fish or fingerlings as they are called, are • Continuous harvesting of fish or as per
released in to the waterbody after estimating the requirement
water avaialbility. This activity of stocking and its • Ponds are not drained but rather dry up naturally
planning for the whole taluka/ district is made easy in the summer so only one season of fish culture
when satellite imageries are used. The water spread can be possible
area available in the waterbodies, as mapped from • The waterbodies are also used for community
multi-season imagery, can be used to identify the purposes.
actual area (water spread) available for one or two
season fish culture, as shown in Figure 8. This Hence for calculating the potential for fish
area estimate is derived from the minimum and production, the likely criteria to be used are:
maximum computed waterspread areas. • Extensive/ traditional culture method
• The waterbodies are natural and un-drainable
unlike the intensive aquaculture ponds.
Water Spread Area map Fish culture suitability
of waterbody area map of waterbody • Extensive/ traditional culture method is
to be followed
• A stocking density of 5000 fingerlings/ hectare
per year for the zone 2 (water available in kharif
and Rabi season).
• A stocking density of 10,000 fingerlings/ ha per
year for the zone 3 (water available in all
3 seasons).
• The average of 60% survival is considered for
Water in Kharif & dry un Rabi and Summer all the zones.
Water in kharif and Rabi Dry in Summer
Suitable for two season fish culture-Kharif-Rabi
Water available in three seasions
Suitable for One season fish culture in Kararif
• Continuous stocking/ size selective harvesting
Aquatic weeds/Highly turoid or shallow water
Dry bed/sited Not suitable for fish culture
needs to be adopted
Fig. 8: Calculation of WSA available for one and two season • An average growth of 250g per individual fish,
fish culture an average of all species under composite culture
method, is considered per year for projecting
Using the estimated area suitable for fish culture
the yield.
and following given aquaculture constraints of
Malguzari tanks (which are technically undrainable
Estimation of Potential Fish Yield from
waterbodies when considered for fish culture),
Available Water Spread Area
the potential fish culture yield under extensive/
The summary of the waterbodies in the size
traditional culture method is computed.
range below 10 ha, their category-wise seasonal
Aquaculture criteria considered important for fish waterspread areas, the areas under siltation and/or
culture in existing tanks are weed cover and the areas suitable for fish culture
• Little or no water exchange are given in Table 2, for the period 2014-15. The
• No maintenance in water levels by topping up estimated potential fish culture/yield possible as
/ filling from other sources per the water availability estimates from remote

6
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

sensing for the Gondia taluka is also summarized yield that can be taken from the MM tanks by
waterbody size-wise. It can be observed from following the traditional aquaculture practices as
column 1 that there are a very large number of mentioned before is summarised in column 12.
waterbodies in the size range 1 acre to 5 ha. The These are conservative estimates of production
three season or water availability throughout the after taking into account the constraints in fish
year (column 6) is lower compared to the actual culture. Implementation of waterbody management
area of the waterbodies (column 3), this is because measures will certainly yield higher fish production
the MM tanks being multi-use category, are used in the MM tanks.
for irrigating crops during kharif and rabi seasons,
thus the water available for fish culture is reduced. Advantages of RS & GIS Database for
The areas covered by aquatic weeds and turbid Fishery Planning
water/ shallow water are equally high (column 7) This current study demonstrates the use of
thus the effective fish culture area is reduced. It is remotely sensed imagery for planning sustainable
also observed that almost 50% of the waterbody utilisation of village waterbodies like MM tanks
areas in all the categories is dry or silted (column 8) for fish production. The administrators and
which implies that the total water holding capacity planners of Fisheries Departments are currently
is substantially reduced. This can be also attributed working without the aid of spatial tools and thus
to low rainfall in the preceding years, 2013-14 and are unable to plan the fisheries development
2014-15 and reduced capacity due to siltation. The activities within their jurisdiction. Currently GIS
actual water available for fish culture (column 9, enables the visualisation of RS derived databases
10 & 11) is correspondingly lesser due to reduced using user-friendly software, which would be very
water availability. The estimate of potential fish useful to the planners in planning at various levels
Table 2: Estimation of Potential Fish yield
Waterbody (WB) Water Spread Area / Water Water Spread Area Suitable for
Statistics Availability (ha) Fish Culture (ha)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Estimated
WB Size No of Area Kharif Kharif Kharif Aquatic Dry Not Suitable Suitable
potential
WBs Covered + Rabi + Rabi weeds bed suitable for one for two
annual
(ha) + /Highly / season season
fish
summer turbid silted fish fish
Yield
or culture culture
from the
shallow
VWB
water
(Tons)
1Acre 239 50.3 8.4 6.7 2.5 7.4 25.3 41.1 6.7 2.5 8.775
1 Acre to 196 126.5 20.1 14.1 6.3 19.7 66.3 106.1 14.1 6.3 20.025
1ha
1 to 2ha 133 186.1 33.5 24.6 14.5 24.6 88.9 147.0 24.6 14.5 40.2
2 to 5ha 118 390.8 83.8 64.7 41.6 46.6 154.0 284.5 64.7 41.6 110.925
5 to 10ha 48 339.6 69.0 49.9 60.3 44.3 116.0 229.3 49.9 60.3 127.875
More than 27 849.0 364.8 110.8 202.8 53.4 117.2 535.4 110.8 202.8 387.3
10ha

7
 Fig. 9: Malguzari tanks of various sizes, in Gondia taluk

from individual ponds/ tanks to taluk or district
level and streamline their activities. This study
is in accordance with such requirements of the
administrators and planners of fisheries.
References
Edwards, P. and Demaine, H. (1997). Rural
aquaculture: Overview and framework for country
reviews. Bangkok: RAP/FAO.
Harrison, E. (1996). Options for small-scale
aquaculture development. In “Expert consultation
on small-scale rural aquaculture” (M. M. Espinosa.,
ed.), pp. 31-68. FAO, Rome.
Pretto, R. (1996). Objectives and indicators
for aquaculture development. In “The expert
consultation on small-scale rural aquaculture”
(M. M. Espinosa, ed.), pp. 13-15. FAO, Rome.
Pant, N. and Verma, R. K. (2010). Tanks in
Eastern India: a study in exploration. Hyderabad,
India:International Water Management Institute,
IWMI-TATA Water Policy Research Program;
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India: Centre for
Development Studies, pp. 232.

USGS and ISRO continue to cooperate in observing Earth

United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) signed a Memorandum
of Understanding in July, 2016, for cooperation in the exchange and use of U.S. land remote sensing satellite data. The
signatories were Dr. Suzette M. Kimball, Director of the USGS and Dr. V K Dadhwal, former Director of the National
Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO. This agreement will allow USGS to receive full U.S. coverage (including Alaska
& Hawaii) from two of the sensors onboard ISRO’s Resourcesat-2 satellite. These data include the Advanced Wide-
Field Sensor (AWiFS) with a ground sample distance of 56 meters and the Linear Imaging Self-Scanning Sensor III
(LISS-III) with a ground sample distance of 23.5 meters. Additionally, ISRO is to provide a complete copy of their entire
Landsat historical archive. In exchange, ISRO will collect Landsat 7 and 8 data through direct reception for areas within
the coverage radius of their ground receiving station located in Shadnagar, India, as well as complete access to the
historical Landsat archive of raw and processed data. Cooperative access to each other’s Earth observation satellite
data provides both organizations with expanded opportunities to engage in science and applications work. With this
cooperation, India will get access to additional source of earth observation satellite data to carry out application projects
in the field of natural resources management and disaster management support.

8
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Remote sensing for mapping source rock of fertilizers

During the National meet on promoting use of space

Technology held on September 7, 2015, Hon’ble Prime
Minister of India emphasized the need to institutionalize a
mechanism for integrating Space Technology applications in
Governance and Development of the country. Subsequently,
upon directions from Cabinet Secretary, Department of
Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer (MoCF) has
initiated the process of consultation and discussion with
ISRO Officials for understanding the scope of utilization of
space technology in Department of Fertilizers. Among the
various possibilities of space technology utility in fertilizer
sector, the priority application was selected as use of space
technology for identifying the rock-phosphate across the
country. Identification of prospective areas of rock phosphates
deposits/ phosphorite would help in commercial exploitation
and augmentation of the country’s indigenous production and
making country more self-reliant in fertilizer production.

Rock-phosphate deposits are important for the fertilizer industry.

Satellite remote sensing can provide spectroscopy based
supplementary/ complimentary mineralogical information to
conventional geological data (lithological map, geochemical
map and laboratory geochemical data) for delineating host
rock for rock-phosphate and also can contribute in delineating
“surface –exposures” of rock-phosphate/phosphorite using
imaging spectroscopy under favorable conditions.

The study area around Jhamarkotra mine in Udaipur district has

been used as test areas to develop the possible methodology
to delineate sur face occurrences of rock-phosphate
(Figure 1a). Advanced thermal emission and reflection
radiometer (ASTER) sensor operative EO-1 platform has been
used for this study. Visible-Near Infrared (VNIR) and Short Wave
Arindam Guha1*, Vinod Kumar K1, Raju PV2 and
Infrared (SWIR) bands of sensor are of immense use for their Diwakar PG3
reasonable spatial resolution and positioning of spectral bands 1
Geosciences Group, NRSC, Balanagar
Hyderabad-500 037
at important wavelengths; which are known to be sensitive for 2.
Water Resource Group, NRSC, Balanagar
carbonate, clay, iron, chromite, Fe-Mg rich chain silicate and Hyderabad-500 037
3
Indian Space Research Organization
Phyllosilicates. Recent records are available on delineation New BEL Road, Bangalore 560 231
of different minerals or surface occurrence of economically *Email: arindam_g@nrsc.gov.in

9
 Fig. 1: a. Study area of the ASTER based phosphate mapping project. b. ASTER resampled field spectra showing the broadband
spectra of dolomite and rock phosphate sample ( P205 or phosphate grade 28% )have contrast in SWIR bands of ASTER sensor.
c. Spectral map composite prepared using ACE map of phosphate and LSU map of phosphate. In this image, Red= ACE map for
phosphate, G=LSU map, Blue= RMS error map of LSU. In this map, red and green pixels indicate the presence of phosphate. d.
Field photograph of exposures rich in phosphate south of South west of Umarda and e. Damdhar area. In these areas, rock-sample
powder mixed in acid solution of ammonium molybdate turned yellow. This indicate the reaction converting ammonium molybdate to
ammonium phosphate; which is yellow in color.

important host rocks using ASTER data (Pour
and Hashim, 2012., van der Meer, et al., 2001,
Rajendran et al., 2013, Guha et al., 2013).
In the present study, an attempt has been made
to delineate phosphate rich zones within the
carbonate host rock in Jhamarkotra area in Udaipur
district, Rajasthan formed under Palaeoproterozoic
marine metasedimentary set-up (Figure 1a).
ASTER VNIR-SWIR bands were used for the study.
In addition to use ASTER data, geological map
prepared by Geological Survey of India, X-Ray
Diffraction (XRD) data and X-Ray Fluorescence
(XRF) data of selected phosphate samples and
host rocks were also used. Geological map was
used to extract the extent of host rock. The spatial
extent of host rock was used for implementing
spectral mapping algorithm. X-Ray data provides
mineralogical abundance while XRF data was
used to estimate the P2O5 content of the samples.
XRD data were used to understand how dominant
mineral spectra influences the rock spectra and
XRF data used to understand spectral changes
observed with the changes in the P2O5 content of
the samples.
Geological map of the study area in 1:50,000 scale
(Provided by GSI) was vectorised and the map was
brought to same spatial referencing system with that

10

of ASTER image. This map was used as reference.
Spatial extent of host rocks was extracted from
this map. The extent of the host rocks (dolomite
and stromatolitic limestone) were also modified
at selected places in the study area using image
enhanced products (Principal component image
composite) of ASTER-VNIR-SWIR bands. ASTER
Level 1B data (at sensor radiance data) were
calibrated to relative reflectance and broad band
image spectra of carbonate rocks were compared
with ASTER resampled laboratory spectra of
carbonates to confirm the relative accuracy
of reflectance image. Once the accuracy was
confirmed, ASTER data were clipped using the
spatial extent of host rocks. Spectral mapping
algorithms were attempted to delineate phosphate
within dolomite. Spectral contrast of the phosphate
rich carbonates and pure carbonate was identified
in SWIR domain of ASTER sensor (Figure 1b). The
diagnostic spectral feature of carbonate (dolomite)
at 2.3 micrometer was subdued or become flat
with the enrichment of phosphate. However,
progressive enrichment of P2O5 content did not
add any significant changes in the spectral features
except causing variations in background absolute
reflectance (Figure 1b). Field spectra of rocks were
upscaled to ASTER bandwidth and resampled
using wavelength of ASTER channels (Figure 2a
and b). Combined image of two spectral mapping
(adaptive coherence estimator and constrained
linear spectral unmixing) algorithms was used
to delineate rock-phosphate exposures within
dolomite (Figure 1c).
In most of the areas, exposures of phosphatic
dolomite were scanty except the areas around
Jhamar Kotra mines. In the study area, exposures
were smaller in size in comparison to the size of
the ASTER pixel. Therefore, sub-pixel mapping
method using Adaptive Coherence Estimator (ACE)
was attempted in this study. ACE performs well
using high Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) bearing
training data vectors to delineate the target
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
from background using data covariance matrix
(Kraut et al., 2005). In addition to above, linear
spectral unmixing was also attempted using
broadband spectra of dolomite and phosphate as
end member. In order to reduce the underestimation
and overestimation of each spectral mapping
algorithm, it is always important to integrate
the results of spectral unmixing algorithms in a
combined product (van der Meer and de Jong, 2001).
In this regard, conjugate spectral map was derived
using ACE map and LSU map by loading ACE
abundance, LSU abundance and LSU error map in
red green blue (RGB) display in FCC composite.
In this image, red (yellow tint) and yellow pixels
were indicative of phosphate rich areas as both the
algorithm indicate presence of phosphate for this
pixel. These pixels were regarded as prospective
and few of these pixels were validated in the field
with the help of collaborators from Geological
Survey of India (GSI) and Atomic Mineral Directorate
(AMD). This validation was attempted using field
based chemical analysis method (Phosphate test,
2016). In this method,solution of rock-powder
prepared from the rock samples collected in the
areas like Jhamar Kotra, south-east of Umarda,
South of Damdhar area were immediately turned
yellow (diagnostic color of ammonium phosphate
resulted due to acid titration of rock-powder and
reagent solution) to prove the presence of rock-
phosphate on these areas (Figure 1e and f).
Acknowledgements
We thank Secretary, Department of Fertilizers,
and Government of India for proposing to carry
out this project under Government to Government
collaborative initiative of Government of India.
Authors express their gratitude to Dr. A.K.
Chaturvedi, Additional Director, Atomic Mineral
Directorate (OP-II), Hyderabad and Dr. Khandelwal,
Regional Director Atomic Mineral Directorate,
Jaipur for their guidance and also for providing
necessary X-Ray Diffraction, X-Ray Fluorescence
data for selected samples.
11
 We are also thankful to the authorities of RSSM
(Rock-Phosphate) for allowing us to collect the
sample in Jhamar Kotra Mines and carry out fi eld
work in the mine areas. We are also grateful to
Mr. V. Singraju, Director, GSI-CHQ, Kolkata, Mr.
K.Sahoo, Director, eastern region, GSI; Mr. Anish,
Senior Geologist, GSI, Jaipur and Shri, R.P. Singh,
Scientifi c offi cer G, Atomic Mineral Directorate Guha, A., Singh, V.K., Vinod Kumar, K., Parveen, R.,
(New Delhi), for their support during fi eld validation Jeyaseelan, A.T., Dhanamjaya Rao, E.N., (2013). Analysis
and also sharing the geological database for the
work. Authors are thankful to Director, NRSC for
over all guidance for this project.
selected references
Abrams, M., (2000). The Advanced Spaceborne
Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
(ASTER): Data products for the high spatial resolution
imager on NASA’s Terra platform. International
Journal of Remote Sensing, 21, pp 847-859
Kraut, S. Scharf, L. L. and. Butler, R. W, (2005). The
adaptive coherence estimator: a uniformly most-
powerful-invariant adaptive detection statistic,
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 53,
no. 2, pp 427-438.
Phosphate test, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Phosphate_test (Date of visit: 01-08-2016).
Pour, A.B. and Hashim,M., (2012). Identifying areas of
high economic-potential copper mineralization using
ASTER data in the Urumieh–Dokhtar Volcanic Belt,
Iran, Advances in Space Research, 49(4), pp 753-769.
of ASTER data for mapping bauxite rich pockets
within high altitude lateritic bauxite, Jharkhand, India.
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and
Geoinformation, 21, pp 184-194.
Rajendran, Sankaran Sobhi Nasir, Timothy M.
Kusky, Abduwasit Ghulam, Safwat Gabr, Mohamed
A.K. El-Ghali, (2013). Detection of hydrothermal
mineralized zones associated with listwaenites
in Central Oman using ASTER data. Ore Geology
Reviews, 53, pp 470-488.
van der Meer, F.D., de Jong, S.M., (2001). Imaging
spectrometry: basic analytical techniques.
In: Imaging Spectrometry: Basic Principles and
Prospective Applications, Springer, Dordrecht,
The Netherland, pp 15-61

aBout insat-3dr
INSAT-3DR, an advanced meteorological satellite similar to INSAT-3D, was launched by
GSLV F05 on September 8, 2016. INSAT-3DR is configured with an imaging System
and an Atmospheric Sounder. Like its predecessor INSAT-3D, INSAT-3DR carries a
Data Relay Transponder as well as a Search and Rescue Transponder. The significant
improvements incorporated in INSAT-3DR are i) imaging in Middle Infrared band to provide
night time pictures of low clouds and fog, ii) imaging in two Thermal Infrared bands for
estimation of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) with better accuracy and iii) higher Spatial
Resolution in the Visible and Thermal Infrared bands. INSAT-3DR will provide service
continuity to earlier meteorological missions of ISRO and further augment the capability to
provide various meteorological as well as search and rescue services.
The INSAT-3DR data and products are used in Numerical Weather Prediction models,
Tropical cyclone applications, Nowcasting, Sea and Land surface temperature estimation,
Rainfall estimation, atmospheric turbulence studies, Fog monitoring & forecasting and
climate applications.
INSAT 3D and 3DR together is providing images at every 15 minutes. Atmospheric
Motion Vectors (AMVs) from INSAT-3D/3DR 15-Min staggering are 30% more in
number and 10% better in accuracy compared to single satellite. The most important
advantage of using 15 minutes observations is in nowcasting heavy rainfall events.
The evolution of the storm and its dissipation is better predicted with 15 minutes
synergistic observations.

12
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Space Based Geospatial GAIL Pipeline Monitoring

and surveillance

Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL India Ltd)., has set up 15000
kilometers Gas pipeline network in India. Presently helicopter
based monthly survey is being carried out for monitoring the Right
of Usage (ROU) of the pipeline for any physical encroachments
like construction of roads, canals, railway lines, buildings, walls,
water tanks, bore wells etc. GAIL and National remote Sensing
Centre (NRSC) have undertaken a joint project for studying the
feasibility of Remote Sensing based monitoring and surveillance
as an alternative / complement to the existing helicopter survey.
A pilot study has been carried out for “Dahej-Vemar-Vijaipur”
pipeline segment of about 610 km. Under the pilot study, the
following two objectives are worked out considering 12 times
satellite data coverage over the pipeline:

1. To study the technical feasibility of High resolution satellite

data suitability for identifying the encroachments

2. To study the operational feasibility by imparting this

technology to the Operational & Maintenance wing of GAIL
as an alternative to the helicopter survey

Bhuvan-GAIL geoportal has been developed with services

including monthly satellite data hosting and with all necessary
tools for identifying, marking & reporting the encroachments
within the ROU. Mobile application has been developed
to verify the encroachments and report with geo-tagged
photographs from field.

Technical feasibility of space based remote sensing has been

established during January, 2015 to June, 2015. Different types
of pre-targets were created within the pipeline ROU and were
studied to establish the suitability of satellite data for identifying
the encroachments (Figure 1). Bhuvan-GAIL geo-portal has
been launched for operational use by the GAIL. Further,
operational phase has been carried out during Jan 2016 to June
2016 to study the (1) monthly satellite data for total coverage
Venugopala Rao K
and (2) suitability as an alternative/complimenting helicopter Urban studies & Geoinformatics
survey (Figure-2). NRSC and GAIL have filed this technology National Remote Sensing Centre
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037
for Indian patent in May, 2016. Email: venu_koppaka@nrsc.gov.in

13
 Fig. 1: Web application interface showing the marked exception with details

11 Jan 2011 22 May 2016

Fig. 2: Road Encroachment identification in operational phase

GAIL India has proposed to extend the satellite will be extended to monitor the oil / gas pipeline
based monitoring to the entire pipeline network of network of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and
15000 kilometres in a phased manner. The same Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

14
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Housing

For All (Urban) (2015-2022)

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) ‘Housing for All’

(urban) (HFA) mission for urban areas is envisaged to be
implemented during 2015-2022. The mission is envisaged
to provide central assistance to the implementing
agencies through State / Union Territory for providing
houses to all the eligible families/ beneficiaries by 2022.
It is proposed to cover all the 4041 statutory towns as per
Census 2011, with a focus on 500 Class-I cities in three phases
under this scheme. The mechanism of release of Central
assistance to the States/ Union Territory will be made based
on the urban population, estimated slum population and other
criteria as may be decided by Ministry of Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA). As per the PMAY guidelines,
the progress of individual houses need to be tracked through
geo-tagged photographs, so that each house construction
can be monitored effectively. National Remote Sensing Centre
(NRSC), ISRO and MoHUPA have signed the MOU on 5th Oct.
2016 in this regard.

Bhuvan-MoHUPA web geo-portal has been developed with

beneficiary Management Information System (MIS), mobile
application for geo-tagging and all necessary tools to effectively
monitor the progress of the beneficiary house at different
stages at city level, state level and central level of PMAY (Urban)
(Figure 1). Presently geo-tagging of beneficiary houses are
being carried out in 11 states and is being extended to all the
States/UTs. MoHUPA is monitoring, in real time, the effective
implementation of PMAY (Urban) Mission. For this,the following
parameters can be obtained from Bhuvan-MoHUPA geo-portal:
1. How many sanctioned houses started construction?
2. What is the Stage of house construction? (1) Not Started
(2) Foundation (3) Lintel (4) Roof (5) Completed
3. Progress of each stage, any delay in any stage of house
construction
Venugopala Rao K
Urban studies & Geoinformatics
National Remote Sensing Centre
Balanagar, Hyderabad-500 037
Email: venu_koppaka@nrsc.gov.in

15
 Fig. 1: Bhuvan-MoHUPA: PMAY (Urban) Geo-tagging

sCatsat-1 satellite launChed

ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its thirty seventh flight, successfully
launched SCATSAT-1 Satellite on September 26, 2016 from Satish Dhawan
Space Centre (SHAR), Sriharikota. The mission objectives of SCATSAT-1 are
to help provide weather forecasting services to the user communities through
the generation of wind vector products for meteorological applications, cyclone
detection and tracking.
SCATSAT-1 is a continuity mission for Scatterometer payload carried Oceansat-2
satellite. The satellite carries Ku-band Scatterometer, which has enhanced
features compared to the one flown onboard Oceansat-2. Also, the payload has
been characterized with the objective of achieving data quality for climate data
records apart from facilitating meteorological applications. The spacecraft is built SCATSAT winds during Cyclone Vardah,
around standard IMS-2 Bus and the mass of the spacecraft is 371 kg. After its Near Chennai Coast on December 07, 2016
injection into the Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit, the satellite was brought to the final
operational configuration following which it begun providing regular data.
Some of the examples of products generated from SCATSAT-1 are given below.

The SCATSAT-1 data is being

utilized for cyclone monitoring.
Data has been provided
to various user agencies
including NASA, NOAA,
KNMI and EUMETSAT for
validation.
SCATSAT-1 Winds (m/s) Global Coverage
Antarctic as observed by SCATSAT-1, Oct 03-04, 2016 – 3rd and 4th Oct, 2016

16
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Aerosols and South Asian Regional Climate:

ISRO GBP Efforts

Aerosols are the tiny particles in solid or liquid form suspended

in the atmosphere with size ranges from few nanometres to
tens of micrometres. Aerosols are produced by both natural
and anthropogenic activities and exert a variety of impacts
on the environment. They can affect radiation, monsoon
rainfall, stimulate tropical cyclones, cause droughts and floods
and regional climate change through radiative forcing and
microphysical effects. Aerosols directly affect the radiation
balance of the earth – atmosphere system through scattering
and absorption. Aerosols scatter radiation back to space,
thus enhancing the planetary albedo and exerting a cooling in
the atmosphere whereas the absorption radiation by aerosols
such as black carbon causes warming in the atmosphere.
Aerosols also influence the radiation balance indirectly by
altering the cloud optical properties, cloud water content and
life time. The solar heating by absorbing aerosols can evaporate
low level clouds; resulting in a reduction in cloud cover and
albedo leading to a net warming in the atmosphere. One of the
greatest challenges in studying aerosol impacts on climate is
the immense diversity, not only in particle size, composition,
and origin, but also in spatial and temporal distribution. The
consequence of this heterogeneity is that the impact of aerosols
on climate must be understood and quantified on a regional
rather than just a global average basis.

As the world‘s most populated and fast-developing region, Asia

is particularly vulnerable to human activities. In recent decades,
the rapid industrialization and modernization of Asian countries
has greatly increased the loading of aerosols in the atmosphere.
An increasing number of ground-based networks, balloon-
borne and aircraft observations, special field campaigns, and
satellite observations have helped to gain a wealth of new
information regarding the characteristics and climate effects of
aerosols in Asia. The role of aerosols in modulating monsoon
rainfall over India has recently gained increased attention due to Suresh Babu S
heavy and increasing aerosol loading over the region. Recently, Space Physics Laboratory, VSSC
Thiruvananthapuram
it is reported that the elevated deep layers of light-absorbing Email: s_sureshbabu@vssc.gov.in

17
 aerosols over Asian region has the potential to
influence the water cycle by significantly altering
the energy balance. In addition, the elevated layers
of absorbing aerosols over Asian region during
spring raises concerns about aerosol induced
snow darkening and enhanced snow melting over
the Himalayan glaciers. Despite the large number
of studies, there still exist many large gaps in our
knowledge and understanding of Asian aerosols
and their climate effect. Aerosol processes are still
poorly observed and treated in numerical models.
The significant and diverse understanding
of aerosol forcing and climate implication for
Indian region emerged from the sustained
efforts of several decades, with the concerted
efforts using ground-based network, satellite
data, thematic campaigns and modelling (as
shown in Figure 1). The large and persistently
Fig. 1: The overall theme of the aerosol – climate interaction studies under ISRO GBP
18
increasing aerosol abundance over the Indian
region, increasing industrial and urban activities,
energy demand and agricultural practices as well
as the natural scenario set by arid regions adjoining
India as well as the vast expanse due west of
it with its characteristically absorbing soil type,
which generate abundant absorbing mineral dust
aerosols (through winds), which are lofted to mid
and upper troposphere by the strong summer time
convective eddies and transported by the synoptic
winds; all aided by the peculiar orography of this
region and the contrasting meteorology (intense
cold and hot conditions) make this region acauldron
of complex aerosol types.
The earliest scientific measurements of atmospheric
aerosols over India could be traced to the
balloon borne measurements in the nineteen
fifties from Hyderabad. The India Meteorological

Department has carried out the atmospheric
turbidity measurements over India from a network
of stations using a Volz sunphotometer, during
1960’s. However, systematic characterization of
the spatiotemporal properties of atmospheric
aerosols, their spectral, optical and microphysical
properties over the Indian region and assessing their
implications for radiation balance and climate forcing
started only more recently; in the nineteen eighties,
with the initiatives taken by ISRO. Since then, well-
focused and concerted efforts have been made
to generate the climatology of aerosols (optical,
microphysical and chemical properties) over distinct
geographical regions of Indian landmass and the
oceans surrounding it by operating a network of
aerosol observatories as well as conducting periodic
filed campaigns using research ships and aircraft
under various projects of ISRO GBP.
As on now, ISRO maintains the dense network of
aerosol observatories (ARFINET) over India (in fact,
over South Asia) under its Aerosol Radiative Forcing
Fig. 2: Network of aerosol observatories over India under Aerosol
Radiative Forcing over India project of ISRO GBP.
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
over India (ARFI) project, covering almost the entire
distinct landmass regions of India and oceanic
regions around it (Figure 2). ARFINET provides
columnar spectral Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD)
information over India with a fairly good spatial
resolution during clear sky period and of other
climate-sensitive aerosol species such as the Black
Carbon (BC) mass concentration. Information on
the scattering and absorption properties, size
distribution and new particle formation are also
obtained at some of the supersites.
Besides ARFINET, ISRO has conducted several
major experimental campaigns over Indian
subcontinent and adjoining oceanic regions using
mobile aerosol laboratories on-board vehicles, ships
and aircrafts. This includes Land Campaigns (LCI
and LCII), Integrated Campaign for Aerosols gases
and Radiation Budget (ICARB and W_ICARB) and
Regional Aerosol Warming Experiment (RAWEX).
The Integrated Campaign for Aerosols, gases
and Radiation Budget (ICARB) was done in two
phases; the first during spring of 2006 followed
by the W-ICARB during the winter of 2008. These
campaigns synergized intense and highly spatially
resolved measurements of most of the aerosol
parameters by deploying specially instrumented
ships making measurements over 4 million km2 of
oceanic areas around Indian peninsula, aircrafts
making altitude resolved measurements of key
aerosol parameters over the continental outflow
overoceans in tandem with the cruises, and fixed
network observations of the time variation of aerosol
parameters over mainland and islands as well as
satellite data. It was unique in producing the first
3-D characterization (physical, chemical and optical)
of aerosols over the Indian domain, delineating the
various geophysical processes controlling these and
assessing the radiative impacts. Figure 3 shows the
domain and details of activities under the ICARBs.
A wealth of information has emerged from the
ICARB data. These campaigns have been chiefly
19
 Fig. 3: Configuration of the ICARB: (a) Represents the ocean and land segments in which, the lines over the oceanic regions around
Indian peninsula depict the track of the oceanographic research vessel Sagar Kanya with specially instrumented laboratory for aerosol and
atmospheric measurements. The red lines correspond to ICARB-2006 and blue colour the W-ICRAB (2009). (b) Shows the configuration
of the air segment; the points were the bases from which aircrafts were operated, and the lines represent the ground track of the sorties.

instrumental in moulding the current understanding
of south Asian aerosols and their regional impacts.
One of the main hypotheses of RAWEX was
the presence of elevated aerosol layers over the
mainland of India during pre-monsoon season
and that of these elevated layers are capable of
producing higher atmospheric warming. To study
this, concurrent and in situ measurements of Black
Carbon (BC) mass concentration and atmospheric
thermo-dynamical parameters were made using
instruments aboard high-altitude balloons up to
an altitude of about 13 km. The balloon ascents
were made from Hyderabad, during which an
Aethalometer and instruments for measuring
ambient meteorological parameters such as winds,
temperature and relative humidity were taken aboard
~110000 m3 zero-pressure balloons (Figure 4).
The instruments measured BC mass concentration
and concurrent meteorological parameters
during ascending and descending phases,
and the payloads, landing with the help of
parachutes, were recovered and re-used. In
addition to the balloon experiments, with a view
to examining the seasonality in the regional
vertical distribution, extensive measurements
of climate sensitive parameters of aerosols
(scattering coefficients, absorption coefficients,
number size distributions and single scattering
albedo – SSA) have been carried out using an
aircraft (Beech craft 200 of NRSC, Hyderabad)
instrumented with an integrating Nephelometer,
multi-wavelength Aethalometer, aerodynamic
particle sizer, photo acoustic soot spectrometer
and meteorological instruments during winter
2012, spring 2013 and summer of 2015 over
Indian mainland. During this, vertical profiling of
aerosol properties was measured from several base
stations representing Central India (Hyderabad,
Nagpur), Western India (Jaipur and Jodhpur),
IGP (Lucknow, Varanasi, Ranchi, and Patna),
Eastern India (Bhubaneswar) and Himalayan foot
hill region (Dehradun).
The ARFI, ICARB and RAWEX projects of ISRO
Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP) has
brought out several very important scientific results

20
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Fig. 4: High altitude balloon experiment from the TIFR balloon facility at Hyderabad (Left panel). The track of the balloon (middle panel)
and the mean altitude profile of black carbon mass concentration obtained from the experiment (right panel) are also shown.

during last decade, which are published in front end
international journals of reputem as well as, cited
in the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC). The data generated
by these projects are used by the atmospheric
modelling community as well as in the validation
of satellite remote sensing products by both Indian
and international scientific community. In the area
of human resource development, around 40 PhDs
have come out from these projects.
Based on the scientific outcome from the previous
studies, new scientific questions are planned to
address in the coming years especially in the area
of aerosol – Cryosphere interaction which has
direct link to the health of Himalayan glaciers and
aerosol – cloud interaction which is connected to
the role of aerosols on the regional climate such
as South Asian monsoon. An integrated approach
wherein combination of satellite and ground based
observations with regional climate models will be
employed to address these important scientific
issues which are relevant to the South Asian region
in general and to India in particular.

Cooperation in Scatterometry
Implementing Arrangement between ISRO and NASA for cooperation on utilization of data from International Space Station
(ISS) Rapid Scatterometer and ISRO SCATSAT-1 Scatterometer has been signed in December 2016. This will enable
calibration and validation cooperation of the microwave measurements of the ISS-RapidScat and ScatSat-1 instruments
and will advance climate science by providing observations that contribute to improved prediction of the formation and
movement of storms such as hurricanes and cyclones in the seas, and will also support weather and marine forecasting.
Data from the vantage points of ISS-RapidScat and Scatsat-1 will provide scientists near-global direct observations of
how ocean winds vary over the course of the day, while adding extra eyes in the tropics and mid-latitudes to track the
formation and movement of tropical storms. The prediction that incorporates these observations informs the timely evacuation
of areas to be affected in order to save lives and mitigate the damage caused by such natural disasters.

21
 Usage of MODIS multichannel thermal IR data for targeting
specific mineralized areas

The brightness temperature Ti as sensed by the sensor at

satellite altitude can be related to the surface temperature
T s with few approximations. In general, 3-14 µm in the
electromagnetic spectrum is considered as Thermal Infrared
(TIR). However, most remote sensing applications make use
of the 8 to 13 micrometer range. Thermal infrared emits energy
that can be sensed digitally. An infrared remote sensing
sensor records the surface radiance emitted from the earth.
If instrument calibration, atmospheric and topographic
corrections are made, the resulting product represents the
surface temperature (Becker, 1987). The surface temperature
is a measure of the most variable heat sources, which are
transferring heat across the earth-atmosphere interface.

MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) was

launched on board the NASA’s Terra Earth Observing System
(EOS AM-1) Satellite on December 18, 1999. The MODIS
Instrument views the entire Earth’s surface every 1 to 2 days,
with instantaneous fields-of-view (IFOVs) of 250 m (channels
1-2), 500 m (channels 3-7) and 1 km (channels 8-36), acquiring
data in 36 spectral channels, 16 being in the thermal infrared
(TIR) from 3-15 µm (Sobrino et al., 2003). A good amount of
research work has been carried out using MODIS multichannel
thermal IR data for targeting mineralized zones. One such study
carried out in the Singhbhum Shear Zone (SSZ) for targeting
mineralized areas is discussed here.

The Singhbhum Shear Zone lies between latitudes 20°50’N

and 23°24’ N and longitudes 84°56’ E and 87°5’ E, covering
parts of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa States of India.
This area constitutes geologically one of the most complex
and mineralogically rich belts of the Indian subcontinent. The
regional geotectonic/geological map (Saha, 1994) of the study Majumdar TJ1* and Pal SK2
area derived from Landsat imagery and ground data has been
1
Ex-Scientist, SAC (ISRO)
Ahmedabad-380 015, India
presented in Figure 1. The area has been extensively surveyed 2
Department of App. Geophysics
(IIT) Indian School of Mines
using ground-based geological techniques (Dunn, 1929; Saha,
Dhanbad-826 004, India
1994). It has a major tectonic element (Singhbhum Shear Zone) *
Email: tjmajumdar@rediffmail.com

22

that separates the cratonic block (Singhbhum-
Orissa Iron Ore Craton) in the south from the
Proterozoic mobile belt (Singhbhum Mobile Belt) in
the north. It runs in a northward dipping direction
along a northwardly convex arcuate belt for a
length of more than 160 km from Bharagora in the
east to Chakradharpur in the west. The Singhbhum
Shear Zone occurs as a curvilinear belt with an
E–W trend. Singhbhum rocks, like those of other
Precambrian terrains, have undergone many
phases of deformation and metamorphism. In this
study, Reststrahlen Bands (8-14 um) were used to
find out the absorption minimum specific to the
minerals with different contents of quartz, SiO2
e. g., Quartzite, Quartz monazite etc. As a
test case, MODIS multichannel TIR data over
Singhbhum Mineralized zone (containing mainly
mica, quartz and copper) has been utilized to target
the SiO2 rich zones. Similar activities can be taken
up for lithological discrimination of hydrocarbon-
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
Fig. 1: Geological map of the study area (after
Saha, 1994). 1-Older Metamorphic Group; 2-Older
Metamorphic Tonalite-gneiss; 3-Pala Lahara Gneiss;
4-Singhbhum Granite-Phase-I; 5-Singhbhum
Granite-Phase-II and xenolith-dominated areas
of Bonai Granite; 6-Nilgiri Granite; 7-Iron Ore
Group lavas, ultramafics; 8-Iron Ore Group shales,
tuffs, phyllites; 9-BHJ, BHQ and sandstone-
conglomerate of Iron Ore Group; 10-Singhbhum
Granite –Phase-III, Bonai Granite, Chakradharpur
Granite; 11(a)-Singhbhum Group pelites, 11(b)-
mafic bodies 11(c)-carbon phyllite; 12-Singhbhum
Group quartzites; 13-Dhanjori Group(unclassified);
14-Quarzite-conglomerate-pelite of Dhanjori Group;
15-Dhanjari-Simlipal-Jagannathpur-Malangtoli
lavas; 16-Dalma Lavas; 17-Proterozoic Gabbro-
anorthosite-ultramafics; 18-Kolhan Group and
equivalents 19-Mayurbanj Granite; 20-Soda granite,
Arkasani Granite, Kuilapal Granite, alkaline granite;
21-Charnockite; 22-Khondalite; 23-Amphibolite
enclaves (within CGG) 24-pelitic enclaves within
CGG; 25-Chhotanagpur granite-gneiss (CGG);
26-Porphyritic member of CGG; 27-Gondwana
sediments 28-Alluvium, Tertiaries.
bearing rocks, as well, using high resolution
TIR data. The measured radiance from the earth
surface in the thermal infrared region is a function
of both emissivity and temperature information.
Emissivity calculations and subsequent estimation
of land surface temperature (LST) using MODIS
thermal infrared (TIR) bands have opened up new
possibilities for satellite based lithological mapping,
as emissivity is controlled by the composition of
the surface rock and is often used for constituent/
lithological mapping.
The objectives of the study include i) estimation
of LST & radiative emissivity from MODIS TIR
channels, ii) lithological mapping of the Singhbhum-
Orissa Craton and iii) validation of lithological maps.
The land surface temperatures for different
pixels were estimated using two methods, viz.,
Reference Channel and Emissivity Normalization;
23
 whereas, relative emissivities were calculated
by applying three methods, viz., Reference
Channel, Emissivity Normalization and Alpha
Residual. Lithological maps were subsequently
prepared based on the estimated land surface
temperatures and relative emissivity values.
Figure 2 shows the LST calculated over a part of
the Singhbhum Shear Zone and its surroundings
using Emissivity Normalization method from
the MODIS bands 29, 31, 32 and 33 assuming
constant emissivity 0.98. The present study shows
that the Emissivity Normalization method gives
the best results for land surface temperature
estimation and also for lithological discrimination
based on emissivity estimation (Fig. 2) (Majumdar
et al., 2012). Twenty-four litho units demarcated by Fig. 2: LST calculated using Emissivity Normalization method from
the bands 29, 31, 32 and 33 assuming constant emissivity 0.98.
the present study match with those of the published Inferred lithounits over the study area are traced out as shown in
map, (Figure 1) (Saha 1994), while four lithounits of this Figure and in Figure 1 (After Majumdar et al., 2012).

the published map could not be identified in the Further, there is need to develop algorithms
present study. On the other hand, six additional for surface emissivity and surface temperature
unclassified lithounits could be demarcated in the modeling, utilization of ratios of multichannel TIR
present study, which need to be crosschecked data for geological mapping including sedimentary
by field study (Fig. 3) (Majumdar et al., 2012). rocks classification, lithological mapping using
8500’0’E 85030’0’E 8600’0’E 86030’0’E 8700’0’E multichannel TIR data and also more
high resolution data usage in thermal IR
channels.
2300’0’N

2300’0’N

PORAPAHAR
22030’0’N

22030’0’N

BAHARAGORA
2200’0’N

2200’0’N

BARIPADA
21030’0’N

21030’0’N

Fig. 3: Geological map represent comparative

assessment between the published geological map and
the map interpreted from the FCC of band emissivities
extracted using Emissivity Normalization method, over
SSZ. Serial numbers 1 to 28 represent similar lithologies
2100’0’N

as those of Saha (1994). 29-Change in interpreted

2100’0’N

geology / unclassified geology as inferred from

present study [30-unclassified-(A); 31-Unclassified-
(B); 32-Unclassified-(C); 33-Unclassified-(D);
8500’0’E 85030’0’E 8600’0’E 86030’0’E 8700’0’E
34-Unclassified-(E) and 35-Unclassified-F (After
Majumdar et at., 2012)

24
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - MaRch 2017

references lithological mapping over the Singhbhum-Orissa

Becker, F. (1987). The impact of spectral emissivity
on the measurement of land surface temperature
from a satellite. International Journal of Remote
Sen sing 8:1509-1522.
Dunn, J. A. (1929). The geology of north Singhbhum.
Memoir, Geological Society of India, Bangalore.
Majumdar, T. J., Pal, S. K. and Bhattacharya, A. K.
(2012). Generation of emissivity and land surface
temperature maps using MODIS TIR data for
Craton, India. Journal of the Geological Society
of India 80:685-699.
Saha, A.K. (1994). Crustal evolution of Singhbhum
– North Orissa, Eastern India. Memoir, Geological
Society of India, no. 27, 341 p.
Sobrino, J. A., El Kharraz, J. and Li, Z.- L. (2003).
Surface temperature and water vapour retrieval
from MODIS data. International Journal of Remote
Sensing, 24:5161–5182.

resourCesat-2a satellite
Resourcesat 2A with a lift-off mass of 1235kg was
launched on 7th December, 2016 by PSLV-C36
mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre
(SDSC), Shriharikota, India. Resourcesat-2A, is
repeat satellite of Resourcesat-2. The satellite is
built on ISRO’s I1.5K bus structure with payload
system comprising of three Optical remote sensing
cameras, viz., LISS-4, LISS-3 and AWiFS. LISS-4
provides 5.8m resolution data in three bands with
70km swath, LISS-3 provides 23.5m resolution
data in four bands with 141km swath and AWiFS
camera provides 56m resolution data in four bands
with 740km swath.
The spacecraft structure is similar to Resourcesat-2 with Main Frame Platform (MPL) and Payload Platform (PPL)
consisting of Payload deck and rotating deck designed to meet the stiffness, strength and pointing requirements of
the payloads. The Payload deck accommodates LISS-3, AWiFS-A, AWiFS-B camera modules while the LISS-4 is
mounted on the rotating deck. The Main platform accommodates all sub system packages.The solar array is capable of
generating 1250W of power.
There are two 10/8 channel Satellite Positioning Systems (SPSs) which
provide the state vector of the satellite by making use of GPS satellite
constellation. A single 390L capacity tank with 100kg propellant is provided
to meet orbit and attitude requirements for an operational life of 5 years.
Resourcesat 2A is planned to cater to the imagery demands of several
National like National level Crop Acreage and Production Estimation
(CAPE), Integrated Land and Water Resources Management, Ground
water prospects mapping, Wasteland mapping/inventory, Wetland
mapping, Biennial Forest Cover Mapping, Biodiversity characterization,
snow and glaciers studies, infrastructure planning, Disaster Management
Support, etc. Several international agencies are also using the Resourcesat
data like the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which has
been using AWiFS data covering several areas on the globe for estimation
of global agricultural production.

25
 Geoinformation based monitoring and evaluation of
Integrated Watershed Management: Context and Perspectives

Relevance of Watershed based Management

Watershed management defines the core principle of
sustainable natural resource management due to the holism
it connotes. Watershed development helps to take up actions
that arrest degradation and restore ecological balance of a
given landscape (Dwivedi and Ravisankar, 2010) with a strong
societal participation orientation in planning, implementation
and sustenance.

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)

implemented by Department of Land Resources is a flagship
project aiming to restore the ecological balance of degraded
landscapes of rural India, using measures of soil and water
conservation as well as allied socio-economic interventions.
Essence of implementation is emphasis on participatory
interventions using technology in situ, rather than standalone
technical measures as done in earlier approaches. IRS high
resolution satellite images are employed to report the impacts
of IWMP interventions in terms of creation of structures and
cover for all IWMP projects across India to achieve space based
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). Information is served using
a Web GIS interface on Bhuvan ably supported by a Smart
Phone application to report field accomplishments as geotags.
In all 8100 projects are going to be monitored. Srishti is Bhuvan
Geoportal while smart phone app is called Drishti. There are
almost 4.88 Lakh geo tagged photographs placed on Srishti
from all state nodal agency teams facilitating transparent and
precise reporting. Department of Land Resources (DoLR) is
providing all necessary help in building geospatial database.

Keeping in view of the key role watershed management is playing

in ameliorating dry land agriculture, it is brought under national
flagship scheme of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
Ravisankar T1*, Pujar GS1, Reddy KM1, Fyzee MA1
(PMKSY). The flagship programme essentially encompasses Shyamsunder B1 and Diwakar PG2
creation of soil and water conservation measures using manual 1
Rural Devpt and Watershed Monitoring Div.
LRUM Group, RS Area, NRSC, Hyderabad
labour from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment 2
Indian Space Research Organsiation
Guarantee Act and enabling distribution of conserved water New BEL Road, Bengaluru
*Email: ravisankar_t@nrsc.gov.in

26
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

to farms through micro irrigation approach. IWMP
is referred as watershed component of PMKSY
and is going to be an important functional unit of
strengthening rural economy. With this renewed
perspective of integration, remote sensing based
monitoring of the development activities in
tandem with mobile geotagging support would
play an important role in assessing, measuring,
reporting and evaluating the impacts of watershed
management (Figure 1).
• Reduction of run off velocity and enabling
percolation
• Increasing the time of concentration of fast
flowing water
• Stem the soil erosion & enhance the soil
moisture
• Increase the stability of downstream structures/
treatments
• Prioritize treatment of degraded land and attend
poor quality land first

In line with such directives, treatment is varied in

areas dominated by ridges, drainage lines as well
as flatter sections. The treatments adopted are
shown in Figure 2 indicating the context of terrain
in which they are executed. Schematic indicates
the dominant terrain category and treatments can
be applied across domains, for instance, contour
bunding can also be done in crop land in areas
Fig. 1: Evolution of IWMP into key principle of PMKSY, main near to edge. Area treatments are larger number
flagship project for rural development
of activities since physical context and velocity of
Implementation of Watershed water prevalent enables activities that can be done
Management Activities through IWMP to address variety of issues. In hills, options are
Watershed management is implemented by limited since water has higher velocity and need
State Level Nodal Agencies of respective states to be arrested using similar techniques.
in accordance with principles of ridge to valley
treatment addressing about 39.1 million hectare
of the country. Project extents include individual
microwatersheds numbering from 10-15, with
a geographic extent of about 5000-8000 ha. In
addition, projects support to livelihood measures
and promoting micro enterprises. Entry point
activities are also taken up to initiate the community
in to the process (Sharma et. al., 2010) before
taking up treatment measures. Structures and
land cover changes are resultant of this process
and can leave a perceptible signature in satellite
based high resolution imaging, provided they
have caused change in contrast and spread in
land cover elements. Activities carried out adhere
following principles with a clear decentralization
Fig. 2: Different treatments adopted in watershed management
protocol ingrained: across terrain in line with ridge to valley principle

27
 Treatments can be measured and reported
using smart phone based formats along with a
photograph and geolocation to a Web Server in
real time. Activities taken up under IWMP are
provided as standard list in the mobile application
along with parameters of description with regard
to creation, enumerator identity etc. Such reporting
enables clear identification of the activity done on
the satellite image framework of monitoring with
respect to base line image.
Geospatial Information through Bhuvan
as Web GIS Service for IWMP
Multisource information from diverse origins is
integrated using Bhuvan Srishti portal having
different access levels and querying interfaces.
Nature of challenge to render a multiscale
information such as watershed management
Fig. 3: Bhuvan Srishti Interface depicting project boundaries and summary statistics
28
through an information system is quite complex,
especially in view of the wide variety of stakeholders
producing and handling the data created using
spatial and non spatial methods. Remote sensing
and GIS put together can enable high degree of
information fidelity and infuse strong temporal and
spatial clarity essential to visualize, record, analyse
and strategize the operations involved in watershed
management (Dwivedi and Ravisankar, 2010).
Depending upon the degree to which user can
handle the database and analyse, Srishti has been
made accessible to Ministry, State Departments,
Teams at State level nodal agencies as well as to
Citizens. Each can visualize the spatial database
that has been verified and generate report as per
the access allowed.

Interface presents hierarchical way of visualizing
watershed by administrative units, which after
loading can be overlaid with range of natural
resource theme databases. Legacy database
layers corresponding to land use land cover
(1:10K, 50K for years 2005-06 & 11-12), drainage
( 1 : 10 K ) , wa s t e l a n d s ( 1 : 5 0 K fo r 0 8 - 0 9 ) ,
geomorphology (1:50K for 05-06) and salt
affected soils (1:50K for 05-06) as well as cadastral
boundaries wherever available. Soil related
database layers (texture, productivity, erosion and
depth) at coarse scale (1:500K) is also available as
reference overlay.
Geotags uploaded from the Drishti (versions from
1.0 to 2.2) would be visualized with respect to
administrative unit, watershed project, category of
activity and period of collection. Each geotag once
loaded as individual entity can be visualized with a
click for its parameters and a photograph (Figure 4).
Fig. 4: Spread of points of interest and a geotag showing the details captured from ground inventory
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
Web service rendered also consists of an open
source GIS based planning tool for taking up
remote sensing and GIS based watershed planning
activity essential to add value to either future plan
or to suggest revision post participatory revisions.
Customised interface renders customized toolbars
to create spatial database corresponding to
watershed activity locations involving high
resolution satellite image and legacy layers for
a specific project and adopt it upon verification
by appropriate authority. This planning tool has
potential to internalize both planning as well as
evaluation in a single interface and help to develop
unified database on watershed management
(Pujar et al., 2015).
Impact analysis is carried out using high resolution
color images using online / offline approach with
respect to geotag location and information. Image
content analysed by expert is evaluated against
29
 availability of geotag report and reports created.
National level analysis is being initiated involving
respective state remote sensing centres so as
to exploit the synergy of state level information
network and enable complete convergence of
evidences (Figure 5). Apart from this, Srishti also
enables uploading of spatial layers essential for
monitoring directly by state agencies as draft
content for approval by central database facility
through the facility of add layer tool. Towards
facilitating basic measurement of land cover
elements Bhuvan interface provides simple tools
of distance, area mensuration as well as scope to
digitize on the image surface and download.
Fig. 5: Assessing the impact of IWMP activity through high
resolution imaging on bhuvan with support of geotag of activity
Fig. 6: Latest App enables web based registration to Bhuvan Server for the completed Geotag database (left section), which in turn serves
list of activities (right section) done. App has tools to capture GPS, photo and attributes for existing or new activities (middle section)
30
Smart Phone Based Application for
Monitoring IWMP Activities
Towards realizing the objective of modernizing
the field data collection process for monitoring
watershed activities, the smart phone based
application was suitably designed and developed.
The application effectively utilizes free and open
source technologies and leverages the power
of geo-visualization and data management
capabilities of the existing Bhuvan platform. The
requirements of the solution were envisaged in two
parts. 1) A device based software solution to collect
field data and send to central servers. 2) A server
side software solution to archive received data in
centralized storage system, geo-visualization of
archived data, provision to review each observation
by technical experts on existing Bhuvan platform.
Navigation of the software from module to module is
linked with work flow of the data capturing, storing
and sending to Bhuvan server (Figure 6). The work
flow consists of following critical stages of execution
to record the information relevant for monitoring
a) Creation of profile for each the enumerator
so that identity of the contributor is preserved
distinctly all through the database

b) Geotagging the asset / activity per se on the
entity itself exactly and freezing it so that tag is
placed precisely for the entity
c) Facility to photograph the entity from
two distinct directions so as to cover the
comprehensive detail of the object optimally.
d) Recording the details of the activity as per the
requirement of the project and its quality check
by the user, once it is recorded
e) Adding any additional remark, which may not
be available as specific column in the app
f) Sending of the information through internet
instantly to server
g) Saving of the content in case of weak internet
connectivity and handling the uploading later
as and when network is restored.
h) Maintaining a check list of the point of
interests uploaded and to be uploaded
Application is designed basically to address the
requirements of field personnel in a comprehensive
manner. It takes care of monitoring needs
completely with respect to all activities carried
out under IWMP. Smart phone based interface
is available in Hindi, which makes it more user
friendly. Feedbacks received during the training
sessions conducted to cover about 1000 personnel
across various states, were highly favorable and
contained satisfaction by the users for having
been provided such a tool for this purpose. Point
of interest exceeding 4.88 Lakh across the country,
is a testimony for the ease and relevance that is
built in to this app.
Future Scope of Monitoring and
Evaluation of IWMP and Mission Water
Conservation
Watershed principle is now adopted as integral
to Water Conservation Mission under PMKSY
and is going to drive the rural development
approach in terms of micro irrigation as well as
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
employment generation for the poor and landless.
Current framework of Bhuvan based monitoring
and evaluation, along with a proposed planning
interface for the specific purpose, coupled with
planning and monitoring smart phone application
is having great potential in realizing the transparent
implementation of this new paradigm. States are
initiating this approach with keen emphasis on
intensive participatory revision of district irrigation
plans, so that, needs of grassroot stakeholders
are verifiably catered. Spatial information, with an
innate capacity to go beyond language barriers
once oriented as a map, can furnish wide ranging
capacities in all stakeholder communities and bring
in the innovative inputs in to a framework of scientific
database. This alone ensures consolidated connect
to rural inhabitants for achieving employment, soil
and water health, sustained farm production as
well as foolproof livelihood mechanisms, which can
help in getting appropriate land cover information
to plan, assess, monitor and evaluate activities
and their impact under integrated watershed
management.
References
Dwivedi, R.S. and Ravishankar, T. (2010). Watershed
Management : A Geospatial Technology Perspective.
In : Watersheds: Management, Restoration and
Environmental Impact (Ed: Vaughn, J.C). ISBN :
978-1-61668-667-3.116-159 pp.
Sharma, U.C, Datta,M and Sharma, V (2010).
Watershed Approach for resource conservation,
environment quality and food security in the
Indian Himalayas. In : Watersheds: Management,
Restoration and Environmental Impact (Ed: Vaughn,
J.C). ISBN : 978-1-61668-667-3. 1-64 pp.
Pujar, G. S. Reddy, K. M. Ravisankar, T. Diwakar
P .G. and.Dadhwal, V.K (2015). Monitoring and
evaluating integrated watershed management
using open source web GIS based information
system. Natl. Symp on “Geomatics for Digital India”
16-18 December, 2015, Jaipur.
31
 Assessment of Forest Vegetation
carbon pools

Introduction
Climate Change is one of the most important global
environmental challenges affecting all natural tropical and
subtropical forest ecosystems. Forests are of fundamental
importance to environmental function and to sustainability, and
they provide many goods and services critical to individuals and
societies besides acting as a natural carbon sinks. Vegetation/
forests sequester atmospheric carbon and therefore, play an
important role in energy and mass exchange on earth and
sustenance of the life on the planet earth. However, threat
of global warming due to increased levels of Green House
Gases (GHG) in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel burning,
industrialization, decreased forest cover etc., in last 150 years
have spurred research interest in forest carbon cycle.

Carbon-di-oxide is major constituent of GHGs and plays a

major role in altering the radiation balance. In recent years,
quantification of CO2 has received much attention because of
its increasing concentration in the atmosphere above natural
background levels and is expected to rise in the near future
in the present scenario. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, and is
reported by global research community to be causing a rise in
global temperatures. This is considered as one of the primary
cause of climate change and perhaps an important reason
for increasing interest in the carbon cycle. The major pools of
carbon are lithosphere (earth’s crust), ocean, soil, atmosphere
and the biosphere. Depending upon the temporal scale and
location, all of these can act as sinks or sources of carbon.
Whether India is a net sink or source of carbon cannot be
unambiguously answered. Systemic studies, therefore, are Chandra Shekhar Jha1*, Rajashekar
required to assess the pools and fluxes of carbon to arrive at Gopalakrishnan1, Sudhakar Reddy Chintala1,
Kiran Chand Thumaty1, Gaurav Srivastava1,
the country level carbon budget. Under ISRO Geosphere and Suraj Reddy Rodda1, Rakesh1, Jayant Singhal,
Biosphere programme, a National Carbon Project (NCP) has Piyush Joshi1, Vinay Kumar Dadhwal2 and
Krishna Murthy YVN1
been taken up during 11th Five Year Plan. 1
National Remote Sensing Centre (ISRO),
Department of Space, Government of India
Hyderabad-500 037
The retrieval of forest characteristics is currently one of the 2
Indian Institute of Space Science and
main research topics of the remote sensing community with Technology, Thiruvananthapuram
*Email: jha_cs@nrsc.gov.in

32

the accurate estimation of carbon emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation
being a major challenge. Estimations of forest
biomass and its change are impor tant for
assessing historical and present anthropogenic
C releases from forests and also in evaluating the
possibilities of future potential C sequestration
(Tan et al., 2007). Forest carbon stock estimation
is a sensitive research topic since information on
forest spatial distribution, biomass levels, and
dynamics is needed for greenhouse gases flux
estimation and, thus, policy development and
implementation.
In India, several studies have been carried out for
estimating carbon at local and national level (Kishwan
et al., 2011; Ravindranath et al., 1997; Chhabra
et al., 2002; Haripriya 2000; Lal and Singh, 2000).
The understanding balance of temporal changes
in net carbon balance as well as its spatial pattern
requires creation of consistent and reliable
national-scale digital database. Remote sensing
coupled with ancillary data, historical and future
data sets are also require and can be created
only through data intergradations approach and
modeling respectively.
This present study reports on the major objectives,
research analysis and results on vegetation carbon
pools being carried out as part of the sub-project
Vegetation Carbon Pools (VCP)
Objectives
The present on “National Vegetation Carbon Pool
Assessment” aims at providing much needed
datasets of the estimates, monitor and model
terrestrial carbon cycle of India.
• Geospatial assessment of terrestrial phytomass
and terrestrial vegetation carbon using satellite
remote sensing and ground sampling.
• Geospatial assessment of change in terrestrial
phytomass and terrestrial vegetation carbon
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
of India through a re-inventory of field sites
established in Phase-I programme.
• Develop algorithms to scale forest stand
characteristics and biophysical parameters
from the plot to stand and regional levels and
quantify errors and uncertainties in scaling forest
characteristics from small plots to large areas.
• Investigate the relationship between total
net primary production and net ecosystem
exchange and develop models to describe the
environmental and ecological controls on forest
productivity and carbon stocks.
• Study long term variations in forest productivity
and carbon stocks.
Methods
Methods rely upon field inventory for estimation of
plot level forest phytomass covering all forest types
of India and up-scaling the information to regional
and national level using satellite remote sensing
data sets covering optical and microwave (Synthetic
Aperture Radar – SAR) regions. Methods also
consider using aerial and terrestrial LiDAR data for
volume and subsequent phytomass estimation of
forests. Ground inventory has been done in 2009-10
as part of the VCP project covering ~ 6000 sampling
plots and forest phytomass at plot level has been
estimated (Dadhwal et al., 2009). Ground inventory
for phase-2 in progress. Large plot data (1ha) for
precise estimation of phytomass is also in progress
over India. Empirical, semi-empirical, spectral and
data mining approaches were applied for spatial
upscaling of ground based data to regional and
national forest phytomass estimates.
Ground measured component such as diameter at
breast height, tree height were converted to tree
volume using species specific allometric volume
equations. Species specific wood densities were
used to convert tree volume to tree biomass.
33
 Results
• Spatially explicit Tier-III based carbon pool
change assessment over India
• Establishment of network of large permanent
observatory sites (including forest flux tower
observation sites) for long term regional scale
studies on terrestrial carbon cycle
• Remote sensing based methods to upscale field
plot/ stand level measurements to large areas
• Models to describe environmental and
ecological controls on forest productivity and
carbon stocks
Carbon change analysis over 1994-2010
• Stratify and multiply approach were used to
estimate 5 km grid based biomass estimate for
the country using VCP phase I data.
• Stratification of biomass was done at agro-
ecological sub-regions. Dense and open forest
biomass densities at agro-ecological sub-
regions were used to estimate biomass.
• Grid based (5 km) Phytomass density and
change estimation using Phase-1 field data.
• Biomass estimates for 1994 are based on the
field inventory carried by Forest survey of India
(Chhabra et al., 2002).
Fig. 1: Grid based (5 km) Phytomass density and change estimation using Phase-1 field data.
34
Forest phytomass C density was estimated using
the following equation:
PD=GS×WD×CC×RC×BEF
Where PD is forest phytomass C density
(tha-1), GS the growing stock (m3), WD the density of
wood (g/cc), RC the root correction factor = 1.16
(Chhabra et al., 2002a), CC the carbon content of
the wood = 0.5 and BEF the biomass expansion
factor
Phase I field data collected from 6,028 sample plots
and was analysed to estimate phytomass density
at the 5km grid level for the country (Figure 1). The
estimates were compared with phytomass density
for the country estimated using data collected by
the Forest Survey of India. The study showed that
phytomass C in 1994 was 3911 TgC which increased
by 457TgC to 4368TgC in 2010.These results indicate
that Indian forest are sequestering the carbon.
Random forest regression model
Clustered sampling approach was followed in
field inventory. Each site of 250m size includes
four 0.1 ha size plots. Inventory plots were overlaid
over 250m spatial resolution imagery. Area
weighted biomass at each site were used in random
forest regression.

Ground measurement of biomass as 6028 sample
plot of 0.1 ha size were used for national biomass
estimates using a k-nn. Additionally, 432 DBT
sample plots (Roy et al., 2012) over Eastern and
Western ghat were added in order to have highly
representative datasets over the study region.
NDVI statistics and phenology generated from
16 day composite MODIS data filtered using the
Savitzky-Golay method for the full growing season
phenology was used along with bioclimate and
topography to develop the spatial estimates. Along
with these, ALOS PALSAR HH and HV backscatter
and canopy height (Simard et al., 2011) were also
used as input layers.
Fig. 2: Spatial estimates of biomass based on random forest
distance measure using MODIS data
Random forest regression model estimate the
country’s biomass with correlation coefficient
of 0.90 and RMSE of 43.98 tha-1. Ground based
biomass density for the country varies up to 490
tha-1, with an average biomass density of 140.57
tha-1. RMSE of 43.98 gives percentage error of
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
31.2 % on average biomass density. Biomass
stored in country’s forest is estimated as 8227.37 Mt
which is equivalent to 4113.68 Mt carbon (Figure 2).
ICESat GLAS derived height in biomass
estimation
ICESat GLAS shots (1248 shots collected in 2009)
over Madhya Pradesh were analysed to recover
stand height using waveform analysis techniques.
387 ground plots collected as part of VCP
Phase I field study were used to study the
relationship between field measured height
and biomass with parameters derived from the
waveform analysis (Figure 3).
Fig. 3: Spatial biomass estimation based on stand height using
GLAS data
Estimated above ground biomass map by GLAS
data across Madhya Pradesh by using k-nn
interpolation and Random Forests Algorithm
A multiple linear regression model between
measured Lorey’s height and above ground biomass
from field plots (n=61) vs extracted GLAS waveform
parameters (HOME, H25, H75) was developed.
The relationship was used to calculate Lorey’s
height for the remaining footprints and to estimate
biomass using a using a k-nn imputation employing
a random forest distance measure.
35
 ALOS-PALSAR L band data based forest
above ground biomass estimation
Above Ground Biomass (AGB) of central Indian
deciduous forests of Madhya Pradesh (M.P.)
state, India, was estimated using Advanced Land
Observing Satellite Phased Array type L-band
Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS-PALSAR) L-band
data of year 2010 in conjunction with field based
AGB estimates using empirical models.
Digital numbers of gridded 1°×1° dual polarization
(HH & HV) PALSAR mosaics for the study area
were converted to normalized radar cross section
(sigma naught - σ ). A total of 415 sampling plots
0 to high spatial resolution, saturate at biomass
(0.1 ha) data collected over the study area during
2009-10 was used in the present study.
Plot-level AGB estimates using volume equations
representative to the study area were computed
using field inventory data. The plot-level AGB
estimates were empirically modeled with the
PALSAR backscatter information in HH, HV and
their ratios from different forest types of the study
area (Figure 4).
Fig. 4: Spatial estimates of forest above ground biomass using
ALOS PALSAR L-Band data
The HV back scatter information showed better
relation with field based AGB estimates with a
coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.509 which
was used to estimate spatial AGB of the study
area. Results suggested a total AGB of 367.4 Mt
36
for forests of M.P. state. Further, validation of the
model was carried out using observed vs. predicted
AGB estimates, which had a root mean square error
(RMSE) of ±19.32 t/ha. The model reported robust
and defensible relation for observed vs. predicted
AGB values of the study area.
Stand / Structure based biomass
assessment in high biomass forest
Cartosat data successfully demonstrated spatial
biomass estimation based on textural measures
Space-borne optical and radar signals of medium
levels above 200–250 Mg/ha. Evergreen forests can
support phytomass densities well above that level.
Fourier Textural Ordination was to predict above
ground biomass, using IRS Carto Sat satellite data
for the wet evergreen tropical forests of Uppangala,
in the Western Ghats of India. Relationships with
texture measures were developed using reliable
estimates of the above ground biomass collected
from 15 sample points of 1 ha size plots with
biomass calculated using a regional allometric
model built by revisiting a unique destructive data
set (Figure 5). The study also examines the utility
of textural analysis in the deciduous forests of
Yellapur. Field data for the study was collected from
14 sites measuring 1 ha dimension.
Fig. 5: Spatial biomass estimation based on texture measures
using Cartosat data
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Active Sensor Data Methods were also developed to extract alpha

Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR applications in Yellapur
forest site
LiDAR sensors generate dense point clouds which
enable the three dimensional reconstruction
of forest stand/ structural parameters and the
horizontal and vertical distribution of forest
biomass at the tree and stand levels.
Several study sites (Uppangala and Yellapur in
Karnataka, Betul, Madhya Pradesh, Achanakmar,
Chattisgarh and Sundarbans) of about 100 sq
km each were selected to represent Evergreen,
transitional, Teak, Sal and mangrove forest
systems. Aerial LiDAR data with high point density
has been collected in these sites.
volumes of trees. This is expected to relate strongly
to tree allometry measured on field. Work on
methods to localize trees from three dimensional
analysis of point clouds is in progress.Terrestrial
lidar scanners generate point clouds of forest
from an oblique view. They offer the ability of
measuring tree volume directly rather than through
an allometric equation and hold the promise of
precise and accurate estimates of tree volumes in
different fractions. Methods are in development for
estimation of tree volumes using TLS scans. Three
forest plots of approximately 1 ha were scanned
in Yellapur, Karnataka to develop the methods
(Figure 7).

In Uppangala, a study was carried out to assess

the capability and complementarity of three
methods for assessing AGB at the plot level, viz.
point Distributional Approach (DM), Canopy Volume
Profile Approach (CVP), 2D canopy grain approach
(FOTO), and also to evaluate the potential of a
Topographical Complexity Index (TCI) to explain
part of the variability of AGB with slope. AGB
biomass models were developed using a best
subset and model performance was assessed
through cross-validation. Results demonstrated Fig. 7: Extraction of alpha volume of trees using terrestrial laser
scanner data
that the variability in AGB could be efficiently
captured when variables describing both the vertical Acknowledgement
(DM or CVP) and horizontal (FOTO) structure are The present work has been carried out as part
combined. Model quality is further improved when of ISRO’s National Carbon Project. We gratefully
TCI is considered, accounting for spatial variation acknowledge ISRO-DOS Geosphere Biosphere
of forest structure with slope (Figure 6). Programme for supporting this research.

Fig. 6: Improved biomass model using DM, CVP and FOTO approaches

37
 References
Chhabra, A. Palria, S. and Dadhwal, V.K. (2002).
Spatial distribution of phytomass carbon in Indian
forests. Global Change Biology, 8, pp1230-1239.
Chhabra, A., Palria, S. and Dadhwal, V.K. (2002a).
Growing stock based forest biomass estimates
for India. Biomass and Bioenergy, 22, pp.187-194.
Dadhwal, V.K., Singh, S. and Patil, P. (2009).
Assessment of phytomass carbon pools inforest
ecosystems in India. NNRMS Bulletin.Dept. of
Space, No. 33, PP 41-47.
Haripriya, G.S. (2000). Estimate of biomass in
Indian forests. Biomass Bioenergy 19:245.
Kishwan, J., Pandey, R. and Dadhwal, V.K. (2011).
India’s Forest and Tree Cover: Contribution as a
Carbon Sink. Indian Council of Forestry Research
and Education.Technical Paper.
Lal, M. and Singh, R. (2000). Carbon sequestration
potential of Indian forests. Environmental Monitoring
and Assessment, 60, 315-327.
Ravindranath, N.H., Somashekhara, B.S.
and Gadgil, M. (1997). Carbon flows in Indian
forests. Climate Change, 35, pp. 297-320.
Roy, P.S., Kushwaha, S.P.S., Murthy, M.S.R., Roy,
A., Kushwaha, D., Reddy, C.S., Behera, M.D.,
Padalia, H., Mathur, V.B., Singh, S., Jha, C.S. and
Porwal, M.C., (2012). Biodiversity Characterisation
at Landscape Level: National Assessment. Indian
institute of remote sensing, Dehradun, India.ISBN
81-901418-8-0, 2012.
Simard, M., Pinto, N., Fisher, J. B. and Baccini, A.
(2011). Mapping forest canopy height globally with
space borne lidar. Journal of Geophysical Research
VOL. 116, G04021, doi:10.1029/2011JG001708.
Tan, K., Piao S., Peng, C. and Fang, J., (2007).
Satellite-based estimation of biomass carbon
stocks for northeast China’s forests between 1982
and 1999. Forest Ecology and Management, 240(1),
114–121.

Microwave data exchange with Canada

“Implementing Arrangement between ISRO and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) concerning Compact Polarimetry
Calibration and Validation Project” was signed and exchanged in December 2016. This enables sharing of data from
India’s RISAT-1 and Canada’s RADARSAT-2 satellites and carrying out joint experiments using the SAR data.

International Space Events in India in 2017

38th ASIAN CONFERENCE OF REMOTE SENSING
(38th ACRS)
“Space Applications: Touching Human Lives”
Oct 23-27, 2017, New Delhi, India

24th SESSION OF ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL SPACE AGENCY

Forum (APRSAF-24)
“SPACE for Enhanced Governance and Development”
November 14-17, 2017, Bangalore, India

38
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) - for theManagement and

Monitoring of Natural Resources and Disasters

Introduction
Unmanned aerial vehicle - UAV popularly known as drone, is an
airborne system or an aircraft operated remotely by a human
operator or autonomously by an onboard computer. There are
two broad classes of UAVs- Fixed wing and Rotary based. The
fixed wing UAV can carry bigger sensors as payloads for longer
distances with higher endurance and can fly during rough windy
conditions. The rotary based UAVs are capable for takeoff
and landing vertically, hover and perform agile manoeuvring
to maintain a visual on a single target for extended periods
of time. The fundamental advantage of UAVs is that they are
not burdened with the physiological limitations and economic
expenses of human pilots and Scientists can conduct research
in much more flexible way (Everaerts J., 2008). UAVs are
cheaper, smaller and lighter than manned aerial vehicles. UAV
operations are far less expensive than any manned aircraft and
far more environmentally friendly (generate less CO2 and noise).

UAV based Remote Sensing (UAV-RS) has enabled the rapid

collection of high resolution data over a region of interest and
emerged as an efficient tool supplementing satellite based
remote sensing. With the fast growing need for highly accurate
and detailed observation data required in many applications
such as environmental, agricultural and natural resources
monitoring, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) has emerged as
an efficient supplement to remote sensing data. Low altitude
UAVs has seen significant growth in recent years, as they
offer flexibility and rapidity of use and low operational cost. In
addition, UAVs can be of great value in observations carried
out in an environment that may be harmful or dangerous to an
aircrew such asforest fire monitoring, landslides, Floods etc.
(Réstas, 2006; Martínez-de Dios, 2006; Casbeer, 2006). There
have been increased number of applications of UAV remote
sensing such as agricultural monitoring and assessment
Chirag Gupta*, BK Handique, Dibyajyoti Chutia,
(Herwitz et al., 2004, Anen and Nebiker et al ., 2007, Handique Victor Saikhom, Puyam S Singh, Avinash
et al 2016), forest resource assessment including wildlife Chouhan, KK Sarma & PLN Raju
North Eastern Space Applications Centre
monitoring (Weissenteiner et al 2015, Vermeuleno et al 2013,
Umiam, Meghalaya
Sarda-Palomera et al. 2012), disaster management, large scale *Email: chirag.gupta@nesac.gov.in

39
 land use land cover mapping, 3D modelling etc. The
huge amount of data, provided by UAVs, represents
a new challenge regarding developments of
processing, storage and transmission techniques.
This article focuses on the initiatives of North
Eastern Space Applications Centre (NE-SAC) in
the applications of UAV for the management and
monitoring of natural resources and disasters and
showcased a few recent studies carried out in NER.
UAV Remote Sensing applications-
case studies at NESAC
NESAC has taken initiativesin design and
assembling of UAV for various applications.
Different components of the UAV are selected
based on the design parameters and assembled
as per the requirements. A hex copter designed
and assembled by NESAC is shown in the
Figure 1, which can carry maximum payload up
to 2.5 Kg, of different sensors such as thermal,
Fig. 1: The customizable Hex copter
Table 1: Test flight Results of Hex Copter
Sl. No. Design criterion Design parameter
1 Payload capacity Up to 2.5 kgs
2 Flight endurance Up to 30 mins
3 Fly options Manual, GPS aided, All tested successfully
Autonomous
4 Fly height Up to 2 Kms
5 Fly range Up to 2 Kms
40
multispectral, optical, hyperspectral or LIDAR. The
design parameters of the hex copter are given in
the Table 1. A number of flight tests have been
carried out to check the capability of the UAV as per
design parameters. The flight performance of the
hex copter was tested in terms of payload carrying
capability, endurance, flight height and coverage.
All test flight results have been found satisfactory
considering the proposed flight plans for different
applications. The centre is also equipped with a
ready-to-fly quad copter (Inspire 1 manufactured
by DJI) The aircraft used was of Model T600
having total weight 2935g (Figure 2). The hovering
accuracy of the aircraft is given as Vertical: 0.5 m
and Horizontal: 2.5 m with maximum ascent speed
of 5m/s and maximum descent speed of 4m/s with
maximum horizontal speed of 22m/s. An X3 camera
was used having Model name FC 350 with Field
of view of 940. Total pixel is 12.76 with effective
pixels of 12.4M.
Fig. 2: Ready to fly Quad copter
Test flight results
A maximum of 1.5 kgs was tested
15 mins for 1.5 kgs payload and 25 mins for GoPro/
YI action camera (weight less than 100 gms)
Tested up to 500 mts which was good enough
for required applications
Tested up to 1.8 kms with clear line of sight

Fig. 3: Flight test of fixed wing UAV was carried out successfully at NESAC
Table 2: Test flight Results of experimental fixed wing UAV
Sl. No. Design criterion Design parameter
1 Payload capacity Up to 0.5 kgs
2 Flight endurance Up to 30 mins
3 Fly options Manual
4 Fly height Up to 0.5 Kms
5 Fly range Up to 1 Kms
In addition, centre has also indigenously developed
a fixed wing UAV (Figure 3) and the flight test was
successfully carried out on 1st November, 2016 at
NESAC. The flight endurance of the fixed wing UAV
was found maximum 20 mins which can cover 0.5
kms within the clear line of sight at a flight height of
0.3 Kms. Maximum of 0.2 kgs carrying capability
as payloads was tested within the endurance of
20 mins. The design parameters along with flight
test results are given in the Table 2.
The multi rotor based UAV has been flown in
different areas of NE states as part of technology
developmental activities. Few tests were made
based on the demands from the respective
District Administrations of NE region. Some of the
important case studies made by the centre are
highlighted below:
Mapping of landslide affected area: Mapping of
landslide affected area was taken at the request
of District Disaster Management Authority of Ri
Bhoi district, Meghalaya.The NH-40 connecting
Guwahati to Shillong city is considered to be the
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
Test flight results
A maximum of 0.2 kgs was tested
Tested up to 20 mins with 0.2 kgs of payload
Tested successfully
Tested up to 0.3 Kms
Tested up to 0.5 kms with clear line of sight
life line of Meghalaya State. Some part of the areas
along the both sides of the road near Nongpoh is
prone to severe landslides. A number of landslides
during rainy season had been occurred that caused
loss of life and properties. Mapping of landslide
affected areas was carried out at the request of the
District Disaster Management Authority of Ri Bhoi
district. UAV was deployed over selected landslide
areas along the road to capture 2D and 3D view of
the affected areas. UAV flight was carried for about
6 mins and flight height was maintained at 100 m
elevation from ground level. Image captured with
a ground pixel resolution of 4.64 cms and further
processed in GIS domain to estimate the area and
volume of the affected sites. The approximate 3D
area (considering the slope) and volume comes out
to be 4534 m2 and 7445 m3 (Figure 4) respectively.
Terrain 3D length was calculated to be 304 m
and projected 2D length was calculated to be
278 m. These area and volume estimates would
help district administration to adopt effective
disaster mitigation tools such as constructing a
retaining wall along the road to minimize risk of
landslides in future.
41
 Fig. 4: 3D View of Landslide Scar

Crop damage assessment due to pest affected; whereas with immediate intervention
infestation: measures, part of the crop area could be saved.
Farmers from Morigaon district of Assam reported
sudden outbreak of Plant Brown Hopper (BPH)
infestation during the month of April, 2016 in their
Boro paddy (summer paddy). At the request of
the District Agricultural Officer, Morigaon, UAV
survey was conducted in four severely affected in
the district viz., Naramari, Mikirbheta, Bhurbandha
and Jaluguti. The elevation of the UAV was
maintained at approximately 120 m. At this height,
ground resolution obtained was about 8cm and Fig. 5: Infested fields in Naramari Village, Morigaon District, Assam
the infested areas could clearly be distinguished.
Multiple images were obtained with a camera
shutter speed of 5 seconds per picture (Figure 5).
Figure 6 shows categorization of BPH infested rice
fields. Rice plots having more than 60% infestation,
categorized as severely affected, less than 60% is
categorized as moderately affected. It was found
that out of total area of 58 ha, 1.5 ha was severely
affected and 4 hawas moderately affected. It
has been mentioned that there will be hardly any
output from the crop fields categorized as severely Fig. 6: Categorization of BPH infested rice fields

42

Large scale mapping of Nongpoh town
of Meghalaya: Large scale survey was carried
out at the request of the Office of the Deputy
Commissioner of Nongpoh to support town
planning activities. Flight was taken at 120 m height
along the NH-40 for a period of 12 minutes with area
coverage of 0.84 Sq. Km. The image was acquired
with a ground pixel resolution of 5 cms. The land
use information extracted out form the image of
part of Nongpoh town (Figure 7) is presented in
the Figure 8. Figure 7 shows the existing land use
comprised of 27+ land use classes including the
minor single land features of the town. All the land
features were correctly identified and mapped in
GIS domain. Even, building structure, road types,
lay-overs, open space, even single trees, petrol
tanks, etc. could be mapped properly (Figure 8).
This type of information will form the basis and
accurate information for planning in general and
designing technical interventions in particular.
Fig.7: Part of Nongpoh Town as viewed from UAV Image, 2016
Fig. 8: Land Use of part of Nongpoh Town as classified from UAV
Image, 2016
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
3-Dimensioinal terrain model
construction: The realistic and aesthetically
pleasing 3D mesh models, accurate 3D models
for volumetric analysis etc. can be generated from
the UAV imagery. Generation of high precision and
accurate DEM/DSM models is also possible which
can be use as input for various remote sensing
projects. Figure 9 shows the 3D reconstruction of
Municipal Urban Development Authority (MUDA)
shopping complex of Nonghpoh town using the
UAV images with a ground pixel resolution of 5
cms. Urban town or city planning can be realized
in the 3D terrain model superimposed with actual
texture features. It helps the decision makers to
get a realistic view of the existing architectures as
well as the proposed plan.
Fig.9: 3D Reconstruction: MUDA Shopping Complex, Nongpoh
Applications, operational challenges
and Issues
UAVs can do efficient survey for disaster prone
or physically inaccessible areas, quick damage
assessment of landslides, floods and earthquakes
for enabling relief measures. The ability to quickly
deploy and acquire to get valuable and accurate
products can greatly enhance the decision making,
particularly during disasters. The high resolution
spatial products such as ortho photos, elevation
model, contours, terrain profile and volume derived
from UAV imagery can further improve workflows
and decision making process for a variety of
applications. In addition, many applications require
larger coverage of study to be captured seamlessly.
However, it requires UAV to operate in a much
higher altitude, which may violate the guidelines of
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
43
 Fixed-wing UAVs have limitations in terms of
complex designs, difficult stabilizing mechanism,
requirement of a long runway and difficult to
operate in hilly terrain. However, they have
advantages in terms of long endurance and large
payload capabilities. On the other hand, multirotor
UAVs use vertical takeoff and landing and have
been found more appropriate in hilly and complex
terrain. However, unlike most fixed wing models
of UAVs, the rotary wing models generally have a
much shorter flight time.
There are large numbers of UAV data demandsfor
various applications. However, it restricts its
application to a certain extent because of certain
issues like – i) limitation in the size of the study area,
ii) constraint in processing of large volume of data,
iii) requirement of high processing & large storage
space etc. In addition, existing features capturing
and extraction techniques need to be improved
for processing of high dimensional UAV data.
The technique of photogrammetry and computer
vision has a big role to play for accurately and
automatically processing of UAV sourced imagery.
There are other issues related to the sensor
geometrical parameters, atmospheric affects etc.
required to resolve to get accurate UAV imagery.
Realizing the potential, NESAC with the support
of North Eastern Council (NEC) is procuring large
number of UAVs for all State Remote Sensing
Centres (SRSAC) and encouraging them to use
for variety of applications specific to each State
of North Eastern Region.
References
Archer, F. et al., 2004. Introduction, overview, and
status of the Microwave Autonomous Copter
System (MACS). In: Proceedings of IGARSS 200,
Anchorage, Alaska, USA.
Colomina, I. et al. 2007. The uVISION project for
helicopterUAV photogrammetry and remote-
sensing. Proceedings of the 7th Geomatic Week,
Barcelona, Spain
44
Eisenbeiss, H., Zhand, L., 2006. Comparison of DSMs
generated from mini UAV imagery and terrestrial
laserscanner in a cultural heritage application. In: The
International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote
Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Dresden,
Germany, Vol. XXXVI part 5
Gregory, R. D., Gibbons, D. W. & Donald, P. F. Bird
census and survey techniques in Bird ecology
and conservation: a handbook of techniques (eds
Sutherland, W. J., Newton, I. & Green, R.) 1–35
(Oxford University Press, 2004)
Haarbrink, RB., Koers, E., 2006. Helicopter UAV
for Photogrammetry and Rapid Response. In:
The International Archives of Photogrammetry,
Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences,
Antwerp, Belgium, Vol. XXXVI-1/W44
Handique, B.K., Goswami, J., Qadir, A., Gupta,
C., Raju, P.L.N., Rapid assessment of boro paddy
infested by brown planthopper in Morigaon district,
Assam, India, using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
Current Science, VOL. 111, No. 10, 25 Nov. 2016.
Jarrod C. Hodgson, Shane M. Baylis, Rowan
Mott, Ashley Herrod& Rohan H. Clarke Precision
wildlife monitoring using unmanned aerial vehicles;
Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 22574
Everaerts J., The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs) for Remote Sensing and Mapping. The
International Archives of the photogrammetry,
Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Services,
Vol. XXXVII part B1, Beijing, 2008.
Kerr, J.T. and Ostrovsky, M. 2003: From space to
species: ecological applications for remote sensing.
TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution 18, 299–305.
Martínez-de Dios, J.R., et al., 2006. Experimental
results of automatic fire detection and monitoring
with UAVs. Forest Ecology and Management 234
(2006) S232.
Réstas, A., 2006. The regulation Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle of the Szendro Fire Department supporting
fighting against forest fires 1st in the world! Forest
Ecology and Management, 234 (2006) S233.
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - MaRch 2017

Sarda-Palomera, F. et al. Fine scale bird monitoring
from light unmanned aircraft systems. Ibis 154,
177–183 (2012)
Sugiura, R., et al, 2005. Remote-sensing technology
for Vegetation Monitoring using an Unmanned
Helicopter. Biosystems Engineering 90(4) (2005),
369-379
Sugiura, R., et al., 2007. Correction of Low-
altitude Thermal Images applied to estimating
Soil Water Status. Biosystems Engineering 96(3)
(2007), 301-313.
Vermeulen, C., Lejeune, P., Lisein, J., Sawadogo, P.
& Bouche, P.Unmanned aerial survey of elephants.
PLoS One 8, e54700, doi: 10.1371/journal.
pone.0054700 (2013)
Vierling, L.A., et al, 2006. The Short Wave Aerostat-
Mounted Imager (SWAMI): A novel platform for
acquiring remotely sensed data from a tethered
balloon. Remote Sensing of Environment 103
(2006) 255-264.
Weissensteiner, M. H., Poelstra, J. W. & Wolf, J.
B. W. Low-budget ready-to-fl y unmanned aerial
vehicles: an effective tool for evaluating the nesting
status of canopy-breeding bird species. J. of Avian
Biol. 46, 425–430, doi: 10.1111/jav.00619 (2015).

asia-paCifiC spaCe leaders foruM on

‘spaCe+ for a resilient asia and the paCifiC’

Asia-Pacific Space Leaders Forum was organised in New Delhi on Nov 2, 2016, as a Pre-conference event to Asian
Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR), by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
and United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The focal theme of this event was
‘Space+ for a resilient Asia and the Pacific’. It was attended by more than 20 space agencies and organisations of Asia
and the Pacific.
The deliberation took place on effective use of space applications to further implementation of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) focused on reducing the risk and impact of natural disasters.
Space leaders acknowledged the potential of Space technology applications in supporting the implementation, follow
up and review of the Sendai Framework of Disaster Risk Reduction. Space leaders offered their support to strengthen
regional cooperation by providing space inputs for disaster preparedness, early warning alerts for impending disasters,
allowing the modelling and forecasting of different disaster scenarios, and providing timely geo-spatial information &
services that can save lives during emergencies and monitor redevelopment efforts to achieve resilience and build
capacity to better manage disaster risks.

45
 Intraseasonal Variability of Indian Summer Monsoon and its
Regional climate modelling

Introduction
Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) occurring in the months of
June toSeptember is gigantic atmospheric circulation which
exhibits broad spectrum of the variability ranging from diurnal
to centennial scale. The water availability and economy of the
South Asian region mainly depend on the behavior of Indian
Summer Monsoon which is highly variable. Intraseasonal
Variability (ISV) of ISM plays a dominant role in determining
the total seasonal rainfall as well as spatial distribution of the
rainfall. Hence, the understanding and accurate prediction
of ISV of ISM Rainfall (ISMR) is of prominent importance for
socio-economic progress in this region, especially in the realm
of global climate change. The ISV includes two modes of
oscillations viz. oscillationdue to synoptic variability (e.g. lows
and depressions) with periodicity of 1-10 days and occurance
of active (enhanced rainfall) and break (weak rainfall) spells of
rainfall having periodicity longer than synoptic variability but
smaller than the season (Goswami, 2012). Therefore, ISMR is
not continuous but is punctuated by variations at different time
scales. ISV is influenced by controlling mechanisms viz. El-Nino
and Southern Oscillations, Madden-Julian Oscillations (MJO),
Indian Ocean dipole, and their interactions. The strength of
seasonal ISMR depends on the complex interactions between
ISV and these controlling. This put forth the challenge to
thescientific community to predict the spatiotemporal evolution
of ISMR.

Active and Break conditions

The spectrum of ISV covers a wide range of periods from 10
to 90 days with two preferred periods namely 30 to 60 days
and quasi-biweekly i.e. 10 to 20 days (Goswami, 2012). The
oscillations with the period of 30 to 60 also referred in the
literature as 30 to 50 days, 40-50 days, tropical intraseasonal
Intraseasonal Variability of Indian Summer
oscillations, are known as MJO. Pai et al. (2011) studied the Monsoon and its Regional climate modelling
influence of MJO also on ISV. Their study revealed that during Jyoti Bhate, U. Umakanth, Amit Kesarkar*,
V. P. M. Rajasree, Vikas Singh and A. Jayaraman
MJO phases 7, 8, 1 and 2, break spells were observed and those National Atmospheric Research Laboratory,
are maximum during phase 1. The active spells observed during Gadanki, Andhra Pradesh 517112, India
*Email: amit@narl.gov.in

46

MJO phases 3 and 6 with maximum during phase
4. Their study concluded that the onset of break
and active events over India and the duration of
these events are strongly related to the Phase and
strength of the MJO. These results are an important
insight in the occurrence of active and break spells
and their relation with MJO. The relation between
ISV and MJO phases should be reproduced by
the Regional Climate Models (RCMs) for their
application for the future climate policy making due
to its direct relevance to the society.
Fig. 1: Composites of rainfall occurred during active and break
conditions calculated from high resolution gridded rainfall data for
the duration of 1951-2007.
Figure1 depicts the spatial distribution composite
of rainfall anomalies during active and break spells
calculated from the gridded rainfall datasets for
the period of 1951-2007 (Rajeevan et al. 2010). As
seen in the figure west coast of India, Central India
and north Indian region having positive (negative)
anomaly during active (break) rainfall conditions
with NE – SW tilt of the anomalies of rainfall over
theland region. The active and break conditions
depict theentirely different pattern of rainfall over
Indian region. It is known that this variability is
associated with the movement of monsoon trough
over theGangetic plane (active) and at foothills of
Himalayas (break). The enhanced rainfall (positive
anomaly) over central India region and reduced
rainfall (negative anomaly) over the equatorial Indian
Ocean and vice versa along with the Northwest-
Southeast (NW-SE) tilt of rainfall and circulation
anomalies represents the essential characteristics
of Active/Break phase of monsoon. Rajeevan
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
et al., (2013) analyzed CloudSat derived column
integrated cloud liquid and ice water, and vertical
profiles of cloud liquid and ice water content.Their
study showed that the active monsoon spells
are characterized by (a) enhancement of deep
convection over the Bay of Bengal, west coast of
India and northeast Arabian Sea (b) suppression
of convection over the equatorial Indian Ocean (c)
enhancement of cloud liquid water content (CLWC)
and ice water content (CIWC) are enhanced by ~90
and ~200 % respectively over the Bay of Bengal
and (d) the vertical tilting structure of positive
CLWC and CIWC anomalies over the Arabian Sea
and the Bay of Bengal, which suggests a pre-
conditioning process for the northward propagation
of the intra-seasonal variability. It is also shownthat
during the break spells, clouds are not completely
suppressed over central India. Instead, clouds with
smaller vertical extent (3–5 km) are observed due
to thedevelopment of heat trough and low over
Convective Tropical Convergence Zone (monsoon
trough/ Central Indian) region. This heat trough/
low gets established due to asudden rise in
surface temperature during long, intense break
spells. The increase in convergence in thelower
troposphere (restricted upto 850 hPa/1.5 km)
due to thepresence of heat low/trough leads to
upwelling of moisture over this region causing
thedevelopment of clouds with smaller vertical
extent. These results are important for validation of
vertical extent of the clouds simulated in the RCMs
for the better prediction of ISV.
Criteria for Determining Active and
Break conditions
Number of studies were carried out considering
the importance of frequency of occurrence and
duration of Active /Break conditions. . Identification
of single criterion for prevailing drought condition for
the whole country is difficult due to complex nature
of rainfall in both spatial and temporal scales. A
criterion for identification of active and break of the
47
 monsoon using high resolution gridded rainfall data
(Rajeevan et al. 2006; Rajeevan and Bhate, 2009)
was proposed by Rajeevan et al. (2010). Rainfall
over the critical area of monsoon core zone has
been consideredas it is well correlated with all India
seasonal rainfall. The monsoon trough which is
mainly responsible for rainfall over Indian continent
oscillates over the monsoon core zone. Essentially
to depict the movement of monsoon trough, active
and Break events defined by this criterion as
periods in which the normalized anomaly of the
rainfall over the monsoon core zone exceeds +1 or
is less than −1.0 respectively, provided the criterion
be satisfied for at least three consecutive days.
This criterion was widely adapted for calculation
of active and breaks spells over Indian region
as well as the determination of simulated active
and break conditions by RCMs. Their results also
indicated that (a) there are no significant trends in
either the days of active or break events (b) there
is a major difference between weak spells and
long, intense breaks (c) breaks occurs primarily
from northward propagations of the convective
cloud zone and (d) interannual variations have also
influence on ISV of ISM. However, this criterion
applies to determining active and break spells
over monsoon core zone region and active or
break conditions are not homogeneous across the
country. The rainfall fraction for break days is large
over the southeast peninsula and northeast India
and is small over the central India. Therefore these
criteria are best suited to capture the variability
of rainfall over central India and consequently the
break or active conditions pertaining to central
India. By considering the need to have robust
criteria, Umakanth et al. (2015) have introduced a
different technique to identify the break conditions
for whole India using the spatial distribution of
rainfall. Instead of using average rainfall over
monsoon core zone, the criterion utilizes gridded
rainfall data described by Rajeevan and Bhate
(2006) at each grid (1° x 1°) with a grid level rainfall
48
threshold (10thpercentile of rainfall at each grid).
The rationale for selecting 10th percentile and
70% of spatial extent is based on 1) its ability to
reproduce the observed break days reported in
the (Rajeevan et al., 2010) less rain fraction and
3) higher correlation coefficient between numbers
of break days identified and the seasonal mean
rainfall. Also as this criterion is based on grid
point statistics provides an opportunity to validate
active and break conditions represented in the
simulations of RCMs at each grid point.
Regional Climate Modelling of ISV
Understanding the regional effects on ISM climate
under global climate change is an active area of
research. The high-resolution RCMs used as a tool
to simulate the regional impacts on ISM under
regional concentration pathways of global climate
changes. Many studies using RCMs indicated
that there is a substantial improvement in the
seasonal simulation of rainfall by improving the
representation of topography; land use and land
cover patterns; land-sea contrast; and ocean-
atmosphere coupling. However, there are limited
studies focussed on the improvement of the
simulation of the ISV using RCMs. Bhate et al.
(2012) simulated and analyzed seasonal prediction
of ISM using Weather Research and Forecasting
Model (resolution: 45x45 km and 15x15 km) for
the year 2009 to examine patterns of large scale
monsoon circulation and rainfall simulated by the
model along with the diurnal and intraseasonal
variations. Their results showed encouraging
results in simulating the intraseasonal rainfall
variations over the central Indian region as well
as the monsoon onset phase over the Kerala
coast. Figure 2 shows the comparison of seasonal
averaged vorticity (Fig. 2b), relative humidity (Fig.
2d) with ECMWF Reanalysis (ERA-Intrim, Figs.
2a and 2c respectively) and simulated seasonal
rainfall (2f) with Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
rainfall. The comparison of ERA analysis and model
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

outputs shown that model is able to simulate
the mean seasonal states. However, simulation
of stronger low level monsoonal flows and
consequently the increase in the vorticity pumps
more moisture over the land region which results
in the wet bias in model rainfall simulations even
though model simulation of atmospheric humidity
is reasonably accurate.
Umakanth et al. (2015) studied the sensitivity
of simulation of mean monsoon and monsoon
intraseasonal oscillations to convective processes
to improve the representation of convection and
hence simulation of ISV using Regional Climate
Model (RegCM). The combination of Grell and
Emanuel’s scheme utilized for the simulation and
ISV simulated over a South Asian region with the

Fig. 2: Comparison of simulated seasonal averaged vorticity (b), relative humidity (d) at 850 hPa with ERA-Intrim reanalysis (a and c
respectively) and predicted seasonal averaged rainfall (f) with observed GPCP rainfall (e).

49
 resolution of 50 km for the period of 2000-2013.
Their results indicated that all models produced
dry bias over Indian region and wavelet spectrum
analysis shown that all models are able to capture
peak in the zonal wind at 850 hPa at 40-50 days
scale but not observed in simulated rainfall.
The characteristics of ISV for strong and weak
monsoon year analyzed using wavelet spectrum
of rainfall for the different combination of cumulus
parametrization. It is observed that except the
combination when Emanuel convective scheme
selected both over land and ocean region, all
models failed to produce observed spectral
patterns during strong and weak monsoon years.
Umakanth and Kesarkar (2017) further improved
the space-time characteristics of ISV in this
simulation by coupling Slab Ocean Model (SOM)
to RegCM with constant mix layered depth.
Umakanth (2016) modified SOM to subscribe
variable Ocean Mixed Layer Depth (MLD) and
carried out the simulations of ISM for the years
2000-2013 in continuous climate mode. The mean
patterns of the simulation for the period of 2000 –
2013 by considering the year 2000 for spinup of the
model were compared. The comparisonof RegCM
simulations with constant MLD and with variable
MLD with observations (Optimum Interpolation
Sea Surface Temperatureversion 2 and Global
Precipitation Climatology Project rainfall version
2.3 and net heat flux) was carried out. The reduction
in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) bias over the
Bay of Bengal and equatorial Indian Oceanwas
seen in the simulation which in turn responsible
for the decrease in the bias in the simulation of
net heat flux, consequently representation of
convection in the model simulation and hence in
the precipitation. The variable MLD SOM helped
to improve the overall simulation of ISV of ISM and
reduction in undesirable frequencies in the wavelet
spectrum analysis. Further system investigation
to improve the simulation of the ISV, in turn, the
downscaled output of Earth system models which
is essential for better policy making of the future.
50
Summary
ISV of ISM determines the spatio-temporal pattern
of the rainfall and therefore has importance on the
socio-economic wellbeing of Indian region. Under
global climate change scenario, it is speculated
that ISM, as well as ISMR areis vulnerable to the
climate changes and climate changes,, .Therefore
thestudies discussed here are aimedto address
this problem by improving the understanding of
the characteristics of ISV as well as its relationship
with MJO. It is necessary to reproduce the vertical
distribution of cloud liquid water and ice content
to simulate ISV realistically using RCMs. The both
criteria for determining active/break conditions
presented here are widely used for the analysis of
ISV and examination of the representation of ISV in
RCMs. The criterion presented by Rajeevan et al.
(2010) is useful for identification of active and break
conditions in the ISMR over monsoon core zone
region and the criterion described by Umakanth et
al. (2015) is found useful for their identification over
entire Indian region. The regional climate modelling/
downscaling of ISV of ISM is one of the challenging
scientific problems. Limited number of studies
attempted to assess RCM ability to capture the
ISV of ISM especially studies focused on evaluating
RCM performance to capture the structure and
propagation characteristics of dominating monsoon
ISO mode. The improvement in the simulation of
ISV is observed by selecting the combination of
appropriate cumulus parameterization and coupling
of variable MLD. The efforts in this area of the
research are directed towards the development
of coupled model to accurate simulation of
spatiotemporal variation of MLD, SST, net heat flux,
net evaporation flux and hence the representation of
moisture and cloud cover and consequently realistic
representation of the precipitation over Indian
region. The development of such coupled model
will become the appropriate tool for downscaling of
long-term climate projections under different climate
change pathways and hence the analysis of the
behavior of ISMR in the changed climate.

References
Bhate J., Unnikrishnan C. K, Rajeevan M., 2012,
Regional climate model simulations of the 2009
Indian summer monsoon. IJRPS 41(4): 488–500.
Goswami B. N., 2012, South Asian Monsoon, In
Intraseasonal Variability in the Atmosphere-Ocean-
Climate System by Lau and Waliser, Springer
Publication, 23-25pp.
Pai D. S., Bhate J., Sreejith O. P., Hatwar H. R., 2011,
Impact of MJO on the intraseasonal variation of
summer monsoon rainfall over India.Clim Dyn., 36: 41.
Rajeevan M., Bhate J., Kale J. D., Lal B., 2006,
High resolution daily gridded rainfall data for Indian
region: Analysis of break and active monsoon
spells.Curr. Sci., 91(3): 296-306.
Rajeevan M. and Bhate J., 2009 High resolution
daily gridded rainfall dataset (1971-2005) for
mesoscale meteorological studies.Curr. Sci., 96
(4): 558-562.
Rajeevan M., Gadgil S., Bhate J., 2010, Active and
break spells of the Indian summer monsoon.J.
Earth Syst. Sci. 119(3): 229–247.
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
Rajeevan M., Rohini P., Niranjan Kumar K.,
Srinivasan J., Unnikrishnan C. K., 2013, A study
of vertical cloud structure of the Indian summer
monsoon using CloudSat data.Clim.Dyn. 40(3):
637-650.
Umakanth U., Kesarkar A. P., Rao T. N., Rao S. V. B.,
2015, An objective criterion for the identification of
breaks in Indian summer monsoon rainfall. Atmos.
Sci. Lett., 16: 193-198.
Umakanth U., Kesarkar A. P., Raju A., S. Vijaya
Bhaskar Rao, 2015, Representation of monsoon
intraseasonal oscillations in regional climate model:
sensitivity to convective physics. Clim. Dyn., 47:
895-917.
Umakanth U., 2016, Simulations of intraseasonal
oscillations of Indian summer monsoon: A study
using regional climate models, Ph.D. Dissertation,
S. V. University, 150 pp.
Umakanth U., and A. Kesarkar, 2017, Performance
evaluation of regional climate model to simulate
sub-seasonal variability of Indian Summer
Monsoon, Clim.Dyn., in Press.
51
 Tapping Solar Energy potential using satellite data

Introduction
Solar energy is one of the most sustainable forms of renewable
energy, both environmentally as well as economically,
particularly so for developing countries. India, which has
a cumulative installed capacity of 8.062 gigawatt of grid-
connected solar power as on July 31, 2016, has set an
ambitious target of attaining 100 gigawatt of solar capacity
by 2022. It includes 40 gigawatt of grid-connected roof-top
solar installations. The energy demand is increasing day by
day due to increased pressure of population and urbanization.
With approximate 300 clear sunny days a year, India has
approximate 5000 trillion kWh/m2 incident solar energy, which
is more than the possible energy output of all fossil fuel energy
reserves in India.

Adopting solar energy

The use of solar water heaters, solar photovoltaics and solar
power plants are some of the ways to adopt solar energy in
our lives. Furthermore, the buildings may also be designed
in such a way that they can consume and utilize solar energy
to meet its energy requirements. The concept of zero-energy
buildings has thus gained widespread attention in recent
years. The ‘zero energy buildings’ are the buildings which has
zero net energy consumption, meaning their annual amount
of total energy used is equivalent to the amount of renewable
energy created by them. Solar energy is one of the prominent
renewable energy sources in these building, mainly in tropical
and sub-tropical regions. Photovoltaics (PV) or Solar cells
convert sunlight directly into electricity. PV systems can be
integrated in the building skin, i.e. roofs and facades. The
electricity generated by the PV systems installed on the
rooftops of residential, commercial, institutional and industrial
buildings can be fed into power grid at regulated feed-in tariffs
(referred as Grid-connected Rooftop Solar Installation), or can
be used by building for self-consumption.
Shashikant A Sharma, Gaurav Jain and
Bimal Bhattacharya
Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad
Email: sasharma@sac.gov.in

52

Estimation of Solar Energy Potential
The power output of a photovoltaic cell is directly
proportional to incident solar irradiation on the
cell. The higher the solar irradiation, the higher
the power output of a photovoltaic cell.The global
(total) horizontal insolation (GHI), combining direct
as well diffuse component of incident solar energy,
is obtained from the half-hourly observations at 8
km spatial resolution in optical and thermal infrared
bands form the Indian geostationary satellite
KALPANA-1 Very High Resolution Radiometer
(VHRR) and at 4.0 km spatial resolution from
INSAT 3D. The data is available on MOSDAC (www.
mosdac.gov.in) web portal of ISRO. The detailed
methodology of retrieving GHI along with validation
results, which includes spectrally integrated
clear-sky and three-layer cloudy-sky models to
determine the atmospheric transmittances and
instantaneous surface insolation (Bhattacharya
et al., 2013). The VEDAS web-portal, developed by
Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad,
provides information on monthly and yearly
potential solar along with monthly minimum and
maximum temperature, annual sun path and daily
solar hours as shown in figure 1.
Fig. 1: Solar Insolation Map for India using KALPANA & INSAT satellite data
NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017
Fur thermore, the Government of India has
identified 98 cities in India under Smart Cities
Mission for comprehensive development of
physical,institutional, social and economic
infrastructure of cities, with the aid of information
and communication technology. ‘Smart Energy’ is
considered one of the pillars of Smart Cities, where
solar energy can contribute significantly towards
reducing dependence on non-renewable energy.
These cities are required to fulfil 10% of their energy
demand using renewable energy resources. The
GHI derived from KALPANA & INSAT satellite data
along with built-up area estimated from medium
resolution LISS-3 data were used to estimate the
roof-top solar PV potential in these cities. It was
estimated that 10.02 gigawatt of grid-connected
roof-top solar capacity with 103.51 trillion watt
hour (tWh) of energy potential annually exist in
these 98 cities. VEDAS portal provides details of
roof-top solar potential over each of these 98 cities.
Figure 2 shows the solar potential estimate over
Madurai city of Tamil Nadu.
53
 Fig. 2: Solar potential for Smart city: Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Roof Top Solar Energy Potential in
Urban Areas
Urban areas are typically characterized by the
presence of multiple non-lambertian reflection
effects of local environment, variability of slope,
complexity of shadow effects in relation to
complexity of urban geometry.This requires
modelling of incident radiation on a tilted plane
with complex shadow effects on diffuse and direct
component.The surface solar irradiance in urban
areas needs to account for the shadow effects,
sky obstruction, reflection and terrain-atmosphere
coupling. The 3D city buildings models created
using Cartosat-1 PAN stereo-pair can be used
Fig. 3: Shadow analysis using 3D City building model
54
to model the effect of shadow on building roof
tops and to determine the roof area suitable for
installation of solar panels. Figure 3 shows the 3D
building model of a few buildings in Ahmedabad
city and corresponding length of shadow (in
hours) on their rooftops for a given day. The length
of shadow aggregated over entire year provide
buildings suitable for installation of solar panels as
well as portion of building where such panels can
be placed so as to minimize the effect of shadow.
Android App for Solar Calculator
An android app has also been developed for
computation of solar energy potential at mobile
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Map representation Graphical representation

Fig. 4: Solar Calculator Android App

user’s location. Solar insolation is obtained using References

Indian Geostationary satellite data. It is a useful Bhattacharya, B. K., Padmanabhan, N., Mahammed,
tool for installation of PV Solar panels for tapping S., Ramakrishnan, R., and Parihar, J. S., 2013,
solar energy. It provides monthly / yearly solar “Assessing solar energy potential using diurnal
potential (kWh/m2) and min/max temperature at remote-sensing observations from Kalpana-1
any location. It also displays location on image VHRR and validation over the Indian landmass”.
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34(20),
and provides azimuth/ elevation angles as well
pp. 7069-7090.
as day length over different time periods in a
year. Obstruction of sunlight due to terrain is
also computed using DEM. This app can be
downloaded from www.vedas.sac.gov.in (Figure 4).

55
 State Meets on Promoting Space Technology based Tools
and Applications in Governance and Development
Effective utilization of natural resources and its management is pre-requisite for the planning and over all development of a State.
Towards this, space technology plays important role in providing reliable and timely information on natural and thereby helps in
planning and decision making.
As a major outcome of the national meet on Promotion of Space Technology in Governance held on 7th September, 2015
at Vingyan Bhavan, New Delhi, it was promulgated that all states would organize state level meets to identify state specific
requirement to ensure utilization of space technology in governance.Towards this, State level Remote Sensing Application Centre
(SRSAC) set up in each State has been identified as the nodal agency for space based application related activities. Respective
State Governments and SRSACs played a key role in successful conduct of the State Meets and brought out many action plans
for the development of the State using space technology.
13 States have conducted their Meets so far, which was attended by Chief Ministers and senior officials of State. State meets were
held recently in the States of Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Assam.
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh Council of Science and Technology (CCOST) along with ISRO has organized Chhattisgarh State Meet on December
13, 2016 at Raipur with the active involvement of various State Departments.
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Raman Singh inaugurated the State Meet. In his address, Dr. Raman Singh thanked
ISRO for making available geospatial technologies and inputs in the areas of weather, agriculture, water resources, forestry and
mining. He emphasized on use of space technology by the State Departments for all round development of the state and called
upon preparation of future road map to reach the benefit of space technology in remote and inaccessible areas of the state. Shri
Premprakash Pandey, Minister Science and Technology and Shri A.S. Kiran Kumar, Secretary, DOS & ISRO Chairman, also
addressed the state meet. Smt. Renu G. Pillay, Principal Secretary, Science & Technology, Dr. Y.V.N. Krishna Murthy, Director,
NRSC and Prof M. M. Hambarde, Director General, CCOST were also present.
The presentations by the state departments were made under four themes.
• Theme-I: Natural Resources - Water Resource Development, Forest, Geology and Mining and Public Health Engineering
Departments
• Theme-II: Infrastructure Planning - Town and Country Planning,
Housing Board, Urban Administration, Home Departments
• Theme-III: Health & Education- Panchayat and Rural
Development, Health, Higher Education, Technical Education,
School Education Departments
• Theme-IV: Agriculture-Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries,
Animal Husbandry, Revenue and Land Records Departments
The State Departments highlighted the use of space and geospatial
technologies in various activities of the respective departments. Around
300 officials across the State Departments and ISRO were participated
in the State Meet. Shri A.S. Kiran Kumar, Secretary, DOS & ISRO Chairman,
Kerala addressing the Chhattisgarh state meet
The Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC),
Nodal Centre for Remote Sensing and GIS applications in the State took the lead in organizing the State Meet in Kerala. Three
Expert teams comprising Scientists within KSREC interacted with various State departments and gathered the user requirements,
well in advance to the state meet.
The State Meet was inaugurated by Sri. S.M.Vijayanand, IAS, Chief Secretary and was graced by the presence of Hon. Chief
Minister, Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan, Dr. A.S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman ISRO/Secretary, Department of Space (DOS); Sri. V.S. Senthil,
IAS, Additional Chief Secretary (Planning & Economic Affairs); Sri. Subrato Biswas, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary (PWD);
Dr. M. Chandradathan, Scientific Advisor to Chief Minister; Dr. P.G. Diwakar, Scientific Secretary, ISRO; Dr. K.P. Reghunatha
Menon, Director, KSREC and dignitaries from NRSC/ ISRO and State representing various departments.
The meet was organized through three technical sessions, with the active participation of all the user departments in the state
through Secretaries or Directors. Technical session-1 comprised of departments under Industries, Local Self Government,
Planning & Management, Education and Marine Fisheries Areas. Technical Session-II was for Water Resources, Agriculture and

56
 NNRMS BULLETIN 41 - March 2017

Transportation areas. Departments under Health & Environment and Welfare & Development was the major participants in the
Technical Session-III. The Chairmen of the sessions comprehended the requirements highlighted by the respective sessions, at
the end of each session and were presented at the concluding session Chaired by Hon. Chief Secretary.
The highlight of the state meet was the Special Session, which was graced by Hon. Chief Minister and Chairman ISRO. Chief Secretary,
presented the salient findings of the technical sessions. He presented
an integrated plan for space technology utilization, for development
of image based cadastral database, health and agricultural missions,
natural resources management particularly watersheds, water bodies,
paddy, aquifers, disaster management, drought management,
infrastructure mapping and monitoring, SATCOM etc. among many
other. In his address, Hon. Chief Minister urged for taking steps to
carry forward the identified activities to successful completion, towards
benefit of the state. The Chief Minister also inaugurated the Bhuvan
Kerala portal on this occasion. In his address. Chairman ISRO Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan, Hon. Chief Minister of Kerala,
inaugurating the “Bhuvan Kerala” portal during the concluding
assured ISRO would extend all the support for successful utilization session of the state meet.
of space technology for the benefit of the sate. A portal for the PWD
Department was inaugurated on this occasion by Chairman, ISRO.
About 200 people participated in the meeting and nearly 165 projects have been identified by various departments as part of this
State Level meet.
Assam
Assam state meet on Promoting space technology based tools and applications in governance and development was organised
jointly by Assam Remote Sensing Application Centre (ARSAC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and North Eastern
Space Applications Centre (NESAC) at Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati on December 03, 2016.
Shri Keshab Mahanta, Hon’ble Minister for S & T and IT was the Chief Guest of the inaugural Session. During his address, he
recalled the assurance from Chairman, ISRO in supporting applications of space technology tools for various developmental
programmes in the state. He said that Assam is still lagging behind in use of space technology as compared to many other states
and appealed to all the departments in the government to come forward to take the benefits from this advanced technology. He
also suggested that each department should allocate separate budget for taking up project with space technology inputs.
In the technical sessions, 24 departments presented their department level use of space technology and on their future plan on
using space technology. Around 50 major projects were proposed to be taken up by different departments in collaboration with
ASTEC, NESAC, NRSC, etc. The projects include both remote sensing based applications as well as GIS applications.
Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam was the chief guest during the concluding session of the state meet.
The session started with the welcome address by Dr. K. K. Dwivedi, Commissioner & Secretary, S&T and IT, Government of
Assam. He briefed the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Assam about the state meet and the deliberations made from 24 departments.
Hon’ble Chief Minister, in his address as the Chief Guest of the concluding session invited all the Departments of Govt. of Assam
to come forward and use space technology to its fullest potential. He said that a full throttle science & technology can be used
as a force multiplier to the state’s development. Chief Minister stressed that through the proper use of science & technology all
the 56 departments of the state government can work to their optimum level and can put the state into a growth trajectory. He
requested ISRO, NESAC, and ARSAC to have a coordinated approach to make use of space technology to address various
problems in the state. He requested space community to help the State
government’s bid in finding solutions to the problems like recurring floods
and erosion, poaching, illegal trades and terrorism through application
of space technology. Stating state government’s proposed plan to
dredge river Brahmaputra covering a leng of about 720 kms, Hon’ble
Chief Minister urged upon ISRO to help the state in its endeavour in
making the Brahmaputra primarily a central stream river and make it a
vibrant source of river transport. He also requested for creating Water
Resources Information System (WRIS), in similar line that has been
developed in the state of Telangana.
Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam The state meet was ended with the Vote of Thanks offered by
addressing the Audience Dr Arup Kr. Mishra, Director, ASTEC.

57