VI Environment Monitoring

Dr. Wenchao Xue

Environment Engineering and Management
School of Environment, Resources and Development
Asian Institute of Technology
Chapter Outline

1. Environment monitoring................................. 3
2. Ground-based environment monitoring......... 7
3. Remote sensing for environment monitoring 35

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What is Environment Monitoring?
The systematic sampling of air, water, soil, sediment and biota in order to observe and
study the environment and to derive knowledge from this process. (Artiola et al., 2004)
Purposes: Application and Benefits of
Environment monitoring
• Establish environmental baselines
• Public water supply protection
• Understand environmental changes and cumulative effects • Weather forecasting
• Test environmental modeling process • Hazardous, non-hazardous and
radioactive waste management
• Educate the public about environmental condition • Natural resources protection and
• Inform and support policy design and decision-making management
• Global climate change
• Ensure compliance with environmental regulations
• Urban air quality
• Assess the effects of anthropogenic influence • Economic development and land
• Conduct inventory of natural resources planning
• Population growth
• Endangered species and biodiversity
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 • Climate change • Turbidity and odor
Environment Monitoring • Stratospheric ozone
depletion
•
•
Nutrient overload
Toxic chemicals
• Urban air pollution • Oxygen depletion
• Acid deposition • Infectious agents
• Outdoor pollution • Oil spills
• Indoor pollution • Excess heat
• Noise Atmosphere Hydrosphere
(Air) (Water)

Lithosphere
Biosphere
(Soil,
(Biota)
sediment)
• Soil erosion
• Soil salinization • Biodiversity loss
• Land cover change • Extinction
• Function degradation
• Persistent pollutant
• Solid/hazardous waste
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Environment Monitoring Method

• Ground-based sampling and measurement Best accuracy

e.g., air/water/soil sampling and laboratory Resources costly
Small scale
analysis for pollutant concentration
• Remote sensing-based monitoring
Need field data verification
e.g., Earth observation on land cover/use Moderate resources cost
change, satellite-based meteorological Large scale
observation
• Model-based monitoring Need field data verification
Low resources cost
e.g., model-based emission monitoring Small/Large scale

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Environment Monitoring Target
Source monitoring
 Identification and characterization of main
sources of pollution
 Determination of the mass emission rates of
pollutants from a particular source and
assessment of how these are affected by
process variations
 Evaluation of the effectiveness of control
devices for pollution abatement
 Evaluation of compliance with statutory
limitations on emission from individual souce
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Ambient environment monitoring
 Mapping the concentration of pollutants in the
environment
 Identification of pollution sensitive regions
 Identification of possible site for the
environmental monitoring stations.
 Tracking progress towards National Environment
Quality Standards attainment and emission
reduction
 Provide basis for environmental model for
predicting future situation
 Provide input for human health risk assessment
6
Ground-based Monitoring

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Air Pollution Monitoring

• Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or

biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other
living organisms, or damage the natural environment in atmosphere.
Source Sink

Air concentration
Atmospheric
Emission
process
Deposition/
Natural – geologic, biogenic Transport – local, regional, global precipitation load
Anthropogenic – point, Transform – physical, chemical,
area, volume, mobile, etc. biological

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Air Quality Standards

• Air emission standards – e.g., industrial emission standards

 Stationary sources (point sources): Industries, power plants, incinerators
• Ambient air quality standards – e.g., Nationals ambient air quality
standards
 Mobile sources (line sources): Automobiles – vehicles
 Fugitive sources (area sources): Gas service stations; Open burning;
Construction sites,
 Mining, etc.

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Air Quality Parameters

Primary pollutants
• Carbon oxides (CO, CO2)
• Nitrogen oxides (NO, NO2, or NOx)
• Sulfur oxides (SO2)
• VOCs
• Particle pollution (PM10 and PM2.5, Pb and other heavy metals)
Secondary pollutants
• Sulfuric acid, nitric acid, ozone, formaldehydes, etc.

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Air Quality Monitoring Program

• Monitoring networks
mobile >> stationary
manual >> automated
intermittent >> real time
• Modeling and prediction
• Community engagement
Air quality index
Online real time info.

Source: EPA, Ireland, 2017

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Water Pollution Monitoring

Features of Water Pollution

• Water quality is affected by materials delivered to a water body from either
point or nonpoint sources
• Point sources can be traced to a single source, such as a pipe or a ditch
• Nonpoint sources are diffuse and associated with the landscape and its
reasons to water movement, land use and management, and/or other
human and natural activities on the watershed.
• Anthropogenic sources: agriculture, industrial, urban discharge
• Constituent concerned in water bodies: suspended solid, organic matter,
nutrients, pathogens, oils, other organic pollutants and thermal release

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Water Quality Parameters

Physical parameters
• Suspended solids, color, temperature, turbidity, conductivity, density, odor
and taste, etc.
Chemical parameters
• BOD, COD, DO, pH, alkalinity and acidity, total organic carbon, hardness,
chloride, pesticides, heavy meatal, nitrogen and phosphorous, etc.
Biological parameters
• Chlorophyll, total coliform bacteria, Fecal coliform bacteria, Ecoli, etc.

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Water Quality Standards

Water quality standards serve as the foundation for the water quality based
approach to pollution control and are a fundamental component of water
management
Types of water quality standards:
• Stream/water body quality standards, e.g., surface water quality standard,
ground water quality standard
• Effluent quality standard, e.g., municipal wastewater discharge standard,
industrial effluent standard
• Water supply / drinking water standard

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Water Quality Monitoring Program

Water quality monitoring

networks in Thailand

Source: http://iwis.pcd.go.th/index.php Source: Thailand statement of pollution, 2018

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Global Water Quality Monitoring Network

 UNEP/GEMS/WATER program
 80 countries with more than 3000 stations
 Provide annual means of the SDG 6.3.2 core parameters
dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and pH
in rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

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Soil Pollution Monitoring

Soil may be polluted by:

• Disposal of urban solid wastes
• Modern agricultural practices – fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, etc.
• Illegal disposal of industrial wastes over land
• Subsurface disposal of toxic wastes
• Deforestation led soil erosion
• Nuclear waste leakage
• Water logging and soil salinity
• Soil acidification due to acidic deposition
• Biological agents
• Other anthropogenic activities such as mining, etc.

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Soil Quality Standards

• Environmental quality standard for soil pollution

Heavy metals
VOCs
Pesticides and herbicides
Others (industrial chemicals like PCB, cyanide, ammonia)
(Environment toxicity, public health, soil function/productivity)
• Sediment quality standards/guidelines
Heavy metals
Toxic organics
(Toxicity to benthic creature)

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 National Soil Quality Monitoring
Country Name (if any) Objectives Target group (assumed) Spatial scale Interpretation
Canada National soil quality monitoring program Assess status of and trends in soil health Not stated 23 benchmark sites (5–10 ha Mainly trend analysis
(policy) each) across Canada

Assess inherent soil quality and susceptibility to Not stated Regional and national Rating procedures with
change (policy) respect to 4 soil functions
USA Soil management assessment framework Evaluate management practices, educate about soil Land managers, advisors, Plot scale Scoring curves, additive
(SMAF) quality general public index
Cornell Soil Health Test Assess soil health, address soil degradation, increase Farmers Plot scale Scoring curves, overall score
productivity
Australia Soil Quality Website Benchmark sites, soil quality monitoring and Farmers National and regional Target values; threshold
education values wherever possible
New Zealand “500 soils project”, soil indicator Assess soil quality for environmental reporting Government; Sindi: 511 sites across New Comparative (compared to
assessment (Sindi) regional council staff, Zealand, x soil types, 10 land database) or according to
landowners uses target ranges
France Observatoire de la Qualité des Sols Assess soil quality for environmental protection, food Not stated 11 sites (OQS) Mainly trend analysis
(OQS), Réseau des mesures de la qualité security and sustainable management practices (policy) 2000 sites (RMQS)
des sols (RMQS)
UK Assess soil function of environmental interaction Policy National Trigger values
Ireland Soil quality assessment research project Assessment of soil functions Farmers Plot (38 farms)
(SQARE)
The National Soil Quality Monitoring Network Assess soil quality and land-use effects Not stated 200 locations Target values
Netherlands (policy)
EU European Soil Monitoring and Provide objective, reliable and comparable Policy
Assessment framework information at European level
ENVASSO, RECARE Assess soil degradation Policy
Source: Bünemann et al., 2018

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Design of Environment Monitoring Plan
Monitoring objectives Network design
• Legislation • Station location/point
• Mandate • Parameter selection
Planning • Resources • Sampling time/frequency
• Programmes
Sampling activity Laboratory analysis
• Preliminary survey • Analysis techniques
• • Operation procedures
Environment Sampling and Sampling techniques
• Quality control
Monitoring • Sample preservation
Program
analysis • Sample transportation • Data recording
• QA/QC
Data analysis Information utilization
• Basic summary statistics • Changing evaluation
Data Utilization • Regression/correlation analysis • Impact assessment
• Environmental quality index • Risk assessment
• QA/QC interpretation • Model prediction
• Spatial – temporal analysis
Decision making
• Environment quality models
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Monitoring Plan

• A clear statement of objectives (Source? Status? Process? Dynamic? Static?

Spatial? Temporal?) and scopes (Water? Air? Soil? Sediment? Spatial & temporal
boundary?)
• Information expectation and intended uses
• A description of the study area concerned
• A description of the sampling sites
• A listing of the environmental quality variables that will be measured
• A clear sampling, storage and transportation procedure
• Proposed design on location, frequency and timing of sampling
• An estimate of the resources required to implement the design
• Plan for quality control and quality assurance

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Monitoring Objectives

• Establish environmental baselines

• Understand environmental changes and cumulative effects
• Test environmental modeling process
• Educate the public about environmental condition
• Inform and support policy design and decision-making
• Ensure compliance with environmental regulations
• Assess the effects of anthropogenic influence
• Conduct inventory of natural resources

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Information and Requirement

• Appropriate variables to be monitored

• Criteria for assessment
• Specified requirements for reporting and presenting information
• Relevant accuracy for each monitoring variable
• Degree of data reliability
• Specified response time
• Priority of the information

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Monitoring Network

• Fixed-site network, collect regular monitoring data, useful for public

information and broad policy issues; e.g., ambient air quality monitoring,
drinking-water sources monitoring
• Flexible survey approach, more convenient for regulatory purposes,
determining management options in cases of pollution and related
investment decision-making;
• Decentralized monitoring alternatives instead of a national network
operated by a central agency; and
• Integrated monitoring of the quality of the environment should be coupled
with other appropriate monitoring, such as meteorological monitoring,
hydrological monitoring, and natural resources inventory.

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Sampling Stations

• Baseline/Background stations – undisturbed or likely low disturbed area

e.g., headwater, upwind direction, natural land or national park
• Source stations – surrounding the specific pollution source, e.g., emission
stack, landfill, wastewater discharging point
• Trends stations – evenly/randomly distributed in the monitoring area
• Other feature stations – express specific characteristics of the monitoring
objects, e.g., confluence point of a river, intersection of a road

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Sampling Design

Where (space) and when (time)?

• 1D (x) – outfall of industrial wastewater discharge
• 2D (x, y) – heavy metal content in surface soil
• 3D (x, y, z) – large water body, or landfill where depth is important
• 4D (x, y, z, t) – seasonal variation of DO in water body or pathway (in hours)
of VOCs in atmosphere

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Representativeness of Samples

Solid samples Water samples Air samples Biota samples

• Depends on • Seasonal variations • Potentially large • Differences in

samples matrix due to water cycle variation and species, size, sex,
• Contaminants vary • Strong special and heterogeneity mobility, tissue
vertically more than temporal • Strong special and variation leads to
horizontally heterogeneity temporal attribute large heterogeneity
• Sample preparation • Stratification in • Concentration may • Migratory and
is important oceans, deep-lakes vary in minutes transitory species
(subsampling, and slow-moving depending on should be avoided
mixing, grounding, streams meteorology & • Tissues are required
sieving) topography to be well
homogenized

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Sampling Strategy
Judgmental sampling

• Subjective selection based on professional judgement using prior information, visual

information and personal knowledge and experience
• Preferred sampling approach for: tight schedule and budget (emergency response); early
stages of site investigation; screening for presence or absence of contaminants
• May be short of statistical meaning of the samples

Systematic sampling

• Easier to design and implement, convenient for filed personnel

• Provide uniform distribution over space/time domain – ensure all areas are represented
• Grid spacing is very important – should be small enough to detect spatial/temporal patterns
or search for hot spots

Random sampling

• Arbitrary collection of samples – each sample in the population has the same probability of
being chosen
• Preferred sampling used to select each sampling point independently form of the other
points
• Variable approaches to improve representativeness of random sampling

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Random Sampling

Simple random sampling Stratified random sampling Restricted random sampling Systematical sampling
- each sampling unit has the same likelihood of being selected, and
- the selection of one sampling unit does not influence the selection of any other sampling unit.
- it does not take into account variability caused by other measurable factors (e.g., aspect, soils, elevation)
- it can yield high variance estimates and make detection of differences difficult if the population being sampled is
not evenly distributed throughout the sample area.
- it can be an inefficient means of sampling because of the time required to visit all of the sample sites by
chance, some areas may be heavily sampled while other areas are not sampled at all
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Random Sampling

Simple random sampling Stratified random sampling Restricted random sampling Systematical sampling

- Stratification is the process of dividing a set of sampling units into one or more subgroups prior to
selection of units for sampling.
- it increases efficiency of sampling over simple random sampling when the variable of interest responds
differently to some clearly definable features.

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Random Sampling

Simple random sampling Stratified random sampling Restricted random sampling Systematical sampling

- The area to be sampled is divided up into large segments based on the number of sampling units needed to
meet monitoring objectives. Within each segment, a single sampling unit is then selected (i.e., a single
sampling location is selected) at random.
- good dispersion of sampling points across an area
- more efficient sampling than simple random sampling
- Easy to implement with GIS tools

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Other Random Sampling

Cluster sampling Two-stage sampling

 Adaptive sampling
 Unequal probability
sampling
 Cluster sampling
 Two stage sampling
 Double sampling

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Data Analysis

Data acquisition (Laboratory or survey? First hand or second hand? Hard copy or digital? Small
volume or big data? )
Data storage and quality control
Data analysis and interpretation (statistical analysis)
 Basic statistical tools (central trends, distribution and dispersion)
 Hypothesis testing tools
 Correlation and regression tools
 Spatial analysis tools
 Temporal analysis tools
 Other advanced
Visualization
Table
Graph
Map

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QA/QC
• Quality Assurance: a system of documented procedures and plans established to ensure that the water
monitoring program produces data of known precision and bias. This includes staff training programs,
calibration processes, written procedures and record keeping. This also includes a quality control
program.
• Quality Control: operational activities that confirm the quality assurance methods are functional and that
information collected is accurate, precise and properly recorded.
Sampling Transportation & storage Lab analysis Data management

•Proper technic & • Defined method - • Standard method & • Data 'double
procedure temperature, procedure recorded'
•Proper equipment duration, • Proper equipment • Data double
& calibration contaminant & calibration checking or cross
•Proper record & prevention • Laboratory blanks checking
labeling • Proper record • Replicated analysis
•replicated sampling • Proper record &
•Field blanks labeling

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Remote Sensing for Environment Monitoring

What is “Remote Sensing”?

• A method of obtaining information about the properties
of an object without physical contact.
• It is a technology for sampling electromagnetic radiation
to acquire and interpret non-immediate geospatial data
from which to extract information about the features and
objects on the Earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere

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Earth Observation by Satellite

• Consistent, routine, global measurements

• Overview of information on the hemispheric, regional, national, and local
scales – provide the big picture
• Provide information in areas where are no ground-based measurements
• Advance warning of impending environmental events and disasters

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How does RS work?

• RS system capture radiation in different wavelength reflected/emitted by

the earth’s surface feature and recorded it either directly on the film as in
case of aerial photography or in digital medium used for generating the
images
• RS provides valuable data over vast area in a short time about resources

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Elements of RS System
1. Energy source or illumination
(Illustrate or providing electromagnetic energy to the target of interest, e.g., sun
light, artificial)
2. Radiation and the atmosphere
(The energy travels from its source to the target, coming in contact with and
interact with the atmosphere, e.g., scattering, absorption, transmission)
3. Interaction with the object
(Energy interacts with the target depending on the properties of both the target
and the radiation, e.g., reflection, refraction, absorption to produce specific
spectral signature)
4. Recording or energy by the sensor
(A sensor which can collect and record the electromagnetic radiation)
5. Transmission, reception and processing
(the energy recorded needs to be transmitted in electronic form to a receiving
and processing station where the data are processed into images)
6. Interpretation and analysis
(Extract information about the target from the data)
7. Application and user

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Remote Sensing
Covers large / inaccessible areas
Cost effective
Time efficient / real time
Multi-temporal
Multi-sensor & Multi-spectral
Faster extraction of data

Needs ground verification

Doesn’t offer details
Not the best tool for small areas
Needs expert system to extract
and interpret the data

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Application of Remote Sensing

• Environmental monitoring
• Urbanization & Transportation
• Natural resource management
• Agriculture
• Geology
• National security
• Meteorology
• Medical application
• Space science

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Energy Source
Passive sensors Active sensors
RS using reflected solar radiation or radiation RS emitting energy or illusion and sensing the
emitted by objects reflection by objects
 Landsat  LIDAR
 ASTER  RADAR
 Quickbard
 Ikonos

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Electromagnetic Radiation
Electromagnetic Spectrum

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Effect of atmosphere

• Transmission Atmospheric window

• Scattering – small particles suspended in
atmosphere diffuse a portion of the incident
radiation in different directions
o Rayleigh scattering (particle << wavelength, short
wavelength radiation)
o Mie scattering (particle = wavelength, long wavelength
radiation)
o non-selective scattering (particle >> wavelength)
• Absorption – radiation energy is absorbed and
converted into other forms of energy

Spectral bands of remote sensor - limited range of values the sensor is set to
detect along a spectrum
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Spectral Signatures

• Any remotely sensed parameter,

which directly or indirectly
characterizes the nature and or
condition of the object under
observation is defined as its
spectral signature.
• Need to be verified by field
observation data

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Resolution

Detect Recognize Identify Describe

Special resolution Temporal resolution

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Resolution

• Conflict between
spatial resolution and
temporal resolution
due to technical
limitation
• Proper resolution
should be determined
according to
application goal

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 Resolution of RS Application

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Sensors for EO
Sensor Spectral band (µm) Spatial resolution Temporal resolution
AVHRR 4 or 5 bands 1.1 and 4 km 12 hr
(0.58-0.68, 0.725-1.1, 3.55-3.93, 10.3-11.3, (2400 km)
11.5-12.5)
Landsat (US) 11 bands 30 m 16 d
Landsat 1 - 8 (0.43-0.45, 0.45-0.51, 0.53-0.59, 0.64-0.67, (185 km)
0.85-0.88, 1.57-1.65, 2.11-2.29, 0.50-0.68,
1.36-1.38, 10.60-11.19, 11.50-12.51)
SPOT (France) P-1 band (0.45-0.90) X-4 bands (0.45-0.525, 1.5 m 26 d
SPOT 1 - 7 0.53-0.59, 0.625-0.695, 0.76-0.89) (60 km)
IKONOS (US) P-1 band (0.45-0.90) 1m P/4m X 1-2 d
X-4 bands (0.40-0.52, 0.52-0.60, 0.63-0.69, (11km)
0.76-0.90)
GeoVantage 4 bands 0.1-1.1 m Airborne
Digital Camera (0.41-0.49, 0.51-0.59, 0.61-0.69, 0.80-0.90) (0.15-1.5 km)

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GIS

Geographic
Denotes the concept of spatial location on Earth’s surface
Importance of relative location
Theories and techniques in geography for, the basis of GIS
Information
Systems
Computer systems and programs that help to answer questions about the Earth

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What can GIS do?

Aspatial data – data not tied to a location or the Spatial data – data associated with a location on
earth’s surface (no geographic attribute) earth (with geographic attribute)

1. Data management
• Manage various types of data including vector, raster, images, table, etc.
• Manage large amount of data (global scale with high data resolution)
2. Data analysis
• Spatially aware data
• Arribute with spatial distribution
• Proximity and overlay
• Advanced geo-processing techniques
• Flexible, customization
3. Data visualization
• Map! Map! Map!

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Information management in GIS

The core of GIS is “layers”

• GIS tries to represent the reality which is complex
and has various attributes
• Layer approach in GIS allows to manage different
attributes independently
• Overlay of layers then provide information on
potential relationship between attributes

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GIS Data

• Features with discrete shapes and boundaries: points, lines,

polygons
Vector • Represented by (x, y, z) coordinates
• Two types of vector models – topological and object
• Vector objects exit independent of any other nearby features

• Entire study area is covered by a grid

• Each cell within grid is given a value
Raster • Data can be discrete or continuous
• Grid must be expended if those area are to be included

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RS/GIS Application in Environment

Impact of civil war on environmental & agriculture in Syria

The areas of orchard, beet, cotton and wheat reduces 2/3 from 2010 to 2017 Source: Jia et al., 2019

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RS/GIS Application in Environment
Eco-environment change in Laos (1995 - 2015)

Source: Chen et al., 2019

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RS/GIS Application in Environment
Eco-environment change in Laos (1995 - 2015)

Remote Sensing Environment Index

= F (Greenness, wetness, heat, etc.)

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RS/GIS Application in Environment
Surface water quality change

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