Methodology Andapplication Of Geospatial Information Technology On Water-related Disasterassessment

Water, as a limited resource, is critical to sustain the living and development ofhuman society in the world. But abnormal circulation of hydrologic cycles, unevendistribution of water resources across time and space, water shortage andcontamination all affects the living of the humans. Water-related natural andanthropogenic disasters, such as drought, flooding and water shortage, seriouslythreaten the sustainable development of our world.Geospatial information technology, including remote sensing, geographicinformation systems and decision support systems, is among important tools andmanners to alleviate the water-related disasters. As robust and powerful spatialanalysis and management tools, it can provide accurate and timely decision supportassistance to the decision makers to cope with the disasters. This dissertation selectedthree studies conducted at different countries and districts (United States, Japan andChina) to illustrate how the geospatial information technology can be applied to dealwith water disasters.In the first study of Southeastern U.S. drought, Landsat satellite images wereused to explore the dynamics of lake or reservoir areas in response to the droughtoccurrence. The results indicate that unsupervised classification method outperformsother methods. The lakes/reservoirs upstream are more sensitive to drought than thosedownstream. And remote sensing-based imagery interpretation can reveal the changesin lake areas of importance reservoirs.In the second study of the 2011 Sendai Tsunami triggered by a destructiveearthquake in the northeastern Japan, a fast and effective post-disaster assessment ishighly imperative for the recovery of this region. This study modeled thetsunami-affected areas of coastal Fukushima Prefecture using Landsat-7 ETM+ dataand terrain analysis. The result shows that most of the coastal areas were significantlyaffected by the tsunami. The total tsnami-engulfed area in Fukushima is around 62.1km2, among which the loss of agricultural lands is around 3442 hectares. Thelow-lying plains along the coast are particularly vulnerable to the tsunami.In the third study of Hengshui, China, a water recycling and reuse system wasplanned to reduce untreated wastewater while increase water supply. A GIS-baseddecision support system was designed to maintain the sustainable operations of this system.The results of studies show that geospatial information technology is effective toassess and manage water-related crisis, and deserves further research and investment.Application of geospatial information techniques is central to the solutions of waterresource problems in China in the future.