Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering

Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.

Shiv Nadar University

Food security is a global challenge that aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1 - “No Poverty”, SDG 2 - “Zero Hunger,” SDG 3 - “Good Health and Well-being,” SDG 13 - “Climate Action,” and SDG 15 - “Life on Land.”. To effectively address this issue, a convergence of agriculture and technology is crucial, incorporating precision agriculture, sustainable agriculture, bio-economy and advanced technologies such as machineries, Artificial intelligence-meachine learning&nbsp;and geospatial technology. Recent trends in food security worldwide have witnessed the adoption of technological advancements. However, it is important to consider biodiversity when implementing and adopting technological advancements. The integration of technology in agricultural practices aim to reduce chemical usage&nbsp;in farms, while increased production remains the main objective of smart farming and Precision Agriculture. By minimizing the use or implementing localized approaches for chemicals on farms, we can preserve soil-faunal diversity, which is at risk along with targets due to excessive applications of pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides. Geospatial technology plays a significant role by leveraging remotely sensed images acquired through satellites, aerial platforms, and GPS-tagged drones to enhance agricultural practices, improve crop growth and increase crop yields. Through geospatial technology, we can map and monitor soil and crop conditions, and effectively conserve, protect, and manage biodiversity on a global scale. The applications of remote sensing technology consider ecological and environmental parameters, soil factors, crop conditions, and plant-soil diversity to optimize yields and agricultural productivity. Additionally, the evaluation of various agricultural practices such as sustainable agriculture, bio-economy, using technology can contribute to increased yields, profitability, and biodiversity conservation as central components of these practices. This study emphasizes that achieving the SDG objectives is attainable through agriculture, which has direct and indirect connections to all SDGs. Geospatial technology plays a vital role in supporting the objectives at spatial and temporal scales by facilitating agricultural practices, ensuring&nbsp;food security, preserving biodiversity, monitoring soil and crop conditions, and promoting sustainable development.

Sustainable Development

Highlighting the role of agriculture and geospatial technology in food security and sustainable development goals

The present study is taken up to record variations in the extent of area of two polygons–(i)a ground measured area of a university campus, (ii)enclosing the Ganga basin and a polygon covering (iii)India to examine the changes in both shape and area–under different map projections with various parameters. The exercise brought forth interesting results. Depending on final ranks worked out based on minimum differences in extent of areas and shape distortion in the case of India, it is suggested to adopt either (i) LCC projection with Everest India-Nepal datum, First Standard Parallel (FSP) 24.50, Second Standard Parallel (SSP) 28.50, Latitude of Origin (LO) 16.253259, Central Meridian (CM) 80.8749 or (ii) LCC projection with WGS 84 datum, FSP 24.50, SSP 28.50, LO 16.253259, CM 80.8749 or (iii) Polyconic with Everest India-Nepal datum, CM 84.50, LO 13.00, for mapping both smaller areas on larger scales and larger areas on smaller scales.

Geocarto International

Need for Pan-India Compatibility of Geospatial Databases in Terms of Map Projections and Parameters

This chapter summarizes the book's overall concept within a compact format wherein we have presented the succinct story of each chapter contributed to this volume. We describe the role of distinctly separate three poles and three polar regions (TPRs) in the planet's functioning as a system through various positive and negative feedback loops. Also we describe how the Earth as a system is connected through different pathways to its various spheres, such as geosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and the latest one, anthroposphere.

WILEY

Advances in Remote Sensing in Relation to Spheres of the Planet Earth

With advances in remote-sensing technology and higher-quality products, the field of spectral indices has experienced a sizeable progressive evolution. These spectral indices computed by using different brands of remote-sensing products and applying additive, subtractive, or normalizing operations, have been and are being devised to detect diverse objects in various spheres of our planet. For instance, there are spectral indices that detect and delineate plant leaf moisture, that biome comes under biosphere, at distinctive spatial scales. There are other indices that are used to extract elements from the lithosphere like iron oxide content, or to show clay mineral content, etc. Similarly, there are spectral indices to detect various elements which constitute other spheres of our planet. In this work, we have used the Web of Science (WoS) database from 1999 to 2022 and searched for only English language research journals, book chapters, books, and scientific reports. We found 2227 documents in all the categories to perform a systematic, scientometric review regarding spectral indices used for the identification of elements constituting various objects of the five different spheres. The primary objective of this chapter is to present a systematic and scientometric review of spectral indices used for quantification of different elements of all the spheres of our planet relating to lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere, across remote-sensing platforms and sensors. The study also examines the rationale of spectral indices across the ever-advancing remote-sensing platform and sensors, and their future challenges, and investigates the challenges and prospects of this domain of study. This study will be useful for acquainting new researchers with the use spectral indices for their specific objectives.

Spectral Indices Across Remote Sensing Platforms and Sensors Relating to the Three Poles: An Overview of Applications, Challenges, and Future Prospects

Advances in Remote Sensing Technology and the Three Poles is a multidisciplinary approach studying the lithosphere, hydrosphere (encompassing both limnosphere, and oceanosphere), atmosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere, of the Arctic, the Antarctic and the Himalayas. The drastic effects of climate change on polar environments bring to the fore the often subtle links between climate change and processes in the hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere, while unanswered questions of the polar regions will help plan and formulate future research projects.Sample topics covered in the work include:<ul><li>Terrestrial net primary production of the Arctic and modeling of Arctic landform evolution</li><li>Glaciers and glacial environments, including a geological, geophysical, and geospatial survey of Himalayan glaciers</li><li>Sea ice dynamics in the Antarctic region under a changing climate, the Quaternary geology and geomorphology of Antarctica</li><li>Continuous satellite missions, data availability, and the nature of future satellite missions, including scientific data sharing policies in different countries</li><li>Software, tools, models, and remote sensing technology for investigating polar and other environments</li></ul>For postgraduates and researchers working in remote sensing, photogrammetry, and landscape evolution modeling, Advances in Remote Sensing Technology and the Three Poles is a crucial resource for understanding current technological capabilities in the field along with the latest scientific research that has been conducted in polar areas.

Advances in Remote Sensing Technology and the Three Poles

World University root node

Recent Advancement and Role of Drones in Forest Monitoring: Research and Practices

Environmental sensing is becoming an important segment across the geographical globe even beyond. That can be important tool for primary alarming indicator for saving millions of lives in the world. Impact of sensing devices is playing key role in understanding; as a result, we stand a better chance of improving and keeping our impact to a minimum. The obvious benefits of environmental monitoring include pollution reduction, occupational disease reduction, and also minimizing the impact of human activities. Perhaps, the biggest advancement that environmental sensing will make in the future is that smart sensors will be implemented in order to monitor the natural gas infrastructure. Here, we will be discussing some of the most innovative ways in which smart sensors are used to reduce the strain on the environment.

Smart Nanostructure Materials and Sensor Technology

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2685-3_6">Environmental Impact of Sensing Devices</a>

The present study utilized earth observation Sentinel5P TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) data for monitoring submarine volcanic activities. The world has seen a sequence of abrupt volcanic eruptions within one-month duration i.e., on 20th December 2021, 13th January 2022 and 15th January 2022. This caused the emissions of natural gaseous pollutants such as Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) and ash particles. Atmospheric SO2, AAI (Absorbing Aerosol Index) and Cloud fraction data are retrieved from the TROPOMI onboard the Copernicus Sentinel5P European Space Agency satellite. Results confirmed the increased concentration of SO2 column density after 20th December, and it was observed to be 0.002 mol/m2, the highest concentration during the period of study. Generally, SO2 concentration stays within 0.001 mol/m2 or less. Concentration was seen increasing after the first eruption and reached maximum after 15th January 2022 eruption to a level up to 0.002 mol/ m2. Similar outcomes were observed for AAI for the chosen site. AAI values increased to 25,000 fold (AAI values of 1.25) during the first eruption and increased to 29,000 fold on 15th January 2022 after eruptions (AAI values of 1.45) as compared AAI values of 0.005 or negative AAI values before eruptions. A cloud fraction of value 1 is observed during this time, along with the top most cloud height at 14,233.16 m (14.23 kms) above the crater of the volcano (maximum estimation limit by S5P). These values are higher as compared to isolated islands, as there are no other sources of emissions at surrounding environment. The outcomes support the role of Earth Observation datasets for disaster monitoring and management plans for mitigation. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor &amp; Francis Group

Remote Sensing Letters

Highlighting the Role of Earth Observation Sentinel5P TROPOMI in monitoring volcanic eruptions: A Report on Hunga Tonga, a Submarine Volcano

<figure class="table"><table><thead><tr><th>Species distribution models (SDMs) have been used extensively in the field of landscape ecology and conservation biology since its origin in the late 1980s. But there is still a void for a universal modeling approach for SDMs. With recent advancements in satellite data and machine learning algorithms, the prediction of species occurrence is more accurate and realistic. Presently, four machine learning and regression-based algorithms, namely, generalized linear model, maximum entropy, boosted regression tree, and random forest (RF) are used to model the geographical distribution of Rhododendron arboreum, which is economically and medicinally important species found in the fragile ecosystem of Himalayas. To establish complex relation between the occurrence data and regional climatic and land use parameters, several satellite products, namely, MODIS, Sentinel-5p, GPM, ECOSTRESS, and shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM), are acquired and used as predictor variables to the different SDM algorithms. The performance evaluation has been conducted using the area under curve (AUC), which showed the best result for Maxent (AUC  =  0.871) and poor result was observed for RF (AUC  =  0.755) among all. The overall prediction confirmed the distribution of Rhododendron arboreum in the mid to high altitudes of central and southern parts of the Garhwal Division. We provide crucial evidence that combining multisatellite products using machine learning algorithms can provide a much better understanding of species distribution that can eventually help the researchers and policymakers to take the necessary step toward its conservation.</th></tr></thead></table></figure>

Journal of Applied Remote Sensing

Assessing the niche of Rhododendron arboreum using entropy and machine learning algorithms: role of atmospheric, ecological, and hydrological variables

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) forms the northern boundary of India covering an area of about 5.3 lakh km2, which constitutes 16.2% of the total geographical area. The region is remarkable for its diversity of plants and animals and provides abundant ecosystem services to people. The Indian Himalayas (IH) is richly endowed with forest resources and supports different types of forest ecosystems along with varied topography. In addition to anthropogenic factors, the forests of IH are under pressure due to changing climate. There are several pieces of evidence of significant changes in temperature, precipitation, and vegetation phenology in IHR. Climate change (CC) has a significant impact on forest ecosystems of IH which results in the upward movement of several plant species, and further changes are expected to cause the extinction of species. Due to changing climatic conditions in IHR, possibly some of the locations may become more favorable to alien invasive species causing negative impacts on native plants. Changing temperature and rainfall in the region have caused phenological changes in many economically and ecologically important plant species like Rhododendron sp., Myrica esculenta, Pinus wallichiana, etc. As a result of which these species are shifting towards higher elevations to cope up with altered climate. A significant reduction in suitable habitat and the massive decline in the population of animal species due to climate change is also predicted. The studies carried out in IHR indicated shifts in vegetation types across IHR from moderate to large scale. Higher elevation Himalayan temperate forests, subalpine forests, and alpine forests are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change while Sal forests are predicted to shift towards the north-eastern region. Western Himalayan forests are highly susceptible to changing climate while eastern Himalayan forests are estimated to be more resilient.