بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم In the Name of God In the Name of God

Using Satellite Technology to Reduce Weather Related Disasters A. Sedaghatkerdar Director of Atmospheric Science & Meteorological Research Center (ASMERC), I. R. of Iran Meteorological Organization (IRIMO), Tehran

Global Observation System (GOS) We get data from: 10000 Synoptic Meteorological Stations 900 Upper-air Stations 7000 ships 3000 airplanes More than 600 Radar Stations More than 600 Marine Buoys But we also need: Receiving Data from Satellites

1-Access to more data and imagery from the atmosphere Why do we use satellites in IRIMO 1-Access to more data and imagery from the atmosphere 2-Lack of telecommunications facilities in some parts of the country 3-Need to transmission of data and imagery with high speeds

Polar Orbiting Satellites like 2-NOAA9,10,12,14,15,16 Active current satellites used by IRIMO Geostationary Satellites like 1- Meteosat5, Meteosat6, Meteosat7 Polar Orbiting Satellites like 2-NOAA9,10,12,14,15,16

Natural Diasasters Though it may not be feasible to control nature and to stop the development of natural phenomena but the efforts could be made to avoid disasters and alleviate their effects on human lives, infrastructure and property.

Natural Diasasters It is almost impossible to prevent the occurrence of natural disasters and their damages. However it is possible to reduce the impacts of disasters by adopting suitable disaster mitigation strategies.

Natural Diasters in I.R. of Iran I. R. of Iran is one of the most vulnerable developing countries suffering very often from various natural disasters, namely drought, flood, earth quake, landslide, forest fire, hail, volcanic eruption, etc. Which cause a devastating impact on human life, economy and environment.

Main objectives of disasters mitigation (i) minimize the potential risks by developing disaster early warning strategies, (ii) prepare and implement developmental plans to provide resilience to such disasters, (iii) mobilize resources including communication and telemedicine services, (iv) help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reduction.

Role of Space technology in Disaster management Space technology plays a crucial role in efficient mitigation of disasters. Communication satellites help in disaster warning, relief mobilization and tele-medicinal support, earth observation satellites provide required database for pre-disaster preparedness programmers, disaster response, monitoring activities and post-disaster damage assessment, and reconstruction, and rehabilitation.

Use of Earth Observation Satellites (EOS) in Natural Hazards

Thirty Years of “Natural Disasters” Around the World

Natural Disasters Throughout the World(1988-1997)

Average Number of Natural Disasters Victims By Type of Disaster

Locations of natural hazards observed by NASA satellites

Role of Space Technology in Drought Mitigation Drought Preparedness Drought Prediction Drought Monitoring

Drought Preparedness . In addition to preparedness phase, phases of prevention and relief are so important. Identification of drought prone areas information on land use and land cover, waste lands, forest cover and soils is a pre- requisite. Space-borne multi spectral measurements hold a great promise in providing such information.

Drought Prediction Remote sensing data provide major input to all the three types rainfall predictions; such as Long-term seasonal predictions, Using geo-stationary and polar orbiting weather satellites such as INSAT and NOAA. Medium range predictions Using satellite-based sea surface temperature, normalised difference vegetation index, … Short-term predictions. Using INSAT-based visible and thermal data.

Drought Monitoring Satellite-derived Vegetation Index (VI) which is sensitive to vegetation stress is being used as a surrogate measure to continuously monitor the drought conditions on a real-time basis. Initially, NDVI derived from NOAA-AVHRR data are used for drought monitoring biweekly drought bulletins.

Flood Disaster Impact Minimization Flood forecasts are issued currently by National Water Commission using conventional rainfall runoff models with an accuracy of around 65% to 70% with a lead time of six to twelve hours. Incorporation of remote sensing inputs such as satellite-derived rainfall estimates, current hydrological land use / land cover, soil information, etc. in rainfall-runoff model subsequently improves the flood forecast.

Golestan Floods in Aug 2001, 2002 Recent Golestan Floods (Aug 2001 and Aug 2002) especially first one caused serious damages, which should be named man made hazard instead of natural disaster.

Location of Golestan Province

500 hPa map on 11 Aug 2001 at 00 UTC

METEOSAT7 images on 11th of Aug METEOSAT7 images on 11th of Aug. 2001 also show development of convective clouds over the area of study.

Deforestation in Golestan province from 1998 to 2001 In this case a comparison has been made between color composite 433 of LANDSAT-5 and, color composite 211 of TERRA which are approximately equivalent. The first image is monitored on Aug 8, 1998 about 3 years before the occurrence of Golestan Flood (Aug 2001) and the second one is monitored on Sep 2, 2001 about one month after the flood. Both images show vegetation areas in red color.

LANDSAT image on Aug 8, 1998 TERRA image on Sep 2001

Blue color areas denote deforested regions

It is also remarkable to note that the comparison between LANDSAT2 image in 1975 and LANDSAT7 image in 2000 reveals reduction of vegetation area. Reduction of forested areas in clear. Red color areas show forested coverage-

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