Dams Safety Review of Satellite Remote Sensing Applications to Dams and Reservoirs

摘要

Remote sensing is the collection and interpretation of information of an object, areaor phenomenon by a recording device that is not in physical or intimate contact withthe object or phenomenon under study. It generally refers to the use of satellite borneor airborne sensors to capture the spectral and spatial relations of objects andmaterials on Earth from the space. This is done by sensing and recording reflectedor emitted electromagnetic radiation from the objects. A brief history of satelliteremote sensing is given in this review but the bulk of it is devoted to the scientificsatellites launched into orbit and their sensors tracking, and presenting changes inwater resources fields. The used technologies and satellite systems for monitoringmovements and changes include American GNSS, GPS, the Russian GLONASS,Europe’s European Satellite Navigation System (GALILEO), China’sCOMPASS/BeiDou, the Indian (IRNSS); Japan’s (QZSS) and many others. Detailsare presented on the present (LANDSAT), the Moderate Resolution ImagingSpectroradiometer (MODIS), as well as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), andRADARSAT, JERS‐1, and ERS, which are developed by various countries,especially the USA. These sensors have the refined capability of providingestimates of variables, which depending on the purpose and design of the sensor,can follow critical issues related to water management problems. This reviewpresents examples of actual studies carried out including; building databases ofsmall dams and lakes on regional scale, derivation of volume vs. elevation andsurface area vs. elevation of hundreds of reservoirs around the world, various bathymetric reservoir surveys, siltation of reservoirs and catchment areas erosionproblems, monitoring of water quality changes, and above all monitoring damdeformation and stability problems of dams. The presented case studies cover theuse of these different sensor together with the imagery used, their sources, methodsof interpretation, validation and gives presentation of the end results. This review,which is only a very brief presentation of satellite remote sensing applicationsconcludes that; in spite of the large volume of research done on this subject so far,which this review cites some of them , the expected future developments in satelliteremote sensing technology coupled with advances in algorithms and models usedin refining satellite imagery and validating the results will bring more accurateresults and less laborious treatment work in addition to wider scope of applications.