GIS and Remote Sensing

9. GIS & RS in Climate Change

Satellite remote sensing is providing major advances in understanding the climate system and its changes, by quantifying procedures and spatio-temporal states of the atmosphere, land and oceans., The climate system that have not been detected by climate models and conventional observations, the spatial pattern of sea-level rise and the cooling effects of increased stratospheric aerosols. New insights are made possible by the unparalleled global- and fine-scale spatial coverage of satellite observations. Nevertheless, the short duration of observation series and their uncertainties still pose challenges for taking the robust long-term trends of many climate variables. Climate change is an unparalleled threat to the food security of hundreds of millions of people who depend on small-scale agriculture for their livings. Climate change disturbs agriculture and food security, and likewise, agriculture and natural resource management disturb the climate system.

The use of GIS for climate change would likely become more dominant in the transportation sector if the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events increases thus influencing transportation agencies to pursue additional capabilities to spatially analyze or predict the extent and potential damage caused by these events. In the short term, using GIS to support climate change adaptation plans will be more extensive as transportation agencies will need to develop strategies to strategies to mitigate or avoid the anticipated impacts of climate change.