Читать книгу Climate Impacts on Sustainable Natural Resource Management - Группа авторов - Страница 41

Most environmental monitoring and data collection systems are currently based on ground‐based measurements, satellite observations, and manned airborne sensors. These processes have spatiotemporal constraints that limit the current monitoring platforms. UAS provides an excellent opportunity to bridge this gap (Figure 2.1) by providing great spatial detail and enhanced temporal retrieval cost‐effectively (Manfreda et al. 2018). UAS systems provide very high spatial and temporal resolution images which are unmatched by satellite alternatives at a fraction of the satellite acquisition charge. The UAS‐mounted sensors have multiple additional advantages for a wide array of applications. Moreover, they offer quick access to environmental data while offering the near real‐time capabilities necessary for a wide range of applications. UAS also has applications in accessing hazardous and other inaccessible sites efficiently without compromising on safety and accessibility issues. Another advantage of UAS is its ability to perform remote sensing data acquisition in cloudy conditions, which may not be the case for satellite data.

One of the most widely used environmental monitoring applications of UAS is its use for precision agriculture. The high spatial‐resolution data enables quick and economical detection and diagnosis so that preventive measures can be implemented for agricultural management issues. UAS can provide the necessary data for addressing farmers' need at the field scale, thus empowering them to make timely better decisions with the least possible environmental impact. UAS offers opportunities to collect high‐resolution data for describing ecological processes and surveying ecosystems in remote sites. Some habitats like peat bogs are not only inaccessible but can also be damaged through ground surveys. In such cases UAS can provide good‐quality and near‐comparable levels of information to those obtained through plot‐based measurements. UAS also has a beneficial application for undertaking quick damage assessment after extreme natural events and in the context of humanitarian relief.