This book is the second edition of Environmental Monitoring using GNSS
and highlights the latest developments in global navigation satellite
systems (GNSS). It features a completely new title and additional
chapters that present emerging challenges to environmental
monitoring-"climate variability/change and food insecurity."
Since the publication of the first edition, much has changed in both the
development and applications of GNSS, a satellite microwave remote
sensing technique. It is the first tool to span all four dimensions of
relevance to humans (position, navigation, timing and the environment),
and it has widely been used for positioning (both by military and
civilians), navigation and timing. Its increasing use is leading to a
new era of remote sensing that is now revolutionizing the art of
monitoring our environment in ways never imagined before.
On the one hand, nearly all GNSS satellites (Global Positioning System
(GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo and Beidou)
have become operational, thereby providing high-precision, continuous,
all-weather and near real- time remote sensing multi-signals beneficial
to environmental monitoring. On the other hand, the emerging challenges
of precisely monitoring climate change and the demand for the production
of sufficient food for ever-increasing populations are pushing
traditional monitoring methods to their limits.
In this regard, refracted GNSS signals (i.e., occulted GNSS signals or
GNSS meteorology) are now emerging as sensors of climate variability,
while the reflected signals (GNSS reflectometry or GNSS-R) are
increasingly finding applications in determining, e.g., soil moisture
content, ice and snow thickness, ocean heights, and wind speed and
direction, among others. Furthermore, the increasing recognition and
application of GNSS-supported unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV)/drones in
agriculture (e.g., through the determination of water holding capacity
of soil) highlights the new challenges facing GNSS.
As such, this new edition three new chapters address GNSS reflectometry
and applications; GNSS sensing of climate variability; and the
applications in UAV/drones. Moreover, it explores the application of
GNSS to support integrated coastal zone management.
