GIS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Dr. Jyoti Parikh

Executive Director
B-44, Shivalik, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi
www.irade.org, jparikh@irade.org
6 Major Climate Risks
Temperature and precipitation variability
Drought
Flooding and extreme rainfall
Cyclone and storm surge
Sea-level rise
Environmental health risks
1 Environment
Inventory of species,
Measure environmental impact,
Trace pollutants
Environment management and planning
Topographical information
2

Agriculture
Managing crop yields,
Monitoring crop rotation techniques,
Projecting soil loss for individual farms or entire agricultural regions.
3

Hydrology

Assess groundwater,
Visualize watersheds,
Lakes and Wetlands
Applications of GIS for Development
4 Land use
Visualize and plan the land use needs of cities, regions, or even national
governments
Helps in decision making for future growth development
5

Geology

Analyze soils and strata,
Assess seismic information,
Create 3-dimensional displays of geographic features.
6 Forestry
Managing and planning of forests
To assess conditions through historical analysis, stand inventory, soil types,
changing weather patterns, and land-use practices
Forest fire mapping
Monitor and analyze the temporal and spatial change in forest ecosystem sue
to natural and man-made disturbances.
Applications of GIS for Development
7

Risk
management


To locate areas prone to natural or man-made disasters.
Generate a flood forecasting model to identify affected parcels to prioritize
for remediation or damage assessment.
To prepare for future assessment of risks
Identification of critical prone areas to Landslides and other disasters

8

Water/waste
water
industry

Planning, engineering, operations, maintenance, finance, and
administration functions
Assessing water quality
Assess relationships such as runoff and groundwater purity
To monitor water quality changes within a water body such as a river or bay
Applications of GIS for Development
7.9
10.3
1.9
28.7
9.2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
A
r
e
a

(
%
)

Flood Prone Area
Flood Prone Area in %
Extreme events: Risk assessment
5
0
18.6
0 0
40.2
23
15.7
97.3
0
48
69.9
61.8
2.7
100
6.7
0
0
0 0
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
India Uttaranchal Gujarat Hardwar Surat
A
r
e
a

i
n

%

Wind Velocity in m/s
Area under Wind Storm vulnerability
55 & 50 47 44 & 39 33
Flood prone areas of India


Source: www.climate-transitions.org
Wind and Cyclone prone areas of India


Source: www.climate-transitions.org
From 1975 to 2015 the number of people
in urban areas is projected to more than
double.

By 2030, nearly two-thirds of the world's
population will live in urban areas
Ratio of Urban and Rural Population, 2007
(Sources: Food and Agriculture Organization statistical
databases (FAOSTAT); Country income to world Bank 2007)
Population growth and in-migration of
poor people, industrial growth, inefficient
and inadequate traffic corridors, poor
environmental infrastructure, etc. are the
main factors that have deteriorated the
overall quality of the city environment.

Urbanization negatively impacts the
environment mainly by the fabrication of
pollution, the alteration of the physical
and chemical properties of the
atmosphere, and the covering of the soil
surface and it represent the quality of
climate over city.
Urbanization
Significant Urban floods in India in recent
years
2005 Severe urban floods were
reported from 10 cities and Mumbai
was worst affected.

2006 Number of affected cities
rose to 22. Surat was worst
affected. Vishakhapattanam airport
was inundated for more than 10
days.

2007 Number of affected cities
rose to 35. Kolkata was worst
affected.

2008 Jamshedpur, Mumbai,
Hyderabad were worst affected
Source: National Institute of Disaster Management
(NIDM)
Flood level During 1998 floods
Flood Above 6 feet
Flood 2-4
Flood 4-6
Flood 0-2
Source:- Surat CDP
Surat
Floods:

1998
Flood level During 2006 floods
Source:- Surat CDP
5-10 Depth
More than 10 Depth
4-6 Depth
Surat
Floods:

2006
Urban heat island
Cause of the urban heat island:
Modification of the land
surface by urban
development which uses
materials which effectively
retain heat;
Waste heat generated by
energy usage is a secondary
contributor.
The urban canopy layer (UCL) is the layer of air
closest to the surface in cities, extending upwards to
approximately the mean building height.

Above the urban canopy layer lies the urban
boundary layer (UBL), which is 1km in
thickness.
Source: Research paper by Swarnima Singh
On GIS APPLICATION IN URBAN HEAT ISLAND: A
CRUSADING ANTHROPOGENIC DRIVER TO
CLIMATE CHANGE
Urban Heat Island
Remote sensing instrument used for UHI:
ASTER: Advanced Space-borne Thermal
Emission and Reflection Radiometer

Advanced along Track Scanning
Radiometer (AASTAR) and PALSAR are
used for estimating surface temperature and
land cover change

By utilizing remote sensing data and
implementing GIS mapping techniques,
change detection over a period of time of the
urban areas can be monitored and mapped.
Spatial Pattern of Urban Heat Island (an overlay
of AASTER AND PALSAR data analysis)
Source: Research paper by Swarnima Singh On GIS APPLICATION IN URBAN
HEAT ISLAND: A CRUSADING ANTHROPOGENIC DRIVER TO CLIMATE
CHANGE
Land Use / Land Cover
Space-borne remote sensing
data can be used for estimation of
biomass and biodiversity,

Geo-spatial modeling techniques
can be employed to estimate carbon
sequestration patterns

Project of Centre for Development of Advanced
computing (C-DAC); on Landscape Dynamics with
Emphasis on Landuse / Landcover Changes vis-a-
vis Carbon Sequestration and Habitat Loss.

Source: C-DAC website
Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP)
Measurements from all rain gauge stations to map/link to entire basin

Preparation of seasonal and annual rainfall maps

Severe rainstorm map

Digital drainage map

Isohyetal patterns (line joining points of equal precipitation) of all historical
rainstorms

Development of interactive software for estimation of storm parameters for
any given study area and tool for storm transposition on the digital map.

Water
GIS for Flood control, Soil conservation, Water conservancy, Salinity
ingress, Watershed management, Groundwater assessment and
management

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data are layered with hydrographic data so that
the boundaries of a watershed may be determined.

Groundwater modeling simulation devised to fully capture the contaminants
in water

Mapping of flood-affected and snow cover using satellite images

Lakes and Wetlands classification and modeling
Snow cover monitoring
Development of Near Real Time Snow
Cover Monitoring; Project of C-DAC

Source: C-DAC website
GIS based Avalanche Information
System can be used for making maps,
updated with satellite imagery and
ancillary data

Multi-temporal optical and
microwave remote sensing data

Biodiversity
GIS helps in Forest Management for
following purpose:
1. Location: location of forest resource
2. Trends: changes happened over time
3. Patterns: spatial patterns existing
4. Modeling: what if case? If road network
added etc
Biological richness map of the proposed
Rajmachi Wildlife Sanctuary near Khandala

C-DAC project on Biodiversity
Characterization
Source: C-DAC website
Remote sensing & GIS based modeling to
develop spatial indices depicting the status
of forest ecosystem

Preparation of biological maps

Biodiversity characterization at landscape
level
Landslide
GIS helps in landslide zonation in:-

1. Helps in identifying strategic points

2. Geographically critical areas prone to
landslides.


Thematic mapping using Optical and
microwave RS data

Landslide inventory mapping using GPS

Landslide hazard zonation using GIS
techniques
Micro-zonation & risk assessment of
landslide affected areas in Itanagar,
Arunachal Pradesh
Source: C-DAC website
Risk Assessment
GIS and RS to hazard, vulnerability and risk (HVR) assessment Important for
better disaster preparedness.

Includes early warning systems

GIS in conjunction with remote sensing and photogrammetry, can be used
to identify hazards.

Seismic Hazard Assessment: Active Fault Study, Geology Study, Seismic
Hazard Mapping

Vulnerability Mapping: Building Stock, Essential Facility, Population,
transportation System, Utility System


Climate change has increased the relevance of GIS

With increasing risk and impacts, GIS - an inevitable tool to be used
regularly

Increase effectiveness in conjunction with remote sensing to monitor
impacts

GIS is a sophisticated technology tool already in widespread use by
planners, engineers, and scientists to display and analyze all forms of
location-referenced data related to climate change and its impacts.

GIS can saves lives
Concluding Comments
THANK YOU