satellites such the EROS of the IAI and regional
agreements following the Israel’s joining the European
Community.
Methodological developments have taken place in
three main areas: multispectral analysis, multitemporal
analysis and patterns classification. Applications of
these methods include a wide range of themes, from
water quality assessments, through land use and
vegetation dynamics monitoring, to soils and biogenic
crust mapping.
Water quality assessments were conducted for the Lake
Kinneret area by developing spectral signatures of, for
example, chlorophyll concentrations which are
indicative of pollution levels.
Land use monitoring was conducted for the Mount
Carmel and Haifa area. New methods of multiscale
texture analysis and parameterisations were developed
using SPOT panchromatic and multispectral images.
One of the interesting findings concerned the
relationships between socio-economic characteristics
and image parameterizations of building densities and
vegetation abundance. In another work concerning
change detection, a technique for monitoring landuse
changes using SPOT images was developed.
Soil and lithological studies represent one of the areas
of common interest. Unmixing methods were
developed for determining mineral compositions in the
Machtesh Ramon area using airborne scanner data.
Biogenic crusts were found to indicate grazing
intensities and provided new insight into the
understanding of the Israeli-Egyptian border contrast
compared to earlier works. In another word vegetation
dynamics were studied along the climatological
gradient of the Judean Desert and found that temporal
patterns of vegetation dynamics correlate well with
soils distribution. Thus allowing soils mapping, using
distributions of vegetation indices determined from
satellite images.
Rainfall distributions mapping, using radar
techniques, has been researched. These data may
provide better understanding of soil erosion and
vegetation abundance in the semi arid and desert
areas.
Future directions of methodological developments and
their applications will involve higher levels of
integration between the spectral (including radar),
spatial and temporal dimensions of remote sensing
interpretation.
Multispectral and multitemporal satellite imagery
is used in Israel in mapping forested areas,
classification, identification of changes caused by
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International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B6. Vienna 1996
deforcstation, forest fires, disease etc, and monitoring
change in canopy density.
The study and classification of water reservoirs has
been made using SPOT imagery, through calculating
surface spectral radiance. 99 Reservoir images were
analysed and classified by degree of pollution, using a
drinking water reservoir as ground truth.
Geological mapping of particularly interesting areas is
another remote sensing application, especially in
desert areas. Landüse and urban density mapping has
been performed, developing computerised technologies
for differentiating between different types of urban
areas and their densities.
A project in geometric model solution of a SPOT
image, production of orthoimage from panchromatic
and multispectral imagery and the production of a
landuse classification map, has been carried out.
3.3 Education and Research
Haifa University offers a number of courses in the
Department of Geography, at the graduate level,
namely, Introduction to Remote Sensing and
Advanced Remote Sensing.
Amongst the research projects at Haifa University
there are: subsurface coastal mapping by remote
sensing methods, monitoring coastal changes in the
Herzlia Marina area by aerial photographs and satellite
images.
The Bar Ilan University Laboratory for Environmental
Information and Dynamics is a central facility for
research and teaching in the areas of Remote Sensing,
GIS and Environmental Dynamics.
The objectives of the laboratory are:
l. Developing methodologies for environmental
remote sensing with emphasis on monitoring
Mediterranean, arid and semi-arid environments.
2. Integrate environmental and ecological data
derived from remote sensing interpretation into
Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
3. Modelling environmental dynamic processes in
Mediterranean, arid and semi-arid environments.
4. Providing computer facility for teaching
undergraduate, M.A. and Ph.D students in the
areas of Remote Sensing and GIS.
More than 100 undergraduate students are
participating in various courses, seminars and
workshops carried out in the Laboratory each year.
Research collaboration includes joint projects with
many scientists in Israel and abroad within the
framework of groups involved with Mediterranean
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