Dan G Blumberg - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dan G Blumberg

Editorial-GIS, Remote Sensing and Human Geography: Concepts, Data Analysis and Applications

There is a wide agreement among researchers and professionals that the use of geographic informat... more There is a wide agreement among researchers and professionals that the use of geographic information systems and remote sensing methodologies can contribute significantly to a better understanding of human interactions in space and the environment and to a well-suited planning. Two related reasons can make the use of geographic information methods attractive in human geography: (i) the ability to compile multi-layer data and conduct quantitative analysis with rich data sets of built environments that are dynamic by nature; and (ii) the cost-effective manner that these methods bring to planning processes. This special issue of Geography Research Forum includes innovative papers by contributors from around the globe which cover both the conceptual and applied aspects of the use of GIS and remote sensing in human geography.

Evaluation of Vegetation and Surface Energy Balance using Remote Sensing for climate change studies: A case study of The Negev Desert, Israel

ABSTRACT Climate change and drought frequency is a major concern in the Middle East. A significan... more ABSTRACT Climate change and drought frequency is a major concern in the Middle East. A significant lack of surface data is apparent. Remotely sensed images have the capability of providing regional scale information and containing historical data. While the literature is abundant with many models for extracting energy balance and surface data from imagery few studies integrate the various images and necessary parameters for energy-balance studies. For this study we synergize multi-platform and multi-spectral data using Landsat and Spot data for mapping vegetation and albedo, ERS-1 and 2 for mapping aerodynamic roughness and soil water-content. Soil types are taken from existing soil survey maps corrected by the use of multi-spectral classification. Higher resolution, airborne data are used for focused studies such as the use of a P-band scatterometer to characterize the wetting and drying components of specific soils, and high resolution SAR to characterize the loss of water from agricultural fields. This study is accompanied by an extensive effort to provide well calibrated ground truth supporting data. The ground data include TDR measurements of soil water-content and salinity extracted from the dielectric properties. The soil was further classified to types including the physical and chemical properties and surface roughness. Ultra-spectral measurements using an ASDI spectrometer from 350-2500nm were conducted for monitoring crop water stress. The studies are focused on seasonal variations and extreme climate changes, i.e., very wet and extreme drought conditions. Overall, we have preliminary results demonstrating the capability to map the aerodynamic properties, vegetation extent, and the changes in water content. For example, we find that in the small Mashash watershed the water content decreases from 20 to 4%. Vegetation, another important energy-balance parameter was mapped using the WDVI method with Landsat TM and Spot data together with soil information from an existing GIS database on soils. Irrigated fields provided the highest biomass index and open Loessy soils with natural vegetation provided the lowest seasonal dependence. The results are being used to map the spatio-temporal variability of the energy balance in the semi-arid zone.

Detection

with mixtures of backgrounds in a sliding window anomaly

The damage caused by a natural disaster in rural areas differs in nature, extent, landscape and i... more The damage caused by a natural disaster in rural areas differs in nature, extent, landscape and in structure, from the damage in urban environments. Previous and current studies focus mainly on mapping damaged structures in urban areas after catastrophe events such as an earthquake or tsunami. Yet, research focusing on the damage level or its distribution in rural areas is absent. In order to apply an emergency response and for effective disaster management, it is necessary to understand and characterize the nature of the damage in each different environment.

Background characterization for subpixel target detection

2017 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2017

When performing point target detection in hyperspectral imagery, one often uses the spectral inve... more When performing point target detection in hyperspectral imagery, one often uses the spectral inverse covariance matrix to whiten the natural noise of the image. Since the cube is not necessarily stationary, we wish to understand when segmentation is worthwhile to provide different covariance matrices for different areas of the cube. Using simulations and several new analytical tools, we propose general guidelines for when segmentation is useful.

Extraction Of Hydrological Parameters Using High Spatial Resolution Remote Sensing For KINEROS2 Model

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Corrigendum to “Earth and planetary aeolian streaks: A review” [Aeolian Res. (2016) 108–125]

Aeolian Research, 2016

Formation and Geomorphology of the North-Western Negev Sand Dunes

Ecological Studies, 2008

ABSTRACT The coastal plain of the northern Sinai Peninsula is a structural depression that border... more ABSTRACT The coastal plain of the northern Sinai Peninsula is a structural depression that borders several anticline mountains in the south. This coastal plain is covered by a dunefield in a wide area of 20–l80 km from north to south, and for 260 km from the Nile Delta in the west into the northern Negev Desert, where it terminates south of Beer Sheva (Fig. 3.1). The dunefield covers an area of about 12,000 km2. The Sinai and Negev form one geographical unit subdivided artificially by a political border. The dunefield is located in the northern boundary region of the Eastern Sahara subtropical desert, characterized by a long, hot and dry summer and a cool winter with a mean annual rainfall that is below 200 mm. The political border between the Negev and Sinai has generated two distinctly different landscapes that can be delineated from space-based imagery. The Sinai side of the border tends to be bright and is constituted of bare sand dunes, whereas the Negev side is dark and constituted of vegetated dunes. This political border has thus created a bio-physical border caused by two distinctly different types of land use – grazing and wood-gathering activities in the Sinai, in contrast to almost no human-induced pressure in the Negev (Tsoar, Chap. 6, this volume). The Negev dunefield is triangular in shape, tapering eastwards because of the northern Negev anticline system that stretches from southwest to northeast and delimits the dunes in the southeast, and because of the storm winds blowing in this direction. The anticline of Har Keren is illustrated above the dunefield in Fig.3.1.

Do Martian slopes with Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) have a distinct topographic signature?

&lt;p&gt;Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) are dynamic, low-albedo, slope-parallel sur... more &lt;p&gt;Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) are dynamic, low-albedo, slope-parallel surface features on Mars that occur mainly on steep (&gt;25&amp;#176;) slopes. RSL typically display seasonal dynamics as they appear during late Martian spring, progressively grow during summer, and subsequently fade as summer ends. RSL formation mechanisms remain under debate with proposed mechanisms involving either water/brines (&amp;#8216;wet theories&amp;#8217;) vs. dry granular flows within a surficial dust layer (&amp;#8216;dry theories&amp;#8217;). In an attempt to distinguish between plausible RSL mechanisms, this study compares the topographic and morphologic characteristics of hillslopes with and without RSL. We suggest that a distinct topographic signature for RSL hillslopes would argue against the &amp;#8216;dry&amp;#8217; RSL mechanisms, as RSL dynamics within a thin dust layer are not expected to significantly impact the hillslope-scale topography. In contrast, the presence of fluids on RSL hillslopes could conceivably accelerate rock weathering rates, which in turn may impact the hillslope-scale topography. Our analyses are based on HiRISE, CTX and HRSC digital terrain models (DTMs) together with geomorphic mapping using high-resolution orbital images. We focus on inner crater hillslopes and compare the topographic characteristics of RSL vs. non-RSL slopes. In addition, in order to account for the potential influence of aspect-dependent solar irradiation on hillslope processes, we also applied our analysis on adjacent &amp;#8216;control&amp;#8217; craters that are devoid of RSL activity. Preliminary results from Palikir (-41.6&amp;#176;/ 202.1&amp;#176;E) and Rauna (35.2&amp;#176;/ 328&amp;#176;E) craters reveal that the topographic slope distribution along crater walls with RSL activity is distinct from the slope distribution along crater walls which are devoid of RSL activity. Our results appear to support increased rock-weathering rates on crater walls that presently experience RSL activity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

The Karakum and Kyzylkum sand seas dynamics; mapping and palaeoclimatic interpretations

Remote Sensing of Environment, 2017

Monitoring vegetation dynamics in hyper-arid zones is important because any decrease in the alrea... more Monitoring vegetation dynamics in hyper-arid zones is important because any decrease in the already sparse vegetation cover in these areas could considerably affect the entire ecosystem. The new generation of high spatial resolution satellite (HSR) sensors is suitable for monitoring trees in arid regions because of the distinct and separate objects that trees represent in these environments. The main limitation of modern HSR sensors is the lack of a historical archive that would otherwise enable meaningful landscape change detection, especially in arid regions where tree population dynamics are naturally very slow. This study uses spatial analysis to gain information regarding the long-and short-term dynamic processes affecting the acacia tree population in Wadi Ktora, in the southern Arava Valley, Israel. The data is extracted from a single HSR aerial photograph composed of three spectral bands in the visible and infrared spectrum (green, red, and near infrared). A map of individual acacia trees that is extracted from a colour infrared aerial photograph of Wadi Ktora from 2010 enables the examination of spatial distribution patterns for both tree size and foliage health. Tree size distribution is used as an indicator of long-term (decades) hydrologic spatial processes affecting the acacia population. The tree health distribution is used as an indicator for short-term (months to a few years) hydrologic spatial processes, such as the paths of recent flash floods events. Comparing the distributions of tree size and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) enables differentiation between the long-term and short-term processes that brought the population to its present state. Using spatial statistic grouping, the distribution of the trees in the wadi (ephemeral stream) is divided into three distinct categories: (1) large trees with high NDVI values, (2) large trees with low NDVI values, and (3) small trees with medium NDVI values. Using the resulting classification, we divided the wadi into three sections, each representing a unique combination of long-and short-term hydrologic processes affecting the acacia trees. We suggest that the lack of spatial correlation between tree size and health status is a result of spatio-temporal changes in the water supply.

Remote Sensing of Environment, 2016

We present a new dating approach for desert alluvial surfaces that utilizes radar image data to o... more We present a new dating approach for desert alluvial surfaces that utilizes radar image data to obtain regionalscale correlations between dated surfaces and surfaces of unknown ages. The study was carried out along the Arava segment of the Dead Sea Transform north of the Gulf of Elat (Aqaba) using Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data with 6-12 m/pixel resolutions. Nineteen independently dated Quaternary morphostratigraphic alluvial units (5 to 1910 ka) from eight different sites with variable lithologies (carbonate/magmatic/chert) were examined in order to develop, test and validate the proposed approach. Expanding on previous studies that established the characteristic smoothing of desert alluvial surface through time and the capability of measuring such roughness variations with radar, we employed a pixel-aggregation approach that yielded a robust (R 2 = 0.95) power-law relation between the average radar backscatter value from the surface ('AR') and the abandonment age ('T') of the unit as measured with independent methods such as luminescence and/or cosmogenic radionuclide dating. We found that: 1) This ART correlation can be inverted to obtain calibrated radar-based T estimates as old as~1.5 Ma with 35% uncertainty; 2) ALOS PALSAR 6 m/pixel images acquired at incidence angles of 34-38°yielded optimal results; 3) a sample of at least 70 contiguous radar pixels was required to capture the natural roughness variability of the surfaces examined, and 4) surface lithology did not exert a primary effect on T inversions. Validation experiments yielded radar-based ages of 3 ± 1, 91 ± 32, 484 ± 169 and 1604 ± 561 ka that compare to Holocene, 56 ± 14, 540 ± 60 and 1590 ± 250 ka ages previously determined for the same surfaces, respectively. We propose that with region-specific calibrations, spaceborne radar data can be used to quantitatively estimate the age of abandoned alluvial units across regional scales.

Estimation of soil water content in the Negev Desert open areas using archived ERS SAR images

IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium

This paper presents a study that was conducted using ERS SAR archived images to assess the soil w... more This paper presents a study that was conducted using ERS SAR archived images to assess the soil water-content of open desert areas containing two different soil types (loess and sand). For this purpose we used the different look directions model proposed by Blumberg and Freilikher. The results show that the soil moisture predictions are almost equal to those known as

Optical modeling of microwave scattering from objects buried in dielectric media with rough surfaces

IGARSS 2000. IEEE 2000 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Taking the Pulse of the Planet: The Role of Remote Sensing in Managing the Environment. Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37120)

ABSTRACT If the presence of a buried reflecting plane would enhance or reduce the radar response ... more ABSTRACT If the presence of a buried reflecting plane would enhance or reduce the radar response from a rough interface, still remains not completely understood. Real experiments with airborne ground-penetrating radar are so expensive and complicated that a comprehensive experimental study of microwave scattering from various underground targets in controlled conditions is practically impossible. Under these circumstances optical modeling of microwave scattering processes could take on great significance. Its validity is based on the fact that, according to the general theory of similarity in electrodynamics, all solutions of a wave equation for different frequencies are identical if the geometric and electrodynamic parameters are re-scaled in such a way that all ratios ai/λ (ai are characteristic geometrical sizes, λ the wavelength) and the complex dielectric constant remains the same. The authors present two optical models of microwave remote sensing processes: (i) scattering from a plane perfectly reflecting object buried in a soil with rough surface, (ii) reflection from soils with different moisture contents

Target detection with compressive sensing hyperspectral images

Image and Signal Processing for Remote Sensing XXIII, 2017

During the past years, several compressive spectral imaging techniques were developed. With these... more During the past years, several compressive spectral imaging techniques were developed. With these techniques, an optically compressed version of the spectral datacube is captured. Consequently, the information about the object and targets is captured in a lower dimensional space. A question that rises is whether the reduction of the captured space affects the target detection performance. The answer to this question depends on the compressive spectral imaging technique employed. In most compressive spectral imaging techniques, the target detection performance is deteriorated. We show that our recently introduced technique, dubbed Compressive Sensing Miniature Ultra-Spectral Imaging (CSMUSI), yields similar target detection and false detection rates to that of conventional hyperspectral cameras.

$Research paper thumbnail of Particle-size fractionation of aeolian sand along a climatic and geomorphic gradient of the Sinai-Negev erg$

Particle-size fractionation of aeolian sand along a climatic and geomorphic gradient of the Sinai-Negev erg

Analysis of hyperspectral anomaly change detection algorithms

In this paper, we test anomaly change detection algorithms in hyperspectral images. Focusing on d... more In this paper, we test anomaly change detection algorithms in hyperspectral images. Focusing on difference-based algorithms, our goal is to optimize performance using new methods that utilize the spatial and statistical characteristics of the images. These methods increase the probability of detection while minimizing false alarms. The algorithms are tested on the hyperspectral images of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

Remote Sensing of Environment, 2019

Wind streaks are common aeolian features observed on terrestrial planets. They were first identif... more Wind streaks are common aeolian features observed on terrestrial planets. They were first identified on Mars; thus, the associated terminology is based on Mars-related observations usually describing surface patterns with distinct albedos. However, terms related to reflected tones are only relevant to past knowledge for Mars, and not necessarily suitable for description of radar-visible streaks located on Venus, Titan, or Earth. Furthermore, the sensor type used to observe wind streaks can influence the subsequent data analysis. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of sensor type on wind streak identification and interpretation. Six case studies featuring wind streaks on Earth were performed, using imaging by both radar and optical sensors. The results indicate that wind streak identification is constrained to a specific combination of sensor settings appropriate for the local surface properties. Only half the optically visible wind streaks considered in this study were also radarvisible, but all the wind streaks observable in the radar images also appeared in the optical images. Furthermore, "bright" and "dark" (reflectance and backscatter) are relative terms and should be used with caution. These results suggest that the Venusian wind streak database is most likely far from complete and that many more streaks exist.