Jose Edgardo Aban - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by Jose Edgardo Aban

This study reported the potential approach of the modeling to estimate boreal forest above ground... more This study reported the potential approach
of the modeling to estimate boreal forest above ground
biomass using NDVI in northern region of Mongolia.
The regional relationships between the satellite-derived NDVI
and annual mean climatologicall parameters (temperature
and precipitation) between years 1995-2000 in growth season
were carried out for the model development. In order to
develop algorithms for estimating woody stand biomass,
regional coefficients of the forest which are taken from
inventory data, were considered. The woody biomass of
3547.5 thousand hectares (ha) of boreal and temperate forests
in Mongolian northern part, was estimated from
NOAA/AVHRR and SPOT-4/ VEGETATION data.
Analytical model test indicated that it can be used to analyze
between-year differences in biomass carbon pool change.

The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, also known as the “Great East Japan Earthquake”, (Japanese: Higashi N... more The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, also known as the “Great East Japan Earthquake”, (Japanese: Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) was a magnitude 9.0 (Mw) undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on Friday, 11 March 2011. Simulations of the inundated and devastated areas of the tsunami were conducted using data from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM; 90m-3 arc second resolution). Digital elevation models (DEM) draped with Landsat TM (pre-disaster) images were produced, onto
which tsunami/sea-level heights were simulated at scenarios of 1-meter, 3-meters, 5-meters, 7-meters, 10-meters,
12-meters, 15-meters, 17-meters and 20-meters, along coastal towns of northeastern Japan. Validation and accuracy
assessment of resulting coastal (simulated) inundations were done and were visually compared with the postdisaster
images of the actual tsunami-devastated areas. The simulated inundation scenarios show considerable
accuracies. The technique may have promising applications on tsunami/coastal hazard zoning, as well as, forecasting sea-level rise scenarios.

Urbanisation and development over the past 3-4 decades have reduced the amount of pristine rainfo... more Urbanisation and development over the past 3-4 decades have reduced the amount of pristine rainforest cover in Brunei Darussalam to less than 50% of the country’s land area. Low-density urban sprawl is most pronounced in the Brunei-Muara District, where commercial shop blocks, housing estates and infrastructure are built at rapid rates. By-products of this process include increasing number of decaying, dilapidated urban spots and bare areas (exposed rock and soil) created by abandoned or stalled projects, which quickly become bad lands. The drastic change in land cover is expected to have a significant impact on the local climatic regime as the heat and water absorption and distribution capacities of rainforest differ significantly from that of bare ground, landscaped green spaces, built features, and even secondary forest. While carbon dioxide emission has dominated the discourse on climate change, land cover/land use change is increasing being recognised as a major contributor to global climate change. This is particularly pronounced in developing regions, where the original land cover in the recent past was pristine natural vegetation. This paper aims to assess the potential impact of urbanisation in Brunei Darussalam on climate change by measuring the change in relative heat distribution pattern (as exemplified by urban heat islands) and vegetation indices, using multi-year satellite imagery, in particular, Landsat thermal and near-infrared bands. The remote sensing study is augmented by ground measurements of ambient heat profiles in selected land cover types, particularly in different categories of green spaces. It is hoped that the study will be beneficial to land use and urban planning and its management, particularly in the refinement and enforcement of green space requirements.

The study was aimed at determining the relative proportions of ground cover components in a mixed... more The study was aimed at determining the relative proportions of ground cover components in a mixed pixel. A new estimator is introduced, which is based on Optimization Method and is used for the derivation of land cover classification maps. Fraction images were derived from the two reflective channels 3 and 4 of LANDSAT ETM+ and channels 2 and 3 of SPOT data. This research indicated that the use of optimization method might lead to improvements in mapping and analyses of land cover changes. It has been shown that the use of non-standard estimators can lead to significant increase in the accuracy of estimation.

Books by Jose Edgardo Aban

Monitoring of Seasonal Changes of Vegetation by NOAA-AVHRR Data (edited by Jose Edgardo Aban), 2000

Guided by the principles of early detection, early warning, and early response, the ASEAN Foundat... more Guided by the principles of early detection, early warning, and early response, the ASEAN Foundation launched the project Communication and Information Systems for the Control of Avian Influenza (CISCAI) in 2008 in order to research, design, develop, field-test and deploy sustainable communication and information systems that will support national efforts to manage and control the spread of avian influenza among animals and humans in Lao PDR, Viet Nam and Indonesia.

Papers by Jose Edgardo Aban

The study aimed at elucidating the possible relationship between the complex, cyclical variations... more The study aimed at elucidating the possible relationship between the complex, cyclical variations in solar/sunspot activity (external forcing) and its effect on the global terrestrial vegetation behavior, as shown in the multitemporal (1982-1999) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA-AVHRR) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. It also sought to reveal the solar signal that is postulated to be latent in multitemporal NDVI data. Further, the research also aimed at establishing the relationship between internal forcings, mainly multitemporal climatic phenomena such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and multitemporal NDVI. Pre-processing techniques for noise removal in satellite data were applied. These consisted of the one-dimensional Polynomial Least Squares Operation (PoLeS) for the reconstruction and estimation of annual NDVI phenological curve; the Two-dimensional Polynomial Least Squares Operation (PoLeS) for noise removal in satellite data; and the application of Singular Spectrum Analyses (SSA) also for the reconstruction and estimation of the annual NDVI phenological curve. Advanced and novel time-series spectral analysis techniques (Power Spectrum) namely, the Blackman-Tukey (BT), Maximum Entropy Spectral Analysis (MESA), were applied on time series NDVI, climatic, and solar data, to extract latent information and characterize the data by their temporal power spectral curves. Multitemporal NOAA-AVHRR NDVI consisting of continental datasets of Africa, South America, Australia and northern boreal datasets, were pre-processed using the Two-dimensional PoLeS, and analyzed using power spectrum techniques. Temporal spectral analyses on and correlations between NDVI and several multitemporal climatic/oceanographic and extra-terrestrial (solar) phenomena were conducted, namely, the PDO, the ENSO, Zurich Sunspot counts, and reconstructed, top of the atmosphere phototosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Low frequency, decadal oscillations were observed in the NDVI datasets and in a variety of climatic phenomena, hinting both internal and possible external modulation or forcing. Significant decadal-scale, low frequency coherency between multitemporal NDVI (termed in this context as, “Terrestrial Decadal Oscillations” or the TDO which has never been described in scientific literature) and in all climatic, as well as solar phenomena have been observed. These coherent signals are centered at frequencies of around ~9.259 years (~0.009 cycles/month) which may be a possible evidence for strong insolation (changes in the duration and intensity of solar radiation) of the global climate. The peculiar and seemingly ubiquitous decadal periodicity can be seen in other environmental proxies, and all seem to point to a common solar forcing origin. Further, the results of this study corroborates earlier findings of linked, internal modulation of terrestrial vegetation behavior by various oceanographic and climatic phenomena, as well as externally and possibly, by some form of solar forcing.

Remote sensing is a technique which demands a large amount of analysis on data which may have bee... more Remote sensing is a technique which demands a large amount of analysis on data which may have been captured from a variety of sources. Common sources range from aerial vehicles equipped with scanning devices to sensors attached to satellites in space missions. The data acquisition, however, is commonly subject to the interference of external factors, such as particles in the atmosphere and clouds, which may lead to noise in the data. This paper presents a technique to detect the presence of such artifacts, as observed in some digital elevation model data, and an algorithm to patch them. A case study on the second version of the ASTER GDEM shows that the proposed algorithm is effective in the detection and patching of vertical artifacts and that it can be applied to different data sets in the realm of digital elevation models.

Mean monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) from 1982 to 1999 were derived from ... more Mean monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) from 1982 to 1999 were derived from NOAAAVHRR data and compared with coincidental multi-temporal mean monthly Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) datasets. Power spectra for both datasets were derived using the Maximum Entropy Spectral Analysis (MESA) technique. Three continental test datasets were investigated namely, continental Africa, South America, and Australia. Initial results indicate high degree of coherency between NDVI and PDO power spectra. Low frequency coherency in the order of tri-decadal (30-year), 15-year, decadal and sub-decadal nature have been observed in all datasets. These Terrestrial Decadal Oscillations (TDO) seem to indicate to be modulated by the PDO based on the behaviour of the multi-year NDVI, as well as the former and the latter, by some form of solar forcing. Given these initial results of spectral coherency between NDVI and PDO, the former could be used as an environmental proxy for detection of climatic oscillations particularly that of the PDO.

This study reported the potential approach of the modeling to estimate boreal forest above groun... more This study reported the potential approach of the modeling to estimate boreal forest above ground biomass using NDVI in northern region of Mongolia. The regional relationships between the satellite-derived NDVI and annual mean climatologicall parameters (temperature and precipitation) between years 1995-2000 in growth season were carried out for the model development. In order to
develop algorithms for estimating woody stand biomass, regional coefficients of the forest which are taken from inventory data, were considered. The woody biomass of 3547.5 thousand hectares (ha) of boreal and temperate forests in Mongolian northern part, was estimated from NOAA/AVHRR and SPOT-4/ VEGETATION data. Analytical model test indicated that it can be used to analyze between-year differences in biomass carbon pool change.

Thesis Chapters by Jose Edgardo Aban

A Polynomial Least Squares Operation (PoLeS) 5X5 two-dimensional filter consisting of filter coef... more A Polynomial Least Squares Operation (PoLeS) 5X5 two-dimensional filter consisting of filter coefficients was applied to the following data: (1) SPOT data which was artificially contaminated with low and high value noise pixels; (2) single channel (channel 7) LANDSAT TM with systematic noise; (3) PAL NOAA- AVHRR NDVI cloud-contaminated data; (4) raw, speckled JERS -1 data, in order to test the efficacy of the PoLeS method in filtering out both low and high value noise. The method showed substantial reduction of noise in the PoLeS-filtered data values, with an overall smoothing effect on the image but with moderate preservation of edges, upon visual examination. The PoLeS Method is likewise compared with the classical or convolution filtering techniques such as the average, median and mode filters

The study aimed at elucidating the possible relationship between the complex, cyclical variation... more The study aimed at elucidating the possible relationship between the complex, cyclical variations in solar/sunspot activity (external forcing) and its effect on the global
terrestrial vegetation behavior, as shown in the multitemporal (1982-1999) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA-AVHRR) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. It also sought to reveal the solar signal that is postulated to be latent in multitemporal NDVI data.
Further, the research also aimed at establishing the relationship between internal forcings, mainly multitemporal climatic phenomena such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation
(ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and multitemporal NDVI.
Pre-processing techniques for noise removal in satellite data were applied. These consisted of the one-dimensional Polynomial Least Squares Operation (PoLeS) for the
reconstruction and estimation of annual NDVI phenological curve; the Two-dimensional Polynomial Least Squares Operation (PoLeS) for noise removal in satellite data; and the application of Singular Spectrum Analyses (SSA) also for the reconstruction and estimation of the annual NDVI phenological curve. Advanced and novel time-series spectral analysis techniques (Power Spectrum) namely, the Blackman-Tukey (BT), Maximum Entropy Spectral Analysis (MESA), were applied on time series NDVI, climatic, and solar data, to extract latent information and characterize the data by their temporal power spectral curves. Multitemporal NOAA-AVHRR NDVI consisting of continental datasets of
Africa, South America, Australia and northern boreal datasets, were pre-processed using the Two-dimensional PoLeS, and analyzed using power spectrum techniques.
Temporal spectral analyses on and correlations between NDVI and several multitemporal climatic/oceanographic and extra-terrestrial (solar) phenomena were conducted, namely, the PDO, the ENSO, Zurich Sunspot counts, and reconstructed, top of the atmosphere phototosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Low frequency, decadal oscillations were observed in the NDVI datasets and in a variety of climatic phenomena, hinting both internal and possible external modulation or forcing. Significant decadal-scale, low frequency coherency between multitemporal NDVI
(termed in this context as, “Terrestrial Decadal Oscillations” or the TDO which has never been described in scientific literature) and in all climatic, as well as solar phenomena have been observed. These coherent signals are centered at frequencies of around ~9.259 years (~0.009 cycles/month) which may be a possible evidence for strong insolation (changes in the duration and intensity of solar radiation) of the global climate.

The peculiar and seemingly ubiquitous decadal periodicity can be seen in other environmental proxies, and all seem to point to a common solar forcing origin. Further, the results of this study corroborates earlier findings of linked, internal
modulation of terrestrial vegetation behavior by various oceanographic and climatic phenomena, as well as externally and possibly, by some form of solar forcing.

Assessment of the DENR Cinchona Reforestation project located in Bukidnon, Mindanao Philippines ... more Assessment of the DENR Cinchona Reforestation project located in Bukidnon, Mindanao Philippines was conducted using satellite remote sensing techniques, employing 1995 SPOT data. Field spectroradiometric samplings were also conducted to determine species specific spectra for each varieties of Cinchona spp. The ultimate objective of the study is to assess, map out and quantify the amount of quinine that can be harvested from the reforestation area, considering that Cinchona trees are the natural source of quinine and which is an age-old remedy to the tropical disease we know as Malaria.

Technical Reports by Jose Edgardo Aban

Assignment Works: - Collection, review and evaluation of satellite images from various sources; -... more Assignment Works:
- Collection, review and evaluation of satellite images from various sources;
- Processing (spectral and spatial rectification) of satellite images over the Bago River Watershed and its vicinities;
- Analyses, terrain modeling, and measurement of various land cover types in the Bago River Watershed.

Assignment Works: - Collection, review and evaluation of records, data and information on meteoro... more Assignment Works:
- Collection, review and evaluation of records, data and information on meteorology and hydrology for analysis and forecasting of future climatic and hydrological parameters;
- Identification of important environmental events of significance to the Bago Watershed and its hydrology; and
- Analyses and Forecasting of future climatic/hydrologic scenarios over the Bago River Watershed.

Monitoring of Seasonal Changes of Vegetation by NOAA-AVHRR Data (edited by Jose Edgardo Aban), 2000