Faculty Publications

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    Vertical accuracy assessment of open source digital elevation models under varying elevation and land cover in Western Ghats of India
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2022) Shetty, S.; Vaishnavi, P.C.; Umesh, P.; Shetty, A.
    The selection of suitable DEM from available open-source DEMs like SRTM, ALOS World 3D, CARTOSAT-1, ASTER-GDEM, TanDEM-X which are acquired through different techniques is difficult without prior guidelines, especially on the rugged mountainous terrain. Therefore, this article aimed to evaluate the role of land cover and altitude on the vertical accuracy of open-source DEMs with near to ground measurements taken by Ice Cloud and Land Elevation (ICESat) Geoscience Laser Altimetry System (GLAS) in and around Western Ghats (WG) of India. The SRTM (30 m) DEM outperformed other DEMs at the scale of WG and in the dense vegetation cover with least performance by ASTER DEM (30 m). The vertical accuracy of DEM is varying with different elevation ranges and land cover conditions and is found to be better than the vertical accuracy specified by the mission. The overestimation of elevation in low terrain relief area, and underestimation on higher elevation with steep terrain is substantive in all the DEMs. The role of land cover and altitude is significant on the elevation and slope more than the aspect and roughness. Good performance by 90-m resolution DEM over 30-m resolution DEMs proves the potential of InSAR in elevation measurement in vegetated areas with low cost and high accuracy. These results help in the selection of pertinent DEM for any geo-climatical applications and in development of merged DEM based on the terrain relief and land cover of the region. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG part of Springer Nature.
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    An exploratory analysis of urbanization effects on climatic variables: a study using Google Earth Engine
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2022) Shetty, A.; Umesh, P.; Shetty, A.
    Rapid global economic expansion has resulted in a drastic increase of urbanization while impacting the Earth’s entire ecology. This study evaluates the impact of historical land-use/land-cover (LU/LC) change signatures on seasonal variation of climatic variables using a cloud platform-Google Earth Engine. Due to rapid urbanization and the noticeable spatio-temporal difference in the climate, administrative units of Dakshina Kannada district are taken for demonstration. The LU/LC of the district extracted from high-resolution images of Landsat using random forest classification, land surface temperature (LST) extracted from the thermal band of Landsat images using the mono window algorithm, evapotranspiration (ET) data extracted from MOD16A2.006 and precipitation data from CHIPRS was used. The data was extracted for the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period 2001–2019. The district has seen a 13.67% reduction in the forest area with 18.81% increase in the built-up areas. The LST and ET has seen a progressive drift in the past two decades, with an increase of 4.07 °C in median temperature in forest areas and a decline of 2.19 mm in median ET value, which necessitates monitoring forest encroachment. The higher variation in maximum LST in built-up land (0.36∘C/year/sq.km) (near the industrial area) indicates that LU/LC change signature is the predominant driving factor and is associated with the physical characteristics of the built-up area. The ET exhibited a decreasing rate of 0.62 mm/year/sq.km of the built-up land. This study highlights the power of Google Earth Engine and free availability of satellite data in environmental protection, land-use management and sustainable development in the region. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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    Land cover change and its implications to hydrological variables and soil erodibility in Lower Baro watershed, Ethiopia: a systematic review
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Deneke, F.; Shetty, A.; Fufa, F.
    Water-induced soil erodibility is the most severe kind of land degradation, with substantial environmental and social consequences. Few studies have been conducted on land cover change and soil erodibility in Ethiopia. During the data search, 83 articles were looked at, with studies published from 2007 to 2022. Only 2% of the abstracts that were considered for assessment were eventually accepted. The review was conducted using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and a meta-analysis approach. According to this study, when compared to the values predicted in the river basin’s master plan, Baro Akobo’s estimated surface water potential has been reduced by about 3.6 Bm3. As a result, changes in land cover affected a variety of fundamental processes in watersheds, at several spatial and temporal scales. As a result, of the reviewed, in lower Baro, built-up/settlement, agricultural land, water body, bare/outcrop, and commercial farm all rose by roughly + 195, + 48, + 35, + 35, and + 1%, respectively. Shrubland, rangeland, forest land, and wetland, on the other hand, all decreased by − 1, − 0.5, − 5, and − 10%, respectively. The K-factors are 0.31, 0.23, 0.14, and 0.07 for chromatic vertisols, humic cambisols, eutric cambisols, and eutric nitosols, respectively. From the results of the review studies, the RUSLE looks to be a good alternative for assessing soil erodibility in lower Baro, and soil water conservation measures are crucial for minimizing soil erodibility. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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    Quantification of change in land cover and rainfall variability impact on flood hydrology using a hydrological model in the Ethiopian river basin
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Tola, S.Y.; Shetty, A.
    Changes in land cover and climate are the dominant factors that significantly impact the hydrological process. However, the impact on flood response behaviour varies spatiotemporally. This study quantitatively assessed the effects of individual and coupled changes in land cover and climate on peak and high flows in the upstream and downstream parts of the Upper Awash River basin. Two time periods were chosen for comparison: baseline (1988–2001) and evaluation (2002–2015). The Soil Water and Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to estimate the impact of these changes. The model satisfactorily simulated daily and extreme flows. The evaluation of annual maximal discharge variability between 1985 and 2015 at upstream and downstream stations showed significant positive and insignificant negative trends, respectively. However, the sub-basin’s annual wet day rainfall (PRCPTOT) showed a downward trend. The annual maximal discharge–PRCPTOT relationship was significant during the baseline but later had no significance. The SWAT model showed that the main factor that affected the changes in upstream flow was the land cover change, increasing peak and high flow by 38.69% and 11.95%, respectively, compared to the baseline period. However, combined changes resulted in downstream peak and high flow reductions of 19.55% and 50.33%, respectively. As a result, changes in flood characteristics are strong functions of land cover, especially in the upstream sub-basin and land cover and climate in the downstream sub-basin. Overall, the impact of changes in the cropland-dominated basin was noticeably different. The study assists water resource managers in understanding the causes of hydrological dynamics and developing mitigation strategies. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.