Sergio Teggi holds a degree in Physics, with specialization in Geophysics, at the University of Modena, in 1988. He is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Modena, Italy). He teaches courses of environmental remote sensing, dispersion of pollutants and polluted sites remediation. Since 1988 his research is mainly in the fields of satellite and airborne remote sensing. He has participated in various national and international projects and in various field experimental campaigns. In particular, he studied the problems of atmospheric and topographic correction of remotely sensed images, the calculation of temperature, emissivity and reflectance of the Earth's surface, the calculation of atmospheric concentrations of gases in volcanic plumes. Other areas of research interest are the modeling of atmospheric dispersion of pollutants and Geostatistics. He has coordinated several research projects research. He is author of over 70 scientific papers published in national and international literature, such as Journal of Geophysical Research, International Journal of Remote Sensing, Atmospheric and Solar Terrestrial Physics and Annals of Geophysics. He his referee for several international journals such as International Journal of Remote Sensing, Annals of Applied Geophysics and Applied Geomatics. Address: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Enzo Ferrari
Via Vignolese 905
41125, Modena, Italy
Estimation of subpixel MODIS water temperature near coastlines using the SWTI algorithm, Feb 25, 2014
Satellite derived water surface temperature maps are widely used in many environmental studies an... more Satellite derived water surface temperature maps are widely used in many environmental studies and applications. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is among the widely used sensors in this field and sea surface temperature (SST) is one of the standard quantities derived from MODIS imagery. However, MODIS SST maps have limited applications in near-shore and coastal environments due to inadequate spatial resolution of 1 km. This problem means that the MODIS pixels closer than 1 km from the shore are mixed pixels, i.e. they include by both water and land, and must be discarded from the SST map. In this work SWTI (Sharpening Water Thermal Imagery) methods were applied to MODIS thermal imagery for the first time. The information required by SWTI regarding cover fractions and perpendicular vegetation index was obtained from the MODIS images in the Visible–Near Infrared bands at a spatial resolution of 250 m. In this way, the SST MODIS maps were extended to a minimum distance of 250 m from the shore. The SWTI results were evaluated using as a reference the SST computed from two ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) images acquired simultaneously to the MODIS images and covering the same areas. The applied validation methodology provides an evaluation of the deviations introduced by SWTI separated from the pre-existing differences between MODIS SST and ASTER SST upscaled to 250 m. For sea coast environments, SWTI was able to compute the SST of more than 80% of the pixels close to the shore at a spatial resolution of 250 m. This represents an increase of 67% compared to the number of pixels obtainable using a simple downscaling method based on polynomial interpolation; in areas with lagoons and estuaries the increases were + 70% and + 60% respectively. The ASTER SST comparison showed that the SST bias and the unsystematic deviation introduced by SWTI were ∆S ≤ 0.45 K and σ(ϵS) ≤ 0.88 K respectively, corresponding to a total deviation TD ≤ 0.97 K. SWTI is written in the IDL language and could be adapted for automatic application to MODIS images.
Analysis of temperature maps of waterbodies obtained from ASTER TIR images
Thermal water pollution is a highly relevant issue to which increasing attention is being paid. S... more Thermal water pollution is a highly relevant issue to which increasing attention is being paid. Satellite remote sensing represents a useful tool for the mointoring and study of the temperatures of waterbodies. The purpose of this work is to define a methodology for the analysis of the surface temperature maps of coastal waterbodies and watercourses from satellite images for quality assessment and for regulatory purposes. Three different procedures are developed in order to study the temperature field of waterbodies, to extract the temperature profile at a fixed distance from the coastline and to analyse the cross sections of the watercourses as prescribed by the law. Extraction and analysis of surface temperature patterns are undertaken using image segmentation techniques. This work also represents a first test of the advantages given by the Sharpening Water Thermal Imagery (SWTI) algorithm, which improves the spatial resolution of Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images from 90 to 30 m. The developed procedures and the SWTI algorithm are applied to ASTER images acquired on the lagoon of Venice and on the delta of the Po River. Statistical parameters and temperature profile are extracted in order to verify compliance with legal limits. The use of the developed procedures enables the individuation and quantification of thermal anomalies such as industrial discharges both in the sea and in watercourses.
Although satellite thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing is a valuable tool for the thermal mappi... more Although satellite thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing is a valuable tool for the thermal mapping of coastal waters and watercourses, it has many problematic issues, the most important of which are linked to spatial resolution. In the literature, several algorithms for sharpening thermal imagery can be found. Nevertheless, most of them are devoted to land temperature and are not applicable to water–land mixed pixels. In this article, a new algorithm for sharpening water thermal imagery (SWTI) at the water–land boundaries is presented. SWTI is based on the assumption that a relationship exists between the TIR radiance emitted by the pixels of the scene and the fractional water coverage, the fractional non-vegetated soil coverage and a variable describing the presence of vegetated soils. The algorithm works on a pixel by pixel basis and the results are accepted or refused using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. SWTI was applied to two Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) scenes acquired on areas where complex water surfaces are present: the delta of the Po river and the lagoon of Venice (Italy). The spatial resolution of ASTER TIR scenes was improved from 90 to 30 m. Different variables were tested to represent vegetated soils, and the SWTI sensitivity to them has been inspected. The performance of SWTI has been studied using visual inspection and statistical and simulation methods. Visual inspection indicated that the spatial enhancement was significant for most of the water surfaces and, in particular, for watercourses. Most of the details with dimension ≥60 m (i.e. 2 pixels at the final spatial resolution) were discernible. Quantitative analysis showed that the algorithm was successfully applicable for 94% and for 84% of the mixed pixels at the water–land boundary in the Po and in the Venice case studies, respectively. Expected and maximum errors were 1 and 1.4 K in the Po case, and 1 and 2.1 K in the Venice case. These values can be considered satisfactory when compared with the ASTER thermal accuracy (1 K). Further research is required to confirm the accuracy and performance analysis using methods based on accurate and higher resolution thermal imagery and on ground measurements.
Since the 1970s, the Iraq Marshlands have been damaged significantly, but recently (May 2003-Marc... more Since the 1970s, the Iraq Marshlands have been damaged significantly, but recently (May 2003-March 2004), more than 20% of the original marshland area has been re-flooded. The goal of the work is to observe the evolution of the marshes in terms of extension and to evaluate the success of wetland restoration on the base of multispectral and multitemporal MODIS images collected in 2007-2008. MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) has a viewing swath width of 2,330 km and views the entire surface of the Earth every one to two days. Its detectors measure 36 spectral bands between 0.405 and 14.385 μm, and it acquires data at three spatial resolutions -- 250m, 500m, and 1,000m. These data with their low spatial resolution but high time frequency are suitable for regional-scale time-series studies. The satellite data have been corrected for atmospheric effects using an IDL (Interactive Data Language) procedure based on MODTRAN and 6S radiative transfer codes. These radiative transfer codes require, in input, atmospheric vertical profiles, aerosol optical thickness(AOT) and columnar water vapour content (WV). Vertical profiles are obtained from the nearest meteorological station or by climatological data set. AOT and WV are retrieved either from the MODIS MODATML2 atmospheric product, or from the AERONET (Aerosol robotic network). Then different classifications (Pixel- and Object-Oriented) have been tested, compared and discussed to evaluate the best approach to apply on regional-scale time-series studies.
Methods: We calculated the area around the high-voltage power lines in the Reggio Emilia municipa... more Methods: We calculated the area around the high-voltage power lines in the Reggio Emilia municipality, northern Italy, with estimated magnetic field exposure above 0.1 μT, adding 20 m to the distance from the power lines predicted by the model to account for geocoding inaccuracy. We retrieved new cases of ALS diagnosed among residents in Reggio Emilia municipality between 1995 and 2006, using several data sources such as death certificates, clinical records, hospital discharge registers and drug prescriptions. We randomly ...
The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in... more The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. The SRV Project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring. The project philosophy is to implement, by incremental versions, specific modules which allow to process, store and visualize through Web GIS tools This document presents the modules developed for the preprocessing of Earth Observation (EO) data. These modules concern the automatic calibration, georeferencing, mosaiking, atmospheric and topographic correction. These ¿general purpose¿(GP) module allow to publish the EO added value derived data by means of dedicated webGis interface.
ASI-Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) project is devoted to the development of a pre-operative inte... more ASI-Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) project is devoted to the development of a pre-operative integrated system managing different Earth Observation (EO) and Non EO data to respond to specific needs of the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC) and improve the monitoring of Italian active volcanoes. The project provides the capability to maintain a repository where the acquired data are stored and generates products offering a support to risk managers during the different volcanic activity phases. All the products are obtained considering technical choices and developments of ASI-SRV based on flexible and scalable modules which take into account also the new coming space sensors and new processing algorithms. An important step of the project development regards the technical and scientific feasibility of the provided products that depends on the data availability, accuracy algorithms and models used in the processing and of course the possibility to validate the results by means of comparison with non-EO independent measurements. The ASI-SRV infrastrucutre is based on a distributed client/server architecture which implies that different processors need to ingest data set characterized by a constant and common structure. ASI-SRV will develop, in its final version, a centralized HW-SW system located at INGV which will control two complete processing chains, one located at INGV for Optical data, and the other located at IREA for SAR data. The produced results will be disseminated through a WEB-GIS interface which will allow the DPC to overview and assimilate the products in a compatible format respect to their local monitoring system in order to have an immediate use of the provided information. In this paper the first results producing ground deformation measurement via Differential Interferometric SAR (DInSAR) techniques by using SAR data and via the application of the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) technique developed at IREA, are reported. Moreover different products obtained using optical data (ASTER, MODIS, HYPERION, and AVHRR) are also reported. The processing modules for EO Optical sensors data are based on procedures those allow to estimate a number of parameters which include: surface thermal proprieties, concentration and flux of sulphur dioxide (SO2), water vapor and volcanic aerosol optical thickness, ash emissions and to characterize the volcanic products in terms of composition and geometry. For the analysis of the surface thermal characteristics, the available algorithms allow to extract information useful to detect small changes in the retrieved parameters. ASI-SRV foresees the generation of significant information also for the definition of the new lava and ash cover distribution after the end of an eruption.
Methods: We identified the corridors along the high-voltage power lines in the municipalities of ... more Methods: We identified the corridors along the high-voltage power lines in the municipalities of Modena and Reggio Emilia, northern Italy, with estimated magnetic fields exposure cutoffs of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 μT. We identified all cases of leukemia diagnosed in children (age 0-13) residing in these two municipalities during the 1986-2006 period through a nation-wide hospital-based registry. As a control group we randomly selected four residents for each case, matched for year of birth, sex and municipality of residence. We collected ...
The ASI-SRV(Sistema Rischio Vulcanico) project started at the beginning of the 2007 is funded by ... more The ASI-SRV(Sistema Rischio Vulcanico) project started at the beginning of the 2007 is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. Coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring, the project has as main objective to develop a pre-operative system based on EO data and ground measurements integration to support the volcanic risk monitoring of the Italian Civil Protection Department. The project philosophy is to implement specific modules which allow to process, store and visualize through Web GIS tools EO derived parameters considering three activity phases: (1) knowledge and prevention; (2) crisis; (3) post crisis. In order to combine effectively the EO data and the ground networks measurements the system will implement a multi-parametric analysis tool, which represents and unique tool to analyze contemporaneously a large data set of data in ¿near real time¿. The SRV project will be tested his operational capabilities on three Italian volcanoes: Etna, Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei.
The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in... more The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. The SRV Project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring. The objective of the project is to develop a pre-operative system based on EO data and ground measurements integration to support the volcanic risk monitoring of the Italian Civil Protection Department which requirements and need are well integrated in the GMES Emergency Core Services program. The project philosophy is to implement, by incremental versions, specific modules which allow to process, store and visualize through Web GIS tools EO derived parameters considering three activity phases: 1) knowledge and prevention; 2) crisis; 3) post crisis. In order to combine effectively the EO data and the ground networks measurements the system will implement a multi-parametric analysis tool, which represents and unique tool to analyze contemporaneously a large data set of data in "near real time". The SRV project will be tested his operational capabilities on three Italian Volcanoes: Etna,Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei.
The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in... more The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. The SRV Project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring. The main goal of the SRV project is to define, develop and demonstrate tools and products, based on the EO data, to support the risk management decision procedures. This is achieved through the development of data processing modules dedicated to the generation of specific products and to the dissemination of the information to the end-users in a form suitable for decision making. An important step of the project development regards the technical and scientific feasibility of the provided products.
Abstract The ASI-SRV (Sistema Rischio Vulcanico) project is devoted to the development of an inte... more Abstract The ASI-SRV (Sistema Rischio Vulcanico) project is devoted to the development of an integrated system based on EO and Non EO data to respond to specific needs of the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC). ASI-SRV provides the capability to import many different EO and Non EO data into the system, it maintains a repository where the acquired data have to be stored and generates selected products which will be functional to the different volcanic activity phases. The processing modules for Radar and EO Optical ...
Background Waste incineration releases into the environment toxic substances having a teratogenic... more Background Waste incineration releases into the environment toxic substances having a teratogenic potential, but little epidemiologic evidence is available on this topic. We aimed at examining the relation between exposure to the emissions from a municipal solid waste incinerator and risk of birth defects in a northern Italy community, using Geographical Information System (GIS) data to estimate exposure and a population-based case-control study design. By modelling the incinerator emissions, we defined in the GIS three areas of increasing exposure according to predicted dioxins concentrations. We mapped the 228 births and induced abortions with diagnosis of congenital anomalies observed during the 1998–2006 period, together with a corresponding series of control births matched for year and hospital of birth/abortion as well as maternal age, using maternal address in the first three months of pregnancy to geocode cases and controls. Results Among women residing in the areas with medium and high exposure, prevalence of anomalies in the offspring was substantially comparable to that observed in the control population, nor dose-response relations for any of the major categories of birth defects emerged. Furthermore, odds ratio for congenital anomalies did not decrease during a prolonged shut-down period of the plant. Conclusion Overall, these findings do not lend support to the hypothesis that the environmental contamination occurring around an incineration plant such as that examined in this study may induce major teratogenic effects.
Temperature map and spectral emissivity have been retrieved by means of the TIR re- gion data col... more Temperature map and spectral emissivity have been retrieved by means of the TIR re- gion data collected by the DAIS airborne hyperspectral sensor on the Solfatara, Campi Flegrei, Italy, during the July 27, 1997 flight. During the 7915 DAIS flight a contem- poraneous field campaign was carried out in order to measure the surface temperature in the Solfatara crater and a radiosonde has been launched to measure the local at- mospheric profile. A normalized vegetation index filter has been used to select in the Solfatara crater scene the areas not covered by vegetation upon which the temperature and emissivity retrieval algorithms have been applied. The atmospheric contribute has been estimated by means of the MODTRAN radiative transfer code. The temperature map has been finally validated with the field measurements and the spectral emissivity image has been compared with the spectra available for the mineralogical species that cover the Solfatara crater.
In this paper, an algorithm is developed based on the split-window technique, to estimate the SO2... more In this paper, an algorithm is developed based on the split-window technique, to estimate the SO2 abundance in the plume of Mt. Etna volcano using the multispectral infrared and visible imaging spectrometer (MIVIS). The MIVIS data were remotely sensed in the thermal infrared (TIR) during the Sicily-1997 Campaign. In this study, the MODTRAN 3.5 code has been used to simulate the radiance at the sensor; the radiative transfer model was input along with the data of radio-sounding performed simultaneously with the MIVIS flight using a mobile radio-theodolite. From the SO2 map, derived from the MIVIS image, the SO2 flux along the axis of the plume was computed knowing the wind speed at the plume altitude. The SO2 flux is variable along the plume axis. The average SO2 flux (about 45 kg s–1 on 12 June and about 30 kg s–1 on 16 June) emitted from the vents is compared with the correlation spectrometer (COSPEC) measurements carried out by other teams (from the ground and from a light aircraft flying under the plume) during the MIVIS flight. Finally, by means of this algorithm it should be easier, with respect to the previously described procedure to monitor the SO2 flux of a specific volcano such as Mt. Etna.
Some contaminants emitted by municipal waste incinerators are believed to adversely affect reprod... more Some contaminants emitted by municipal waste incinerators are believed to adversely affect reproductive health in the exposed populations; yet only limited and conflicting epidemiologic evidence on this issue has been provided so far. In this study we analyzed rates of spontaneous abortion and prevalence at birth of congenital anomalies in women residing or working near the municipal solid waste incinerator of Modena, northern Italy, during the 2003--2006 period and who experienced higher levels of exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, compared to the remaining municipal population. In women residing in two areas close to the incinerator plant with increasing exposure to dioxins, we did not detect an excess risk of miscarriage (relative risk [RR] 1.00, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-1.48) and of birth defects (RR 0.64, 95% CI 0.20-1.55), nor did any indication of dose-response relation emerge. Among female workers employed in the factories located in the exposed areas, we did not observe a higher risk of spontaneous abortion (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.38-2.30); however, an increase in prevalence of birth defects was noted (RR 2.26), although this risk estimate was statistically very unstable (95% CI 0.57-6.14). Overall, the study results provide little evidence of an excess risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women exposed to emissions from a modern municipal solid waste incinerator.
Estimation of subpixel MODIS water temperature near coastlines using the SWTI algorithm, Feb 25, 2014
Satellite derived water surface temperature maps are widely used in many environmental studies an... more Satellite derived water surface temperature maps are widely used in many environmental studies and applications. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is among the widely used sensors in this field and sea surface temperature (SST) is one of the standard quantities derived from MODIS imagery. However, MODIS SST maps have limited applications in near-shore and coastal environments due to inadequate spatial resolution of 1 km. This problem means that the MODIS pixels closer than 1 km from the shore are mixed pixels, i.e. they include by both water and land, and must be discarded from the SST map. In this work SWTI (Sharpening Water Thermal Imagery) methods were applied to MODIS thermal imagery for the first time. The information required by SWTI regarding cover fractions and perpendicular vegetation index was obtained from the MODIS images in the Visible–Near Infrared bands at a spatial resolution of 250 m. In this way, the SST MODIS maps were extended to a minimum distance of 250 m from the shore. The SWTI results were evaluated using as a reference the SST computed from two ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) images acquired simultaneously to the MODIS images and covering the same areas. The applied validation methodology provides an evaluation of the deviations introduced by SWTI separated from the pre-existing differences between MODIS SST and ASTER SST upscaled to 250 m. For sea coast environments, SWTI was able to compute the SST of more than 80% of the pixels close to the shore at a spatial resolution of 250 m. This represents an increase of 67% compared to the number of pixels obtainable using a simple downscaling method based on polynomial interpolation; in areas with lagoons and estuaries the increases were + 70% and + 60% respectively. The ASTER SST comparison showed that the SST bias and the unsystematic deviation introduced by SWTI were ∆S ≤ 0.45 K and σ(ϵS) ≤ 0.88 K respectively, corresponding to a total deviation TD ≤ 0.97 K. SWTI is written in the IDL language and could be adapted for automatic application to MODIS images.
Analysis of temperature maps of waterbodies obtained from ASTER TIR images
Thermal water pollution is a highly relevant issue to which increasing attention is being paid. S... more Thermal water pollution is a highly relevant issue to which increasing attention is being paid. Satellite remote sensing represents a useful tool for the mointoring and study of the temperatures of waterbodies. The purpose of this work is to define a methodology for the analysis of the surface temperature maps of coastal waterbodies and watercourses from satellite images for quality assessment and for regulatory purposes. Three different procedures are developed in order to study the temperature field of waterbodies, to extract the temperature profile at a fixed distance from the coastline and to analyse the cross sections of the watercourses as prescribed by the law. Extraction and analysis of surface temperature patterns are undertaken using image segmentation techniques. This work also represents a first test of the advantages given by the Sharpening Water Thermal Imagery (SWTI) algorithm, which improves the spatial resolution of Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images from 90 to 30 m. The developed procedures and the SWTI algorithm are applied to ASTER images acquired on the lagoon of Venice and on the delta of the Po River. Statistical parameters and temperature profile are extracted in order to verify compliance with legal limits. The use of the developed procedures enables the individuation and quantification of thermal anomalies such as industrial discharges both in the sea and in watercourses.
Although satellite thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing is a valuable tool for the thermal mappi... more Although satellite thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing is a valuable tool for the thermal mapping of coastal waters and watercourses, it has many problematic issues, the most important of which are linked to spatial resolution. In the literature, several algorithms for sharpening thermal imagery can be found. Nevertheless, most of them are devoted to land temperature and are not applicable to water–land mixed pixels. In this article, a new algorithm for sharpening water thermal imagery (SWTI) at the water–land boundaries is presented. SWTI is based on the assumption that a relationship exists between the TIR radiance emitted by the pixels of the scene and the fractional water coverage, the fractional non-vegetated soil coverage and a variable describing the presence of vegetated soils. The algorithm works on a pixel by pixel basis and the results are accepted or refused using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. SWTI was applied to two Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) scenes acquired on areas where complex water surfaces are present: the delta of the Po river and the lagoon of Venice (Italy). The spatial resolution of ASTER TIR scenes was improved from 90 to 30 m. Different variables were tested to represent vegetated soils, and the SWTI sensitivity to them has been inspected. The performance of SWTI has been studied using visual inspection and statistical and simulation methods. Visual inspection indicated that the spatial enhancement was significant for most of the water surfaces and, in particular, for watercourses. Most of the details with dimension ≥60 m (i.e. 2 pixels at the final spatial resolution) were discernible. Quantitative analysis showed that the algorithm was successfully applicable for 94% and for 84% of the mixed pixels at the water–land boundary in the Po and in the Venice case studies, respectively. Expected and maximum errors were 1 and 1.4 K in the Po case, and 1 and 2.1 K in the Venice case. These values can be considered satisfactory when compared with the ASTER thermal accuracy (1 K). Further research is required to confirm the accuracy and performance analysis using methods based on accurate and higher resolution thermal imagery and on ground measurements.
Since the 1970s, the Iraq Marshlands have been damaged significantly, but recently (May 2003-Marc... more Since the 1970s, the Iraq Marshlands have been damaged significantly, but recently (May 2003-March 2004), more than 20% of the original marshland area has been re-flooded. The goal of the work is to observe the evolution of the marshes in terms of extension and to evaluate the success of wetland restoration on the base of multispectral and multitemporal MODIS images collected in 2007-2008. MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) has a viewing swath width of 2,330 km and views the entire surface of the Earth every one to two days. Its detectors measure 36 spectral bands between 0.405 and 14.385 μm, and it acquires data at three spatial resolutions -- 250m, 500m, and 1,000m. These data with their low spatial resolution but high time frequency are suitable for regional-scale time-series studies. The satellite data have been corrected for atmospheric effects using an IDL (Interactive Data Language) procedure based on MODTRAN and 6S radiative transfer codes. These radiative transfer codes require, in input, atmospheric vertical profiles, aerosol optical thickness(AOT) and columnar water vapour content (WV). Vertical profiles are obtained from the nearest meteorological station or by climatological data set. AOT and WV are retrieved either from the MODIS MODATML2 atmospheric product, or from the AERONET (Aerosol robotic network). Then different classifications (Pixel- and Object-Oriented) have been tested, compared and discussed to evaluate the best approach to apply on regional-scale time-series studies.
Methods: We calculated the area around the high-voltage power lines in the Reggio Emilia municipa... more Methods: We calculated the area around the high-voltage power lines in the Reggio Emilia municipality, northern Italy, with estimated magnetic field exposure above 0.1 μT, adding 20 m to the distance from the power lines predicted by the model to account for geocoding inaccuracy. We retrieved new cases of ALS diagnosed among residents in Reggio Emilia municipality between 1995 and 2006, using several data sources such as death certificates, clinical records, hospital discharge registers and drug prescriptions. We randomly ...
The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in... more The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. The SRV Project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring. The project philosophy is to implement, by incremental versions, specific modules which allow to process, store and visualize through Web GIS tools This document presents the modules developed for the preprocessing of Earth Observation (EO) data. These modules concern the automatic calibration, georeferencing, mosaiking, atmospheric and topographic correction. These ¿general purpose¿(GP) module allow to publish the EO added value derived data by means of dedicated webGis interface.
ASI-Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) project is devoted to the development of a pre-operative inte... more ASI-Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) project is devoted to the development of a pre-operative integrated system managing different Earth Observation (EO) and Non EO data to respond to specific needs of the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC) and improve the monitoring of Italian active volcanoes. The project provides the capability to maintain a repository where the acquired data are stored and generates products offering a support to risk managers during the different volcanic activity phases. All the products are obtained considering technical choices and developments of ASI-SRV based on flexible and scalable modules which take into account also the new coming space sensors and new processing algorithms. An important step of the project development regards the technical and scientific feasibility of the provided products that depends on the data availability, accuracy algorithms and models used in the processing and of course the possibility to validate the results by means of comparison with non-EO independent measurements. The ASI-SRV infrastrucutre is based on a distributed client/server architecture which implies that different processors need to ingest data set characterized by a constant and common structure. ASI-SRV will develop, in its final version, a centralized HW-SW system located at INGV which will control two complete processing chains, one located at INGV for Optical data, and the other located at IREA for SAR data. The produced results will be disseminated through a WEB-GIS interface which will allow the DPC to overview and assimilate the products in a compatible format respect to their local monitoring system in order to have an immediate use of the provided information. In this paper the first results producing ground deformation measurement via Differential Interferometric SAR (DInSAR) techniques by using SAR data and via the application of the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) technique developed at IREA, are reported. Moreover different products obtained using optical data (ASTER, MODIS, HYPERION, and AVHRR) are also reported. The processing modules for EO Optical sensors data are based on procedures those allow to estimate a number of parameters which include: surface thermal proprieties, concentration and flux of sulphur dioxide (SO2), water vapor and volcanic aerosol optical thickness, ash emissions and to characterize the volcanic products in terms of composition and geometry. For the analysis of the surface thermal characteristics, the available algorithms allow to extract information useful to detect small changes in the retrieved parameters. ASI-SRV foresees the generation of significant information also for the definition of the new lava and ash cover distribution after the end of an eruption.
Methods: We identified the corridors along the high-voltage power lines in the municipalities of ... more Methods: We identified the corridors along the high-voltage power lines in the municipalities of Modena and Reggio Emilia, northern Italy, with estimated magnetic fields exposure cutoffs of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 μT. We identified all cases of leukemia diagnosed in children (age 0-13) residing in these two municipalities during the 1986-2006 period through a nation-wide hospital-based registry. As a control group we randomly selected four residents for each case, matched for year of birth, sex and municipality of residence. We collected ...
The ASI-SRV(Sistema Rischio Vulcanico) project started at the beginning of the 2007 is funded by ... more The ASI-SRV(Sistema Rischio Vulcanico) project started at the beginning of the 2007 is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. Coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring, the project has as main objective to develop a pre-operative system based on EO data and ground measurements integration to support the volcanic risk monitoring of the Italian Civil Protection Department. The project philosophy is to implement specific modules which allow to process, store and visualize through Web GIS tools EO derived parameters considering three activity phases: (1) knowledge and prevention; (2) crisis; (3) post crisis. In order to combine effectively the EO data and the ground networks measurements the system will implement a multi-parametric analysis tool, which represents and unique tool to analyze contemporaneously a large data set of data in ¿near real time¿. The SRV project will be tested his operational capabilities on three Italian volcanoes: Etna, Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei.
The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in... more The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. The SRV Project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring. The objective of the project is to develop a pre-operative system based on EO data and ground measurements integration to support the volcanic risk monitoring of the Italian Civil Protection Department which requirements and need are well integrated in the GMES Emergency Core Services program. The project philosophy is to implement, by incremental versions, specific modules which allow to process, store and visualize through Web GIS tools EO derived parameters considering three activity phases: 1) knowledge and prevention; 2) crisis; 3) post crisis. In order to combine effectively the EO data and the ground networks measurements the system will implement a multi-parametric analysis tool, which represents and unique tool to analyze contemporaneously a large data set of data in "near real time". The SRV project will be tested his operational capabilities on three Italian Volcanoes: Etna,Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei.
The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in... more The Project called Sistema Rischio Vulcanico (SRV) is funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the frame of the National Space Plan 2003-2005 under the Earth Observations section for natural risks management. The SRV Project is coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) which is responsible at national level for the volcanic monitoring. The main goal of the SRV project is to define, develop and demonstrate tools and products, based on the EO data, to support the risk management decision procedures. This is achieved through the development of data processing modules dedicated to the generation of specific products and to the dissemination of the information to the end-users in a form suitable for decision making. An important step of the project development regards the technical and scientific feasibility of the provided products.
Abstract The ASI-SRV (Sistema Rischio Vulcanico) project is devoted to the development of an inte... more Abstract The ASI-SRV (Sistema Rischio Vulcanico) project is devoted to the development of an integrated system based on EO and Non EO data to respond to specific needs of the Italian Civil Protection Department (DPC). ASI-SRV provides the capability to import many different EO and Non EO data into the system, it maintains a repository where the acquired data have to be stored and generates selected products which will be functional to the different volcanic activity phases. The processing modules for Radar and EO Optical ...
Background Waste incineration releases into the environment toxic substances having a teratogenic... more Background Waste incineration releases into the environment toxic substances having a teratogenic potential, but little epidemiologic evidence is available on this topic. We aimed at examining the relation between exposure to the emissions from a municipal solid waste incinerator and risk of birth defects in a northern Italy community, using Geographical Information System (GIS) data to estimate exposure and a population-based case-control study design. By modelling the incinerator emissions, we defined in the GIS three areas of increasing exposure according to predicted dioxins concentrations. We mapped the 228 births and induced abortions with diagnosis of congenital anomalies observed during the 1998–2006 period, together with a corresponding series of control births matched for year and hospital of birth/abortion as well as maternal age, using maternal address in the first three months of pregnancy to geocode cases and controls. Results Among women residing in the areas with medium and high exposure, prevalence of anomalies in the offspring was substantially comparable to that observed in the control population, nor dose-response relations for any of the major categories of birth defects emerged. Furthermore, odds ratio for congenital anomalies did not decrease during a prolonged shut-down period of the plant. Conclusion Overall, these findings do not lend support to the hypothesis that the environmental contamination occurring around an incineration plant such as that examined in this study may induce major teratogenic effects.
Temperature map and spectral emissivity have been retrieved by means of the TIR re- gion data col... more Temperature map and spectral emissivity have been retrieved by means of the TIR re- gion data collected by the DAIS airborne hyperspectral sensor on the Solfatara, Campi Flegrei, Italy, during the July 27, 1997 flight. During the 7915 DAIS flight a contem- poraneous field campaign was carried out in order to measure the surface temperature in the Solfatara crater and a radiosonde has been launched to measure the local at- mospheric profile. A normalized vegetation index filter has been used to select in the Solfatara crater scene the areas not covered by vegetation upon which the temperature and emissivity retrieval algorithms have been applied. The atmospheric contribute has been estimated by means of the MODTRAN radiative transfer code. The temperature map has been finally validated with the field measurements and the spectral emissivity image has been compared with the spectra available for the mineralogical species that cover the Solfatara crater.
In this paper, an algorithm is developed based on the split-window technique, to estimate the SO2... more In this paper, an algorithm is developed based on the split-window technique, to estimate the SO2 abundance in the plume of Mt. Etna volcano using the multispectral infrared and visible imaging spectrometer (MIVIS). The MIVIS data were remotely sensed in the thermal infrared (TIR) during the Sicily-1997 Campaign. In this study, the MODTRAN 3.5 code has been used to simulate the radiance at the sensor; the radiative transfer model was input along with the data of radio-sounding performed simultaneously with the MIVIS flight using a mobile radio-theodolite. From the SO2 map, derived from the MIVIS image, the SO2 flux along the axis of the plume was computed knowing the wind speed at the plume altitude. The SO2 flux is variable along the plume axis. The average SO2 flux (about 45 kg s–1 on 12 June and about 30 kg s–1 on 16 June) emitted from the vents is compared with the correlation spectrometer (COSPEC) measurements carried out by other teams (from the ground and from a light aircraft flying under the plume) during the MIVIS flight. Finally, by means of this algorithm it should be easier, with respect to the previously described procedure to monitor the SO2 flux of a specific volcano such as Mt. Etna.
Some contaminants emitted by municipal waste incinerators are believed to adversely affect reprod... more Some contaminants emitted by municipal waste incinerators are believed to adversely affect reproductive health in the exposed populations; yet only limited and conflicting epidemiologic evidence on this issue has been provided so far. In this study we analyzed rates of spontaneous abortion and prevalence at birth of congenital anomalies in women residing or working near the municipal solid waste incinerator of Modena, northern Italy, during the 2003--2006 period and who experienced higher levels of exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, compared to the remaining municipal population. In women residing in two areas close to the incinerator plant with increasing exposure to dioxins, we did not detect an excess risk of miscarriage (relative risk [RR] 1.00, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-1.48) and of birth defects (RR 0.64, 95% CI 0.20-1.55), nor did any indication of dose-response relation emerge. Among female workers employed in the factories located in the exposed areas, we did not observe a higher risk of spontaneous abortion (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.38-2.30); however, an increase in prevalence of birth defects was noted (RR 2.26), although this risk estimate was statistically very unstable (95% CI 0.57-6.14). Overall, the study results provide little evidence of an excess risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women exposed to emissions from a modern municipal solid waste incinerator.
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