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During the last few decades of the 20th century, the development of an array of technologies has made it possible to observe the Earth, collect large quantities of data related to components and processes of the Earth system, and store, analyze, and retrieve these data at will. Over the past ten years, in particular, the observational, computational, and communications technologies have enabled the scientific community to undertake a broad range of interdisciplinary environmental research and assessment programs. Sound practice in database management are required to deal with the problems of complexity in such programs and a great deal of attention and resources has been devoted to this area in recent years. However, little guidance has been provided on overcoming the barriers frequently encountered in the interfacing of disparate data sets. This book attempts to remedy that problem by providing analytical and functional guidelines to help researchers and technicians to better plan and implement their supporting data management activities.

During the last few decades of the 20th century, the development of an array of technologies has made it possible to observe the Earth, collect large quantities of data related to components and processes of the Earth system, and store, analyze, and retrieve these data at will. Over the past ten years, in particular, the observational, computational, and communications technologies have enabled the scientific community to undertake a broad range of interdisciplinary environmental research and assessment programs. Sound practice in database management are required to deal with the problems of complexity in such programs and a great deal of attention and resources has been devoted to this area in recent years. However, little guidance has been provided on overcoming the barriers frequently encountered in the interfacing of disparate data sets. This book attempts to remedy that problem by providing analytical and functional guidelines to help researchers and technicians to better plan and implement their supporting data management activities.

Salinity intrusion is a pressing issue in the coastal areas worldwide. It affects the natural environment and causes massive economic loss due to its impacts on the agricultural productivity and food safety. Here, we assessed the salinity intrusion in the Tra Vinh Province, in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Landsat 8 OLI image was utilized to derive indices for soil salinity estimate including the single bands, Vegetation Soil Salinity Index (VSSI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Normalized Difference Salinity Index (NDSI). Statistical analysis between the electrical conductivity (EC1:5, dS/m) and the environmental indices derived from Landsat 8 OLI image was performed. Results indicated that spectral values of near-infrared (NIR) band and VSSI were better correlated with EC1:5 (r2 = 0.8 and r2 = 0.7, respectively) than the other indices. Comparative results show that soil salinity derived from Landsat 8 was consistent with in situ data with coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.89 and RMSE = 0.96 dS/m for NIR band and R2 = 0.77 and RMSE = 1.27 dS/m for VSSI index. Findings of this study demonstrate that Landsat 8 OLI images reveal a high potential for spatiotemporally monitoring the magnitude of soil salinity at the top soil layer. Outcomes of this study are useful for agricultural activities, planners, and farmers by mapping the soil salinity contamination for better selection of accomodating crop types to reduce economical loss in the context of climate change. Our proposed method that estimates soil salinity using satellite-derived variables can be potentially useful as a fast-approach to detect the soil salinity in the other regions with low cost and considerable accuracy.

The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method is widely applied in research on carbon emissions, urban energy consumption, and the building sector, and is useful for theoretical research and evaluation. The approach is especially beneficial for combating climate change and encouraging energy transitions. During the method’s development, there are opportunities to develop advanced formulas to improve the accuracy of studies, as indicated by past research, that have yet to be fully explored through experimentation. This study reviews previous research on the LMDI method in the context of building carbon emissions, offering a comprehensive overview of its application. It summarizes the technical foundations, applications, and evaluations of the LMDI method and analyzes the major research trends and common calculation methods used in the past 25 years in the LMDI-related field. Moreover, it reviews the use of the LMDI in the building sector, urban energy, and carbon emissions and discusses other methods, such as the Generalized Divisia Index Method (GDIM), Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) techniques. This study explores and compares the advantages and disadvantages of these methods and their use in the building sector to the LMDI. Finally, this paper concludes by highlighting future possibilities of the LMDI, suggesting how the LMDI can be integrated with other models for more comprehensive analysis. However, in current research, there is still a lack of an extensive study of the driving factors in low-carbon city development. The previous related studies often focused on single factors or specific domains without an interdisciplinary understanding of the interactions between factors. Moreover, traditional decomposition methods, such as the LMDI, face challenges in handling large-scale data and highly depend on data quality. Together with the estimation of kernel density and spatial correlation analysis, the enhanced LMDI method overcomes these drawbacks by offering a more comprehensive review of the drivers of energy usage and carbon emissions. Integrating machine learning and big data technologies can enhance data-processing capabilities and analytical accuracy, offering scientific policy recommendations and practical tools for low-carbon city development. Through particular case studies, this paper indicates the effectiveness of these approaches and proposes measures that include optimizing building design, enhancing energy efficiency, and refining energy-management procedures. These efforts aim to promote smart cities and achieve sustainable development goals.

Geological hazards significantly threaten the safety of China’s railway network. As the railway system continues to expand, particularly with the effects of accelerated climate change, approximately 70% of the newly encountered geohazards occur outside of known areas. This study proposes a novel approach that can be applied to railway systems to identify potential geohazards, analyze risk areas, and assess section vulnerability. The methodology uses integrated remote sensing technology to effectively enhance potential railway hazard identification timeliness. It combines kernel density, hotspot, and inverse distance-weighted analysis methods to enhance applicability and accuracy in the risk assessment of railway networks. Using a case study in southeastern Gansu as an example, we identified 3976 potential hazards in the study area, analyzed five areas with high concentrations of hazards, and 11 districts and counties prone to disasters that could threaten the railway network. We accurately located 16 sections and 20 significant landslide hazards on eight railway lines that pose operational risks. The effectiveness of the methodology proposed in this paper has been confirmed through field investigations of significant landslide hazards. This study can provide a scientific basis for the sustainability of the railway network and disaster risk management.

Malawi faces severe climate change impacts, with 30 climate-related disasters recorded in 20 years, causing over 4000 deaths, affecting 2.6 million people and resulting in economic losses of over $1 billion. The southern region, especially Chikwawa District, is hit the hardest, experiencing 40% of these disasters. In light of this, the study aimed to assess organisations’ capacity and obstacles to collaborative approaches for adapting and building resilience to climate change-induced extreme weather events. Primary data were collected through a questionnaire distributed among 25 organisations, involving 325 participants. Thematic analysis was employed for qualitative data analysis, and the analytical hierarchy processing (AHP) method was applied to analyse intra-organisational challenges or obstacles to adopting climate resilience strategies. Alarmingly, 90% of organisations suspended operations because of climate-related disasters, with only 5% engaged in flood mitigation approaches. About 67% lacked flood abatement measures, and only 4% had conducted risk assessments. Most enterprises relied on government (80%) and Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (70%) for resilience. Additionally, 85% of the organisations did not act collectively during extreme weather events, facing challenges such as lack of planning, adaptive capacity, leadership and funding. The results of this research offer a baseline for the organisations within the study area to map the way forward in making sure that the relentless impact of climate change-induced hazards should not always turn into disasters for their livelihoods and also the community at large.ContributionThis study provides a methodology for the identification of barriers to fostering a culture of proactive organisational adaptation to the escalating impacts of climate change for safeguarding lives and livelihood within a neighbourhood.

Investigation of the impact of climate change on water resources is very necessary in dry and arid regions. In the first part of this paper, the climate model Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator (LARS-WG) was used for downscaling climate data including rainfall, solar radiation, and minimum and maximum temperatures. Two different case studies including Aji-Chay and Mahabad-Chay River basins as sub-basins of Lake Urmia in the northwest part of Iran were considered. The results indicated that the LARS-WG successfully downscaled the climatic variables. By application of different emission scenarios (i.e., A1B, A2, and B1), an increasing trend in rainfall and a decreasing trend in temperature were predicted for both the basins over future time periods. In the second part of this paper, gene expression programming (GEP) was applied for simulating runoff of the basins in the future time periods including 2020, 2055, and 2090. The input combination including rainfall, solar radiation, and minimum and maximum temperatures in current and prior time was selected as the best input combination with highest predictive power for runoff prediction. The results showed that the peak discharge will decrease by 50 and 55.9% in 2090 comparing with the baseline period for the Aji-Chay and Mahabad-Chay basins, respectively. The results indicated that the sustainable adaptation strategies are necessary for these basins for protection of water resources in future.