Thermal infrared technologies for supporting environmental assessment and decision making in the Ganges Basin

This project will use state-of-the-art Sentinel-3A land measurements complemented by observations from in situ and airborne vehicles to map the heterogeneity of land surface properties across the Ganges Basin. Novel STFC datasets characterising heat stress, crop water stress and vegetation fire will be generated and used to identify changes in agricultural practises in the region. We will demonstrate how these prototype datasets will support in-country Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) focussed on livelihoods and wellbeing of farming community and their families.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implemented by the United Nations specify that poor and vulnerable communities must have; a) improved resilience to climate and economic shocks, b) implementation of resilient agricultural practises and c) eradicated water scarcity, by 2030. Furthermore the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems must be ensured by 2020. These goals epitomise that interventions are necessary to support life on land and reduce poverty and are of particular relevance to rural communities living in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). Specific issues that these communities need protecting against are; a) an increased rate of urbanisation, b) groundwater decline, c) soil erosion through incorrect agriculture practises, d) illegal crop residue burning and e) rising temperatures due to the changing climate.

In response to anthropogenic perturbations to the Ganges Basin surface, Indian academics have joined emerging international efforts to determine how geological, chemical and atmospheric interactions impact the ecosystem using an interdisciplinary monitoring approach through critical zone observatories (CZO). Challenges in monitoring the Ganges basin include a lack of high temporal and spatial resolution data at sub-regional, district -level scales as well as large uncertainties in land surface measurements over the heterogeneous landscape.

The use of sensors on-board space- and airborne- platforms to monitor critical zones can provide independent sources of information about the ecosystem and overcome challenges in monitoring processes from the ground. This project builds on work done in a previous STFC 21st Century Global Challenges Exploration collaboration between the University of Leicester and the Indian Institute for Technology Kanpur (IITK). In this project we will employ land measurements from the STFC calibrated space technology, in the form of the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) on Sentinel-3A which will be used to map the heterogeneity of the Ganges CZO and surrounding regions. Complementary high resolution sensors on airborne platforms will provide the first in-depth mapping of the CZO from which an understanding of the land-use processes contributing to ground water depletion and crop stress will be identified. Implementation of a high resolution radiometer in the Ganges basin will provide the first opportunity to validate and assess SLSTR measurements in the IGP. Together with other space-borne data, SLSTR will be used to generate prototype information on heat-, crop and fire-stress of which the efficiency will be tested through implementation into land and hydrological models and via community feedback through NGOs.

New datasets and knowledge created as part of this project will provide the evidence base for intervention strategies that will feed into targeted policy briefs and recommendations required to protect critical zones across the IGP.

The project objectives and deliverables are directly relevant to the STFC GCRF strategy, in particular to access untapped potential of STFC space science capabilities to address challenges in monitoring the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) landscape and establish new partnerships with sectors best equipped to be promote in-country changes.

Non-government organisations (NGOs), charities, policy-makers, community leaders and the wider IGP public are among the long-term beneficiaries of this research. Unplanned urban growth, overexploitation of groundwater and crop residue burning are some of the factors burdening landscape and availability of resources for agricultural growth. The intertwined science and impact objectives of this project will explicitly enable the Ganges basin terrain, land cover, land-use and land temperature changes to be monitored; all findings will be disseminated directly to the communities most impacted by these changes through partnering NGOs.
This study will also provide career development for PhD students and PDRAs by involving them in the planning and implementation of a field campaign, working with novel in situ and space-borne datasets and leadership skills by running workshop sessions. As part of previous and existing projects between UK and Indian partners (University of Leicester and IITK), the UK team, including Kings College London, already have experience in running space science training workshops in India and other LMIC countries. Such training activities will continue within this project.
Specifically, sectors that are likely to benefit from this research include;
1) NGOs and Think-Tanks.
NGOs that address social and environmental issues will benefit from exposure to new resources, innovative datasets and a new community of space/EO experts. These resources can amplify existing methods of policy-orientated research. Many Indian NGOs are working to address climate-related food and resource security issues. Such issues are likely to affect the UK in the future and therefore NGOs based in the UK may also benefit from dialogue and experiences from Indian NGOs.
2) National and state-level government based decision-makers
The Indian government is tightly linked to the agriculture sector and makes strong investments both technologically and monetarily, into suitable provisions for farming communities. Decisions made by government bodies directly impact farming communities (and furthermore the public) and providing a strong body of evidence and independent recommendations through the work of NGOs and Think-Tanks is critical. With the Indian government investing into future EO space sensors, this study will demonstrate the potential and limitations of different EO datasets in a key region of interest.
3) Local communities in India
With half of India's population involved in the agriculture sector and more than 60 % land -use dedicated to agriculture, the food security and preservation of resources is vital for employment, nourishment, health and well-being of Indian people. Real-life problems that have been reported to affect these communities include depletion of ground-water, degradation in the quality of soil due to pesticides and smog in Delhi due to agricultural burning emissions from Northern India. This study will explore how to marry space science output with direct policy and action input allowing NGOs to be better equipped to create societal impacts.

Other beneficiaries include:
Large scale Indian commercial space companies (i.e. Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL)), the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), Indian and UK agriculture small and medium- sized enterprises, social enterprise initiatives, UK-based NGOs and the Department for International Development (DFID).