The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund
Introduction to Grant Projects
Research Faculty of Agriculture, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University Associate Professor Hiroshi Tani
Satellite monitoring of deforestation along the Greater Khingan Range, PRC
Research grant
- Project Description
The Greater Khingan Range, a volcanic mountain range in northeast China, is said to be undergoing rapid deforestation for reasons including insect infestation and forest fires in step with global warming. Here, the researcher and his team combine onsite investigation (including forest ecology, entomology and other aspect) with satellite remote sensing and GIS (global information system) technologies to reveal the state of deforestation. They consider possible causal relationships with recent climatic fluctuations and discuss how satellite-based monitoring could be employed to track changes into the future. The team next employs satellite data to assess the carbon sequestration potentional of forests along the Greater Khingan Range. This research was carried out in cooperation with Northeastern University (Shenyang, PRC).
- Fields
- Climate changePreservation of surface soil and forestsPreservation of biodiversity and ecosystem
- Grant year
- FY2009 Research Grants
- Grant term
- 3 years
April 2010 - March 2013
- Grant amount
- 12,990,000 yen
- Activity region
- Northeast Asia
Overview of the Organization
- Representative
- Associate Professor Hiroshi Tani
- Profile
- Specialist field
Environmental informatics
Affiliated academic societies
The Society of Agricultural Meteorology of Japan; the Remote Sensing Society of Japan; Japan Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing; The Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Rural Engineering; Japan Society for Natural Disaster Science; American Geophysical Union
Background
Graduated from the School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University in 1979. In 1981 obtained a Master Degree in Environmental Structure, Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University. Completed a Ph.D. in 1992 from Hokkaido University (agriculture). In 1992 took a position as Associate Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University. In 1999 became an Associate Professor, at the Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, and became a Professor in the same institution in 2006. - WEB site
- http://www.agr.hokudai.ac.jp/env/gstars/
- Collaborating researchers
- Xiufeng WANG, Associate Professor, Hokkaido University; Yutaka SAITO, Professor, Hokkaido University; Masato SHIBUYA, Associate Professor, Hokkaido University; Shinji MATSUMURA, Associate Professor, Kagawa University
- Research record
- Research on the utilization of artificial satellite data to monitor environmental changes in northeast Asia
- Research on the estimation of soil moisture contents by means of remote sensing
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- (1) Application of the Sahebi model using ALOS/PALSAR and 66.3 cm long surface profile data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 30, 6069-6074, 2009
- (2) A Study on Estimation and Changing of Net Primary Productivity in the Yellow River Basin using Satellite Data and Climate Data, Journal of Environmental Information Science, 37(5), 15-20, 2009
- (3) Estimation of Soil Moisture for Bare Soil Fields Using ALOS/PALSAR HH Polarization Data, Agricultural Information Research, 17(4), 171-177, 2008
- (4) A study on desertification in the Yellow River Basin: Investigation of actual status using satellite and climatic data, and their relationship, Journal of Remote Sensing, 11(5), 742-747, 2007