Dr. Evangelos Akylas Profile

Dr. Evangelos Akylas

at Cyprus Univ of Technology

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Publications (8)

PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | August 12, 2014

Effects of tourism and globalization on land cover and the influence on the quality of life of Paphos area in Cyprus

Proc. SPIE. 9229, Second International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of the Environment (RSCy2014)

KEYWORDS: Mathematical modeling, Agriculture, Data modeling, Databases, Satellites, Remote sensing, Buildings, Geographic information systems, Civil engineering, Geomatics

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Since 1960 most of the coastal area cites across the Mediterranean Sea concentrates people due mass immigration of people from the rural to urban areas. The extensive tourism development especially across the coastal areas, create demand of infrastructures and new work positions and intensive pressure to the environment. The new spirit of the globalization creates movability of people and goods around the word. The free transfer of people from countries with big population and low economical wealth, which are moved to areas where they can work. All the above generate demands of labor and Paphos is one of these areas where during the last decades was transformed from a small agriculture village in one excellent tourist destination. Across the coastal areas big tourist infrastructure was built and lot of different people travel from all areas around the word especially during the summer months. All these generate continuous changes to the environment, to the people and the society. The globalization of the universe commerce and the free transfer of goods and people modify the community stratification. The inflow of agricultures products from third countries reduces the local production and generates degradation and desertification of the rural areas. The periodical variation of the population of the area during the summer and winter periods affect to the environment. The increment demand of sources (water, energy and food) during the summer months pressurize the coastal strip area. By estimating a ratio of inflows by the outflows of goods, people and services of the study area and a ratio of the tourists by the local population, a general index can by arise which will clarify the effects on the environment on the study area. This paper presents the results obtained by this study by examining the effects of tourism on land cover and effects on quality of life for the Paphos area in Cyprus. The authors explores the potential of blending in the sustainability study the use of remote sensing especially on the land-cover effects.

PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | August 12, 2014

New toolbox in ArcGIS for the reconstruction of missing satellite data using DINEOF algorithm: a case study of reconstruction of Chlorophyll-a gaps over the Mediterranean Sea

Proc. SPIE. 9229, Second International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of the Environment (RSCy2014)

KEYWORDS: Human-machine interfaces, MODIS, Satellites, Remote sensing, Satellite imaging, Geographic information systems, Raster graphics, Reconstruction algorithms, Climatology, Binary data

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ArcGIS<sup>®</sup> is a well known standard on Geographical Information Systems, used over the years for various remote sensing procedures. During the last decade, Rixen (2003) and Azcarate (2011) presented the DINEOF (Data Interpolating Empirical Orthogonal Functions) method, a EOF-based technique to reconstruct missing data in satellite images. The recent results of the DINEOF method in various experimental trials (Wang and Liu, 2013; Nikolaidis et al., 2013;2014) showed that this computationally affordable method leads to effective reconstruction of missing data from geophysical fields, such as chlorophyll-a, sea surface temperatures or salinities and geophysical fields derived from satellite data. Implementing the method in a GIS system will lead to a complete and integrated approach, enhancing its applicability. The inclusion of statistical tools within the GIS, will multiply the effectiveness, providing interoperability with other sources in the same application environment. This may be especially useful in studies where various different kinds of data are of interest. For this purpose, we have implemented a new GIS toolbox that aims at automating the usage of the algorithm, incorporating the DINEOF codes provided by GHER (GeoHydrodynamics and Environment Research Group of University of Liege) into the ArcGIS<sup>®</sup> as an example for the effectiveness and simplicity of the toolbox. A case-study of filling the chlorophyll-a missing data in the Mediterranean Sea area, for a 16-day period is considered. More specifically, we focus on chlorophyll-a MODIS satellite data collected by CNR-ISAC (Italian National Research Council, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate), from the respective products of MyOcean2 organization, that provides free online access to Level 3, with 1 km resolution. All the daily products with an initial level of only 27% data coverage were successfully reconstructed over the Mediterranean Sea.

PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | August 12, 2014

Evaluation of sustainability indices and indicators in the Paphos district area in Cyprus

Proc. SPIE. 9229, Second International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of the Environment (RSCy2014)

KEYWORDS: Environmental monitoring, Databases, Satellites, Water, Remote sensing, Buildings, Satellite imaging, Geographic information systems, Environmental sensing, Earth observing sensors

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