Concepts and Methodologies of Environmental Hazards and Disasters

Abstract

Natural disasters have significant impact on several sectors of the economy, including agriculture. Moreover, under climate uncertainty, the role of several sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, as a provider of envi- ronmental and ecosystem services, is expected to further gain importance. Indeed, increasing climate variability and climate change lead to increases in climate extremes. The objective of this review is to present concepts and methodologies of environmental hazards and extremes that affect agriculture and agroecosystems, based on remote sensing data and methods, since this is a field gaining in potential and reliability. In this chapter, the rela- tionship between environmental hazards and agriculture is presented; this is followed by concepts and quantitative methodologies of environmental hazards affecting agriculture, namely hydrometeorological hazards (floods and excess rain, droughts, hail, desertification) and biophysical hazards (frost, heat waves, wild fires). The emphasis is on concepts and the three stages of hazard development: forecasting-nowcasting (before), monitoring (dur- ing), and assessment (after). Examples and case studies are presented using recorded data sets, model simulations, and innovative methodologies. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.