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Obinna C.D. Anejionu PhD Researcher Lancaster Environment Centre Lancaster University LA1 4YQ Email: o.d.anejionu@lancaster.ac.uk |
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Academic Qualifications ·
M.Sc. GIS with Remote
Sensing, University of Greenwich - Sept 2007 - Oct 2008. ·
M.Sc. Hydrographic
Surveying, University of Nigeria Nsukka - Jan 2005 - Sept
2007. ·
B.Sc. Geoinformatics
and Surveying, University of Nigeria Nsukka - Apr
1998 – Aug 2003. Academic Posts 2010 – Present. Lecturer II, Department of Geoinformatics and Surveying, University of Nigeria Enugu
Campus 2009 – 2010. Assistant Lecturer, Department of Geoinformatics and Surveying, University of Nigeria Enugu
Campus 2006 – 2009. Graduate Assistant, Department of Geoinformatics and Surveying, University of Nigeria Enugu
Campus Current Research REMOTE SURVEYS OF GAS FLARING AND MODELLING OF THE
ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH IMPACTS IN THE NIGER DELTA The Niger Delta region of Nigeria contains some of the most endangered ecosystems in the world due to pollution
arising from oil and gas activities in the region. Gas flaring has been identified as a major
contributor to the overall environmental pollution in the region. There are
strong indications that flaring has caused widespread air pollution, heat stress,
acid rain, and soil bacteria reduction. However, the specific environmental
and health impacts of the continuous flaring of gas in the region have been
the subject of much debate and speculation. Previous efforts made to evaluate
the magnitude of the impact on the surrounding environment have been severely
hampered due to lack of sufficient information on the location of the flares
and flaring volume, as flaring usually occurs at remote and hazardous
locations, with restricted access. Furthermore, public reporting of gas
flaring volumes is usually discouraged through bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Accurate identification of active flares is a prerequisite to modelling the
impact of flares on the ecosystem. Earlier attempts made at identifying gas
flares through remote sensing have been based on visual identification of
flares from satellite images such as NOAA AVHRR and DMSP OLS; these approaches were limited by
issues such as non-automatic detection of flares and misidentification or non
discrimination of flares especially amidst other sources of lights (urban lights and
biomass fires). This research is seeking to solve this problem by primarily
developing reliable remote sensing techniques that will automatically detect flares, and estimate
the quantity of gas flared from each source; consequently evaluating
the environmental impacts. The specific objectives are to produce a
comprehensive spatial inventory of flares for an extended time series; to
estimate the flare volumes at the various flow stations; to model air
pollution from the flares and produce a series of pollution maps of the Niger
Delta; and to model the overall impact of the pollutants on the various
aspects of the ecosystem. The methods used so far have involved the
determination of appropriate techniques for combinations of three Landsat bands (4, 7, and 6), which have demonstrated
capabilities of detecting flares. The work has focussed on determining
empirically the optimum threshold values for the discrimination of flares
from detectable false alarms such as forest fires, sun glint, and hot natural
and anthropogenic surfaces. A problematic issue encountered so far has been
the spatial offsets between the various bands, which have been minimised
through the spatial buffering of identified potential flares in one of the
bands before passing it through another stage of the process. Preliminary results
have demonstrated the capability of the techniques to accurately identify
locations of active onshore and offshore flares. However, improvements in the
techniques are being investigated in order to make the approach more robust
and minimise errors of commission and omission, through temporal persistence
analysis. Furthermore, ongoing work is developing techniques for the
estimation of flare volume, through the fusion of the outputs from the
analysis of Landsat data with information derived
from MODIS, AVHRR, MSG/SEVIRI and DMSP data. Previous Research APPLICATIONS OF GIS AND REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES IN
EPIDEMIOLOGY: GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL
CODITIONS OF POSSIBLE HABITATS OF EBOLA AND MARBURG VIRUSES IN SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICA Viral haemorrhagic fevers are among the most prominent diseases that have plagued humanity. Among the most notorious of haemorrhagic fevers are Ebola and Marburg, which are two highly infectious and deadly diseases that have appeared sporadically in some parts of Africa, causing many epidemics that have led to the deaths of people and nonhuman primates, in Sub-Saharan Africa. Research are ongoing to identify the natural reservoir of the viruses, which is expected to lead to a better understanding of the viruses, and subsequently to the development of possible cure for them, or establishment of preventive measures against future occurrences. This research was carried out to provide a broader knowledge of filoviruses in Africa, by characterising environmental conditions associated with the breeding of the viruses, and subsequently model the distribution of the viruses. Remote sensing and GIS techniques, such as, unsupervised classification, Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), band ratios, reclassification, and map overlay, were employed in this research. The result obtained from the various analyses carried out in this research, identified some locations in and outside Africa as possible habitats of filoviruses, although the natural reservoir of the virus was not identified. It is believed that the results obtained from this research have extended the knowledge in the quest for the identification of the natural reservoir of the two deadly viruses.
Publications Journal Papers: Anejionu, C.D.O., Blackburn, G.A., and Whyatt, J.D. (2011). Remote survey of gas flaring in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria with Landsat imagery. Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society Annual Conference and AGM, Technical Proceedings. "Earth Observation in a Changing World", 13th -15th September, 2011, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom. Anejionu, C.D. O. and Ojinnaka, O.C. (2011). Underwater acoustics and depth uncertainties
in the tropics. International Hydrographic Review, No. 5.,
pp14-23. http://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/IHReview/2011/IHR_May192011.pdf Anejionu, C.D.O., and Okeke,
F. I. (in press). Modelling
nonpoint source pollution of the southern section of Enugu State through GIS
and Remote Sensing. (Accepted
by for publication by Journal of the Tropical Environment). Anejionu, C.D.O., Moka, E.C., and Ndukwu, R.I. (2011). Design and development of surveying computational software for land reform administration. Nigerian Instiution of Surveyors, 46th Annual General Meeting & Conference, Technical Proceedings, "Land Reforms in Nigeria: Issues and Challenges", 13th -17th June, 2011, Cultural Centre Complex, Calabar, Cross - River State. Nigeria. Anejionu, C.D.O., Anejionu, M.G.U. (2011).
Modelling the Spatial distribution of Ebola and Marburg diseases in
Sub-Saharan Africa through GIS and Remote Sensing. Journal of Environmental
Management and Safety. Vol 2 No 2. P42-84. Enugu, Nigeria. Nnam, V.C., Okeke, F.I., and Anejionu, C.D. O. (2011).
Implementation of a Multipurpose Cadastre in Nigeria: A Case Study of Achara Layout, Enugu State Nigerian
Instiution of Surveyors, 46th Annual General
Meeting & Conference, Technical Proceedings, "Land Reforms in
Nigeria: Issues and Challenges", 13th -17th June, 2011, Cultural Centre
Complex, Calabar, Cross - River State. Nigeria. Okeke, F. I. and Anejionu,
C.D.O. (2007). Investigation of the usefulness of fusing
NigeriaSat-1 and other remote sensing images as well as High-Resolution
Aerial Photographs. The Nigerian
Journal of Space Research, Vol. 4. P. 73-79. Nsukka
Nigeria. Books: ·
Anejionu C.D.O. 2010. Applications
of GIS and Remote Sensing in epidemiology: Geospatial analysis of the spatial
distribution and environmental conditions of possible habitats of Ebola and
Marburg viruses in Sub Saharan Africa. VDM Verlag
Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken.
ISBN: 9783639257090. Germany. Novels:
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