Background

Dr. Norman Kerle received Masters degrees in geography from the University of Hamburg (Germany) as well as from the Ohio State University (US), and a PhD in geography (volcano remote sensing) from the University of Cambridge, UK (2002).

His activities in volcanology started with project work in Costa Rica in 1994, followed by hazard research in the Philippines (1996). Remote sensing started to become more prominent in 1997 during a project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, followed by extensive work on a multi-national project in Nicaragua (1998-2001). Since then he has moved into more methodological work related to hazards, risk and disaster damage assessment with multi-type geodata, in addition to landslide research and quantitative geomorphology, frequently with object-oriented analysis methods.

He has published results from those projects in a range of articles in international journals, and presented at various conferences. Before coming to ITC, he also taught at graduate and post-graduate levels in the US, the UK and in Greece. His professional affiliations include the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth�s Interior (IAVCEI), and the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPS). During the 2004-2008 term he co-chaired the ISPRS's Technical Commission VII Working Group 8 Innovative problem solving methodologies for less developed countries. He is also a member of the UN-SPIDER Capacity Building Working Group.

He is a member of Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge University, and a fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Activities in education

During the 2009/2010 academic year, Dr. Kerle is expected to be involved in the following teaching:

• Principles of remote sensing (Block 1)
• Geohazard (Block 2)
• Research skills (Module 11, AES coordinator)
• Advanced image analysis (Module 12)
• Distance education course Multi-hazard risk assessment
• PhD supervision as part of Disaster Management (DMAN) Stochastic methods for image mining and data quality (DAQUAL), and Sustainable Urban-Regional Dynamics (SURD)
• Supervision of MSc students

Activities in research

His principal research interests relate to the utility of geoinformatics for disaster risk management, in particular questions of assessment of vulnerability, risk and post-disaster structural damage. He is involved in the DMAN project, working on image-based hazard, vulnerability and damage assessment, strongly focusing on object-oriented methods (OOA/OBIA), leading the ITC OOA Group. Within the OOA context he also conducts research on image-based characterization or urban structure and form. In addition he contributes to a research project on data mining (DAQUAL), and on urban regional dynamics (SURD), and works on issues of data quality and quantitative geomorphology.

Within the ITC UNU School on Disaster Geo-Information Management (DGIM) he regularly contributes to research, project and capacity building activities, and coordinates the ITC link to UN-SPIDER and GEOSS. He also helped to set up the University Network for Disaster Risk Reduction in Africa (UNEDRA).

Current PhD students:

• Tapas Martha (NRSA, India) - Automatic landslide detection using multi-temporal and multi-source image and DEM data by object�oriented analysis for landslide hazard and risk modelling in seismically active terrain
• Iswar Das (IIRS, India) - Model based geostatistics and image mining for quantitative hazard and risk mapping with specific reference to landslides
• Shruthi Shruthi � Integrating high resolution image analysis and spatially dynamic erosion modeling to improve gully erosion prediction (part of EU project DESIRE)
• André Stumpf - Remote sensing technologies for landslide detection, monitoring, rapid mapping and early warning (Part of the FP7 SAFELAND project)
• Naomi Morris (based at University of Portsmouth) - Use of free satellite imagery for disaster risk reduction (with University of Portsmouth, funded by the Leverhulme Trust)

Activities in project services

Over the last years Dr. Kerle coordinated and contributed to several projects and courses on the use of geoinformatics for disaster management, e.g. in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Vietnam, Uganda, Nigeria, Thailand and the Philippines, addressing regional issues of drought or flood risk, food security, or other specific hazards and risks. In addition he contributed to other disaster management-related courses in Japan and India, as well as remote sensing courses in Bhutan and Sri Lanka. He also worked on an EU project on Sustainable Capacity Building on Urban Disaster Mitigation in Asia Using IT & C Learning Tools (CASITA II).

Currently he is coordinating ITC's contribution to the SPOT Imaging/PlanetAction-sponsored project Reducing flood risks caused by expected effects of climate change in the Eastern Visayas, Philippines, the Leverhulme Trust-funded project Use of free satellite imagery for disaster risk reduction, co-coordinating the FP7 project Advancing information and communication infrastructure for disaster risk management in Africa (AIDA), and contributing to the Living with landslide risk in Europe: Assessment, effects of global change, and risk management strategies (SafeLand) project, and to Institutional building for natural disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Georgia, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From February 2010 onwards he will coordinate ITC’s contribution to the FP7-funded project GMES and Africa: Regional Network for Information Exchange and Training in Emergencies (GARNET-E).

Publications

ISI Journal Articles

Devoli, G., Cepeda, J. and Kerle, N. (2009) The 1998 Casita volcano flank failure revisited : new insights into geological setting and failure mechanisms. In: Engineering geology, 105 (2009)1-2, pp. 65-83. Full text | Full text

Martha, T.R., Kerle, N., Jetten, V.G., van Westen, C.J. and Vinod Kumar, K. (2009) Characterising spectral, spatial and morphometric properties of landslides for semi - automatic detection using object - oriented methods. In: Geomorphology : an international journal of pure and applied geomorphology,  (2009)IN PRESS, Full text | Full text

Kerle, N. and de Leeuw, J. (2009) Reviving legacy population maps with object - oriented image processing techniques. In: IEEE Transactions on geoscience and remote sensing, 47 (2009)7, pp. 2392-2404. Full text

Kant, Y., Bharath, B.D., Mallick, J., Atzberger, C. and Kerle, N. (2009) Satellite - based analysis of the role of land use : land cover and vegetation density on surface temperature regime of Delhi, India. In: Journal of the Indian society of remote sensing = Photonirvachak, 37 (2009)2, pp. 201-214. Full text | Full text

Ebert, A., Kerle, N. and Stein, A. (2009) Urban social vulnerability assessment with physical proxies and spatial metrics derived from air- and spaceborne imagery and GIS data. In: Natural hazards : journal of the international society for the prevention and mitigation of natural hazards, 48 (2009)2, pp. 275-294. Full text | Full text

Arciniegas, G.A., Bijker, W., Kerle, N. and Tolpekin, V.A. (2007) Coherence- and amplitude based analysis of seismogenic damage in Bam, Iran, using ENVISAT ASAR data. In: IEEE Transactions on geoscience and remote sensing, 45 (2007)6, pp. 1571-1581. Full text

Scott, K.M., Vallance, J.W., Kerle, N., Macias, J.L., Strauch, W. and Devoli, G. (2005) Catastrophic precipitation - triggered lahar at Casita volcano, Nicaragua : occurrence, bulking and transformation. In: Earth surface processes and landforms : the journal of the British geomorphological research group, 30 (2005)1, pp. 59-79. Full text

Kerle, N., van Wyk de Vries, B. and Oppenheimer, C. (2003) New insights into the factors leading to the 1998 flank collapse and lahar disaster at Casita volcano, Nicaragua. In: Bulletin of Volcanology, 65(2003)5, 331-345.

Kerle, N., Froger, N.G., Oppenheimer, C. and van Wyk de Vries, B. (2003) Remote sensing of the 1998 mudflow at Casita volcano, Nicaragua. In: International journal of remote sensing, 24 (2003)23, pp. 4791-4816. Full text

Lawrence, W.T., Imhoff, M.L., Kerle, N. and Stutzer, D. (2002) Quantifying urban land use and impact on soils in Egypt using diurnal satellite imagery of the earth surface. In: International journal of remote sensing, 23 (2002)19, pp. 3921-3937. Full text | Full text

Kerle, N. and Oppenheimer, C. (2002) Satellite remote sensing as a tool in Lahar disaster management. In: Disasters : the journal of disaster studies policy and management, 26 (2002)2, pp. 140-160.

Kerle, N. (2002) Volume estimation of the 1998 flank collapse at Casita volcano, Nicaragua : a comparison of photogrammetric and conventional techniques. In: Earth surface processes and landforms : the journal of the British geomorphological research group, 27 (2002)7, pp. 759-772. Full text | Full text

Kerle, N. and van Wyk de Vries, N. (2001) The 1998 debris avalanche at Casita volcano, Nicaragua : investigation of structural deformation as the cause of slope instability using remote sensing. In: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 105(2001)1, pp. 49-63.

van Wyk de Vries, B., Kerle, N. and Peltey, D. (2000) Sector collapse forming at Castia volcano, Nicaragua. In: Geology, 28 (2000)2, pp. 167-170.

Lagmay, A.M.E., van Wyk de Vries, B., Kerle, N. and Pyle, D.M. (2000) Volcano instability induced by strike - slip faulting. In: Bulletin of Volcanology, 62(2000)4-5, pp. 331-346.

Other Refereed Journal Articles

Yan Gao, Kerle, N. and Mas, J.F. (2009) Object based image analysis for coal fire related land cover mapping coal mining areas. In: Geocarto International : a multi - disciplinary journal of remote sensing, 24 (2009)1, Full text | Full text

Book Chapters

Shafique, M., van der Meijde, M., Kerle, N. and van der Meer, F.D. (2009) Impact of topographic parameters on seismic amplification applying geospatial tools. In: Remote sensing for a changing Europe : proceedings of the 28th EARSeL symposium, 2-7 June 2008, Istanbul, Turkey / ed by. D. Maktav. Amsterdam : IOS Press, 2009. ISBN 978-1-58603-986-8-386. pp. 386-394. Full text

Kumar, U., Kerle, N. and Ramachandra, T.V. (2008) Constrained linear spectral unmixing technique for regional land cover mapping using MODIS data. In: Innovations and advanced techniques in systems, computing sciences and software engineering / ed by Khaled Elleithy. Berlin : Springer, 2008. ISBN: 978-1-4020-8734-9. paper 87. pp. 416-423. Full text

Stein, A. and Kerle, N. (2008) Environmental remediation. In: Encyclopedia of quantitative risk analysis and assessment : Vol. 2 D - I / ed. by Edward L. Melnick and Brian S. Everitt. Wiley, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-470-03549-8. 5 p. Full text

Kerle, N. and Widartono, B. (2008) Geoinformation - based response to the 27 May Indonesia earthquake : an initial assessment. In: Remote sensing and GIS technologies for monitoring and prediction of disasters / ed. by S. Nayak and S. Zlatanova. Heidelberg : Springer, 2008. ISBN 978-3-540-79258-1 (Environmental science and engineering ) pp. 11-23. Full text

Kerle, N., Heuel, S.R.K.B. and Pfeifer, N. (2008) Real - time data collection and information generation using airborne sensors. In: Geospatial information technology for emergency response / ed. by S. Zlatanova and J. Li. London : Taylor & Francis, 2008. ISBN 978-0-415-42247-5 (ISPRS Book series ; 6) pp. 43-74. Full text

Zhang, Y. and Kerle, N. (2008) Satellite remote sensing for near - real time data collection. In: Geospatial information technology for emergency response / ed. by S. Zlatanova and J. Li. London : Taylor & Francis, 2008. ISBN 978-0-415-42247-5 (ISPRS Book series ; 6) pp. 75-102. Full text

Kerle, N., Stekelenburg, R., van den Heuvel, F. and Gorte, B.G.H. (2005) Near - real time post - disaster damage assessment with airborne oblique video data. In: Geo-information for disaster management Gi4DM : proceedings of the 1st international symposium on geo-information for disaster management : Delft, The Netherlands, 21-23 March 2005. / ed. by P.J.M. van Oosterom, S. Zlatanova, M. Elfriede. Berlin etc. : Springer, 2005. pp. 337-353.

Conference Proceedings (full papers)

Kerle, N. (2009) AIDA : providing a framework for objective assessment of ICT for disaster risk management in Africa. In: Proceedings of the 6th international ISCRAM conference, for crisis response and management : boundary spanning initiatives and new perspectives, Gothenburg, Sweden, 10-13 May 2009 / ed. by J. Landgren, U. Nulden and B van de Walle. ISCRAM, 2009. ISBN 978-91-633-4715-3. 8 p. Full text | Full text

Maiyo, L., Köbben, B.J. and Kerle, N. (2009) Collaborative post - disaster damage mapping via geo web services. In: Cartography and geoinformatics for early warning and emergency management : towards better solutions, proceedings of the joint symposium of ICA working group on CEWaCM and JBGIS Gi4DM, January 19-22, 2009 Prague, Czech Republic. Brno, Masaryk University, 2009. / ed. by Konecny, M. and ... [et al.] ISBN: 978-80-210-4796-9. pp. 386-395. Full text

Sliuzas, R.V., Kerle, N. and Kuffer, M. (2008) Object - oriented mapping of urban poverty and deprivation. In: Proceedings of the 4th EARSeL workshop on remote sensing for developing countries in conjunction with GISDECO 8 : June 4-7, 2008, Istanbul, Turkey / European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories (EARSeL), 2008. 12 p. Full text

Ebert, A. and Kerle, N. (2008) Urban social vulnerability assessment using object - oriented analysis of remote sensing and GIS data : a case study for Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In: ISPRS 2008 : Proceedings of the XXI congress : Silk road for information from imagery : the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 3-11 July, Beijing, China. Comm. VII, WG VII/7. Beijing : ISPRS, 2008. pp. 1307-1311. Full text | Full text

Gao, Y., Kerle, N. and ... [et al.] (2007) Optimized image segmentation and its effect on classification accuracy. In: Proceedings of the 5th International symposium on Spatial Data Quality SDQ 2007, Modelling qualities in space and time, ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands, 13-15 June, 2007. Enschede : ITC, 2007. 4 p. Full text

Ebert, A., Kerle, N. and Stein, A. (2007) Remote sensing based assessment of social vulnerability. In: Proceedings of the 5th international workshop on remote sensing applications to natural hazards, 10-11 September 2007, Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. : George Washington University : The Space Policy Institute, 2007. art. 12. 7 p. Full text | Full text | Full text | Full text

Shamaoma, H., Kerle, N. and Alkema, D. (2006) Extraction of flood - modelling related base - data from multi - source remote sensing imagery. In: ISPRS 2006 : ISPRS mid-term symposium 2006 remote sensing : from pixels to processes, 8-11 May 2006, Enschede, the Netherlands. Enschede : ITC, 2006. 7 p. Full text

Kerle, N. (2006) Geoinformation - based response to the 27 May Indonesia earthquake : an initial assessment. In: ACRS 2006 : Proceedings of the 27th Asian conference on remote sensing ACRS, 9-13 October, 2006 Ulanbaatar, Mongolia. Bangkok : Asian Association of Remote Sensing (AARS), 2006. 6 p. Full text

Rasika, A.K., Kerle, N. and Heuel, S.R.K.B. (2006) Multi - scale texture and color segmentation of oblique airborne video data for damage classification. In: ISPRS 2006 : ISPRS mid-term symposium 2006 remote sensing : from pixels to processes, 8-11 May 2006, Enschede, the Netherlands. Enschede : ITC, 2006. 8 p. Full text

Arciniegas, G., Bijker, W., Kerle, N. and Tolpekin, V.A. (2005) Analysis of seismogenic damage in Bam, Iran, using Envisat ASAR data. In: ACRS 2005 : proceedings of the 26th Asian conference on remote sensing, ACRS 2005, 7-11 November 2005, Hanoi, Vietnam. Hanoi : Asian Association on Remote Sensing (AARS), Geoinformatics Center, Asian Institute of Technology, 2005. 10 p. Full text

Kufoniyi, O. and Kerle, N. (2005) Towards innovative problem solving methodologies for less developed countries. In: Proceedings AfricaGIS 2005 : beyond talk: geo-information working for Africa : 31 October - 4 November 2005, Pretoria. Pretoria : EIS-Africa, 2005. ISBN 1-920-01710-0. pp. 398-403. Full text

Kerle, N. and Kufoniyi, O. (2005) Towards innovative problem solving methodologies for less developed countries in Asia. In: ACRS 2005 : proceedings of the 26th Asian conference on remote sensing, ACRS 2005, 7-11 November 2005, Hanoi, Vietnam. Hanoi : Asian Association on Remote Sensing (AARS), Geoinformatics Center, Asian Institute of Technology, 2005. 6 p. Full text

Kerle, N. and Stekelenburg, R. (2004) Advanced structural disaster damage assessment based on aerial oblique video imagery and integrated auxiliary data sources. In: ISPRS 2004 : proceedings of the XXth ISPRS congress : Geo-imagery bridging continents, 12-23 July 2004, Istanbul, Turkey. Comm. VII, TS-PG: WG VII/5. pp. 580-585. Full text | Full text

Ozisik, D. and Kerle, N. (2004) Post - earthquake damage assessment using satellite and airborne data in the case of the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake, Turkey. In: ISPRS 2004 : proceedings of the XXth ISPRS congress : Geo-imagery bridging continents, 12-23 July 2004, Istanbul, Turkey. Comm. VII, TS-PG: WG VII/5. pp. 686-691. Full text | Full text

Lawrence, W.T., Imhoff, M.L., Stutzer, C. and Kerle, N. (1998) Population growth and land cover change in Egypt : evaluating the utility of archival and recent DMSP - OLS data for urbanization studies. In: ISPRS proceedings Vol. XXXII Commission VII symposium, 1998. pp. 443-448.

Scientific and Professional Publications

Köbben, B.J., Maiyo, L. and Kerle, N. (2009) Disaster mapping 2.0 : collaborating via GIS and Geo - webservices. In: GIM international : the global magazine for geomatics, 23 (2009)7, pp. 12-15. Full text | Full text

Kerle, N. and Kooiman, A. (2009) Draft overview report of national case studies : AÏDA : advancing ICT for disaster risk management in Africa : FP7 - CSA Grant Agreement Number 223824. AIDA, 2009. 53 p. Full text

Tempfli, K. (editor) , Huurneman, G.C. (editor) , Bakker, W.H. (editor) , Janssen, L.L.F. (editor) , Bakker, W.H., Feringa, W.F., Gieske, A.S.M., Grabmaier, K.A., Hecker, C.A., Horn, J.A., Huurneman, G.C., Kerle, N., van der Meer, F.D., Parodi, G.N., Pohl, C., Reeves, C.V., van Ruitenbeek, F.J.A., Schetselaar, E.M., Weir, M.J.C., Westinga, E. and Woldai, T. (2009) Principles of remote sensing : an introductory textbook. Enschede, ITC, 2009. ITC Educational Textbook Series  2, 284 p. ISBN: 978-90-6164-270-1.

Kerle, N. (2008) Geodata : limitations in current concepts. In: GIM international : the global magazine for geomatics,  (2008) pp. 41. Full text

Kerle, N. (editor) and Skidmore, A.K. (editor)  (2006) ISPRS 2006 : ISPRS mid-term symposium 2006 : from pixels to processes : ITC, Enschede, the Netherlands, 8-11 May 2006. Enschede, ITC, International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), 2006. Full text

Janssen, L.L.F., Weir, M.J.C., Grabmaier, K.A. and Kerle, N. (2004) Geometric aspects. In: Principles of remote sensing : an introductory textbook. / ed. by N. Kerle - Third edition. - Enschede : ITC, 2004. (ITC Educational Textbook Series ; 2) pp. 143-155.

Kerle, N. (editor) , Janssen, L.L.F. (editor) , Huurneman, G.C. (editor) , Bakker, W.H., Grabmaier, K.A., Huurneman, G.C., van der Meer, F.D., Prakash, A., Tempfli, K., Gieske, A.S.M., Hecker, C.A., Janssen, L.L.F., Parodi, G.N., Reeves, C.V., Weir, M.J.C., Gorte, B.G.H., Horn, J.A., Kerle, N., Pohl, C., van Ruitenbeek, F.J.A. and Woldai, T. (2004) Principles of remote sensing : an introductory textbook. Enschede, ITC, 2004. ITC Educational Textbook Series  2, 250 p. ISBN: 90-6164-227-2.

Presentations

Kooiman, A. and Kerle, N. (2009) Assessment of information and communication technology for disaster risk management in four African countries for the AIDA project. Presented at AfricaGIS 2009 international conference : geo - spatial information and sustainable development in Africa : facing challenges of global changes, 26-30 October 2009, Kampala, Uganda. 8 p. Full text

Devoli, G., Cepeda, J. and Kerle, N. (2009) Geological setting and failure mechanisms of the 1998 Casita volcano landslide, Nicaragua : abstract + The 1998 Casita volcano flank failure revisited : new insights into geological setting and failure mechanisms : poster. In: European Geosciences Union General Assemby 19-24 April 2009, Vienna. Austria : Geophysical research abstracts, 11(2009)EGU2009-4745. 1 p. Full text | Full text | Full text

Kerle, N. and Aubrecht, C. (2009) Object - oriented and cognitive methods for urban structural and functional assessment as basis for disaster risk management : abstract. Presented at 7th International Workshop on Remote Sensing and Disaster Response, 22-23 October 2009, Austin Texas, USA. 4 p. Full text

Aubrecht, C., Elvidge, C.D., Ziskin, D., Baugh, K.E., Tuttle, B.T., Erwin, E. and Kerle, N. (2009) Observing power blackouts from space : a disaster related study : abstract + poster. In: European Geosciences Union General Assemby 19-24 April 2009, Vienna. Austria : Geophysical research abstracts, 11(2009)EGU2009-7266. 1 p. Full text | Full text | Full text

Devoli, G., Cepeda, J. and Kerle, N. (2008) The 1998 Casita volcano flank collapse and lahar : an overview : abstract. Presented at the 33rd International Geological Congress : Earth system science: foundation for sustainable development, 6-14 August 2008, Oslo, Norway. 2 p. Full text

Martha, T.R., Kerle, N., van Westen, C.J. and Kumar, K.V. (2008) High resolution DEM from Cartosat - 1 for landslide investigation in the Himalayan region, India : powerpoint. Presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2008, 13-18 April 2008, Vienna, Austria 14 slides. Full text

Shafique, M., van der Meijde, M., Kerle, N. and van der Meer, F.D. (2008) Impact of topographic parameters on seismic amplification applying geospatial tools : a case study of Kashmir earthquake, 2005 , Pakistan : powerpoint. Presented at the 28th EARSeL symposium an workshops : remote sensing for a changing Europe, 2-7 June 2008, Istanbul, Turkey. 17 slides. Full text

Shafique, M., van der Meijde, M., Kerle, N., van der Meer, F.D. and Khan, M.A. (2008) Predicting topographic aggravation of seismic ground shaking by applying geo - spatial tools : a case study of Kashmir eartquake 2005, Pakistan : powerpoint. Presented at Earthquake hazards Pakistan : post-October 08 2005 Muzafarabad earthquake scenario, 22-23 August 2008, Baragali, Pakistan. 13 slides. Full text

Ebert, A. and Kerle, N. (2006) Social vulnerability assessment using satellite data : a case study for Tegucigalpa, Honduras : abstract. In: Abstracts of the workshop on modern aspects of remote sensing and geospatial data processing, NRSA - ITC, Hyderabad, India, 24-25 November 2006 / ed by. K.M.M. Rao, A. Stein, P.S. Roy and A.S. Manjunath. Hyderabad : National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), 2006. 2 p. Full text

Kerle, N. and ... [et al.] (2005) What happened to the potential of video data for post - disaster damage assessment?. Presented at the 1st international conference on urban disaster reduction ICUDR, 18-20 January, Kobe Japan, 2005. 8 p. Full text