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Introduction to

Satellite Remote Sensing

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Remote sensing of the Earth from orbital altitudes was recognized in the mid-1960’s as a potential technique for obtaining information important for the effective use and conservation of natural resources.

The studies began when the Tiros satellites (1960) provided man’s first synoptic view of the Earth’s weather systems.

The manned Gemini and Apollo Programs (1962-1972) led to further consideration of space-age remote sensing for study of the planet Earth.

The Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS), later designated Landsat, provided repetitive multispectral observation of the Earth.

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Earth Rising

The photo was taken by astronaut William Anders from Apollo 8 in December 24, 1968.

As Apollo 8 raced backward away from the Earth,Anders snapped a picture of “a fist-sized fuzzy little ball of color against the immense backdrop of space.” (Parker, RI News, Providence Journal, Oct. 24, 2010)

(Anders lived in Barrington for about 5 years in 1980s as an executive at RI-based Textron. He was inducted Into Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame for his role on Apollo 8.)

Earth rising over the lunar surface, one of the most famous images of the 20th century.

This is how Anders saw the image.

NASA

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Skylab, the largest manned space station placed at low Earth orbit at the time, was lunched in May 14, 1973 and carried into space the Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP).

EREP was designed to view the Earth with sensors that recorded data in visible, infrared, and microwave spectral regions. EREP became another step in space exploration by testing the high spatial resolution camera systems with film return capability, narrow frequency bandwidth scanner systems in the visible through thermal-infrared spectral region, and initial use of active and passive microwave systems in Earth resources surveys.

A significant feature of EREP was the use of manto operate the sensors in a laboratory fashion.

Landsat represents the world's longest (since 1972) continuously acquired collection of space-based land remote sensing data.

The instruments on the Landsat satellites have acquired millions of images. The images, archived in the United States and at Landsat receiving stations around the world, are a unique resource for global change research and applications in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education and national security.

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Landsat Missions

Landsat 1 (07/12/1972 - 01/06/1978) - RBV, MSS (80m)Landsat 2 (01/22/1975-07/27/1983) - RBV, MSS (80m)Landsat 3 (03/05/1978-09/07/1983) - RBV, MSS (80m)Landsat 4 (07/16/1982 - ) - MSS, TM (30m, 120m TIR)Landsat 5 (03/01/1984 - ) - MSS, TM (30m, 120m TIR)Landsat 6 (10/05/1993): ETM ???Landsat 7 (04/23/1999 - ) - ETM+ (30m, 60m TIR, 15m Pan)Landsat 8 (February 11, 2013) – OIL, TIRS (30m, 100m TIRS15m Pan )

ETM+: Enhanced Thematic Mapper PlusMSS: Multispectral ScannerOLI: Operational Land ImagerPan: PanchromaticRBV: Return Beam Vidicon Camera TIR: Thermal InfraredTIRS: Thermal Infrared SensorTM: Thematic Mapper

Landsat-1, 2, 3

Landsat-4, 5

Landsat-7

Landsat-8

Band 1: 0.45-0.52m (blue).Provide increased penetration of water bodies, as well as supporting analysis of land use, soil, and vegetation characteristics.

Band 2: 0.52-0.60m (green).This band spans the region between the blue and red chlorophyll absorption bands and therefore corresponds to the green reflectance of healthy vegetation.

Band 3: 0.63-0.69m (red).This is the red chlorophyll absorption band of healthy green vegetation and represents one of the most important bands for vegetation discrimination.

Spectral Cover ofLandsat Sensors(TM, ETM+)

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• Band 4: 0.76-0.90m (reflective infrared). This band is responsive to the amount of vegetation biomass present in the scene. It is useful for crop identification and emphasizes soil-crop and land-water contrasts.

• Band 5: 1.55-1.75m (mid-infrared)This band is sensitive to the amount of moisture in plants and therefore useful in crop draught and in plant vigor studies.

• Band 6: 10.4-12.5m (thermal infrared)This band measures the amount of infrared radiant flux emitted from surface.

• Band 7: 2.08-2.35m (mid-infrared)This is an important band for the discrimination of geologic rock formation. It is effective in identifying zones of hydrothermal alteration in rocks.

Spectral Cover ofLandsat Sensors(TM, ETM+)

Comparison of Landsat Sensors

Thematic Mapper (TM) Landsat 4 and 5

Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+)

Landsat 7

Multispectral Scanner (MSS)

Landsat 1-5 Spectral Resolution (m)

1. 0.45-0.52 (B) 2. 0.52-0.60 (G) 3. 0.63-0.69 (R) 4. 0.76-0.90 (NIR) 5. 1.55-1.75 (MIR) 7. 2.08-2.35 (MIR) 6. 10.4-12.5 (TIR)

1. 0.45-0.52 2. 0.53-0.61 3. 0.63-0.69 4. 0.78-0.90 5. 1.55-1.75 7. 2.09-2.35 6. 10.4-12.5 8. 0.52-0.90 (Pan)

0.5-0.6 (green) 0.6-0.7 (red) 0.7-0.8 (NIR) 0.8-1.1 (NIR)

Spatial Resolution (meter)

30 x 30 120 x 120 (TIR)

15 x 15 (Pan) 30 x 30 60 x 60 (TIR)

79 x 79

Temporal Resolution (revisit in days)

16 16 18 (Landsat 1,2,3)

Spatial coverage (km)

185 x 185 183 x 170 185 x 185

Altitude (km) 705 705 915 (Landsat 1,2,3)

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Landsat-7 ETM+ Data of Providence

Landsat-7 ETM+ Data (30 m), Bands 4, 3, 2 in RGB

Landsat-7 Panchromatic Data (15 m) Landsat-7 ETM+ Data (30 m), Bands 3, 2, 1 in RGB

Landsat-7 ETM+ Data (30 m), Bands 4, 5, 3 in RGB

Landsat-8 and Sensors:

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Landsat-8 Sensors: Operational Land Imager (OLI)

OLI spectral bands ETM + spectral bands

# Band width (μm)

GSD (m) # Band width (μm)

GSD (m)

1 0.433–0.453 30

2 0.450–0.515 30 1 0.450–0.515 30

3 0.525–0.600 30 2 0.525–0.605 30

4 0.630–0.680 30 3 0.630–0.690 30

5 0.845–0.885 30 4 0.775–0.900 30

6 1.560–1.660 30 5 1.550–1.750 30

7 2.100–2.300 30 7 2.090–2.350 30

8 0.500–0.680 15 8 0.520–0.900 15

9 1.360–1.390 30

Landsat-8 Sensors: Operational Land Imager (OLI)

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Landsat-8 Sensors: Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)

TIRS Sensors measure land surface temperature in two thermal bands.

Band # Center wavelength (μm) Spatial resolution (m)

10 10.6-11.2 100

11 11.5-12.5 100

Example of Landsat 8 imagery (Fort Collins, Colorado, March 18, 2-13)

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Rhode Island: Path 12/Row 31

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Landsat Ground Stations

Collections of Landsat Images of the World

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Mangroves in the Niger River Delta: 1990 Landsat Image

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Mangrove Forests On Landsat Images

Over 100 kilometerscrisscrossing streams and rivers of the Kibasira Swamp

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Streams and rivers eroding the banks of the Rufiji river

Stiegler’s Gorge section of the Rufiji River

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USGS EROS Data Centerhttp://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/

USGS EROS Data Centerhttp://eros.usgs.gov/#/Remote_Sensing

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TERRA (EOS AM) - Launched December 18, 1999

The following instruments fly on TERRA:

ASTER: Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (15m - 3 bands in VNIR;30m - 6 bands in SWIR; 90m - 5 bands in TIR)

MODIS: Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer (0.4 - 14.4 m)(250m - 2 bands, 500m - 5 bands, 1000m - 29 bands)

CERES: Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy SystemMISR: Multi-angle Imaging SpectroradiometerMOPITT: Measurements of Pollution in

the Troposphere.

Provisional Land Cover Product June 01

MODIS data from Jul 00–Jan 01

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The MODIS Global Vegetation Phenology product (MOD12Q2) provides estimates of the timing of vegetation phenology at global scales. As such, MOD12Q2 identifies the vegetation growth, maturity, and senescence marking seasonal cycles.

EO-1: successfully launched on November 21, 2000

ALI - Advanced Land Imager consists of a 15° Wide Field Telescope (WFT) and partially populated focal plane occupying 1/5th of the field-of-view, giving a ground swath width of 37 km.

Hyperion – Hyper-spectral sensorsa grating imaging spectrometer having a 30 meter ground sample distance over a 7.5 kilometer swath and providing 10nm (sampling interval) contiguous bands of the solar reflected spectrum from 400-2500nm.

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Hyperspectral dataHyperion sensor on board the EO-1 Satellite

Spectral profile in a single pixel location from 0.4 to 2.5 m at 10 nm interval for a continuous coverage

over 220 bands

EO-1 launched November 21, 2000

EOS AM Constellation / Ground Tracks

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SPOT satellites

SPOT 2 - Jan. 22, 1990

SPOT 3 - Sept. 25, 1993

SPOT 4 - March 24, 1998

SPOT 1 - Feb. 21, 1986

SPOT-4 VEGETATION

SPOT 5 was successfully launched on May 3, 2002

The SPOT Sensor

The position of each HRV entrance mirror can be commanded by ground control to observe a region of interest not necessarily vertically beneath the satellite. Thus, each HRV offers an oblique viewing capability, the viewing angle being adjustable through +/- 27degrees relative to the vertical.

Two spectral modes of acquisition are employed, panchromatic (P) and multispectral (XS). Both HRVs can operate in either mode, either simultaneously or individually.

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SPOT 4-VEGETATION:

This program marks a significant advance to monitor crops and the continental biosphere. The VEGETATION instrument flying on Spot 4 provides global coverage on an almost daily basis at a resolution of 1 kilometer, thus making it an ideal tool for observing long-term environmental changes on a regional and worldwide scale.

With a swath width of 2,250 kilometers, the VEGETATION instrument covers almost all of the globe's land masses while orbiting the Earth 14 times a day. Only a few zones near the equator are covered every day. Areas above 35°latitude are seen at least once daily.

Ground resolution:1 meter panchromatic (0.45-0.90 m), 4 meters multispectral (same as Landsat TM bands 1 - 4)

(Band 1: 0.45-0.52 m Blue)(Band 2: 0.52-0.60 m Green)(Band 3: 0.63-0.69 m Red)(Band 4: 0.76-0.90 m Near IR)

Launched: September 24, 1999

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On October 19, 2001 DigitalGlobe launched the QuickBird 2 satellite.

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September 3, 2003 QuickBird Satellite Panchromatic Images (0.6-m Spatial Resolution)

September 3, 2003

QuickBird Satellite

True-color and

Pseudo-color Images

2.5-m Spatial Resolution

Concept of Multispectral

Or spectral resolution

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Natural color, high-resolution DigitalGlobe satellite image featuring the Golden Gate Bridge and Toll Plaza.

Image collected March 7, 2010

GeoEye-1, a Google sponsored satellite, was launched September 6, 2008.

Camera Modes• Simultaneous panchromatic and multispectral (pan-sharpened) • Panchromatic only • Multispectral only

Resolution• 0.41 m / 1.34 ft* panchromatic • 1.65 m / 5.41 ft* multispectral

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GeoEye's next satellite, GeoEye-2, is in a phased development process for an advanced, third-generation satellite capable of discerning objects on the Earth’s surface as small as 0.25-meter (9.75 inch) in size, due to launch in 2013.

Mt. Kilimanjaro

(5,895 m)

Tanzania/Kenya

Coastal Zone

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), February 11-22, 2000, obtained the high-resolution

digital topographic database of the Earth

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in GIS

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Credit line for all images: Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and ORBIMAGE

SeaWiFS October 2001

SeaWiFS October 1997

Examples Of SeaWiFSImages

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October 28, 2011

National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project, or NPP, satellite was launched successfully. This marks the start of the next generation of space-based weather and climate observations.

NPP becomes one of NASA’s newest eye in the sky to keep tabs on the ozone, improve hurricane science, and maintain steady records of the changing climate -and will fill the void if any of the current polar satellites should fail.

Satellites in Space?