Multi-source and multi-angle remote sensing image data collection, application and sharing of Beichuan National Earthquake Ruins Museum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yueguan; Wang, Wei; Wen, Qi; Huang, He; Lin, Jingli; Zhang, Wei

2015-12-01

Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake that occurred on May 12, 2008 brought huge casualties and property losses to the Chinese people, and Beichuan County was destroyed in the earthquake. In order to leave a site for commemorate of the people, and for science propaganda and research of earthquake science, Beichuan National Earthquake Ruins Museum has been built on the ruins of Beichuan county. Based on the demand for digital preservation of the earthquake ruins park and collection of earthquake damage assessment of research and data needs, we set up a data set of Beichuan National Earthquake Ruins Museum, including satellite remote sensing image, airborne remote sensing image, ground photogrammetry data and ground acquisition data. At the same time, in order to make a better service for earthquake science research, we design the sharing ideas and schemes for this scientific data set.

Analysis of fine-mode aerosol retrieval capabilities by different passive remote sensing instrument designs.

PubMed

Knobelspiesse, Kirk; Cairns, Brian; Mishchenko, Michael; Chowdhary, Jacek; Tsigaridis, Kostas; van Diedenhoven, Bastiaan; Martin, William; Ottaviani, Matteo; Alexandrov, Mikhail

2012-09-10

Remote sensing of aerosol optical properties is difficult, but multi-angle, multi-spectral, polarimetric instruments have the potential to retrieve sufficient information about aerosols that they can be used to improve global climate models. However, the complexity of these instruments means that it is difficult to intuitively understand the relationship between instrument design and retrieval success. We apply a Bayesian statistical technique that relates instrument characteristics to the information contained in an observation. Using realistic simulations of fine size mode dominated spherical aerosols, we investigate three instrument designs. Two of these represent instruments currently in orbit: the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and the POLarization and Directionality of the Earths Reflectances (POLDER). The third is the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS), which failed to reach orbit during recent launch, but represents a viable design for future instruments. The results show fundamental differences between the three, and offer suggestions for future instrument design and the optimal retrieval strategy for current instruments. Generally, our results agree with previous validation efforts of POLDER and airborne prototypes of APS, but show that the MISR aerosol optical thickness uncertainty characterization is possibly underestimated.

Bathymetric mapping of submarine sand waves using multiangle sun glitter imagery: a case of the Taiwan Banks with ASTER stereo imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hua-guo; Yang, Kang; Lou, Xiu-lin; Li, Dong-ling; Shi, Ai-qin; Fu, Bin

2015-01-01

Submarine sand waves are visible in optical sun glitter remote sensing images and multiangle observations can provide valuable information. We present a method for bathymetric mapping of submarine sand waves using multiangle sun glitter information from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer stereo imagery. Based on a multiangle image geometry model and a sun glitter radiance transfer model, sea surface roughness is derived using multiangle sun glitter images. These results are then used for water depth inversions based on the Alpers-Hennings model, supported by a few true depth data points (sounding data). Case study results show that the inversion and true depths match well, with high-correlation coefficients and root-mean-square errors from 1.45 to 2.46 m, and relative errors from 5.48% to 8.12%. The proposed method has some advantages over previous methods in that it requires fewer true depth data points, it does not require environmental parameters or knowledge of sand-wave morphology, and it is relatively simple to operate. On this basis, we conclude that this method is effective in mapping submarine sand waves and we anticipate that it will also be applicable to other similar topography types.

Estimation of canopy carotenoid content of winter wheat using multi-angle hyperspectral data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Weiping; Huang, Wenjiang; Liu, Jiangui; Chen, Pengfei; Qin, Qiming; Ye, Huichun; Peng, Dailiang; Dong, Yingying; Mortimer, A. Hugh

2017-11-01

Precise estimation of carotenoid (Car) content in crops, using remote sensing data, could be helpful for agricultural resources management. Conventional methods for Car content estimation were mostly based on reflectance data acquired from nadir direction. However, reflectance acquired at this direction is highly influenced by canopy structure and soil background reflectance. Off-nadir observation is less impacted, and multi-angle viewing data are proven to contain additional information rarely exploited for crop Car content estimation. The objective of this study was to explore the potential of multi-angle observation data for winter wheat canopy Car content estimation. Canopy spectral reflectance was measured from nadir as well as from a series of off-nadir directions during different growing stages of winter wheat, with concurrent canopy Car content measurements. Correlation analyses were performed between Car content and the original and continuum removed spectral reflectance. Spectral features and previously published indices were derived from data obtained at different viewing angles and were tested for Car content estimation. Results showed that spectral features and indices obtained from backscattering directions between 20° and 40° view zenith angle had a stronger correlation with Car content than that from the nadir direction, and the strongest correlation was observed from about 30° backscattering direction. Spectral absorption depth at 500 nm derived from spectral data obtained from 30° backscattering direction was found to reduce the difference induced by plant cultivars greatly. It was the most suitable for winter wheat canopy Car estimation, with a coefficient of determination 0.79 and a root mean square error of 19.03 mg/m2. This work indicates the importance of taking viewing geometry effect into account when using spectral features/indices and provides new insight in the application of multi-angle remote sensing for the estimation of crop physiology.

Remote Sensing of Aerosol and Aerosol Radiative Forcing of Climate from EOS Terra MODIS Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaufman, Yoram; Tanre, Didier; Remer, Lorraine; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The recent launch of EOS-Terra into polar orbit has begun to revolutionize remote sensing of aerosol and their effect on climate. Terra has five instruments, two of them,Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multiangle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) are designed to monitor global aerosol in two different complementary ways. Here we shall discuss the use of the multispectral measurements of MODIS to derive: (1) the global distribution of aerosol load (and optical thickness) over ocean and land; (2) to measure the impact of aerosol on reflection of sunlight to space; and (3) to measure the ability of aerosol to absorb solar radiation. These measurements have direct applications on the understanding of the effect of aerosol on climate, the ability to predict climate change, and on the monitoring of dust episodes and man-made pollution. Principles of remote sensing of aerosol from MODIS will be discussed and first examples of measurements from MODIS will be provided.

VSF Measurements and Inversion for RaDyO

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-30

near-surface waters, including the surf zone. APPROACH MASCOT (Multi-Angle SCattering Optical Tool) has a 30 mW 658 nm laser diode source...in Santa Barbara Channel are provided in Fig. 1. Despite the widespread use of polarized laser sources across a diversity of Navy applications, this...operations that rely on divers, cameras, laser imaging systems, and active and passive remote sensing systems. These include mine countermeasures, harbor

[Analysis of related factors of slope plant hyperspectral remote sensing].

PubMed

Sun, Wei-Qi; Zhao, Yun-Sheng; Tu, Lin-Ling

2014-09-01

In the present paper, the slope gradient, aspect, detection zenith angle and plant types were analyzed. In order to strengthen the theoretical discussion, the research was under laboratory condition, and modeled uniform slope for slope plant. Through experiments we found that these factors indeed have influence on plant hyperspectral remote sensing. When choosing slope gradient as the variate, the blade reflection first increases and then decreases as the slope gradient changes from 0° to 36°; When keeping other factors constant, and only detection zenith angle increasing from 0° to 60°, the spectral characteristic of slope plants do not change significantly in visible light band, but decreases gradually in near infrared band; With only slope aspect changing, when the dome meets the light direction, the blade reflectance gets maximum, and when the dome meets the backlit direction, the blade reflectance gets minimum, furthermore, setting the line of vertical intersection of incidence plane and the dome as an axis, the reflectance on the axis's both sides shows symmetric distribution; In addition, spectral curves of different plant types have a lot differences between each other, which means that the plant types also affect hyperspectral remote sensing results of slope plants. This research breaks through the limitations of the traditional vertical remote sensing data collection and uses the multi-angle and hyperspectral information to analyze spectral characteristics of slope plants. So this research has theoretical significance to the development of quantitative remote sensing, and has application value to the plant remote sensing monitoring.

[The research on bidirectional reflectance computer simulation of forest canopy at pixel scale].

PubMed

Song, Jin-Ling; Wang, Jin-Di; Shuai, Yan-Min; Xiao, Zhi-Qiang

2009-08-01

Computer simulation is based on computer graphics to generate the realistic 3D structure scene of vegetation, and to simulate the canopy regime using radiosity method. In the present paper, the authors expand the computer simulation model to simulate forest canopy bidirectional reflectance at pixel scale. But usually, the trees are complex structures, which are tall and have many branches. So there is almost a need for hundreds of thousands or even millions of facets to built up the realistic structure scene for the forest It is difficult for the radiosity method to compute so many facets. In order to make the radiosity method to simulate the forest scene at pixel scale, in the authors' research, the authors proposed one idea to simplify the structure of forest crowns, and abstract the crowns to ellipsoids. And based on the optical characteristics of the tree component and the characteristics of the internal energy transmission of photon in real crown, the authors valued the optical characteristics of ellipsoid surface facets. In the computer simulation of the forest, with the idea of geometrical optics model, the gap model is considered to get the forest canopy bidirectional reflectance at pixel scale. Comparing the computer simulation results with the GOMS model, and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) multi-angle remote sensing data, the simulation results are in agreement with the GOMS simulation result and MISR BRF. But there are also some problems to be solved. So the authors can conclude that the study has important value for the application of multi-angle remote sensing and the inversion of vegetation canopy structure parameters.

Allometric constraints to inversion of canopy structure from remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolf, A.; Berry, J. A.; Asner, G. P.

2008-12-01

Canopy radiative transfer models employ a large number of vegetation architectural and leaf biochemical attributes. Studies of leaf biochemistry show a wide array of chemical and spectral diversity that suggests that several leaf biochemical constituents can be independently retrieved from multi-spectral remotely sensed imagery. In contrast, attempts to exploit multi-angle imagery to retrieve canopy structure only succeed in finding two or three of the many unknown canopy arhitectural attributes. We examine a database of over 5000 destructive tree harvests from Eurasia to show that allometry - the covariation of plant form across a broad range of plant size and canopy density - restricts the architectural diversity of plant canopies into a single composite variable ranging from young canopies with many short trees with small crowns to older canopies with fewer trees and larger crowns. Moreover, these architectural attributes are closely linked to biomass via allometric constraints such as the "self-thinning law". We use the measured variance and covariance of plant canopy architecture in these stands to drive the radiative transfer model DISORD, which employs the Li-Strahler geometric optics model. This correlations introduced in the Monte Carlo study are used to determine which attributes of canopy architecture lead to important variation that can be observed by multi-angle or multi-spectral satellite observations, using the sun-view geometry characteristic of MODIS observations in different biomes located at different latitude bands. We conclude that although multi-angle/multi-spectral remote sensing is only sensitive to some of the many unknown canopy attributes that ecologists would wish to know, the strong allometric covariation between these attributes and others permits a large number of inferrences, such as forest biomass, that will be meaningful next-generation vegetation products useful for data assimilation.

ISSARS Aerosol Database : an Incorporation of Atmospheric Particles into a Universal Tool to Simulate Remote Sensing Instruments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goetz, Michael B.

2011-01-01

The Instrument Simulator Suite for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (ISSARS) entered its third and final year of development with an overall goal of providing a unified tool to simulate active and passive space borne atmospheric remote sensing instruments. These simulations focus on the atmosphere ranging from UV to microwaves. ISSARS handles all assumptions and uses various models on scattering and microphysics to fill the gaps left unspecified by the atmospheric models to create each instrument's measurements. This will help benefit mission design and reduce mission cost, create efficient implementation of multi-instrument/platform Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSE), and improve existing models as well as new advanced models in development. In this effort, various aerosol particles are incorporated into the system, and a simulation of input wavelength and spectral refractive indices related to each spherical test particle(s) generate its scattering properties and phase functions. These atmospheric particles being integrated into the system comprise the ones observed by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer(MISR) and by the Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager(MSPI). In addition, a complex scattering database generated by Prof. Ping Yang (Texas A&M) is also incorporated into this aerosol database. Future development with a radiative transfer code will generate a series of results that can be validated with results obtained by the MISR and MSPI instruments; nevertheless, test cases are simulated to determine the validity of various plugin libraries used to determine or gather the scattering properties of particles studied by MISR and MSPI, or within the Single-scattering properties of tri-axial ellipsoidal mineral dust particles database created by Prof. Ping Yang.

Generalized Radiative Transfer as an Efficient Computational Tool for Spatial and/or Spectral Integration over Unresolved Variability in Multi-Angle Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, A. B.; Xu, F.; Diner, D. J.

2017-12-01

Two perennial problems in applied theoretical and computational radiative transfer (RT) are: (1) the impact of unresolved spatial variability on large-scale fluxes (in climate models) or radiances (in remote sensing); and (2) efficient-yet-accurate estimation of broadband spectral integrals in radiant energy budget estimation as well as in remote sensing, in particular, of trace gases.Generalized RT (GRT) is a modification of classic RT in an optical medium with uniform extinction where Beer's exponential law for direct transmission is replaced by a monotonically decreasing function with a slower power-law decay. In a convenient parameterized version of GRT, mean extinction replaces the uniform value and just one new property is introduced. As a non-dimensional metric for the unresolved variability, we use the square of the mean extinction coefficient divided by its variance. This parameter is also the exponent of the power-law tail of the modified transmission law.This specific form of sub-exponential transmission has explored for almost two decades in application to spatial variability in the presence of long-range correlations, much like in turbulent media such as clouds, with a focus on multiple scattering. It has also been proposed by Conley and Collins (JQSRT, 112, 1525-, 2011) to improve on the standard (weak-line) implementation of the correlated-k technique for efficient spectral integration.We have merged these two applications within a rigorous formulation of the combined problem, and solve the new integral RT equations in the single-scattering limit. The result is illustrated by addressing practical problems in multi-angle remote sensing of aerosols using the O2 A-band, an emerging methodology for passive profiling of coarse aerosols and clouds.

Reconstruction of 3D Shapes of Opaque Cumulus Clouds from Airborne Multiangle Imaging: A Proof-of-Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, A. B.; Bal, G.; Chen, J.

2015-12-01

Operational remote sensing of microphysical and optical cloud properties is invariably predicated on the assumption of plane-parallel slab geometry for the targeted cloud. The sole benefit of this often-questionable assumption about the cloud is that it leads to one-dimensional (1D) radiative transfer (RT)---a textbook, computationally tractable model. We present new results as evidence that, thanks to converging advances in 3D RT, inverse problem theory, algorithm implementation, and computer hardware, we are at the dawn of a new era in cloud remote sensing where we can finally go beyond the plane-parallel paradigm. Granted, the plane-parallel/1D RT assumption is reasonable for spatially extended stratiform cloud layers, as well as the smoothly distributed background aerosol layers. However, these 1D RT-friendly scenarios exclude cases that are critically important for climate physics. 1D RT---whence operational cloud remote sensing---fails catastrophically for cumuliform clouds that have fully 3D outer shapes and internal structures driven by shallow or deep convection. For these situations, the first order of business in a robust characterization by remote sensing is to abandon the slab geometry framework and determine the 3D geometry of the cloud, as a first step toward bone fide 3D cloud tomography. With this specific goal in mind, we deliver a proof-of-concept for an entirely new kind of remote sensing applicable to 3D clouds. It is based on highly simplified 3D RT and exploits multi-angular suites of cloud images at high spatial resolution. Airborne sensors like AirMSPI readily acquire such data. The key element of the reconstruction algorithm is a sophisticated solution of the nonlinear inverse problem via linearization of the forward model and an iteration scheme supported, where necessary, by adaptive regularization. Currently, the demo uses a 2D setting to show how either vertical profiles or horizontal slices of the cloud can be accurately reconstructed. Extension to 3D volumes is straightforward but the next challenge is to accommodate images at lower spatial resolution, e.g., from MISR/Terra. G. Bal, J. Chen, and A.B. Davis (2015). Reconstruction of cloud geometry from multi-angle images, Inverse Problems in Imaging (submitted).

Distinguishing remobilized ash from erupted volcanic plumes using space-borne multi-angle imaging.

PubMed

Flower, Verity J B; Kahn, Ralph A

2017-10-28

Volcanic systems are comprised of a complex combination of ongoing eruptive activity and secondary hazards, such as remobilized ash plumes. Similarities in the visual characteristics of remobilized and erupted plumes, as imaged by satellite-based remote sensing, complicate the accurate classification of these events. The stereo imaging capabilities of the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) were used to determine the altitude and distribution of suspended particles. Remobilized ash shows distinct dispersion, with particles distributed within ~1.5 km of the surface. Particle transport is consistently constrained by local topography, limiting dispersion pathways downwind. The MISR Research Aerosol (RA) retrieval algorithm was used to assess plume particle microphysical properties. Remobilized ash plumes displayed a dominance of large particles with consistent absorption and angularity properties, distinct from emitted plumes. The combination of vertical distribution, topographic control, and particle microphysical properties makes it possible to distinguish remobilized ash flows from eruptive plumes, globally.

On the Accuracy of Double Scattering Approximation for Atmospheric Polarization Computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Korkin, Sergey V.; Lyapustin, Alexei I.; Marshak, Alexander L.

2011-01-01

Interpretation of multi-angle spectro-polarimetric data in remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols require fast and accurate methods of solving the vector radiative transfer equation (VRTE). The single and double scattering approximations could provide an analytical framework for the inversion algorithms and are relatively fast, however accuracy assessments of these approximations for the aerosol atmospheres in the atmospheric window channels have been missing. This paper provides such analysis for a vertically homogeneous aerosol atmosphere with weak and strong asymmetry of scattering. In both cases, the double scattering approximation gives a high accuracy result (relative error approximately 0.2%) only for the low optical path - 10(sup -2) As the error rapidly grows with optical thickness, a full VRTE solution is required for the practical remote sensing analysis. It is shown that the scattering anisotropy is not important at low optical thicknesses neither for reflected nor for transmitted polarization components of radiation.

Establishment of the Relationship between the Photochemical Reflectance Index and Canopy Light Use Efficiency Using Multi-angle Hyperspectral Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qian; Chen, Jing; Zhang, Yongguang; Qiu, Feng; Fan, Weiliang; Ju, Weimin

2017-04-01

The gross primary production (GPP) of terrestrial ecosystems constitutes the largest global land carbon flux and exhibits significant spatial and temporal variations. Due to its wide spatial coverage, remote sensing technology is shown to be useful for improving the estimation of GPP in combination with light use efficiency (LUE) models. Accurate estimation of LUE is essential for calculating GPP using remote sensing data and LUE models at regional and global scales. A promising method used for estimating LUE is the photochemical reflectance index (PRI = (R531－R570)/(R531 + R570), where R531 and R570 are reflectance at wavelengths 531 and 570 nm) through remote sensing. However, it has been documented that there are certain issues with PRI at the canopy scale, which need to be considered systematically. For this purpose, an improved tower-based automatic canopy multi-angle hyperspectral observation system was established at the Qianyanzhou flux station in China since January of 2013. In each 15-minute observation cycle, PRI was observed at four view zenith angles fixed at solar zenith angle and (37°, 47°, 57°) or (42°, 52°, 62°) in the azimuth angle range from 45° to 325° (defined from geodetic north). To improve the ability of directional PRI observation to track canopy LUE, the canopy is treated as two-big leaves, i.e. sunlit and shaded leaves. On the basis of a geometrical optical model, the observed canopy reflectance for each view angle is separated to four components, i.e. sunlit and shaded leaves and sunlit and shaded backgrounds. To determine the fractions of these four components at each view angle, three models based on different theories are tested for simulating the fraction of sunlit leaves. Finally, a ratio of canopy reflectance to leaf reflectance is used to represent the fraction of sunlit leaves, and the fraction of shaded leaves is calculated with the four-scale geometrical optical model. Thus, sunlit and shaded PRI are estimated using the least squares regression with multi-angle observations. In both the half-hourly and daily time steps, the canopy-level two-leaf PRI (PRIt) can effectively enhance (>50% and >35%, respectively) the correlation between PRI and LUE derived from the tower flux measurements over the big-leaf PRI (PRIb) taken as the arithmetic average of the multi-angle measurements in a given time interval. PRIt is very effective in detecting the low-moderate drought stress on LUE at half-hourly time steps, while ineffective in detecting severe atmospheric water and heat stresses, which is probably due to alternative radiative energy sink, i.e. photorespiration. Overall, the two-leaf approach well overcomes some external effects (e.g. sun-target-view geometry) that interfere with PRI signals.

Spatial Statistical Data Fusion for Remote Sensing Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Hai

2010-01-01

Data fusion is the process of combining information from heterogeneous sources into a single composite picture of the relevant process, such that the composite picture is generally more accurate and complete than that derived from any single source alone. Data collection is often incomplete, sparse, and yields incompatible information. Fusion techniques can make optimal use of such data. When investment in data collection is high, fusion gives the best return. Our study uses data from two satellites: (1) Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), (2) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

Impacts of including forest understory brightness and foliage clumping information from multiangular measurements on leaf area index mapping over North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisek, Jan; Chen, Jing M.; Alikas, Krista; Deng, Feng

2010-09-01

A new leaf area index (LAI) data set in 10 day intervals with consideration of the understory reflectance and foliage clumping effects over North America for 1 year is developed. The data set brings effectively together measurements from multiple sensors with complementary capabilities (SPOT-VEGETATION, Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer, POLDER). First, the temporal consistency analysis indicated the new product is on par with other available LAI data sets currently used by the community. Second, with the removal of the background (understory in forests, moss, litter, and soil) effect on the forest overstory LAI retrieval, slightly different LAI reductions were found between needleleaf and broadleaf forests. This is caused by the more clumped nature of needleleaf forests, especially at higher LAI values, which allows more light to penetrate through the overstory canopy, making the understory more visible for equal LAI as compared to broadleaf forests. This is found over a representative set of 105 CEOS Benchmark Land Multisite Analysis and Intercomparison of Products sites in North America used for indirect validation. Third, the data set was directly validated and compared with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Collection 5 LAI product using results from the BigFoot project for available forest test sites. This study demonstrates that the fusion of data inputs between multiple sensors can indeed lead to improved products and that multiangle remote sensing can help us to address effectively the issues (separating the signal from the understory and overstory, foliage clumping) that could not be solved via the means of the conventional mono-angle remote sensing.

Eyjafjallajokull Volcano Plume Particle-Type Characterization from Space-Based Multi-angle Imaging

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kahn, Ralph A.; Limbacher, James

2012-01-01

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Research Aerosol algorithm makes it possible to study individual aerosol plumes in considerable detail. From the MISR data for two optically thick, near-source plumes from the spring 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallaj kull volcano, we map aerosol optical depth (AOD) gradients and changing aerosol particle types with this algorithm; several days downwind, we identify the occurrence of volcanic ash particles and retrieve AOD, demonstrating the extent and the limits of ash detection and mapping capability with the multi-angle, multi-spectral imaging data. Retrieved volcanic plume AOD and particle microphysical properties are distinct from background values near-source, as well as for overwater cases several days downwind. The results also provide some indication that as they evolve, plume particles brighten, and average particle size decreases. Such detailed mapping offers context for suborbital plume observations having much more limited sampling. The MISR Standard aerosol product identified similar trends in plume properties as the Research algorithm, though with much smaller differences compared to background, and it does not resolve plume structure. Better optical analogs of non-spherical volcanic ash, and coincident suborbital data to validate the satellite retrieval results, are the factors most important for further advancing the remote sensing of volcanic ash plumes from space.

Characterizing the solar reflection from wildfire smoke plumes using airborne multiangle measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatebe, C. K.; Varnai, T.; Gautam, R.; Poudyal, R.; Singh, M. K.

2016-12-01

To help better understand forest fire smoke plumes, this study examines sunlight reflected from plumes that were observed over Canada during the ARCTAS campaign in summer 2008. In particular, the study analyzes multiangle and multispectral measurements of smoke scattering by the airborne Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR). In combination with other in-situ and remote sensing information and radiation modeling, CAR data is used for characterizing the radiative properties and radiative impact of smoke particles—which inherently depend on smoke particle properties that influence air quality. In addition to estimating the amount of reflected and absorbed sunlight, the work includes using CAR data to create spectral and broadband top-of-atmosphere angular distribution models (ADMs) of solar radiation reflected by smoke plumes, and examining the sensitivity of such angular models to scene parameters. Overall, the results help better understand the radiative properties and radiative effects of smoke particles, and are anticipated to help better interpret satellite data on smoke plumes.

Rice Crop Monitoring Using Microwave and Optical Remotely Sensed Image Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suga, Y.; Konishi, T.; Takeuchi, S.; Kitano, Y.; Ito, S.

Hiroshima Institute of Technology HIT is operating the direct down-links of microwave and optical satellite data in Japan This study focuses on the validation for rice crop monitoring using microwave and optical remotely sensed image data acquired by satellites referring to ground truth data such as height of crop ratio of crop vegetation cover and leaf area index in the test sites of Japan ENVISAT-1 ASAR data has a capability to capture regularly and to monitor during the rice growing cycle by alternating cross polarization mode images However ASAR data is influenced by several parameters such as landcover structure direction and alignment of rice crop fields in the test sites In this study the validation was carried out combined with microwave and optical satellite image data and ground truth data regarding rice crop fields to investigate the above parameters Multi-temporal multi-direction descending and ascending and multi-angle ASAR alternating cross polarization mode images were used to investigate rice crop growing cycle LANDSAT data were used to detect landcover structure direction and alignment of rice crop fields corresponding to the backscatter of ASAR As the result of this study it was indicated that rice crop growth can be precisely monitored using multiple remotely sensed data and ground truth data considering with spatial spectral temporal and radiometric resolutions

Investigating Bidirectional Reflectance in the Los Angeles Megacity Using CLARS Multiangle and Hyperspectral Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Z. C.; Natraj, V.; Pongetti, T.; Shia, R. L.; Sander, S. P.; Yung, Y. L.

2017-12-01

The surface reflectance is a key ingredient in the remote sensing of surface and atmospheric properties from space. The determination of atmospheric composition, including greenhouse gas (GHG) and aerosol concentrations, from reflected sunlight requires accurate knowledge of the contribution from the underlying surface. Over megacity areas, such as the Los Angeles (LA) basin, which are major sources of GHGs and anthropogenic aerosols, the quantification of surface reflectance is challenging due to the associated complex land use types. In this study, we investigate the bidirectional reflectance in the Los Angeles megacity area using multiangle and hyperspectral radiance measurements from the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS). The CLARS facility is located near the top of Mt. Wilson, at an altitude of 1670 m a.s.l., overlooking the LA megacity area with an FTS operating since 2011 to continuously monitor the GHGs and near-surface aerosols in the basin. The CLARS-FTS offers continuous high-resolution spectral measurements in the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared spectral regions. The CLARS measurements mimic the off-nadir viewing of a low-Earth orbiting instrument, such as GOSAT and OCO-2, but with daily viewing capability. Eight surface targets with different land use types, including urban parks, industrial and residential areas, are selected in this study. The surface reflectance for specific solar incident and viewing angles is calculated by dividing, for non-absorbing spectral channels on clear days (such that gas and aerosol extinction can be ignored), the observed radiance reflected from surface targets by the observed irradiance. The non-linear Rahman-Pinty-Verstraete (RPV) model is used to model the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) by fitting the multiangle and hyperspectral measurements. By evaluating the retrieved RPV parameters, we find that the RPV model provides a good representation of the BRDF in the LA megacity area. The fitted RPV parameters and their dependence on wavelength provides quantification of BRDF and potentially contributes towards reducing uncertainties in retrievals of GHGs and aerosols in megacity from space.

Multi-Sensor Approach for Assessing the Taiga-Tundra Boundary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ranson, K. J.; Sun, G.; Kharuk, V. I.; Kovacs, K.

2003-01-01

Monitoring the dynamics of the tundra-taiga boundary is critical for our understanding of the causes and consequences of the changes in this area. Because of its inaccessibility, remote sensing data will play an important role. In this study we examined the use of several remote sensing techniques for identifying the existing tundra-taiga ecotone. These include Landsat, MISR and RADARSAT data. High-resolution IKONOS images were used for local ground truth. It was found that on Landsat ETM+ summer images, reflectance from tundra and taiga at band 4 (NIR) is similar, but different at other bands such as red, and MIR bands. When the incidence angle is small, C-band HH-pol backscattering coefficients from both tundra and taiga are relatively high. The backscattering from tundra targets decreases faster than taiga targets when the incidence angle increases, because the tundra targets look smoother than taiga. Because of the shading effect of the vegetation, the MISR data, both multi-spectral data at nadir looking and multi-angle data at red and NIR bands, clearly show the transition zone.

Advances in remote sensing of forest background reflectance with MODIS BRDF data across Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisek, Jan; Alikas, Krista; Lukeš, Petr; Lundin, Lars; Kobler, Johannes; Santos-Reis, Margarida; Chen, Jing

2017-04-01

Spatial and temporal patterns of forest background (understory) reflectance are crucial for retrieving biophysical parameters of forest canopies (overstory) and subsequently for ecosystem modeling. However, systematic reflectance data covering different site types are almost missing. This presentation will focus on the validation of background reflectance retrievals using MODIS bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) data against in-situ understory reflectance measurements covering a diverse set of long-term ecological research (LTER) sites distributed along a wide latitudinal and elevational gradient across Europe: protected coniferous blueberry forest in Sweden, karst forest system in Austria, floodplain broadleaf forest and coniferous forest in the Czech Republic, and Mediterranean agro-sylvo-pastoral woodlands in Portugal. The multi-angle remote sensing data-based methodology was originally developed for the forest background signal retrieval in a boreal region. Here its performance will be tested across diverse forest conditions and moments during the growing season, which is a necessary step before conducting extensive mapping over forested areas. The results can be also used as an input for improved modeling of local carbon and energy fluxes.

Evaluation of 3-D Air Quality System Remotely-Sensed Aerosol Optical Depth for the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan Air Shed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weber, S. A.; Engel-Cox, J. A.; Hoff, R. M.; Prados, A.; Zhang, H.

2008-12-01

Integrating satellite- and ground-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations with surface total fine particulate (PM2.5) and sulfate concentrations allows for a more comprehensive understanding of local- and urban-scale air quality. This study evaluates the utility of integrated databases being developed for NOAA and EPA through the 3D-AQS project by examining the relationship between remotely-sensed AOD and PM2.5 concentrations for each platform for the summer of 2004 and the entire year of 2005. We compare results for the Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC metropolitan air shed, incorporating AOD products from the Terra and GOES-12 satellites, AERONET sunphotometer, and ground-based lidar, and PM2.5 concentrations from five surface monitoring sites. The satellite-derived products include AOD from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), as well as the GOES Aerosol/Smoke Product (GASP). The vertical profile of lidar backscatter is used to retrieve the planetary boundary layer (PBL) height in an attempt to capture only that fraction of the AOD arising from near surface aerosols. Adjusting the AOD data using platform- and season-specific ratios, calculated using the parameters of the regression equations, for two case studies resulted in a more accurate representation of surface PM2.5 concentrations when compared to a constant ratio that is currently being used in the NOAA IDEA product. This work demonstrates that quantitative relationships between remotely-sensed and in-situ aerosol observations in an integrated database can be computed and applied to improve the use of remotely-sensed observations for estimating surface concentrations.

Utility of BRDF Models for Estimating Optimal View Angles in Classification of Remotely Sensed Images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Valdez, P. F.; Donohoe, G. W.

1997-01-01

Statistical classification of remotely sensed images attempts to discriminate between surface cover types on the basis of the spectral response recorded by a sensor. It is well known that surfaces reflect incident radiation as a function of wavelength producing a spectral signature specific to the material under investigation. Multispectral and hyperspectral sensors sample the spectral response over tens and even hundreds of wavelength bands to capture the variation of spectral response with wavelength. Classification algorithms then exploit these differences in spectral response to distinguish between materials of interest. Sensors of this type, however, collect detailed spectral information from one direction (usually nadir); consequently, do not consider the directional nature of reflectance potentially detectable at different sensor view angles. Improvements in sensor technology have resulted in remote sensing platforms capable of detecting reflected energy across wavelengths (spectral signatures) and from multiple view angles (angular signatures) in the fore and aft directions. Sensors of this type include: the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), the multiangle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR), and the airborne solid-state array spectroradiometer (ASAS). A goal of this paper, then, is to explore the utility of Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) models in the selection of optimal view angles for the classification of remotely sensed images by employing a strategy of searching for the maximum difference between surface BRDFs. After a brief discussion of directional reflect ante in Section 2, attention is directed to the Beard-Maxwell BRDF model and its use in predicting the bidirectional reflectance of a surface. The selection of optimal viewing angles is addressed in Section 3, followed by conclusions and future work in Section 4.

Identifying Communities of Vulnerability: Using NASA's Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer to Enhance Public Health Tracking of Particle Exposure in Los Angeles - An Empirical Approach to Examining L1 MISR Radiance Measurements and PM2.5 Relationships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laygo, K.; Kontgis, C.; Hollins, A.

2011-12-01

Los Angeles is consistently ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the United States, exhibiting high levels of both ozone and particulate matter. Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 microns or less, or PM2.5, is of special concern for health professionals, since it is fine enough to be inhaled into the lungs. Additionally, studies show that it is associated with respiratory disease risks such as asthma. Remote sensing technologies have the potential to be useful in air pollution health studies, but have so far been sparsely implemented. Satellite-derived measurements would be especially useful in air pollution studies, since the concentrations of interest can change by orders of magnitude over small distances. However, with current remote sensing technologies, it is difficult to predict pollution levels within small areas. This study utilizes remote sensing information in combination with a ground-based network of data to create a more comprehensive approach to tracking public health concerns. According to the 2007 NRC Decadal Survey, there is a continued need for research that establishes the relationship between remotely sensed data and predicting public health risks related to environmental factors. For this study, we conducted linear regression models using Multi-Angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) L1 radiance data and ground-based PM2.5 measurements from 13 EPA stations within the Los Angeles Metropolitan Statistical Area. MISR senses in 4 bands (visible blue, green, red and near infrared) and 9 separate angles, producing a total of 36 bands. Using all 36 bands, we generated models for each station individually and for all stations combined. Two time periods were assessed: June, July and August from 2000 - 2009, and all months from 2009. Summer months were looked at specifically, since pollution levels tend to be higher than other parts of the year due to strong inversion layers and low rainfall levels. Generally, the models performed well, suggesting that MISR radiances are able to accurately predict levels of PM2.5. For 2009 data, all models had R-squared values over 0.93. For summer month data, the model R-square values were markedly lower and more varied than for the 2009 data, ranging from 0.33 - 0.92. When looking at the 2009 data, non-summer month models performed better than did summer-month models. A brief analysis of temperature data indicates that temperature and deviation from the norm are not associated with model predictability. All 36 MISR channels were plotted against their weights for each model, but no band combination obviously weighed more than other bands. Further research needs to be conducted to understand why models were able to predict 2009 PM2.5 levels, but were unable to accurately fit summer data from 2000 - 2009.

Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) Investigation of Airborne Particle Health Impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diner, D. J.

2016-12-01

Airborne particulate matter (PM) is a well-known cause of heart disease, cardiovascular and respiratory illness, low birth weight, and lung cancer. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study ranks PM as a major environmental risk factor worldwide. Global maps of PM2.5concentrations derived from satellite instruments, including MISR and MODIS, have provided key contributions to the GBD and many other health-related investigations. Although it is well established that PM exposure increases the risks of mortality and morbidity, our understanding of the relative toxicity of specific PM types is relatively poor. To address this, the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) investigation was proposed to NASA's third Earth Venture Instrument (EVI-3) solicitation. The satellite instrument that is part of the investigation is a multiangle, multispectral, and polarimetric camera system based on the first and second generation Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imagers, AirMSPI and AirMSPI-2. MAIA was selected for funding in March 2016. Estimates of the abundances of different aerosol types from the WRF-Chem model will be combined with MAIA instrument data. Geostatistical models derived from collocated surface and MAIA retrievals will then be used to relate retrieved fractional column aerosol optical depths to near-surface concentrations of major PM constituents, including sulfate, nitrate, organic carbon, black carbon, and dust. Epidemiological analyses of geocoded birth, death, and hospital records will be used to associate exposure to PM types with adverse health outcomes. MAIA launch is planned for early in the next decade. The MAIA instrument incorporates a pair of cameras on a two-axis gimbal to provide regional multiangle observations of selected, globally distributed target areas. Primary Target Areas (PTAs) on five continents are chosen to include major population centers covering a range of PM concentrations and particle types, surface-based aerosol sunphotometers, PM size discrimination and chemical speciation monitors, and access to geocoded health datasets. The MAIA investigation brings together an international team of researchers and policy specialists with expertise in remote sensing, aerosol science, air quality, epidemiology, and public health.

Enabling Technologies for High-accuracy Multiangle Spectropolarimetric Imaging from Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diner, David J.; Macenka, Steven A.; Seshndri, Suresh; Bruce, Carl E; Jau, Bruno; Chipman, Russell A.; Cairns, Brian; Christoph, Keller; Foo, Leslie D.

2004-01-01

Satellite remote sensing plays a major role in measuring the optical and radiative properties, environmental impact, and spatial and temporal distribution of tropospheric aerosols. In this paper, we envision a new generation of spaceborne imager that integrates the unique strengths of multispectral, multiangle, and polarimetric approaches, thereby achieving better accuracies in aerosol optical depth and particle properties than can be achieved using any one method by itself. Design goals include spectral coverage from the near-UV to the shortwave infrared; global coverage within a few days; intensity and polarimetric imaging simultaneously at multiple view angles; kilometer to sub-kilometer spatial resolution; and measurement of the degree of linear polarization for a subset of the spectral complement with an uncertainty of 0.5% or less. The latter requirement is technically the most challenging. In particular, an approach for dealing with inter-detector gain variations is essential to avoid false polarization signals. We propose using rapid modulation of the input polarization state to overcome this problem, using a high-speed variable retarder in the camera design. Technologies for rapid retardance modulation include mechanically rotating retarders, liquid crystals, and photoelastic modulators (PEMs). We conclude that the latter are the most suitable.

Registration of Laser Scanning Point Clouds: A Review.

PubMed

Cheng, Liang; Chen, Song; Liu, Xiaoqiang; Xu, Hao; Wu, Yang; Li, Manchun; Chen, Yanming

2018-05-21

The integration of multi-platform, multi-angle, and multi-temporal LiDAR data has become important for geospatial data applications. This paper presents a comprehensive review of LiDAR data registration in the fields of photogrammetry and remote sensing. At present, a coarse-to-fine registration strategy is commonly used for LiDAR point clouds registration. The coarse registration method is first used to achieve a good initial position, based on which registration is then refined utilizing the fine registration method. According to the coarse-to-fine framework, this paper reviews current registration methods and their methodologies, and identifies important differences between them. The lack of standard data and unified evaluation systems is identified as a factor limiting objective comparison of different methods. The paper also describes the most commonly-used point cloud registration error analysis methods. Finally, avenues for future work on LiDAR data registration in terms of applications, data, and technology are discussed. In particular, there is a need to address registration of multi-angle and multi-scale data from various newly available types of LiDAR hardware, which will play an important role in diverse applications such as forest resource surveys, urban energy use, cultural heritage protection, and unmanned vehicles.

Registration of Laser Scanning Point Clouds: A Review

PubMed Central

Cheng, Liang; Chen, Song; Xu, Hao; Wu, Yang; Li, Manchun

2018-01-01

The integration of multi-platform, multi-angle, and multi-temporal LiDAR data has become important for geospatial data applications. This paper presents a comprehensive review of LiDAR data registration in the fields of photogrammetry and remote sensing. At present, a coarse-to-fine registration strategy is commonly used for LiDAR point clouds registration. The coarse registration method is first used to achieve a good initial position, based on which registration is then refined utilizing the fine registration method. According to the coarse-to-fine framework, this paper reviews current registration methods and their methodologies, and identifies important differences between them. The lack of standard data and unified evaluation systems is identified as a factor limiting objective comparison of different methods. The paper also describes the most commonly-used point cloud registration error analysis methods. Finally, avenues for future work on LiDAR data registration in terms of applications, data, and technology are discussed. In particular, there is a need to address registration of multi-angle and multi-scale data from various newly available types of LiDAR hardware, which will play an important role in diverse applications such as forest resource surveys, urban energy use, cultural heritage protection, and unmanned vehicles. PMID:29883397

On-Orbit Cross-Calibration of AM Satellite Remote Sensing Instruments using the Moon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butler, James J.; Kieffer, Hugh H.; Barnes, Robert A.; Stone, Thomas C.

2003-01-01

On April 14,2003, three Earth remote sensing spacecraft were maneuvered enabling six satellite instruments operating in the visible through shortwave infrared wavelength region to view the Moon for purposes of on-orbit cross-calibration. These instruments included the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection (ASTER) radiometer on the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra spacecraft, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) and Hyperion instrument on Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft, and the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) on the SeaStar spacecraft. Observations of the Moon were compared using a spectral photometric mode for lunar irradiance developed by the Robotic Lunar Observatory (ROLO) project located at the United States Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona. The ROLO model effectively accounts for variations in lunar irradiance corresponding to lunar phase and libration angles, allowing intercomparison of observations made by instruments on different spacecraft under different time and location conditions. The spacecraft maneuvers necessary to view the Moon are briefly described and results of using the lunar irradiance model in comparing the radiometric calibration scales of the six satellite instruments are presented here.

View angle effects on relationships between leaf area index in wheat and vegetation indices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, H.; Li, W.; Huang, W.; Niu, Z.

2016-12-01

The effects of plant types and view angles on the canopy-reflected spectrum can not be ignored in the estimation of leaf area index (LAI) using remote sensing vegetation indices. While vegetation indices derived from nadir-viewing remote sensors are insufficient in leaf area index (LAI) estimation because of its misinterpretation of structural characteristecs, vegetation indices derived from multi-angular remote sensors have potential to improve detection of LAI. However, view angle effects on relationships between these indices and LAI for low standing crops (i.e. wheat) has not been fully evaluated and thus limits them to applied for consistent and accurate monitoring of vegetation. View angles effects of two types of winter wheat (wheat 411, erectophile; and wheat 9507, planophile) on relationship between LAI and spectral reflectance are assessed and compared in this study. An evaluation is conducted with in-situ measurements of LAI and bidirectional reflectance in the principal plane from -60° (back-scattering direction ) ot 60° (forward scattering direction) in the growth cycle of winter wheat. A variety of vegetation indices (VIs) published are calculated by BRDF. Additionally, all combinations of the bands are used in order to calculate Normalized difference Spectral Indices (NDSI) and Simple Subtraction Indices (SSI). The performance of the above indices along with raw reflectance and reflectance derivatives on LAI estimation are examined based on a linearity comparison. The results will be helpful in further developing multi-angle remote sensing models for accurate LAI evaluation.

MISR at 15: Multiple Perspectives on Our Changing Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diner, D. J.; Ackerman, T. P.; Braverman, A. J.; Bruegge, C. J.; Chopping, M. J.; Clothiaux, E. E.; Davies, R.; Di Girolamo, L.; Garay, M. J.; Jovanovic, V. M.; Kahn, R. A.; Kalashnikova, O.; Knyazikhin, Y.; Liu, Y.; Marchand, R.; Martonchik, J. V.; Muller, J. P.; Nolin, A. W.; Pinty, B.; Verstraete, M. M.; Wu, D. L.

2014-12-01

Launched aboard NASA's Terra satellite in December 1999, the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument has opened new vistas in remote sensing of our home planet. Its 9 pushbroom cameras provide as many view angles ranging from 70 degrees forward to 70 degrees backward along Terra's flight track, in four visible and near-infrared spectral bands. MISR's well-calibrated, accurately co-registered, and moderately high spatial resolution radiance images have been coupled with novel data processing algorithms to mine the information content of angular reflectance anisotropy and multi-camera stereophotogrammetry, enabling new perspectives on the 3-D structure and dynamics of Earth's atmosphere and surface in support of climate and environmental research. Beginning with "first light" in February 2000, the nearly 15-year (and counting) MISR observational record provides an unprecedented data set with applications to multiple disciplines, documenting regional, global, short-term, and long-term changes in aerosol optical depths, aerosol type, near-surface particulate pollution, spectral top-of-atmosphere and surface albedos, aerosol plume-top and cloud-top heights, height-resolved cloud fractions, atmospheric motion vectors, and the structure of vegetated and ice-covered terrains. Recent computational advances include aerosol retrievals at finer spatial resolution than previously possible, and production of near-real time tropospheric winds with a latency of less than 3 hours, making possible for the first time the assimilation of MISR data into weather forecast models. In addition, recent algorithmic and technological developments provide the means of using and acquiring multi-angular data in new ways, such as the application of optical tomography to map 3-D atmospheric structure; building smaller multi-angle instruments in the future; and extending the multi-angular imaging methodology to the ultraviolet, shortwave infrared, and polarimetric realms. Such advances promise further enhancements to the observational power of the remote sensing approaches that MISR has pioneered.

Sensitivity of Multiangle, Multispectral Polarimetric Remote Sensing Over Open Oceans to Water-Leaving Radiance: Analyses of RSP Data Acquired During the MILAGRO Campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chowdhary, Jacek; Cairns, Brian; Waquet, Fabien; Knobelspiesse, Kirk; Ottaviani, Matteo; Redemann, Jens; Travis, Larry; Mishchenko, Michael

2012-01-01

For remote sensing of aerosol over the ocean, there is a contribution from light scattered underwater. The brightness and spectrum of this light depends on the biomass content of the ocean, such that variations in the color of the ocean can be observed even from space. Rayleigh scattering by pure sea water, and Rayleigh-Gans type scattering by plankton, causes this light to be polarized with a distinctive angular distribution. To study the contribution of this underwater light polarization to multiangle, multispectral observations of polarized reflectance over ocean, we previously developed a hydrosol model for use in underwater light scattering computations that produces realistic variations of the ocean color and the underwater light polarization signature of pure sea water. In this work we review this hydrosol model, include a correction for the spectrum of the particulate scattering coefficient and backscattering efficiency, and discuss its sensitivity to variations in colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and in the scattering function of marine particulates. We then apply this model to measurements of total and polarized reflectance that were acquired over open ocean during the MILAGRO field campaign by the airborne Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). Analyses show that our hydrosol model faithfully reproduces the water-leaving contributions to RSP reflectance, and that the sensitivity of these contributions to Chlorophyll a concentration [Chl] in the ocean varies with the azimuth, height, and wavelength of observations. We also show that the impact of variations in CDOM on the polarized reflectance observed by the RSP at low altitude is comparable to or much less than the standard error of this reflectance whereas their effects in total reflectance may be substantial (i.e. up to >30%). Finally, we extend our study of polarized reflectance variations with [Chl] and CDOM to include results for simulated spaceborne observations.

WorldView-2 and the evolution of the DigitalGlobe remote sensing satellite constellation: introductory paper for the special session on WorldView-2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Neal T.; Marchisio, Giovanni B.

2012-06-01

Over the last decade DigitalGlobe (DG) has built and launched a series of remote sensing satellites with steadily increasing capabilities: QuickBird, WorldView-1 (WV-1), and WorldView-2 (WV-2). Today, this constellation acquires over 2.5 million km2 of imagery on a daily basis. This paper presents the configuration and performance capabilities of each of these satellites, with emphasis on the unique spatial and spectral capabilities of WV-2. WV-2 employs high-precision star tracker and inertial measurement units to achieve a geolocation accuracy of 5 m Circular Error, 90% confidence (CE90). The native resolution of WV-2 is 0.5 m GSD in the panchromatic band and 2 m GSD in 8 multispectral bands. Four of the multispectral bands match those of the Landsat series of satellites; four new bands enable novel and expanded applications. We are rapidly establishing and refreshing a global database of very high resolution (VHR) 8-band multispectral imagery. Control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) on both WV-1 and WV-2 improve collection capacity and provide the agility to capture multi-angle sequences in rapid succession. These capabilities result in a rich combination of image features that can be exploited to develop enhanced monitoring solutions. Algorithms for interpretation and analysis can leverage: 1) broader and more continuous spectral coverage at 2 m resolution; 2) textural and morphological information from the 0.5 m panchromatic band; 3) ancillary information from stereo and multi-angle collects, including high precision digital elevation models; 4) frequent revisits and time-series collects; and 5) the global reference image archives. We introduce the topic of creative fusion of image attributes, as this provides a unifying theme for many of the papers in this WV-2 Special Session.

Ground based remote sensing retrievals and observations of snowfall in the Telemark region of Norway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pettersen, C.; L'Ecuyer, T. S.; Wood, N.; Cooper, S.; Wolff, M. A.; Petersen, W. A.; Bliven, L. F.; Tushaus, S. A.

2017-12-01

Snowfall can be broadly categorized into deep and shallow events, based on the vertical extent of the frozen precipitation in the column. The two categories are driven by different thermodynamic and physical mechanisms in the atmosphere and surface. Though satellites can observe and recognize these patterns in snowfall, these measurements are limited - particularly in cases of shallow and light precipitation and over complex terrain. By enhancing satellite measurements with ground-based instrumentation, whether with limited-term field campaigns or long-term strategic sites, we can further our understanding and assumptions about different snowfall modes. We present data collected in a recently deployed ground suite of instruments based in Norway. The Meteorological Institute of Norway has a snow measurement suite in Haukeliseter located in the orographically complex Telemark region. This suite consists of several snow accumulation instruments as well as meteorological data (temperature, dew point, wind speeds and directions). A joint project between University of Wisconsin and University of Utah augmented this suite with a 24 GHz radar MicroRain Radar (MRR), a NASA Particle Imaging Package (PIP), and a Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera (MASC). Preliminary data from this campaign are presented along with coincident overpasses from the GPM satellite. We compare the ground-based and spaceborne remotely sensed estimates of snowfall with snow gauge observations from the Haukeliseter site. Finally, we discuss how particle size distribution and fall velocity observations from the PIP and MASC can be used to improve remotely-sensed snowfall retrievals as a function of environmental conditions at Haukeliseter.

FlySPEX: a flexible multi-angle spectropolarimetric sensing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snik, Frans; Keller, Christoph U.; Wijnen, Merijn; Peters, Hubert; Derks, Roy; Smulders, Edwin

2016-05-01

Accurate multi-angle spectropolarimetry permits the detailed and unambiguous characterization of a wide range of objects. Science cases and commercial applications include atmospheric aerosol studies, biomedical sensing, and food quality control. We introduce the FlySPEX spectropolarimetric fiber-head that constitutes the essential building block of a novel multi-angle sensing system. A combination of miniaturized standard polarization optics inside every fiber-head encodes the full linear polarization information as a spectral modulation of the light that enters two regular optical fibers. By orienting many FlySPEX fiber-heads in any desired set of directions, a fiber bundle contains the complete instantaneous information on polarization as a function of wavelength and as a function of the set of viewing directions. This information is to be recorded by one or several multi-fiber spectrometers. Not only is this system flexible in the amount of viewing directions and their configuration, it also permits multiplexing different wavelength ranges and spectral resolutions by implementing different spectrometers. We present the design and prototyping for a FlySPEX fiber-head that is optimized for both polarimetric accuracy and commercial series production. We integrate the polarimetric calibration of each FlySPEX fiber-head in the manufacturing process.

Evaluation of applicability of high-resolution multiangle imaging photo-polarimetric observations for aerosol atmospheric correction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalashnikova, Olga; Garay, Michael; Xu, Feng; Diner, David; Seidel, Felix

2016-07-01

Multiangle spectro-polarimetric measurements have been advocated as an additional tool for better understanding and quantifying the aerosol properties needed for atmospheric correction for ocean color retrievals. The central concern of this work is the assessment of the effects of absorbing aerosol properties on remote sensing reflectance measurement uncertainty caused by neglecting UV-enhanced absorption of carbonaceous particles and by not accounting for dust nonsphericity. In addition, we evaluate the polarimetric sensitivity of absorbing aerosol properties in light of measurement uncertainties achievable for the next generation of multi-angle polarimetric imaging instruments, and demonstrate advantages and disadvantages of wavelength selection in the UV/VNIR range. In this work a vector Markov Chain radiative transfer code including bio-optical models was used to quantitatively evaluate in water leaving radiances between atmospheres containing realistic UV-enhanced and non-spherical aerosols and the SEADAS carbonaceous and dust-like aerosol models. The phase matrices for the spherical smoke particles were calculated using a standard Mie code, while those for non-spherical dust particles were calculated using the numerical approach developed for modeling dust for the AERONET network of ground-based sunphotometers. As a next step, we have developed a retrieval code that employs a coupled Markov Chain (MC) and adding/doubling radiative transfer method for joint retrieval of aerosol properties and water leaving radiance from Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager-1 (AirMSPI-1) polarimetric observations. The AirMSPI-1 instrument has been flying aboard the NASA ER-2 high altitude aircraft since October 2010. AirMSPI typically acquires observations of a target area at 9 view angles between ±67° at 10 m resolution. AirMSPI spectral channels are centered at 355, 380, 445, 470, 555, 660, and 865 nm, with 470, 660, and 865 reporting linear polarization. We tested prototype retrievals by comparing the retrieved aerosol concentration, size distribution, water-leaving radiance, and chlorophyll concentrations from Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager-1 (AirMSPI-1) observations to values reported by the USC SeaPRISM AERONET-OC site off the coast of California. The retrieval was then applied to a variety of costal regions in California to evaluate variability in the water-leaving radiance under different atmospheric conditions. We will present results, and will discuss algorithm sensitivity and potential applications for future space-borne coastal monitoring.

Advances in Satellite Remote Sensing of Particulate Air Pollution: From MISR to MAIA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diner, D. J.; Burke, K.; Xu, F.; Garay, M. J.; Kalashnikova, O. V.; Liu, Y.; Meng, X.; Wang, J.; Martin, R.; Ostro, B.

2017-12-01

Airborne particulate matter (PM) is a well-known cause of cardiovascular and respiratory disease. To estimate human exposure to PM pollution, satellite instruments such as the Terra Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) have been used in conjunction with surface monitors to map near-surface PM concentrations. The relative toxicity of different size and compositional mixtures of PM is not well understood. To address this, we are developing the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) investigation. The satellite instrument extends MISR's multiangular visible and near-infrared (VNIR) spectral coverage to 14 bands in the ultraviolet, VNIR, and shortwave IR; three of the bands are polarimetric to enhance sensitivity to aerosol size and composition. To constrain the retrievals, the observations will be combined with data from surface monitors and the WRF-Chem and GEOS-Chem chemical transport models. Existing surface PM speciation monitors will be supplemented by adding new stations to the Surface PARTiculate mAtter Network (SPARTAN). Unlike MISR, MAIA is a targeting instrument. Primary areas of interest include metropolitan areas in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, and East Asia. PM retrieval algorithms are being developed using data from MISR and the high-altitude Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI). Epidemiologists on the MAIA science team will use the derived PM data products and birth, death, and hospital records to investigate adverse health impacts of different types of airborne particulates. MAIA's earliest possible launch date is mid-2020, making it possible for the data to be complemented by global observations from Terra as well as high temporal resolution atmospheric chemistry measurements from TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution), GEMS (Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer), and Sentinel-4.

A Cloud Hydrology and Albedo Synthesis Mission (CHASM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davies, Roger

2004-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the Cloud Hydrology and Albedo Synthesis Mission (CHASM). The interaction of clouds with radiation and the hydrological cycle represents a huge uncertainty in our understanding of climate science and the modeling of climate system feedbacks. Despite the recognized need for a unified treatment of cloud processes, the present global average values of remotely sensed cloud liquid water and theoretically accepted values used for cloud physics and precipitation modeling differ by an order of magnitude. This is due in part to sampling and saturation effects, as well as to threedimensional cloud structure effects. In recent work with the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on Terra, we have gained new insights as to how the remote sensing approach could be significantly improved using a new instrument that combines passive optical (visible and near infrared) and microwave measurements, both as pushbroom scanners with multiple viewing angles, to the degree that measurements of liquid water path over deep convective clouds over land also become possible. This instrument would also have the ability of measuring height-resolved cloud-tracked winds using a hyper stereo retrieval technique. Deployment into a precessing low earth orbit would be optimal for measuring diurnal cloud activity. We have explored an instrument design concept for this that looks promising if we can establish partnerships that provide launch and bus capabilities.

Assessing the Tundra-taiga Boundary with Multi-Sensor Satellite Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ranson, K. J.; Sun, G.; Kharuk, V. I.; Kovacs, K.

2004-01-01

Monitoring the dynamics of the circumpolar boreal forest (taiga) and Arctic tundra boundary is important for understanding the causes and consequences of changes observed in these areas. This ecotone, the world's largest, stretches for over 13,400 km and marks the transition between the northern limits of forests and the southern margin of the tundra. Because of the inaccessibility and large extent of this zone, remote sensing data can play an important role for mapping the characteristics and monitoring the dynamics. Basic understanding of the capabilities of existing space borne instruments for these purposes is required. In this study we examined the use of several remote sensing techniques for identifying the existing tundra- taiga ecotone. These include Landsat-7, MISR, MODIS and RADARSAT data. Historical cover maps, recent forest stand measurements and high-resolution IKONOS images were used for local ground truth. It was found that a tundra-taiga transitional area can be characterized using multi- spectral Landsat ETM+ summer images, multi-angle MISR red band reflectance images, RADARSAT images with larger incidence angle, or multi-temporal and multi-spectral MODIS data. Because of different resolutions and spectral regions covered, the transition zone maps derived from different data types were not identical, but the general patterns were consistent.

Adjoint Methods for Adjusting Three-Dimensional Atmosphere and Surface Properties to Fit Multi-Angle Multi-Pixel Polarimetric Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, William G.; Cairns, Brian; Bal, Guillaume

2014-01-01

This paper derives an efficient procedure for using the three-dimensional (3D) vector radiative transfer equation (VRTE) to adjust atmosphere and surface properties and improve their fit with multi-angle/multi-pixel radiometric and polarimetric measurements of scattered sunlight. The proposed adjoint method uses the 3D VRTE to compute the measurement misfit function and the adjoint 3D VRTE to compute its gradient with respect to all unknown parameters. In the remote sensing problems of interest, the scalar-valued misfit function quantifies agreement with data as a function of atmosphere and surface properties, and its gradient guides the search through this parameter space. Remote sensing of the atmosphere and surface in a three-dimensional region may require thousands of unknown parameters and millions of data points. Many approaches would require calls to the 3D VRTE solver in proportion to the number of unknown parameters or measurements. To avoid this issue of scale, we focus on computing the gradient of the misfit function as an alternative to the Jacobian of the measurement operator. The resulting adjoint method provides a way to adjust 3D atmosphere and surface properties with only two calls to the 3D VRTE solver for each spectral channel, regardless of the number of retrieval parameters, measurement view angles or pixels. This gives a procedure for adjusting atmosphere and surface parameters that will scale to the large problems of 3D remote sensing. For certain types of multi-angle/multi-pixel polarimetric measurements, this encourages the development of a new class of three-dimensional retrieval algorithms with more flexible parametrizations of spatial heterogeneity, less reliance on data screening procedures, and improved coverage in terms of the resolved physical processes in the Earth?s atmosphere.

Karymsky volcano eruptive plume properties based on MISR multi-angle imagery and the volcanological implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flower, Verity J. B.; Kahn, Ralph A.

2018-03-01

Space-based operational instruments are in unique positions to monitor volcanic activity globally, especially in remote locations or where suborbital observing conditions are hazardous. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) provides hyper-stereo imagery, from which the altitude and microphysical properties of suspended atmospheric aerosols can be derived. These capabilities are applied to plumes emitted at Karymsky volcano from 2000 to 2017. Observed plumes from Karymsky were emitted predominantly to an altitude of 2-4 km, with occasional events exceeding 6 km. MISR plume observations were most common when volcanic surface manifestations, such as lava flows, were identified by satellite-based thermal anomaly detection. The analyzed plumes predominantly contained large (1.28 µm effective radius), strongly absorbing particles indicative of ash-rich eruptions. Differences between the retrievals for Karymsky volcano's ash-rich plumes and the sulfur-rich plumes emitted during the 2014-2015 eruption of Holuhraun (Iceland) highlight the ability of MISR to distinguish particle types from such events. Observed plumes ranged from 30 to 220 km in length and were imaged at a spatial resolution of 1.1 km. Retrieved particle properties display evidence of downwind particle fallout, particle aggregation and chemical evolution. In addition, changes in plume properties retrieved from the remote-sensing observations over time are interpreted in terms of shifts in eruption dynamics within the volcano itself, corroborated to the extent possible with suborbital data. Plumes emitted at Karymsky prior to 2010 display mixed emissions of ash and sulfate particles. After 2010, all plumes contain consistent particle components, indicative of entering an ash-dominated regime. Post-2010 event timing, relative to eruption phase, was found to influence the optical properties of observed plume particles, with light absorption varying in a consistent sequence as each respective eruption phase progressed.

Karymsky volcano eruptive plume properties based on MISR multi-angle imagery, and volcanological implications.

PubMed

Flower, Verity J B; Kahn, Ralph A

2018-01-01

Space-based, operational instruments are in unique positions to monitor volcanic activity globally, especially in remote locations or where suborbital observing conditions are hazardous. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) provides hyper-stereo imagery, from which the altitude and microphysical properties of suspended atmospheric aerosols can be derived. These capabilities are applied to plumes emitted at Karymsky volcano from 2000 to 2017. Observed plumes from Karymsky were emitted predominantly to an altitude of 2-4 km, with occasional events exceeding 6 km. MISR plume observations were most common when volcanic surface manifestations, such as lava flows, were identified by satellite-based thermal anomaly detection. The analyzed plumes predominantly contained large (1.28 µm effective radius), strongly absorbing particles indicative of ash-rich eruptions. Differences between the retrievals for Karymsky volcano's ash-rich plumes and the sulfur-rich plumes emitted during the 2014-2015 eruption of Holuhraun (Iceland) highlight the ability of MISR to distinguish particle types from such events. Observed plumes ranged from 30 to 220 km in length, and were imaged at a spatial resolution of 1.1 km. Retrieved particle properties display evidence of downwind particle fallout, particle aggregation and chemical evolution. In addition, changes in plume properties retrieved from the remote-sensing observations over time are interpreted in terms of shifts in eruption dynamics within the volcano itself, corroborated to the extent possible with suborbital data. Plumes emitted at Karymsky prior to 2010 display mixed emissions of ash and sulfate particles. After 2010, all plumes contain consistent particle components, indicative of entering an ash-dominated regime. Post-2010 event timing, relative to eruption phase, was found to influence the optical properties of observed plume particles, with light-absorption varying in a consistent sequence as each respective eruption phase progressed.

Observing a Severe Dust Storm Event over China using Multiple Satellite Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Hui; Xue, Yong; Guang, Jie; Mei, Linlu

2013-04-01

A severe dust storm (SDS) event occurred from 19 to 21 March 2010 in China, originated in western China and Mongolia and propagated into eastern/southern China, affecting human's life in a large area. As reported by National Meteorological Center of CMA (China Meteorological Administration), 16 provinces (cities) of China were hit by the dust storm (Han et al., 2012). Satellites can provide global measurements of desert dust and have particular importance in remote areas where there is a lack of in situ measurements (Carboni et al., 2012). To observe a dust, it is necessary to estimate the spatial and temporal distributions of dust aerosols. An important metric in the characterisation of aerosol distribution is the aerosol optical depth (AOD) (Adhikary et al., 2008). Satellite aerosol retrievals have improved considerably in the last decade, and numerous satellite sensors and algorithms have been generated. Reliable retrievals of dust aerosol over land were made using POLarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectance instrument-POLDER (Deuze et al., 2001), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer-MODIS (Kaufman et al., 1997; Hsu et al., 2004), Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer-MISR (Martonchik et al., 1998), and Cloud-aerosol Lidar and infrared pathfinder satellite observations (CALIPSO). However, intercomparison exercises (Myhre et al., 2005) have revealed that discrepancies between satellite measurements are particularly large during events of heavy aerosol loading. The reason is that different AOD retrieval algorithms make use of different instrument characteristics to obtain retrievals over bright surfaces. For MISR, POLDER and MODIS instrument, the multi-angle approaches, the polarization measurements and single-view approaches were used to retrieval AOD respectively. Combining of multi-sensor AOD data can potentially create a more consistent, reliable and complete picture of the space-time evolution of dust storms (Ehlers, 1991). In order to make use of all useful satellite data to observe one severe dust procedure, multi-sensor and multi-algorithm AOD data were combined. In this paper, the satellite instruments considered are MISR, MODIS, POLDER and CALIPSO. In addition, air pollution index (API) data were used to validate the satellite AOD data. We chose the study region with a longitude range from 76°N to 136°N and a latitude range from 15°E to 60°E. Index Terms—aerosol optical depth, dust, satellite REFERENCES Adhikary, B., Kulkarni, S., Dallura A., Tang, Y., Chai, T., Leung, L. R., Qian, Y., Chung, C. E., Ramanathan,V. and Carmichael, G. R., 2008, A regional scale chemical transport modeling of Asian aerosols with data assimilation of AOD observations using optimal interpolation technique, Atmospheric Environment, 42(37), 8600-8615. Carboni, E., Thomas, G. E., Sayer, A. M., Siddans, R., Poulsen, C. A., Grainger, R. G., Ahn, C., Antoine, D., Bevan, S., Braak, R., Brindley, H., DeSouza-Machado, S., Deuz'e, J. L., Diner, D., Ducos, F., Grey, W., Hsu, C., Kalashnikova, O. V., Kahn, R., North, P. R. J., Salustro, C., Smith, A., Tanr'e, D., Torres, O., and Veihelmann, B., 2012, Intercomparison of desert dust optical depth from satellite measurements, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 5, 1973-2002. Deuze', J. L., Bre'on, F. M., Devaux, C., Goloub, Herman, M., Lafrance, B., Maignan, F., Marchand, A.,Nadal, F., Perry, G., and Tanre', D., 2001, Remote sensing of aerosols over land surfaces from POLDER-ADEOS-1 polarized measurements, Journal of Geophysical Research, 106(D5), 4913-4926. Ehlers, M., 1991, Multisensor image fusion techniques in remote sensing, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 46, 19-30. Han, X., Ge. C., Tao, J. H., Zhang, M. G., Zhang, R. J., 2012, Air Quality Modeling for a Strong Dust Event in East Asia in March 2010, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 12: 615-628. Hsu, N. C., Tsay, S. C., King, M. D. and Herman, J. R., 2004, Aerosol Properties over Bright-Reflecting Source Regions, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 42(3), 557-569. Martonchik, J. V., Diner, D. J., Kahn, R., Ackerman, T. P., Verstraete, M. M., Pinty, B., and Gordon, H. R., 1998, Techniques for the retrieval of aerosol properties over land and ocean using multiangle imaging, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 36(4), 1212-1227. Myhre, G., Stordal, F., Johnsrud, M., Diner, D. J., Geogdzhayev, I. V., Haywood, J. M., Holben, B. N., Holzer-Popp, T., Ignatov, A., Kahn, R. A., Kaufman, Y. J., Loeb, N., Martonchik, J. V., Mishchenko, M. I., Nalli, N. R., Remer, L. A., Schroedter-Homscheidt, M., Tanr'e, D., Torres, O., and Wang, M., 2005, Intercomparison of satellite retrieved aerosol optical depth over ocean during the period September 1997 to December 2000, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 5, 1697-1719. Kaufman, Y.J., Tanre', D., Remer, L.A., Vermote, E.F., Chu, A., and Holben, B.N., 1997, Operationalremote sensing of tropospheric aerosol over land from EOS moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer, Journal of Geophysical Research, 102(D14), 17,051-17,067.

Using the multiangle polarimetric measuring capabilities of the 2010 NASA/Glory mission to separate atmospheric scattering contributions from radiances emerging from open oceans in the visible part of the spectrum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chowdhary, J.; Cairns, B.; Mishchenko, M. I.; Carlson, B. E.

2009-12-01

Answering the question of what measurements represent benchmarks for the state of the climate of the Earth is one that is of crucial importance for determining what remote sensing measurements will be made in the future. The Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS), scheduled for launch into the A-train in 2010 onboard the NASA/Glory Mission, will provide multiangle, multispectral polarized reflectance measurements of sunlight reflected by the Earth’s atmosphere-surface system. The accuracy of aerosol retrievals from these measurements has already been demonstrated in field campaigns with data obtained by an airborne version of the APS, namely, the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). There are several factors contributing to the success of these retrievals. One of these is the better tools available for the analyses of polarized reflectance than for the analyses of total reflectance which allows the atmospheric scattering contributions to be separated from reflection by the lower boundary whether the underlying surface be land, an ocean or lake, or even clouds. The one we focus on here is the capability to use polarization to separate atmospheric scattering from water- leaving radiances. We review a radiative transfer model for underwater light scattering that computes these radiances, and apply the results to analyses of data obtained by the RSP over the open ocean during the MILAGRO field campaign. We demonstrate that the sensitivity of remotely sensed polarized reflectances to variations in the ocean color is much smaller than that of total reflectances. Uncertainties in underwater light scattering properties that are difficult to quantify, such as absorption by colored dissolved organic materials, have a negligible effect on the polarized reflectances whereas the reflectances are substantially affected in the blue/UV part of the spectrum. This of course means that, while the polarized reflectances can be used to characterize the atmosphere, valuable information can be obtained about absorption and scattering in the ocean body from the reflectance. Polarimetric measurements are therefore far more valuable than purely radiometric measurements in simultaneously assessing the state of the atmosphere and the ocean.

Airborne characterization of aerosols over the contiguous United States during the SEAC4RS and DC3 campaigns: an in situ light scattering perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Espinosa, R.; Remer, L.; Puthukkudy, A.; Orozco, D.; Dubovik, O.; Martins, J. V.

2017-12-01

Models used to estimate climate change and interpret remote sensing observations must make assumptions regarding aerosol radiation interactions. This presentation will summarize aerosol light scattering measurements made by the Polarized Imaging Nephelometer (PI-Neph) during the Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) and Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) experiments. The data presented includes direct measurements of phase function (P11) and polarized phase function (-P12/P11) as well as retrievals of size distribution, sphericity and complex refractive index made using the Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties (GRASP). An aerosol classification scheme is developed to identify different aerosol types measured during the deployments, making use of ancillary data that includes gas tracers, chemical composition, aerodynamic particle size and geographic location. Principal component analysis (PCA) is then used to reduce the dimensionality of the multi-angle PI-Neph scattering data and a strong link between the PCA scores and the ancillary classification results is observed. The scattering differences that reliable distinguish the different aerosol types are found to be quite subtle and often rely on the relationships between many scattering angles simultaneously. This fact emphasis the value of multi-angle scattering measurements, as well as principal component analysis's ability to reveal the underlying patterns in these datasets. The parameters retrieved from the DC3 scattering data suggest the presence of a significant amount of dust in aerosols influenced by convective systems, with the quantity of dust correlating strongly with sampling location and the underlying surface features. All fine mode dominated aerosol types from SEAC4RS had remarkably similar retrieved properties, except for the real refractive index of the biomass burning cases, which was consistently elevated (n532=1.54) when compared to the other types (n532=1.50). This result suggests that climate and remote sensing models may often be able to capture the differences in optical properties between biomass burning and other fine mode aerosols by only adjusting the real refractive index of the particles.

Quantifying vegetation distribution and structure using high resolution drone-based structure-from-motion photogrammetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, J.; Okin, G.

2017-12-01

Vegetation is one of the most important driving factors of different ecosystem processes in drylands. The structure of vegetation controls the spatial distribution of moisture and heat in the canopy and the surrounding area. Also, the structure of vegetation influences both airflow and boundary layer resistance above the land surface. Multispectral satellite remote sensing has been widely used to monitor vegetation coverage and its change; however, it can only capture 2D images, which do not contain the vertical information of vegetation. In situ observation uses different methods to measure the structure of vegetation, and their results are accurate; however, these methods are laborious and time-consuming, and susceptible to undersampling in spatial heterogeneity. Drylands are sparsely covered by short plants, which allows the drone fly at a relatively low height to obtain ultra-high resolution images. Structure-from-motion (SfM) is a photogrammetric method that was proved to produce 3D model based on 2D images. Drone-based remote sensing can obtain the multiangle images for one object, which can be used to constructed 3D models of vegetation in drylands. Using these images detected by the drone, the orthomosaics and digital surface model (DSM) can be built. In this study, the drone-based remote sensing was conducted in Jornada Basin, New Mexico, in the spring of 2016 and 2017, and three derived vegetation parameters (i.e., canopy size, bare soil gap size, and plant height) were compared with those obtained with field measurement. The correlation coefficient of canopy size, bare soil gap size, and plant height between drone images and field data are 0.91, 0.96, and 0.84, respectively. The two-year averaged root-mean-square error (RMSE) of canopy size, bare soil gap size, and plant height between drone images and field data are 0.61 m, 1.21 m, and 0.25 cm, respectively. The two-year averaged measure error (ME) of canopy size, bare soil gap size, and plant height between drone images and field data are 0.02 m, -0.03, and -0.1 m, respectively. These results indicate a good agreement between drone-based remote sensing and field measurement.

Application of an Optimal Estimation Method to the Retrieval of Aerosol Properties Using Multispectral, Multiangle Polarimetric Measurements From the Research Scanning Polarimeter.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waquet, F.; Cairns, B.; Chowdhary, J.; Knobelspiesse, K.; Mishchenko, M. I.; Travis, L. D.

2006-12-01

Aerosols affect the climate directly by means of reflecting and absorbing sunlight, and indirectly by means of changing the formation and evolution of clouds. The uncertainties associated with these forcing are however highly uncertain, and may add up to be equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to the climate forcing caused by greenhouse gasses. To reduce these uncertainties, accurate retrievals of the effective size of the particles, their complex refractive index and the column number density are required. Intensity-based techniques for aerosol remote sensing from space only partially meet these requirements because they provide reasonable estimates of only the aerosol size distribution and optical thickness, and only over ocean. Laboratory and theoretical studies, on the other hand, show that the multi-angle, multi-spectral behavior of polarization of light scattered by aerosol particles contains sufficient information to provide all the relevant properties of these particles. The Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) instrument provides an opportunity to extend such studies to the polarimetric retrieval of aerosol properties from actual remote sensing data. This instrument provides photo-polarimetric measurements of a scene in 152 viewing angles covering an angular range of 120 degrees, and in 9 spectral bands covering a spectral range of 0.41 to 2.25 micrometers. It was recently deployed in the ALIVE field experiment in Oklahoma and the MILAGRO field experiment near Mexico City, in conjunction with many other space-, air-, and ground-based sensors, to study aerosols over land and ocean. The purpose of this study is to use data acquired during these field experiments by the RSP instrument and various other sensors to evaluate a new method for aerosol polarimetry over land. Our approach follows one of the so-called optimal methods described by Rodger (2004) with a few modifications. We describe the optimal method selected and modified for RSP-type data sets, and also how to include the noise and accuracy (including relative angular and relative spectral accuracy) of RSP measurements in the optimal estimate. This approach has been used for aerosol retrievals over ocean, and is now being extended to aerosol retrievals over land since multi-spectral polarized measurements allow the surface and aerosol properties to be retrieved simultaneously, as recently shown in Waquet et al. (2006). We present results of our RSP-based aerosol retrievals and compare them with independent retrievals for various atmospheric conditions that span from low aerosols loads dominated by spherical particles to high aerosol loads dominated by wind blown non-spherical soil particles. This study constitutes an important step in the validation of new algorithms for aerosol remote sensing using polarization measurements in preparation for the GLORY mission.

Stereoscopic Height and Wind Retrievals for Aerosol Plumes with the MISR INteractive eXplorer (MINX)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, D.L.; Garay, M.J.; Kahn, Ralph A.; Dunst, Ben A.

2013-01-01

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard the Terra satellite acquires imagery at 275-m resolution at nine angles ranging from 0deg (nadir) to 70deg off-nadir. This multi-angle capability facilitates the stereoscopic retrieval of heights and motion vectors for clouds and aerosol plumes. MISR's operational stereo product uses this capability to retrieve cloud heights and winds for every satellite orbit, yielding global coverage every nine days. The MISR INteractive eXplorer (MINX) visualization and analysis tool complements the operational stereo product by providing users the ability to retrieve heights and winds locally for detailed studies of smoke, dust and volcanic ash plumes, as well as clouds, at higher spatial resolution and with greater precision than is possible with the operational product or with other space-based, passive, remote sensing instruments. This ability to investigate plume geometry and dynamics is becoming increasingly important as climate and air quality studies require greater knowledge about the injection of aerosols and the location of clouds within the atmosphere. MINX incorporates features that allow users to customize their stereo retrievals for optimum results under varying aerosol and underlying surface conditions. This paper discusses the stereo retrieval algorithms and retrieval options in MINX, and provides appropriate examples to explain how the program can be used to achieve the best results.

Spectral invariance hypothesis study of polarized reflectance with Ground-based Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (GroundMSPI)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bradley, Christine L.; Kupinski, Meredith; Diner, David J.; Xu, Feng; Chipman, Russell A.

2015-09-01

Many models used to represent the boundary condition for the separation of atmospheric scattering from the surface reflectance in polarized remote sensing measurements assume that the polarized surface reflectance is spectrally neutral. The Spectral Invariance Hypothesis asserts that the magnitude and shape of the polarized bidirectional reflectance factor (pBRF) is equal for all wavelengths. In order to test this hypothesis, JPL's Ground-based Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (GroundMSPI) is used to measure polarization information of different outdoor surface types. GroundMSPI measures the linear polarization Stokes parameters (I, Q, U), at three wavelengths, 470 nm, 660 nm, and 865 nm. The camera is mounted on a two-axis gimbal to accurately select the view azimuth and elevation directions. On clear sky days we acquired day-long scans of scenes that contain various surface types such as grass, dirt, cement, brick, and asphalt and placed a Spectralon panel in the camera field of view to provide a reflectance reference. Over the course of each day, changing solar position in the sky provides a large range of scattering angles for this study. The polarized bidirectional reflectance factor (pBRF) is measured for the three wavelengths and the best fit slope of the spectral correlation is reported. This work reports the range of best fit slopes measured for five region types.

Remote Sensing of Smoke, Land and Clouds from the NASA ER-2 during SAFARI 2000

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Michael D.; Platnick, Steven; Moeller, Christopher C.; Revercomb, Henry E.; Chu, D. Allen

2002-01-01

The NASA ER-2 aircraft was deployed to southern Africa between August 17 and September 25, 2000 as part of the Southern Africa Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI) 2000. This aircraft carried a sophisticated array of multispectral scanners, multiangle spectroradiometers, a monostatic lidar, a gas correlation radiometer, upward and downward spectral flux radiometers, and two metric mapping cameras. These observations were obtained over a 3200 x 2800 km region of savanna, woody savanna, open shrubland, and grassland ecosystems throughout southern Africa, and were quite often coordinated with overflights by NASA's Terra and Landsat 7 satellites. The primary purpose of this sophisticated high altitude observing platform was to obtain independent observations of smoke, clouds, and land surfaces that could be used to check the validity of various remote sensing measurements derived by Earth-orbiting satellites. These include such things as the accuracy of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) cloud mask for distinguishing clouds and heavy aerosol from land and ocean surfaces, and Terra analyses of cloud optical and micro-physical properties, aerosol properties, leaf area index, vegetation index, fire occurrence, carbon monoxide, and surface radiation budget. In addition to coordination with Terra and Landsat 7 satellites, numerous flights were conducted over surface AERONET sites, flux towers in South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia, and in situ aircraft from the University of Washington, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Can polarization aid in the remote sensing of dust and smoke?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flittner, David E.; Hu, Yongxiang

2005-08-01

In the area of aerosol remote sensing, one of the more noteworthy points of the last decade has been the realization that dust and smoke can be sensed from space over land and ocean by utilizing observations of scattered ultraviolet light [Torres, et al. 1998]. The spectral contrast ratio available from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) backscatter ultraviolet (buv) data does provide a wealth of qualitative information, such as the ability to track the global dispersion of dust and smoke from regional sources. Quantitative information, e.g. total optical depth, single scattering albedo, however, is more difficult to extract from buv data. Assumptions must be made concerning various parameters that influence buv observations, e.g. the height of the aerosol layer, surface albedo, aerosol size distribution and index of refraction. While the necessity of assumptions is due in part to the availability of only two wavelengths from historical TOMS data, these assumptions may not truly be needed for future sensors. We examine what can be gained from making measurements of polarization in addition to those of radiance (as is currently done by TOMS and its successor the Ozone Measuring Instrument, OMI, on EOS-AURA) in the TOMS spectral coverage range free from ozone absorption (340-380 nm). Measurements of the degree of linear polarization and the plane of polarization with an uncertainty of less than 0.005 would help to determine the aerosol layer height to within less than 1 km. Multi-angle measurements would also help to better utilize the polarization data by defining the particle effective radius.

EOSDIS Terra Data Sampler #1: Western US Wildfires 2000. 1.1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perkins, Dorothy C. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

This CD-ROM contains sample data in HDF-EOS format from the instruments on board the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra satellite: (1) Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER); (2) Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES); (3) Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR); and (4) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Data from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument were not available for distribution (as of October 17, 2000). The remotely sensed, coincident data for the Western US wildfires were acquired August 30, 2000. This CD-ROM provides information about the Terra mission, instruments, data, and viewing tools. It also provides the Collage tool for viewing data, and links to Web sites containing other digital data processing software. Full granules of the data on this CD-ROM and other EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data products are available from the NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs).

Retrievals of Aerosol and Cloud Particle Microphysics Using Polarization and Depolarization Techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mishchenko, Michael; Hansen, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The recent availability of theoretical techniques for computing single and multiple scattering of light by realistic polydispersions of spherical and nonspherical particles and the strong dependence of the Stokes scattering matrix on particle size, shape, and refractive index make polarization and depolarization measurements a powerful particle characterization tool. In this presentation I will describe recent applications of photopolarimetric and lidar depolarization measurements to remote sensing characterization of tropospheric aerosols, polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), and contrails. The talk will include (1) a short theoretical overview of the effects of particle microphysics on particle single-scattering characteristics; (2) the use of multi-angle multi-spectral photopolarimetry to retrieve the optical thickness, size distribution, refractive index, and number concentration of tropospheric aerosols over the ocean surface; and (3) the application of the T-matrix method to constraining the PSC and contrail particle microphysics using multi-spectral measurements of lidar backscatter and depolarization.

Stereoscopic Retrieval of Smoke Plume Heights and Motion from Space-Based Multi-Angle Imaging, Using the MISR INteractive eXplorer(MINX)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, David L.; Kahn, Ralph A.

2014-01-01

Airborne particles desert dust, wildfire smoke, volcanic effluent, urban pollution affect Earth's climate as well as air quality and health. They are found in the atmosphere all over the planet, but vary immensely in amount and properties with season and location. Most aerosol particles are injected into the near-surface boundary layer, but some, especially wildfire smoke, desert dust and volcanic ash, can be injected higher into the atmosphere, where they can stay aloft longer, travel farther, produce larger climate effects, and possibly affect human and ecosystem health far downwind. So monitoring aerosol injection height globally can make important contributions to climate science and air quality studies. The Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) is a space borne instrument designed to study Earths clouds, aerosols, and surface. Since late February 2000 it has been retrieving aerosol particle amount and properties, as well as cloud height and wind data, globally, about once per week. The MINX visualization and analysis tool complements the operational MISR data products, enabling users to retrieve heights and winds locally for detailed studies of smoke plumes, at higher spatial resolution and with greater precision than the operational product and other space-based, passive remote sensing techniques. MINX software is being used to provide plume height statistics for climatological studies as well as to investigate the dynamics of individual plumes, and to provide parameterizations for climate modeling.

What We are Learning about Airborne Particles from MISR Multi-angle Imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kahn, Ralph

The NASA Earth Observing System’s Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument has been collecting global observations in 36 angular-spectral channels about once per week for over 14 years. Regarding airborne particles, MISR is contributing in three broad areas: (1) aerosol optical depth (AOD), especially over land surface, including bright desert, (2) wildfire smoke, desert dust, and volcanic ash injection and near-source plume height, and (3) aerosol type, the aggregate of qualitative constraints on particle size, shape, and single-scattering albedo (SSA). Early advances in the retrieval of these quantities focused on AOD, for which surface-based sun photometers provided a global network of ground truth, and plume height, for which ground-based and airborne lidar offered near-coincident validation data. MSIR monthly, global AOD products contributed directly to the advances in modeling aerosol impacts on climate made between the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) third and fourth assessment reports. MISR stereo-derived plume heights are now being used to constrain source inventories for the AeroCom aerosol-climate modeling effort. The remaining challenge for the MISR aerosol effort is to refine and validate our global aerosol type product. Unlike AOD and plume height, aerosol type as retrieved by MISR is a qualitative classification derived from multi-dimensional constraints, so evaluation must be done on a categorical basis. Coincident aerosol type validation data are far less common than for AOD, and, except for rare Golden Days during aircraft field campaigns, amount to remote sensing retrievals from suborbital instruments having uncertainties comparable to those from the MISR product itself. And satellite remote sensing retrievals of aerosol type are much more sensitive to scene conditions such as surface variability and AOD than either AOD or plume height. MISR aerosol type retrieval capability and information content have been demonstrated in case studies using the MISR Operational as especially the MISR Research aerosol retrieval algorithms. Refinements to the Operational algorithm, as indicated by these studies, are required to generate a high-quality next-generation aerosol type product from the MISR data. This presentation will briefly review the MISR AOD and plume height product attributes, and will then focus on the MISR aerosol type product: validation, data quality, and refinements.

Spaceborne Remote Sensing of Aerosol Type: Global Distribution, Model Evaluation and Translation into Chemical Speciation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kacenelenbogen, M. S.; Tan, Q.; Johnson, M. S.; Burton, S. P.; Redemann, J.; Hasekamp, O. P.; Dawson, K. W.; Hair, J. W.; Ferrare, R. A.; Butler, C. F.; Holben, B. N.; Beyersdorf, A. J.; Ziemba, L. D.; Froyd, K. D.; Dibb, J. E.; Shingler, T.; Sorooshian, A.; Jimenez, J. L.; Campuzano Jost, P.; Jacob, D.; Kim, P. S.; Travis, K.; Lacagnina, C.

2016-12-01

It is essential to evaluate and refine aerosol classification methods applied to passive satellite remote sensing. We have developed an aerosol classification algorithm (called Specified Clustering and Mahalanobis Classification, SCMC) that assigns an aerosol type to multi-parameter retrievals by spaceborne, airborne or ground-based passive remote sensing instruments [1]. The aerosol types identified by our scheme are pure dust, polluted dust, urban-industrial/developed economy, urban-industrial/developing economy, dark biomass smoke, light biomass smoke and pure marine. We apply the SCMC method to inversions from the ground-based AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET [2]) and retrievals from the space-borne Polarization and Directionality of Earth's Reflectances instrument (POLDER, [3]). The POLDER retrievals that we use differ from the standard POLDER retrievals [4] as they make full use of multi-angle, multispectral polarimetric data [5]. We analyze agreement in the aerosol types inferred from both AERONET and POLDER and evaluate GEOS-Chem [6] simulations over the globe. Finally, we use in-situ observations from the SEAC4RS airborne field experiment to bridge the gap between remote sensing-inferred qualitative SCMC aerosol types and their corresponding quantitative chemical speciation. We apply the SCMC method to airborne in-situ observations from the NASA Langley Aerosol Research Group Experiment (LARGE, [7]) and the Differential Aerosol Sizing and Hygroscopicity Spectrometer Probe (DASH-SP, [8]) instruments; we then relate each coarsely defined SCMC type to a sum of percentage of individual aerosol species, using in-situ observations from the Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometry (PALMS, [9]), the Soluble Acidic Gases and Aerosol (SAGA, [10]), and the High - Resolution Time - of - Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR ToF AMS, [11]). [1] Russell P. B., et al., JGR, 119.16 (2014) [2] Holben B. N., et al., RSE, 66.1 (1998) [3] Tanré D., et al., AMT, 4.7 (2011) [4] Deuzé J. L., et al., JGR, 106.D5 (2001) [5] Hasekamp O. P., et al., JGR, 116.D14 (2011) [6] Bey I., et al., JGR, 106.D19 (2001) [7] Ziemba L. D., et al., GRL, 40.2 (2013) [8] Sorooshian A., et al., AST, 42.6 (2008) [9] Murphy D. M., et al., JGR, 111.D23 (2006) [10] Dibb J. E., et al., JGR, 108.D21 (2003) [11] DeCarlo P. F., et al., AC, 78.24 (2006)

Super-resolution mapping using multi-viewing CHRIS/PROBA data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwivedi, Manish; Kumar, Vinay

2016-04-01

High-spatial resolution Remote Sensing (RS) data provides detailed information which ensures high-definition visual image analysis of earth surface features. These data sets also support improved information extraction capabilities at a fine scale. In order to improve the spatial resolution of coarser resolution RS data, the Super Resolution Reconstruction (SRR) technique has become widely acknowledged which focused on multi-angular image sequences. In this study multi-angle CHRIS/PROBA data of Kutch area is used for SR image reconstruction to enhance the spatial resolution from 18 m to 6m in the hope to obtain a better land cover classification. Various SR approaches like Projection onto Convex Sets (POCS), Robust, Iterative Back Projection (IBP), Non-Uniform Interpolation and Structure-Adaptive Normalized Convolution (SANC) chosen for this study. Subjective assessment through visual interpretation shows substantial improvement in land cover details. Quantitative measures including peak signal to noise ratio and structural similarity are used for the evaluation of the image quality. It was observed that SANC SR technique using Vandewalle algorithm for the low resolution image registration outperformed the other techniques. After that SVM based classifier is used for the classification of SRR and data resampled to 6m spatial resolution using bi-cubic interpolation. A comparative analysis is carried out between classified data of bicubic interpolated and SR derived images of CHRIS/PROBA and SR derived classified data have shown a significant improvement of 10-12% in the overall accuracy. The results demonstrated that SR methods is able to improve spatial detail of multi-angle images as well as the classification accuracy.

Quantifying the microphysical impacts of fire aerosols on clouds in Indonesia using remote sensing observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tosca, M. G.; Diner, D. J.; Garay, M. J.; Kalashnikova, O. V.

2012-12-01

Fire-emitted aerosols modify cloud and precipitation dynamics by acting as cloud condensation nuclei in what is known as the first and second aerosol indirect effect. The cloud response to the indirect effect varies regionally and is not well understood in the highly convective tropics. We analyzed nine years (2003-2011) of aerosol data from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), and fire emissions data from the Global Fire Emissions Database, version 3 (GFED3) over southeastern tropical Asia (Indonesia), and identified scenes that contained both a high atmospheric aerosol burden and large surface fire emissions. We then collected scenes from the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on board the CLOUDSAT satellite that corresponded both spatially and temporally to the high-burning scenes from MISR, and identified differences in convective cloud dynamics over areas with varying aerosol optical depths. Differences in overpass times (MISR in the morning, CLOUDSAT in the afternoon) improved our ability to infer that changes in cloud dynamics were a response to increased or decreased aerosol emissions. Our results extended conclusions from initial studies over the Amazon that used remote sensing techniques to identify cloud fraction reductions in high burning areas (Koren et al., 2004; Rosenfeld, 1999) References Koren, I., Y.J. Kaufman, L.A. Remer and J.V. Martins (2004), Measurement of the effect of Amazon smoke on inhibition of cloud formation, Science, 303, 1342-1345 Rosenfeld, D. (1999), TRMM observed first direct evidence of smoke from forest fires inhibiting rainfall, Gephys. Res. Lett., 26, 3105.

Observations of Aerosol-Radiation-Cloud Interactions in the South-East Atlantic: First Results from the ORACLES Deployments in 2016 and 2017

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Redemann, Jens; Wood, R.; Zuidema, P.; Diner, D.; Van Harten, G.; Xu, F.; Cairns, B.; Knobelspiesse, K.; Segal Rozenhaimer, M.

2017-01-01

Southern Africa produces almost a third of the Earths biomass burning (BB) aerosol particles. Particles lofted into the mid-troposphere are transported westward over the South-East (SE) Atlantic, home to one of the three permanent subtropical stratocumulus (Sc) cloud decks in the world. The SE Atlantic stratocumulus deck interacts with the dense layers of BB aerosols that initially overlay the cloud deck, but later subside and often mix into the clouds. These interactions include adjustments to aerosol-induced solar heating and microphysical effects, and their global representation in climate models remains one of the largest uncertainties in estimates of future climate. Hence, new observations over the SE Atlantic have significant implications for regional and global climate change predictions.The low-level clouds in the SE Atlantic have limited vertical extent and therefore present favorable conditions for their exploration with remote sensing. On the other hand, the normal coexistence of BB aerosols and Sc clouds in the same scene also presents significant challenges to conventional remote sensing techniques. We describe first results from NASAs airborne ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols Above Clouds and Their IntEractionS) deployments in September 2016 and August 2017. We emphasize the unique role of polarimetric observations by two instruments, the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) and the Airborne Multi-angle SpectroPolarimeter Imager (AirMSPI), and describe how these instruments help address specific ORACLES science objectives. Initial assessments of polarimetric observation accuracy for key cloud and aerosol properties will be presented, in as far as the preliminary nature of measurements permits.

The Retrieval of Aerosol Optical Thickness Using the MERIS Instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mei, L.; Rozanov, V. V.; Vountas, M.; Burrows, J. P.; Levy, R. C.; Lotz, W.

2015-12-01

Retrieval of aerosol properties for satellite instruments without shortwave-IR spectral information, multi-viewing, polarization and/or high-temporal observation ability is a challenging problem for spaceborne aerosol remote sensing. However, space based instruments like the MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and the successor, Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) with high calibration accuracy and high spatial resolution provide unique abilities for obtaining valuable aerosol information for a better understanding of the impact of aerosols on climate, which is still one of the largest uncertainties of global climate change evaluation. In this study, a new Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) retrieval algorithm (XBAER: eXtensible Bremen AErosol Retrieval) is presented. XBAER utilizes the global surface spectral library database for the determination of surface properties while the MODIS collection 6 aerosol type treatment is adapted for the aerosol type selection. In order to take the surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) effect into account for the MERIS reduce resolution (1km) retrieval, a modified Ross-Li mode is used. The AOT is determined in the algorithm using lookup tables including polarization created using Radiative Transfer Model SCIATRAN3.4, by minimizing the difference between atmospheric corrected surface reflectance with given AOT and the surface reflectance calculated from the spectral library. The global comparison with operational MODIS C6 product, Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) product, Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) aerosol product and the validation using AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) show promising results. The current XBAER algorithm is only valid for aerosol remote sensing over land and a similar method will be extended to ocean later.

Assessment of capabilities of multiangle imaging photo-polarimetry for atmospheric correction in presence of absorbing aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalashnikova, O. V.; Garay, M. J.; Xu, F.; Seidel, F. C.; Diner, D. J.

2015-12-01

Satellite remote sensing of ocean color is a critical tool for assessing the productivity of marine ecosystems and monitoring changes resulting from climatic or environmental influences. Yet water-leaving radiance comprises less than 10% of the signal measured from space, making correction for absorption and scattering by the intervening atmosphere imperative. Traditional ocean color retrieval algorithms utilize a standard set of aerosol models and the assumption of negligible water-leaving radiance in the near-infrared. Modern improvements have been developed to handle absorbing aerosols such as urban particulates in coastal areas and transported desert dust over the open ocean, where ocean fertilization can impact biological productivity at the base of the marine food chain. Even so, imperfect knowledge of the absorbing aerosol optical properties or their height distribution results in well-documented sources of error. In the UV, the problem of UV-enhanced absorption and nonsphericity of certain aerosol types are amplified due to the increased Rayleigh and aerosol optical depth, especially at off-nadir view angles. Multi-angle spectro-polarimetric measurements have been advocated as an additional tool to better understand and retrieve the aerosol properties needed for atmospheric correction for ocean color retrievals. The central concern of the work to be described is the assessment of the effects of absorbing aerosol properties on water leaving radiance measurement uncertainty by neglecting UV-enhanced absorption of carbonaceous particles and by not accounting for dust nonsphericity. In addition, we evaluate the polarimetric sensitivity of absorbing aerosol properties in light of measurement uncertainties achievable for the next generation of multi-angle polarimetric imaging instruments, and demonstrate advantages and disadvantages of wavelength selection in the UV/VNIR range. The phase matrices for the spherical smoke particles were calculated using a standard Mie code, while those for non-spherical dust particles were calculated using the numerical approach described by Dubovik et al., 2006. A vector Markov Chain radiative transfer code including bio-optical models was used to evaluate TOA and water leaving radiances.

Effect of Multiangular Observations on Crop Chlorophyll Content Retrieval Using Field Top-Of Spectrometer Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiao, Q.; Liu, L.; Zhang, B.

2017-12-01

Leaf chlorophyll content is an important indicator of crop growth condition that determines final crop yield. A lot of research on remote sensing of leaf chlorophyll content were based on reflectance data acquired from nadir direction. However, reflectance data at nadir may be affected by soil background. In fact, many satellite sensors with capability of chlorophyll retrieval, like the 68.5 degrees field-of-view MERIS, have produced large multiangular data. This study tries to assess the anisotropic effect on the retrieval of leaf chlorophyll content using field hyperspectral data of wheat canopy. The field multi-angle observation experiment of winter wheat was carried out in April 2017 in Xiaotangshan agriculture demonstration study site in Beijing. Field canopy spectra and leaf chlorophyll content of winter wheat were measured. The most used indices for chlorophyll content retrieval, such as CIred-edge, REP, MTCI, MCARI/OSAVI[705,750], TCARI/OSAVI[705,750], were calculated based on the filed multiangular reflectance. The ratio index TCARI/OSAVI owned the best results in estimating leaf chlorophyll content (R2 of 0.62) among all the selected indices, when using the top-of-canopy reflectance at nadir. The determination coefficient of the relationship of TCARI/OSAVI with chlorophyll content reached its peak (R2 of 0.70) at angle of 15 degrees, and the minimum R2 value of only 0.25 at angle of 60 degrees. The MTCI got the peak of determination coefficient (R2 of 0.63) at angle of 15 degrees and the minimum value (R2 of 0.57) for 60 degrees. Our results showed the MTCI could keep a more satisfactory correlation with leaf chlorophyll content of winter wheat, however the mean values of the MTCI basically decreased as the observation angle increases. This work shows the strong anisotropic effects of top-of-canopy reflectance which influences most of selected popular chlorophyll indices. If spectral index selection is proper, multiangular remote sensing could produce higher accuracy for leaf chlorophyll content retrieval than only using nadir observation. Multi-angular remote sensing has the potential of leaf chlorophyll content retrieval for diagnosis of crop nitrogen stress or water stress.

Retrieval of seasonal dynamics of forest understory reflectance over a set of boreal, sub-boreal and temperate forests using MODIS BRDF data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisek, J.; Lang, M.; Kuusk, J.; Kobayashi, H.; Suzuki, R.; Rautiainen, M.; Schaepman, M. E.; Nikopensius, M.; Raabe, K.

2013-12-01

Since ground vegetation (understory) has an essential contribution to the whole-stand reflectance signal in many boreal, sub-boreal and temperate forests, its reflectance spectra are urgently needed in various forest reflectance modelling efforts. However, systematic reflectance data covering different site types are almost missing. Measurement of understory reflectance is a real challenge because of extremely high variability of irradiance at the forest floor, weak signal in some parts of the spectrum and its variable nature. Understory consists of several sub-layers (tree regeneration, shrub, grasses or dwarf shrub, mosses or lichens, litter, bare soil), it has spatially-temporally variable species composition and ground coverage. Additional problems are introduced by patchiness of ground vegetation, ground surface roughness and understory-overstory relations. Due to this variability, remote sensing might be the only technology to provide consistent data at the required spatially extensive scales. Here we follow on our previous effort at mapping understory reflectance dynamics using multi-angle remote sensing observations (Pisek et al. (2012). Retrieval of seasonal dynamics of forest understory reflectance in a Northern European boreal forest from MODIS BRDF data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 117, 464-468). This presentation will focus on the validation of this approach against an extended collection of different types of forest sites with available in-situ understory reflectance measurements distributed along a wide latitudinal gradient: a sparse black spruce forest in Alaska (Poker range; 65.12 N), a northern European boreal forest (Hyytiala; 61.85 N), hemiboreal needleleaf and deciduous stands in Estonia (Jarvselja; 58.27 N), a temperate deciduous forest in Switzerland (Laegeren; 47.48 N), and a dense black spruce forest in Canada (Sudbury; 47.16 N). Our results are pertinent to the ultimate goal of production of circumpolar maps of seasonal dynamics of forest understory over boreal forests using the MODIS BRDF data, starting from 2000. This will allow us to assess the changes in seasonal dynamics of boreal forest understory over the full decade.

Multi-Spectral Stereo Atmospheric Remote Sensing (STARS) for Retrieval of Cloud Properties and Cloud-Motion Vectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelly, M. A.; Boldt, J.; Wilson, J. P.; Yee, J. H.; Stoffler, R.

2017-12-01

The multi-spectral STereo Atmospheric Remote Sensing (STARS) concept has the objective to provide high-spatial and -temporal-resolution observations of 3D cloud structures related to hurricane development and other severe weather events. The rapid evolution of severe weather demonstrates a critical need for mesoscale observations of severe weather dynamics, but such observations are rare, particularly over the ocean where extratropical and tropical cyclones can undergo explosive development. Coincident space-based measurements of wind velocity and cloud properties at the mesoscale remain a great challenge, but are critically needed to improve the understanding and prediction of severe weather and cyclogenesis. STARS employs a mature stereoscopic imaging technique on two satellites (e.g. two CubeSats, two hosted payloads) to simultaneously retrieve cloud motion vectors (CMVs), cloud-top temperatures (CTTs), and cloud geometric heights (CGHs) from multi-angle, multi-spectral observations of cloud features. STARS is a pushbroom system based on separate wide-field-of-view co-boresighted multi-spectral cameras in the visible, midwave infrared (MWIR), and longwave infrared (LWIR) with high spatial resolution (better than 1 km). The visible system is based on a pan-chromatic, low-light imager to resolve cloud structures under nighttime illumination down to ¼ moon. The MWIR instrument, which is being developed as a NASA ESTO Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) project, is based on recent advances in MWIR detector technology that requires only modest cooling. The STARS payload provides flexible options for spaceflight due to its low size, weight, power (SWaP) and very modest cooling requirements. STARS also meets AF operational requirements for cloud characterization and theater weather imagery. In this paper, an overview of the STARS concept, including the high-level sensor design, the concept of operations, and measurement capability will be presented.

Consistency of vegetation index seasonality across the Amazon rainforest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maeda, Eduardo Eiji; Moura, Yhasmin Mendes; Wagner, Fabien; Hilker, Thomas; Lyapustin, Alexei I.; Wang, Yujie; Chave, Jérôme; Mõttus, Matti; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Shimabukuro, Yosio

2016-10-01

Vegetation indices (VIs) calculated from remotely sensed reflectance are widely used tools for characterizing the extent and status of vegetated areas. Recently, however, their capability to monitor the Amazon forest phenology has been intensely scrutinized. In this study, we analyze the consistency of VIs seasonal patterns obtained from two MODIS products: the Collection 5 BRDF product (MCD43) and the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction algorithm (MAIAC). The spatio-temporal patterns of the VIs were also compared with field measured leaf litterfall, gross ecosystem productivity and active microwave data. Our results show that significant seasonal patterns are observed in all VIs after the removal of view-illumination effects and cloud contamination. However, we demonstrate inconsistencies in the characteristics of seasonal patterns between different VIs and MODIS products. We demonstrate that differences in the original reflectance band values form a major source of discrepancy between MODIS VI products. The MAIAC atmospheric correction algorithm significantly reduces noise signals in the red and blue bands. Another important source of discrepancy is caused by differences in the availability of clear-sky data, as the MAIAC product allows increased availability of valid pixels in the equatorial Amazon. Finally, differences in VIs seasonal patterns were also caused by MODIS collection 5 calibration degradation. The correlation of remote sensing and field data also varied spatially, leading to different temporal offsets between VIs, active microwave and field measured data. We conclude that recent improvements in the MAIAC product have led to changes in the characteristics of spatio-temporal patterns of VIs seasonality across the Amazon forest, when compared to the MCD43 product. Nevertheless, despite improved quality and reduced uncertainties in the MAIAC product, a robust biophysical interpretation of VIs seasonality is still missing.

Consistency of Vegetation Index Seasonality Across the Amazon Rainforest

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maeda, Eduardo Eiji; Moura, Yhasmin Mendes; Wagner, Fabien; Hilker, Thomas; Lyapustin, Alexei I.; Wang, Yujie; Chave, Jerome; Mottus, Matti; Aragao, Luiz E.O.C.; Shimabukuro, Yosio

2016-01-01

Vegetation indices (VIs) calculated from remotely sensed reflectance are widely used tools for characterizing the extent and status of vegetated areas. Recently, however, their capability to monitor the Amazon forest phenology has been intensely scrutinized. In this study, we analyze the consistency of VIs seasonal patterns obtained from two MODIS products: the Collection 5 BRDF product (MCD43) and the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction algorithm (MAIAC). The spatio-temporal patterns of the VIs were also compared with field measured leaf litterfall, gross ecosystem productivity and active microwave data. Our results show that significant seasonal patterns are observed in all VIs after the removal of view-illumination effects and cloud contamination. However, we demonstrate inconsistencies in the characteristics of seasonal patterns between different VIs and MODIS products. We demonstrate that differences in the original reflectance band values form a major source of discrepancy between MODIS VI products. The MAIAC atmospheric correction algorithm significantly reduces noise signals in the red and blue bands. Another important source of discrepancy is caused by differences in the availability of clear-sky data, as the MAIAC product allows increased availability of valid pixels in the equatorial Amazon. Finally, differences in VIs seasonal patterns were also caused by MODIS collection 5 calibration degradation. The correlation of remote sensing and field data also varied spatially, leading to different temporal offsets between VIs, active microwave and field measured data. We conclude that recent improvements in the MAIAC product have led to changes in the characteristics of spatio-temporal patterns of VIs seasonality across the Amazon forest, when compared to the MCD43 product. Nevertheless, despite improved quality and reduced uncertainties in the MAIAC product, a robust biophysical interpretation of VIs seasonality is still missing.

Identification of dust source regions and dust emission trends across North Africa and the Middle East using MISR satellite observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Y.; Kalashnikova, O. V.; Garay, M. J.; Notaro, M.

2017-12-01

Global arid and semi-arid regions supply 1100 to 5000 Tg of Aeolian dust to the atmosphere each year, primarily from North Africa and secondarily from the Middle East. Previous dust source identification methods, based on either remotely-sensed aerosol optical depth (AOD) or dust activity, yield distinct dust source maps, largely due to the limitations in each method and remote-sensing product. Here we apply a novel motion-based method for dust source identification. Dust plume thickness and motion vectors from Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Cloud Motion Vector Product (CMVP) are examined to identify the regions with high frequency of fast moving-dust plumes, by season. According to MISR CMVP, Bodele depression is the most important dust source across North Africa, consistent with previous studies. Seasonal variability of dust emission across the North Africa is largely driven by climatology of wind and precipitation, featuring the influence of Sharav Cyclone and western African monsoon. In the Middle East, Iraq, Kuwait, and eastern Saudi Arabia are identified as dust source regions, especially during summer months, when the Middle Eastern Shamal wind is active. Furthermore, dust emission trend at each dust source are diagnosed from the motion-based dust source dataset. Increase in dust emission from the Fertile Crescent, Sahel, and eastern African dust sources are identified from MISR CMVP, implying potential contribution from these dust sources to the upward trend in AOD and dust AOD over the Middle East in the 21st century. By comparing with various dust source identification studies, we conclude that the motion-based identification of dust sources is an encouraging alternative and compliment to the AOD-only source identification method.

Surface Reflectance of Mars Observed by CRISM-MRO: 1. Multi-angle Approach for Retrieval of Surface Reflectance from CRISM Observations (mars-reco)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ceamanos, Xavier; Doute, S.; Fernando, J.; Pinet, P.; Lyapustin, A.

2013-01-01

This article addresses the correction for aerosol effects in near-simultaneous multiangle observations acquired by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In the targeted mode, CRISM senses the surface of Mars using 11 viewing angles, which allow it to provide unique information on the scattering properties of surface materials. In order to retrieve these data, however, appropriate strategies must be used to compensate the signal sensed by CRISM for aerosol contribution. This correction is particularly challenging as the photometric curve of these suspended particles is often correlated with the also anisotropic photometric curve of materials at the surface. This article puts forward an innovative radiative transfer based method named Multi-angle Approach for Retrieval of Surface Reflectance from CRISM Observations (MARS-ReCO). The proposed method retrieves photometric curves of surface materials in reflectance units after removing aerosol contribution. MARS-ReCO represents a substantial improvement regarding previous techniques as it takes into consideration the anisotropy of the surface, thus providing more realistic surface products. Furthermore, MARS-ReCO is fast and provides error bars on the retrieved surface reflectance. The validity and accuracy of MARS-ReCO is explored in a sensitivity analysis based on realistic synthetic data. According to experiments, MARS-ReCO provides accurate results (up to 10 reflectance error) under favorable acquisition conditions. In the companion article, photometric properties of Martian materials are retrieved using MARS-ReCO and validated using in situ measurements acquired during the Mars Exploration Rovers mission.

A multiscale dataset for understanding complex eco-hydrological processes in a heterogeneous oasis system

PubMed Central

Li, Xin; Liu, Shaomin; Xiao, Qin; Ma, Mingguo; Jin, Rui; Che, Tao; Wang, Weizhen; Hu, Xiaoli; Xu, Ziwei; Wen, Jianguang; Wang, Liangxu

2017-01-01

We introduce a multiscale dataset obtained from Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) in an oasis-desert area in 2012. Upscaling of eco-hydrological processes on a heterogeneous surface is a grand challenge. Progress in this field is hindered by the poor availability of multiscale observations. HiWATER is an experiment designed to address this challenge through instrumentation on hierarchically nested scales to obtain multiscale and multidisciplinary data. The HiWATER observation system consists of a flux observation matrix of eddy covariance towers, large aperture scintillometers, and automatic meteorological stations; an eco-hydrological sensor network of soil moisture and leaf area index; hyper-resolution airborne remote sensing using LiDAR, imaging spectrometer, multi-angle thermal imager, and L-band microwave radiometer; and synchronical ground measurements of vegetation dynamics, and photosynthesis processes. All observational data were carefully quality controlled throughout sensor calibration, data collection, data processing, and datasets generation. The data are freely available at figshare and the Cold and Arid Regions Science Data Centre. The data should be useful for elucidating multiscale eco-hydrological processes and developing upscaling methods. PMID:28654086

[Analysis of influencing factors of snow hyperspectral polarized reflections].

PubMed

Sun, Zhong-Qiu; Zhao, Yun-Sheng; Yan, Guo-Qian; Ning, Yan-Ling; Zhong, Gui-Xin

2010-02-01

Due to the need of snow monitoring and the impact of the global change on the snow, on the basis of the traditional research on snow, starting from the perspective of multi-angle polarized reflectance, we analyzed the influencing factors of snow from the incidence zenith angles, the detection zenith angles, the detection azimuth angles, polarized angles, the density of snow, the degree of pollution, and the background of the undersurface. It was found that these factors affected the spectral reflectance values of the snow, and the effect of some factors on the polarization hyperspectral reflectance observation is more evident than in the vertical observation. Among these influencing factors, the pollution of snow leads to an obvious change in the snow reflectance spectrum curve, while other factors have little effect on the shape of the snow reflectance spectrum curve and mainly impact the reflection ratio of the snow. Snow reflectance polarization information has not only important theoretical significance, but also wide application prospect, and provides new ideas and methods for the quantitative research on snow using the remote sensing technology.

Propagation Limitations in Remote Sensing.

DTIC Science & Technology

Contents: Multi-sensors and systems in remote sensing ; Radar sensing systems over land; Remote sensing techniques in oceanography; Influence of...propagation media and background; Infrared techniques in remote sensing ; Photography in remote sensing ; Analytical studies in remote sensing .

Earth view: A business guide to orbital remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bishop, Peter C.

1990-01-01

The following subject areas are covered: Earth view - a guide to orbital remote sensing; current orbital remote sensing systems (LANDSAT, SPOT image, MOS-1, Soviet remote sensing systems); remote sensing satellite; and remote sensing organizations.

Technology study of quantum remote sensing imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bi, Siwen; Lin, Xuling; Yang, Song; Wu, Zhiqiang

2016-02-01

According to remote sensing science and technology development and application requirements, quantum remote sensing is proposed. First on the background of quantum remote sensing, quantum remote sensing theory, information mechanism, imaging experiments and prototype principle prototype research situation, related research at home and abroad are briefly introduced. Then we expounds compress operator of the quantum remote sensing radiation field and the basic principles of single-mode compression operator, quantum quantum light field of remote sensing image compression experiment preparation and optical imaging, the quantum remote sensing imaging principle prototype, Quantum remote sensing spaceborne active imaging technology is brought forward, mainly including quantum remote sensing spaceborne active imaging system composition and working principle, preparation and injection compression light active imaging device and quantum noise amplification device. Finally, the summary of quantum remote sensing research in the past 15 years work and future development are introduced.

A high throughput geocomputing system for remote sensing quantitative retrieval and a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Yong; Chen, Ziqiang; Xu, Hui; Ai, Jianwen; Jiang, Shuzheng; Li, Yingjie; Wang, Ying; Guang, Jie; Mei, Linlu; Jiao, Xijuan; He, Xingwei; Hou, Tingting

2011-12-01

The quality and accuracy of remote sensing instruments have been improved significantly, however, rapid processing of large-scale remote sensing data becomes the bottleneck for remote sensing quantitative retrieval applications. The remote sensing quantitative retrieval is a data-intensive computation application, which is one of the research issues of high throughput computation. The remote sensing quantitative retrieval Grid workflow is a high-level core component of remote sensing Grid, which is used to support the modeling, reconstruction and implementation of large-scale complex applications of remote sensing science. In this paper, we intend to study middleware components of the remote sensing Grid - the dynamic Grid workflow based on the remote sensing quantitative retrieval application on Grid platform. We designed a novel architecture for the remote sensing Grid workflow. According to this architecture, we constructed the Remote Sensing Information Service Grid Node (RSSN) with Condor. We developed a graphic user interface (GUI) tools to compose remote sensing processing Grid workflows, and took the aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval as an example. The case study showed that significant improvement in the system performance could be achieved with this implementation. The results also give a perspective on the potential of applying Grid workflow practices to remote sensing quantitative retrieval problems using commodity class PCs.

Applications of Remote Sensing to Emergency Management.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-02-15

Contents: Foundations of Remote Sensing : Data Acquisition and Interpretation; Availability of Remote Sensing Technology for Disaster Response...Imaging Systems, Current and Near Future Satellite and Aircraft Remote Sensing Systems; Utilization of Remote Sensing in Disaster Response: Categories of...Disasters, Phases of Monitoring Activities; Recommendations for Utilization of Remote Sensing Technology in Disaster Response; Selected Reading List.

The remote sensing image segmentation mean shift algorithm parallel processing based on MapReduce

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xi; Zhou, Liqing

2015-12-01

With the development of satellite remote sensing technology and the remote sensing image data, traditional remote sensing image segmentation technology cannot meet the massive remote sensing image processing and storage requirements. This article put cloud computing and parallel computing technology in remote sensing image segmentation process, and build a cheap and efficient computer cluster system that uses parallel processing to achieve MeanShift algorithm of remote sensing image segmentation based on the MapReduce model, not only to ensure the quality of remote sensing image segmentation, improved split speed, and better meet the real-time requirements. The remote sensing image segmentation MeanShift algorithm parallel processing algorithm based on MapReduce shows certain significance and a realization of value.

REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGIES APPLICATIONS RESEARCH

EPA Science Inventory

Remote sensing technologies applications research supports the ORD Landscape Sciences Program (LSP) in two separate areas: operational remote sensing, and remote sensing research and development. Operational remote sensing is provided to the LSP through the use of current and t...

Tunnel-Site Selection by Remote Sensing Techniques

DTIC Science & Technology

A study of the role of remote sensing for geologic reconnaissance for tunnel-site selection was commenced. For this study, remote sensing was defined...conventional remote sensing . Future research directions are suggested, and the extension of remote sensing to include airborne passive microwave

System and method for evaluating wind flow fields using remote sensing devices

DOEpatents

Schroeder, John; Hirth, Brian; Guynes, Jerry

2016-12-13

The present invention provides a system and method for obtaining data to determine one or more characteristics of a wind field using a first remote sensing device and a second remote sensing device. Coordinated data is collected from the first and second remote sensing devices and analyzed to determine the one or more characteristics of the wind field. The first remote sensing device is positioned to have a portion of the wind field within a first scanning sector of the first remote sensing device. The second remote sensing device is positioned to have the portion of the wind field disposed within a second scanning sector of the second remote sensing device.

Merging IceSAT GLAS and Terra MODIS Data in Order to Derive Forest Type Specific Tree Heights in the Central Siberian Boreal Forest

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ranson, K. Jon; Sun, Guoqing; Kimes, Daniel; Kovacs, Katalin; Kharuk, Viatscheslav

2006-01-01

Mapping of boreal forest's type, biomass, and other structural parameters are critical for understanding of the boreal forest's significance in the carbon cycle, its response to and impact on global climate change. We believe the nature of the forest structure information available from MISR and GLAS can be used to help identify forest type, age class, and estimate above ground biomass levels beyond that now possible with MODIS alone. The ground measurements will be used to develop relationships between remote sensing observables and forest characteristics and provide new information for understanding forest changes with respect to environmental change. Lidar is a laser altimeter that determines the distance from the instrument to the physical surface by measuring the time elapsed between the pulse emission and the reflected return. Other studies have shown that the returned signal may identify multiple returns originating from trees, building and other objects and permits the calculation of their height. Studies using field data have shown that lidar data can provide estimates of structural parameters such as biomass, stand volume and leaf area index and allows remarkable differentiation between primary and secondary forest. NASA's IceSAT Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) was launched in January 2003 and collected data during February and September of that year. This study used data acquired over our study sites in central Siberia to examine the GLAS signal as a source of forest height and other structural characteristics. The purpose of our Siberia project is to improve forest cover maps and produce above-ground biomass maps of the boreal forest in Northern Eurasia from MODIS by incorporating structural information inherent in the Terra MISR and ICESAT Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instruments. A number of forest cover classifications exist for the boreal forest. We believe the limiting factor in these products is the lack of structural information, particularly in the vertical dimension. The emphasis of this project is to improve upon satellite maps of boreal forest structure parameters (i.e. height and biomass) using temporal, multi-angle, and vertical profile information of GLAS data. The existing and near future lidar data is useful for demonstrating these techniques and pursuing current estimates. Future lidar missions may be several years in the future, so we will work other new data sets that may aide in biomass estimates such as ALOS PALSAR We will continue this work to produce an accurate map of current above ground forest phytomass/carbon storage possible for the study area. We plan to develop, test, and integrate remote sensing methods for extracting forest canopy structure measures. We are compiling our field measurements and will compare them with the remote sensing methods where possible. We also be able to produce a realistic error bound on the remotely sensed carbon estimates.

Exploring Models and Data for Remote Sensing Image Caption Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Xiaoqiang; Wang, Binqiang; Zheng, Xiangtao; Li, Xuelong

2018-04-01

Inspired by recent development of artificial satellite, remote sensing images have attracted extensive attention. Recently, noticeable progress has been made in scene classification and target detection.However, it is still not clear how to describe the remote sensing image content with accurate and concise sentences. In this paper, we investigate to describe the remote sensing images with accurate and flexible sentences. First, some annotated instructions are presented to better describe the remote sensing images considering the special characteristics of remote sensing images. Second, in order to exhaustively exploit the contents of remote sensing images, a large-scale aerial image data set is constructed for remote sensing image caption. Finally, a comprehensive review is presented on the proposed data set to fully advance the task of remote sensing caption. Extensive experiments on the proposed data set demonstrate that the content of the remote sensing image can be completely described by generating language descriptions. The data set is available at https://github.com/201528014227051/RSICD_optimal

Research on active imaging information transmission technology of satellite borne quantum remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bi, Siwen; Zhen, Ming; Yang, Song; Lin, Xuling; Wu, Zhiqiang

2017-08-01

According to the development and application needs of Remote Sensing Science and technology, Prof. Siwen Bi proposed quantum remote sensing. Firstly, the paper gives a brief introduction of the background of quantum remote sensing, the research status and related researches at home and abroad on the theory, information mechanism and imaging experiments of quantum remote sensing and the production of principle prototype.Then, the quantization of pure remote sensing radiation field, the state function and squeezing effect of quantum remote sensing radiation field are emphasized. It also describes the squeezing optical operator of quantum light field in active imaging information transmission experiment and imaging experiments, achieving 2-3 times higher resolution than that of coherent light detection imaging and completing the production of quantum remote sensing imaging prototype. The application of quantum remote sensing technology can significantly improve both the signal-to-noise ratio of information transmission imaging and the spatial resolution of quantum remote sensing .On the above basis, Prof.Bi proposed the technical solution of active imaging information transmission technology of satellite borne quantum remote sensing, launched researches on its system composition and operation principle and on quantum noiseless amplifying devices, providing solutions and technical basis for implementing active imaging information technology of satellite borne Quantum Remote Sensing.

Vegetation chlorophyll estimates in the Amazon from multi-angle MODIS observations and canopy reflectance model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hilker, Thomas; Galvão, Lênio Soares; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; de Moura, Yhasmin M.; do Amaral, Cibele H.; Lyapustin, Alexei I.; Wu, Jin; Albert, Loren P.; Ferreira, Marciel José; Anderson, Liana O.; dos Santos, Victor A. H. F.; Prohaska, Neill; Tribuzy, Edgard; Barbosa Ceron, João Vitor; Saleska, Scott R.; Wang, Yujie; de Carvalho Gonçalves, José Francisco; de Oliveira Junior, Raimundo Cosme; Cardoso Rodrigues, João Victor Figueiredo; Garcia, Maquelle Neves

2017-06-01

As a preparatory study for future hyperspectral missions that can measure canopy chemistry, we introduce a novel approach to investigate whether multi-angle Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data can be used to generate a preliminary database with long-term estimates of chlorophyll. MODIS monthly chlorophyll estimates between 2000 and 2015, derived from a fully coupled canopy reflectance model (ProSAIL), were inspected for consistency with eddy covariance fluxes, tower-based hyperspectral images and chlorophyll measurements. MODIS chlorophyll estimates from the inverse model showed strong seasonal variations across two flux-tower sites in central and eastern Amazon. Marked increases in chlorophyll concentrations were observed during the early dry season. Remotely sensed chlorophyll concentrations were correlated to field measurements (r2 = 0.73 and r2 = 0.98) but the data deviated from the 1:1 line with root mean square errors (RMSE) ranging from 0.355 μg cm-2 (Tapajós tower) to 0.470 μg cm-2 (Manaus tower). The chlorophyll estimates were consistent with flux tower measurements of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and net ecosystem productivity (NEP). We also applied ProSAIL to mono-angle hyperspectral observations from a camera installed on a tower to scale modeled chlorophyll pigments to MODIS observations (r2 = 0.73). Chlorophyll pigment concentrations (ChlA+B) were correlated to changes in the amount of young and mature leaf area per month (0.59 ≤ r2 ≤ 0.64). Increases in MODIS observed ChlA+B were preceded by increased PAR during the dry season (0.61 ≤ r2 ≤ 0.62) and followed by changes in net carbon uptake. We conclude that, at these two sites, changes in LAI, coupled with changes in leaf chlorophyll, are comparable with seasonality of plant productivity. Our results allowed the preliminary development of a 15-year time series of chlorophyll estimates over the Amazon to support canopy chemistry studies using future hyperspectral sensors.

Introduction to the physics and techniques of remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elachi, Charles

1987-01-01

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the basics behind remote-sensing physics, techniques, and technology. The physics of wave/matter interactions, techniques of remote sensing across the electromagnetic spectrum, and the concepts behind remote sensing techniques now established and future ones under development are discussed. Applications of remote sensing are described for a wide variety of earth and planetary atmosphere and surface sciences. Solid surface sensing across the electromagnetic spectrum, ocean surface sensing, basic principles of atmospheric sensing and radiative transfer, and atmospheric remote sensing in the microwave, millimeter, submillimeter, and infrared regions are examined.

An Overview of SIMBIOS Program Activities and Accomplishments. Chapter 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fargion, Giulietta S.; McClain, Charles R.

2003-01-01

The SIMBIOS Program was conceived in 1994 as a result of a NASA management review of the agency's strategy for monitoring the bio-optical properties of the global ocean through space-based ocean color remote sensing. At that time, the NASA ocean color flight manifest included two data buy missions, the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Earth Observing System (EOS) Color, and three sensors, two Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) and the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR), scheduled for flight on the EOS-Terra and EOS-Aqua satellites. The review led to a decision that the international assemblage of ocean color satellite systems provided ample redundancy to assure continuous global coverage, with no need for the EOS Color mission. At the same time, it was noted that non-trivial technical difficulties attended the challenge (and opportunity) of combining ocean color data from this array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. Thus, it was announced at the October 1994 EOS Interdisciplinary Working Group meeting that some of the resources budgeted for EOS Color should be redirected into an intercalibration and validation program (McClain et al., 2002).

[Thematic Issue: Remote Sensing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howkins, John, Ed.

1978-01-01

Four of the articles in this publication discuss the remote sensing of the Earth and its resources by satellites. Among the topics dealt with are the development and management of remote sensing systems, types of satellites used for remote sensing, the uses of remote sensing, and issues involved in using information obtained through remote…

75 FR 65304 - Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES); Request for Nominations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-22

... Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES); Request for Nominations AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES). SUMMARY: The Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) was... Atmosphere, on matters relating to the U.S. commercial remote sensing industry and NOAA's activities to carry...

Does Management Matter?: Using MISR to Assess the Effects of Charcoal Production and Management on Woodland Regeneration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wurster, K.

2008-12-01

In much of Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 75 percent of a rapidly growing urban population depends on charcoal as their primary source of energy for cooking. The high demand for charcoal has led many to believe that charcoal harvesting catalyzes widespread deforestation. The Senegalese government and international donors have initiated projects within protected areas to combat deforestation and created land management plans to sustainably harvest charcoal. To date, the effects of forest management techniques on forest sustainability are still in question. This research uses a multiphase approach integrating satellite analysis with field surveys to assess the effect of varying forest management strategies on forest regeneration and sustainability after charcoal harvesting. Phase I involved testing the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) satellites capability in detecting structural changes in vegetative cover caused by charcoal harvesting and production. Analysis of the MISR derived k(red) parameter showed MISR can consistently differentiate between forest cover types and successfully differentiates between sites at pre- and post-charcoal harvest stages. Phase II conducted forestry and social surveys comparing and contrasting local effects of land management, land use, and charcoal production on forest regeneration. Phase III uses the local surveys to validate and train the regional remote sensing data to assess the effectiveness of land management in promoting forest regeneration and sustainability after charcoal harvesting. Combining detailed local knowledge with the regional capabilities of MISR provide valuable insight into the factors that control woodland regeneration and sustainability. Preliminary results from phases II and III indicate that both field and remotely sensed variations in forest cover, tree regeneration, and land use change does not vary when compared against land management type. Final results will provide managers with additional information to create more effective land management strategies that can be implemented across sub- Saharan Africa, ensuring the long-term sustainability of woodland ecosystems and local livelihoods.

Remote sensing of smoke, land, and clouds from the NASA ER-2 during SAFARI 2000

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Michael D.; Platnick, Steven; Moeller, Christopher C.; Revercomb, Henry E.; Chu, D. Allen

2003-07-01

The NASA ER-2 aircraft was deployed to southern Africa between 13 August and 25 September 2000 as part of the Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI) 2000. This aircraft carried a sophisticated array of multispectral scanners, multiangle spectroradiometers, a monostatic lidar, a gas correlation radiometer, upward and downward spectral flux radiometers, and two metric mapping cameras. These observations were obtained over a 3200 × 2800 km region of savanna, woody savanna, open shrubland, and grassland ecosystems throughout southern Africa and were quite often coordinated with overflights by NASA's Terra and Landsat 7 satellites. The primary purpose of this high-altitude observing platform was to obtain independent observations of smoke, clouds, and land surfaces that could be used to check the validity of various remote sensing measurements derived by Earth-orbiting satellites. These include such things as the accuracy of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud mask for distinguishing clouds and heavy aerosol from land and ocean surfaces and Terra analyses of cloud optical and microphysical properties, aerosol properties, leaf area index, vegetation index, fire occurrence, carbon monoxide, and surface radiation budget. In addition to coordination with Terra and Landsat 7 satellites, numerous flights were conducted over surface AERONET sites, flux towers in South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia, and in situ aircraft from the University of Washington, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. As a result of this experiment, the MODIS cloud mask was shown to distinguish clouds, cloud shadows, and fires over land ecosystems of southern Africa with a high degree of accuracy. In addition, data acquired from the ER-2 show the vertical distribution and stratification of aerosol layers over the subcontinent and make the first observations of a "blue spike" spectral emission signature associated with air heated by fire advecting over a cooler land surface.

Daily Kilometer-Scale MODIS Satellite Maps of PM2.5 Describe Wintertime Episodes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chatfield, Robert B.; Sorek Hamer, Meytar; Lyapustin, Alexei; Wang, Yujie

2017-01-01

The San Joaquin Valley (SJV) suffers from severe health-endangering episodes of PM2.5 aerosol loadings in wintertime; episodes last approximately 5 days and differ in geographical distribution and composition. PM2.5 stations are scattered; consequently the use of remote sensing to map variable regional patterns of these varying respirable aerosol concentrations is desirable. High-precision AOT retrievals can capture column particulate loading. However,PM2.5 mapping is challenging due to several reasons: particularly thin mixed layers (ML) and thus relatively low aerosol optical thickness (AOT) close to current measurement limits, variable and a typical composition of the aerosols, and complex surface bidirectional reflectance. However, the West does present some advantages in analysis. Air basins are isolated from long-distance transport, and experience predominant strong meteorological subsidence. Thus these Western basin regions have fewer problematic cases of overriding aerosol layers detached from the surface. To counter such local overriding, Chu et al. have described an approach for the Eastern US, and He et al have described a synoptic classification approach useful in Shanghai. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) expands our experience with the use of AOT, with lower PM2.5 and several isolated sub-basins. We have prepared daily maps of episodes in each region. We present also a sequence of increasingly detailed statistical models, AOT initially appears to contribute little information; however, inclusion of weather information reveals its utility. Lyapustin and Wang's MultiAngle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) retrieval for AOT provided the most useful operational remote sensing information for these regions. It provides high (1-km) spatial resolution maps and a high percentage of availability. Empirical regression methods have found that random effects regression models (aka mixed effects models, ME) employing AOT provide good estimates of ground PM2.5 concentrations.Here, we attempt to extend these methods and evaluate the usefulness of AOT with greater physical analysis, based on DISCOVER-AQ4 experience.

Characterization, validation and intercomparison of clumping index maps from POLDER, MODIS, and MISR satellite data over reference sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisek, Jan; He, Liming; Chen, Jing; Govind, Ajit; Sprintsin, Michael; Ryu, Youngryel; Arndt, Stefan; Hocking, Darren; Wardlaw, Timothy; Kuusk, Joel; Oliphant, Andrew; Korhonen, Lauri; Fang, Hongliang; Matteucci, Giorgio; Longdoz, Bernard; Raabe, Kairi

2015-04-01

Vegetation foliage clumping significantly alters its radiation environment and therefore affects vegetation growth as well as water and carbon cycles. The clumping index is useful in ecological and meteorological models because it provides new structural information in addition to the effective leaf area index (LAI) retrieved from mono-angle remote sensing and allows accurate separation of sunlit and shaded leaves in the canopy. Not accounting for the foliage clumping in LAI retrieval algorithms leads to substantial underestimation of actual LAI, especially for needleleaf forests. Normalized Difference between Hotspot and Darkspot (NDHD) index has been previously used to retrieve global clumping index maps from POLarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances (POLDER) data at ~6 km resolution, from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) product at 500 m resolution. Most recently the algorithm was applied with Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) data at 275 m resolution over selected areas. In this presentation we characterize and intercompare the three products over a set of sites representing diverse biomes and different canopy structures. The products are also directly validated with both in-situ vertical profiles and seasonal trajectories of clumping index. We illustrate that the vertical distribution of foliage and especially the effect of understory needs to be taken into account while validating foliage clumping products from remote sensing products with values measured in the field. Satellite measurements respond to the structural effects near the top of canopies, while ground measurements may be biased by the lower vegetation layers. Additionally, caution should be taken regarding the misclassification in land cover maps as their errors can be propagated into the foliage clumping maps. Our results indicate that MODIS data and MISR data with 275 m in particular can provide good quality clumping index estimates at pertinent scales for modeling local carbon and energy fluxes.

Characterization, Validation and Intercomparison of Clumping Index Maps from POLDER, MODIS, and MISR Satellite Data Over Reference Sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisek, J.; He, L.; Chen, J. M.; Govind, A.; Sprintsin, M.; Ryu, Y.; Arndt, S. K.; Hocking, D.; Wardlaw, T.; Kuusk, J.; Oliphant, A. J.; Korhonen, L.; Fang, H.; Matteucci, G.; Longdoz, B.; Raabe, K.

2015-12-01

Vegetation foliage clumping significantly alters its radiation environment and therefore affects vegetation growth as well as water and carbon cycles. The clumping index is useful in ecological and meteorological models because it provides new structural information in addition to the effective leaf area index (LAI) retrieved from mono-angle remote sensing and allows accurate separation of sunlit and shaded leaves in the canopy. Not accounting for the foliage clumping in LAI retrieval algorithms leads to substantial underestimation of actual LAI, especially for needleleaf forests. Normalized Difference between Hotspot and Darkspot (NDHD) index has been previously used to retrieve global clumping index maps from POLarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances (POLDER) data at ~6 km resolution, from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) product at 500 m resolution. Most recently the algorithm was applied with Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) data at 275 m resolution over selected areas. In this presentation we characterize and intercompare the three products over a set of sites representing diverse biomes and different canopy structures. The products are also directly validated with both in-situ vertical profiles and seasonal trajectories of clumping index. We illustrate that the vertical distribution of foliage and especially the effect of understory needs to be taken into account while validating foliage clumping products from remote sensing products with values measured in the field. Satellite measurements respond to the structural effects near the top of canopies, while ground measurements may be biased by the lower vegetation layers. Additionally, caution should be taken regarding the misclassification in land cover maps as their errors can be propagated into the foliage clumping maps. Our results indicate that MODIS data and MISR data with 275 m resolution in particular can provide good quality clumping index estimates at pertinent scales for modeling local carbon and energy fluxes.

Effects of foliage clumping on the estimation of global terrestrial gross primary productivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jing M.; Mo, Gang; Pisek, Jan; Liu, Jane; Deng, Feng; Ishizawa, Misa; Chan, Douglas

2012-03-01

Sunlit and shaded leaf separation proposed by Norman (1982) is an effective way to upscale from leaf to canopy in modeling vegetation photosynthesis. The Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS) makes use of this methodology, and has been shown to be reliable in modeling the gross primary productivity (GPP) derived from CO2flux and tree ring measurements. In this study, we use BEPS to investigate the effect of canopy architecture on the global distribution of GPP. For this purpose, we use not only leaf area index (LAI) but also the first ever global map of the foliage clumping index derived from the multiangle satellite sensor POLDER at 6 km resolution. The clumping index, which characterizes the degree of the deviation of 3-dimensional leaf spatial distributions from the random case, is used to separate sunlit and shaded LAI values for a given LAI. Our model results show that global GPP in 2003 was 132 ± 22 Pg C. Relative to this baseline case, our results also show: (1) global GPP is overestimated by 12% when accurate LAI is available but clumping is ignored, and (2) global GPP is underestimated by 9% when the effective LAI is available and clumping is ignored. The clumping effects in both cases are statistically significant (p < 0.001). The effective LAI is often derived from remote sensing by inverting the measured canopy gap fraction to LAI without considering the clumping. Global GPP would therefore be generally underestimated when remotely sensed LAI (actually effective LAI by our definition) is used. This is due to the underestimation of the shaded LAI and therefore the contribution of shaded leaves to GPP. We found that shaded leaves contribute 50%, 38%, 37%, 39%, 26%, 29% and 21% to the total GPP for broadleaf evergreen forest, broadleaf deciduous forest, evergreen conifer forest, deciduous conifer forest, shrub, C4 vegetation, and other vegetation, respectively. The global average of this ratio is 35%.

A demonstration of adjoint methods for multi-dimensional remote sensing of the atmosphere and surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, William G. K.; Hasekamp, Otto P.

2018-01-01

In previous work, we derived the adjoint method as a computationally efficient path to three-dimensional (3D) retrievals of clouds and aerosols. In this paper we will demonstrate the use of adjoint methods for retrieving two-dimensional (2D) fields of cloud extinction. The demonstration uses a new 2D radiative transfer solver (FSDOM). This radiation code was augmented with adjoint methods to allow efficient derivative calculations needed to retrieve cloud and surface properties from multi-angle reflectance measurements. The code was then used in three synthetic retrieval studies. Our retrieval algorithm adjusts the cloud extinction field and surface albedo to minimize the measurement misfit function with a gradient-based, quasi-Newton approach. At each step we compute the value of the misfit function and its gradient with two calls to the solver FSDOM. First we solve the forward radiative transfer equation to compute the residual misfit with measurements, and second we solve the adjoint radiative transfer equation to compute the gradient of the misfit function with respect to all unknowns. The synthetic retrieval studies verify that adjoint methods are scalable to retrieval problems with many measurements and unknowns. We can retrieve the vertically-integrated optical depth of moderately thick clouds as a function of the horizontal coordinate. It is also possible to retrieve the vertical profile of clouds that are separated by clear regions. The vertical profile retrievals improve for smaller cloud fractions. This leads to the conclusion that cloud edges actually increase the amount of information that is available for retrieving the vertical profile of clouds. However, to exploit this information one must retrieve the horizontally heterogeneous cloud properties with a 2D (or 3D) model. This prototype shows that adjoint methods can efficiently compute the gradient of the misfit function. This work paves the way for the application of similar methods to 3D remote sensing problems.

Resolving the Aerosol Piece of the Global Climate Picture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kahn, R. A.

2017-12-01

Factors affecting our ability to calculate climate forcing and estimate model predictive skill include direct radiative effects of aerosols and their indirect effects on clouds. Several decades of Earth-observing satellite observations have produced a global aerosol column-amount (AOD) record, but an aerosol microphysical property record required for climate and many air quality applications is lacking. Surface-based photometers offer qualitative aerosol-type classification, and several space-based instruments map aerosol air-mass types under favorable conditions. However, aerosol hygroscopicity, mass extinction efficiency (MEE), and quantitative light absorption, must be obtained from in situ measurements. Completing the aerosol piece of the climate picture requires three elements: (1) continuing global AOD and qualitative type mapping from space-based, multi-angle imagers and aerosol vertical distribution from near-source stereo imaging and downwind lidar, (2) systematic, quantitative in situ observations of particle properties unobtainable from space, and (3) continuing transport modeling to connect observations to sources, and extrapolate limited sampling in space and time. At present, the biggest challenges to producing the needed aerosol data record are: filling gaps in particle property observations, maintaining global observing capabilities, and putting the pieces together. Obtaining the PDFs of key particle properties, adequately sampled, is now the leading observational deficiency. One simplifying factor is that, for a given aerosol source and season, aerosol amounts often vary, but particle properties tend to be repeatable. SAM-CAAM (Systematic Aircraft Measurements to Characterize Aerosol Air Masses), a modest aircraft payload deployed frequently could fill this gap, adding value to the entire satellite data record, improving aerosol property assumptions in retrieval algorithms, and providing MEEs to translate between remote-sensing optical constraints and aerosol mass book-kept in climate models [Kahn et al., BAMS 2017]. This will also improve connections between remote-sensing particle types and those defined in models. The third challenge, maintaining global observing capabilities, requires continued community effort and good budgetary fortune.

Literature relevant to remote sensing of water quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Middleton, E. M.; Marcell, R. F.

1983-01-01

References relevant to remote sensing of water quality were compiled, organized, and cross-referenced. The following general categories were included: (1) optical properties and measurement of water characteristics; (2) interpretation of water characteristics by remote sensing, including color, transparency, suspended or dissolved inorganic matter, biological materials, and temperature; (3) application of remote sensing for water quality monitoring; (4) application of remote sensing according to water body type; and (5) manipulation, processing and interpretation of remote sensing digital water data.

Learning Methods of Remote Sensing In the 2013 Curriculum of Secondary School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lili Somantri, Nandi

2016-11-01

The new remote sensing material included in the subjects of geography in the curriculum of 1994. For geography teachers generation of 90s and over who in college do not get the material remote sensing, for teaching is a tough matter. Most teachers only give a theoretical matter, and do not carry out practical reasons in the lack of facilities and infrastructure of computer laboratories. Therefore, in this paper studies the importance about the method or manner of teaching remote sensing material in schools. The purpose of this paper is 1) to explain the position of remote sensing material in the study of geography, 2) analyze the Geography Curriculum 2013 Subjects related to remote sensing material, 3) describes a method of teaching remote sensing material in schools. The method used in this paper is a descriptive analytical study supported by the literature. The conclusion of this paper that the position of remote sensing in the study of geography is a method or a way to obtain spatial data earth's surface. In the 2013 curriculum remote sensing material has been applied to the study of land use and transportation. Remote sensing methods of teaching must go through a practicum, which starts from the introduction of the theory of remote sensing, data extraction phase of remote sensing imagery to produce maps, both visually and digitally, field surveys, interpretation of test accuracy, and improved maps.

JPRS Report, Science & Technology, China, Remote Sensing Systems, Applications.

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-01-17

Partial Contents: Short Introduction to Nation’s Remote Sensing Units, Domestic Airborne Remote - Sensing System, Applications in Monitoring Natural...Disasters, Applications of Imagery From Experimental Satellites Launched in 1985, 1986, Current Status, Future Prospects for Domestic Remote - Sensing -Satellite...Ground Station, and Radar Remote - Sensing Technology Used to Monitor Yellow River Delta,

[A review on polarization information in the remote sensing detection].

PubMed

Gong, Jie-Qiong; Zhan, Hai-Gang; Liu, Da-Zhao

2010-04-01

Polarization is one of the inherent characteristics. Because the surface of the target structure, internal structure, and the angle of incident light are different, the earth's surface and any target in atmosphere under optical interaction process will have their own characteristic nature of polarization. Polarimetric characteristics of radiation energy from the targets are used in polarization remote sensing detection as detective information. Polarization remote sensing detection can get the seven-dimensional information of targets in complicated backgrounds, detect well-resolved outline of targets and low-reflectance region of objectives, and resolve the problems of atmospheric detection and identification camouflage detection which the traditional remote sensing detection can not solve, having good foreground in applications. This paper introduces the development of polarization information in the remote sensing detection from the following four aspects. The rationale of polarization remote sensing detection is the base of polarization remote sensing detection, so it is firstly introduced. Secondly, the present researches on equipments that are used in polarization remote sensing detection are particularly and completely expatiated. Thirdly, the present exploration of theoretical simulation of polarization remote sensing detection is well detailed. Finally, the authors present the applications research home and abroad of the polarization remote sensing detection technique in the fields of remote sensing, atmospheric sounding, sea surface and underwater detection, biology and medical diagnosis, astronomical observation and military, summing up the current problems in polarization remote sensing detection. The development trend of polarization remote sensing detection technology in the future is pointed out in order to provide a reference for similar studies.

Cybernetic Basis and System Practice of Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, X.; Jing, X.; Chen, R.; Ming, Z.; He, L.; Sun, Y.; Sun, X.; Yan, L.

2017-09-01

Cybernetics provides a new set of ideas and methods for the study of modern science, and it has been fully applied in many areas. However, few people have introduced cybernetics into the field of remote sensing. The paper is based on the imaging process of remote sensing system, introducing cybernetics into the field of remote sensing, establishing a space-time closed-loop control theory for the actual operation of remote sensing. The paper made the process of spatial information coherently, and improved the comprehensive efficiency of the space information from acquisition, procession, transformation to application. We not only describes the application of cybernetics in remote sensing platform control, sensor control, data processing control, but also in whole system of remote sensing imaging process control. We achieve the information of output back to the input to control the efficient operation of the entire system. This breakthrough combination of cybernetics science and remote sensing science will improve remote sensing science to a higher level.

Near-earth orbital guidance and remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Powers, W. F.

1972-01-01

The curriculum of a short course in remote sensing and parameter optimization is presented. The subjects discussed are: (1) basics of remote sensing and the user community, (2) multivariant spectral analysis, (3) advanced mathematics and physics of remote sensing, (4) the atmospheric environment, (5) imaging sensing, and (6)nonimaging sensing. Mathematical models of optimization techniques are developed.

Operational programs in forest management and priority in the utilization of remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Douglass, R. W.

1978-01-01

A speech is given on operational remote sensing programs in forest management and the importance of remote sensing in forestry is emphasized. Forest service priorities in using remote sensing are outlined.

Remote sensing, land use, and demography - A look at people through their effects on the land

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paul, C. K.; Landini, A. J.

1976-01-01

Relevant causes of failure by the remote sensing community in the urban scene are analyzed. The reasons for the insignificant role of remote sensing in urban land use data collection are called the law of realism, the incompatibility of remote sensing and urban management system data formats is termed the law of nominal/ordinal systems compatibility, and the land use/population correlation dilemma is referred to as the law of missing persons. The study summarizes the three laws of urban land use information for which violations, avoidance, or ignorance have caused the decline of present remote sensing research. Particular attention is given to the rationale for urban land use information and for remote sensing. It is shown that remote sensing of urban land uses compatible with the three laws can be effectively developed by realizing the 10 percent contribution of remote sensing to urban land use planning data collection.

Thematic Conference on Geologic Remote Sensing, 8th, Denver, CO, Apr. 29-May 2, 1991, Proceedings. Vols. 1 & 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The proceedings contain papers discussing the state-of-the-art exploration, engineering, and environmental applications of geologic remote sensing, along with the research and development activities aimed at increasing the future capabilities of this technology. The following topics are addressed: spectral geology, U.S. and international hydrocarbon exporation, radar and thermal infrared remote sensing, engineering geology and hydrogeology, mineral exploration, remote sensing for marine and environmental applications, image processing and analysis, geobotanical remote sensing, and data integration and geographic information systems. Particular attention is given to spectral alteration mapping with imaging spectrometers, mapping the coastal plain of the Congo with airborne digital radar, applications of remote sensing techniques to the assessment of dam safety, remote sensing of ferric iron minerals as guides for gold exploration, principal component analysis for alteration mappping, and the application of remote sensing techniques for gold prospecting in the north Fujian province.

Methods of training the graduate level and professional geologist in remote sensing technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kolm, K. E.

1981-01-01

Requirements for a basic course in remote sensing to accommodate the needs of the graduate level and professional geologist are described. The course should stress the general topics of basic remote sensing theory, the theory and data types relating to different remote sensing systems, an introduction to the basic concepts of computer image processing and analysis, the characteristics of different data types, the development of methods for geological interpretations, the integration of all scales and data types of remote sensing in a given study, the integration of other data bases (geophysical and geochemical) into a remote sensing study, and geological remote sensing applications. The laboratories should stress hands on experience to reinforce the concepts and procedures presented in the lecture. The geologist should then be encouraged to pursue a second course in computer image processing and analysis of remotely sensed data.

Remote sensing of Earth terrain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kong, J. A.

1993-01-01

Progress report on remote sensing of Earth terrain covering the period from Jan. to June 1993 is presented. Areas of research include: radiative transfer model for active and passive remote sensing of vegetation canopy; polarimetric thermal emission from rough ocean surfaces; polarimetric passive remote sensing of ocean wind vectors; polarimetric thermal emission from periodic water surfaces; layer model with tandom spheriodal scatterers for remote sensing of vegetation canopy; application of theoretical models to active and passive remote sensing of saline ice; radiative transfer theory for polarimetric remote sensing of pine forest; scattering of electromagnetic waves from a dense medium consisting of correlated mie scatterers with size distributions and applications to dry snow; variance of phase fluctuations of waves propagating through a random medium; polarimetric signatures of a canopy of dielectric cylinders based on first and second order vector radiative transfer theory; branching model for vegetation; polarimetric passive remote sensing of periodic surfaces; composite volume and surface scattering model; and radar image classification.

Remote sensing by satellite - Technical and operational implications for international cooperation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doyle, S. E.

1976-01-01

International cooperation in the U.S. Space Program is discussed and related to the NASA program for remote sensing of the earth. Satellite remote sensing techniques are considered along with the selection of the best sensors and wavelength bands. The technology of remote sensing satellites is considered with emphasis on the Landsat system configuration. Future aspects of remote sensing satellites are considered.

Remote sensing in operational range management programs in Western Canada

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, M. D.

1977-01-01

A pilot program carried out in Western Canada to test remote sensing under semi-operational conditions and display its applicability to operational range management programs was described. Four agencies were involved in the program, two in Alberta and two in Manitoba. Each had different objectives and needs for remote sensing within its range management programs, and each was generally unfamiliar with remote sensing techniques and their applications. Personnel with experience and expertise in the remote sensing and range management fields worked with the agency personnel through every phase of the pilot program. Results indicate that these agencies have found remote sensing to be a cost effective tool and will begin to utilize remote sensing in their operational work during ensuing seasons.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH SYMPOSIUM ON REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT; 12, 13, 14 APRIL 1966.

DTIC Science & Technology

The symposium was conducted as part of a continuing program investigating the field of remote sensing , its potential in scientific research and...information on all aspects of remote sensing , with special emphasis on such topics as needs for remotely sensed data, data management, and the special... remote sensing programs, data acquisition, data analysis and application, and equipment design, were presented. (Author)

Remote sensing and image interpretation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lillesand, T. M.; Kiefer, R. W. (Principal Investigator)

1979-01-01

A textbook prepared primarily for use in introductory courses in remote sensing is presented. Topics covered include concepts and foundations of remote sensing; elements of photographic systems; introduction to airphoto interpretation; airphoto interpretation for terrain evaluation; photogrammetry; radiometric characteristics of aerial photographs; aerial thermography; multispectral scanning and spectral pattern recognition; microwave sensing; and remote sensing from space.

Geotechnical applications of remote sensing and remote data transmission; Proceedings of the Symposium, Cocoa Beach, FL, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 1986

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, A.I.; Pettersson, C.B.

1988-01-01

Papers and discussions concerning the geotechnical applications of remote sensing and remote data transmission, sources of remotely sensed data, and glossaries of remote sensing and remote data transmission terms, acronyms, and abbreviations are presented. Aspects of remote sensing use covered include the significance of lineaments and their effects on ground-water systems, waste-site use and geotechnical characterization, the estimation of reservoir submerging losses using CIR aerial photographs, and satellite-based investigation of the significance of surficial deposits for surface mining operations. Other topics presented include the location of potential ground subsidence and collapse features in soluble carbonate rock, optical Fourier analysis ofmore » surface features of interest in geotechnical engineering, geotechnical applications of U.S. Government remote sensing programs, updating the data base for a Geographic Information System, the joint NASA/Geosat Test Case Project, the selection of remote data telemetry methods for geotechnical applications, the standardization of remote sensing data collection and transmission, and a comparison of airborne Goodyear electronic mapping system/SAR with satelliteborne Seasat/SAR radar imagery.« less

Education in Environmental Remote Sensing: Potentials and Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiefer, Ralph W.; Lillesand, Thomas M.

1983-01-01

Discusses remote sensing principles and applications and the status and needs of remote sensing education in the United States. A summary of the fundamental policy issues that will determine remote sensing's future role in environmental and resource managements is included. (Author/BC)

THE EPA REMOTE SENSING ARCHIVE

EPA Science Inventory

What would you do if you were faced with organizing 30 years of remote sensing projects that had been haphazardly stored at two separate locations for years then combined? The EPA Remote Sensing Archive, currently located in Las Vegas, Nevada. contains the remote sensing data and...

Research on remote sensing image pixel attribute data acquisition method in AutoCAD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiaoyang; Sun, Guangtong; Liu, Jun; Liu, Hui

2013-07-01

The remote sensing image has been widely used in AutoCAD, but AutoCAD lack of the function of remote sensing image processing. In the paper, ObjectARX was used for the secondary development tool, combined with the Image Engine SDK to realize remote sensing image pixel attribute data acquisition in AutoCAD, which provides critical technical support for AutoCAD environment remote sensing image processing algorithms.

Bibliography of Remote Sensing Techniques Used in Wetland Research.

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

remote sensing technology for detecting changes in wetland environments. This report documents a bibliographic search conducted as part of that work unit on applications of remote sensing techniques in wetland research. Results were used to guide research efforts on the use of remote sensing technology for wetland change detection and assessment. The citations are presented in three appendixes, organized by wetland type, sensor type, and author.... Change detection, Wetland assessment, Remote sensing ,

Kite Aerial Photography as a Tool for Remote Sensing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallee, Jeff; Meier, Lesley R.

2010-01-01

As humans, we perform remote sensing nearly all the time. This is because we acquire most of our information about our surroundings through the senses of sight and hearing. Whether viewed by the unenhanced eye or a military satellite, remote sensing is observing objects from a distance. With our current technology, remote sensing has become a part…

Remote sensing for detecting and mapping whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) infestations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Remote sensing technology has long been used for detecting insect infestations on agricultural crops. With recent advances in remote sensing sensors and other spatial information technologies such as Global Position Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing is finding mo...

Reflections on Earth--Remote-Sensing Research from Your Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Bruce A.

2001-01-01

Points out the uses of remote sensing in different areas, and introduces the program "Reflections on Earth" which provides access to basic and instructional information on remote sensing to students and teachers. Introduces students to concepts related to remote sensing and measuring distances. (YDS)

Remote-Sensing Practice and Potential

DTIC Science & Technology

1974-05-01

Six essential processes that must be accomplished if use of a remote - sensing system is to result in useful information are defined as problem...to be useful in remote - sensing projects are described. An overview of the current state-of-the-art of remote sensing is presented.

History and future of remote sensing technology and education

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N.

1980-01-01

A historical overview of the discovery and development of photography, related sciences, and remote sensing technology is presented. The role of education to date in the development of remote sensing is discussed. The probable future and potential of remote sensing and training is described.

Ten ways remote sensing can contribute to conservation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rose, Robert A.; Byler, Dirck; Eastman, J. Ron; Fleishman, Erica; Geller, Gary; Goetz, Scott; Guild, Liane; Hamilton, Healy; Hansen, Matt; Headley, Rachel; Hewson, Jennifer; Horning, Ned; Kaplin, Beth A.; Laporte, Nadine; Leidner, Allison K.; Leimgruber, Peter; Morisette, Jeffrey T.; Musinsky, John; Pintea, Lilian; Prados, Ana; Radeloff, Volker C.; Rowen, Mary; Saatchi, Sassan; Schill, Steve; Tabor, Karyn; Turner, Woody; Vodacek, Anthony; Vogelmann, James; Wegmann, Martin; Wilkie, David; Wilson, Cara

2014-01-01

In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners’ use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain-referral survey. We then used a workshop-based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real-time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing-derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts? How does the expansion and intensification of agriculture and aquaculture alter ecosystems and the services they provide? How can remote sensing be used to determine the degree to which ecosystems are being disturbed or degraded and the effects of these changes on species and ecosystem functions?

Ten ways remote sensing can contribute to conservation.

PubMed

Rose, Robert A; Byler, Dirck; Eastman, J Ron; Fleishman, Erica; Geller, Gary; Goetz, Scott; Guild, Liane; Hamilton, Healy; Hansen, Matt; Headley, Rachel; Hewson, Jennifer; Horning, Ned; Kaplin, Beth A; Laporte, Nadine; Leidner, Allison; Leimgruber, Peter; Morisette, Jeffrey; Musinsky, John; Pintea, Lilian; Prados, Ana; Radeloff, Volker C; Rowen, Mary; Saatchi, Sassan; Schill, Steve; Tabor, Karyn; Turner, Woody; Vodacek, Anthony; Vogelmann, James; Wegmann, Martin; Wilkie, David; Wilson, Cara

2015-04-01

In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners' use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain-referral survey. We then used a workshop-based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real-time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing-derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts? How does the expansion and intensification of agriculture and aquaculture alter ecosystems and the services they provide? How can remote sensing be used to determine the degree to which ecosystems are being disturbed or degraded and the effects of these changes on species and ecosystem functions? © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Role of remote sensing in documenting living resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, P. E.; Anderson, R. R.; Brun, B.; Eisenberg, M.; Genys, J. B.; Lear, D. W., Jr.; Miller, M. H.

1978-01-01

Specific cases of known or potentially useful applications of remote sensing in assessing biological resources are discussed. It is concluded that the more usable remote sensing techniques relate to the measurement of population fluctuations in aquatic systems. Sensing of the flora and the fauna of the Bay is considered with emphasis on direct sensing of aquatic plant populations and of water quality. Recommendations for remote sensing projects are given.

Commercial future: making remote sensing a media event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lurie, Ian

1999-12-01

The rapid growth of commercial remote sensing has made high quality digital sensing data widely available -- now, remote sensing must become and remain a strong, commercially viable industry. However, this new industry cannot survive without an educated consumer base. To access markets, remote sensing providers must make their product more accessible, both literally and figuratively: Potential customers must be able to find the data they require, when they require it, and they must understand the utility of the information available to them. The Internet and the World Wide Web offer the perfect medium to educate potential customers and to sell remote sensing data to those customers. A well-designed web presence can provide both an information center and a market place for companies offering their data for sale. A very high potential web-based market for remote sensing lies in media. News agencies, web sites, and a host of other visual media services can use remote sensing data to provide current, relevant information regarding news around the world. This paper will provide a model for promotion and sale of remote sensing data via the Internet.

77 FR 39220 - Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES); Charter Renewal

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-02

... Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES); Charter Renewal AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration... Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) was renewed on March 14, 2012. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In... Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) is in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties...

76 FR 66042 - Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES); Request for Nominations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-25

... Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES); Request for Nominations ACTION: Notice requesting nominations for the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES). SUMMARY: The Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) was established to advise the Secretary of Commerce, through the Under Secretary...

An introduction to quantitative remote sensing. [data processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindenlaub, J. C.; Russell, J.

1974-01-01

The quantitative approach to remote sensing is discussed along with the analysis of remote sensing data. Emphasis is placed on the application of pattern recognition in numerically oriented remote sensing systems. A common background and orientation for users of the LARS computer software system is provided.

Remote Sensing of Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation: A Review from the Perspective of Remote Sensing Specialists

PubMed Central

Wang, Kai; Franklin, Steven E.; Guo, Xulin; Cattet, Marc

2010-01-01

Remote sensing, the science of obtaining information via noncontact recording, has swept the fields of ecology, biodiversity and conservation (EBC). Several quality review papers have contributed to this field. However, these papers often discuss the issues from the standpoint of an ecologist or a biodiversity specialist. This review focuses on the spaceborne remote sensing of EBC from the perspective of remote sensing specialists, i.e., it is organized in the context of state-of-the-art remote sensing technology, including instruments and techniques. Herein, the instruments to be discussed consist of high spatial resolution, hyperspectral, thermal infrared, small-satellite constellation, and LIDAR sensors; and the techniques refer to image classification, vegetation index (VI), inversion algorithm, data fusion, and the integration of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS). PMID:22163432

Remote sensing of ecology, biodiversity and conservation: a review from the perspective of remote sensing specialists.

PubMed

Wang, Kai; Franklin, Steven E; Guo, Xulin; Cattet, Marc

2010-01-01

Remote sensing, the science of obtaining information via noncontact recording, has swept the fields of ecology, biodiversity and conservation (EBC). Several quality review papers have contributed to this field. However, these papers often discuss the issues from the standpoint of an ecologist or a biodiversity specialist. This review focuses on the spaceborne remote sensing of EBC from the perspective of remote sensing specialists, i.e., it is organized in the context of state-of-the-art remote sensing technology, including instruments and techniques. Herein, the instruments to be discussed consist of high spatial resolution, hyperspectral, thermal infrared, small-satellite constellation, and LIDAR sensors; and the techniques refer to image classification, vegetation index (VI), inversion algorithm, data fusion, and the integration of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS).

Remote Sensing and Reflectance Profiling in Entomology.

PubMed

Nansen, Christian; Elliott, Norman

2016-01-01

Remote sensing describes the characterization of the status of objects and/or the classification of their identity based on a combination of spectral features extracted from reflectance or transmission profiles of radiometric energy. Remote sensing can be benchtop based, and therefore acquired at a high spatial resolution, or airborne at lower spatial resolution to cover large areas. Despite important challenges, airborne remote sensing technologies will undoubtedly be of major importance in optimized management of agricultural systems in the twenty-first century. Benchtop remote sensing applications are becoming important in insect systematics and in phenomics studies of insect behavior and physiology. This review highlights how remote sensing influences entomological research by enabling scientists to nondestructively monitor how individual insects respond to treatments and ambient conditions. Furthermore, novel remote sensing technologies are creating intriguing interdisciplinary bridges between entomology and disciplines such as informatics and electrical engineering.

Remote Sensing in Geography in the New Millennium: Prospects, Challenges, and Opportunities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Jensen, John R.; Morain, Stanley A.; Walsh, Stephen J.; Ridd, Merrill K.

1999-01-01

Remote sensing science contributes greatly to our understanding of the Earth's ecosystems and cultural landscapes. Almost all the natural and social sciences, including geography, rely heavily on remote sensing to provide quantitative, and indispensable spatial information. Many geographers have made significant contributions to remote sensing science since the 1970s, including the specification of advanced remote sensing systems, improvements in analog and digital image analysis, biophysical modeling, and terrain analysis. In fact, the Remote Sensing Specialty Group (RSSG) is one of the largest specialty groups within the AAG with over 500 members. Remote sensing in concert with a geographic information systems, offers much value to geography as both an incisive spatial-analytical tool and as a scholarly pursuit that adds to the body of geographic knowledge on the whole. The "power" of remote sensing as a research endeavor in geography lies in its capabilities for obtaining synoptic, near-real time data at many spatial and temporal scales, and in many regions of the electromagnetic spectrum - from microwave, to RADAR, to visible, and reflective and thermal infrared. In turn, these data present a vast compendium of information for assessing Earth attributes and characte6stics that are at the very core of geography. Here we revisit how remote sensing has become a fundamental and important tool for geographical research, and how with the advent of new and improved sensing systems to be launched in the near future, remote sensing will further advance geographical analysis in the approaching New Millennium.

Agricultural Production Monitoring in the Sahel Using Remote Sensing: Present Possibilities and Research Needs

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

during the agricultural season. Satellite remote sensing can contribute significantly to such a system by collecting information on crops and on...well as techniques to derive biophysical variables from remotely-sensed data. Finally, the integration of these remote - sensing techniques with crop

Method of determining forest production from remotely sensed forest parameters

DOEpatents

Corey, J.C.; Mackey, H.E. Jr.

1987-08-31

A method of determining forest production entirely from remotely sensed data in which remotely sensed multispectral scanner (MSS) data on forest 5 composition is combined with remotely sensed radar imaging data on forest stand biophysical parameters to provide a measure of forest production. A high correlation has been found to exist between the remotely sensed radar imaging data and on site measurements of biophysical 10 parameters such as stand height, diameter at breast height, total tree height, mean area per tree, and timber stand volume.

Removal of Surface-Reflected Light for the Measurement of Remote-Sensing Reflectance from an Above-Surface Platform

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

remote - sensing reflectance) can be highly inaccurate if a spectrally constant value is applied (although errors can be reduced by carefully filtering measured raw data). To remove surface-reflected light in field measurements of remote sensing reflectance, a spectral optimization approach was applied, with results compared with those from remote sensing models and from direct measurements. The agreement from different determinations suggests that reasonable results for remote sensing reflectance of clear

Removal of Surface-Reflected Light for the Measurement of Remote-Sensing Reflectance from an Above-Surface Platform

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-06

remote - sensing reflectance) can be highly inaccurate if a spectrally constant value is applied (although errors can be reduced by carefully filtering measured raw data). To remove surface-reflected light in field measurements of remote sensing reflectance, a spectral optimization approach was applied, with results compared with those from remote sensing models and from direct measurements. The agreement from different determinations suggests that reasonable results for remote sensing reflectance of clear

Field Data Collection: an Essential Element in Remote Sensing Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pettinger, L. R.

1971-01-01

Field data collected in support of remote sensing projects are generally used for the following purposes: (1) calibration of remote sensing systems, (2) evaluation of experimental applications of remote sensing imagery on small test sites, and (3) designing and evaluating operational regional resource studies and inventories which are conducted using the remote sensing imagery obtained. Field data may be used to help develop a technique for a particular application, or to aid in the application of that technique to a resource evaluation or inventory problem for a large area. Scientists at the Forestry Remote Sensing Laboratory have utilized field data for both purposes. How meaningful field data has been collected in each case is discussed.

Remote sensing and eLearning 2.0 for school education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voss, Kerstin; Goetzke, Roland; Hodam, Henryk

2010-10-01

The "Remote Sensing in Schools" project aims at improving the integration of "Satellite remote sensing" into school teaching. Therefore, it is the project's overall objective to teach students in primary and secondary schools the basics and fields of application of remote sensing. Existing results show that many teachers are interested in remote sensing and at same time motivated to integrate it into their teaching. Despite the good intention, in the end, the implementation often fails due to the complexity and poor set-up of the information provided. Therefore, a comprehensive and well-structured learning platform on the topic of remote sensing is developed. The platform shall allow a structured introduction to the topic.

Remote sensing programs and courses in engineering and water resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiefer, R. W.

1981-01-01

The content of typical basic and advanced remote sensing and image interpretation courses are described and typical remote sensing graduate programs of study in civil engineering and in interdisciplinary environmental remote sensing and water resources management programs are outlined. Ideally, graduate programs with an emphasis on remote sensing and image interpretation should be built around a core of five courses: (1) a basic course in fundamentals of remote sensing upon which the more specialized advanced remote sensing courses can build; (2) a course dealing with visual image interpretation; (3) a course dealing with quantitative (computer-based) image interpretation; (4) a basic photogrammetry course; and (5) a basic surveying course. These five courses comprise up to one-half of the course work required for the M.S. degree. The nature of other course work and thesis requirements vary greatly, depending on the department in which the degree is being awarded.

Remote sensing research in geographic education: An alternative view

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, H.; Cary, T. K.; Goward, S. N.

1981-01-01

It is noted that within many geography departments remote sensing is viewed as a mere technique a student should learn in order to carry out true geographic research. This view inhibits both students and faculty from investigation of remotely sensed data as a new source of geographic knowledge that may alter our understanding of the Earth. The tendency is for geographers to accept these new data and analysis techniques from engineers and mathematicians without questioning the accompanying premises. This black-box approach hinders geographic applications of the new remotely sensed data and limits the geographer's contribution to further development of remote sensing observation systems. It is suggested that geographers contribute to the development of remote sensing through pursuit of basic research. This research can be encouraged, particularly among students, by demonstrating the links between geographic theory and remotely sensed observations, encouraging a healthy skepticism concerning the current understanding of these data.

Research on assessment and improvement method of remote sensing image reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Li; Hua, Nian; Yu, Yanbo; Zhao, Zhanping

2018-01-01

Remote sensing image quality assessment and improvement is an important part of image processing. Generally, the use of compressive sampling theory in remote sensing imaging system can compress images while sampling which can improve efficiency. A method of two-dimensional principal component analysis (2DPCA) is proposed to reconstruct the remote sensing image to improve the quality of the compressed image in this paper, which contain the useful information of image and can restrain the noise. Then, remote sensing image quality influence factors are analyzed, and the evaluation parameters for quantitative evaluation are introduced. On this basis, the quality of the reconstructed images is evaluated and the different factors influence on the reconstruction is analyzed, providing meaningful referential data for enhancing the quality of remote sensing images. The experiment results show that evaluation results fit human visual feature, and the method proposed have good application value in the field of remote sensing image processing.

Unmanned aerial vehicle: A unique platform for low-altitude remote sensing for crop management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) provide a unique platform for remote sensing to monitor crop fields that complements remote sensing from satellite, aircraft and ground-based platforms. The UAV-based remote sensing is versatile at ultra-low altitude to be able to provide an ultra-high-resolution imag...

Application of the remote-sensing communication model to a time-sensitive wildfire remote-sensing system

Treesearch

Christopher D. Lippitt; Douglas A. Stow; Philip J. Riggan

2016-01-01

Remote sensing for hazard response requires a priori identification of sensor, transmission, processing, and distribution methods to permit the extraction of relevant information in timescales sufficient to allow managers to make a given time-sensitive decision. This study applies and demonstrates the utility of the Remote Sensing Communication...

75 FR 32360 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Licensing of Private Remote-Sensing Space Systems

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-08

... Collection; Comment Request; Licensing of Private Remote-Sensing Space Systems AGENCY: National Oceanic and.... Abstract NOAA has established requirements for the licensing of private operators of remote-sensing space... Land Remote- Sensing Policy Act of 1992 and with the national security and international obligations of...

78 FR 44536 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Licensing of Private Remote-Sensing Space Systems

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-24

... Collection; Comment Request; Licensing of Private Remote-Sensing Space Systems AGENCY: National Oceanic and... for the licensing of private operators of remote-sensing space systems. The information in applications and subsequent reports is needed to ensure compliance with the Land Remote- Sensing Policy Act of...

Advancement of China’s Visible Light Remote Sensing Technology In Aerospace,

DTIC Science & Technology

1996-03-19

Aerospace visible light film systems were among the earliest space remote sensing systems to be developed in China. They have been applied very well...makes China the third nation in the world to master space remote sensing technology, it also puts recoverable remote sensing satellites among the first

Polarimetric passive remote sensing of periodic surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Veysoglu, Murat E.; Yueh, H. A.; Shin, R. T.; Kong, J. A.

1991-01-01

The concept of polarimetry in active remote sensing is extended to passive remote sensing. The potential use of the third and fourth Stokes parameters U and V, which play an important role in polarimetric active remote sensing, is demonstrated for passive remote sensing. It is shown that, by the use of the reciprocity principle, the polarimetric parameters of passive remote sensing can be obtained through the solution of the associated direct scattering problem. These ideas are applied to study polarimetric passive remote sensing of periodic surfaces. The solution of the direct scattering problem is obtained by an integral equation formulation which involves evaluation of periodic Green's functions and normal derivative of those on the surface. Rapid evaluation of the slowly convergent series associated with these functions is observed to be critical for the feasibility of the method. New formulas, which are rapidly convergent, are derived for the calculation of these series. The study has shown that the brightness temperature of the Stokes parameter U can be significant in passive remote sensing. Values as high as 50 K are observed for certain configurations.

From planets to crops and back: Remote sensing makes sense

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mustard, John F.

2017-04-01

Remotely sensed data and the instruments that acquire them are core parts of Earth and planetary observation systems. They are used to quantify the Earth's interconnected systems, and remote sensing is the only way to get a daily, or more frequent, snapshot of the status of the Earth. It really is the Earth's stethoscope. In a similar manner remote sensing is the rock hammer of the planetary scientist and the only way comprehensive data sets can be acquired. To risk offending many remotely sensed data acquired across the electromagnetic spectrum, it is the tricorder to explore known and unknown planets. Arriving where we are today in the use of remotely sensed data in the solar system has been a continually evolving synergy between Earth observation, planetary exploration, and fundamental laboratory work.

Remote sensing of on-road vehicle emissions: Mechanism, applications and a case study from Hong Kong

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Yuhan; Organ, Bruce; Zhou, John L.; Surawski, Nic C.; Hong, Guang; Chan, Edward F. C.; Yam, Yat Shing

2018-06-01

Vehicle emissions are a major contributor to air pollution in cities and have serious health impacts to their inhabitants. On-road remote sensing is an effective and economic tool to monitor and control vehicle emissions. In this review, the mechanism, accuracy, advantages and limitations of remote sensing were introduced. Then the applications and major findings of remote sensing were critically reviewed. It was revealed that the emission distribution of on-road vehicles was highly skewed so that the dirtiest 10% vehicles accounted for over half of the total fleet emissions. Such findings highlighted the importance and effectiveness of using remote sensing for in situ identification of high-emitting vehicles for further inspection and maintenance programs. However, the accuracy and number of vehicles affected by screening programs were greatly dependent on the screening criteria. Remote sensing studies showed that the emissions of gasoline and diesel vehicles were significantly reduced in recent years, with the exception of NOx emissions of diesel vehicles in spite of greatly tightened automotive emission regulations. Thirdly, the experience and issues of using remote sensing for identifying high-emitting vehicles in Hong Kong (where remote sensing is a legislative instrument for enforcement purposes) were reported. That was followed by the first time ever identification and discussion of the issue of frequent false detection of diesel high-emitters using remote sensing. Finally, the challenges and future research directions of on-road remote sensing were elaborated.

Remote sensing of natural resources: Quarterly literature review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

A quarterly review of technical literature concerning remote sensing techniques is presented. The format contains indexed and abstracted materials with emphasis on data gathering techniques performed or obtained remotely from space, aircraft, or ground-based stations. Remote sensor applications including the remote sensing of natural resources are presented.

Time Series Remote Sensing in Monitoring the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Plant Invasions: A Study of Invasive Saltcedar (Tamarix Spp.)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diao, Chunyuan

In today's big data era, the increasing availability of satellite and airborne platforms at various spatial and temporal scales creates unprecedented opportunities to understand the complex and dynamic systems (e.g., plant invasion). Time series remote sensing is becoming more and more important to monitor the earth system dynamics and interactions. To date, most of the time series remote sensing studies have been conducted with the images acquired at coarse spatial scale, due to their relatively high temporal resolution. The construction of time series at fine spatial scale, however, is limited to few or discrete images acquired within or across years. The objective of this research is to advance the time series remote sensing at fine spatial scale, particularly to shift from discrete time series remote sensing to continuous time series remote sensing. The objective will be achieved through the following aims: 1) Advance intra-annual time series remote sensing under the pure-pixel assumption; 2) Advance intra-annual time series remote sensing under the mixed-pixel assumption; 3) Advance inter-annual time series remote sensing in monitoring the land surface dynamics; and 4) Advance the species distribution model with time series remote sensing. Taking invasive saltcedar as an example, four methods (i.e., phenological time series remote sensing model, temporal partial unmixing method, multiyear spectral angle clustering model, and time series remote sensing-based spatially explicit species distribution model) were developed to achieve the objectives. Results indicated that the phenological time series remote sensing model could effectively map saltcedar distributions through characterizing the seasonal phenological dynamics of plant species throughout the year. The proposed temporal partial unmixing method, compared to conventional unmixing methods, could more accurately estimate saltcedar abundance within a pixel by exploiting the adequate temporal signatures of saltcedar. The multiyear spectral angle clustering model could guide the selection of the most representative remotely sensed image for repetitive saltcedar mapping over space and time. Through incorporating spatial autocorrelation, the species distribution model developed in the study could identify the suitable habitats of saltcedar at a fine spatial scale and locate appropriate areas at high risk of saltcedar infestation. Among 10 environmental variables, the distance to the river and the phenological attributes summarized by the time series remote sensing were regarded as the most important. These methods developed in the study provide new perspectives on how the continuous time series can be leveraged under various conditions to investigate the plant invasion dynamics.

UAV-based urban structural damage assessment using object-based image analysis and semantic reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez Galarreta, J.; Kerle, N.; Gerke, M.

2015-06-01

Structural damage assessment is critical after disasters but remains a challenge. Many studies have explored the potential of remote sensing data, but limitations of vertical data persist. Oblique imagery has been identified as more useful, though the multi-angle imagery also adds a new dimension of complexity. This paper addresses damage assessment based on multi-perspective, overlapping, very high resolution oblique images obtained with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). 3-D point-cloud assessment for the entire building is combined with detailed object-based image analysis (OBIA) of façades and roofs. This research focuses not on automatic damage assessment, but on creating a methodology that supports the often ambiguous classification of intermediate damage levels, aiming at producing comprehensive per-building damage scores. We identify completely damaged structures in the 3-D point cloud, and for all other cases provide the OBIA-based damage indicators to be used as auxiliary information by damage analysts. The results demonstrate the usability of the 3-D point-cloud data to identify major damage features. Also the UAV-derived and OBIA-processed oblique images are shown to be a suitable basis for the identification of detailed damage features on façades and roofs. Finally, we also demonstrate the possibility of aggregating the multi-perspective damage information at building level.

Forest mensuration with remote sensing: A retrospective and a vision for the future

Treesearch

Randolph H. Wynne

2004-01-01

Remote sensing, while occasionally oversold, has clear potential to reduce the overall cost of traditional forest inventories. Perhaps most important, some of the information needed for more intensive, rather than extensive, forest management is available from remote sensing. These new information needs may justify increased use and the increased cost of remote sensing...

15 CFR 960.12 - Data policy for remote sensing space systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Data policy for remote sensing space... REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.12 Data policy for remote sensing space systems. (a) In accordance with the Act, if the U.S. Government...

Remote Sensing: Analyzing Satellite Images to Create Higher Order Thinking Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marks, Steven K.; And Others

1996-01-01

Presents a unit that uses remote-sensing images from satellites and other spacecraft to provide new perspectives of the earth and generate greater global awareness. Relates the levels of Bloom's hierarchy to different aspects of the remote sensing unit to confirm that the concepts and principles of remote sensing and related images belong in…

15 CFR 960.12 - Data policy for remote sensing space systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Data policy for remote sensing space... REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.12 Data policy for remote sensing space systems. (a) In accordance with the Act, if the U.S. Government...

15 CFR 960.12 - Data policy for remote sensing space systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Data policy for remote sensing space... REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.12 Data policy for remote sensing space systems. (a) In accordance with the Act, if the U.S. Government...

15 CFR 960.12 - Data policy for remote sensing space systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Data policy for remote sensing space... REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.12 Data policy for remote sensing space systems. (a) In accordance with the Act, if the U.S. Government...

15 CFR 960.12 - Data policy for remote sensing space systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Data policy for remote sensing space... REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.12 Data policy for remote sensing space systems. (a) In accordance with the Act, if the U.S. Government...

Annotated bibliography of remote sensing methods for monitoring desertification

USGS Publications Warehouse

Walker, A.S.; Robinove, Charles J.

1981-01-01

Remote sensing techniques are valuable for locating, assessing, and monitoring desertification. Remotely sensed data provide a permanent record of the condition of the land in a format that allows changes in land features and condition to be measured. The annotated bibliography of 118 items discusses remote sensing methods that may be applied to desertification studies.

Applied Remote Sensing Program (ARSP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, J. D.; Foster, K. E.; Mouat, D. A.; Miller, D. A.; Conn, J. S.

1976-01-01

The activities and accomplishments of the Applied Remote Sensing Program during FY 1975-1976 are reported. The principal objective of the Applied Remote Sensing Program continues to be designed projects having specific decision-making impacts as a principal goal. These projects are carried out in cooperation and collaboration with local, state and federal agencies whose responsibilities lie with planning, zoning and environmental monitoring and/or assessment in the application of remote sensing techniques. The end result of the projects is the use by the involved agencies of remote sensing techniques in problem solving.

Communicating remote sensing concepts in an interdisciplinary environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chung, R.

1981-01-01

Although remote sensing is currently multidisciplinary in its applications, many of its terms come from the engineering sciences, particularly from the field of pattern recognition. Scholars from fields such as the social sciences, botany, and biology, may experience initial difficulty with remote sensing terminology, even though parallel concepts exist in their own fields. Some parallel concepts and terminologies from nonengineering fields, which might enhance the understanding of remote sensing concepts in an interdisciplinary situation are identified. Feedbacks which this analogue strategy might have on remote sensing itself are explored.

People, Places and Pixels: Remote Sensing in the Service of Society

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lulla, Kamlesh

2003-01-01

What is the role of Earth remote sensing and other geospatial technologies in our society? Recent global events have brought into focus the role of geospatial science and technology such as remote sensing, GIS, GPS in assisting the professionals who are responsible for operations such as rescue and recovery of sites after a disaster or a terrorist act. This paper reviews the use of recent remote sensing products from satellites such as IKONOS in these efforts. Aerial and satellite imagery used in land mine detection has been evaluated and the results of this evaluation will be discussed. Synopsis of current and future ISS Earth Remote Sensing capabilities will be provided. The role of future missions in humanitarian use of remote sensing will be explored.

The application of remote sensing techniques to the study of ophiolites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Shuhab D.; Mahmood, Khalid

2008-08-01

Satellite remote sensing methods are a powerful tool for detailed geologic analysis, especially in inaccessible regions of the earth's surface. Short-wave infrared (SWIR) bands are shown to provide spectral information bearing on the lithologic, structural, and geochemical character of rock bodies such as ophiolites, allowing for a more comprehensive assessment of the lithologies present, their stratigraphic relationships, and geochemical character. Most remote sensing data are widely available for little or no cost, along with user-friendly software for non-specialists. In this paper we review common remote sensing systems and methods that allow for the discrimination of solid rock (lithologic) components of ophiolite complexes and their structural relationships. Ophiolites are enigmatic rock bodies which associated with most, if not all, plate collision sutures. Ophiolites are ideal for remote sensing given their widely recognized diversity of lithologic types and structural relationships. Accordingly, as a basis for demonstrating the utility of remote sensing techniques, we briefly review typical ophiolites in the Tethyan tectonic belt. As a case study, we apply integrated remote sensing studies of a well-studied example, the Muslim Bagh ophiolite, located in Balochistan, western Pakistan. On this basis, we attempt to demonstrate how remote sensing data can validate and reconcile existing information obtained from field studies. The lithologic and geochemical diversity of Muslim Bagh are representative of Tethyan ophiolites. Despite it's remote location it has been extensively mapped and characterized by structural and geochemical studies, and is virtually free of vegetative cover. Moreover, integrating the remote sensing data with 'ground truth' information thus offers the potential of an improved template for interpreting remote sensing data sets of other ophiolites for which little or no field information is available.

Remote Sensing and Remote Control Activities in Europe and America: Part 2--Remote Sensing Ground Stations in Europe,

DTIC Science & Technology

1996-04-08

Development tasks and products of remote sensing ground stations in Europe are represented by the In-Sec Corporation and the Schlumberger Industries Corporation. The article presents the main products of these two corporations.

[Estimation of desert vegetation coverage based on multi-source remote sensing data].

PubMed

Wan, Hong-Mei; Li, Xia; Dong, Dao-Rui

2012-12-01

Taking the lower reaches of Tarim River in Xinjiang of Northwest China as study areaAbstract: Taking the lower reaches of Tarim River in Xinjiang of Northwest China as study area and based on the ground investigation and the multi-source remote sensing data of different resolutions, the estimation models for desert vegetation coverage were built, with the precisions of different estimation methods and models compared. The results showed that with the increasing spatial resolution of remote sensing data, the precisions of the estimation models increased. The estimation precision of the models based on the high, middle-high, and middle-low resolution remote sensing data was 89.5%, 87.0%, and 84.56%, respectively, and the precisions of the remote sensing models were higher than that of vegetation index method. This study revealed the change patterns of the estimation precision of desert vegetation coverage based on different spatial resolution remote sensing data, and realized the quantitative conversion of the parameters and scales among the high, middle, and low spatial resolution remote sensing data of desert vegetation coverage, which would provide direct evidence for establishing and implementing comprehensive remote sensing monitoring scheme for the ecological restoration in the study area.

Grid workflow validation using ontology-based tacit knowledge: A case study for quantitative remote sensing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jia; Liu, Longli; Xue, Yong; Dong, Jing; Hu, Yingcui; Hill, Richard; Guang, Jie; Li, Chi

2017-01-01

Workflow for remote sensing quantitative retrieval is the ;bridge; between Grid services and Grid-enabled application of remote sensing quantitative retrieval. Workflow averts low-level implementation details of the Grid and hence enables users to focus on higher levels of application. The workflow for remote sensing quantitative retrieval plays an important role in remote sensing Grid and Cloud computing services, which can support the modelling, construction and implementation of large-scale complicated applications of remote sensing science. The validation of workflow is important in order to support the large-scale sophisticated scientific computation processes with enhanced performance and to minimize potential waste of time and resources. To research the semantic correctness of user-defined workflows, in this paper, we propose a workflow validation method based on tacit knowledge research in the remote sensing domain. We first discuss the remote sensing model and metadata. Through detailed analysis, we then discuss the method of extracting the domain tacit knowledge and expressing the knowledge with ontology. Additionally, we construct the domain ontology with Protégé. Through our experimental study, we verify the validity of this method in two ways, namely data source consistency error validation and parameters matching error validation.

An Approach of Registration between Remote Sensing Image and Electronic Chart Based on Coastal Line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ying; Yu, Shuiming; Li, Chuanlong

Remote sensing plays an important role marine oil spill emergency. In order to implement a timely and effective countermeasure, it is important to provide exact position of oil spills. Therefore it is necessary to match remote sensing image and electronic chart properly. Variance ordinarily exists between oil spill image and electronic chart, although geometric correction is applied to remote sensing image. It is difficult to find the steady control points on sea to make exact rectification of remote sensing image. An improved relaxation algorithm was developed for finding the control points along the coastline since oil spills occurs generally near the coast. A conversion function is created with the least square, and remote sensing image can be registered with the vector map based on this function. SAR image was used as the remote sensing data and shape format map as the electronic chart data. The results show that this approach can guarantee the precision of the registration, which is essential for oil spill monitoring.

The U.S. Geological Survey land remote sensing program

USGS Publications Warehouse

Saunders, T.; Feuquay, J.; Kelmelis, J.A.

2003-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey has been a provider of remotely sensed information for decades. As the availability and use of satellite data has grown, USGS has placed increasing emphasis on expanding the knowledge about the science of remote sensing and on making remotely sensed data more accessible. USGS encourages widespread availability and distribution of these data and through its programs, encourages and enables a variety of research activities and the development of useful applications of the data. The science of remote sensing has great potential for assisting in the monitoring and assessment of the impacts of natural disasters, management and analysis of environmental, biological, energy, and mineral investigations, and supporting informed public policy decisions. By establishing the Land Remote Sensing Program (LRS) as a major unit of the USGS Geography Program, USGS has taken the next step to further increase support for the accessibility, understanding, and use of remotely sensed data. This article describes the LRS Program, its mission and objectives, and how the program has been structured to accomplish its goals.

Microwave Remote Sensing Modeling of Ocean Surface Salinity and Winds Using an Empirical Sea Surface Spectrum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yueh, Simon H.

2004-01-01

Active and passive microwave remote sensing techniques have been investigated for the remote sensing of ocean surface wind and salinity. We revised an ocean surface spectrum using the CMOD-5 geophysical model function (GMF) for the European Remote Sensing (ERS) C-band scatterometer and the Ku-band GMF for the NASA SeaWinds scatterometer. The predictions of microwave brightness temperatures from this model agree well with satellite, aircraft and tower-based microwave radiometer data. This suggests that the impact of surface roughness on microwave brightness temperatures and radar scattering coefficients of sea surfaces can be consistently characterized by a roughness spectrum, providing physical basis for using combined active and passive remote sensing techniques for ocean surface wind and salinity remote sensing.

Online catalog access and distribution of remotely sensed information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lutton, Stephen M.

1997-09-01

Remote sensing is providing voluminous data and value added information products. Electronic sensors, communication electronics, computer software, hardware, and network communications technology have matured to the point where a distributed infrastructure for remotely sensed information is a reality. The amount of remotely sensed data and information is making distributed infrastructure almost a necessity. This infrastructure provides data collection, archiving, cataloging, browsing, processing, and viewing for applications from scientific research to economic, legal, and national security decision making. The remote sensing field is entering a new exciting stage of commercial growth and expansion into the mainstream of government and business decision making. This paper overviews this new distributed infrastructure and then focuses on describing a software system for on-line catalog access and distribution of remotely sensed information.

Remote Sensing and the Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osmers, Karl

1991-01-01

Suggests using remote sensing technology to help students make sense of the natural world. Explains that satellite information allows observation of environmental changes over time. Identifies possible student projects based on remotely sensed data. Recommends obtaining the assistance of experts and seeking funding through effective project…

Use of remote sensing in agriculture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pettry, D. E.; Powell, N. L.; Newhouse, M. E.

1974-01-01

Remote sensing studies in Virginia and Chesapeake Bay areas to investigate soil and plant conditions via remote sensing technology are reported ant the results given. Remote sensing techniques and interactions are also discussed. Specific studies on the effects of soil moisture and organic matter on energy reflection of extensively occurring Sassafras soils are discussed. Greenhouse and field studies investigating the effects of chlorophyll content of Irish potatoes on infrared reflection are presented. Selected ground truth and environmental monitoring data are shown in summary form. Practical demonstrations of remote sensing technology in agriculture are depicted and future use areas are delineated.

Applications of remote sensing to watershed management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rango, A.

1975-01-01

Aircraft and satellite remote sensing systems which are capable of contributing to watershed management are described and include: the multispectral scanner subsystem on LANDSAT and the basic multispectral camera array flown on high altitude aircraft such as the U-2. Various aspects of watershed management investigated by remote sensing systems are discussed. Major areas included are: snow mapping, surface water inventories, flood management, hydrologic land use monitoring, and watershed modeling. It is indicated that technological advances in remote sensing of hydrological data must be coupled with an expansion of awareness and training in remote sensing techniques of the watershed management community.

NASA Glenn OHIOVIEW FY01/02 Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

The results of the research performed by the university principal investigators are herein compiled. OhioView's general goals were: 1) To increase remote sensing education for Ohio s undergraduate and graduate students, and also enhancing curriculum in the mathematics and science for K-12 students using the capabilities of remote sensing; 2) To conduct advanced research to develop novel remote sensing applications, i.e. to turn data into information for more applications; 3) To maximize the use of remote sensing technology by the general public through outreach and the development of tools for more user-friendly access to remote sensing data.

The availability of conventional forms of remotely sensed data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sturdevant, James A.; Holm, Thomas M.

1982-01-01

For decades Federal and State agencies have been collecting aerial photographs of various film types and scales over parts of the United States. More recently, worldwide Earth resources data acquired by orbiting satellites have inundated the remote sensing community. Determining the types of remotely sensed data that are publicly available can be confusing to the land-resource manager, planner, and scientist. This paper is a summary of the more commonly used types of remotely sensed data (aircraft and satellite) and their public availability. Special emphasis is placed on the National High-Altitude Photography (NHAP) program and future remote-sensing satellites.

NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) Webinar Series

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2016-07-12

NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) Webinar Series Tuesday, July 12, 2016 ... you of a free training opportunity: Introduction to Remote Sensing for Air Quality Applications Webinar Series Beginning in ...

Tropospheric Passive Remote Sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keafer, L. S., Jr. (Editor)

1982-01-01

The long term role of airborne/spaceborne passive remote sensing systems for tropospheric air quality research and the identification of technology advances required to improve the performance of passive remote sensing systems were discussed.

Remote Sensing as a Demonstration of Applied Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colwell, Robert N.

1980-01-01

Provides information about the field of remote sensing, including discussions of geo-synchronous and sun-synchronous remote-sensing platforms, the actual physical processes and equipment involved in sensing, the analysis of images by humans and machines, and inexpensive, small scale methods, including aerial photography. (CS)

Opportunities and problems in introducing or expanding the teaching of remote sensing in universities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maxwell, E. L.

1980-01-01

The need for degree programs in remote sensing is considered. Any education program which claims to train remote sensing specialists must include expertise in the physical principles upon which remote sensing is based. These principles dictate the limits of engineering and design, computer analysis, photogrammetry, and photointerpretation. Faculty members must be hired to provide emphasis in those five areas.

Remote sensing of vegetation fires and its contribution to a fire management information system

Treesearch

Stephane P. Flasse; Simon N. Trigg; Pietro N. Ceccato; Anita H. Perryman; Andrew T. Hudak; Mark W. Thompson; Bruce H. Brockett; Moussa Drame; Tim Ntabeni; Philip E. Frost; Tobias Landmann; Johan L. le Roux

2004-01-01

In the last decade, research has proven that remote sensing can provide very useful support to fire managers. This chapter provides an overview of the types of information remote sensing can provide to the fire community. First, it considers fire management information needs in the context of a fire management information system. An introduction to remote sensing then...

Multi-scale Computational Electromagnetics for Phenomenology and Saliency Characterization in Remote Sensing

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-15

AFRL-AFOSR-JP-TR-2016-0068 Multi-scale Computational Electromagnetics for Phenomenology and Saliency Characterization in Remote Sensing Hean-Teik...SUBTITLE Multi-scale Computational Electromagnetics for Phenomenology and Saliency Characterization in Remote Sensing 5a.  CONTRACT NUMBER 5b.  GRANT NUMBER... electromagnetics to the application in microwave remote sensing as well as extension of modelling capability with computational flexibility to study

Multi-scale Computational Electromagnetics for Phenomenology and Saliency Characterization in Remote Sensing

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-15

AFRL-AFOSR-JP-TR-2016-0068 Multi-scale Computational Electromagnetics for Phenomenology and Saliency Characterization in Remote Sensing Hean-Teik...SUBTITLE Multi-scale Computational Electromagnetics for Phenomenology and Saliency Characterization in Remote Sensing 5a.  CONTRACT NUMBER 5b.  GRANT NUMBER...electromagnetics to the application in microwave remote sensing as well as extension of modelling capability with computational flexibility to study

Basic Remote Sensing Investigations for Beach Reconnaissance.

DTIC Science & Technology

Progress is reported on three tasks designed to develop remote sensing beach reconnaissance techniques applicable to the benthic, beach intertidal...and beach upland zones. Task 1 is designed to develop remote sensing indicators of important beach composition and physical parameters which will...ultimately prove useful in models to predict beach conditions. Task 2 is designed to develop remote sensing techniques for survey of bottom features in

Bridging the Scales from Field to Region with Practical Tools to Couple Time- and Space-Synchronized Data from Flux Towers and Networks with Proximal and Remote Sensing Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burba, G. G.; Avenson, T.; Burkart, A.; Gamon, J. A.; Guan, K.; Julitta, T.; Pastorello, G.; Sakowska, K.

2017-12-01

Many hundreds of flux towers are presently operational as standalone projects and as parts of regional networks. However, the vast majority of these towers do not allow straightforward coupling with remote sensing (drone, aircraft, satellite, etc.) data, and even fewer have optical sensors for validation of remote sensing products, and upscaling from field to regional levels. In 2016-2017, new tools to collect, process, and share time-synchronized flux data from multiple towers were developed and deployed globally. Originally designed to automate site and data management, and to streamline flux data analysis, these tools allow relatively easy matching of tower data with remote sensing data: GPS-driven PTP time protocol synchronizes instrumentation within the station, different stations with each other, and all of these to remote sensing data to precisely align remote sensing and flux data in time Footprint size and coordinates computed and stored with flux data help correctly align tower flux footprints and drone, aircraft or satellite motion to precisely align optical and flux data in space Full snapshot of the remote sensing pixel can then be constructed, including leaf-level, ground optical sensor, and flux tower measurements from the same footprint area, closely coupled with the remote sensing measurements to help interpret remote sensing data, validate models, and improve upscaling Additionally, current flux towers can be augmented with advanced ground optical sensors and can use standard routines to deliver continuous products (e.g. SIF, PRI, NDVI, etc.) based on automated field spectrometers (e.g., FloX and RoX, etc.) and other optical systems. Several dozens of new towers already operational globally can be readily used for the proposed workflow. Over 500 active traditional flux towers can be updated to synchronize their data with remote sensing measurements. This presentation will show how the new tools are used by major networks, and describe how this approach can be utilized for matching remote sensing and tower data to aid in ground truthing, improve scientific interactions, and promote joint grant writing and other forms of collaboration between the flux and remote sensing communities.

Monitoring Crop Phenology and Growth Stages from Space: Opportunities and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, F.; Anderson, M. C.; Mladenova, I. E.; Kustas, W. P.; Alfieri, J. G.

2014-12-01

Crop growth stages in concert with weather and soil moisture conditions can have a significant impact on crop yields. In the U.S., crop growth stages and conditions are reported by farmers at the county level. These reports are somewhat subjective and fluctuate between different reporters, locations and times. Remote sensing data provide an alternative approach to monitoring crop growth over large areas in a more consistent and quantitative way. In the recent years, remote sensing data have been used to detect vegetation phenology at 1-km spatial resolution globally. However, agricultural applications at field scale require finer spatial resolution remote sensing data. Landsat (30-m) data have been successfully used for agricultural applications. There are many medium resolution sensors available today or in near future. These include Landsat, SPOT, RapidEye, ASTER and future Sentinel-2 etc. Approaches have been developed in the past several years to integrate remote sensing data from different sensors which may have different sensor characteristics, and spatial and temporal resolutions. This allows us opportunities today to map crop growth stages and conditions using dense time-series remote sensing at field scales. However, remotely sensed phenology (or phenological metrics) is normally derived based on the mathematical functions of the time-series data. The phenological metrics are determined by either identifying inflection (curvature) points or some pre-defined thresholds in the remote sensing phenology algorithms. Furthermore, physiological crop growth stages may not be directly correlated to the remotely sensed phenology. The relationship between remotely sensed phenology and crop growth stages is likely to vary for specific crop types and varieties, growing stages, conditions and even locations. In this presentation, we will examine the relationship between remotely sensed phenology and crop growth stages using in-situ measurements from Fluxnet sites and crop progress reports from USDA NASS. We will present remote sensing approaches and focus on: 1) integrating multiple sources of remote sensing data; and 2) extracting crop phenology at field scales. An example in the U.S. Corn Belt area will be presented and analyzed. Future directions for mapping crop growth stages will be discussed.

Remote Sensing: A Film Review.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, David J.

1986-01-01

Reviews the content of 19 films on remote sensing published between 1973 and 1980. Concludes that they are overly simplistic, notably outdated, and generally too optimistic about the potential of remote sensing from space for resource exploration and environmental problem-solving. Provides names and addresses of more current remote sensing…

Precipitating electron interaction with the atmosphere. II - The dayside cusp region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prasad, S. S.; Strickland, D. J.; Chiu, Y. T.

1985-01-01

Interaction of precipitating low-energy magnetosheath electrons with the atmosphere in the dayside cusp region has been studied. Both pitch angle and energy distributions of the fluxes as well as excitation functions for selected N2 and O UV emissions were obtained by numerically solving the multiangle equations of electron transport. There is some possibility that atmospheric emissions may be used for remote measurements of incident soft energy flux, because the ratios of molecular to atomic emission line intensities in the low-energy region are quite different from those in the high-energy region.

Mechanical Properties of the Surface Material of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Measured By the Casse Instrument Onboard the Philae Lander

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knapmeyer, M.; Fischer, H. H.; Seidensticker, K. J.; Arnold, W.; Faber, C.; Möhlmann, D.; Thiel, K.

2014-12-01

Satellite remote sensing of ocean color is a critical tool for assessing the productivity of marine ecosystems and monitoring changes resulting from climatic or environmental influences. Yet water-leaving radiance comprises less than 10% of the signal measured from space, making correction for absorption and scattering by the intervening atmosphere imperative. Traditional ocean color retrieval algorithms utilize a standard set of aerosol models and the assumption of negligible water-leaving radiance in the near-infrared. Modern improvements have been developed to handle absorbing aerosols such as urban particulates in coastal areas and transported desert dust over the open ocean, where ocean fertilization can impact biological productivity at the base of the marine food chain. Even so, imperfect knowledge of the absorbing aerosol optical properties or their height distribution results in well-documented sources of error. In the UV, the problem of UV-enhanced absorption and nonsphericity of certain aerosol types are amplified due to the increased Rayleigh and aerosol optical depth, especially at off-nadir view angles. Multi-angle spectro-polarimetric measurements have been advocated as an additional tool to better understand and retrieve the aerosol properties needed for atmospheric correction for ocean color retrievals. The central concern of the work to be described is the assessment of the effects of absorbing aerosol properties on water leaving radiance measurement uncertainty by neglecting UV-enhanced absorption of carbonaceous particles and by not accounting for dust nonsphericity. In addition, we evaluate the polarimetric sensitivity of absorbing aerosol properties in light of measurement uncertainties achievable for the next generation of multi-angle polarimetric imaging instruments, and demonstrate advantages and disadvantages of wavelength selection in the UV/VNIR range. The phase matrices for the spherical smoke particles were calculated using a standard Mie code, while those for non-spherical dust particles were calculated using the numerical approach described by Dubovik et al., 2006. A vector Markov Chain radiative transfer code including bio-optical models was used to evaluate TOA and water leaving radiances.

SPEX: a multi-angle Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smit, J. M.; Hasekamp, O. P.; Rietjens, J.; Stam, D.; Snik, F.; Van Harten, G.; Verlaan, A.; Voors, R.; Moon, S.; Wielinga, K.

2011-12-01

We present SPEX, the Spectropolarimeter for Planetary Exploration, which is a compact, robust and low-mass multi-viewing angle spectropolarimeter designed to operate from an orbiting satellite platform. Its purpose is to simultaneously measure, with high accuracy, the radiance and the state (degree and angle) of linear polarization of sunlight that has been scattered in a planetary atmosphere or reflected by a planetary surface. The degree of linear polarization is extremely sensitive to the microphysical properties of atmospheric or surface particles (such as size, shape, and composition), and to the vertical distribution of atmospheric particles, such as cloud top altitudes. Measurements as those performed by SPEX are therefore crucial and often the only tool for disentangling the many parameters that describe planetary atmospheres and surfaces. SPEX uses a novel, passive method for its radiance and polarization observations that is based on a carefully selected combination of polarization optics. This results in a modulation of the radiance spectrum in both amplitude and phase by the degree and angle of the linear polarization spectrum, respectively. The polarization optics consists of an achromatic quarter-wave retarder, an a-thermal multiple-order retarder, and a polarizing beam splitter. Such a configuration is implemented for a range of viewin directions, which allows sampling the full scattering phase function of each ground pixel under investigation, while orbiting the planetary body. The present design of SPEX is tuned to a Mars mission, as a payload on a satellite in a low orbit. However, the concept is perfectly applicable for Earth remote sensing from an orbiting platform like ISS or a dedicated mission, for which we are developing a breadboard. A similar concepts is under study for a mission to the Jovian system including the Galilean Moons. We will show first test results obtained with recently developed prototype of the SPEX instrument, demonstrating excellent performance and overall behavior as compared with design parameters and SPEX instrument simulator. In addition, we present results of multi-angle spectropolarimetric measurements of the Earth's atmosphere from the ground in conjunction with one of AERONET's sun photometers.

Retrieval of aerosol properties and water leaving radiance from multi-angle spectro-polarimetric measurement over coastal waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, M.; Zhai, P.; Franz, B. A.; Hu, Y.; Knobelspiesse, K. D.; Xu, F.; Ibrahim, A.

2017-12-01

Ocean color remote sensing in coastal waters remains a challenging task due to the complex optical properties of aerosols and ocean water properties. It is highly desirable to develop an advanced ocean color and aerosol retrieval algorithm for coastal waters, to advance our capabilities in monitoring water quality, improve our understanding of coastal carbon cycle dynamics, and allow for the development of more accurate circulation models. However, distinguishing the dissolved and suspended material from absorbing aerosols over coastal waters is challenging as they share similar absorption spectrum within the deep blue to UV range. In this paper we report a research algorithm on aerosol and ocean color retrieval with emphasis on coastal waters. The main features of our algorithm include: 1) combining co-located measurements from a hyperspectral ocean color instrument (OCI) and a multi-angle polarimeter (MAP); 2) using the radiative transfer model for coupled atmosphere and ocean system (CAOS), which is based on the highly accurate and efficient successive order of scattering method; and 3) incorporating a generalized bio-optical model with direct accounting of the total absorption of phytoplankton, CDOM and non-algal particles(NAP), and the total scattering of phytoplankton and NAP for improved description of ocean light scattering. The non-linear least square fitting algorithm is used to optimize the bio-optical model parameters and the aerosol optical and microphysical properties including refractive indices and size distributions for both fine and coarse modes. The retrieved aerosol information is used to calculate the atmospheric path radiance, which is then subtracted from the OCI observations to obtain the water leaving radiance contribution. Our work aims to maximize the use of available information from the co-located dataset and conduct the atmospheric correction with minimal assumptions. The algorithm will contribute to the success of current MAP instruments, such as the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP), and future ocean color missions, such as the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, by enabling retrieval of ocean biogeochemical properties under optically-complex atmospheric and oceanic conditions.

Variability in Surface BRDF at Different Spatial Scales (30m-500m) Over a Mixed Agricultural Landscape as Retrieved from Airborne and Satellite Spectral Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roman, Miguel O.; Gatebe, Charles K.; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Poudyal, Rajesh; Wang, Zhuosen; King, Michael D.

2012-01-01

Over the past decade, the role of multiangle 1 remote sensing has been central to the development of algorithms for the retrieval of global land surface properties including models of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), albedo, land cover/dynamics, burned area extent, as well as other key surface biophysical quantities represented by the anisotropic reflectance characteristics of vegetation. In this study, a new retrieval strategy for fine-to-moderate resolution multiangle observations was developed, based on the operational sequence used to retrieve the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 5 reflectance and BRDF/albedo products. The algorithm makes use of a semiempirical kernel-driven bidirectional reflectance model to provide estimates of intrinsic albedo (i.e., directional-hemispherical reflectance and bihemispherical reflectance), model parameters describing the BRDF, and extensive quality assurance information. The new retrieval strategy was applied to NASA's Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) data acquired during the 2007 Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLASIC) over the well-instrumented Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site in Oklahoma, USA. For the case analyzed, we obtained approx.1.6 million individual surface bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) retrievals, from nadir to 75deg off-nadir, and at spatial resolutions ranging from 3 m - 500 m. This unique dataset was used to examine the interaction of the spatial and angular 18 characteristics of a mixed agricultural landscape; and provided the basis for detailed assessments of: (1) the use of a priori knowledge in kernel-driven BRDF model inversions; (2) the interaction between surface reflectance anisotropy and instrument spatial resolution; and (3) the uncertainties that arise when sub-pixel differences in the BRDF are aggregated to a moderate resolution satellite pixel. Results offer empirical evidence concerning the influence of scale and spatial heterogeneity in kernel-driven BRDF models; providing potential new insights into the behavior and characteristics of different surface radiative properties related to land/use cover change and vegetation structure.

Variability in Surface BRDF at Different Spatial Scales (30 m-500 m) Over a Mixed Agricultural Landscape as Retrieved from Airborne and Satellite Spectral Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roman, Miguel O.; Gatebe, Charles K.; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Poudyal, Rajesh; Wang, Zhousen; King, Michael D.

2011-01-01

Over the past decade, the role of multiangle remote sensing has been central to the development of algorithms for the retrieval of global land surface properties including models of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), albedo, land cover/dynamics, burned area extent, as well as other key surface biophysical quantities represented by the anisotropic reflectance characteristics of vegetation. In this study, a new retrieval strategy for fine-to-moderate resolution multiangle observations was developed, based on the operational sequence used to retrieve the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 5 reflectance and BRDF/albedo products. The algorithm makes use of a semiempirical kernel-driven bidirectional reflectance model to provide estimates of intrinsic albedo (i.e., directional-hemispherical reflectance and bihemispherical reflectance), model parameters describing the BRDF, and extensive quality assurance information. The new retrieval strategy was applied to NASA's Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) data acquired during the 2007 Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLASIC) over the well-instrumented Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site in Oklahoma, USA. For the case analyzed, we obtained approx.1.6 million individual surface bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) retrievals, from nadir to 75 off-nadir, and at spatial resolutions ranging from 3 m - 500 m. This unique dataset was used to examine the interaction of the spatial and angular characteristics of a mixed agricultural landscape; and provided the basis for detailed assessments of: (1) the use of a priori knowledge in kernel-driven BRDF model inversions; (2) the interaction between surface reflectance anisotropy and instrument spatial resolution; and (3) the uncertain ties that arise when sub-pixel differences in the BRDF are aggregated to a moderate resolution satellite pixel. Results offer empirical evidence concerning the influence of scale and spatial heterogeneity in kernel-driven BRDF models; providing potential new insights into the behavior and characteristics of different surface radiative properties related to land/use cover change and vegetation structure.

Educational activities of remote sensing archaeology (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadjimitsis, Diofantos G.; Agapiou, Athos; Lysandrou, Vasilki; Themistocleous, Kyriacos; Cuca, Branka; Nisantzi, Argyro; Lasaponara, Rosa; Masini, Nicola; Krauss, Thomas; Cerra, Daniele; Gessner, Ursula; Schreier, Gunter

2016-10-01

Remote sensing science is increasingly being used to support archaeological and cultural heritage research in various ways. Satellite sensors either passive or active are currently used in a systematic basis to detect buried archaeological remains and to systematic monitor tangible heritage. In addition, airborne and low altitude systems are being used for documentation purposes. Ground surveys using remote sensing tools such as spectroradiometers and ground penetrating radars can detect variations of vegetation and soil respectively, which are linked to the presence of underground archaeological features. Education activities and training of remote sensing archaeology to young people is characterized of highly importance. Specific remote sensing tools relevant for archaeological research can be developed including web tools, small libraries, interactive learning games etc. These tools can be then combined and aligned with archaeology and cultural heritage. This can be achieved by presenting historical and pre-historical records, excavated sites or even artifacts under a "remote sensing" approach. Using such non-form educational approach, the students can be involved, ask, read, and seek to learn more about remote sensing and of course to learn about history. The paper aims to present a modern didactical concept and some examples of practical implementation of remote sensing archaeology in secondary schools in Cyprus. The idea was built upon an ongoing project (ATHENA) focused on the sue of remote sensing for archaeological research in Cyprus. Through H2020 ATHENA project, the Remote Sensing Science and Geo-Environment Research Laboratory at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), with the support of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) aims to enhance its performance in all these new technologies.

Remote Sensing and the Earth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brosius, Craig A.; And Others

This document is designed to help senior high school students study remote sensing technology and techniques in relation to the environmental sciences. It discusses the acquisition, analysis, and use of ecological remote data. Material is divided into three sections and an appendix. Section One is an overview of the basics of remote sensing.…

Microwave remote sensing of snowpack properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rango, A. (Editor)

1980-01-01

Topic concerning remote sensing capabilities for providing reliable snow cover data and measurement of snow water equivalents are discussed. Specific remote sensing technqiues discussed include those in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Commerical Remote Sensing Data Contract

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2005-01-01

The U. S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Commercial Remote Sensing Data Contracts (CRSDCs) provide government agencies with access to a broad range of commercially available remotely sensed airborne and satellite data. These contracts were established to support The National Map partners, other Federal Civilian agency programs, and Department of Defense programs that require data for the United States and its territories. Experience shows that centralized procurement of remotely sensed data leads to considerable cost savings to the Federal government through volume discounts, reduction of redundant contract administrative costs, and avoidance of duplicate purchases. These contracts directly support the President's Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy, signed in 2003, by providing a centralized mechanism for civil agencies to acquire commercial remote sensing products to support their mission needs in an efficient and coordinated way. CRSDC administration is provided by the USGS Mid-Continent Mapping Center in Rolla, Missouri.

Object-oriented recognition of high-resolution remote sensing image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yongyan; Li, Haitao; Chen, Hong; Xu, Yuannan

2016-01-01

With the development of remote sensing imaging technology and the improvement of multi-source image's resolution in satellite visible light, multi-spectral and hyper spectral , the high resolution remote sensing image has been widely used in various fields, for example military field, surveying and mapping, geophysical prospecting, environment and so forth. In remote sensing image, the segmentation of ground targets, feature extraction and the technology of automatic recognition are the hotspot and difficulty in the research of modern information technology. This paper also presents an object-oriented remote sensing image scene classification method. The method is consist of vehicles typical objects classification generation, nonparametric density estimation theory, mean shift segmentation theory, multi-scale corner detection algorithm, local shape matching algorithm based on template. Remote sensing vehicles image classification software system is designed and implemented to meet the requirements .

Vegetation canopy structure from NASA EOS multiangle imaging

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We used red band bidirectional reflectance data from the NASA Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) mapped onto a 250 m grid in a multiangle approach to obtain estimates of woody plant fractional cover and crown height through adjus...

A new paradigm for constraining PM2.5 speciation by combining multiangular and polarimetric remote sensing with chemical transport model information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalashnikova, O.; Xu, F.; Ge, C.; Wang, J.; Garay, M. J.; Diner, D. J.

2014-12-01

Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) has been consistently linked to cardiovascular and respiratory health effects. Although PM is currently monitored by a network of surface stations, these are too sparsely distributed to provide the level of spatial detail needed to link different aerosol species to given health effects, and expansion to denser coverage is impractical and cost prohibitive. We present a methodology for combining Chemical Transport Model (CTM) aerosol type information and multiangular spectropolarimetric data to establish the signature of specific aerosol types in top-of-atmosphere measurements, and relate it to speciated surface PM2.5 loadings. In particular, we employ the WRF-Chem model run at the University of Nebraska, and remote sensing data from the Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI) to explore the feasibility of this approach. We demonstrate that the CTM does well in predicting the types of aerosols present at a given location and time, however large uncertainties currently exist in CTM estimates of the concentration of the various aerosol species (e.g., black carbon, sulfate, dust, etc.) leading to large uncertainties to model-derived speciated PM 2.5. In order to constrain CTM aerosol surface concentrations we use AirMSPI UV-VIS-NIR observations of intensity, and blue, red, and NIR observations of the Q and U Stokes parameters. We select specific scenes observed by AirMSPI and use WRF-Chem to generate an initial distribution of aerosol composition. The relevant optical properties for each aerosol species are used to calculate aerosol light scattering information. This is then used in a vector (polarized) 1-D radiative transfer model to determine at-instrument Stokes parameters for the specific AirMSPI viewing geometries. As a first step, a match is sought between the CTM-predicted radiances and the AirMSPI observations. Then, the total aerosol optical depth and fractions of various aerosol species are modified via optimization to produce a better match to the observations, and converted to PM2.5 speciated loadings using CTM aerosol vertical profiles. Finally, the results are compared to available ground-based and in situ data to validate this approach.

Experimental Sea Slicks in the Marsen (Maritime Remote Sensing) Exercise.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-10-30

Experimental slicks with various surface properties were generated in the North Sea as part of the MARSEN (Maritime Remote Sensing ) exercise. The one...with remote sensing instrumentation. Because of the numerous effects of surface films on air-sea interfacial processes, these experiments were designed...information was obtained on the influence of sea surface films on the interpretation of signals received by remote sensing systems. Criteria for the

SYMPOSIUM ON REMOTE SENSING IN THE POLAR REGIONS

DTIC Science & Technology

The Arctic Institute of North America long has been interested in encouraging full and specific attention to applications of remote sensing to polar...research problems. The major purpose of the symposium was to acquaint scientists and technicians concerned with remote sensing with some of the...special problems of the polar areas and, in turn, to acquaint polar scientists with the potential of the use of remote sensing . The Symposium therefore was

REMOTE SENSING IN OCEANOGRAPHY.

DTIC Science & Technology

remote sensing from satellites. Sensing of oceanographic variables from aircraft began with the photographing of waves and ice. Since then remote measurement of sea surface temperatures and wave heights have become routine. Sensors tested for oceanographic applications include multi-band color cameras, radar scatterometers, infrared spectrometers and scanners, passive microwave radiometers, and radar imagers. Remote sensing has found its greatest application in providing rapid coverage of large oceanographic areas for synoptic and analysis and

Methods of Determining Playa Surface Conditions Using Remote Sensing

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-10-08

NO. 11. TITLE (include Security Classification) METHODS OF DETERMINING PLAYA SURFACE CONDITIONS USING REMOTE SENSING 12. PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) J. PONDER...PLAYA SURFACE CONDITIONS USING REMOTE SENSING J. Ponder Henley U. S. Army Engineer Topographic Laboratories Fort Belvoir, Virginia 22060-5546 "ABSTRACT...geochemistry, hydrology and remote sensing but all of these are important to the understanding of these unique geomorphic features. There is a large body

Needs Assessment for the Use of NASA Remote Sensing Data in the Development and Implementation of Estuarine and Coastal Water Quality Standards

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spiering, Bruce; Underwood, Lauren; Ellis, Chris; Lehrter, John; Hagy, Jim; Schaeffer, Blake

2010-01-01

The goals of the project are to provide information from satellite remote sensing to support numeric nutrient criteria development and to determine data processing methods and data quality requirements to support nutrient criteria development and implementation. The approach is to identify water quality indicators that are used by decision makers to assess water quality and that are related to optical properties of the water; to develop remotely sensed data products based on algorithms relating remote sensing imagery to field-based observations of indicator values; to develop methods to assess estuarine water quality, including trends, spatial and temporal variability, and seasonality; and to develop tools to assist in the development and implementation of estuarine and coastal nutrient criteria. Additional slides present process, criteria development, typical data sources and analyses for criteria process, the power of remote sensing data for the process, examples from Pensacola Bay, spatial and temporal variability, pixel matchups, remote sensing validation, remote sensing in coastal waters, requirements for remotely sensed data products, and needs assessment. An additional presentation examines group engagement and information collection. Topics include needs assessment purpose and objectives, understanding water quality decision making, determining information requirements, and next steps.

Commercial use of remote sensing in agriculture: a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gnauck, Gary E.

1999-12-01

Over 25 years of research have clearly shown that an analysis of remote sensing imagery can provide information on agricultural crops. Most of this research has been funded by and directed toward the needs of government agencies. Commercial use of agricultural remote sensing has been limited to very small-scale operations supplying remote sensing services to a few selected customers. Datron/Transco Inc. undertook an internally funded remote sensing program directed toward the California cash crop industry (strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes, other fresh vegetables and cotton). The objectives of this program were twofold: (1) to assess the need and readiness of agricultural land managers to adopt remote sensing as a management tool, and (2) determine what technical barriers exist to large-scale implementation of this technology on a commercial basis. The program was divided into three phases: Planning, Engineering Test and Evaluation, and Commercial Operations. Findings: Remote sensing technology can deliver high resolution multispectral imagery with rapid turnaround, that can provide information on crop stress insects, disease and various soil parameters. The limiting factors to the use of remote sensing in agriculture are a lack of familiarization by the land managers, difficulty in translating 'information' into increased revenue or reduced cost for the land manager, and the large economies of scale needed to make the venture commercially viable.

15 CFR 960.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... remote sensing satellite industry. (Available from NOAA, National Environmental Satellite Data and... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.1 Purpose. (a) The regulations in this part set... sensing space system under Title II of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 5601 et seq...

15 CFR 960.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... remote sensing satellite industry. (Available from NOAA, National Environmental Satellite Data and... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.1 Purpose. (a) The regulations in this part set... sensing space system under Title II of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 5601 et seq...

15 CFR 960.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... remote sensing satellite industry. (Available from NOAA, National Environmental Satellite Data and... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.1 Purpose. (a) The regulations in this part set... sensing space system under Title II of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 5601 et seq...

15 CFR 960.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... remote sensing satellite industry. (Available from NOAA, National Environmental Satellite Data and... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.1 Purpose. (a) The regulations in this part set... sensing space system under Title II of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 5601 et seq...

15 CFR 960.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.1 Purpose. (a) The regulations in this part set... sensing space system under Title II of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 5601 et seq... remote sensing satellite industry. (Available from NOAA, National Environmental Satellite Data and...

Advanced Remote Sensing Research

USGS Publications Warehouse

Slonecker, Terrence; Jones, John W.; Price, Susan D.; Hogan, Dianna

2008-01-01

'Remote sensing' is a generic term for monitoring techniques that collect information without being in physical contact with the object of study. Overhead imagery from aircraft and satellite sensors provides the most common form of remotely sensed data and records the interaction of electromagnetic energy (usually visible light) with matter, such as the Earth's surface. Remotely sensed data are fundamental to geographic science. The Eastern Geographic Science Center (EGSC) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently conducting and promoting the research and development of three different aspects of remote sensing science: spectral analysis, automated orthorectification of historical imagery, and long wave infrared (LWIR) polarimetric imagery (PI).

Remote sensing in the coastal and marine environment. Proceedings of the US North Atlantic Regional Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zaitzeff, J. B. (Editor); Cornillon, P. (Editor); Aubrey, D. A. (Editor)

1980-01-01

Presentations were grouped in the following categories: (1) a technical orientation of Earth resources remote sensing including data sources and processing; (2) a review of the present status of remote sensing technology applicable to the coastal and marine environment; (3) a description of data and information needs of selected coastal and marine activities; and (4) an outline of plans for marine monitoring systems for the east coast and a concept for an east coast remote sensing facility. Also discussed were user needs and remote sensing potentials in the areas of coastal processes and management, commercial and recreational fisheries, and marine physical processes.

Remote sensing of Earth terrain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kong, J. A.

1992-01-01

Research findings are summarized for projects dealing with the following: application of theoretical models to active and passive remote sensing of saline ice; radiative transfer theory for polarimetric remote sensing of pine forest; scattering of electromagnetic waves from a dense medium consisting of correlated Mie scatterers with size distribution and applications to dry snow; variance of phase fluctuations of waves propagating through a random medium; theoretical modeling for passive microwave remote sensing of earth terrain; polarimetric signatures of a canopy of dielectric cylinders based on first and second order vector radiative transfer theory; branching model for vegetation; polarimetric passive remote sensing of periodic surfaces; composite volume and surface scattering model; and radar image classification.

Brazil's remote sensing activities in the Eighties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raupp, M. A.; Pereiradacunha, R.; Novaes, R. A.

1985-01-01

Most of the remote sensing activities in Brazil have been conducted by the Institute for Space Research (INPE). This report describes briefly INPE's activities in remote sensing in the last years. INPE has been engaged in research (e.g., radiance studies), development (e.g., CCD-scanners, image processing devices) and applications (e.g., crop survey, land use, mineral resources, etc.) of remote sensing. INPE is also responsible for the operation (data reception and processing) of the LANDSATs and meteorological satellites. Data acquisition activities include the development of CCD-Camera to be deployed on board the space shuttle and the construction of a remote sensing satellite.

Application of remote sensing to state and regional problems. [for Mississippi

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, W. F.; Bouchillon, C. W.; Harris, J. C.; Carter, B.; Whisler, F. D.; Robinette, R.

1974-01-01

The primary purpose of the remote sensing applications program is for various members of the university community to participate in activities that improve the effective communication between the scientific community engaged in remote sensing research and development and the potential users of modern remote sensing technology. Activities of this program are assisting the State of Mississippi in recognizing and solving its environmental, resource and socio-economic problems through inventory, analysis, and monitoring by appropriate remote sensing systems. Objectives, accomplishments, and current status of the following individual projects are reported: (1) bark beetle project; (2) state park location planning; and (3) waste source location and stream channel geometry monitoring.

Physics teaching by infrared remote sensing of vegetation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schüttler, Tobias; Maman, Shimrit; Girwidz, Raimund

2018-05-01

Context- and project-based teaching has proven to foster different affective and cognitive aspects of learning. As a versatile and multidisciplinary scientific research area with diverse applications for everyday life, satellite remote sensing is an interesting context for physics education. In this paper we give a brief overview of satellite remote sensing of vegetation and how to obtain your own, individual infrared remote sensing data with affordable converted digital cameras. This novel technique provides the opportunity to conduct individual remote sensing measurement projects with students in their respective environment. The data can be compared to real satellite data and is of sufficient accuracy for educational purposes.

Application of remote sensing to water resources problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clapp, J. L.

1972-01-01

The following conclusions were reached concerning the applications of remote sensing to water resources problems: (1) Remote sensing methods provide the most practical method of obtaining data for many water resources problems; (2) the multi-disciplinary approach is essential to the effective application of remote sensing to water resource problems; (3) there is a correlation between the amount of suspended solids in an effluent discharged into a water body and reflected energy; (4) remote sensing provides for more effective and accurate monitoring, discovery and characterization of the mixing zone of effluent discharged into a receiving water body; and (5) it is possible to differentiate between blue and blue-green algae.

SUPERFUND REMOTE SENSING SUPPORT

EPA Science Inventory

This task provides remote sensing technical support to the Superfund program. Support includes the collection, processing, and analysis of remote sensing data to characterize hazardous waste disposal sites and their history. Image analysis reports, aerial photographs, and assoc...

Remote Sensing and the Earth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brosius, C. A.; Gervin, J. C.; Ragusa, J. M.

1977-01-01

A text book on remote sensing, as part of the earth resources Skylab programs, is presented. The fundamentals of remote sensing and its application to agriculture, land use, geology, water and marine resources, and environmental monitoring are summarized.

Operational Use of Remote Sensing within USDA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bethel, Glenn R.

2007-01-01

A viewgraph presentation of remote sensing imagery within the USDA is shown. USDA Aerial Photography, Digital Sensors, Hurricane imagery, Remote Sensing Sources, Satellites used by Foreign Agricultural Service, Landsat Acquisitions, and Aerial Acquisitions are also shown.

Investigation related to multispectral imaging systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nalepka, R. F.; Erickson, J. D.

1974-01-01

A summary of technical progress made during a five year research program directed toward the development of operational information systems based on multispectral sensing and the use of these systems in earth-resource survey applications is presented. Efforts were undertaken during this program to: (1) improve the basic understanding of the many facets of multispectral remote sensing, (2) develop methods for improving the accuracy of information generated by remote sensing systems, (3) improve the efficiency of data processing and information extraction techniques to enhance the cost-effectiveness of remote sensing systems, (4) investigate additional problems having potential remote sensing solutions, and (5) apply the existing and developing technology for specific users and document and transfer that technology to the remote sensing community.

An object-based storage model for distributed remote sensing images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Zhanwu; Li, Zhongmin; Zheng, Sheng

2006-10-01

It is very difficult to design an integrated storage solution for distributed remote sensing images to offer high performance network storage services and secure data sharing across platforms using current network storage models such as direct attached storage, network attached storage and storage area network. Object-based storage, as new generation network storage technology emerged recently, separates the data path, the control path and the management path, which solves the bottleneck problem of metadata existed in traditional storage models, and has the characteristics of parallel data access, data sharing across platforms, intelligence of storage devices and security of data access. We use the object-based storage in the storage management of remote sensing images to construct an object-based storage model for distributed remote sensing images. In the storage model, remote sensing images are organized as remote sensing objects stored in the object-based storage devices. According to the storage model, we present the architecture of a distributed remote sensing images application system based on object-based storage, and give some test results about the write performance comparison of traditional network storage model and object-based storage model.

Fuzzy Classification of High Resolution Remote Sensing Scenes Using Visual Attention Features.

PubMed

Li, Linyi; Xu, Tingbao; Chen, Yun

2017-01-01

In recent years the spatial resolutions of remote sensing images have been improved greatly. However, a higher spatial resolution image does not always lead to a better result of automatic scene classification. Visual attention is an important characteristic of the human visual system, which can effectively help to classify remote sensing scenes. In this study, a novel visual attention feature extraction algorithm was proposed, which extracted visual attention features through a multiscale process. And a fuzzy classification method using visual attention features (FC-VAF) was developed to perform high resolution remote sensing scene classification. FC-VAF was evaluated by using remote sensing scenes from widely used high resolution remote sensing images, including IKONOS, QuickBird, and ZY-3 images. FC-VAF achieved more accurate classification results than the others according to the quantitative accuracy evaluation indices. We also discussed the role and impacts of different decomposition levels and different wavelets on the classification accuracy. FC-VAF improves the accuracy of high resolution scene classification and therefore advances the research of digital image analysis and the applications of high resolution remote sensing images.

Fuzzy Classification of High Resolution Remote Sensing Scenes Using Visual Attention Features

PubMed Central

Xu, Tingbao; Chen, Yun

2017-01-01

In recent years the spatial resolutions of remote sensing images have been improved greatly. However, a higher spatial resolution image does not always lead to a better result of automatic scene classification. Visual attention is an important characteristic of the human visual system, which can effectively help to classify remote sensing scenes. In this study, a novel visual attention feature extraction algorithm was proposed, which extracted visual attention features through a multiscale process. And a fuzzy classification method using visual attention features (FC-VAF) was developed to perform high resolution remote sensing scene classification. FC-VAF was evaluated by using remote sensing scenes from widely used high resolution remote sensing images, including IKONOS, QuickBird, and ZY-3 images. FC-VAF achieved more accurate classification results than the others according to the quantitative accuracy evaluation indices. We also discussed the role and impacts of different decomposition levels and different wavelets on the classification accuracy. FC-VAF improves the accuracy of high resolution scene classification and therefore advances the research of digital image analysis and the applications of high resolution remote sensing images. PMID:28761440

A Plane Target Detection Algorithm in Remote Sensing Images based on Deep Learning Network Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuxin, Li; Zhilong, Zhang; Biao, Li

2018-01-01

Plane is an important target category in remote sensing targets and it is of great value to detect the plane targets automatically. As remote imaging technology developing continuously, the resolution of the remote sensing image has been very high and we can get more detailed information for detecting the remote sensing targets automatically. Deep learning network technology is the most advanced technology in image target detection and recognition, which provided great performance improvement in the field of target detection and recognition in the everyday scenes. We combined the technology with the application in the remote sensing target detection and proposed an algorithm with end to end deep network, which can learn from the remote sensing images to detect the targets in the new images automatically and robustly. Our experiments shows that the algorithm can capture the feature information of the plane target and has better performance in target detection with the old methods.

DARLA: Data Assimilation and Remote Sensing for Littoral Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jessup, A.; Holman, R. A.; Chickadel, C.; Elgar, S.; Farquharson, G.; Haller, M. C.; Kurapov, A. L.; Özkan-Haller, H. T.; Raubenheimer, B.; Thomson, J. M.

2012-12-01

DARLA is 5-year collaborative project that couples state-of-the-art remote sensing and in situ measurements with advanced data assimilation (DA) modeling to (a) evaluate and improve remote sensing retrieval algorithms for environmental parameters, (b) determine the extent to which remote sensing data can be used in place of in situ data in models, and (c) infer bathymetry for littoral environments by combining remotely-sensed parameters and data assimilation models. The project uses microwave, electro-optical, and infrared techniques to characterize the littoral ocean with a focus on wave and current parameters required for DA modeling. In conjunction with the RIVET (River and Inlets) Project, extensive in situ measurements provide ground truth for both the remote sensing retrieval algorithms and the DA modeling. Our goal is to use remote sensing to constrain data assimilation models of wave and circulation dynamics in a tidal inlet and surrounding beaches. We seek to improve environmental parameter estimation via remote sensing fusion, determine the success of using remote sensing data to drive DA models, and produce a dynamically consistent representation of the wave, circulation, and bathymetry fields in complex environments. The objectives are to test the following three hypotheses: 1. Environmental parameter estimation using remote sensing techniques can be significantly improved by fusion of multiple sensor products. 2. Data assimilation models can be adequately constrained (i.e., forced or guided) with environmental parameters derived from remote sensing measurements. 3. Bathymetry on open beaches, river mouths, and at tidal inlets can be inferred from a combination of remotely-sensed parameters and data assimilation models. Our approach is to conduct a series of field experiments combining remote sensing and in situ measurements to investigate signature physics and to gather data for developing and testing DA models. A preliminary experiment conducted at the Field Research Facility at Duck, NC in September 2010 focused on assimilation of tower-based electo-optical, infrared, and radar measurements in predictions of longshore currents. Here we provide an overview of our contribution to the RIVET I experiment at New River Inlet, NC in May 2012. During the course of the 3-week measurement period, continuous tower-based remote sensing measurements were made using electro-optical, infrared, and radar techniques covering the nearshore zone and the inlet mouth. A total of 50 hours of airborne measurements were made using high-resolution infrared imagers and a customized along track interferometric synthetic aperture radar (ATI SAR). The airborne IR imagery provides kilometer-scale mapping of frontal features that evolve as the inlet flow interacts with the oceanic wave and current fields. The ATI SAR provides maps of the two-dimensional surface currents. Near-surface measurements of turbulent velocities and surface waves using SWIFT drifters, designed to measures near-surface properties relevant to remote sensing, complimented the extensive in situ measurements by RIVET investigators.

A remote sensing and GIS-enabled asset management system (RS-GAMS).

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-04-01

Under U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Commercial Remote Sensing and : Spatial Information (CRS&SI) Technology Initiative 2 of the Transportation : Infrastructure Construction and Condition Assessment, an intelligent Remote Sensing and : GIS-b...

Remote Sensing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Richard S., Jr.; Southworth, C. Scott

1983-01-01

The Landsat Program became the major event of 1982 in geological remote sensing with the successful launch of Landsat 4. Other 1982 remote sensing accomplishments, research, publications, (including a set of Landsat worldwide reference system index maps), and conferences are highlighted. (JN)

Remote sensing utility in a disaster struck urban environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rush, M.; Holguin, A.; Vernon, S.

1974-01-01

A project to determine the ways in which remote sensing can contribute to solutions of urban public health problems in time of natural disaster is discussed. The objectives of the project are to determine and describe remote sensing standard operating procedures for public health assistance during disaster relief operations which will aid the agencies and organizations involved in disaster intervention. Proposed tests to determine the validity of the remote sensing system are reported.

Removal of Surface-Reflected Light for the Measurement of Remote-Sensing Reflectance from an Above-Surface Platform

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-06

raw data). To remove surface-reflected light in field measurements of remote sensing reflectance, a spectral optimization approach was applied, with...results compared with those from remote - sensing models and from direct measurements. The agreement from different determinations suggests that...reasonable results for remote sensing reflectance of clear blue water to turbid brown water are obtainable from above-surface measurements, even under conditions of high waves.

Bibliography of Remote Sensing Techniques Used in Wetland Research

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

8217 is investigating the application of remote sensing technology for detecting changes in wetland environments. This report documents a bibliographic...search conducted as part of that work unit on applications of remote sensing techniques in wetland research. Results were used to guide research...efforts on the use of remote sensing technology for wetland change detection and assessment. The citations are presented in three appendixes, organized by wetland type, sensor type, and author.

Use of Openly Available Satellite Images for Remote Sensing Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, C.-K.

2011-09-01

With the advent of Google Earth, Google Maps, and Microsoft Bing Maps, high resolution satellite imagery are becoming more easily accessible than ever. It have been the case that the college students may already have wealth experiences with the high resolution satellite imagery by using these software and web services prior to any formal remote sensing education. It is obvious that the remote sensing education should be adjusted to the fact that the audience are already the customers of remote sensing products (through the use of the above mentioned services). This paper reports the use of openly available satellite imagery in an introductory-level remote sensing course in the Department of Geomatics of National Cheng Kung University as a term project. From the experience learned from the fall of 2009 and 2010, it shows that this term project has effectively aroused the students' enthusiastic toward Remote Sensing.

Strategies for using remotely sensed data in hydrologic models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peck, E. L.; Keefer, T. N.; Johnson, E. R. (Principal Investigator)

1981-01-01

Present and planned remote sensing capabilities were evaluated. The usefulness of six remote sensing capabilities (soil moisture, land cover, impervious area, areal extent of snow cover, areal extent of frozen ground, and water equivalent of the snow cover) with seven hydrologic models (API, CREAMS, NWSRFS, STORM, STANFORD, SSARR, and NWSRFS Snowmelt) were reviewed. The results indicate remote sensing information has only limited value for use with the hydrologic models in their present form. With minor modifications to the models the usefulness would be enhanced. Specific recommendations are made for incorporating snow covered area measurements in the NWSRFS Snowmelt model. Recommendations are also made for incorporating soil moisture measurements in NWSRFS. Suggestions are made for incorporating snow covered area, soil moisture, and others in STORM and SSARR. General characteristics of a hydrologic model needed to make maximum use of remotely sensed data are discussed. Suggested goals for improvements in remote sensing for use in models are also established.

A preliminary study of the statistical analyses and sampling strategies associated with the integration of remote sensing capabilities into the current agricultural crop forecasting system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sand, F.; Christie, R.

1975-01-01

Extending the crop survey application of remote sensing from small experimental regions to state and national levels requires that a sample of agricultural fields be chosen for remote sensing of crop acreage, and that a statistical estimate be formulated with measurable characteristics. The critical requirements for the success of the application are reviewed in this report. The problem of sampling in the presence of cloud cover is discussed. Integration of remotely sensed information about crops into current agricultural crop forecasting systems is treated on the basis of the USDA multiple frame survey concepts, with an assumed addition of a new frame derived from remote sensing. Evolution of a crop forecasting system which utilizes LANDSAT and future remote sensing systems is projected for the 1975-1990 time frame.

Archimedean Witness: The Application of Remote Sensing as an Aid to Human Rights Prosecutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, James Robin

The 21st century has seen a significant increase in the use of remote sensing technology in the international human rights arena for the purposes of documenting crimes against humanity. The nexus between remote sensing, human rights activism, and international criminal prosecutions sits at a significant crossroads within geographic thought, calling attention to the epistemological and geopolitical implications that stem from the "view from nowhere" afforded by satellite imagery. Therefore, this thesis is divided into three sections. The first looks at the geographical questions raised by the expansion of remote sensing use in the context of international activism. The second explores the complications inherent in the presentation of remote sensing data as evidence of war crimes. Building upon the first two, the third section is a case study in alternate forms of analysis, aimed at expanding the utility of remote sensing data in international criminal prosecutions.

[Small unmanned aerial vehicles for low-altitude remote sensing and its application progress in ecology.

PubMed

Sun, Zhong Yu; Chen, Yan Qiao; Yang, Long; Tang, Guang Liang; Yuan, Shao Xiong; Lin, Zhi Wen

2017-02-01

Low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) remote sensing system overcomes the deficiencies of space and aerial remote sensing system in resolution, revisit period, cloud cover and cost, which provides a novel method for ecological research on mesoscale. This study introduced the composition of UAV remote sensing system, reviewed its applications in species, population, community and ecosystem ecology research. Challenges and opportunities of UAV ecology were identified to direct future research. The promising research area of UAV ecology includes the establishment of species morphology and spectral characteristic data base, species automatic identification, the revelation of relationship between spectral index and plant physiological processes, three-dimension monitoring of ecosystem, and the integration of remote sensing data from multi resources and multi scales. With the development of UAV platform, data transformation and sensors, UAV remote sensing technology will have wide application in ecology research.

Forest height Mapping using the fusion of Lidar and MULTI-ANGLE spectral data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pang, Y.; Li, Z.

2016-12-01

Characterizing the complexity of forest ecosystem over large area is highly complex. Light detection and Ranging (LIDAR) approaches have demonstrated a high capacity to accurately estimate forest structural parameters. A number of satellite mission concepts have been proposed to fuse LiDAR with other optical imagery allowing Multi-angle spectral observations to be captured using the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) characteristics of forests. China is developing the concept of Chinese Terrestrial Carbon Mapping Satellite. A multi-beam waveform Lidar is the main sensor. A multi-angle imagery system is considered as the spatial mapping sensor. In this study, we explore the fusion potential of Lidar and multi-angle spectral data to estimate forest height across different scales. We flew intensive airborne Lidar and Multi-angle hyperspectral data in Genhe Forest Ecological Research Station, Northeast China. Then extended the spatial scale with some long transect flights to cover more forest structures. Forest height data derived from airborne lidar data was used as reference data and the multi-angle hyperspectral data was used as model inputs. Our results demonstrate that the multi-angle spectral data can be used to estimate forest height with the RMSE of 1.1 m with an R2 approximately 0.8.

International Models and Methods of Remote Sensing Education and Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Paul S.

A classification of remote sensing courses throughout the world, the world-wide need for sensing instruction, and alternative instructional methods for meeting those needs are discussed. Remote sensing involves aerial photointerpretation or the use of satellite and other non-photographic imagery; its focus is to interpret what is in the photograph…

A Review and Analysis of Remote Sensing Capability for Air Quality Measurements as a Potential Decision Support Tool Conducted by the NASA DEVELOP Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ross, A.; Richards, A.; Keith, K.; Frew, C.; Boseck, J.; Sutton, S.; Watts, C.; Rickman, D.

2007-01-01

This project focused on a comprehensive utilization of air quality model products as decision support tools (DST) needed for public health applications. A review of past and future air quality measurement methods and their uncertainty, along with the relationship of air quality to national and global public health, is vital. This project described current and future NASA satellite remote sensing and ground sensing capabilities and the potential for using these sensors to enhance the prediction, prevention, and control of public health effects that result from poor air quality. The qualitative uncertainty of current satellite remotely sensed air quality, the ground-based remotely sensed air quality, the air quality/public health model, and the decision making process is evaluated in this study. Current peer-reviewed literature suggests that remotely sensed air quality parameters correlate well with ground-based sensor data. A satellite remote-sensed and ground-sensed data complement is needed to enhance the models/tools used by policy makers for the protection of national and global public health communities

Theme section for 36th International Symposium for Remote Sensing of the Environment in Berlin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trinder, John; Waske, Björn

2016-09-01

The International Symposium for Remote Sensing of the Environment (ISRSE) is the longest series of international conferences held on the topic of Remote Sensing, commencing in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA in 1962. While the name of the conference has changed over the years, it is regularly held approximately every 2 years and continues to be one of the leading international conferences on remote sensing. The latest of these conferences, the 36th ISRSE, was held in Berlin, Germany from 11 to 15 May 2015. All complete papers from the conference are available in the ISPRS International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences at http://www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XL-7-W3/index.html.

THE REMOTE SENSING DATA GATEWAY

EPA Science Inventory

The EPA Remote Sensing Data Gateway (RSDG) is a pilot project in the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) to develop a comprehensive data search, acquisition, delivery and archive mechanism for internal, national and international sources of remote sensing data for the co...

A remote sensing and GIS-enabled asset management system (RS-GAMS) : phase 2.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-04-01

Under the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Commercial Remote Sensing and Spatial : Information (CRS&SI) Technology Initiative 2 of the Transportation Infrastructure Construction : and Condition Assessment, an intelligent Remote Sensing and GIS...

Remote sensing applications program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

The activities of the Mississippi Remote Sensing Center are described in addition to technology transfer and information dissemination, remote sensing topics such as timber identification, water quality, flood prevention, land use, erosion control, animal habitats, and environmental impact studies are also discussed.

Remote Sensing Terminology in a Global and Knowledge-Based World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kancheva, Rumiana

The paper is devoted to terminology issues related to all aspects of remote sensing research and applications. Terminology is the basis for a better understanding among people. It is crucial to keep up with the latest developments and novelties of the terminology in advanced technology fields such as aerospace science and industry. This is especially true in remote sensing and geoinformatics which develop rapidly and have ever extending applications in various domains of science and human activities. Remote sensing terminology issues are directly relevant to the contemporary worldwide policies on information accessibility, dissemination and utilization of research results in support of solutions to global environmental challenges and sustainable development goals. Remote sensing and spatial information technologies are an integral part of the international strategies for cooperation in scientific, research and application areas with a particular accent on environmental monitoring, ecological problems natural resources management, climate modeling, weather forecasts, disaster mitigation and many others to which remote sensing data can be put. Remote sensing researchers, professionals, students and decision makers of different counties and nationalities should fully understand, interpret and translate into their native language any term, definition or acronym found in papers, books, proceedings, specifications, documentation, and etc. The importance of the correct use, precise definition and unification of remote sensing terms refers not only to people working in this field but also to experts in a variety of disciplines who handle remote sensing data and information products. In this paper, we draw the attention on the specifics, peculiarities and recent needs of compiling specialized dictionaries in the area of remote sensing focusing on Earth observations and the integration of remote sensing with other geoinformation technologies such as photogrammetry, geodesy, GIS, etc. Our belief is that the elaboration of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries in this spreading, most technically advanced and promising field of human expertise is of great practical importance. The work on an English-Bulgarian Dictionary of Remote Sensing Terms is described including considerations on its scope, structure, information content, sellection of terms, and etc. The vision builds upon previous national and international experience and makes use of ongoing activities on the subject. Any interest in cooperation and initiating suchlike collaborative projects is welcome and highly appreciated.

Indicators of international remote sensing activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spann, G. W.

1977-01-01

The extent of worldwide remote sensing activities, including the use of satellite and high/medium altitude aircraft data was studied. Data were obtained from numerous individuals and organizations with international remote sensing responsibilities. Indicators were selected to evaluate the nature and scope of remote sensing activities in each country. These indicators ranged from attendance at remote sensing workshops and training courses to the establishment of earth resources satellite ground stations and plans for the launch of earth resources satellites. Results indicate that this technology constitutes a rapidly increasing component of environmental, land use, and natural resources investigations in many countries, and most of these countries rely on the LANDSAT satellites for a major portion of their data.

Free acquisition and dissemination of data through remote sensing. [Landsat program legal aspects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hosenball, S. N.

1976-01-01

Free acquisition and dissemination of data through remote sensing is discussed with reference to the Landsat program. The role of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the U.N. General Assembly's Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has made recommendations on the expansion of existing ground stations and on the establishment of an experimental center for training in remote sensing. The working group for the legal subcommittee of the same U.N. committee indicates that there are common elements in the three drafts on remote sensing submitted to it: a call for international cooperation and the belief that remote sensing should be conducted for the benefit of all mankind.

Some fundamental concepts in remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The term remote sensing is defined as well as ideas such as class, pattern, feature, pattern recognition, feature extraction, and theme. The electromagnetic spectrum is examined especially those wavelength regions available to remote sensing. Relevant energy and wave propagation laws are discussed and the characteristics of emitted and reflected radiation and their detection are investigated. The identification of classes by their spectral signatures, the multispectral approach, and the principal types of sensors and platforms used in remote sensing are also considered.

LWIR Microgrid Polarimeter for Remote Sensing Studies

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-02-28

Polarimeter for Remote Sensing Studies 5b. GRANT NUMBER FA9550-08-1-0295 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 1. Scott Tyo 5e. TASK...and tested at the University of Arizona, and preliminary images are shown in this final report. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Remote Sensing , polarimetry 16...7.0 LWIR Microgrid Polarimeter for Remote Sensing Studies J. Scott Tyo College of Optical Sciences University of Arizona Tucson, AZ, 85721 tyo

Remote sensing new model for monitoring the east Asian migratory locust infections based on its breeding circle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Xiuzhen; Ma, Jianwen; Bao, Yuhai

2006-12-01

Currently the function of operational locust monitor system mainly focused on after-hazards monitoring and assessment, and to found the way effectively to perform early warning and prediction has more practical meaning. Through 2001, 2002 two years continuously field sample and statistics for locusts eggs hatching, nymph growth, adults 3 phases observation, sample statistics and calculation, spectral measurements as well as synchronically remote sensing data processing we raise the view point of Remote Sensing three stage monitor the locust hazards. Based on the point of view we designed remote sensing monitor in three stages: (1) during the egg hitching phase remote sensing can retrieve parameters of land surface temperature (LST) and soil moisture; (2) during nymph growth phase locust increases appetite greatly and remote sensing can calculate vegetation index, leaf area index, vegetation cover and analysis changes; (3) during adult phase the locust move and assembly towards ponds and water ditches as well as less than 75% vegetation cover areas and remote sensing combination with field data can monitor and predicts potential areas for adult locusts to assembly. In this way the priority of remote sensing technology is elaborated effectively and it also provides technique support for the locust monitor system. The idea and techniques used in the study can also be used as reference for other plant diseases and insect pests.

NASA Remote Sensing Research as Applied to Archaeology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giardino, Marco J.; Thomas, Michael R.

2002-01-01

The use of remotely sensed images is not new to archaeology. Ever since balloons and airplanes first flew cameras over archaeological sites, researchers have taken advantage of the elevated observation platforms to understand sites better. When viewed from above, crop marks, soil anomalies and buried features revealed new information that was not readily visible from ground level. Since 1974 and initially under the leadership of Dr. Tom Sever, NASA's Stennis Space Center, located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, pioneered and expanded the application of remote sensing to archaeological topics, including cultural resource management. Building on remote sensing activities initiated by the National Park Service, archaeologists increasingly used this technology to study the past in greater depth. By the early 1980s, there were sufficient accomplishments in the application of remote sensing to anthropology and archaeology that a chapter on the subject was included in fundamental remote sensing references. Remote sensing technology and image analysis are currently undergoing a profound shift in emphasis from broad classification to detection, identification and condition of specific materials, both organic and inorganic. In the last few years, remote sensing platforms have grown increasingly capable and sophisticated. Sensors currently in use, or nearing deployment, offer significantly finer spatial and spectral resolutions than were previously available. Paired with new techniques of image analysis, this technology may make the direct detection of archaeological sites a realistic goal.

Remote sensing-based predictors improve distribution models of rare, early successional and broadleaf tree species in Utah

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zimmermann, N.E.; Edwards, T.C.; Moisen, Gretchen G.; Frescino, T.S.; Blackard, J.A.

2007-01-01

1. Compared to bioclimatic variables, remote sensing predictors are rarely used for predictive species modelling. When used, the predictors represent typically habitat classifications or filters rather than gradual spectral, surface or biophysical properties. Consequently, the full potential of remotely sensed predictors for modelling the spatial distribution of species remains unexplored. Here we analysed the partial contributions of remotely sensed and climatic predictor sets to explain and predict the distribution of 19 tree species in Utah. We also tested how these partial contributions were related to characteristics such as successional types or species traits. 2. We developed two spatial predictor sets of remotely sensed and topo-climatic variables to explain the distribution of tree species. We used variation partitioning techniques applied to generalized linear models to explore the combined and partial predictive powers of the two predictor sets. Non-parametric tests were used to explore the relationships between the partial model contributions of both predictor sets and species characteristics. 3. More than 60% of the variation explained by the models represented contributions by one of the two partial predictor sets alone, with topo-climatic variables outperforming the remotely sensed predictors. However, the partial models derived from only remotely sensed predictors still provided high model accuracies, indicating a significant correlation between climate and remote sensing variables. The overall accuracy of the models was high, but small sample sizes had a strong effect on cross-validated accuracies for rare species. 4. Models of early successional and broadleaf species benefited significantly more from adding remotely sensed predictors than did late seral and needleleaf species. The core-satellite species types differed significantly with respect to overall model accuracies. Models of satellite and urban species, both with low prevalence, benefited more from use of remotely sensed predictors than did the more frequent core species. 5. Synthesis and applications. If carefully prepared, remotely sensed variables are useful additional predictors for the spatial distribution of trees. Major improvements resulted for deciduous, early successional, satellite and rare species. The ability to improve model accuracy for species having markedly different life history strategies is a crucial step for assessing effects of global change. ?? 2007 The Authors.

Remote sensing-based predictors improve distribution models of rare, early successional and broadleaf tree species in Utah

PubMed Central

ZIMMERMANN, N E; EDWARDS, T C; MOISEN, G G; FRESCINO, T S; BLACKARD, J A

2007-01-01

Compared to bioclimatic variables, remote sensing predictors are rarely used for predictive species modelling. When used, the predictors represent typically habitat classifications or filters rather than gradual spectral, surface or biophysical properties. Consequently, the full potential of remotely sensed predictors for modelling the spatial distribution of species remains unexplored. Here we analysed the partial contributions of remotely sensed and climatic predictor sets to explain and predict the distribution of 19 tree species in Utah. We also tested how these partial contributions were related to characteristics such as successional types or species traits. We developed two spatial predictor sets of remotely sensed and topo-climatic variables to explain the distribution of tree species. We used variation partitioning techniques applied to generalized linear models to explore the combined and partial predictive powers of the two predictor sets. Non-parametric tests were used to explore the relationships between the partial model contributions of both predictor sets and species characteristics. More than 60% of the variation explained by the models represented contributions by one of the two partial predictor sets alone, with topo-climatic variables outperforming the remotely sensed predictors. However, the partial models derived from only remotely sensed predictors still provided high model accuracies, indicating a significant correlation between climate and remote sensing variables. The overall accuracy of the models was high, but small sample sizes had a strong effect on cross-validated accuracies for rare species. Models of early successional and broadleaf species benefited significantly more from adding remotely sensed predictors than did late seral and needleleaf species. The core-satellite species types differed significantly with respect to overall model accuracies. Models of satellite and urban species, both with low prevalence, benefited more from use of remotely sensed predictors than did the more frequent core species. Synthesis and applications. If carefully prepared, remotely sensed variables are useful additional predictors for the spatial distribution of trees. Major improvements resulted for deciduous, early successional, satellite and rare species. The ability to improve model accuracy for species having markedly different life history strategies is a crucial step for assessing effects of global change. PMID:18642470

7 CFR 2.29 - Chief Economist.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Committees prior to any release outside the Department. (6) Related to remote sensing. (i) Provide technical... satellite remote sensing activities to assure full consideration and evaluation of advanced technology. (ii) Coordinate administrative, management, and budget information relating to the Department's remote sensing...

Development of sea ice monitoring with aerial remote sensing technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Xuhui; Han, Lei; Dong, Liang; Cui, Lulu; Bie, Jun; Fan, Xuewei

2014-11-01

In the north China Sea district, sea ice disaster is very serious every winter, which brings a lot of adverse effects to shipping transportation, offshore oil exploitation, and coastal engineering. In recent years, along with the changing of global climate, the sea ice situation becomes too critical. The monitoring of sea ice is playing a very important role in keeping human life and properties in safety, and undertaking of marine scientific research. The methods to monitor sea ice mainly include: first, shore observation; second, icebreaker monitoring; third, satellite remote sensing; and then aerial remote sensing monitoring. The marine station staffs use relevant equipments to monitor the sea ice in the shore observation. The icebreaker monitoring means: the workers complete the test of the properties of sea ice, such as density, salinity and mechanical properties. MODIS data and NOAA data are processed to get sea ice charts in the satellite remote sensing means. Besides, artificial visual monitoring method and some airborne remote sensors are adopted in the aerial remote sensing to monitor sea ice. Aerial remote sensing is an important means in sea ice monitoring because of its strong maneuverability, wide watching scale, and high resolution. In this paper, several methods in the sea ice monitoring using aerial remote sensing technology are discussed.

Remote sensor response study in the regime of the microwave radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ye, Tianyu; Mani, R. G.; Wegscheider, W.

2013-11-04

A concurrent remote sensing and magneto-transport study of the microwave excited two dimensional electron system (2DES) at liquid helium temperatures has been carried out using a carbon detector to remotely sense the microwave activity of the 2D electron system in the GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure during conventional magneto-transport measurements. Various correlations are observed and reported between the oscillatory magnetotransport and the remotely sensed reflection. In addition, the oscillatory remotely sensed signal is shown to exhibit a power law type variation in its amplitude, similar to the radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations.

Direct multiangle solution for poorly stratified atmospheres

Treesearch

Vladimir Kovalev; Cyle Wold; Alexander Petkov; Wei Min Hao

2012-01-01

The direct multiangle solution is considered, which allows improving the scanning lidar-data-inversion accuracy when the requirement of the horizontally stratified atmosphere is poorly met. The signal measured at zenith or close to zenith is used as a core source for extracting optical characteristics of the atmospheric aerosol loading. The multiangle signals are used...

Review of Remote Sensing Needs and Applications in Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Molly E.

2007-01-01

Remote sensing data has had an important role in identifying and responding to inter-annual variations in the African environment during the past three decades. As a largely agricultural region with diverse but generally limited government capacity to acquire and distribute ground observations of rainfall, temperature and other parameters, remote sensing is sometimes the only reliable measure of crop growing conditions in Africa. Thus, developing and maintaining the technical and scientific capacity to analyze and utilize satellite remote sensing data in Africa is critical to augmenting the continent's local weather/climate observation networks as well as its agricultural and natural resource development and management. The report Review of Remote Sensing Needs and Applications in Africa' has as its central goal to recommend to the US Agency for International Development an appropriate approach to support sustainable remote sensing applications at African regional remote sensing centers. The report focuses on "RS applications" to refer to the acquisition, maintenance and archiving, dissemination, distribution, analysis, and interpretation of remote sensing data, as well as the integration of interpreted data with other spatial data products. The report focuses on three primary remote sensing centers: (1) The AGRHYMET Regional Center in Niamey, Niger, created in 1974, is a specialized institute of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), with particular specialization in science and techniques applied to agricultural development, rural development, and natural resource management. (2) The Regional Centre for Maiming of Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Nairobi, Kenya, established in 1975 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union), is an intergovernmental organization, with 15 member states from eastern and southern Africa. (3) The Regional Remote Sensing Unit (RRSU) in Gaborone, Botswana, began work in June 1988 and operates under the Agriculture Information Management System (AIMS), as part of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) Directorate, based at the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Secretariat.

The Earth Resources Observation Systems data center's training technical assistance, and applications research activities

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sturdevant, J.A.

1981-01-01

The Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center (EDO, administered by the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, provides remotely sensed data to the user community and offers a variety of professional services to further the understanding and use of remote sensing technology. EDC reproduces and sells photographic and electronic copies of satellite images of areas throughout the world. Other products include aerial photographs collected by 16 organizations, including the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Primary users of the remotely sensed data are Federal, State, and municipal government agencies, universities, foreign nations, and private industries. The professional services available at EDC are primarily directed at integrating satellite and aircraft remote sensing technology into the programs of the Department of the Interior and its cooperators. This is accomplished through formal training workshops, user assistance, cooperative demonstration projects, and access to equipment and capabilities in an advanced data analysis laboratory. In addition, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, universities, and the general public can get assistance from the EDC Staff. Since 1973, EDC has contributed to the accelerating growth in development and operational use of remotely sensed data for land resource problems through its role as educator and by conducting basic and applied remote sensing applications research. As remote sensing technology continues to evolve, EDC will continue to respond to the increasing demand for timely information on remote sensing applications. Questions most often asked about EDC's research and training programs include: Who may attend an EDC remote sensing training course? Specifically, what is taught? Who may cooperate with EDC on remote sensing projects? Are interpretation services provided on a service basis? This report attempts to define the goals and objectives of and policies on the following EDC services: Training Program.User Assistance.Data Analysis Laboratory.Cooperative Demonstration Projects.Research Projects.

Risk profiling of schistosomiasis using remote sensing: approaches, challenges and outlook.

PubMed

Walz, Yvonne; Wegmann, Martin; Dech, Stefan; Raso, Giovanna; Utzinger, Jürg

2015-03-17

Schistosomiasis is a water-based disease that affects an estimated 250 million people, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. The transmission of schistosomiasis is spatially and temporally restricted to freshwater bodies that contain schistosome cercariae released from specific snails that act as intermediate hosts. Our objective was to assess the contribution of remote sensing applications and to identify remaining challenges in its optimal application for schistosomiasis risk profiling in order to support public health authorities to better target control interventions. We reviewed the literature (i) to deepen our understanding of the ecology and the epidemiology of schistosomiasis, placing particular emphasis on remote sensing; and (ii) to fill an identified gap, namely interdisciplinary research that bridges different strands of scientific inquiry to enhance spatially explicit risk profiling. As a first step, we reviewed key factors that govern schistosomiasis risk. Secondly, we examined remote sensing data and variables that have been used for risk profiling of schistosomiasis. Thirdly, the linkage between the ecological consequence of environmental conditions and the respective measure of remote sensing data were synthesised. We found that the potential of remote sensing data for spatial risk profiling of schistosomiasis is - in principle - far greater than explored thus far. Importantly though, the application of remote sensing data requires a tailored approach that must be optimised by selecting specific remote sensing variables, considering the appropriate scale of observation and modelling within ecozones. Interestingly, prior studies that linked prevalence of Schistosoma infection to remotely sensed data did not reflect that there is a spatial gap between the parasite and intermediate host snail habitats where disease transmission occurs, and the location (community or school) where prevalence measures are usually derived from. Our findings imply that the potential of remote sensing data for risk profiling of schistosomiasis and other neglected tropical diseases has yet to be fully exploited.

NASA Fluid Lensing & MiDAR: Next-Generation Remote Sensing Technologies for Aquatic Remote Sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chirayath, Ved

2018-01-01

We present two recent instrument technology developments at NASA, Fluid Lensing and MiDAR, and their application to remote sensing of Earth's aquatic systems. Fluid Lensing is the first remote sensing technology capable of imaging through ocean waves in 3D at sub-cm resolutions. MiDAR is a next-generation active hyperspectral remote sensing and optical communications instrument capable of active fluid lensing. Fluid Lensing has been used to provide 3D multispectral imagery of shallow marine systems from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), including coral reefs in American Samoa and stromatolite reefs in Hamelin Pool, Western Australia. MiDAR is being deployed on aircraft and underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to enable a new method for remote sensing of living and nonliving structures in extreme environments. MiDAR images targets with high-intensity narrowband structured optical radiation to measure an objectâ€"TM"s non-linear spectral reflectance, image through fluid interfaces such as ocean waves with active fluid lensing, and simultaneously transmit high-bandwidth data. As an active instrument, MiDAR is capable of remotely sensing reflectance at the centimeter (cm) spatial scale with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) multiple orders of magnitude higher than passive airborne and spaceborne remote sensing systems with significantly reduced integration time. This allows for rapid video-frame-rate hyperspectral sensing into the far ultraviolet and VNIR wavelengths. Previously, MiDAR was developed into a TRL 2 laboratory instrument capable of imaging in thirty-two narrowband channels across the VNIR spectrum (400-950nm). Recently, MiDAR UV was raised to TRL4 and expanded to include five ultraviolet bands from 280-400nm, permitting UV remote sensing capabilities in UV A, B, and C bands and enabling mineral identification and stimulated fluorescence measurements of organic proteins and compounds, such as green fluorescent proteins in terrestrial and aquatic organics.

Remote sensing as a source of data for outdoor recreation planning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reed, W. E.; Goodell, H. G.; Emmitt, G. D.

1972-01-01

Specific data needs for outdoor recreation planning and the ability of tested remote sensors to provide sources for these data are examined. Data needs, remote sensor capabilities, availability of imagery, and advantages and problems of incorporating remote sensing data sources into ongoing planning data collection programs are discussed in detail. Examples of the use of imagery to derive data for a range of common planning analyses are provided. A selected bibliography indicates specific uses of data in planning, basic background materials on remote sensing technology, and sources of information on environmental information systems expected to use remote sensing to provide new environmental data of use in outdoor recreation planning.

Online Remote Sensing Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawhead, Joel

2007-01-01

BasinTools Module 1 processes remotely sensed raster data, including multi- and hyper-spectral data products, via a Web site with no downloads and no plug-ins required. The interface provides standardized algorithms designed so that a user with little or no remote-sensing experience can use the site. This Web-based approach reduces the amount of software, hardware, and computing power necessary to perform the specified analyses. Access to imagery and derived products is enterprise-level and controlled. Because the user never takes possession of the imagery, the licensing of the data is greatly simplified. BasinTools takes the "just-in-time" inventory control model from commercial manufacturing and applies it to remotely-sensed data. Products are created and delivered on-the-fly with no human intervention, even for casual users. Well-defined procedures can be combined in different ways to extend verified and validated methods in order to derive new remote-sensing products, which improves efficiency in any well-defined geospatial domain. Remote-sensing products produced in BasinTools are self-documenting, allowing procedures to be independently verified or peer-reviewed. The software can be used enterprise-wide to conduct low-level remote sensing, viewing, sharing, and manipulating of image data without the need for desktop applications.

What is a picture worth? A history of remote sensing

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moore, Gerald K.

1979-01-01

Remote sensing is the use of electromagnetic energy to measure the physical properties of distant objects. It includes photography and geophysical surveying as well as newer techniques that use other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. The history of remote sensing begins with photography. The origin of other types of remote sensing can be traced to World War II, with the development of radar, sonar, and thermal infrared detection systems. Since the 1960s, sensors have been designed to operate in virtually all of the electromagnetic spectrum. Today a wide variety of remote sensing instruments are available for use in hydrological studies; satellite data, such as Skylab photographs and Landsat images are particularly suitable for regional problems and studies. Planned future satellites will provide a ground resolution of 10–80 m. Remote sensing is currently used for hydrological applications in most countries of the world. The range of applications includes groundwater exploration determination of physical water quality, snowfield mapping, flood-inundation delineation, and making inventories of irrigated land. The use of remote sensing commonly results in considerable hydrological information at minimal cost. This information can be used to speed-up the development of water resources, to improve management practices, and to monitor environmental problems.

International Conference on Remote Sensing Applications for Archaeological Research and World Heritage Conservation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Contents include the following: Monitoring the Ancient Countryside: Remote Sensing and GIS at the Chora of Chersonesos (Crimea, Ukraine). Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS for Management Decision Support in the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve (Republic of Benin). Monitoring of deforestation invasion in natural reserves of northern Madagascar based on space imagery. Cartography of Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Cartography and Land Use Change of World Heritage Areas and the Benefits of Remote Sensing and GIS for Conservation. Assessing and Monitoring Vegetation in Nabq Protected Area, South Sinai, Egypt, using combine approach of Satellite Imagery and Land Surveys. Evaluation of forage resources in semi-arid savannah environments with satellite imagery: contribution to the management of a protected area (Nakuru National Park) in Kenya. SOGHA, the Surveillance of Gorilla Habitat in World Heritage sites using Space Technologies. Application of Remote Sensing to monitor the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay (France). Application of Remote Sensing & GIS for the Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites of the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Social and Environmental monitoring of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: Case Study over the Vosges du Nord and Pfalzerwald Parks using Corona and Spot Imagery. Satellite Remote Sensing as tool to Monitor Indian Reservation in the Brazilian Amazonia. Remote Sensing and GIS Technology for Monitoring UNESCO World Heritage Sites - A Pilot Project. Urban Green Spaces: Modern Heritage. Monitoring of the technical condition of the St. Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in Kiev with Space Applications, geo-positioning systems and GIS tools. The Murghab delta palaeochannel Reconstruction on the Basis of Remote Sensing from Space. Acquisition, Registration and Application of IKONOS Space Imagery for the cultural World Heritage site at Mew, Turkmenistan. Remote Sensing and VR applications for the reconstruction of archaeological landscapes. Archaeology through Space: Experience in Indian Subcontinent. The creation of a GIS Archaeological Site Location Catalogue in Yucatan: A Tool to preserve its Cultural Heritage. Mapping the Ancient Anasazi Roads of Southeast Utah. Remote Sensing and GIS Technology for Identification of Conservation and Heritage sites in Urban Planning. Mapping Angkor: For a new appraisal of the Angkor region. Angkor and radar imaging: seeing a vast pre-industrial low-density, dispersed urban complex. Technical and methodological aspects of archaeological CRM integrating high resolution satellite imagery. The contribution of satellite imagery to archaeological survey: an example from western Syria. The use of satellite images, digital elevation models and ground truth for the monitoring of land degradation in the "Cinque Terre" National park. Remote Sensing and GIS Applications for Protection and Conservation of World Heritage Site on the coast - Case Study of Tamil Nadu Coast, India. Multispectral high resolution satellite imagery in combination with "traditional" remote sensing and ground survey methods to the study of archaeological landscapes. The case study of Tuscany. Use of Remotely-Sensed Imagery in Cultural Landscape. Characterisation at Fort Hood, Texas. Heritage Learning and Data Collection: Biodiversity & Heritage Conservation through Collaborative Monitoring & Research. A collaborative project by UNESCO's WHC (World Heritage Center) & The GLOBE Program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment). Practical Remote Sensing Activities in an Interdisciplinary Master-Level Space Course.

Exploring Remote Rensing Through The Use Of Readily-Available Classroom Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, M. A.

2013-12-01

Frontier geoscience research using remotely-sensed satellite observation routinely requires sophisticated and novel remote sensing techniques to succeed. Describing these techniques in an educational format presents significant challenges to the science educator, especially with regards to the professional development setting where a small, but competent audience has limited instructor contact time to develop the necessary understanding. In this presentation, we describe the use of simple and cheaply available technologies, including ultrasonic transducers, FLIR detectors, and even simple web cameras to provide a tangible analogue to sophisticated remote sensing platforms. We also describe methods of curriculum development that leverages the use of these simple devices to teach the fundamentals of remote sensing, resulting in a deeper and more intuitive understanding of the techniques used in modern remote sensing research. Sample workshop itineraries using these techniques are provided as well.

Remote sensing of wetlands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roller, N. E. G.

1977-01-01

The concept of using remote sensing to inventory wetlands and the related topics of proper inventory design and data collection are discussed. The material presented shows that aerial photography is the form of remote sensing from which the greatest amount of wetlands information can be derived. For extensive, general-purpose wetlands inventories, however, the use of LANDSAT data may be more cost-effective. Airborne multispectral scanners and radar are, in the main, too expensive to use - unless the information that these sensors alone can gather remotely is absolutely required. Multistage sampling employing space and high altitude remote sensing data in the initial stages appears to be an efficient survey strategy for gathering non-point specific wetlands inventory data over large areas. The operational role of remote sensing insupplying inventory data for application to several typical wetlands management problems is illustrated by summary descriptions of past ERIM projects.

Land Remote Sensing Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byrnes, Ray

2007-01-01

A general overview of the USGS land remote sensing program is presented. The contents include: 1) Brief overview of USGS land remote sensing program; 2) Highlights of JACIE work at USGS; 3) Update on NASA/USGS Landsat Data Continuity Mission; and 4) Notes on alternative data sources.

Hydrological Application of Remote Sensing: Surface States -- Snow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Dorothy K.; Kelly, Richard E. J.; Foster, James L.; Chang, Alfred T. C.

2004-01-01

Remote sensing research of snow cover has been accomplished for nearly 40 years. The use of visible, near-infrared, active and passive-microwave remote sensing for the analysis of snow cover is reviewed with an emphasis on the work on the last decade.

Remote sensing education in NASA's technology transfer program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinstein, R. H.

1981-01-01

Remote sensing is a principal focus of NASA's technology transfer program activity with major attention to remote sensing education the Regional Program and the University Applications Program. Relevant activities over the past five years are reviewed and perspective on future directions is presented.

Analysis of Coastal Dunes: A Remote Sensing and Statistical Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, J. Richard

1985-01-01

Remote sensing analysis and statistical methods were used to analyze the coastal dunes of Plum Island, Massachusetts. The research methodology used provides an example of a student project for remote sensing, geomorphology, or spatial analysis courses at the university level. (RM)

7 CFR 2.72 - Chairman, World Agricultural Outlook Board.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Commodity Estimates Committees prior to any release outside the Department. (4) Related to remote sensing..., developing, and carrying out satellite remote sensing activities to assure full consideration and evaluation... to the Department's remote sensing activities including: (A) Inter- and intra-agency meetings...

Remote sensing and reflectance profiling in entomology

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Remote sensing is about characterizing the status of objects and/or classifies their identity based on a combination of spectral features extracted from reflectance or transmission profiles of radiometric energy. Remote sensing can be ground-based, and therefore acquired at a high spatial resolutio...

Planning and Implementation of Remote Sensing Experiments.

DTIC Science & Technology

Contents: TEKTITE II experiment-upwelling detection (NASA Mx 138); Design of oceanographic experiments (Gulf of Mexico, Mx 159); Design of oceanographic experiments (Gulf of Mexico, Mx 165); Experiments on thermal pollution; Remote sensing newsletter; Symposium on remote sensing in marine biology and fishery resources.

Ionospheric Profiles from Ultraviolet Remote Sensing

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-09-30

The long-term goal of this project is to obtain ionospheric profiles from ultraviolet remote sensing of the ionosphere from orbiting space platforms... Remote sensing of the nighttime ionosphere is a more straightforward process because of the absence of the complications brought about by daytime

The hydrology of prehistoric farming systems in a central Arizona ecotone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gumerman, G. J.; Hanson, J. A.; Brew, D.; Tomoff, K.; Weed, C. S.

1975-01-01

The prehistoric land use and water management in the semi-arid Southwest was examined. Remote sensing data, geology, hydrology and biology are discussed along with an evaluation of remote sensing contributions, recommendations for applications, and proposed future remote sensing studies.

Research investigations in and demonstrations of remote sensing applications to urban environmental problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hidalgo, J. U.

1975-01-01

The applicability of remote sensing to transportation and traffic analysis, urban quality, and land use problems is discussed. Other topics discussed include preliminary user analysis, potential uses, traffic study by remote sensing, and urban condition analysis using ERTS.

Multi-scale remote sensing of coral reefs

USGS Publications Warehouse

Andréfouët, Serge; Hochberg, E.J.; Chevillon, Christophe; Muller-Karger, Frank E.; Brock, John C.; Hu, Chuanmin

2005-01-01

In this chapter we present how both direct and indirect remote sensing can be integrated to address two major coral reef applications - coral bleaching and assessment of biodiversity. This approach reflects the current non-linear integration of remote sensing for environmental assessment of coral reefs, resulting from a rapid increase in available sensors, processing methods and interdisciplinary collaborations (Andréfouët and Riegl, 2004). Moreover, this approach has greatly benefited from recent collaborations of once independent investigations (e.g., benthic ecology, remote sensing, and numerical modeling).

Remote sensing program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Philipson, W. R. (Principal Investigator)

1983-01-01

Built on Cornell's thirty years of experience in aerial photographic studies, the NASA-sponsored remote sensing program strengthened instruction and research in remote sensing, established communication links within and beyond the university community, and conducted research projects for or with town, county, state, federal, and private organizations in New York State. The 43 completed applied research projects are listed as well as 13 spinoff grants/contracts. The curriculum offered, consultations provided, and data processing facilities available are described. Publications engendered are listed including the thesis of graduates in the remote sensing program.

Development of mathematical techniques for the assimilation of remote sensing data into atmospheric models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seinfeld, J. H. (Principal Investigator)

1982-01-01

The problem of the assimilation of remote sensing data into mathematical models of atmospheric pollutant species was investigated. The data assimilation problem is posed in terms of the matching of spatially integrated species burden measurements to the predicted three-dimensional concentration fields from atmospheric diffusion models. General conditions were derived for the reconstructability of atmospheric concentration distributions from data typical of remote sensing applications, and a computational algorithm (filter) for the processing of remote sensing data was developed.

Development of mathematical techniques for the assimilation of remote sensing data into atmospheric models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seinfeld, J. H. (Principal Investigator)

1982-01-01

The problem of the assimilation of remote sensing data into mathematical models of atmospheric pollutant species was investigated. The problem is posed in terms of the matching of spatially integrated species burden measurements to the predicted three dimensional concentration fields from atmospheric diffusion models. General conditions are derived for the "reconstructability' of atmospheric concentration distributions from data typical of remote sensing applications, and a computational algorithm (filter) for the processing of remote sensing data is developed.

The applicability of remote sensing to Earth biological problems. Part 2: The potential of remote sensing in pest management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polhemus, J. T.

1980-01-01

Five troublesome insect pest groups were chosen for study. These represent a broad spectrum of life cycles, ecological indicators, pest management strategies, and remote sensing requirements. Background data, and field study results for each of these subjects is discussed for each insect group. Specific groups studied include tsetse flies, locusts, western rangeland grasshoppers, range caterpillars, and mosquitoes. It is concluded that remote sensing methods are aplicable to the pest management of the insect groups studied.

Searches over graphs representing geospatial-temporal remote sensing data

DOEpatents

Brost, Randolph; Perkins, David Nikolaus

2018-03-06

Various technologies pertaining to identifying objects of interest in remote sensing images by searching over geospatial-temporal graph representations are described herein. Graphs are constructed by representing objects in remote sensing images as nodes, and connecting nodes with undirected edges representing either distance or adjacency relationships between objects and directed edges representing changes in time. Geospatial-temporal graph searches are made computationally efficient by taking advantage of characteristics of geospatial-temporal data in remote sensing images through the application of various graph search techniques.

Antarctic Tabular Iceberg A-24 Movement and Decay Via Satellite Remote Sensing

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-04-02

Austraia. Pulished by ft Amencan Meteormogicat Society. Bost:o, MA. P7.27 ANTARCTIC TABULAR ICEBERG A-24 MOVEMENT AND DECAY VIA SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AD...2. REMOTE SENSING DATA SOURCES 85 GHz imagery verified that the iceberg began to indicate more than The vis/IR imagery from the one berg existed in...SSM/I Instrument Evaluation, conditions. The corresponding IR data IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing , was also of particular interest due Vol. 28, pp

Coastal Remote Sensing Investigations. Volume 2. Beach Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-01

1 ’ "■"’.."■•■.» ■ a .1 "llpll CO Ifi o Q- O CO I y Final Report COASTAL REMOTE SENSING INVESTIGATIONS VOLUME 2: BEACH... Remote Sensing Grain Size Soil Moisture Soil Mineralogy Multispectral Scanner iO AUTNACT fCHtfÜBB on merit nJt ij ntinwin and idmlify In hloti...The work reported herein summarizes the final research activity in the Beach Environment Task of a program at ERIM entitled "Coastal Remote Sensing Investigations

Radar Remote Sensing of Waves and Currents in the Nearshore Zone

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

and application of novel microwave, acoustic, and optical remote sensing techniques. The objectives of this effort are to determine the extent to which...Doppler radar techniques are useful for nearshore remote sensing applications. Of particular interest are estimates of surf zone location and extent...surface currents, waves, and bathymetry. To date, optical (video) techniques have been the primary remote sensing technology used for these applications. A key advantage of the radar is its all weather day-night operability.

Emergence of the Green’s Functions from Noise and Passive Acoustic Remote Sensing of Ocean Dynamics

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-30

Acoustic Remote Sensing of Ocean Dynamics Oleg A. Godin CIRES/Univ. of Colorado and NOAA/OAR/Earth System Research Lab., R/PSD99, 325 Broadway...characterization of a time-varying ocean where ambient acoustic noise is utilized as a probing signal. • To develop a passive remote sensing technique for...inapplicable. 3. To quantify degradation of performance of passive remote sensing techniques due to ocean surface motion and other variations of underwater

Active and Passive Remote Sensing of Ice

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-26

92 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE S. FUNDING NUMBERS Active and Passive Remote Sensing of Ice NO0014-89-J-l 107 6. AUTHOR(S) 425f023-08 Prof. J.A. Kong 7... REMOTE SENSING OF ICE Sponsored by: Department of the Navy Office of Naval Research Contract number: N00014-89-J-1107 Research Organization: Center for...J. A. Kong Period covered: October 1, 1988 - November 30, 1992 St ACTIVE AND PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING OF ICE FINAL REPORT This annual report covers

Investigation of the application of remote sensing technology to environmental monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rader, M. L. (Principal Investigator)

1980-01-01

Activities and results are reported of a project to investigate the application of remote sensing technology developed for the LACIE, AgRISTARS, Forestry and other NASA remote sensing projects for the environmental monitoring of strip mining, industrial pollution, and acid rain. Following a remote sensing workshop for EPA personnel, the EOD clustering algorithm CLASSY was selected for evaluation by EPA as a possible candidate technology. LANDSAT data acquired for a North Dakota test sight was clustered in order to compare CLASSY with other algorithms.

Remote Sensing For Water Resources And Hydrology. Recommended research emphasis for the 1980's

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

The problems and the areas of activity that the Panel believes should be emphasized in work on remote sensing for water resources and hydrology in the 1980's are set forth. The Panel deals only with those activities and problems in water resources and hydrology that the Panel considers important, and where, in the Panel's opinion, application of current remote sensing capability or advancements in remote sensing capability can help meet urgent problems and provide large returns in practical benefits.

Research on Method of Interactive Segmentation Based on Remote Sensing Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Y.; Li, H.; Han, Y.; Yu, F.

2017-09-01

In this paper, we aim to solve the object extraction problem in remote sensing images using interactive segmentation tools. Firstly, an overview of the interactive segmentation algorithm is proposed. Then, our detailed implementation of intelligent scissors and GrabCut for remote sensing images is described. Finally, several experiments on different typical features (water area, vegetation) in remote sensing images are performed respectively. Compared with the manual result, it indicates that our tools maintain good feature boundaries and show good performance.

Nonlinear Photonic Systems for V- and W-Band Antenna Remoting Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-22

for commercial, academic, and military purposes delivering microwaves through fibers to remote areas for wireless sensing , imaging, and detection...academic, and military purposes, which use optical carriers to deliver microwave signals to remote areas for wireless sensing , imaging, and...and military purposes, which use optical carriers to deliver microwave signals to remote areas for wireless sensing , imaging, and detection

First results of ground-based LWIR hyperspectral imaging remote gas detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Wei-jian; Lei, Zheng-gang; Yu, Chun-chao; Wang, Hai-yang; Fu, Yan-peng; Liao, Ning-fang; Su, Jun-hong

2014-11-01

The new progress of ground-based long-wave infrared remote sensing is presented. The LWIR hyperspectral imaging by using the windowing spatial and temporal modulation Fourier spectroscopy, and the results of outdoor ether gas detection, verify the features of LWIR hyperspectral imaging remote sensing and technical approach. It provides a new technical means for ground-based gas remote sensing.

Remote sensing systems – Platforms and sensors: Aerial, satellites, UAVs, optical, radar, and LiDAR: Chapter 1

USGS Publications Warehouse

Panda, Sudhanshu S.; Rao, Mahesh N.; Thenkabail, Prasad S.; Fitzerald, James E.

2015-01-01

The American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing defined remote sensing as the measurement or acquisition of information of some property of an object or phenomenon, by a recording device that is not in physical or intimate contact with the object or phenomenon under study (Colwell et al., 1983). Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in its geographic information system (GIS) dictionary defines remote sensing as “collecting and interpreting information about the environment and the surface of the earth from a distance, primarily by sensing radiation that is naturally emitted or reflected by the earth’s surface or from the atmosphere, or by sending signals transmitted from a device and reflected back to it (ESRI, 2014).” The usual source of passive remote sensing data is the measurement of reflected or transmitted electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from the sun across the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS); this can also include acoustic or sound energy, gravity, or the magnetic field from or of the objects under consideration. In this context, the simple act of reading this text is considered remote sensing. In this case, the eye acts as a sensor and senses the light reflected from the object to obtain information about the object. It is the same technology used by a handheld camera to take a photograph of a person or a distant scenic view. Active remote sensing, however, involves sending a pulse of energy and then measuring the returned energy through a sensor (e.g., Radio Detection and Ranging [RADAR], Light Detection and Ranging [LiDAR]). Thermal sensors measure emitted energy by different objects. Thus, in general, passive remote sensing involves the measurement of solar energy reflected from the Earth’s surface, while active remote sensing involves synthetic (man-made) energy pulsed at the environment and the return signals are measured and recorded.

Progress in remote sensing of global land surface heat fluxes and evaporations with a turbulent heat exchange parameterization method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xuelong; Su, Bob

2017-04-01

Remote sensing has provided us an opportunity to observe Earth land surface with a much higher resolution than any of GCM simulation. Due to scarcity of information for land surface physical parameters, up-to-date GCMs still have large uncertainties in the coupled land surface process modeling. One critical issue is a large amount of parameters used in their land surface models. Thus remote sensing of land surface spectral information can be used to provide information on these parameters or assimilated to decrease the model uncertainties. Satellite imager could observe the Earth land surface with optical, thermal and microwave bands. Some basic Earth land surface status (land surface temperature, canopy height, canopy leaf area index, soil moisture etc.) has been produced with remote sensing technique, which already help scientists understanding Earth land and atmosphere interaction more precisely. However, there are some challenges when applying remote sensing variables to calculate global land-air heat and water exchange fluxes. Firstly, a global turbulent exchange parameterization scheme needs to be developed and verified, especially for global momentum and heat roughness length calculation with remote sensing information. Secondly, a compromise needs to be innovated to overcome the spatial-temporal gaps in remote sensing variables to make the remote sensing based land surface fluxes applicable for GCM model verification or comparison. A flux network data library (more 200 flux towers) was collected to verify the designed method. Important progress in remote sensing of global land flux and evaporation will be presented and its benefits for GCM models will also be discussed. Some in-situ studies on the Tibetan Plateau and problems of land surface process simulation will also be discussed.

Research Status and Development Trend of Remote Sensing in China Using Bibliometric Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Y.; Zhang, J.; Niu, R.

2015-06-01

Remote sensing was introduced into China in 1970s and then began to flourish. At present, China has developed into a big remote sensing country, and remote sensing is increasingly playing an important role in various fields of national economic construction and social development. Based on China Academic Journals Full-text Database and China Citation Database published by China National Knowledge Infrastructure, this paper analyzed academic characteristics of 963 highly cited papers published by 16 professional and academic journals in the field of surveying and mapping from January 2010 to December 2014 in China, which include hot topics, literature authors, research institutions, and fundations. At the same time, it studied a total of 51,149 keywords published by these 16 journals during the same period. Firstly by keyword selection, keyword normalization, keyword consistency and keyword incorporation, and then by analysis of high frequency keywords, the progress and prospect of China's remote sensing technology in data acquisition, data processing and applications during the past five years were further explored and revealed. It can be seen that: highly cited paper analysis and word frequency analysis is complementary on subject progress analysis; in data acquisition phase, research focus is new civilian remote sensing satellite systems and UAV remote sensing system; research focus of data processing and analysis is multi-source information extraction and classification, laser point cloud data processing, objectoriented high resolution image analysis, SAR data and hyper-spectral image processing, etc.; development trend of remote sensing data processing is quantitative, intelligent, automated, and real-time, and the breadth and depth of remote sensing application is gradually increased; parallel computing, cloud computing and geographic conditions monitoring and census are the new research focuses to be paid attention to.

The U.S. Geological Survey Land Remote Sensing Program

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2003-01-01

In 2002, the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) launched a program to enhance the acquisition, preservation, and use of remotely sensed data for USGS science programs, as well as for those of cooperators and customers. Remotely sensed data are fundamental tools for studying the Earth's land surface, including coastal and near-shore environments. For many decades, the USGS has been a leader in providing remotely sensed data to the national and international communities. Acting on its historical topographic mapping mission, the USGS has archived and distributed aerial photographs of the United States for more than half a century. Since 1972, the USGS has acquired, processed, archived, and distributed Landsat and other satellite and airborne remotely sensed data products to users worldwide. Today, the USGS operates and manages the Landsats 5 and 7 missions and cooperates with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to define and implement future satellite missions that will continue and expand the collection of moderate-resolution remotely sensed data. In addition to being a provider of remotely sensed data, the USGS is a user of these data and related remote sensing technology. These data are used in natural resource evaluations for energy and minerals, coastal environmental surveys, assessments of natural hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides), biological surveys and investigations, water resources status and trends analyses and studies, and geographic and cartographic applications, such as wildfire detection and tracking and as a source of information for The National Map. The program furthers these distinct but related roles by leading the USGS activities in providing remotely sensed data while advancing applications of such data for USGS programs and a wider user community.

Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing for Analysis of Landscape Ecological Processes: Methods and Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.

1998-01-01

Thermal Infrared (TIR) remote sensing data can provide important measurements of surface energy fluxes and temperatures, which are integral to understanding landscape processes and responses. One example of this is the successful application of TIR remote sensing data to estimate evapotranspiration and soil moisture, where results from a number of studies suggest that satellite-based measurements from TIR remote sensing data can lead to more accurate regional-scale estimates of daily evapotranspiration. With further refinement in analytical techniques and models, the use of TIR data from airborne and satellite sensors could be very useful for parameterizing surface moisture conditions and developing better simulations of landscape energy exchange over a variety of conditions and space and time scales. Thus, TIR remote sensing data can significantly contribute to the observation, measurement, and analysis of energy balance characteristics (i.e., the fluxes and redistribution of thermal energy within and across the land surface) as an implicit and important aspect of landscape dynamics and landscape functioning. The application of TIR remote sensing data in landscape ecological studies has been limited, however, for several fundamental reasons that relate primarily to the perceived difficulty in use and availability of these data by the landscape ecology community, and from the fragmentation of references on TIR remote sensing throughout the scientific literature. It is our purpose here to provide evidence from work that has employed TIR remote sensing for analysis of landscape characteristics to illustrate how these data can provide important data for the improved measurement of landscape energy response and energy flux relationships. We examine the direct or indirect use of TIR remote sensing data to analyze landscape biophysical characteristics, thereby offering some insight on how these data can be used more robustly to further the understanding and modeling of landscape ecological processes.

Use of Remote Sensing for Decision Support in Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Policelli, Frederick S.

2007-01-01

Over the past 30 years, the scientific community has learned a great deal about the Earth as an integrated system. Much of this research has been enabled by the development of remote sensing technologies and their operation from space. Decision makers in many nations have begun to make use of remote sensing data for resource management, policy making, and sustainable development planning. This paper makes an attempt to provide a survey of the current state of the requirements and use of remote sensing for sustainable development in Africa. This activity has shown that there are not many climate data ready decision support tools already functioning in Africa. There are, however, endusers with known requirements who could benefit from remote sensing data.

Design and Performance of a Multiwavelength Airborne Polarimetric Lidar for Vegetation Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Songxin; Narayanan, Ram M.

2004-04-01

The University of Nebraska has developed a multiwavelength airborne polarimetric lidar (MAPL) system to support its Airborne Remote Sensing Program for vegetation remote sensing. The MAPL design and instrumentation are described in detail. Characteristics of the MAPL system include lidar waveform capture and polarimetric measurement capabilities, which provide enhanced opportunities for vegetation remote sensing compared with current sensors. Field tests were conducted to calibrate the range measurement. Polarimetric calibration of the system is also discussed. Backscattered polarimetric returns, as well as the cross-polarization ratios, were obtained from a small forested area to validate the system's ability for vegetation canopy detection. The system has been packaged to fly abroad a Piper Saratoga aircraft for airborne vegetation remote sensing applications.

Remote sensing with unmanned aircraft systems for precision agriculture applications

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Federal Aviation Administration is revising regulations for using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the national airspace. An important potential application of UAS may be as a remote-sensing platform for precision agriculture, but simply down-scaling remote sensing methodologies developed usi...

Remote sensing for cotton farming

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Application of remote sensing technologies in agriculture began with the use of aerial photography to identify cotton root rot in the late 1920s. From then on, agricultural remote sensing has developed gradually until the introduction of precision farming technologies in the late 1980s and biotechno...

Remote sensing for mined area reclamation: Application inventory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1971-01-01

Applications of aerial remote sensing to coal mined area reclamation are documented, and information concerning available data banks for coal producing areas in the east and midwest is given. A summary of mined area information requirements to which remote sensing methods might contribute is included.

Remote sensing applications for transportation and traffic engineering studies: A review of the literature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Epps, J. W.

1973-01-01

Current references were surveyed for the application of remote sensing to traffic and transportation studies. The major problems are presented that concern traffic engineers and transportation managers, and the literature references that discuss remote sensing applications are summarized.

What does remote sensing do for ecology?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roughgarden, J.; Running, S. W.; Matson, P. A.

1991-01-01

The application of remote sensing to ecological investigations is briefly discussed. Emphasis is given to the recruitment problem in marine population dynamics, the regional analysis of terrestrial ecosystems, and the monitoring of ecological changes. Impediments to the use of remote sensing data in ecology are addressed.

REVIEW OF METHODS FOR REMOTE SENSING OF ATMOSPHERIC EMISSIONS FROM STATIONARY SOURCES

EPA Science Inventory

The report reviews the commercially available and developing technologies for the application of remote sensing to the measurement of source emissions. The term 'remote sensing technology', as applied in the report, means the detection or concentration measurement of trace atmosp...

75 FR 26919 - Charter Renewals

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-13

...: Notice of Renewal of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing Charter. SUMMARY: In accordance... Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) is in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties... Oceans and Atmosphere on matters relating to the U.S. commercial remote-sensing industry and NOAA's...

75 FR 52307 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-25

...: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Title: Licensing of Private Remote-Sensing Space... National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive; 3 hours for the submission of an operational quarterly... and Uses: NOAA has established requirements for the licensing of private operators of remote-sensing...

Atmospheric Correction Algorithm for Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Ocean Color from Space

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-02-20

Existing atmospheric correction algorithms for multichannel remote sensing of ocean color from space were designed for retrieving water-leaving...atmospheric correction algorithm for hyperspectral remote sensing of ocean color with the near-future Coastal Ocean Imaging Spectrometer. The algorithm uses

Target detection method by airborne and spaceborne images fusion based on past images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Shanjing; Kang, Qing; Wang, Zhenggang; Shen, ZhiQiang; Pu, Huan; Han, Hao; Gu, Zhongzheng

2017-11-01

To solve the problem that remote sensing target detection method has low utilization rate of past remote sensing data on target area, and can not recognize camouflage target accurately, a target detection method by airborne and spaceborne images fusion based on past images is proposed in this paper. The target area's past of space remote sensing image is taken as background. The airborne and spaceborne remote sensing data is fused and target feature is extracted by the means of airborne and spaceborne images registration, target change feature extraction, background noise suppression and artificial target feature extraction based on real-time aerial optical remote sensing image. Finally, the support vector machine is used to detect and recognize the target on feature fusion data. The experimental results have established that the proposed method combines the target area change feature of airborne and spaceborne remote sensing images with target detection algorithm, and obtains fine detection and recognition effect on camouflage and non-camouflage targets.

A light and faster regional convolutional neural network for object detection in optical remote sensing images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Peng; Zhang, Ye; Deng, Wei-Jian; Jia, Ping; Kuijper, Arjan

2018-07-01

Detection of objects from satellite optical remote sensing images is very important for many commercial and governmental applications. With the development of deep convolutional neural networks (deep CNNs), the field of object detection has seen tremendous advances. Currently, objects in satellite remote sensing images can be detected using deep CNNs. In general, optical remote sensing images contain many dense and small objects, and the use of the original Faster Regional CNN framework does not yield a suitably high precision. Therefore, after careful analysis we adopt dense convoluted networks, a multi-scale representation and various combinations of improvement schemes to enhance the structure of the base VGG16-Net for improving the precision. We propose an approach to reduce the test-time (detection time) and memory requirements. To validate the effectiveness of our approach, we perform experiments using satellite remote sensing image datasets of aircraft and automobiles. The results show that the improved network structure can detect objects in satellite optical remote sensing images more accurately and efficiently.

Ontology-based classification of remote sensing images using spectral rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrés, Samuel; Arvor, Damien; Mougenot, Isabelle; Libourel, Thérèse; Durieux, Laurent

2017-05-01

Earth Observation data is of great interest for a wide spectrum of scientific domain applications. An enhanced access to remote sensing images for "domain" experts thus represents a great advance since it allows users to interpret remote sensing images based on their domain expert knowledge. However, such an advantage can also turn into a major limitation if this knowledge is not formalized, and thus is difficult for it to be shared with and understood by other users. In this context, knowledge representation techniques such as ontologies should play a major role in the future of remote sensing applications. We implemented an ontology-based prototype to automatically classify Landsat images based on explicit spectral rules. The ontology is designed in a very modular way in order to achieve a generic and versatile representation of concepts we think of utmost importance in remote sensing. The prototype was tested on four subsets of Landsat images and the results confirmed the potential of ontologies to formalize expert knowledge and classify remote sensing images.

Scaling field data to calibrate and validate moderate spatial resolution remote sensing models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baccini, A.; Friedl, M.A.; Woodcock, C.E.; Zhu, Z.

2007-01-01

Validation and calibration are essential components of nearly all remote sensing-based studies. In both cases, ground measurements are collected and then related to the remote sensing observations or model results. In many situations, and particularly in studies that use moderate resolution remote sensing, a mismatch exists between the sensor's field of view and the scale at which in situ measurements are collected. The use of in situ measurements for model calibration and validation, therefore, requires a robust and defensible method to spatially aggregate ground measurements to the scale at which the remotely sensed data are acquired. This paper examines this challenge and specifically considers two different approaches for aggregating field measurements to match the spatial resolution of moderate spatial resolution remote sensing data: (a) landscape stratification; and (b) averaging of fine spatial resolution maps. The results show that an empirically estimated stratification based on a regression tree method provides a statistically defensible and operational basis for performing this type of procedure. 

Use of land surface remotely sensed satellite and airborne data for environmental exposure assessment in cancer research

USGS Publications Warehouse

Maxwell, S.K.; Meliker, J.R.; Goovaerts, P.

2010-01-01

In recent years, geographic information systems (GIS) have increasingly been used for reconstructing individual-level exposures to environmental contaminants in epidemiological research. Remotely sensed data can be useful in creating space-time models of environmental measures. The primary advantage of using remotely sensed data is that it allows for study at the local scale (e.g., residential level) without requiring expensive, time-consuming monitoring campaigns. The purpose of our study was to identify how land surface remotely sensed data are currently being used to study the relationship between cancer and environmental contaminants, focusing primarily on agricultural chemical exposure assessment applications. We present the results of a comprehensive literature review of epidemiological research where remotely sensed imagery or land cover maps derived from remotely sensed imagery were applied. We also discuss the strengths and limitations of the most commonly used imagery data (aerial photographs and Landsat satellite imagery) and land cover maps.

a Hadoop-Based Distributed Framework for Efficient Managing and Processing Big Remote Sensing Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, C.; Hu, F.; Hu, X.; Zhao, S.; Wen, W.; Yang, C.

2015-07-01

Various sensors from airborne and satellite platforms are producing large volumes of remote sensing images for mapping, environmental monitoring, disaster management, military intelligence, and others. However, it is challenging to efficiently storage, query and process such big data due to the data- and computing- intensive issues. In this paper, a Hadoop-based framework is proposed to manage and process the big remote sensing data in a distributed and parallel manner. Especially, remote sensing data can be directly fetched from other data platforms into the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). The Orfeo toolbox, a ready-to-use tool for large image processing, is integrated into MapReduce to provide affluent image processing operations. With the integration of HDFS, Orfeo toolbox and MapReduce, these remote sensing images can be directly processed in parallel in a scalable computing environment. The experiment results show that the proposed framework can efficiently manage and process such big remote sensing data.

A NDVI assisted remote sensing image adaptive scale segmentation method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hong; Shen, Jinxiang; Ma, Yanmei

2018-03-01

Multiscale segmentation of images can effectively form boundaries of different objects with different scales. However, for the remote sensing image which widely coverage with complicated ground objects, the number of suitable segmentation scales, and each of the scale size is still difficult to be accurately determined, which severely restricts the rapid information extraction of the remote sensing image. A great deal of experiments showed that the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) can effectively express the spectral characteristics of a variety of ground objects in remote sensing images. This paper presents a method using NDVI assisted adaptive segmentation of remote sensing images, which segment the local area by using NDVI similarity threshold to iteratively select segmentation scales. According to the different regions which consist of different targets, different segmentation scale boundaries could be created. The experimental results showed that the adaptive segmentation method based on NDVI can effectively create the objects boundaries for different ground objects of remote sensing images.

Classification of high resolution remote sensing image based on geo-ontology and conditional random fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Liang

2013-10-01

The availability of high spatial resolution remote sensing data provides new opportunities for urban land-cover classification. More geometric details can be observed in the high resolution remote sensing image, Also Ground objects in the high resolution remote sensing image have displayed rich texture, structure, shape and hierarchical semantic characters. More landscape elements are represented by a small group of pixels. Recently years, the an object-based remote sensing analysis methodology is widely accepted and applied in high resolution remote sensing image processing. The classification method based on Geo-ontology and conditional random fields is presented in this paper. The proposed method is made up of four blocks: (1) the hierarchical ground objects semantic framework is constructed based on geoontology; (2) segmentation by mean-shift algorithm, which image objects are generated. And the mean-shift method is to get boundary preserved and spectrally homogeneous over-segmentation regions ;(3) the relations between the hierarchical ground objects semantic and over-segmentation regions are defined based on conditional random fields framework ;(4) the hierarchical classification results are obtained based on geo-ontology and conditional random fields. Finally, high-resolution remote sensed image data -GeoEye, is used to testify the performance of the presented method. And the experimental results have shown the superiority of this method to the eCognition method both on the effectively and accuracy, which implies it is suitable for the classification of high resolution remote sensing image.

Book Review: Book review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Linden, Sebastian

2016-05-01

Compiling a good book on urban remote sensing is probably as hard as the research in this disciplinary field itself. Urban areas comprise various environments and show high heterogeneity in many respects, they are highly dynamic in time and space and at the same time of greatest influence on connected and even tele-connected regions due to their great economic importance. Urban remote sensing is therefore of great importance, yet as manifold as its study area: mapping urban areas (or sub-categories thereof) plays an important (and challenging) role in land use and land cover (change) monitoring; the analysis of urban green and forests is by itself a specialization of ecological remote sensing; urban climatology asks for spatially and temporally highly resolved remote sensing products; the detection of artificial objects is not only a common and important remote sensing application but also a typical benchmark for image analysis techniques, etc. Urban analyses are performed with all available spaceborne sensor types and at the same time they are one of the most relevant fields for airborne remote sensing. Several books on urban remote sensing have been published during the past 10 years, each taking a different perspective. The book Global Urban Monitoring and Assessment through Earth Observation is motivated by the objectives of the Global Urban Observation and Information Task (SB-04) in the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) 2012-2015 workplan (compare Chapter 2) and wants to highlight the global aspects of state-of-the-art urban remote sensing.

The Complicate Observations and Multi-Parameter Land Information Constructions on Allied Telemetry Experiment (COMPLICATE)

PubMed Central

Tian, Xin; Li, Zengyuan; Chen, Erxue; Liu, Qinhuo; Yan, Guangjian; Wang, Jindi; Niu, Zheng; Zhao, Shaojie; Li, Xin; Pang, Yong; Su, Zhongbo; van der Tol, Christiaan; Liu, Qingwang; Wu, Chaoyang; Xiao, Qing; Yang, Le; Mu, Xihan; Bo, Yanchen; Qu, Yonghua; Zhou, Hongmin; Gao, Shuai; Chai, Linna; Huang, Huaguo; Fan, Wenjie; Li, Shihua; Bai, Junhua; Jiang, Lingmei; Zhou, Ji

2015-01-01

The Complicate Observations and Multi-Parameter Land Information Constructions on Allied Telemetry Experiment (COMPLICATE) comprises a network of remote sensing experiments designed to enhance the dynamic analysis and modeling of remotely sensed information for complex land surfaces. Two types of experimental campaigns were established under the framework of COMPLICATE. The first was designed for continuous and elaborate experiments. The experimental strategy helps enhance our understanding of the radiative and scattering mechanisms of soil and vegetation and modeling of remotely sensed information for complex land surfaces. To validate the methodologies and models for dynamic analyses of remote sensing for complex land surfaces, the second campaign consisted of simultaneous satellite-borne, airborne, and ground-based experiments. During field campaigns, several continuous and intensive observations were obtained. Measurements were undertaken to answer key scientific issues, as follows: 1) Determine the characteristics of spatial heterogeneity and the radiative and scattering mechanisms of remote sensing on complex land surfaces. 2) Determine the mechanisms of spatial and temporal scale extensions for remote sensing on complex land surfaces. 3) Determine synergist inversion mechanisms for soil and vegetation parameters using multi-mode remote sensing on complex land surfaces. Here, we introduce the background, the objectives, the experimental designs, the observations and measurements, and the overall advances of COMPLICATE. As a result of the implementation of COMLICATE and for the next several years, we expect to contribute to quantitative remote sensing science and Earth observation techniques. PMID:26332035

Multiscale and Multitemporal Urban Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mesev, V.

2012-07-01

The remote sensing of urban areas has received much attention from scientists conducting studies on measuring sprawl, congestion, pollution, poverty, and environmental encroachment. Yet much of the research is case and data-specific where results are greatly influenced by prevailing local conditions. There seems to be a lack of epistemological links between remote sensing and conventional theoretical urban geography; in other words, an oversight for the appreciation of how urban theory fuels urban change and how urban change is measured by remotely sensed data. This paper explores basic urban theories such as centrality, mobility, materiality, nature, public space, consumption, segregation and exclusion, and how they can be measured by remote sensing sources. In particular, the link between structure (tangible objects) and function (intangible or immaterial behavior) is addressed as the theory that supports the wellknow contrast between land cover and land use classification from remotely sensed data. The paper then couches these urban theories and contributions from urban remote sensing within two analytical fields. The first is the search for an "appropriate" spatial scale of analysis, which is conveniently divided between micro and macro urban remote sensing for measuring urban structure, understanding urban processes, and perhaps contributions to urban theory at a variety of scales of analysis. The second is on the existence of a temporal lag between materiality of urban objects and the planning process that approved their construction, specifically how time-dependence in urban structural-functional models produce temporal lags that alter the causal links between societal and political functional demands and structural ramifications.

Feasibility of remote sensing for detecting thermal pollution. Part 1: Feasibility study. Part 2: Implementation plan. [coastal ecology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Veziroglu, T. N.; Lee, S. S.

1973-01-01

A feasibility study for the development of a three-dimensional generalized, predictive, analytical model involving remote sensing, in-situ measurements, and an active system to remotely measure turbidity is presented. An implementation plan for the development of the three-dimensional model and for the application of remote sensing of temperature and turbidity measurements is outlined.

Remote sensing procurement package: Remote Sensing Industry Directory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

A directory of over 140 firms and organizations which contains detailed information in the types of products, services and equipment which they offer is presented. Also included for each firm or organization are addresses, phone numbers, contact person(s), and experience in the remote sensing field.

Accommodating Student Diversity in Remote Sensing Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammen, John L., III.

1992-01-01

Discusses the difficulty of teaching computer-based remote sensing to students of varying levels of computer literacy. Suggests an instructional method that accommodates all levels of technical expertise through the use of microcomputers. Presents a curriculum that includes an introduction to remote sensing, digital image processing, and…

76 FR 65529 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-21

... National Land Remote Sensing Education, Outreach and Research Activity (NLRSEORA). As required by the... Drive MS 517, Reston, VA, 20192 (mail) . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: National Land Remote Sensing... Remote Sensing Program, therefore it is more appropriate to refer to this effort as an activity rather...

15 CFR 960.11 - Conditions for operation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.11 Conditions for... all facilities which comprise the remote sensing space system for the purpose of conducting license... possession, the licensee shall offer such data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive at...

15 CFR 960.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.3 Definitions. For purposes of the regulations in this part, the following terms have the following meanings: Act means the Land Remote Sensing... application for a NOAA license to operate a remote sensing space system. Assistant Administrator means the...

15 CFR 960.2 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.2 Scope. (a) The Act and the regulations in this... proposes to operate a private remote sensing space system, either directly or through an affiliate or... private remote sensing system. (b) In determining whether substantial connections exist with regard to a...

Western Regional Remote Sensing Conference Proceedings, 1981

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Diverse applications of LANDSAT data, problem solutions, and operational goals are described by remote sensing users from 14 western states. The proposed FY82 federal budget reductions for technology transfer activities and the planned transition of the operational remote sensing system to NOAA's supervision are also considered.

Some Defence Applications of Civilian Remote Sensing Satellite Images

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-11-01

This report is on a pilot study to demonstrate some of the capabilities of remote sensing in intelligence gathering. A wide variety of issues, both...colour images. The procedure will be presented in a companion report. Remote sensing , Satellite imagery, Image analysis, Military applications, Military intelligence.

Active/Passive Remote Sensing of the Ocean Surface at Microwave Frequencies

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-09-30

This report summarizes research activities and results obtained under grant N000l4-99-1-0627 "Active/Passive Remote Sensing of the Ocean Surface at...Measurements were completed during April 1999 by the Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts.

15 CFR 960.2 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.2 Scope. (a) The Act and the regulations in this... proposes to operate a private remote sensing space system, either directly or through an affiliate or... private remote sensing system. (b) In determining whether substantial connections exist with regard to a...

15 CFR 960.2 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.2 Scope. (a) The Act and the regulations in this... proposes to operate a private remote sensing space system, either directly or through an affiliate or... private remote sensing system. (b) In determining whether substantial connections exist with regard to a...

15 CFR 960.2 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.2 Scope. (a) The Act and the regulations in this... proposes to operate a private remote sensing space system, either directly or through an affiliate or... private remote sensing system. (b) In determining whether substantial connections exist with regard to a...

15 CFR 960.2 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS General § 960.2 Scope. (a) The Act and the regulations in this... proposes to operate a private remote sensing space system, either directly or through an affiliate or... private remote sensing system. (b) In determining whether substantial connections exist with regard to a...

Tools and Methods for the Registration and Fusion of Remotely Sensed Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goshtasby, Arthur Ardeshir; LeMoigne, Jacqueline

2010-01-01

Tools and methods for image registration were reviewed. Methods for the registration of remotely sensed data at NASA were discussed. Image fusion techniques were reviewed. Challenges in registration of remotely sensed data were discussed. Examples of image registration and image fusion were given.

Linking remote sensing, land cover and disease.

PubMed

Curran, P J; Atkinson, P M; Foody, G M; Milton, E J

2000-01-01

Land cover is a critical variable in epidemiology and can be characterized remotely. A framework is used to describe both the links between land cover and radiation recorded in a remotely sensed image, and the links between land cover and the disease carried by vectors. The framework is then used to explore the issues involved when moving from remotely sensed imagery to land cover and then to vector density/disease risk. This exploration highlights the role of land cover; the need to develop a sound knowledge of each link in the predictive sequence; the problematic mismatch between the spatial units of the remotely sensed and epidemiological data and the challenges and opportunities posed by adding a temporal mismatch between the remotely sensed and epidemiological data. The paper concludes with a call for both greater understanding of the physical components of the proposed framework and the utilization of optimized statistical tools as prerequisites to progress in this field.

The LARSYS educational package: Instructor's notes. [instructional materials for training people to analyze remotely sensed data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindenlaub, J. C.; Davis, S. M.

1974-01-01

Materials are presented for assisting instructors in teaching the LARSYS Educational Package, which is a set of instructional materials to train people to analyze remotely sensed multispectral data. The seven units of the package are described. These units are: quantitative remote sensing, overview of the LARSYS software system, the 2780 remote terminal, demonstration of LARSYS on the 2780 remote terminal, exercises, guide to multispectral data analysis, and a case study using LARSYS for analysis of LANDSAT data.

Amazon Forests Response to Droughts: A Perspective from the MAIAC Product

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bi, Jian; Myneni, Ranga; Lyapustin, Alexei; Wang, Yujie; Park, Taejin; Chi, Chen; Yan, Kai; Knyazikhin, Yuri

2016-01-01

Amazon forests experienced two severe droughts at the beginning of the 21st century: one in 2005 and the other in 2010. How Amazon forests responded to these droughts is critical for the future of the Earth's climate system. It is only possible to assess Amazon forests' response to the droughts in large areal extent through satellite remote sensing. Here, we used the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) vegetation index (VI) data to assess Amazon forests' response to droughts, and compared the results with those from the standard (Collection 5 and Collection 6) MODIS VI data. Overall, the MAIAC data reveal more realistic Amazon forests inter-annual greenness dynamics than the standard MODIS data. Our results from the MAIAC data suggest that: (1) the droughts decreased the greenness (i.e., photosynthetic activity) of Amazon forests; (2) the Amazon wet season precipitation reduction induced by El Niño events could also lead to reduced photosynthetic activity of Amazon forests; and (3) in the subsequent year after the water stresses, the greenness of Amazon forests recovered from the preceding decreases. However, as previous research shows droughts cause Amazon forests to reduce investment in tissue maintenance and defense, it is not clear whether the photosynthesis of Amazon forests will continue to recover after future water stresses, because of the accumulated damages caused by the droughts.

Top-down estimate of dust emissions through integration of MODIS and MISR aerosol retrievals with the GEOS-Chem adjoint model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jun; Xu, Xiaoguang; Henze, Daven K.; Zeng, Jing; Ji, Qiang; Tsay, Si-Chee; Huang, Jianping

2012-04-01

Predicting the influences of dust on atmospheric composition, climate, and human health requires accurate knowledge of dust emissions, but large uncertainties persist in quantifying mineral sources. This study presents a new method for combined use of satellite-measured radiances and inverse modeling to spatially constrain the amount and location of dust emissions. The technique is illustrated with a case study in May 2008; the dust emissions in Taklimakan and Gobi deserts are spatially optimized using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model and its adjoint constrained by aerosol optical depth (AOD) that are derived over the downwind dark-surface region in China from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) reflectance with the aerosol single scattering properties consistent with GEOS-chem. The adjoint inverse modeling yields an overall 51% decrease in prior dust emissions estimated by GEOS-Chem over the Taklimakan-Gobi area, with more significant reductions south of the Gobi Desert. The model simulation with optimized dust emissions shows much better agreement with independent observations from MISR (Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer) AOD and MODIS Deep Blue AOD over the dust source region and surface PM10 concentrations. The technique of this study can be applied to global multi-sensor remote sensing data for constraining dust emissions at various temporal and spatial scales, and hence improving the quantification of dust effects on climate, air quality, and human health.

Trend analysis of the aerosol optical depth from fusion of MISR and MODIS retrievals over China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Jing; Gu, Xingfa; Yu, Tao; Cheng, Tianhai; Chen, Hao

2014-03-01

Atmospheric aerosol plays an important role in the climate change though direct and indirect processes. In order to evaluate the effects of aerosols on climate, it is necessary to have a research on their spatial and temporal distributions. Satellite aerosol remote sensing is a developing technology that may provide good temporal sampling and superior spatial coverage to study aerosols. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) have provided aerosol observations since 2000, with large coverage and high accuracy. However, due to the complex surface, cloud contamination, and aerosol models used in the retrieving process, the uncertainties still exist in current satellite aerosol products. There are several observed differences in comparing the MISR and MODIS AOD data with the AERONET AOD. Combing multiple sensors could reduce uncertainties and improve observational accuracy. The validation results reveal that a better agreement between fusion AOD and AERONET AOD. The results confirm that the fusion AOD values are more accurate than single sensor. We have researched the trend analysis of the aerosol properties over China based on nine-year (2002-2010) fusion data. Compared with trend analysis in Jingjintang and Yangtze River Delta, the accuracy has increased by 5% and 3%, respectively. It is obvious that the increasing trend of the AOD occurred in Yangtze River Delta, where human activities may be the main source of the increasing AOD.

Top-down Estimate of Dust Emissions Through Integration of MODIS and MISR Aerosol Retrievals With the Geos-chem Adjoint Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Jun; Xu, Xiaoguang; Henze, Daven K.; Zeng, Jing; Ji, Qiang; Tsay, Si-Chee; Huang, Jianping

2012-01-01

Predicting the influences of dust on atmospheric composition, climate, and human health requires accurate knowledge of dust emissions, but large uncertainties persist in quantifying mineral sources. This study presents a new method for combined use of satellite-measured radiances and inverse modeling to spatially constrain the amount and location of dust emissions. The technique is illustrated with a case study in May 2008; the dust emissions in Taklimakan and Gobi deserts are spatially optimized using the GEOSChem chemical transport model and its adjoint constrained by aerosol optical depth (AOD) that are derived over the downwind dark-surface region in China from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) reflectance with the aerosol single scattering properties consistent with GEOS-chem. The adjoint inverse modeling yields an overall 51% decrease in prior dust emissions estimated by GEOS-Chem over the Taklimakan-Gobi area, with more significant reductions south of the Gobi Desert. The model simulation with optimized dust emissions shows much better agreement with independent observations from MISR (Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer) AOD and MODIS Deep Blue AOD over the dust source region and surface PM10 concentrations. The technique of this study can be applied to global multi-sensor remote sensing data for constraining dust emissions at various temporal and spatial scales, and hence improving the quantification of dust effects on climate, air quality, and human health.

A new simple concept for ocean colour remote sensing using parallel polarisation radiance

PubMed Central

He, Xianqiang; Pan, Delu; Bai, Yan; Wang, Difeng; Hao, Zengzhou

2014-01-01

Ocean colour remote sensing has supported research on subjects ranging from marine ecosystems to climate change for almost 35 years. However, as the framework for ocean colour remote sensing is based on the radiation intensity at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA), the polarisation of the radiation, which contains additional information on atmospheric and water optical properties, has largely been neglected. In this study, we propose a new simple concept to ocean colour remote sensing that uses parallel polarisation radiance (PPR) instead of the traditional radiation intensity. We use vector radiative transfer simulation and polarimetric satellite sensing data to demonstrate that using PPR has two significant advantages in that it effectively diminishes the sun glint contamination and enhances the ocean colour signal at the TOA. This concept may open new doors for ocean colour remote sensing. We suggest that the next generation of ocean colour sensors should measure PPR to enhance observational capability. PMID:24434904

The University of Kansas Applied Sensing Program: An operational perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martinko, E. A.

1981-01-01

The Kansas applied remote sensing (KARS) program conducts demonstration projects and applied research on remote sensing techniques which enable local, regional, state and federal agency personnel to better utilize available satellite and airborne remote sensing systems. As liason with Kansas agencies for the Earth Resources Laboratory (ERL), Kansas demonstration project, KARS coordinated interagency communication, field data collection, hands-on training, and follow-on technical assistance and worked with Kansas agency personnel in evaluating land cover maps provided by ERL. Short courses are being conducted to provide training in state-of-the-art remote sensing technology for university faculty, state personnel, and persons from private industry and federal government. Topics are listed which were considered in intensive five-day courses covering the acquisition, interpretation, and application of information derived through remote sensing with specific training and hands-on experience in image interpretation and the analysis of LANDSAT data are listed.

Multispectral remote sensing from unmanned aircraft: image processing workflows and applications for rangeland environments

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) as remote sensing platforms offers the unique ability for repeated deployment for acquisition of high temporal resolution data at very high spatial resolution. Most image acquisitions from UAS have been in the visible bands, while multispectral remote sensing ap...

Reflectance spectroscopy: quantitative analysis techniques for remote sensing applications.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Clark, R.N.; Roush, T.L.

1984-01-01

Several methods for the analysis of remotely sensed reflectance data are compared, including empirical methods and scattering theories, both of which are important for solving remote sensing problems. The concept of the photon mean path length and the implications for use in modeling reflectance spectra are presented.-from Authors

An overview of the development of remote sensing techniques for the screwworm eradication program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, C. M.; Forsberg, F. C.

1975-01-01

The current status of remote sensing techniques developed for the screwworm eradication program of the Mexican-American Screwworm Eradication Commission was reported. A review of the type of data and equipment used in the program is presented. Future applications of remote sensing techniques are considered.

Monitoring rice (oryza sativa L.) growth using multifrequency microwave scatterometers

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Microwave remote sensing can help monitor the land surface water cycle and crop growth. This type of remote sensing has great potential over conventional remote sensing using the visible and infrared regions due to its all-weather day-and-night imaging capabilities. In this investigation, a ground-b...

Conference of Remote Sensing Educators (CORSE-78)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

Ways of improving the teaching of remote sensing students at colleges and universities are discussed. Formal papers and workshops on various Earth resources disciplines, image interpretation, and data processing concepts are presented. An inventory of existing remote sensing and related subject courses being given in western regional universities is included.

Frontiers of Remote Sensing of the Oceans and Troposphere from Air and Space Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

Several areas of remote sensing are addressed including: future satellite systems; air-sea interaction/wind; ocean waves and spectra/S.A.R.; atmospheric measurements (particulates and water vapor); synoptic and weather forecasting; topography; bathymetry; sea ice; and impact of remote sensing on synoptic analysis/forecasting.

Remote sensing of earth terrain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kong, Jin AU; Yueh, Herng-Aung; Shin, Robert T.

1991-01-01

Abstracts from 46 refereed journal and conference papers are presented for research on remote sensing of earth terrain. The topics covered related to remote sensing include the following: mathematical models, vegetation cover, sea ice, finite difference theory, electromagnetic waves, polarimetry, neural networks, random media, synthetic aperture radar, electromagnetic bias, and others.

Evapotranspiration estimates derived using multi-platform remote sensing in a semiarid region

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the water balance, especially in arid and semiarid regions. The current study takes advantage of spatially-distributed, near real-time information provided by satellite remote sensing to develop a regional scale ET product derived from remotely-sensed ob...

15 CFR 960.9 - License term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.9 License term. (a) Each license for... licensee to: (1) Provide data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive for the basic data set; (2) Make data available to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive that the...

Calculating Remote Sensing Reflectance Uncertainties Using an Instrument Model Propagated Through Atmospheric Correction via Monte Carlo Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Karakoylu, E.; Franz, B.

2016-01-01

First attempt at quantifying uncertainties in ocean remote sensing reflectance satellite measurements. Based on 1000 iterations of Monte Carlo. Data source is a SeaWiFS 4-day composite, 2003. The uncertainty is for remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) at 443 nm.

Elementary Age Children and Remote Sensing: Research from Project Omega.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirman, Joseph M.

1991-01-01

Discusses remote sensing technology use in teaching elementary school students about science and social studies. Reviews findings dealing with the use of remote sensing and considering children's abilities, teacher training, computer applications, gifted children, and sex-related differences. Concludes that children as young as grade three can…

Inquiry-Based Learning in Remote Sensing: A Space Balloon Educational Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mountrakis, Giorgos; Triantakonstantis, Dimitrios

2012-01-01

Teaching remote sensing in higher education has been traditionally restricted in lecture and computer-aided laboratory activities. This paper presents and evaluates an engaging inquiry-based educational experiment. The experiment was incorporated in an introductory remote sensing undergraduate course to bridge the gap between theory and…

Interactive Online Tools for Enhancing Student Learning Experiences in Remote Sensing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joyce, Karen E.; Boitshwarelo, Bopelo; Phinn, Stuart R.; Hill, Greg J. E.; Kelly, Gail D.

2014-01-01

The rapid growth in Information and Communications Technologies usage in higher education has provided immense opportunities to foster effective student learning experiences in geography. In particular, remote sensing lends itself to the creative utilization of multimedia technologies. This paper presents a case study of a remote sensing computer…

A Remote-Sensing Mission

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hotchkiss, Rose; Dickerson, Daniel

2008-01-01

Sponsored by NASA and the JASON Education Foundation, the remote Sensing Earth Science Teacher Education Program (RSESTeP) trains teachers to use state-of-the art remote-sensing technology with the idea that participants bring back what they learn and incorporate it into Earth science lessons using technology. The author's participation in the…

15 CFR 960.13 - Prohibitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Prohibitions § 960.13 Prohibitions. It is unlawful for... subsidiary or affiliate to: (a) Operate a private remote sensing space system in such a manner as to...) Operate a private remote sensing space system without possession of a valid license issued under the Act...

Fully Engaging Students in the Remote Sensing Process through Field Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rundquist, Bradley C.; Vandeberg, Gregory S.

2013-01-01

Field data collection is often crucial to the success of investigations based upon remotely sensed data. Students of environmental remote sensing typically learn about the discipline through classroom lectures, a textbook, and computer laboratory sessions focused on the interpretation and processing of aircraft and satellite data. The importance…

Satellites, Remote Sensing, and Classroom Geography for Canadian Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirman, Joseph M.

1998-01-01

Argues that remote sensing images are a powerful tool for teaching geography. Discusses the use of remote sensing images in the classroom and provides a number of sources for them, some free, many on the World Wide Web. Reviews each source's usefulness for different grade levels and geographic topics. (DSK)

77 FR 14951 - Delegations of Authority

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-14

... reflect changes in the coordination of Departmental remote sensing activities. These responsibilities are... responsible for coordinating USDA remote sensing activities (7 CFR 2.29(a)(6)). Within the Office of the Chief... Outlook Board (WAOB) (7 CFR 2.72(a)(4)). WAOB coordinates USDA remote sensing activities by chairing the...

Active and Passive Remote Sensing of Ice.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-09-01

This is a report on the progress that has been made in the study of active and passive remote sensing of ice during the period of February 1, 1984...the emissivities as functions of viewing angles and polarizations. They are used to interpret the passive microwave remote sensing data from

Polarimetric Interferometry - Remote Sensing Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-02-01

This lecture is mainly based on the work of S.R. Cloude and presents examples for remote sensing applications Polarimetric SAR Interferometry...PolInSAR). PolInSAR has its origins in remote sensing and was first developed for applications in 1997 using SIRC L-Band data [1,2]. In its original form it

Remote Sensing in Latin America: Technology and Markets for the 1980s

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-08-01

A review is made on the impact of satellite derived remote sensing data in Latin America. Data availability has generated a phenomenal growth in the...The international institutionalization of remote sensing interests in the area is an indicator submitted as a viable force in the continued, future

Active and Passive Remote Sensing of Ice.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-01-01

This is a report on the progress that has been made in the study of active and passive remote sensing of ice during the period of August 1, 1984...active and passive microwave remote sensing , (2) used the strong fluctuation theory and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem to calculate the brightness

Remote Sensing of Rock Type in the Visible and Near-Infrared,

DTIC Science & Technology

Visible and near-infrared spectra of minerals and rocks have been measured and evaluated in terms of remote sensing applications. The authors...difficult or impossible to use in a generalized remote sensing effort in which the composition of all rocks is to be mapped. Instead, this spectral

15 CFR 960.13 - Prohibitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Prohibitions § 960.13 Prohibitions. It is unlawful for... subsidiary or affiliate to: (a) Operate a private remote sensing space system in such a manner as to...) Operate a private remote sensing space system without possession of a valid license issued under the Act...

15 CFR 960.13 - Prohibitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Prohibitions § 960.13 Prohibitions. It is unlawful for... subsidiary or affiliate to: (a) Operate a private remote sensing space system in such a manner as to...) Operate a private remote sensing space system without possession of a valid license issued under the Act...

15 CFR 960.13 - Prohibitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Prohibitions § 960.13 Prohibitions. It is unlawful for... subsidiary or affiliate to: (a) Operate a private remote sensing space system in such a manner as to...) Operate a private remote sensing space system without possession of a valid license issued under the Act...

15 CFR 960.13 - Prohibitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Prohibitions § 960.13 Prohibitions. It is unlawful for... subsidiary or affiliate to: (a) Operate a private remote sensing space system in such a manner as to...) Operate a private remote sensing space system without possession of a valid license issued under the Act...

Real Estate Assistance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

The Commercial Remote Sensing Program at Stennis Space Center assists numerous companies across the United States, in learning to use remote sensing capabilities to enhance their competitiveness. Through the Visiting Investigator Program, SSC helped Coast Delta Realty in Diamondhead, Miss., incorporate remote sensing and Geogrpahic Information System technology for real estate marketing and management.

Groundwater inventory and monitoring technical guide: Remote sensing of groundwater

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The application of remotely sensed data in conjunction with in situ data greatly enhances the ability of the USDA Forest Service to meet the demands of field staff, customers, and others for groundwater information. Generally, the use of remotely sensed data to inventory and monitor groundwater reso...

Remote sensing of the Earth from Space: A program in crisis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

The present situation in earth remote sensing, determining why certain problems exist, and trying to find out what can be done to solve these problems are discussed. The conclusion is that operational remote sensing is in disarray. The difficulties involve policy and institutional issues. Recommendations are given.

Application of remote sensing to solution of ecological problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adelman, A.

1972-01-01

The application of remote sensing techniques to solving ecological problems is discussed. The three phases of environmental ecological management are examined. The differences between discovery and exploitation of natural resources and their ecological management are described. The specific application of remote sensing to water management is developed.

Conjugate-Gradient Neural Networks in Classification of Multisource and Very-High-Dimensional Remote Sensing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benediktsson, J. A.; Swain, P. H.; Ersoy, O. K.

1993-01-01

Application of neural networks to classification of remote sensing data is discussed. Conventional two-layer backpropagation is found to give good results in classification of remote sensing data but is not efficient in training. A more efficient variant, based on conjugate-gradient optimization, is used for classification of multisource remote sensing and geographic data and very-high-dimensional data. The conjugate-gradient neural networks give excellent performance in classification of multisource data, but do not compare as well with statistical methods in classification of very-high-dimentional data.

Remote Sensing Information Sciences Research Group, Santa Barbara Information Sciences Research Group, year 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Estes, J. E.; Smith, T.; Star, J. L.

1986-01-01

Research continues to focus on improving the type, quantity, and quality of information which can be derived from remotely sensed data. The focus is on remote sensing and application for the Earth Observing System (Eos) and Space Station, including associated polar and co-orbiting platforms. The remote sensing research activities are being expanded, integrated, and extended into the areas of global science, georeferenced information systems, machine assissted information extraction from image data, and artificial intelligence. The accomplishments in these areas are examined.

Present and future development of remote sensing in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, H. R.; Jiang, J. S.; Hu, D. Y.; Wang, C. Y.

This paper summarizes the program that has been established during the past decade and the present situation in remote sensing techniques and applications in China. Special attention is given to the recent results that have been achieved in remote sensing applications, such as the successful applications of aerial photography and satellite images to a wide range of grassland surveys in Xinjians province, and to real time flood monitoring in the Tons-Tins Lake drainage basin in 1985, etc. The paper also touches upon the future trends for developing remote sensing in China.

Spatial information technologies for remote sensing today and tomorrow; Proceedings of the Ninth Pecora Symposium, Sioux Falls, SD, October 2-4, 1984

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

Topics discussed at the symposium include hardware, geographic information system (GIS) implementation, processing remotely sensed data, spatial data structures, and NASA programs in remote sensing information systems. Attention is also given GIS applications, advanced techniques, artificial intelligence, graphics, spatial navigation, and classification. Papers are included on the design of computer software for geographic image processing, concepts for a global resource information system, algorithm development for spatial operators, and an application of expert systems technology to remotely sensed image analysis.

The Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE). Part 3: A systematic approach to the practical application of remote-sensing technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, J. D.; Dideriksen, R. I.

1975-01-01

The application of remote sensing technology by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is examined. The activities of the USDA Remote-Sensing User Requirement Task Force which include cataloging USDA requirements for earth resources data, determining those requirements that would return maximum benefits by using remote sensing technology and developing a plan for acquiring, processing, analyzing, and distributing data to satisfy those requirements are described. Emphasis is placed on the large area crop inventory experiment and its relationship to the task force.

Chemical Remote Sensing ’Proof of Concept’,

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-03-31

A122 579 CHEMICAL REMOTE SENSING ;PROOF OF CONCEPT’(U) UTAH 1/I \\ STATE UNIV LOGAN ELECTRO-DYNAMICS LAB BARTSCHI ET AL. 31 MAR 81 SCIENTIFC-8...STANDARDS -I963-A AFGL-TR-81-021 2 CHEMICAL REMOTE SENSING "Proof of Concept" B.Y. Bartschi F. P. DelGreco M. Ahmadjian Electro-Dynamics Laboratories...Applications of remote sensing 2 2.2 Program Development 4 -O 3.1 Optical Layout 6 3.2 Block Diagram of Sensor System 7 3.3 Sensor Facility 10 3.4

Measurement of Hydrologic Resource Parameters Through Remote Sensing in the Feather River Headwaters Area

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thorley, G. A.; Draeger, W. C.; Lauer, D. T.; Lent, J.; Roberts, E.

1971-01-01

The four problem are as being investigated are: (1) determination of the feasibility of providing the resource manager with operationally useful information through the use of remote sensing techniques; (2) definition of the spectral characteristics of earth resources and the optimum procedures for calibrating tone and color characteristics of multispectral imagery (3) determination of the extent to which humans can extract useful earth resource information through remote sensing imagery; (4) determination of the extent to which automatic classification and data processing can extract useful information from remote sensing data.

A study of remote sensing as applied to regional and small watersheds. Volume 1: Summary report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ambaruch, R.

1974-01-01

The accuracy of remotely sensed measurements to provide inputs to hydrologic models of watersheds is studied. A series of sensitivity analyses on continuous simulation models of three watersheds determined: (1)Optimal values and permissible tolerances of inputs to achieve accurate simulation of streamflow from the watersheds; (2) Which model inputs can be quantified from remote sensing, directly, indirectly or by inference; and (3) How accurate remotely sensed measurements (from spacecraft or aircraft) must be to provide a basis for quantifying model inputs within permissible tolerances.

Remote sensing impact on corridor selection and placement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomson, F. J.; Sellman, A. N.

1975-01-01

Computer-aided corridor selection techniques, utilizing digitized data bases of socio-economic, census, and cadastral data, and developed for highway corridor routing are considered. Land resource data generated from various remote sensing data sources were successfully merged with the ancillary data files of a corridor selection model and prototype highway corridors were designed using the combined data set. Remote sensing derived information considered useful for highway corridor location, special considerations in geometric correction of remote sensing data to facilitate merging it with ancillary data files, and special interface requirements are briefly discussed.

Application research on land use remote sensing dynamic monitoring: A case study of Anning district, Lanzhou

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yunqiang; Zhu, Huazhong; Lu, Heli; Ni, Jianguang; Zhu, Shaoxia

2005-10-01

Remote sensing dynamic monitoring of land use can detect the change information of land use and update the current land use map, which is important for rational utilization and scientific management of land resources. This paper discusses the technological procedure of remote sensing dynamic monitoring of land use including the process of remote sensing images, the extraction of annual change information of land use, field survey, indoor post processing and accuracy assessment. Especially, we emphasize on comparative research on the choice of remote sensing rectifying models, image fusion algorithms and accuracy assessment methods. Taking Anning district in Lanzhou as an example, we extract the land use change information of the district during 2002-2003, access monitoring accuracy and analyze the reason of land use change.

Applying remote sensing and GIS techniques in solving rural county information needs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johannsen, Chris J.; Fernandez, R. Norberto; Lozano-Garcia, D. Fabian

1992-01-01

The project designed was to acquaint county government officials and their clientele with remote sensing and GIS products that contain information about land conditions and land use. Other users determined through the course of this project were federal agencies working at the county level, agricultural businesses and others in need of spatial information. The specific project objectives were: (1) to investigate the feasibility of using remotely sensed data to identify and quantify specific land cover categories and conditions for purposes of tax assessment, cropland area measurements and land use evaluation; (2) to investigate the use of satellite remote sensing data as an aid in assessing soil management practices; and (3) to evaluate the use of remotely sensed data to assess soil resources and conditions which affect productivity.

Discrimination of soil hydraulic properties by combined thermal infrared and microwave remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vandegriend, A. A.; Oneill, P. E.

1986-01-01

Using the De Vries models for thermal conductivity and heat capacity, thermal inertia was determined as a function of soil moisture for 12 classes of soil types ranging from sand to clay. A coupled heat and moisture balance model was used to describe the thermal behavior of the top soil, while microwave remote sensing was used to estimate the soil moisture content of the same top soil. Soil hydraulic parameters are found to be very highly correlated with the combination of soil moisture content and thermal inertia at the same moisture content. Therefore, a remotely sensed estimate of the thermal behavior of the soil from diurnal soil temperature observations and an independent remotely sensed estimate of soil moisture content gives the possibility of estimating soil hydraulic properties by remote sensing.

Future use of digital remote sensing data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spann, G. W.; Jones, N. L.

1978-01-01

Users of remote sensing data are increasingly turning to digital processing techniques for the extraction of land resource, environmental, and natural resource information. This paper presents the results of recent and ongoing research efforts sponsored, in part, by NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center on the current uses of and future needs for digital remote sensing data. An ongoing investigation involves a comprehensive survey of capabilities for digital Landsat data use in the Southeastern U.S. Another effort consists of an evaluation of future needs for digital remote sensing data by federal, state, and local governments and the private sector. These needs are projected into the 1980-1985 time frame. Furthermore, the accelerating use of digital remote sensing data is not limited to the U.S. or even to the developed countries of the world.

National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive

USGS Publications Warehouse

Faundeen, John L.; Kelly, Francis P.; Holm, Thomas M.; Nolt, Jenna E.

2013-01-01

The National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive (NSLRSDA) resides at the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Through the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, the U.S. Congress directed the Department of the Interior (DOI) to establish a permanent Government archive containing satellite remote sensing data of the Earth's land surface and to make this data easily accessible and readily available. This unique DOI/USGS archive provides a comprehensive, permanent, and impartial observational record of the planet's land surface obtained throughout more than five decades of satellite remote sensing. Satellite-derived data and information products are primary sources used to detect and understand changes such as deforestation, desertification, agricultural crop vigor, water quality, invasive plant species, and certain natural hazards such as flood extent and wildfire scars.

Research Advances on Radiation Transfer Modeling and Inversion for Multi-Scale Land Surface Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Q.

2011-09-01

At first, research advances on radiation transfer modeling on multi-scale remote sensing data are presented: after a general overview of remote sensing radiation transfer modeling, several recent research advances are presented, including leaf spectrum model (dPROS-PECT), vegetation canopy BRDF models, directional thermal infrared emission models(TRGM, SLEC), rugged mountains area radiation models, and kernel driven models etc. Then, new methodologies on land surface parameters inversion based on multi-source remote sensing data are proposed. The land surface Albedo, leaf area index, temperature/emissivity, and surface net radiation etc. are taken as examples. A new synthetic land surface parameter quantitative remote sensing product generation system is designed and the software system prototype will be demonstrated. At last, multi-scale field experiment campaigns, such as the field campaigns in Gansu and Beijing, China will be introduced briefly. The ground based, tower based, and airborne multi-angular measurement system have been built to measure the directional reflectance, emission and scattering characteristics from visible, near infrared, thermal infrared and microwave bands for model validation and calibration. The remote sensing pixel scale "true value" measurement strategy have been designed to gain the ground "true value" of LST, ALBEDO, LAI, soil moisture and ET etc. at 1-km2 for remote sensing product validation.

Remote sensing for the sustainable management and conservation of forest environments biodiversity: the conservation managers perspective.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilar-Amuchas, N.; Henebry, G. M.; Blanchard, J.; Sutter, R.

2008-12-01

The potential use of remote sensing for the design and implementation of sustainable management, conservation, and monitoring of forest biodiversity has been well documented in the scientific literature. However, when we look into how often remote sensing is actually being used in the decision making processes affecting biodiversity conservation and sustainable management, we find that, apart from specific study cases, its use is not as widespread as we know it should. There is an enormous gap between our scientific achievements and their use in the real world towards the preservation of a rapidly vanishing biodiversity. Conservation managers understand the potential remote sensing has. However, logistical constraints and high technical skills requirements render the use of remote sensing data difficult. Sound and easy approaches need to be developed and implemented. We present two study cases that illustrate 1st. How the interaction between tropical forest managers and remote sensing specialist allowed developing a simple method for the identification of priority areas for field surveys of tropical forests management ecological sustainability indicators and, 2nd. How remote sensing is being used by The Nature Conservancy as a first level approach towards the assessment of forest conservation strategies effectiveness in for areas located in 11 states, covering different forest types and a variety of conservation objectives.

Methods and potentials for using satellite image classification in school lessons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voss, Kerstin; Goetzke, Roland; Hodam, Henryk

2011-11-01

The FIS project - FIS stands for Fernerkundung in Schulen (Remote Sensing in Schools) - aims at a better integration of the topic "satellite remote sensing" in school lessons. According to this, the overarching objective is to teach pupils basic knowledge and fields of application of remote sensing. Despite the growing significance of digital geomedia, the topic "remote sensing" is not broadly supported in schools. Often, the topic is reduced to a short reflection on satellite images and used only for additional illustration of issues relevant for the curriculum. Without addressing the issue of image data, this can hardly contribute to the improvement of the pupils' methodical competences. Because remote sensing covers more than simple, visual interpretation of satellite images, it is necessary to integrate remote sensing methods like preprocessing, classification and change detection. Dealing with these topics often fails because of confusing background information and the lack of easy-to-use software. Based on these insights, the FIS project created different simple analysis tools for remote sensing in school lessons, which enable teachers as well as pupils to be introduced to the topic in a structured way. This functionality as well as the fields of application of these analysis tools will be presented in detail with the help of three different classification tools for satellite image classification.

Oceanographic Remote Sensing; A Position Paper,

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-01-26

The purpose of a Navy R&D remote sensing plan should be to set forth the requirements and direction of basic and exploratory research in satellite... remote sensing which supports the overall Navy oceanographic research and operational programs. The aim of the plan would be to outline the established...addressed. The plan should help serve as a single technology and program reference for implementation and planning of Navy related satellite remote

Environmental Remote Sensing for Natural Resources Management: A Workshop in Collaboration with Faculdade de Agronomia e Engenharia Florestal, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Washington-Allen, R. A.; Fatoyinbo, T. E.; Ribeiro, N. S.; Shugart, H. H.; Therrell, M. D.; Vaz, K. T.; von Schill, L.

2006-12-01

A workshop titled: Environmental Remote Sensing for Natural Resources Management was held from June 12 23, 2006 at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo Mozambique. The workshop was initiated through an invitation and pre-course evaluation form to interested NGOs, universities, and government organizations. The purpose of the workshop was to provide training to interested professionals, graduate students, faculty and researchers at Mozambican institutions on the research and practical uses of remote sensing for natural resource management. The course had 24 participants who were predominantly professionals in remote sensing and GIS from various NGOs, governmental and academic institutions in Mozambique. The course taught remote sensing from an ecological perspective, specifically the course focused on the application of new remote sensing technology [the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) C-band radar data] to carbon accounting research in Miombo woodlands and Mangrove forests. The 2-week course was free to participants and consisted of lectures, laboratories, and a field trip to the mangrove forests of Inhaca Island, Maputo. The field trip consisted of training in the use of forest inventory techniques in support of remote sensing studies. Specifically, the field workshop centered on use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and collection of forest inventory data on tree height, structure [leaf area index (LAI)], and productivity. Productivity studies were enhanced with the teaching of introductory dendrochronology including sample collection of tree rings from four different mangrove species. Students were provided with all course materials including a DVD that contained satellite data (e.g., Landsat and SRTM imagery), ancillary data, lectures, exercises, and remote sensing publications used in the course including a CD from the Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center's (EPA-EPIC) program to teach remote sensing and data CDs from NASA's SAFARI 2000 field campaign. Nineteen participants evaluated the effectiveness of the course in regards to the course lectures, instructors, and the field trip. Future workshops should focus more on the individual projects that students are engaged with in their jobs, replace the laboratories computers with workstations geared towards computer intensive image processing software, and the purchase of field remote sensing instrumentation for practical exercises.

Remote Sensing, New Media and Scientific Literacy for Competence Oriented School Education - A New Integrated Learning Portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hodam, H.; Goetzke, R.; Rinow, A.; Voß, K.

2012-04-01

The project FIS - Fernerkundung in Schulen (German for "Remote Sensing in Schools") - aims at a better integration of remote sensing in school lessons. Respectively, the overall ob-jective is to teach pupils from primary school up to high-school graduation basics and fields of application of remote sensing. Working with remote sensing data opens up new and modern ways of teaching. Therefore many teachers have great interest in the subject "remote sensing", being motivated to integrate this topic into teaching, provided that the curriculum is con-sidered. In many cases, this encouragement fails because of confusing information, which ruins all good intentions. For this reason, a comprehensive and well structured learning portal on the subject remote sensing is developed. This will allow teachers and pupils to have a structured initial understanding of the topic. Recognizing that in-depth use of satellite imagery can only be achieved by the means of computer aided learning methods, a sizeable number of e-Learning contents have been created throughout the last 5 years since the project's kickoff which are now integrated into the learning portal. Three main sections form the backbone of the developed learning portal. 1. The "Teaching Materials" section provides registered teachers with interactive lessons to convey curriculum relevant topics through remote sensing. They are able to use the implemented management system to create classes and enregister pupils, keep track of their progresses and control results of the conducted lessons. Abandoning the functio-nalities of the management system the lessons are also available to non-registered us-ers. 2. Pupils and Teachers can investigate further into remote sensing in the "Research" sec-tion, where a knowledge base alongside a satellite image gallery offer general back-ground information on remote sensing and the provided lessons in a semi interactive manner. 3. The "Analysis Tools" section offers means to further experiment with satellite images by working with predefined sets of Images and Tools. All three sections of the platform are presented exemplary explaining the underlying didactical and technical concepts of the project, showing how they are realized and what their potentials are when put to use in school lessons.

A review of progress in identifying and characterizing biocrusts using proximal and remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozenstein, Offer; Adamowski, Jan

2017-05-01

Biocrusts are critical components of desert ecosystems, significantly modifying the surfaces they occupy. The mixture of biological components and soil particles that form the crust, in conjunction with moisture, determines the biocrusts' spectral signatures. Proximal and remote sensing in complementary spectral regions, namely the reflective region, and the thermal region, have been used to study biocrusts in a non-destructive manner, in the laboratory, in the field, and from space. The objectives of this review paper are to present the spectral characteristics of biocrusts across the optical domain, and to discuss significant developments in the application of proximal and remote sensing for biocrust studies in the last few years. The motivation for using proximal and remote sensing in biocrust studies is discussed. Next, the application of reflectance spectroscopy to the study of biocrusts is presented followed by a review of the emergence of high spectral resolution thermal remote sensing, which facilitates the application of thermal spectroscopy for biocrust studies. Four specific topics at the forefront of proximal and remote sensing of biocrusts are discussed: (1) The use of remote sensing in determining the role of biocrusts in global biogeochemical cycles; (2) Monitoring the inceptive establishment of biocrusts; (3) Identifying and characterizing biocrusts using Longwave infrared spectroscopy; and (4) Diurnal emissivity dynamics of biocrusts in a sand dune environment. The paper concludes by identifying innovative technologies such as low altitude and high resolution imagery that are increasingly used in remote sensing science, and are expected to be used in future biocrusts studies.

Sensing our Environment: Remote sensing in a physics classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isaacson, Sivan; Schüttler, Tobias; Cohen-Zada, Aviv L.; Blumberg, Dan G.; Girwidz, Raimund; Maman, Shimrit

2017-04-01

Remote sensing is defined as data acquisition of an object, deprived physical contact. Fundamentally, most remote sensing applications are referred to as the use of satellite- or aircraft-based sensor technologies to detect and classify objects mainly on Earth or other planets. In the last years there have been efforts to bring the important subject of remote sensing into schools, however, most of these attempts focused on geography disciplines - restricting to the applications of remote sensing and to a less extent the technique itself and the physics behind it. Optical remote sensing is based on physical principles and technical devices, which are very meaningful from a theoretical point of view as well as for "hands-on" teaching. Some main subjects are radiation, atom and molecular physics, spectroscopy, as well as optics and the semiconductor technology used in modern digital cameras. Thus two objectives were outlined for this project: 1) to investigate the possibilities of using remote sensing techniques in physics teaching, and 2) to identify its impact on pupil's interest in the field of natural sciences. This joint project of the DLR_School_Lab, Oberpfaffenhofen of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Earth and Planetary Image Facility (EPIF) at BGU, was conducted in 2016. Thirty teenagers (ages 16-18) participated in the project and were exposed to the cutting edge methods of earth observation. The pupils on both sides participated in the project voluntarily, knowing that at least some of the project's work had to be done in their leisure time. The pupil's project started with a day at EPIF and DLR respectively, where the project task was explained to the participants and an introduction to remote sensing of vegetation was given. This was realized in lectures and in experimental workshops. During the following two months both groups took several measurements with modern optical remote sensing systems in their home region with a special focus on flora. The teams then processed their data and presented it to their foreign partners for evaluation in a video conference call. Alongside exciting insights about their respective environments and living conditions, the young scientists had daily access to live satellite sensors and remote sensing through the DLR_School_Lab in Germany and the Earth and Planetary Image Facility in Israel. This paper provides an overview regarding the project, the techniques used and the evaluation results following a pre-past-questionnaire design, and above all demonstrates the use of remote sensing as an application for physics teaching in a significant learning environment.

Needs Assessment for the Use of NASA Remote Sensing Data for Regulatory Water Quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spiering, Bruce; Underwood, Lauren

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the assessment of the needs that NASA can use for the remote sensing of water quality. The goal of this project is to provide information for decision-making activities (water quality standards) using remotely sensed/satellite based water quality data from MODIS and Landsat data.

Evaluation of an airborne remote sensing platform consisting of two consumer-grade cameras for crop identification

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Remote sensing systems based on consumer-grade cameras have been increasingly used in scientific research and remote sensing applications because of their low cost and ease of use. However, the performance of consumer-grade cameras for practical applications have not been well documented in related ...

Sea Surface Salinity: The Next Remote Sensing Challenge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lagerloef, Gary S. E.; Swift, Calvin T.; LeVine, David M.

1995-01-01

A brief history of salinity remote sensing is presented. The role of sea surface salinity (SSS) in the far north Atlantic and the influence of salinity variations on upper ocean dynamics in the tropics are described. An assessment of the present state of the technology of the SSS satellite remote sensing is given.

Evaluating high temporal and spatial resolution vegetation index for crop yield prediction

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Remote sensing data have been widely used in estimating crop yield. Remote sensing derived parameters such as Vegetation Index (VI) were used either directly in building empirical models or by assimilating with crop growth models to predict crop yield. The abilities of remote sensing VI in crop yiel...

Remote sensing procurement package: A technical guide for state and local governments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

The guide provides the tools and techniques for procuring remote sensing products and services. It is written for administrators, procurement officials and line agency staff who are directly involved in identifying information needs; defining remote sensing project requirements; soliciting and evaluating contract responses and negotiating, awarding, and administering contracts.

Bringing an ecological view of change to Landsat-based remote sensing

Treesearch

Robert E. Kennedy; Serge Andrefouet; Warren B. Cohen; Cristina Gomez; Patrick Griffiths; Martin Hais; Sean P. Healey; Eileen H. Helmer; Patrick Hostert; Mitchell B. Lyons; Garrett W. Meigs; Dirk Pflugmacher; Stuart R. Phinn; Scott L. Powell; Peter Scarth; Susmita Sen; Todd A. Schroeder; Annemarie Schneider; Ruth Sonnenschein; James E. Vogelmann; Michael A. Wulder; Zhe Zhu

2014-01-01

When characterizing the processes that shape ecosystems, ecologists increasingly use the unique perspective offered by repeat observations of remotely sensed imagery. However, the concept of change embodied in much of the traditional remote-sensing literature was primarily limited to capturing large or extreme changes occurring in natural systems, omitting many more...

Ground-Based Remote Sensing of Water-Stressed Crops: Thermal and Multispectral Imaging

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ground-based methods of remote sensing can be used as ground-truthing for satellite-based remote sensing, and in some cases may be a more affordable means of obtaining such data. Plant canopy temperature has been used to indicate and quantify plant water stress. A field research study was conducted ...

Landsat's role in ecological applications of remote sensing.

Treesearch

Warren B. Cohen; Samuel N. Goward

2004-01-01

Remote sensing, geographic information systems, and modeling have combined to produce a virtual explosion of growth in ecological investigations and applications that are explicitly spatial and temporal. Of all remotely sensed data, those acquired by landsat sensors have played the most pivotal role in spatial and temporal scaling. Modern terrestrial ecology relies on...

Natural Resource Information System. Remote Sensing Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leachtenauer, J.; And Others

A major design objective of the Natural Resource Information System entailed the use of remote sensing data as an input to the system. Potential applications of remote sensing data were therefore reviewed and available imagery interpreted to provide input to a demonstration data base. A literature review was conducted to determine the types and…

75 FR 39246 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-08

... estimates. An innovative feature of this project will be the use of roadside remote-sensing measurements to...). The acquisition of remote-sensing measurements for hydrocarbons, carbon-monoxide, and oxides of... fleet. Research questions for the project include: (1) Can remote-sensing be used as a reliable index of...

Feasibility study ASCS remote sensing/compliance determination system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duggan, I. E.; Minter, T. C., Jr.; Moore, B. H.; Nosworthy, C. T.

1973-01-01

A short-term technical study was performed by the MSC Earth Observations Division to determine the feasibility of the proposed Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Automatic Remote Sensing/Compliance Determination System. For the study, the term automatic was interpreted as applying to an automated remote-sensing system that includes data acquisition, processing, and management.

Passive Polarimetric Remote Sensing of Snow and Ice

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-09-30

In recent years, polarimetric radiometry has shown great potential to revolutionize passive remote sensing of the ocean surface. As a result, several...polarimetric radiometer, in 2001. This project explores the possibility of applying this new technology to remote sensing in the Polar Regions by investigating the polarimetric signature of ice and snow.

Project THEMIS: A Center for Remote Sensing.

DTIC Science & Technology

This report summarizes the technical work accomplished under Project THEMIS, A Center for Remote Sensing at the University of Kansas during the...period 16 September 1967 through 15 September 1973. The highlights of the four major areas forming the remote sensing system are presented. A detailed description of the latest radar spectrometer results is presented.

Analysis of the Possibility of Military Applications of Civilian Remote Sensing Satellite Imagery,

DTIC Science & Technology

1996-06-12

With the end of the Cold War and the changing of the world order, the market for civilian remote sensing satellite imagery is taking shape and...expanding. More and more civilian remote sensing reconnaissance-grade satellite systems are going into service one after the other. Exchanges of satellite

Soil water balance calculation using a two source energy balance model and wireless sensor arrays aboard a center pivot

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Recent developments in wireless sensor technology and remote sensing algorithms, coupled with increased use of center pivot irrigation systems, have removed several long-standing barriers to adoption of remote sensing for real-time irrigation management. One remote sensing-based algorithm is a two s...

Calibration of remotely sensed proportion or area estimates for misclassification error

Treesearch

Raymond L. Czaplewski; Glenn P. Catts

1992-01-01

Classifications of remotely sensed data contain misclassification errors that bias areal estimates. Monte Carlo techniques were used to compare two statistical methods that correct or calibrate remotely sensed areal estimates for misclassification bias using reference data from an error matrix. The inverse calibration estimator was consistently superior to the...

On the feasibility of benefit-cost analysis applied to remote sensing projects. [California water resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merewitz, L.

1973-01-01

The following step-wise procedure for making a benefit-cost analysis of using remote sensing techniques could be used either in the limited context of California water resources, or a context as broad as the making of integrated resource surveys of the entire earth resource complex on a statewide, regional, national, or global basis. (1) Survey all data collection efforts which can be accomplished by remote sensing techniques. (2) Carefully inspect the State of California budget and the Budget of the United States Government to find annual cost of data collection efforts. (3) Decide the extent to which remote sensing can obviate each of the collection efforts. (4) Sum the annual costs of all data collection which can be equivalently accomplished through remote sensing. (5) Decide what additional data could and would be collected through remote sensing. (6) Estimate the value of this information. It is not harmful to do a benefit-cost analysis so long as its severe limitations are recalled and it is supplemented with socio-economic impact studies.

Bushland Evapotranspiration and Agricultural Remote Sensing System (BEARS) software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gowda, P. H.; Moorhead, J.; Brauer, D. K.

2017-12-01

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of the hydrologic cycle. ET data are used for a variety of water management and research purposes such as irrigation scheduling, water and crop modeling, streamflow, water availability, and many more. Remote sensing products have been widely used to create spatially representative ET data sets which provide important information from field to regional scales. As UAV capabilities increase, remote sensing use is likely to also increase. For that purpose, scientists at the USDA-ARS research laboratory in Bushland, TX developed the Bushland Evapotranspiration and Agricultural Remote Sensing System (BEARS) software. The BEARS software is a Java based software that allows users to process remote sensing data to generate ET outputs using predefined models, or enter custom equations and models. The capability to define new equations and build new models expands the applicability of the BEARS software beyond ET mapping to any remote sensing application. The software also includes an image viewing tool that allows users to visualize outputs, as well as draw an area of interest using various shapes. This software is freely available from the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory website.

Imagery atlas: a structure of expert software designed to improve the accessibility of remote-sensed satellite imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genet, Richard P.

1995-11-01

Policy changes in the United States and Europe will bring a number of firms into the remote sensing market. More importantly, there will be a vast increase in the amount of data and potentially, the amount of information, that is available for academic, commercial and a variety of public uses. Presently many of the users of remote sensing data have some understanding of photogrammetric and remote sensing technologies. This is especially true of environmentalist users and academics. As the amount of remote sensing data increases, in order to broaden the user base, it will become increasingly important that the information user not be required to have a background in photogrammetry, remote sensing, or even in the basics of geographic information systems. The user must be able to articulate his requirements in view of existence of new sources of information. This paper provides the framework for expert systems to accomplish this interface. Specific examples of the capabilities which must be developed in order to maximize the utility of specific images and image archives are presented and discussed.

The determinations of remote sensing satellite data delivery service quality: A positivistic case study in Chinese context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Jiahua; Yan, Xiangbin; Tan, Qiaoqiao; Li, Yijun

2014-03-01

With the development of remote sensing technology, remote-sensing satellite has been widely used in many aspects of national construction. Big data with different standards and massive users with different needs, make the satellite data delivery service to be a complex giant system. How to deliver remote-sensing satellite data efficiently and effectively is a big challenge. Based on customer service theory, this paper proposes a hierarchy conceptual model for examining the determinations of remote-sensing satellite data delivery service quality in the Chinese context. Three main dimensions: service expectation, service perception and service environment, and 8 sub-dimensions are included in the model. Large amount of first-hand data on the remote-sensing satellite data delivery service have been obtained through field research, semi-structured questionnaire and focused interview. A positivist case study is conducted to validate and develop the proposed model, as well as to investigate the service status and related influence mechanisms. Findings from the analysis demonstrate the explanatory validity of the model, and provide potentially helpful insights for future practice.

Secure distribution for high resolution remote sensing images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jin; Sun, Jing; Xu, Zheng Q.

2010-09-01

The use of remote sensing images collected by space platforms is becoming more and more widespread. The increasing value of space data and its use in critical scenarios call for adoption of proper security measures to protect these data against unauthorized access and fraudulent use. In this paper, based on the characteristics of remote sensing image data and application requirements on secure distribution, a secure distribution method is proposed, including users and regions classification, hierarchical control and keys generation, and multi-level encryption based on regions. The combination of the three parts can make that the same remote sensing images after multi-level encryption processing are distributed to different permission users through multicast, but different permission users can obtain different degree information after decryption through their own decryption keys. It well meets user access control and security needs in the process of high resolution remote sensing image distribution. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of the proposed method which is suitable for practical use in the secure transmission of remote sensing images including confidential information over internet.

Retrieving Leaf Area Index (LAI) Using Remote Sensing: Theories, Methods and Sensors

PubMed Central

Zheng, Guang; Moskal, L. Monika

2009-01-01

The ability to accurately and rapidly acquire leaf area index (LAI) is an indispensable component of process-based ecological research facilitating the understanding of gas-vegetation exchange phenomenon at an array of spatial scales from the leaf to the landscape. However, LAI is difficult to directly acquire for large spatial extents due to its time consuming and work intensive nature. Such efforts have been significantly improved by the emergence of optical and active remote sensing techniques. This paper reviews the definitions and theories of LAI measurement with respect to direct and indirect methods. Then, the methodologies for LAI retrieval with regard to the characteristics of a range of remotely sensed datasets are discussed. Remote sensing indirect methods are subdivided into two categories of passive and active remote sensing, which are further categorized as terrestrial, aerial and satellite-born platforms. Due to a wide variety in spatial resolution of remotely sensed data and the requirements of ecological modeling, the scaling issue of LAI is discussed and special consideration is given to extrapolation of measurement to landscape and regional levels. PMID:22574042

Retrieving Leaf Area Index (LAI) Using Remote Sensing: Theories, Methods and Sensors.

PubMed

Zheng, Guang; Moskal, L Monika

2009-01-01

The ability to accurately and rapidly acquire leaf area index (LAI) is an indispensable component of process-based ecological research facilitating the understanding of gas-vegetation exchange phenomenon at an array of spatial scales from the leaf to the landscape. However, LAI is difficult to directly acquire for large spatial extents due to its time consuming and work intensive nature. Such efforts have been significantly improved by the emergence of optical and active remote sensing techniques. This paper reviews the definitions and theories of LAI measurement with respect to direct and indirect methods. Then, the methodologies for LAI retrieval with regard to the characteristics of a range of remotely sensed datasets are discussed. Remote sensing indirect methods are subdivided into two categories of passive and active remote sensing, which are further categorized as terrestrial, aerial and satellite-born platforms. Due to a wide variety in spatial resolution of remotely sensed data and the requirements of ecological modeling, the scaling issue of LAI is discussed and special consideration is given to extrapolation of measurement to landscape and regional levels.

Large area mapping of southwestern forest crown cover, canopy height, and biomass using the NASA Multiangle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer

Treesearch

Mark Chopping; Gretchen G. Moisen; Lihong Su; Andrea Laliberte; Albert Rango; John V. Martonchik; Debra P. C. Peters

2008-01-01

A rapid canopy reflectance model inversion experiment was performed using multi-angle reflectance data from the NASA Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) on the Earth Observing System Terra satellite, with the goal of obtaining measures of forest fractional crown cover, mean canopy height, and aboveground woody biomass for large parts of south-eastern Arizona...

Satellite remote sensing, biodiversity research and conservation of the future

PubMed Central

Pettorelli, Nathalie; Safi, Kamran; Turner, Woody

2014-01-01

Assessing and predicting ecosystem responses to global environmental change and its impacts on human well-being are high priority targets for the scientific community. The potential for synergies between remote sensing science and ecology, especially satellite remote sensing and conservation biology, has been highlighted by many in the past. Yet, the two research communities have only recently begun to coordinate their agendas. Such synchronization is the key to improving the potential for satellite data effectively to support future environmental management decision-making processes. With this themed issue, we aim to illustrate how integrating remote sensing into ecological research promotes a better understanding of the mechanisms shaping current changes in biodiversity patterns and improves conservation efforts. Added benefits include fostering innovation, generating new research directions in both disciplines and the development of new satellite remote sensing products. PMID:24733945

Land remote sensing in the 1980's

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thome, P. G.

1982-01-01

A discussion is presented concerning U.S. governmental funding policy for the Land Remote Sensing programs, in which the Landsat spacecraft and the research and development activities associated with them are essential elements. Even if present program management practices were to be changed in the next 1-2 years, the investment of significant amounts of private capital in land remote sensing may be 3-5 years away, due to the immaturity of the prospective markets for the services rendered and the present state of technological development. It is judged that even if NASA is successful in bringing significant private investment into remote sensing activities by the mid-1980s, government must continue to support basic research and expensive technology development in long term and high risk, but potentially high payoff, areas which the still-developing remote sensing industry cannot afford.

Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jucht, Carrie

2010-01-01

Remote sensing data are vital to understanding the physical world and to answering many of its needs and problems. The United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Remote Sensing Technologies (RST) Project, working with its partners, is proud to sponsor the annual Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) Workshop to help understand the quality and usefulness of remote sensing data. The JACIE program was formed in 2001 to leverage U.S. Federal agency resources for the characterization of commercial remote sensing data. These agencies sponsor and co-chair JACIE: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) JACIE is an effort to coordinate data assessments between the participating agencies and partners and communicate the knowledge and results of the quality and utility of the remotely sensed data available for government and private use.

Remote sensing of atmospheric chemistry; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 1-3, 1991

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcelroy, James L. (Editor); Mcneal, Robert J. (Editor)

1991-01-01

The present volume on remote sensing of atmospheric chemistry discusses special remote sensing space observations and field experiments to study chemical change in the atmosphere, network monitoring for detection of stratospheric chemical change, stratospheric chemistry studies, and the combining of model, in situ, and remote sensing in atmospheric chemistry. Attention is given to the measurement of tropospheric carbon monoxide using gas filter radiometers, long-path differential absorption measurements of tropospheric molecules, air quality monitoring with the differential optical absorption spectrometer, and a characterization of tropospheric methane through space-based remote sensing. Topics addressed include microwave limb sounder experiments for UARS and EOS, an overview of the spectroscopy of the atmosphere using an FIR emission experiment, the detection of stratospheric ozone trends by ground-based microwave observations, and a FIR Fabry-Perot spectrometer for OH measurements.

Sources of support for remote sensing education

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Estes, J. E.

1981-01-01

Past financial support for educational programs in remote sensing came largely in the form of short courses funded by the National Science Foundation. Later NASA began to fund such courses for local and state government and for some university participants in its regional programs. The greater impact came from the funding by a variety of federal agencies for remote sensing research projects at educational institutions throughout the country. Probably the best and most significant example of these programs, from the university standpoint is, and should continue to be, the NASA university affairs programs, which with its long term step funding of a number of institutions has probably done more for remote sensing education than any other federal program in this country. An incomplete listing of federal agencies that support remote sensing research at the university level is presented.

Environmental analysis using integrated GIS and remotely sensed data - Some research needs and priorities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Frank W.; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Ridd, Merrill K.; Lam, Nina S.-N.; Walsh, Stephen J.

1991-01-01

This paper discusses some basic scientific issues and research needs in the joint processing of remotely sensed and GIS data for environmental analysis. Two general topics are treated in detail: (1) scale dependence of geographic data and the analysis of multiscale remotely sensed and GIS data, and (2) data transformations and information flow during data processing. The discussion of scale dependence focuses on the theory and applications of spatial autocorrelation, geostatistics, and fractals for characterizing and modeling spatial variation. Data transformations during processing are described within the larger framework of geographical analysis, encompassing sampling, cartography, remote sensing, and GIS. Development of better user interfaces between image processing, GIS, database management, and statistical software is needed to expedite research on these and other impediments to integrated analysis of remotely sensed and GIS data.

Possible role of remote sensing for increasing public awareness of the Chesapeake Bay environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkerson, T. D.; Maher, P. A.; Billings, G.; Cressy, P. J.; Jarman, J. W.; Macleod, N. H.; Trombka, J. I.; Wisner, T.

1978-01-01

Application of remote sensing techniques to the study of the Chesapeake Bay and the availability of the resulting information are discussed in terms of public awareness of the Chesapeake Bay, its total environment, and the need to protect that environment and to preserve the Bay. Recommendations given include: (1) continue the study of remote sensing technology and its use in the Chesapeake Bay region; (2) emphasize the importance of LANDSAT imagery to the evolution of remote sensing technological developments and the awareness of the environment and its changes; (3) increase dissemination of information of the environmental applications of remote sensing technology to the public; (4) design surveys of the Chesapeake Bay environment and its manmade changes; and (5) establish a coordinating regional institution to develop a management plan for the Chesapeake Bay.

Research Advances on Radiation Transfer Modeling and Inversion for Multi-scale Land Surface Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Q.; Li, J.; Du, Y.; Wen, J.; Zhong, B.; Wang, K.

2011-12-01

As the remote sensing data accumulating, it is a challenge and significant issue how to generate high accurate and consistent land surface parameter product from the multi source remote observation and the radiation transfer modeling and inversion methodology are the theoretical bases. In this paper, recent research advances and unresolved issues are presented. At first, after a general overview, recent research advances on multi-scale remote sensing radiation transfer modeling are presented, including leaf spectrum model, vegetation canopy BRDF models, directional thermal infrared emission models, rugged mountains area radiation models, and kernel driven models etc. Then, new methodologies on land surface parameters inversion based on multi-source remote sensing data are proposed, taking the land surface Albedo, leaf area index, temperature/emissivity, and surface net radiation as examples. A new synthetic land surface parameter quantitative remote sensing product generation system is suggested and the software system prototype will be demonstrated. At last, multi-scale field experiment campaigns, such as the field campaigns in Gansu and Beijing, China are introduced briefly. The ground based, tower based, and airborne multi-angular measurement system have been built to measure the directional reflectance, emission and scattering characteristics from visible, near infrared, thermal infrared and microwave bands for model validation and calibration. The remote sensing pixel scale "true value" measurement strategy have been designed to gain the ground "true value" of LST, ALBEDO, LAI, soil moisture and ET etc. at 1-km2 for remote sensing product validation.

A Macroecological Analysis of SERA Derived Forest Heights and Implications for Forest Volume Remote Sensing

PubMed Central

Brolly, Matthew; Woodhouse, Iain H.; Niklas, Karl J.; Hammond, Sean T.

2012-01-01

Individual trees have been shown to exhibit strong relationships between DBH, height and volume. Often such studies are cited as justification for forest volume or standing biomass estimation through remote sensing. With resolution of common satellite remote sensing systems generally too low to resolve individuals, and a need for larger coverage, these systems rely on descriptive heights, which account for tree collections in forests. For remote sensing and allometric applications, this height is not entirely understood in terms of its location. Here, a forest growth model (SERA) analyzes forest canopy height relationships with forest wood volume. Maximum height, mean, H100, and Lorey's height are examined for variability under plant number density, resource and species. Our findings, shown to be allometrically consistent with empirical measurements for forested communities world-wide, are analyzed for implications to forest remote sensing techniques such as LiDAR and RADAR. Traditional forestry measures of maximum height, and to a lesser extent H100 and Lorey's, exhibit little consistent correlation with forest volume across modeled conditions. The implication is that using forest height to infer volume or biomass from remote sensing requires species and community behavioral information to infer accurate estimates using height alone. SERA predicts mean height to provide the most consistent relationship with volume of the height classifications studied and overall across forest variations. This prediction agrees with empirical data collected from conifer and angiosperm forests with plant densities ranging between 102–106 plants/hectare and heights 6–49 m. Height classifications investigated are potentially linked to radar scattering centers with implications for allometry. These findings may be used to advance forest biomass estimation accuracy through remote sensing. Furthermore, Lorey's height with its specific relationship to remote sensing physics is recommended as a more universal indicator of volume when using remote sensing than achieved using either maximum height or H100. PMID:22457800

An Interactive Web-Based Analysis Framework for Remote Sensing Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, X. Z.; Zhang, H. M.; Zhao, J. H.; Lin, Q. H.; Zhou, Y. C.; Li, J. H.

2015-07-01

Spatiotemporal data, especially remote sensing data, are widely used in ecological, geographical, agriculture, and military research and applications. With the development of remote sensing technology, more and more remote sensing data are accumulated and stored in the cloud. An effective way for cloud users to access and analyse these massive spatiotemporal data in the web clients becomes an urgent issue. In this paper, we proposed a new scalable, interactive and web-based cloud computing solution for massive remote sensing data analysis. We build a spatiotemporal analysis platform to provide the end-user with a safe and convenient way to access massive remote sensing data stored in the cloud. The lightweight cloud storage system used to store public data and users' private data is constructed based on open source distributed file system. In it, massive remote sensing data are stored as public data, while the intermediate and input data are stored as private data. The elastic, scalable, and flexible cloud computing environment is built using Docker, which is a technology of open-source lightweight cloud computing container in the Linux operating system. In the Docker container, open-source software such as IPython, NumPy, GDAL, and Grass GIS etc., are deployed. Users can write scripts in the IPython Notebook web page through the web browser to process data, and the scripts will be submitted to IPython kernel to be executed. By comparing the performance of remote sensing data analysis tasks executed in Docker container, KVM virtual machines and physical machines respectively, we can conclude that the cloud computing environment built by Docker makes the greatest use of the host system resources, and can handle more concurrent spatial-temporal computing tasks. Docker technology provides resource isolation mechanism in aspects of IO, CPU, and memory etc., which offers security guarantee when processing remote sensing data in the IPython Notebook. Users can write complex data processing code on the web directly, so they can design their own data processing algorithm.

LAnd surface remote sensing Products VAlidation System (LAPVAS) and its preliminary application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Xingwen; Wen, Jianguang; Tang, Yong; Ma, Mingguo; Dou, Baocheng; Wu, Xiaodan; Meng, Lumin

2014-11-01

The long term record of remote sensing product shows the land surface parameters with spatial and temporal change to support regional and global scientific research widely. Remote sensing product with different sensors and different algorithms is necessary to be validated to ensure the high quality remote sensing product. Investigation about the remote sensing product validation shows that it is a complex processing both the quality of in-situ data requirement and method of precision assessment. A comprehensive validation should be needed with long time series and multiple land surface types. So a system named as land surface remote sensing product is designed in this paper to assess the uncertainty information of the remote sensing products based on a amount of in situ data and the validation techniques. The designed validation system platform consists of three parts: Validation databases Precision analysis subsystem, Inter-external interface of system. These three parts are built by some essential service modules, such as Data-Read service modules, Data-Insert service modules, Data-Associated service modules, Precision-Analysis service modules, Scale-Change service modules and so on. To run the validation system platform, users could order these service modules and choreograph them by the user interactive and then compete the validation tasks of remote sensing products (such as LAI ,ALBEDO ,VI etc.) . Taking SOA-based architecture as the framework of this system. The benefit of this architecture is the good service modules which could be independent of any development environment by standards such as the Web-Service Description Language(WSDL). The standard language: C++ and java will used as the primary programming language to create service modules. One of the key land surface parameter, albedo, is selected as an example of the system application. It is illustrated that the LAPVAS has a good performance to implement the land surface remote sensing product validation.

Remote Sensing and the Kyoto Protocol: A Workshop Summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenqvist, Ake; Imhoff, Marc; Milne, Anthony; Dobson, Craig

2000-01-01

The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change contains quantified, legally binding commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels and allows carbon emissions to be balanced by carbon sinks represented by vegetation. The issue of using vegetation cover as an emission offset raises a debate about the adequacy of current remote sensing systems and data archives to both assess carbon stocks/sinks at 1990 levels, and monitor the current and future global status of those stocks. These concerns and the potential ratification of the Protocol among participating countries is stimulating policy debates and underscoring a need for the exchange of information between the international legal community and the remote sensing community. On October 20-22 1999, two working groups of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) joined with the University of Michigan (Michigan, USA) to convene discussions on how remote sensing technology could contribute to the information requirements raised by implementation of, and compliance with, the Kyoto Protocol. The meeting originated as a joint effort between the Global Monitoring Working Group and the Radar Applications Working Group in Commission VII of the ISPRS, co-sponsored by the University of Michigan. Tile meeting was attended by representatives from national government agencies and international organizations and academic institutions. Some of the key themes addressed were: (1) legal aspects of transnational remote sensing in the context of the Kyoto Protocol; (2) a review of the current and future and remote sensing technologies that could be applied to the Kyoto Protocol; (3) identification of areas where additional research is needed in order to advance and align remote sensing technology with the requirements and expectations of the Protocol; and 94) the bureaucratic and research management approaches needed to align the remote sensing community with both the science and policy communities.

Objected-oriented remote sensing image classification method based on geographic ontology model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Z.; Liu, Z. J.; Gu, H. Y.

2016-11-01

Nowadays, with the development of high resolution remote sensing image and the wide application of laser point cloud data, proceeding objected-oriented remote sensing classification based on the characteristic knowledge of multi-source spatial data has been an important trend on the field of remote sensing image classification, which gradually replaced the traditional method through improving algorithm to optimize image classification results. For this purpose, the paper puts forward a remote sensing image classification method that uses the he characteristic knowledge of multi-source spatial data to build the geographic ontology semantic network model, and carries out the objected-oriented classification experiment to implement urban features classification, the experiment uses protégé software which is developed by Stanford University in the United States, and intelligent image analysis software—eCognition software as the experiment platform, uses hyperspectral image and Lidar data that is obtained through flight in DaFeng City of JiangSu as the main data source, first of all, the experiment uses hyperspectral image to obtain feature knowledge of remote sensing image and related special index, the second, the experiment uses Lidar data to generate nDSM(Normalized DSM, Normalized Digital Surface Model),obtaining elevation information, the last, the experiment bases image feature knowledge, special index and elevation information to build the geographic ontology semantic network model that implement urban features classification, the experiment results show that, this method is significantly higher than the traditional classification algorithm on classification accuracy, especially it performs more evidently on the respect of building classification. The method not only considers the advantage of multi-source spatial data, for example, remote sensing image, Lidar data and so on, but also realizes multi-source spatial data knowledge integration and application of the knowledge to the field of remote sensing image classification, which provides an effective way for objected-oriented remote sensing image classification in the future.

A macroecological analysis of SERA derived forest heights and implications for forest volume remote sensing.

PubMed

Brolly, Matthew; Woodhouse, Iain H; Niklas, Karl J; Hammond, Sean T

2012-01-01

Individual trees have been shown to exhibit strong relationships between DBH, height and volume. Often such studies are cited as justification for forest volume or standing biomass estimation through remote sensing. With resolution of common satellite remote sensing systems generally too low to resolve individuals, and a need for larger coverage, these systems rely on descriptive heights, which account for tree collections in forests. For remote sensing and allometric applications, this height is not entirely understood in terms of its location. Here, a forest growth model (SERA) analyzes forest canopy height relationships with forest wood volume. Maximum height, mean, H₁₀₀, and Lorey's height are examined for variability under plant number density, resource and species. Our findings, shown to be allometrically consistent with empirical measurements for forested communities world-wide, are analyzed for implications to forest remote sensing techniques such as LiDAR and RADAR. Traditional forestry measures of maximum height, and to a lesser extent H₁₀₀ and Lorey's, exhibit little consistent correlation with forest volume across modeled conditions. The implication is that using forest height to infer volume or biomass from remote sensing requires species and community behavioral information to infer accurate estimates using height alone. SERA predicts mean height to provide the most consistent relationship with volume of the height classifications studied and overall across forest variations. This prediction agrees with empirical data collected from conifer and angiosperm forests with plant densities ranging between 10²-10⁶ plants/hectare and heights 6-49 m. Height classifications investigated are potentially linked to radar scattering centers with implications for allometry. These findings may be used to advance forest biomass estimation accuracy through remote sensing. Furthermore, Lorey's height with its specific relationship to remote sensing physics is recommended as a more universal indicator of volume when using remote sensing than achieved using either maximum height or H₁₀₀.

Predicting risk of invasive species occurrence - remote-sesning strategies

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Remote sensing is a means to describe characteristics of an area without physically sampling the area. Remote sensors can be mounted on a satellite, plane, or other airborne structure. Remotely sensed data allow for landscape perspectives on management issues. Sensors measure the electromagnetic ene...

Laboratory requirements for in-situ and remote sensing of suspended material

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuo, C. Y.; Cheng, R. Y. K.

1978-01-01

Recommendations for laboratory and in-situ measurements required for remote sensing of suspended material are presented. This study investigates the properties of the suspended materials, factors influencing the upwelling radiance, and the various types of remote sensing techniques. Calibration and correlation procedures are given to obtain the accuracy necessary to quantify the suspended materials by remote sensing. In addition, the report presents a survey of the national need for sediment data, the agencies that deal with and require the data of suspended sediment, and a summary of some recent findings of sediment measurements.

The application of remote sensing techniques to inter and intra urban analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horton, F. E.

1972-01-01

This is an effort to assess the applicability of air and spaceborne photography toward providing data inputs to urban and regional planning, management, and research. Through evaluation of remote sensing inputs to urban change detection systems, analyzing an effort to replicate an existing urban land use data file using remotely sensed data, estimating population and dwelling units from imagery, and by identifying and evaluating a system of urban places ultilizing space photography, it was determined that remote sensing can provide data concerning land use, changes in commercial structure, data for transportation planning, housing quality, residential dynamics, and population density.

The application of remote sensing to resource management and environmental quality programs in Kansas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barr, B. G.; Martinko, E. A.

1976-01-01

Activities of the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program (KARS) designed to establish interactions on cooperative projects with decision makers in Kansas agencies in the development and application of remote sensing procedures are reported. Cooperative demonstration projects undertaken with several different agencies involved three principal areas of effort: Wildlife Habitat and Environmental Analysis; Urban and Regional Analysis; Agricultural and Rural Analysis. These projects were designed to concentrate remote sensing concepts and methodologies on existing agency problems to insure the continued relevancy of the program and maximize the possibility for immediate operational use. Completed projects are briefly discussed.

Reconstruction of atmospheric pollutant concentrations from remote sensing data - An application of distributed parameter observer theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koda, M.; Seinfeld, J. H.

1982-01-01

The reconstruction of a concentration distribution from spatially averaged and noise-corrupted data is a central problem in processing atmospheric remote sensing data. Distributed parameter observer theory is used to develop reconstructibility conditions for distributed parameter systems having measurements typical of those in remote sensing. The relation of the reconstructibility condition to the stability of the distributed parameter observer is demonstrated. The theory is applied to a variety of remote sensing situations, and it is found that those in which concentrations are measured as a function of altitude satisfy the conditions of distributed state reconstructibility.

Remote sensing; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 3, 4, 1986

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menzies, Robert T. (Editor)

1986-01-01

Advances in optical technology for remote sensing are discussed in reviews and reports of recent experimental investigations. Topics examined include industrial applications, laser diagnostics for combustion research, laser remote sensing for ranging and altimetry, and imaging systems for terrestrial remote sensing from space. Consideration is given to LIF in forensic diagnostics, time-resolved laser-induced-breakdown spectrometry for rapid analysis of alloys, CARS in practical combustion environments, airborne inertial surveying using laser tracking and profiling techniques, earth-resources instrumentation for the EOS polar platform of the Space Station, and the SAR for EOS.

Remote sensing and urban public health

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rush, M.; Vernon, S.

1975-01-01

The applicability of remote sensing in the form of aerial photography to urban public health problems is examined. Environmental characteristics are analyzed to determine if health differences among areas could be predicted from the visual expression of remote sensing data. The analysis is carried out on a socioeconomic cross-sectional sample of census block groups. Six morbidity and mortality rates are the independent variables while environmental measures from aerial photographs and from the census constitute the two independent variable sets. It is found that environmental data collected by remote sensing are as good as census data in evaluating rates of health outcomes.

Hyperspectral remote sensing for terrestrial applications

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thenkabail, Prasad S.; Teluguntla, Pardhasaradhi G.; Murali Krishna Gumma,; Venkateswarlu Dheeravath,

2015-01-01

Remote sensing data are considered hyperspectral when the data are gathered from numerous wavebands, contiguously over an entire range of the spectrum (e.g., 400–2500 nm). Goetz (1992) defines hyperspectral remote sensing as “The acquisition of images in hundreds of registered, contiguous spectral bands such that for each picture element of an image it is possible to derive a complete reflectance spectrum.” However, Jensen (2004) defines hyperspectral remote sensing as “The simultaneous acquisition of images in many relatively narrow, contiguous and/or non contiguous spectral bands throughout the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Laboratory requirements for in-situ and remote sensing of suspended material

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuo, C. Y.; Cheng, R. Y. K.

1976-01-01

Recommendations for laboratory and in-situ measurements required for remote sensing of suspended material are presented. This study investigates the properties of the suspended materials, factors influencing the upwelling radiance, and the various types of remote sensing techniques. Calibration and correlation procedures are given to obtain the accuracy necessary to quantify the suspended materials by remote sensing. In addition, the report presents a survey of the national need for sediment data, the agencies that deal with and require the data of suspended sediment, and a summary of some recent findings of sediment measurements.

Prediction of health levels by remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rush, M.; Vernon, S.

1975-01-01

Measures of the environment derived from remote sensing were compared to census population/housing measures in their ability to discriminate among health status areas in two urban communities. Three hypotheses were developed to explore the relationships between environmental and health data. Univariate and multiple step-wise linear regression analyses were performed on data from two sample areas in Houston and Galveston, Texas. Environmental data gathered by remote sensing were found to equal or surpass census data in predicting rates of health outcomes. Remote sensing offers the advantages of data collection for any chosen area or time interval, flexibilities not allowed by the decennial census.

The Radio Frequency Environment at 240-270 MHz with Application to Signal-of-Opportunity Remote Sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Piepmeier, Jeffrey R.; Vega, Manuel; Fritts, Matthew; Du Toit, Cornelis; Knuble, Joseph; Lin, Yao-Cheng; Nold, Benjamin; Garrison, James

2017-01-01

Low frequency observations are desired for soil moisture and biomass remote sensing. Long wavelengths are needed to penetrate vegetation and Earths land surface. In addition to the technical challenges of developing Earth observing spaceflight instruments operating at low frequencies, the radio frequency spectrum allocated to remote sensing is limited. Signal-of-opportunity remote sensing offers the chance to use existing signals exploiting their allocated spectrum to make Earth science measurements. We have made observations of the radio frequency environment around 240-270 MHz and discuss properties of desired and undesired signals.

An international organization for remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Helm, Neil R.; Edelson, Burton I.

1991-01-01

A recommendation is presented for the formation of a new commercially oriented international organization to acquire or develop, coordinate or manage, the space and ground segments for a global operational satellite system to furnish the basic data for remote sensing and meteorological, land, and sea resource applications. The growing numbers of remote sensing programs are examined and possible ways of reducing redundant efforts and improving the coordination and distribution of these global efforts are discussed. This proposed remote sensing organization could play an important role in international cooperation and the distribution of scientific, commercial, and public good data.

Remote sensing inputs to landscape models which predict future spatial land use patterns for hydrologic models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, L. D.; Tom, C.; Nualchawee, K.

1977-01-01

A tropical forest area of Northern Thailand provided a test case of the application of the approach in more natural surroundings. Remote sensing imagery subjected to proper computer analysis has been shown to be a very useful means of collecting spatial data for the science of hydrology. Remote sensing products provide direct input to hydrologic models and practical data bases for planning large and small-scale hydrologic developments. Combining the available remote sensing imagery together with available map information in the landscape model provides a basis for substantial improvements in these applications.

NDSI products system based on Hadoop platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Yan; Jiang, He; Yang, Xiaoxia; Geng, Erhui

2015-12-01

Snow is solid state of water resources on earth, and plays an important role in human life. Satellite remote sensing is significant in snow extraction with the advantages of cyclical, macro, comprehensiveness, objectivity, timeliness. With the continuous development of remote sensing technology, remote sensing data access to the trend of multiple platforms, multiple sensors and multiple perspectives. At the same time, in view of the remote sensing data of compute-intensive applications demand increase gradually. However, current the producing system of remote sensing products is in a serial mode, and this kind of production system is used for professional remote sensing researchers mostly, and production systems achieving automatic or semi-automatic production are relatively less. Facing massive remote sensing data, the traditional serial mode producing system with its low efficiency has been difficult to meet the requirements of mass data timely and efficient processing. In order to effectively improve the production efficiency of NDSI products, meet the demand of large-scale remote sensing data processed timely and efficiently, this paper build NDSI products production system based on Hadoop platform, and the system mainly includes the remote sensing image management module, NDSI production module, and system service module. Main research contents and results including: (1)The remote sensing image management module: includes image import and image metadata management two parts. Import mass basis IRS images and NDSI product images (the system performing the production task output) into HDFS file system; At the same time, read the corresponding orbit ranks number, maximum/minimum longitude and latitude, product date, HDFS storage path, Hadoop task ID (NDSI products), and other metadata information, and then create thumbnails, and unique ID number for each record distribution, import it into base/product image metadata database. (2)NDSI production module: includes the index calculation, production tasks submission and monitoring two parts. Read HDF images related to production task in the form of a byte stream, and use Beam library to parse image byte stream to the form of Product; Use MapReduce distributed framework to perform production tasks, at the same time monitoring task status; When the production task complete, calls remote sensing image management module to store NDSI products. (3)System service module: includes both image search and DNSI products download. To image metadata attributes described in JSON format, return to the image sequence ID existing in the HDFS file system; For the given MapReduce task ID, package several task output NDSI products into ZIP format file, and return to the download link (4)System evaluation: download massive remote sensing data and use the system to process it to get the NDSI products testing the performance, and the result shows that the system has high extendibility, strong fault tolerance, fast production speed, and the image processing results with high accuracy.

Remote Sensing by Satellite for Environmental Education: A Survey and a Proposal for Teaching at Upper Secondary and University Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bosler, Ulrich

Knowledge of the environment has grown to such an extent that information technology (IT) is essential to make sense of the available data. An example of this is remote sensing by satellite. In recent years this field has grown in importance and remote sensing is used for a range of uses including the automatic survey of wheat yields in North…

Long-Term Monitoring of Desert Land and Natural Resources and Application of Remote Sensing Technologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hamada, Yuki; Rollins, Katherine E.

2016-11-01

Monitoring environmental impacts over large, remote desert regions for long periods of time can be very costly. Remote sensing technologies present a promising monitoring tool because they entail the collection of spatially contiguous data, automated processing, and streamlined data analysis. This report provides a summary of remote sensing products and refinement of remote sensing data interpretation methodologies that were generated as part of the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Solar Energy Program. In March 2015, a team of researchers from Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) collected field data of vegetation and surface types from more than 5,000more » survey points within the eastern part of the Riverside East Solar Energy Zone (SEZ). Using the field data, remote sensing products that were generated in 2014 using very high spatial resolution (VHSR; 15 cm) multispectral aerial images were validated in order to evaluate potential refinements to the previous methodologies to improve the information extraction accuracy.« less

Accurate estimation of motion blur parameters in noisy remote sensing image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Xueyan; Wang, Lin; Shao, Xiaopeng; Wang, Huilin; Tao, Zhong

2015-05-01

The relative motion between remote sensing satellite sensor and objects is one of the most common reasons for remote sensing image degradation. It seriously weakens image data interpretation and information extraction. In practice, point spread function (PSF) should be estimated firstly for image restoration. Identifying motion blur direction and length accurately is very crucial for PSF and restoring image with precision. In general, the regular light-and-dark stripes in the spectrum can be employed to obtain the parameters by using Radon transform. However, serious noise existing in actual remote sensing images often causes the stripes unobvious. The parameters would be difficult to calculate and the error of the result relatively big. In this paper, an improved motion blur parameter identification method to noisy remote sensing image is proposed to solve this problem. The spectrum characteristic of noisy remote sensing image is analyzed firstly. An interactive image segmentation method based on graph theory called GrabCut is adopted to effectively extract the edge of the light center in the spectrum. Motion blur direction is estimated by applying Radon transform on the segmentation result. In order to reduce random error, a method based on whole column statistics is used during calculating blur length. Finally, Lucy-Richardson algorithm is applied to restore the remote sensing images of the moon after estimating blur parameters. The experimental results verify the effectiveness and robustness of our algorithm.

Assessing Wetland Hydroperiod and Soil Moisture with Remote Sensing: A Demonstration for the NASA Plum Brook Station Year 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, Colin; Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura; Endres, Sarah; Battaglia, Michael; Shuchman, Robert

2015-01-01

Assist with the evaluation and measuring of wetlands hydroperiod at the Plum Brook Station using multi-source remote sensing data as part of a larger effort on projecting climate change-related impacts on the station's wetland ecosystems. MTRI expanded on the multi-source remote sensing capabilities to help estimate and measure hydroperiod and the relative soil moisture of wetlands at NASA's Plum Brook Station. Multi-source remote sensing capabilities are useful in estimating and measuring hydroperiod and relative soil moisture of wetlands. This is important as a changing regional climate has several potential risks for wetland ecosystem function. The year two analysis built on the first year of the project by acquiring and analyzing remote sensing data for additional dates and types of imagery, combined with focused field work. Five deliverables were planned and completed: (1) Show the relative length of hydroperiod using available remote sensing datasets, (2) Date linked table of wetlands extent over time for all feasible non-forested wetlands, (3) Utilize LIDAR data to measure topographic height above sea level of all wetlands, wetland to catchment area radio, slope of wetlands, and other useful variables (4), A demonstration of how analyzed results from multiple remote sensing data sources can help with wetlands vulnerability assessment; and (5) A MTRI style report summarizing year 2 results.

Coastal High-resolution Observations and Remote Sensing of Ecosystems (C-HORSE)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guild, Liane

2016-01-01

Coastal benthic marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, seagrass beds, and kelp forests are highly productive as well as ecologically and commercially important resources. These systems are vulnerable to degraded water quality due to coastal development, terrestrial run-off, and harmful algal blooms. Measurements of these features are important for understanding linkages with land-based sources of pollution and impacts to coastal ecosystems. Challenges for accurate remote sensing of coastal benthic (shallow water) ecosystems and water quality are complicated by atmospheric scattering/absorption (approximately 80+% of the signal), sun glint from the sea surface, and water column scattering (e.g., turbidity). Further, sensor challenges related to signal to noise (SNR) over optically dark targets as well as insufficient radiometric calibration thwart the value of coastal remotely-sensed data. Atmospheric correction of satellite and airborne remotely-sensed radiance data is crucial for deriving accurate water-leaving radiance in coastal waters. C-HORSE seeks to optimize coastal remote sensing measurements by using a novel airborne instrument suite that will bridge calibration, validation, and research capabilities of bio-optical measurements from the sea to the high altitude remote sensing platform. The primary goal of C-HORSE is to facilitate enhanced optical observations of coastal ecosystems using state of the art portable microradiometers with 19 targeted spectral channels and flight planning to optimize measurements further supporting current and future remote sensing missions.

WinASEAN for remote sensing data analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duong, Nguyen Dinh; Takeuchi, Shoji

The image analysis system ASEAN (Advanced System for Environmental ANalysis with Remote Sensing Data) was designed and programmed by a software development group, ImaSOFr, Department of Remote Sensing Technology and GIS, Institute for Geography, National Centre for Natural Science and Technology of Vietnam under technical cooperation with the Remote Sensing Technology Centre of Japan and financial support from the National Space Development Agency of Japan. ASEAN has been in continuous development since 1989, with different versions ranging from the simplest one for MS-DOS with standard VGA 320×200×256 colours, through versions supporting SpeedStar 1.0 and SpeedStar PRO 2.0 true colour graphics cards, up to the latest version named WinASEAN, which is designed for the Windows 3.1 operating system. The most remarkable feature of WinASEAN is the use of algorithms that speed up the image analysis process, even on PC platforms. Today WinASEAN is continuously improved in cooperation with NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan), RESTEC (Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan) and released as public domain software for training, research and education through the Regional Remote Sensing Seminar on Tropical Eco-system Management which is organised by NASDA and ESCAR In this paper, the authors describe the functionality of WinASEAN, some of the relevant analysis algorithms, and discuss its possibilities of computer-assisted teaching and training of remote sensing.

Remote sensing terminology: past experience and recent needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kancheva, Rumiana

2013-10-01

Terminology is a key issue for a better understanding among people using various languages. Terminology accuracy is essential during all phases of international cooperation. It is crucial to keep up with the latest quantitative and qualitative developments and novelties of the terminology in advanced technology fields such as aerospace science and industry. This is especially true in remote sensing and geoinformatics which develop rapidly and have wide and ever extending applications in various domains of human activity. The importance of the correct use of remote sensing terms refers not only to people working in this field but also to experts in many disciplines who handle remote sensing data and information products. The paper is devoted to terminology issues that refer to all aspects of remote sensing research and application areas. The attention is drawn on the recent needs and peculiarities of compiling specialized dictionaries in the subject area of remote sensing. Details are presented about the work in progress on the preparation of an English-Bulgarian dictionary of remote sensing terms focusing on Earth observations and geoinformation science. Our belief is that the elaboration of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries in this spreading, most technically advanced and promising field of human expertise is of great practical importance. Any interest in cooperation and initiating of suchlike collaborative multilingual projects is welcome and highly appreciated.

Physical Interpretation of the Correlation Between Multi-Angle Spectral Data and Canopy Height

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schull, M. A.; Ganguly, S.; Samanta, A.; Huang, D.; Shabanov, N. V.; Jenkins, J. P.; Chiu, J. C.; Marshak, A.; Blair, J. B.; Myneni, R. B.;

Aerospace remote sensing of the coastal zone for water quality and biotic productivity applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pritchard, E. B.; Harriss, R. C.

1981-01-01

Remote sensing can provide the wide area synoptic coverage of surface waters which is required for studies of such phenomena as river plume mixing, phytoplankton dynamics, and pollutant transport and fate, but which is not obtainable by conventional oceanographic techniques. The application of several remote sensors (aircraftborne and spacecraftborne multispectral scanners, passive microwave radiometers, and active laser systems) to coastal zone research is discussed. Current measurement capabilities (particulates, chlorophyll a, temperature, salinity, ocean dumped materials, other pollutants, and surface winds and roughness) are defined and the results of recent remote sensing experiments conducted in the North Atlantic coastal zone are presented. The future development of remote sensing must rely on an integrated laboratory research program in optical physics. Recent results indicate the potential for separation of particulates into subsets by remote sensors.

Mississippi Sound Remote Sensing Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Atwell, B. H.

1973-01-01

The Mississippi Sound Remote Sensing Study was initiated as part of the research program of the NASA Earth Resources Laboratory. The objective of this study is development of remote sensing techniques to study near-shore marine waters. Included within this general objective are the following: (1) evaluate existing techniques and instruments used for remote measurement of parameters of interest within these waters; (2) develop methods for interpretation of state-of-the-art remote sensing data which are most meaningful to an understanding of processes taking place within near-shore waters; (3) define hardware development requirements and/or system specifications; (4) develop a system combining data from remote and surface measurements which will most efficiently assess conditions in near-shore waters; (5) conduct projects in coordination with appropriate operating agencies to demonstrate applicability of this research to environmental and economic problems.

Active Remote Sensing of Natural Resources: Course Notes. Science Series No. 5. Final Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxwell, Eugene L.

Presented is a portion of a research project which developed materials for teaching remote sensing of natural resources on an interdisciplinary basis at the graduate level. This volume contains notes developed for a course in active remote sensing. It is concerned with those methods or systems which generate the electromagnetic energy…

Potential benefits of remote sensing: Theoretical framework and empirical estimate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eisgruber, L. M.

1972-01-01

A theoretical framwork is outlined for estimating social returns from research and application of remote sensing. The approximate dollar magnitude is given of a particular application of remote sensing, namely estimates of corn production, soybeans, and wheat. Finally, some comments are made on the limitations of this procedure and on the implications of results.

Remote Sensing for Tropical Forest Assessment

Treesearch

AJR Gillespie

1994-01-01

The purpose of this workshop was to allow remote sensing experts from Latin America, the U.S.A., and FAO to discuss state-of-the-art methodology in remote sensing of forest environments, and to develop plans on how to better incorporate this technology into FAO and national forest inventory efforts. The workshop included numerous presentations of ongoing activities, as...

OPUS: A Comprehensive Search Tool for Remote Sensing Observations of the Outer Planets. Now with Enhanced Geometric Metadata for Cassini and New Horizons Optical Remote Sensing Instruments.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, M. K.; Showalter, M. R.; Ballard, L.; Tiscareno, M.; French, R. S.; Olson, D.

2017-06-01

The PDS RMS Node hosts OPUS - an accurate, comprehensive search tool for spacecraft remote sensing observations. OPUS supports Cassini: CIRS, ISS, UVIS, VIMS; New Horizons: LORRI, MVIC; Galileo SSI; Voyager ISS; and Hubble: ACS, STIS, WFC3, WFPC2.

Remote Sensing Data Visualization, Fusion and Analysis via Giovanni

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, G.; Zubko, V.; Gopalan, A.; Khayat, M.

2007-01-01

We describe Giovanni, the NASA Goddard developed online visualization and analysis tool that allows users explore various phenomena without learning remote sensing data formats and downloading voluminous data. Using MODIS aerosol data as an example, we formulate an approach to the data fusion for Giovanni to further enrich online multi-sensor remote sensing data comparison and analysis.

An examination of applications of remote sensing data to Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' planning requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mallon, H. J.; Howard, J. Y.; Karch, K. M.

1971-01-01

A comprehensive inventory of a series of remote sensing applications for a variety of regional planning programs in metropolitan Washington was undertaken. Examples of application, methods for data utilization, and corresponding photographic illustrations are provided illustrating how remote sensing would prove particularly useful as a unique and/or supplemental data source.

Remote sensing of wetlands, marshes, and shorelines in Michigan including St. John's Marsh

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lowe, D. S.

1976-01-01

Remote sensing data are used to show the strategic relationship of the endangered marsh to population centers of SE Michigan. The potential ecological consequences and the impact of past development and changing lake levels are discussed. Applications of remote sensing are presented showing its usefulness for preparing statewide infrared wetland and forest mapping.

Remote sensing-based predictors improve distribution models of rare, early successional and boradleaf tree species in Utah

Treesearch

N. E. Zimmermann; T. C. Edwards; G. G. Moisen; T. S. Frescino; J. A. Blackard

2007-01-01

Compared to bioclimatic variables, remote sensing predictors are rarely used for predictive species modelling. When used, the predictors represent typically habitat classifications or filters rather than gradual spectral, surface or biophysical properties. Consequently, the full potential of remotely sensed predictors for modelling the spatial distribution of species...

Remote sensing - A new view for public health

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morrison, D. R.; Barnes, C. M.; Fuller, C. E.

1973-01-01

It is shown that the technology of remote sensing can be of great importance to the field of public health. This possibility is based on the deepened understanding of the biologies and ecologies of the vector/organism/host interelationships of arthropod-, soil-, and water-borne diseases to result from the information that remote sensing can provide.

A systematic framework for Monte Carlo simulation of remote sensing errors map in carbon assessments

Treesearch

S. Healey; P. Patterson; S. Urbanski

2014-01-01

Remotely sensed observations can provide unique perspective on how management and natural disturbance affect carbon stocks in forests. However, integration of these observations into formal decision support will rely upon improved uncertainty accounting. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations offer a practical, empirical method of accounting for potential remote sensing errors...

76 FR 66018 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Delisting of the Plant Frankenia johnstonii

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-25

... johnstonii will be implemented for 9 years, and will include habitat evaluation using remote sensing of 20 populations and on-site monitoring of 10 populations. Habitat assessments with remote sensing will occur about... site visit will be triggered from remote sensing analysis when a 30 percent loss of habitat is detected...

Multistage remote sensing: toward an annual national inventory

Treesearch

Raymond L. Czaplewski

1999-01-01

Remote sensing can improve efficiency of statistical information. Landsat data can identify and map a few broad categories of forest cover and land use. However, more-detailed information requires a sample of higher-resolution imagery, which costs less than field data but considerably more than Landsat data. A national remote sensing program would be a major...

Remote sensing fire and fuels in southern California

Treesearch

Philip Riggan; Lynn Wolden; Bob Tissell; David Weise; J. Coen

2011-01-01

Airborne remote sensing at infrared wavelengths has the potential to quantify large-fire properties related to energy release or intensity, residence time, fuel-consumption rate, rate of spread, and soil heating. Remote sensing at a high temporal rate can track fire-line outbreaks and acceleration and spotting ahead of a fire front. Yet infrared imagers and imaging...

Monitoring landscape level processes using remote sensing of large plots

Treesearch

Raymond L. Czaplewski

1991-01-01

Global and regional assessaents require timely information on landscape level status (e.g., areal extent of different ecosystems) and processes (e.g., changes in land use and land cover). To measure and understand these processes at the regional level, and model their impacts, remote sensing is often necessary. However, processing massive volumes of remotely sensing...

Offshore Wind Resource Characterization | Wind | NREL

Science.gov Websites

identify critical data needed. Remote Sensing and Modeling Photo of the SeaZephIR Prototype at sea. 2009 techniques such as remote sensing and modeling to provide data on design conditions. Research includes comparing the data provided by remote sensing devices and models to data collected by traditional methods

76 FR 69760 - Agency Information Collection Activities: The William T. Pecora Award Application and Nomination...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-09

... toward understanding the earth by means of remote sensing. The award is sponsored jointly by the... program for civil remote sensing of the earth from space. The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals or groups working in the field of remote sensing of the earth. National and international...

Incorporating remotely sensed tree canopy cover data into broad scale assessments of wildlife habitat distribution and conservation

Treesearch

Sebastian Martinuzzi; Lee A. Vierling; William A. Gould; Kerri T. Vierling; Andrew T. Hudak

2009-01-01

Remote sensing provides critical information for broad scale assessments of wildlife habitat distribution and conservation. However, such efforts have been typically unable to incorporate information about vegetation structure, a variable important for explaining the distribution of many wildlife species. We evaluated the consequences of incorporating remotely sensed...

76 FR 50753 - Agency Information Collections Activities; The Pecora Award; Application and Nomination Process

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-16

... groups that make outstanding contributions toward understanding the earth by means of remote sensing. The... motivating force behind the establishment of a program for civil remote sensing of the earth from space. The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals or groups working in the field of remote sensing of the...

Using a remote sensing-based, percent tree cover map to enhance forest inventory estimation

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts; Greg C. Liknes; Grant M. Domke

2014-01-01

For most national forest inventories, the variables of primary interest to users are forest area and growing stock volume. The precision of estimates of parameters related to these variables can be increased using remotely sensed auxiliary variables, often in combination with stratified estimators. However, acquisition and processing of large amounts of remotely sensed...

The impact of remote sensing on United States' geography: The past in perspective, present realities, future potentials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Estes, J. E.; Jensen, J. R.; Simonett, D. S.

1977-01-01

The use of remotely sensed data by cartographers and other physical geographers is reviewed. The current status of remote sensing in the academic, governmental, and private sector is assessed, as well as its capability for providing information within the context of the explanatory forms used by geographers.

The role of the society of Latin American specialists on remote sensing (SELPER) in the analysis and actions related to the main advances and needs of spatial remote sensing for Latin America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Araya, Mauricio F.

The existence of SELPER (Sociedad de Especialistas Latinoamericanos en Percepción Remota / Society of Latinamerican Specialists on Remote Sensing) has filled a great gap among latinamerican countries. SELPER was formed in 1980 and several important activities, having international support, have been performed and are planned in the near future. SELPER consolidation will help develop several important regional cooperation programs and the next years look very promisory in this sense. Different steps are planned but the most important is related with the formation of such a Latin American Council on Remote Sensing, having official support from different countries of the region; SELPER can help this important objective. Main advances and needs are summarized in this paper and it is possible to conclude that SELPER will be important for regional and inter-regional scientific and technical cooperation on remote sensing.