ERS186: Environmental Remote Sensing

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ERS186Environmental Remote Sensing

• Lecture 1 Introduction

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Welcome to ERS186!

• Course instructors
• Solomon Dobrowski szdobrowski_at_ucdavis.edu
• Jonathan Greenberg greenberg_at_ucdavis.edu
• Course website
• http//www.cstars.ucdavis.edu/classes/ers186-w03
• All lectures will be posted here, as well as any
  supplementary articles and relevant websites.
• Course listserv
• ers186-w03_at_ucdavis.edu
• Please ask any general interest question here,
  but please dont send personal questions through
  this list!
• Well occasionally send information through this
  listserv, so check your email!
• Grading Midterm (40) and Final (60)
• We will distribute practice questions before each
  exam a certain number of the practice questions
  will be WORD FOR WORD the same as the exam!
• Office hours TR, 1200 to 100 location TBA

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Text and Supplementary Info

• Jensen, J. R. 2000. Remote Sensing of the
  Environment An Earth Resource Perspective.
  Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.
• Note this book (as far as we know) is also used
  in ERS185.
• All other texts/articles will either be
  distributed in class or placed on the website.

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Course Outline

• Introduction (JG)
• Principles of Electromagnetic Radiation (SD)
• Remote sensing technology and terminology (JG)
• Scaling up in remote sensing
• Atoms and Molecules Geology (JG)
• Microscopic particles Atmospheric Science,
  Climatology, Hydrology and Soil Science (SD)
• Cells Agriculture and Ecology (SD) MIDTERM!
• Plant structure Agriculture and Ecology (SD)
• Mixed pixels Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
  Urban Landscapes (JG)
• Field methodology and spatial analysis
• Temporal image analysis and change detection (JG)
• CSTARS lectures FINAL!

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Course Goals

• ERS186 to be able to read and evaluate remote
  sensing literature in the context of a
  mechanistic understanding of RS principles and
  technology.
• Secondarily, you MUST know the difference between
  GPS, GIS and RS!
• ERS186L (Spring) to be able to perform basic
  remote sensing research (project design, data
  collection, image acquisiton, image analysis,
  presentation of results).

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What Is Remote Sensing?

• From your text
• Maximal definition (not very useful) remote
  sensing is the acquiring of data about an object
  without touching it.

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What Is Remote Sensing?

• From your text
• Minimal definition (much better) remote sensing
  is the noncontact recording of information from
  the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and microwave
  regions of the electromagnetic spectrum by means
  of instruments such as cameras, scanners, lasers,
  linear arrays, and/or area arrays located on
  platforms such as aircraft or spacecraft, and the
  analysis of acquired information by means of
  visual and digital image processing.

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What Is Remote Sensing?

• Some thoughts
• We are NOT going to focus on visual
  interpretations, rather we will focus on digital
  technologies. Photogrammetry (visual/analog
  remote sensing) can be learned in ERS185.
• Remote sensing is an applied science and is a
  tool to help understand other fields such as
  ecology, climatology, geology, soil science and
  hydrology.

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What Is Not Remote Sensing?
GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
RS (Remote Sensing)
GPS (Global Positioning System)
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A Whirlwind Tour Of RemoteSensing
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Physics
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Sensors and Technology
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Geology Terrestrial
Nevada surface materials map based on specific
chemical bonds and AVIRIS hyperspectral
imagery. Analysis performed using Tetracorder
software (Trekkies feel free to laugh at this
name).
http//speclab.cr.usgs.gov/PAPERS/tetracorder/
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Geology Planetary
Tharsis Volcanos on Mars Sensors MOLA and Viking
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Atmospheric Science
Hurricane Dennis, GOES-9
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Hydrology
Soil Equivalent Water Depth
Snow Depth
Surface Water Depth
Daily Transpiration
SPLASH hydrological data, LANDSAT inputs
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Soil Science
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Agriculture
Gallo Vineyards, Sonoma County, ADAR-5500
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Ecology
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota,
Leafy Spurge Mapping
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Change Detection
Yasuni National Park, Ecuador, LANDSAT
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Big Pictures

• Much of the current remote sensing research is
  focusing on climate change and the carbon cycle.

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Big Pictures
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Hooray for Physics!!!
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Electromagnetic Principles An overview of whats
to come.

• Wave properties of light
• Particle properties of light
• Wave particle duality
• Energy matter interactions
• The remote sensing problem

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Wave model of electromagnetic Radiation
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How do we describe the wave?
Wavelength (?) the mean distance between
maximums (or minimums) of a periodic pattern.
Usually measured in nm (10-9 m) or ?m (10-6
m) Frequency (v) is the number of wavelengths
that pass a point per unit time. Measured in
hertz (Hz) or cycle per second. Speed of light
(c) 3x108 m/s in a vacuum
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Wave equation (in a vacuum)
C ?v V c/ ? ? c/v
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Electromagnetic Spectrum
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The Speed of Light Revisited
In a vacuum C 3x108 m/s In material mediums the
velocity of the EMR depends on the frequency of
the wave but is never greater than C.
The index of refraction of the medium n
C/S Where S speed of light in a medium Note N
is always greater than 1
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Wave Properties
Frequency of a light wave in a medium is
determined by its source and is unaffected by the
medium!!!
Thus, lets revisit the wave equation V ? S
C/N V ? C/N Which posits that the
wavelength changes when the index of refraction
changes
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Wave Properties (continued)
When would the index of refraction change? when
light passes from one medium to another. In fact
? will decrease when moving from one medium to a
more optically dense medium. (extra credit?)
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Wave Properties (continued)
Refraction When light goes from one transparent
medium to another with a different index of
refraction (N), the light is bent
Snells Law n1sin?1 n2sin?2 Where ? the
angle of incidence Note if n increases then
sin?, and consequently ? decreases
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Wave Properties (continued)
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Wave Properties (continued)
Since the index of refraction (n) of materials
varies with the wavelength of the light, the
amount of bending at boundaries will vary with
wavelength. This is known as dispersion and leads
to the separation of white light into colors by a
prism.