Introduction to Remote Sensing

MIT– IAP 2018: Adapted from course EE194A /ENV196R, taught by Dr. Magaly Koch at Tufts University
Outline
• Background
• “Alien Eyes” Exercise
• Satellites and Sensors
• “The World Above Us” Exercise
• Data Download Practice
• Image Pre/processing
• Data Import Practice
Remote sensing is the act of obtaining
information from a distance & includes:

 The technology to acquire the data

 The interpretation of the data
 CONCEPTS OF REMOTE SENSING

Remote Sensing Process: (A) energy source/illumination; (B) radiation and

atmosphere; (C) interaction with target; (D) recording energy; (E) transmission,
reception and processing; (F) interpretation and analysis; (G) application.
SENSING METHODS
Passive
• Emitted by natural sources
• Limited wavelengths
(visible, infrared, thermal)
• Free
Active
• Artificially created energy
• Unlimited wavelengths
(laser, radar, acoustic)
• Costly
 ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION

Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) has fundamental behaviors,

where some are explained by wave theory and others by particle.
EMR consists of an electric field (E) and magnetic field (M),
where both fields travel at the speed of light (C).
EMR can be described by wavelength λ & frequency ν.
Electromagnetic Spectrum
The electromagnetic radiation spectrum is made up of a range of wavelengths,
which we have broken up groups & named based on how we use the energy
EMR’s relationship with Quantum Energy
EMR is composed of many discrete units = photons or quanta:

Q=hν and ν = c/λ => Q= h c/λ

where h is Planck's constant, ν is the frequency, λ is the

wavelength, and c is the velocity of EMR in a vacuum.
Quantum energy is inversely proportional to its wavelength

So what?

So wavelength is related to the amount of energy available.

This means that longer wavelength are more difficult to sense.

Quantum physics
RADIATION LAWS:
• Everything emits energy
• Wien’s Displacement Law:
Temperature dictates the
range & distribution of the
wavelengths emitted

41% of energy from the sun is

produced in the visible region
(0.4 – 0.7 μm).
Alien Eyes
Exercise
We see in the visible range, but
what range would an alien most
likely see if their EMR source was
hotter or cooler than our sun?
 CONCEPTS OF REMOTE SENSING

Remote Sensing Process: (A) energy source/illumination; (B) radiation and

atmosphere; (C) interaction with target; (D) recording energy; (E) transmission,
reception and processing; (F) interpretation and analysis; (G) application.
ENERGY INTERACTION IN THE ATMOSPHERE
Before radiation reaches the earth’s surface it has to travel through
the atmosphere. Particles and gases in the atmosphere can affect
the incoming light and radiation and, thus, the intensity and spectral
composition of radiation available to any sensing system. These
effects are caused by mechanisms of scattering and absorption.

Scattering Absorption
SCATTERING

a) Rayleigh = atmospheric particles are

much smaller than the wavelength and
scatter short wavelengths (blue sky)

b) Mie = atmospheric particles are equal

to wavelength & scatter light equally
(white clouds)

c) Nonselective = atmospheric particles

are much larger than wavelength &
scatter irrespective to wavelength
(primary cause of haze)
Note: Scattering does not alter wavelength
FUN SCATTERING FACTS
ENERGY INTERACTION IN THE ATMOSPHERE
Before radiation reaches the earth’s surface it has to travel through
the atmosphere. Particles and gases in the atmosphere can affect
the incoming light and radiation and, thus, the intensity and spectral
composition of radiation available to any sensing system. These
effects are caused by mechanisms of scattering and absorption.

Scattering Absorption
ENERGY REDUCTION DUE TO ATMOSPHERE(S)
 CONCEPTS OF REMOTE SENSING

Remote Sensing Process: (A) energy source/illumination; (B) radiation and

atmosphere; (C) interaction with target; (D) recording energy; (E) transmission,
reception and processing; (F) interpretation and analysis; (G) application.
 TYPES OF REFLECTORS

(the energy that does make it to the ground

is reflected based on the material it interacts with)
 SPECTRAL RELECTANCE

Spectral Reflectance Curve: describes the type or condition of the

surface material, also called spectral signature of a specific material;
which may change over time (e.g. foliage over the seasons).

Materials absorb and reflect light differently

 SPECTRAL RELECTANCE CURVES

The spectral reflectance across different wavelengths vary,

and are based on the characteristics of the material
 SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE CURVES
Reflectance = energy reflected / energy incident, and differs across wavelengths

All materials have unique spectral signatures (curves)

 CONCEPTS OF REMOTE SENSING

Remote Sensing Process: (A) energy source/illumination; (B) radiation and

atmosphere; (C) interaction with target; (D) recording energy; (E) transmission,
reception and processing; (F) interpretation and analysis; (G) application.
 SATELLITE SENSORS

As we have seen, a lot happens between the light source and satellite sensor
 SENSOR RESOLUTION CHARACTERISTICS
• Spatial resolution: relates to the pixel size, extent to the
overall image coverage.
• Spectral resolution: range of wavelengths recorded by
a sensor (bands: number, position and width).
• Radiometric resolution: range of integers that can be
recorded by a sensor; measured in binary computer codes.
• Temporal resolution: the time that elapses between
successive dates of imagery acquisition.

You can’t have it all,

so pick a sensor based on your research needs

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A Sky Full of Satellites

Over 5,600 orbiting satellites

1,071 active satellites
Credit: Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
459 US satellites (~50%)
Explore current (as of 12/21/15)
satellites and their orbits
https://qz.com/296941/interactive-
graphic-every-active-satellite-orbiting-
earth/
 ORBIT PATTERNS

The path followed by a satellite is referred to as its orbit. Orbit selection

can vary in terms of altitude and their orientation and rotation relative to
the earth.
Geostationary orbits: satellites, at very high
altitudes (36,000 km), revolve at speeds which
match the rotation of the earth -> they seem
stationary relative to the earth.
Weather and communication satellites have
these types of orbits.

Near-polar orbits: have an inclination almost

parallel to a line running between the North
and South poles. Many of these orbits are
also sun-synchronous, i.e. they cover each
area at a constant local time of the day (local
sun time).

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 ORBIT PATTERNS
Ascending and descending
passes:
The satellite (placed in near-polar
orbits) travels northwards on one
side of the earth and southwards
on the second half of its orbit.
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Swath: is the area imaged on
the surface. Because the earth is
rotating the satellite swath
covers a new area with each
consecutive pass. The satellite’s
orbit and the earth rotation work
together to allow complete
coverage of the earth.
 SCANNING SYSTEMS

There are two main modes or methods of

scanning employed to acquire
multispectral image data: across-track
scanning, and along-track scanning.

Across-track scan the surface in a series

of lines. The lines are scanned from one
side to the other, using a rotating mirror.
Along-track scanners use a linear array
of detectors which are pushed along in
the flight track direction. These systems
are referred to as pushbroom scanners.

The IFOV (instantaneous field of view) is

influenced by: 1) changes in orbit altitude
(pixel size), 2) the point spread function
PSF (the way a sensor sees a reflective
point source; recorded intensity
distribution of the signal).

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 CONCEPTS OF REMOTE SENSING

Remote Sensing Process: (A) energy source/illumination; (B) radiation and

atmosphere; (C) interaction with target; (D) recording energy; (E) transmission,
reception and processing; (F) interpretation and analysis; (G) application.
 DATA RECEPTION & TRANSMISSION
Three options for data transmission:
(1) Data can be directly transmitted to
Ground Receiving Station (GRS);
(2) Data can be recorded on board the
satellite (tape recorder);
(3) Data can be relayed to the GRS
through the Tracking and Data
Relay Satellite System (TDRSS).

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 LANDSAT 8 (LDCM)
Characteristics of LANDSAT 8
Launched: 11 February 2013
Type: Sun-synchronous
Altitude: 705 km
Inclination: 98.2 deg
Orbital period: 99 min
Temporal resolution: 16 days (233 orbits)
Swath width: 185 km
Sensors: Operational Land Imager (OLI)
Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)
Scanner: Pushbroom (along-track)

Wavelength (µm) Resolution (m)

Spectral Band
1 – Coastal / Aerosol 0.433 – 0.453 30
2 - Blue 0.450 – 0.515 30
3 - Green 0.525 – 0.600 30
4 - Red 0.630 – 0.680 30
5 - Near Infrared 0.845 – 0.885 30
6 - Short Wavelength Infrared 1.560 – 1.660 30
7- Short Wavelength Infrared 2.100 – 2.300 30
8 - Panchromatic 0.500 – 0.680 15
9 - Cirrus 1.360 – 1.390 30
10 - Long Wavelength Infrared 10.30 – 11.30 100
11 - Long Wavelength Infrared 11.50 – 12.50 100

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Take a moment to go through each characteristic of this satellite & sensor
 Where do you go to
download satellite imagery?
https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/data_access
(we will look at Earth Explorer)
 CONCEPTS OF REMOTE SENSING

Remote Sensing Process: (A) energy source/illumination; (B) radiation and

atmosphere; (C) interaction with target; (D) recording energy; (E) transmission,
reception and processing; (F) interpretation and analysis; (G) application.
IMAGE PROCESSING WORKFLOW
 VISUALIZING LIGHT

Our eyes are best suited to understanding red, green, and blue wavelengths,
which we combine to process the image in our brain
 Here is an image broken
into its three components:
Red, Green, & Blue
 VISUALIZING LIGHT
This is how wavelength measurements get transferred from satellite to human brain
Object Sensor Image Monitor Eyes Brain

R R
Natural Color Image > G G
B B
We can also apply colors to wavelengths (max of 3) that our brain can’t normally see
Pseudo Color Pseudo Color Pseudo Color Pseudo Color
(Heat) (Heat) v2 (Multiband) (Multisource)
Hot R Hot R R
Med G Med G G V R
Cold B Cold B B R XR G
NIR G T B
MIR B
FIR
FIR[R];NIR[G];G[B]
 True vs. False Color Images

True Color (R, G, B)

Which image is more intuitive, and a good way to get the lay of the land?
Which image provides characteristics of the materials our eyes couldn’t normally see?
How to view satellite imagery in
different software:
Note: I will demo in ENVI, because it’s only on
computers 1 & 2, and then you will practice in ArcGIS.
Tutorials & resources for the software is below:
ENVI: http://www.harrisgeospatial.com/docs/Tutorials.html
ArcGIS: https://www.esri.com/arcgis/imagery-remote-sensing
http://virginiaview.cnre.vt.edu/tutorial/RS_in_ArcGIS_AllChapters.pdf
http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/courses/geob373/labs/IGETT_Exercises/ArcGIS%20Image%20Analysis%20workflow.pdf
Wrap Up
 Who can help you get started

Jennie Daniel Anne Madeline

Murack Sheehan Graham Wrable

Geospatial Data Librarian Senior Course 1 Librarian GIS Specialist

& Statistics Specialist GIS Specialist & GIS Liaison
What is available to you
In person support
-GIS Lab located in Rotch Library
-Walk-in help during lab hours
Monday-Thursday 1-5pm
Friday 2-4pm

Email support
gishelp@mit.edu
-For any RS or GIS related questions

Website
http://libguides.mit.edu/gis/
-Tutorials
-Access to ESRI web courses, 100+
-Access to our data repository, e.g. GeoWeb
-Upcoming and previous workshop materials
-Access to commercial RS software, ENVI
 Advanced Analyses
/Additional Information
Note: this will be a subject matter of a future,
Intermediate RS Workshop. To learn more
contact gishelp@mit.edu for an appointment,
or come to open help hours listed here:
https://libguides.mit.edu/gis.
IMAGE PROCESSING WORKFLOW
SPECTRAL RATIOING
 SPECTRAL RATIOING
The process of dividing the pixels in one image or band by the
corresponding pixels in a second image or band is known as image or
band ratioing. Ratio images serve to highlight subtle variations in the
spectral responses of various surface covers and to reduce the effect of
topography (illumination differences). By rationing the data from two
different spectral bands, the resultant image enhances variations in the
slopes of the spectral reflectance curves between two different spectral
ranges that may otherwise be masked by the pixel brightness variations in
each of the bands. Useful for differentiating between areas of stressed and
non-stressed vegetation; discriminating rock types etc.
 RATIOS AND VEGETATION INDICES
There are two reasons for using band rationing:
1. Enhances certain aspects of the shape of spectral reflectance
curves of different surface cover types
2. Reduces undesirable effects resulting from variable illumination
(caused by variations in topography)
Shadow effect causes a decrease in the reflectance levels of any reflectance
band. However, one can compensate for changing illumination conditions by
using the fact that the percentage of brightness lost by each band is similar
→ suppression of brightness variation with ratio enhancement.
One of the most common spectral ratios used in studies of vegetation status
is the near-infrared to the equivalent red band value for each pixel location.

NIR − R
NDVI = NIR + R
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is a ratio product that
exploits the fact that vigorous vegetation reflects strongly in the near
infrared and absorbs radiation in the red waveband.
 NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX

60
Healthy
Vegetation
Reflectivity (%)

40 Dry
Vegetation

20 Soil

0
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 µm
R IR

NIR − R
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index NDVI = NIR + R
NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX

MODIS NDVI – August 2006

Los Angeles San Francisco

 OTHER RATIOS
Other common ratios for discrimination of soil and rock
components of the surface are:
TM Band Ratio 5/7 → Clays, Carbonates
TM Band Ratio 3/1 → Iron Oxides

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Composite from 3 indexes
• Landsat 8 OLI-TIRS
• Phoenix, AZ area
• Date: 2014-09-03
• Local Time 10:57:56
• Path: 36, Row: 37
• False color image
• R: Bare Soil Index (BI)
• G: Soil Adjusted Total Vegetation Index
(SATVI)
• B: Modified Normalized Difference Water
Index (MNDWI)
• Pan-sharpened
 IMAGE CLASSIFICATIONS
A human analyst classifies features on an image by using elements of
visual interpretation to identify homogeneous groups of pixels which
represent land cover classes.
Digital image classification uses the spectral information
represented by values in one or more bands, and attempts to classify
each individual pixel based on this spectral information. This type of
classification is termed spectral pattern recognition.
The overall objective of image classification procedures is to
automatically categorize all pixels in an image into land cover classes.

The process of classification has two stages:

• Determine the number and nature of the categories in terms of
which the land cover is to be described, and
• Assign numerical labels to the pixels on the basis of their
properties using a decision-making procedure, usually termed a
classification rule or a decision rule.

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 SPECTRAL PATTERN RECOGNITION

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 TYPES OF CLASSIFICATIONS
Common classification procedures can be broken down into two broad
groups: supervised classification and unsupervised classification.
The supervised classification method includes two steps, namely
classification and identification of surface cover types.
In contrast, the process of clustering or unsupervised classification
does not require the definition of a set of categories in terms of which
the land surface is to be described. Clustering is used to determine the
number (but not initially the identity) of distinct land cover categories
present in the image, and to allocate pixels to these categories.
Identification of the clusters (or categories) in terms of the nature of the
land cover type is a separate stage that follows the clustering
procedure.
In all cases the spectral pattern (or signature) present within the data
for each pixel is used as the numerical basis for categorization =>
different features have different combinations of DNs based on their
spectral reflectance properties.

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 Unsupervised versus Supervised

Run clustering Select Training

algorithm fields

Identify Edit/evaluate
classes signatures

Edit/evaluate Classify
signatures image

Evaluate Evaluate
classification classification

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