Platform and sensor

▲ Most of the remote sensing satellite platforms today are in near-polar orbits, which means that the satellite travels
northwards on one side of the Earth and then toward the southern pole on the second half of its orbit.

▲ These are called ascending and descending passes, respectively.

▲ If the orbit is also sun-synchronous, the ascending pass is most likely on the shadowed side of the Earth while the
descending pass is on the sunlit side.

▲ Sensors recording reflected solar energy only image surface on a descending pass, when solar illumination is available

▲ As a satellite revolves around the Earth, the sensor "sees" a certain portion of the Earth's surface : swath.
▲ Earth's surface directly below the satellite is called the nadir point

▲ The exact length of time of the orbital cycle will vary with each satellite. The interval of time required for the satellite to complete its
orbit cycle is not the same as the "revisit period".

▲ The detail appeared in an image is dependent on the spatial resolution of the sensor.

▲ Spatial resolution of passive sensors depends primarily on their Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV).
▲Row refers to the latitudinal center line of a frame of imagery.
▲As the satellite moves along its path, the observatory instruments are continuously scanning the terrain below. The instrument signals are
transmitted to Earth and during this process, the continuous data are segmented into individual frames of data known as scenes.
▲A notation of Row numbers can, therefore, be applied to identify all scenes occurring at the same latitude.
Satellite - orbits

Geostationary orbit

Geosynchronous orbit
 One way of classifying orbits is by altitude.
Low Earth orbit starts just above the top of the
atmosphere, while high Earth orbit begins about one
tenth of the way to the moon.

# The height of the orbit, or distance between the satellite and Earth’s surface, determines how quickly the satellite moves around the Earth.
# An Earth-orbiting satellite’s motion is mostly controlled by Earth’s gravity.
# As satellites get closer to Earth, the pull of gravity gets stronger, and the satellite moves more quickly.
# NASA’s Aqua satellite, for example, requires about 99 minutes to orbit the Earth at about 705 kilometers up, while a weather satellite about
36,000 kilometers from Earth’s surface takes 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds to complete an orbit. At 384,403 kilometers from the
center of the Earth, the Moon completes a single orbit in 28 days.
# The higher a satellite’s orbit, the slower it moves.

# Certain orbital altitudes have special properties, like a

geosynchronous orbit, in which a satellite travels around the
Earth exactly once each day.

# The length of each red arrow in this diagram represents the

distance traveled by a satellite in an hour.

# In addition to height, eccentricity and inclination also shape

a satellite’s orbit.

# Eccentricity refers to the shape of the orbit. A satellite with

a low eccentricity orbit moves in a near circle around the
Earth.

# An eccentric orbit is elliptical, with the satellite’s distance

from Earth changing depending on where it is in its orbit.
# The eccentricity (e) of an orbit indicates the deviation of the
orbit from a perfect circle.

# A circular orbit has an eccentricity of 0, while a highly

eccentric orbit is closer to (but always less than) 1.

# A satellite in an eccentric orbit moves around one of the

ellipse’s focal points, not the center.

# Inclination is the angle of the orbit in relation to Earth’s

equator.

# A satellite that orbits directly above the equator has zero

inclination.

# If a satellite orbits from the north pole (geographic, not

magnetic) to the south pole, its inclination is 90 degrees.
3 classes of Orbit
1. High Earth Orbit
# When a satellite reaches exactly 42,164
kilometers from the center of the Earth (about
36,000 kilometers from Earth’s surface), it
enters a sort of “sweet spot” in which its orbit
matches Earth’s rotation.
# Because the satellite orbits at the same speed Satellites in geostationary orbit rotate with the Earth directly above the equator,
continuously staying above the same spot.
that the Earth is turning, the satellite seems to
stay in place over a single longitude, though it
may drift north to south.

# This special, high Earth orbit is called geosynchronous.

# A geostationary orbit is extremely valuable for weather monitoring because satellites in this orbit provide a constant view of the same
surface area.
# Every few minutes, geostationary satellites like the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) satellites send information
about clouds, water vapor, and wind, and this near-constant stream of information serves as the basis for most weather monitoring
# Other orbital “sweet spots,” just beyond high Earth orbit, are the Lagrange
points.
# At the Lagrange points, the pull of gravity from the Earth cancels out the
pull of gravity from the Sun. Anything placed at these points will feel
equally pulled toward the Earth and the Sun and will revolve with the Earth
around the Sun.

# Of the five Lagrange points in the Sun-Earth system, only the last two,
called L4 and L5, are stable.
# A satellite at the other three points is like a ball balanced at the peak of a
steep hill: any slight perturbation will push the satellite out of the Lagrange
L1 and L2 are positioned above the day and night sides
point like the ball rolling down the hill. of the Earth, respectively.
L3 is on the other side of the Sun, opposite the Earth.
# Satellites at these three points need constant adjustments to stay balanced
L4 and L5 are 60° ahead and behind the Earth in the
and in place. same orbit.
# Satellites at the last two Lagrange points are more like a ball in a bowl: even
if perturbed, they return to the Lagrange point.
2. Medium Earth Orbit

# Closer to the Earth, satellites in a medium Earth orbit move more

quickly. Two medium Earth orbits are notable: the semi-
synchronous orbit and the Molniya orbit.
# The semi-synchronous orbit is a near-circular orbit (low
eccentricity) 26,560 kilometers from the center of the Earth (about
20,200 kilometers above the surface).
# A satellite at this height takes 12 hours to complete an orbit. As the
satellite moves, the Earth rotates underneath it.
# In 24-hours, the satellite crosses over the same two spots on the
equator every day. This orbit is consistent and highly predictable. It
is the orbit used by the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.

# The Molniya orbit combines high inclination (63.4°) with high eccentricity
(0.722) to maximize viewing time over high latitudes.
3. Low Earth Orbit

# Most scientific satellites and many weather satellites are in a nearly

circular, low Earth orbit.
# The satellite’s inclination depends on what the satellite was
launched to monitor. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
(TRMM) satellite was launched to monitor rainfall in the tropics.
Therefore, it has a relatively low inclination (35 degrees), staying
near the equator.
# Many of the satellites in NASA’s Earth Observing System have a
nearly polar orbit.
# Sun-synchronous orbit, which means that whenever and
wherever the satellite crosses the equator, the local solar
time on the ground is always the same.
# For the Terra satellite for example, it’s always about 10:30 in
the morning when the satellite crosses the equator in Brazil.
Thousands of manmade objects—95 % of them “space junk”— occupy
low Earth orbit. Each black dot in this image shows either a functioning
satellite, an inactive satellite, or a piece of debris.

Orbiting objects are concentrated in low Earth orbit (nearly

obscuring the Earth’s surface in this illustration) and geostationary
orbit (revealed by the ring of satellites along the outer edges)
Kepler's Three Laws
In the early 1600s, Johannes Kepler proposed three laws of planetary motion.
Kepler was able to summarize the carefully collected data of his mentor - Tycho Brahe - with three statements that
described the motion of planets in a sun-centered solar system.

The Law of Ellipses

▲ Kepler's first law - sometimes referred to as the law of
ellipses - explains that planets are orbiting the sun in a
path described as an ellipse.

▲ An ellipse is a special curve in which the sum of the

distances from every point on the curve to two other points
is a constant.

▲ The two other points are known as the foci of the ellipse.
The closer together that these points are, the more closely
that the ellipse resembles the shape of a circle
The Law of Equal Areas
Kepler's second law - sometimes referred to as the law of equal areas - describes the speed at which any given planet will
move while orbiting the sun.

▲ The speed at which any planet moves through space is

constantly changing.

▲ A planet moves fastest when it is closest to the sun and

slowest when it is furthest from the sun.
The Law of Harmonies

▲ Kepler's third law - sometimes referred to as the law of harmonies - compares the orbital period and radius of orbit
of a planet to those of other planets.

▲ Unlike Kepler's first and second laws that describe the motion characteristics of a single planet, the third law makes a
comparison between the motion characteristics of different planets.

▲ The comparison being made is that the ratio of the squares of the periods to the cubes of their average distances
from the sun is the same for every one of the planets

Observe that T2/R3 ratio is the same for Earth as it is for mars. In fact, if the same T2/R3 ratio is computed for the other planets, it same value for all planets
Remote Sensing Methods -- Remote Sensors
▲ Unless it has a temperature of absolute zero (-273°C) an object reflects, absorbs, and emits energy in a unique way, and at all times.

▲ This energy, called electromagnetic radiation, is emitted in waves that are able to transmit energy from one place to another.

▲ The amount of electromagnetic radiation an object emits depends primarily on its temperature.

▲ The higher the temperature of an object, the faster its electrons vibrate and the shorter its peak wavelength

▲ Remote sensing instruments are of two primary types—active and passive.

▲ Active sensors, provide their own source of energy to illuminate the objects they observe.

▲ An active sensor emits radiation in the direction of the target to be investigated. The sensor then
detects and measures the radiation that is reflected or backscattered from the target.

▲ The majority of active sensors operate in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum,
which makes them able to penetrate the atmosphere under most conditions.

▲ Passive sensors, on the other hand, detect natural energy (radiation) that is emitted or reflected by
the object or scene being observed. Reflected sunlight is the most common source of radiation
measured by passive sensors.
▲ Some types of electromagnetic radiation easily pass through the atmosphere, while other types do not.

▲ The ability of the atmosphere to allow radiation to pass through it is referred to as its transmissivity, and varies with the wavelength/type of
the radiation.

▲ The gases that comprise our atmosphere absorb radiation in certain wavelengths while allowing radiation with differing wavelengths to pass
through.

▲ EM spectrum that are absorbed by atmospheric gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone are known as absorption bands.

▲ In contrast to the absorption bands, there are areas of the

electromagnetic spectrum where the atmosphere is
transparent (little or no absorption) to specific wavelengths.

▲ These wavelength bands are known as atmospheric

"windows" since they allow the radiation to easily pass
through the atmosphere to Earth's surface.
▲ Most remote sensing instruments on aircraft or space-based
platforms operate in one or more of these windows

▲ Most remote sensing systems collect reflected radiation,

some sensors, especially those on meteorological satellites,
directly measure absorption phenomena, such as those
associated with carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases.

▲ The atmosphere is nearly opaque to EM radiation in part of

the mid-IR and all of the far-IR regions.

▲ In the microwave region, by contrast, most of this radiation

moves through unimpeded, so radar waves reach the surface
Active Sensors
Lidar—
# A light detection and ranging sensor that uses a laser radar to transmit a light pulse and a receiver with sensitive detectors to measure the backscattered or
reflected light. Distance to the object is determined by recording the time between transmitted and backscattered pulses and by using the speed of light to
calculate the distance travelled.
Laser altimeter—
# An instrument that uses a lidar to measure the height of the platform (spacecraft or aircraft) above the surface. The height of the platform with respect to the
mean Earth’s surface is used to determine the topography of the underlying surface.

Radar—
# An active radio detection and ranging sensor that provides its own source of electromagnetic energy.
# An active radar sensor, whether airborne or spaceborne, emits microwave radiation in a series of pulses from an antenna. When the energy reaches the
target, some of the energy is reflected back toward the sensor.
# This backscattered microwave radiation is detected, measured, and timed.
# The time required for the energy to travel to the target and return back to the sensor determines the distance or range to the target.

Ranging Instrument—
# A device that measures the distance between the instrument and a target object.
# Another technique employs identical microwave instruments on a pair of platforms. Signals are transmitted from each instrument to the other, with the
distance between the two determined from the difference between the received signal phase and transmitted (reference) phase.
# These are examples of active techniques. An active technique views the target from either end of a baseline of known length.

Scatterometer—
# A high-frequency microwave radar designed specifically to measure backscattered radiation.
# Over ocean surfaces, measurements of backscattered radiation in the microwave spectral region can be used to derive maps of surface wind speed and
direction.

Sounder—
An instrument that measures vertical distribution of precipitation and other atmospheric characteristics such as temperature, humidity, and cloud composition.
 Passive sensors
Ω Passive sensors include different types of radiometers and spectrometers. Most passive systems used in remote sensing applications operate in the visible,
infrared, thermal infrared, and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Passive remote sensors include the following:

Ω Accelerometer—An instrument that measures acceleration (change in velocity per unit time). There are two general types of accelerometers. One measures
translational accelerations (changes in linear motions in one or more dimensions), and the other measures angular accelerations (changes in rotation rate per
unit time).

Ω Radiometer—An instrument that quantitatively measures the intensity (W) of electromagnetic radiation in some bands within the spectrum. Usually, a
radiometer is further identified by the portion of the spectrum it covers; for example, visible, infrared, or microwave. Radiometers are used to measure the
amount of electromagnetic energy present within a specific wavelength range

Ω Spectrometer—A device that is designed to detect, measure, and analyze the spectral content of incident electromagnetic radiation. Conventional imaging
spectrometers use gratings or prisms and multiple sensors to break down the incoming energy into different wavelengths or components. .

Ω Spectroradiometer—A radiometer that measures the intensity of radiation in multiple wavelength bands (i.e., multispectral). Many times the bands are of
high-spectral resolution, designed for remotely sensing specific geophysical parameters

Ω Hyperspectral radiometer—An advanced multispectral sensor that detects hundreds of very narrow spectral bands throughout the visible, near-infrared,
and mid-infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This sensor’s very high spectral resolution facilitates fine discrimination between different
targets based on their spectral response in each of the narrow bands.

Ω Imaging radiometer—A radiometer that has a scanning capability to provide a two-dimensional array of pixels from which an image may be produced.
Scanning can be performed mechanically or electronically by using an array of detectors.

Ω Sounder—An instrument that measures vertical distributions of atmospheric parameters such as temperature, pressure, and composition from
multispectral information.
Radio Detection and Ranging - RADAR

▲ It refers to electronic equipment that detects the presence of objects by using

reflected radio-frequency energy.

▲ Under some conditions a radar system can measure the direction, height,
distance, course and speed of these objects.

▲ The frequency of electromagnetic energy used for radar is unaffected by

darkness and also penetrates fog and clouds. This permits radar systems to
determine the position of airplanes, ships, or other obstacles that are invisible
to the naked eye because of distance, darkness, or weather

▲ The radio-frequency (rf) energy is transmitted to and reflected from the

reflecting object. A small portion of the reflected energy returns to the radar
set. This returned energy is called an ECHO, just as it is in sound terminology.

Radar has many advantages compared to an attempt of visual observation:

▲ Radar is able to operate day or night, in lightness or darkness over a long range;
▲ Radar is able to operate in all weathers, in fog and rain, it can even penetrate walls or
layers of snow;
▲ Radar has very broad coverage; it is possible to observe the whole hemisphere;
▲ Radar detects and tracks moving objects, a high resolution imaging is possible, that
results in an object recognition;
▲ Radar can operate unmanned, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

RF : 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which include those frequencies used for

communications or radar signals with λ from 1 mm to 100 km
Light Detection and Ranging - LIDAR
▲ LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the
form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.

▲ These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, 3-
D information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.

▲ A LIDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.

▲ Airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring LIDAR data over broad
areas.

Two types of LIDAR are topographic and bathymetric.

▲ Topographic LIDAR typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land, while bathymetric lidar uses
water-penetrating green light to also measure seafloor and riverbed elevations.
A laser is any of a class of
devices that produces an
intense beam of light of a very
pure single color.

The word laser is an acronym

derived from "light
amplification by stimulated
emission of radiation."
aerosol vertical distribution

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Prijith et al., 2016. 34

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2015.11.014
Imaging Systems
▲ A scanning system used to collect data over a variety of different wavelength ranges is called a multispectral scanner (MSS), and is the
most commonly used scanning system.

▲ A device that captures a print or hard-copy image, such as a text document or map, and records the information in digital format.

▲ There are two main modes or methods of scanning employed to acquire multispectral image data - across-track scanning, and along-
track scanning.

1. Whisk broom scanner / spotlight / across track scanners

2. Push broom sensor / along track scanners

Across-track scanner / whisk broom sensor

▲ In a whisk broom sensor, a mirror scans across the satellite’s path, reflecting light
into a single detector which collects data one pixel at a time.

▲ The moving parts make this type of sensor expensive and more prone to wearing
out.

Linear array of detectors (aligned cross-track)

▲ – reflected radiance passes through a lens and onto a line of detectors
▲ Image is built up by movement of the satellite along its orbital track (no scanning mirror)

▲ Area array can also be used for multi-spectral remote sensing

All Landsat sensors prior to Landsat 8 use the whisk broom design.
b. Push broom sensor/ Along track scanner

▲ A “push broom” (along track) sensor consists of a line of sensors/ detectors arranged
perpendicular to the flight direction of the spacecraft.

▲ As the spacecraft flies forward, the image is collected one line at a time, with all of the pixels in
a line being measured simultaneously

▲ Different areas of the surface are imaged as the spacecraft flies forward.

▲ Push broom sensors are generally lighter and less expensive than their whisk broom
counterparts, and can gather more light because they look at a particular area for a longer
time, like a long exposure on a camera.

▲ One drawback of push broom sensors is the varying sensitivity of the individual detectors.

Linear or area array of detectors

▲ Image is built up by movement of satellite along its orbital track and by cross-track scanning using a mirror
▲ – wide field of view (FOV)
▲ – pixel resolution varies with scan angle