Sun and Atmosphere-

The sun is the most important source of electromagnetic radiation

used in passive optical remote sensing. The sun may be assumed
to be a black body with surface temperature ~ 6000 oK.
Max. radiation ~ 0.55 µm in the visible region.

As per Plank’s law, all the material emit electromagnetic radiation

of different wavelength at different absolute temperature (>0 oK)

Hence,,if the earth surface temperature is ~300 oK., it will emit

radiation of wavelength ~9.5 µm.

Thus, during the day time, we have reflected solar radiation +

emission. however, beyond 5 µm, the radiation from the earth is
mainly due to the emission process.
Solar radiation has to pass through the atmosphere before it
interacts with earth’s surface. In passing through the
atmosphere, the radiation is scattered and absorbed by
gases and particulates.
The strongest absorption occurs at 0.3 µm, probably due to
Ozone layer.

Spectral window-
However, certain spectral region of the electromagnetic
spectrum pass through the atmosphere without much
attenuation. These are called Atmospheric windows. Hence
Remote sensing of the earth’s surface is
Generally confined to these wavelength regions, which are
0.4-1.3, 1.5-1.8, 2.2 – 2.6, 3.0 – 3.6, 4.2 – 5.0, 8.0 – 12.0 µm
and 1-30 cm.
 Atmospheric Windows
• Spectral regions where the EMR is passed through
without much attenuation.
However, even in the atmospheric windows,
some scattering/diffusion radiance produces
spatial redistribution of energy and thus the
deviation from the actual target produces
“path radiance” , and thus the visual
sharpness of the image
Is reduced.

Since aerosol concentration varies with time

and place, it needs a good knowledge of
aerosol to correct radiometric errors.
The atmosphere including haze and clouds, is much
more transparent to microwave than to optical and
infrared region.
Hence, microwave remote sensing using active
sensors like SLAR, SAR….which have all weather
capability.
 Spectral signature

•In remote sensing, the basic property which allow

identification of an object is called signature.
•Spectral signature is a term used for unique spectral
response pattern which is characteristic of a terrain feature.
The basic assumption is that each individual has an unique
signature or fingerprint, with which he can be identified.
Spectral variations are the changes in the reflectance or emittance
of objects as a function of wavelength

Spatial arrangements of terrain features providing attributes, such

as shape, size and textures of objects which lead to their
identification are termed as spatial variations.

Temporal variations are the changes in the reflectivity or

emissivity with time.

e.g. spectral reflectance of crops at various growth stages can

provide a Phenologic pattern, characteristics of the crop.
 Multi Spectral concept
Vegetation:
The spectral characteristics of vegetation vary with wavelength.
 A compound in leaves called chlorophyll strongly absorbs radiation
in the red and blue wavelengths but reflects green wavelength.
 The internal structure of healthy leaves acts as diffuse reflector of
near infrared wavelengths.
 Measuring and monitoring the near infrared reflectance is one way
that scientists determine how healthy particular vegetation may be.
Leaf reflectance is reduced as a result of absorption by three major
water absorption bands that occur near wavelengths of 1.4 m, 1.9 m
and 2.7 m and two minor water absorption bands that occur near
wavelengths of 0.96 m, and 1.1 m
 Water
Majority of the radiation incident upon water is not
reflected but is either absorbed or transmitted.
 Longer visible wavelengths and near infrared
radiation is absorbed more by water than by the visible
wavelengths.
Thus water looks blue or blue green due to stronger
reflectance at these shorter wavelengths and darker if
viewed at red or near infrared wavelengths.

 The factors that affect the variability in reflectance of

a water body are depth of water, materials within water
and surface roughness of water.
 Soil
The majority of radiation incident on a soil surface is
either reflected or absorbed and little is transmitted.
The characteristics of soil that determine its
reflectance properties are its moisture content, organic
content, texture, structure and iron oxide content.

The presence of moisture in soil decreases its

reflectance
Typical Spectral Response curve
 Hue and saturation

Hue and saturation are independent characteristics of colour. Hue

refers to the wavelength of light, which we commonly call "colour", while
saturation indicates how pure the colour is, or how much white is mixed in
with it. For instance, "pink" can be considered a less saturated version of
"red".
Characteristics of Images
Electromagnetic energy may be detected either
photographically or electronically. The photographic
process uses chemical reactions on the surface of light-
sensitive film to detect and record energy variations. It is
important to distinguish between the terms images and
photographs in remote sensing.

An image refers to any pictorial representation,

regardless of what wavelengths or remote sensing
device has been used to detect and record the
electromagnetic energy.
A photograph refers
specifically to images
that have been detected
as well as recorded on
photographic film.
A photograph could also be represented and displayed in a
digital format by subdividing the image into small equal-
sized and shaped areas, called picture elements or pixels,
and representing the brightness of each area with a
numeric value or digital number (DN value).
This is actually a digital image of the original photograph-
the photograph was scanned and subdivided into pixels with
each pixel assigned a digital number representing its relative
brightness. The computer displays each digital value as
different brightness levels.

Sensors that record electromagnetic energy, electronically

record the energy as an array of numbers in digital format
right from the start. These two different ways of representing
and displaying remote sensing data, either pictorially or
digitally, are interchangeable as they convey the same
information
2 levels 16 levels
We see colour because our eyes detect the entire visible
range of wavelengths and our brains process the information
into separate colours. Can you imagine what the world would
look like if we could only see very narrow ranges
of wavelengths or colours?

The information from a narrow wavelength range is gathered

and stored in a channel, also sometimes referred to as a
band. We can combine and display channels of
information digitally using the three primary colours (blue,
green, and red). The data from each channel is represented
as one of the primary colours and, depending on the relative
brightness (i.e. the digital value) of each pixel in each
channel, the primary colours combine in different proportions
to represent different colours.
When we use this method to display a single channel or
range of wavelengths, we are actually displaying that
channel through all three primary colours. Because the
brightness level of each pixel is the same for each primary
colour, they combine to form a black and white image,
showing various shades of gray from black to white.

When we display more than one channel each as a

different primary colour, then the brightness levels may be
different for each channel/primary colour combination and
they will combine to form a colour image.
IKONOS IMAGE OF DEHRADUN ON 19-4-2001
Multispectral concept- It is not easy to generate continuous
spectra for identifying objects. Therefore observations are
made in a number of discrete spectral regions, usually referred
as spectral bands-

Example-

IRS LISS-III have 4 bands to take an image-

1. Band-2: 0.52-0.59 micron
2. Band-3: 0.62-0.68 micron
3. Band-4: 0.77-0.86 micron
4. Band-5: 1.55-1.70 micron

Consider, crop, barren and water in an image having DN

values as shown-
Consider spectral signatures from 4 bands for crop, barren land and water-
Scatter plot or Feature space
We just saw that how the classes are distinctly separated, which
Was not possible by using either band 3 or band 4 alone.

As the number of classes increases, the possibility of overlap

Between the classes increases, which require additional bands for
separating the classes. However, it does not mean that
separability increases linearly with increasing number of bands.
after 3-4 bands, the classification accuracy increases marginally,
while the computer time requirement increases faster.

In fact, more than the number of bands, the specific choice of

band location is crucial in feature separation for specific themes.
 • Interaction between EMR and atmosphere

• When the sun is present, we can see earth features by virtue of

reflected solar energy.
• The longer wavelength energy emitted by ambient earth features
can be observed only with non photographic sensing system.
The portion of the spectrum
of more recent interest to
remote sensing is the
microwave region from
about 1 mm to 1 m. This
covers the longest
wavelengths used for remote
sensing. The shorter
wavelengths have
properties similar to the
thermal infrared region while
the longer wavelengths
approach the wavelengths
used for radio broadcasts.
Properties of Electromagnetic radiation and their
Implications to remote sensing
In the special case, when the wave is incident normal to the
Boundary between the two media, the reflectance can be expressed
As-

ρ= (n2 - n1)^2 / (n2 + n1)^2

And transmittance = 4 n1^2 / (n1+n2)^2

So, what is the reflectance for water? Calculate..

Scattering occurs when particles or large gas molecules present in the
atmosphere interact with and cause the electromagnetic radiation to be
redirected from its original path.
How much scattering takes place depends on several factors including the
wavelength of the radiation,
the abundance of particles or gases, and
the distance the radiation travels through the atmosphere.
There are three (3) types of scattering which take place.
 Energy Interactions in the Atmosphere

Atmospheric Scattering: is the unpredictable diffusion

of radiation by particles in the atmosphere. The
redirection of EM energy by the suspended particles in
the air.
 RAYLEIGH SCATTERING
Rayleigh Scattering (or molecular scattering): occurs when the
effective diameter of the matter (usually air molecules
such as O2 and N2 in the atmosphere) are many times
smaller (usually< 0.1) than the wavelength of the
incident electromagnetic radiation.
• The amount of scattering is
inversely proportional to the
fourth power of the
radiation’s wavelength.

• The scattering takes place in

the upper 4.5 km of the
atmosphere.
Rayleigh Scattering causes blue sky during daytime and orange sun
at sunset.

Sun
Day time
B
G
R
Atmosphere
Blue sky

Earth

With long path, scatter/absoption

of short λ is so complete
that only Less scattered longer
λ of orange/red are only visible.
Sunset

Blue Sun

Earth Red
 MIE SCATTERING
(non-molecular scattering)

particles approx. equal to(0.1 to10 times)

the λ of the incident energy.

Pollen, water vapor, Smoke, and dust are main agents for
the scattering. The scattering takes place mostly in the
lower 4.5 km of the atmosphere.
 Non-selective scattering
particles greater than 10 times the
wavelength of the incident energy.

The final scattering mechanism of importance is called non selective

scattering. This occurs when the particles are much larger than the
wavelength of the radiation

Non-selective scattering: affects all waves.

Scattering takes place in the lowest portions of the atmosphere.

The water droplets and ice crystals (that makes clouds and fog) -
scatter all wavelength of visible light equally, causing the cloud appear
as white.
Absorption is the
process by which the
radiant energy is
absorbed.

Agents which absorb

the radiant energy are
•Water vapor,
•CO2,
•O2,
•O3, Atmospheric
windows
•N20 (nitrous oxide)
In remote sensing, we are most interested in measuring the radiation reflected
from targets. We refer to two types of reflection, which represent the two
extreme ends of the way in which energy is reflected from a target:
specular reflection and diffuse reflection.
Most earth surface features lie somewhere between perfectly specular or
perfectly diffuse reflectors. Whether a particular target reflects specularly or
diffusely, or somewhere in between, depends on the surface roughness of
the feature in comparison to the wavelength of the incoming radiation. If the
wavelengths are much smaller than the surface variations or the particle
sizes that make up the surface, diffuse reflection will dominate. For example,
finegrained sand would appear fairly smooth to long wavelength microwaves
but would appear quite rough to the visible wavelengths.
Fundamentals of Radiometry

Radiometric Quantities