remote sensing basics

“Signatures” in Remote Sensing

=
the “information carrier”
Dr. Thomas Schneider

Topic: signatures in RS

What does Remote Sensing (RS) mean?

• "Remote Sensing" comprise a method pool for data acquisition as

well as for data evaluation. An RS data set is an image of the
landscape at the time of data take and in this sense a “spatial
document".
in case new aspects arise we are able to re-interpret the data
considering the new aspects!

• The present goals in RS data evaluation are toward the

derivation of bio-geo-chemo-physical parameter and
their interpretation in the frame of thematic models (ESA,
1998)

Information extraction is done by analysing

“signatures”

Topic: signatures in RS

5 Signature types are known in RS

• spectral:
pigment- and water status, cell structure

• angular:
plant architecture, canopy structure

• textural:
pattern of similar frequency inside a structure

• polarisation
(Gerstl, 1990)
not sufficient explored, to low experience

• temporal Information content

change of signatures between two with respect to the status
or more observations of objects

Topic: signatures in RS

1
 Penetration depth of “light” of different wavelength into a leaf

Spectral signature:
• the one with the highest
information content
• traceable throughout all
scales accessible by RS

Topic: signatures in RS

absorption of blue and red light by chlorophyll

Starch, sugar, energy for growing

Chlorophyll absorption signatures

Topic: signatures in RS

Scheme of of absorption processes in matter

Q3
Q=ν*h
Q2

Q1 Energy levels molecule- molecule -

of electrons vibrations rotations

a: atom b: molecule

Energy level scheme (after Kraus & Schneider, 1988)

‚Tipical‘, material dependent „fingerprint“

Topic: signatures in RS

2
 Spectral signature of vital vegetation, water and soil

Topic: Physical background of RS

Analysis of spectral signatures:

Quantitative Information about type and status of Vegetation, soil, rocks, water
and man made surfaces for agriculture, forestry, geology, ecosystem
management, urban development, security, ....

Spectral information
Sensor Calibration and of C-O, Al-OH, Mg-OH
Atmospheric Correction bearing minerals +,
Etc.
Reflectance

Spectral information
of vegetation condition

VNIR SWIR- I SWIR- II

Spectral information
of Fe2+,3+ content 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2,0 2,2 2,4

Wavelengths [µm]

Topic: signatures in RS

Spectral signatures of landcover types of the HTO test area

Waging-Tachinger lakes
Referenzdaten Befliegung Waging-Tachinger See 12.06.2001 mit DAIS Winter-Weizen 1
Winter-Gerste
0.6 Mais 1 (klein)
Wiese 1 (ungemäht)
0.5
Sommer-Gerste
Wiese 2 (frisch gemäht)
0.4
Parkplatz
0.3
Sand
Wiese 3 (Rasen kurz)
0.2 Winter-Weizen 2
Mais 2 (mittel)
0.1
Mais 3 (klein)
Wiese 4 (sumpfig)
0
400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 2200 2300 2400 2500 Wiese 5 (gemäht)
Wellenlänge (nm) Moorboden
GER 3700 field spectroradiometer, MUFSPEM multidirectional system

Topic: signatures in RS

3
 Detection of vegetation stress
• (nutrient, water deficiancy; toxication) in an early stage
as measured in a laboratory experiment
100
leaf cell water
pigments structure content
% reflectance relative to halon

80 chlorophyll-
carotenoid-
absorption H2O-absorption

60

40

a) healthy (green)
b)
c) stressed
20
d)
e) dry (brown)

0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4
wavelength in microns Landsat TM Bands
Topic: signatures in RS

Effect of shadow on the intensity of reflected radiation

of a spruce crown (Picea abies)
Reflection factor (BaSO4)
Shade fraction appr.

Wavelength (nm)
Forest desease project 1991, Fürstenfeldbruck
Topic: signatures in RS

Water stress (drought stress)

experiment Schöngeising
on old grown spruce (Norway spruce,
Picea abies)

Topic: signatures in RS

4
Spectral signatures of soils in a mining environment

Topic: signatures in RS

Reflectance of
different soils and rocks

Main analytical features:

Depth (nm)

Width (nm)

Position (nm)

Topic: signatures in RS

Spectral signatures – water (water contents)

Topic: signatures in RS

5
 Temperature measurement with ENVISAT

Topic: signatures in RS

Signatures in RS: angular signature

Anisotropy of backscattering: physical property of natural surfaces to

reflect incomming radiation with a prefered backscatter direction.
Comparing differing view directions is leading to angular signatures

angular signatures are both: error but also information source

Topic: signatures in RS

Anisotropy effects in
all days life and in RS data

„hot spot“
Aligned grass blades Foto from helicopter with „hot spot“ In RS data(MOMS-02 Tana lake)
due to mowing direction In RS data (Daedalus ATM data set Kranzberger Forst)

„hot spot“ line

Mirror like reflection

Topic: signatures in RS

6
 Directional quantities

Source: G. Schaepman-Strub et al., 2006: Reflectance quantities in optical remote sensing – definitions and case studies;
Remote Sensing of Environment 103 (2006) 27–42

Topic: signatures in RS

Development line 1: Improved measurement system !

Scheme of the new

„Mobile Goniometric System“ (MGS)

Alternatively: a second head fixed at

the upper bar

Large sun zenith angle Ausschnitt

Main design feature:

5m

“inscribed –”or
“contact angle” principle!

Always the same subplot

5m

measured, view angle

controlled changes of the
footprint less than 10%!

Topic: signatures in RS

Object lenses (fiber cable 10° aperture reference lenses

+ thermal detector) (fiber cable 10° aperture)
“Spectralon”-reference plate
(backside)

FieldSpek FR

Position of
stereo-photogrammetric
unit (2Canon G2, 3.2M)
5m

30°

2nd assembly
Measurement test in Iffeldorf,
area for 1,5 m 01.10.2003
canopy height
Topic: signatures in RS

7
 60° 45° Movements of
the goniometer-arm for
zenith-angles
from nadir to 60°

The device platform is

oriented 45° toward the
main axis of the car

30° 15° nadir view

Topic: signatures in RS

2nd goniometer assembly test, 1.10.03, Iffeldorf

Trailer with goniometer device ready for transport,

Special construction, Landtechnik Müller company,
Engeneered by Ludwig Hunsrucker
Topic: signatures in RS
Electronic device for rotation control: ANDRICH Industrieelektronik

a.

Anisotropy of backscatter as
shown by signature curves of a
maize canopy measured with
differing view angles

a. Maize radiation response in the

principal plane by different zenith angles
b. (µm) wavelength
7%

b. 2D hemispherical plots
at 551 and 671nm

Source: MANAKOS, 2002 551nm <Forw - backw> 671nm <Forw - backw>

Topic: signatures in RS

8
 The new „TreeGon“ Field goniometer for forest tree BRDF

„TreeGon“ attached on the basket of the reserch crane at the KROOF

study site in the Kranzberger Forst

Topic: signatures in RS

TreeGon: working scheme and measurement sequence

Topic: signatures in RS

TreeGon: first spectra taken above beech at 30° view angle

Topic: signatures in RS

9
 Analysis approaches

Position of Ziyuan 3 spectral bands Multispectral approach

Vegetation
ZY-pan Boden
Zy-1 Zy-2 Zy-3 Zy-4 Anisotropy approach

•„spectral“ signatures • „angular“ signatures

• RGB combi: ms1, ms2, ms3, ms4, • RGB combination: AR, st1, st2
….

Topic: signatures in RS

Multidirectional imaging systems/stereo systems

MOMS-02 registration geometry
T0 to T2 in 60 seconds

Topic: signatures in RS

Ziyuan-3 System
• Ziyuan 3 (Chinese: 资源三号): Ministery for Land
and Ressources
• In orbit since: 09. Januar 2012
• orbit: 506 km above the geoid, sunsynchronous,
97,4° Inclination
• Repetition rate pointed: 5 Tage, Nadir: 59 days
• Sensoric:
– Stereo Modul: 3 panchromatic cameras,
52,5 km ground stripe
• Stereo forward (St1) und backward (St2):
3,5m Pixel, 22° off-Nadir
– Pan Nadir: 2,1m Pixel, 51,1km ground stripe
– Infrared multispectral scanner:
• Blue: 450-520nm
• Green: 520-590nm
• Red: 630-690nm
• NIR: 770-890nm
– Radiometric resolution: 10 Bit (1024 DN)

source: http://www.webcitation.org/64We7vwlH from SinoDefence.com

Topic: signatures in RS

10
 Ziyuan-3 data sets

MS: blue, green, red, NIR at 6m

3 line stereo, for/back 3,5m, Nadir 2,1m
Strip width 52 km

1 Szene => 2.500 km²

appr. 400 Orthophotos
appr. 1.500 aerial photo
costs? appr. 2.000 US $ pro Szene
Topic: signatures in RS

Ziyuan 3 imaging geometries and AR calculation

BRDF profiles in the imging plane
• Vegetation
• soil

Multispektral 1-4, panchromatic: Nadir

Stereo 1 forward +22° Stereo 2 backward -22°
Sonnen-Zenit
Winkel 42°

St1/St2 < 1
St1/St2 > 1

Flight direction 187°

Sun-Azimuth angle
(SZA) 146°

Anisotropie-Ratio (AR) = Stereo-foreward / Stereo-backward

Topic: signatures in RS

Effect as „edge filter“

Size of the area with high SR option to estimate hight difference at edges

Topic: signatures in RS

11
Some “edge” related features
which may help identification

Edge across the stereo imaging plane

= high contrasts
Edge parallel to stereo imaging plane
= low contrasts

Single tree/object detection

Dr. Thomas Topic: signatures in RS
Edge height estimates Schneider
allowing stand height estimation (width by number of pixel, view angle)

Anisotropy versus Multispectral Analysis

RGB: RGB:
AR / st_for / st_back NIR / red / green

Topic: signatures in RS

Evaluation options Ziyuan - 3

RGB: NIR/red/green
DSM

RGB: AR/st1/st2 RGB: NIR/red/pan

Topic: signatures in RS

12
Classification using exclusively the information from the
stereo bands:

1. Bands: AR, stereo forward, stereo backward

2. AR, stereo forward, stereo backward + height
information

Topic: signatures in RS

Classification based on the AR, stereo for and stereo back

Topic: signatures in RS

Topic: signatures in RS

13
14.09.2012 CIR Orthofoto,16.08.2013
LVG Bayern

Topic: signatures in RS

Classification by: AR, stereo for and stereo back +

dOHM

Topic: signatures in RS

• Textural signatures

Topic: signatures in RS

14
 From macro structure
to pixel

Texture: frequency of tonal change

in an image produced by an
aggregation of features of an unit
that may be too small to be
discerned individually on the
image.

Descriptive words: smooth,

course, patched, grainy, etc.

Topic: signatures in RS

Texture

• Texture = repetition of a pattern over a region

produced by an aggregation of unit features that may
be too small to be discerned individually on the image.

Topic: signatures in RS

Texture in RS

Human vision differentiates regions on basis of colour and texture

Topic: signatures in RS

15
 Texture in stands of
different age and
tree type

Topic: signatures in RS

Polarisation signatures

• Known from optical RS, still not operational

• Fundamental for microwave (radar) RS
– Four combination possible:
• Emitted horizontal, received horizontal (HH)
• Emitted horizontal, received vertical (HV)
• Emitted vertical, received horizontal (VH)
• Emitted vertical, received vertical (VV)

Topic: signatures in RS

POLDER
polarisation
images

horizontal

vertical

Topic: signatures in RS

16
 Airborne PolInSAR

Topic: signatures in RS

“temporal” signatures:

Describe the change of spectral, angular, textural or polarisation

signatures between two or more observations.

Two cases are differentiated in vegetation related analysis:

multi-saisonal
more than one observation in the course of one vegetation period
(differing phenologic aspects)
important for management related activities, e.g. growth control,
precision farming, dry stress, innundation dynamics, etc.

multi-temporal
observation during similar phenologic stages in different years
are especially important for change detection studies

Topic: signatures in RS

Temporal signatures, multisaisonal observations

1/4, EC 11, +Sta 1/4, EC 11, -Sta 1/5, EC 25 10/5, EC 28 1/6, EC 47, +Sta

1/6, EC 39, -Sta 12/7, EC 79 2/8, EC 91, -Sta 2/8, EC 91, +Sta Stoppeln

Summer barley Garching VP 1990,

Source: T. Schneider, 1994
Topic: signatures in RS

17
 0,5
01.04 GS+, EC 11
0,45 01.04 GS-, EC 11
01.05 GS+, EC 25
Summer barley,
0,4

0,35
01.05 GS-, EC 25
10.05 GS+, EC 28
high / low water capacity sites
R e f le x io n s f a k t o r ( B a S O 4 )

0,3
10.05 GS-, EC 28
Garching 1990
0,25

0,15
0,2
Development of the spectral
0,1
signature over the course of
0,05 the vegetation period
0
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Wellenl„nge (nm)
0,5 01.06 GS+, EC 47 0,5 12.07 GS+, EC 85
01.06 GS-, EC 39 12.07 GS-, EC 79
0,45
20.06 GS+, EC 69 0,45
24.07 GS+, EC 89
20.06 GS-, EC 61
0,4 0,4 24.07 GS-, EC 87
26.06 GS+, EC 68
26.06 GS-, EC 62 02.08 GS+, EC 91
0,35 0,35
02.08 GS-, EC 91
R e f le x io n s f a k t o r (B a S O 4 )

R e f le x io n s f a k t o r ( B a S O 4 )

0,3 0,3

0,25 0,25

0,2 0,2

0,15 0,15

0,1 0,1

0,05 0,05

0 0
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Wellenl„nge (nm) Wellenl„nge (nm)

Topic: signatures in RS

“temporal” signatures, multitemporal observations:

• Are describing the change of spectral, angular, textural or

polarisation signatures between two or more observations.
• Are especially important for change detection studies
Forest cover changes in the Mangfall area
August 1985 calculated from Landsat TM data

increase
decrease
unchanged
non forest

ATKIS forestry data

August 1992

Topic: signatures in RS

Height information/calamities, 2001 - 2012

2001-2003, regular management

2003-2008, Kyrill event
2010-2012, regular management

Traunsteiner Stadtwald,
FChange conferenz 2014,
Height
Schneider et al.
[m NN]

Topic: signatures in RS

18
 Tree species – results 2
Spruce Douglas Pine Larch Oak Beech Maple
date u p u p u p u p u p u p u p
1 16.07.2011 83 79 37 35 60 56 44 61 83 79 32 31 31 44
2 22.04.2010 83 79 31 26 43 53 70 73 40 41 61 58 22 27
3 04.06.2011 76 75 42 37 54 48 58 58 23 31 58 59 47 51
4 07.04.2011 77 76 18 17 74 68 55 51 42 45 16 19 37 47
5 10.07.2011 76 77 33 34 41 40 68 67 30 32 52 46 34 41
6 27.07.2009 74 75 41 39 39 39 63 59 59 60 22 22 48 53
7 22.03.2011 73 75 37 37 62 59 22 28 58 57 45 38 41 42
8 20.05.2009 73 73 25 29 67 56 53 52 53 56 37 37 16 21
9 28.06.2011 69 72 24 20 56 52 39 41 48 49 58 56 41 47
10 08.06.2010 65 68 28 24 58 55 56 58 65 62 27 23 18 24
11 21.07.2010 71 68 25 24 36 37 55 56 49 52 52 48 36 44
12 04.11.2011 64 65 45 41 53 49 54 55 45 46 40 40 42 46
13 22.10.2011 74 72 16 14 40 46 35 33 58 61 28 26 39 45
14 06.05.2011 64 69 33 29 57 51 45 41 38 40 35 32 33 41
15 15.08.2010 60 62 31 28 54 48 34 33 50 51 49 47 12 16
16 10.10.2010 68 65 25 23 42 41 40 40 38 39 37 39 20 28
17 25.09.2011 66 67 41 42 42 40 16 18 12 13 44 36 28 32
18 23.08.2011 50 58 53 45 24 23 41 38 19 20 48 43 35 36
19 06.10.2011 58 58 42 40 25 25 9 10 30 27 38 33 8 13
20 03.09.2011 55 60 36 30 33 30 26 27 28 28 31 28 14 17

Alata Elatawneh, 2015

Topic: signatures in RS

Tree species – Accuracy assessment

Reference
classification Douglas- User
RapidEye Spruce fir Beech Pine Larch Oak Maple Sum accuracy
Spruce 191 9 0 2 3 1 0 206,00 92,00
Douglas-fir 0 18 1 2 0 1 0 22,00 81,82
Beech 0 2 127 0 6 8 13 156,00 81,41
Pine 0 1 0 26 1 0 Picea abies0 (L.) 28,00 92,86
Larch 0 0 6 0 26 Pseudotsuga6 menziesii (M.F.)
3 41,00 63,41
Oak 0 0 1 0 1 17 Fagus sylvatica
0 19,00 89,47
Maple 0 0 3 0 0 Pinus 17(L.)
1 syllvestris 21,00 80,95
Sum 191,00 30,00 138,00 30,00 37,00 34,00 33,00 493,00
Larix decidua (MILL.) / Larix kaempferi
Producer
100,00 60,00 92,03 86,67 70,27 50,00 (Mattuschka)
Quercus petraea 51,52 85,58 %
accuracy
Acer pseudoplatanus (L.)
Kappa 0,80

Alata Elatawneh, 2014 21.11.2017

Topic: signatures in RS

Change detection, global

• Forest loss

Forest loss1212_005_AR_EN.mp4

Topic: signatures in RS

19
 Signatures combination in fast response cases

Forest fire

Topic: signatures in RS

Fast response microwave

• Earthquake Italy 1: 24th of August 2016

Topic: signatures in RS

Fast response microwave

• Earthquake in
Italy 2016

Topic: signatures in RS

20
 Fast response microwave

• Earthquake Italy 2, 30th of October 2016

Topic: signatures in RS

5 Signature types are known in RS:

• spectral:
pigment- and water status, cell structure

• angular:
plant architecture, canopy structure

• textural:
pattern of similar frequency inside a structure

• polarisation
main information source in microwave, in optical (Gerstl, 1990)
applications not sufficient explored, to low experience

• temporal Information content

change of signatures between two with respect to the status
or more observations of objects

Topic: signatures in RS

Concluding remark „Signatures“

Rule of thumb:

As more signature types are combined as

better the object description and as higher
the chance to identify and to assess the
status of the objects under consideration

Topic: signatures in RS

21
 Control questions “Signatures”

• Which signature types are explored in RS?

• Which is the order of importance for classification and status assessment?
• For which data polarization signatures are of major importance?
• Are you able to draw the spectral signatures of water, healthy vegetation,
dry and wet soil in a xy diagram showing wavelength (x-axis) and
reflection intensity (y-axis)
• How shade and wet soil is affecting the spectral signature?
• How does the spectral signature change when the health status of a
vegetated surface is declining?
• Which are the main characteristics when exploring small mineral
absorption features?
• What kind of sensor data is required to investigate angular signatures?
• Which fundamental surface property is the origin of angular signatures?
• Explain the terms of multi-temporal and multi-seasonal approaches to
derive temporal signatures?

Topic: signatures in RS

22