Satellite data overview

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 Remote Sensing data
• For the essential and critical information of earth surface (land and ocean) and
the atmosphere.

• Many application in the scientific field.

• Availability of remote sensing datasets effectively helps to monitor the earth

resource and environment.

• Widely and effectively use in the field of environmental studies. (Spatial /

Temporal / Spectral resolution).
 Remote Sensing / Satellites data
LANDSAT – NASA

• First civilian Earth Observation Satellite

• Since 1972 to Present

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 LANDSAT
Temporal resolution Landsat 7
• Landsat 4, 5, and 7 - 16 day repeat cycle
• Landsat 1, 2, and 3 - 18 day repeat cycle
• Landsat 5 and 7 - 8 days apart
• Landsat 8 – 16 days offset of 8 days from Landsat 7

Spatial / Spectral resolution

• Landsat 1 to 5 -Multispectral Scanner (MSS) , 60 meters
-Four spectral bands – Red, Green and NIR, NIR
• Landsat 4-5, Thematic Mapper (TM), 30 meters
- Seven spectral bands – B, G, R, NIR, SWIR 1, Thermal
(120 m), SWIR 2 Landsat 8
• Landsat 7 Enhance Thematic Mapper (ETM +) , 30
meters
- Eight spectral bands
• Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal
Infrared Sensor
4 (TIRS)
- Nine spectral bands
 LANDSAT
• Landsat 4-5 TM
- study of albedo and its relationship to global warming and climate change

• Landsat 8 OLI and TIRS

-TIRS (Band 10) for surface temperature distribution
- FCC for environmental studies (Band 654)
- useful for coastal and aerosol studies
- Band 9 for cirrus cloud detection

• Overall
-Band ratios: NDVI, NDSI, VI
-Supervised classification
-Unsupervised classification
-Time Lapse – Landcover / Landuse change
- Surface morphology
LANDSAT-7 ETM+ and LANDSAT-8 OLI

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LANDSAT-7 ETM+

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LANDSAT-8 OLI

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Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer (ASTER) – Japanese Agency and NASA

• Since 1999
• Spatial resolution - 15 to 90 meters ~ 30 m
• Temporal resolution – 16 days
• MultiSpectral resolution – 14 Band
- VNIR – Band 1-3
- SWIR – Band 4-9
- TIR – Band 10 -14

ASTER: Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

(nasa.gov)
 Applications
• Land surface climatology -- investigation of land surface parameters, surface temperature, etc., to
understand land-surface interaction and energy and moisture fluxes
• Vegetation and ecosystem dynamics -- investigations of vegetation and soil distribution and their
changes to estimate biological productivity, understand land-atmosphere interactions, and detect
ecosystem change
• Volcano monitoring -- monitoring of eruptions and precursor events, such as gas emissions, eruption
plumes, development of lava lakes, eruptive history and eruptive potential
• Hazard monitoring -- observation of the extent and effects of wildfires, flooding, coastal erosion,
earthquake damage, and tsunami damage
• Hydrology -- understanding global energy and hydrologic processes and their relationship to global
change; included is evapotranspiration from plants
• Geology and soils -- the detailed composition and geomorphologic mapping of surface soils and
bedrocks to study land surface processes and earth's history
• Land surface and land cover change -- monitoring desertification, deforestation, and urbanization;
providing data for conservation managers to monitor protected areas, national parks, and wilderness
areas
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SENTINEL - European Space Agency (ESA) mission
Sentinel 1 (SAR)
• Since 2014
• Radar imaging satellite -- C band Synthetic Aperture Radar
• Temporal resolution – 12 days
• Spatial resolutions depend on the acquisition mode and the level of processing.

Sentinel-2 (optical)
• Since 2015
• Two identical satellites Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B.
• Temporal resolution – 5 days
• Spatial resolution – 10, 20, 60 meters
• Spectral resolution – Multi-spectral data (13 bands) Visible, NIR, SWIR
 SENTINAL: Thematic areas
• Atmospheric modelling: Monitoring the quality and condition of our planet's atmosphere is important in
that it helps us to understand how we may be affected, and is an essential tool in forecasting weather
events.

• Security: Surveillance and security can be difficult to manage from the ground. Observations from space
can make monitoring borders and sea routes much easier, and track developing situations.

• Marine Monitoring: Information on the state and dynamics of the ocean and coastal zones can be used to
help protect and manage the marine environment and resources more effectively, as well as ensure
safety at sea and monitor pollution from oil spills and other events.

• Climate Change: Satellites are a vital tool in monitoring our world's changing climate, providing wide-
scale views of affected areas and contributing to growing archives of data for use in long-term studies.

• Land Monitoring: Monitoring the Earth's land is useful for many fields, particularly agriculture, forestry,
topography, and land-cover and land-change studies. The data can be used to track current trends and
predict future changes.
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

• MODIS is an instrument onboard

• Terra (1999 ) and passes from north to south across the equator in the morning,

• Aqua (2002 ) Satellite, passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon.

• Temporal Resolution: entire surface of the Earth every one to two days.

• It’s high temporal resolution enables to monitor the both regional and global scale.

• One of the unique features of the MODIS instrument is its Direct Broadcast capability

MODIS Web (nasa.gov)

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MODIS products
 Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE)

• A joint mission of NASA and the German Aerospace Center

• Measurements of Earth's gravity field anomalies since its launch in March

2002

• Two satellites – TOM & JERRY

• Revolved round the earth surface at altitude of 500 km, separated by 200 km

• oceanographers, hydrologists, glaciologists, geologists and other scientists

used by to study phenomena that influence climate
 Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE)
• From the thinning of ice sheets to the flow of water through aquifers and the
slow currents of magma inside Earth

• GRACE data have provided a record of mass loss within the ice sheets of
Greenland and Antarctica.

• Greenland has been found to lose 280 ± 58 Gt of ice per year between 2003 and
2013, while Antarctica has lost 67± 44 Gt per year in the same period. These
equate to a total of 0.9 mm/yr of sea level rise.

• Regional hydrology inaccessible to other forms of remote sensing: for example,

groundwater depletion in India and California.
 Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)
• NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration (JAXA)

• Rainfall for weather and climate research

• Available data: late November 1997- April 2015 ~ 17 years

• Board with five sensor

- Precipitation Radar (PR)
- TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI)
- Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS)
- Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy Sensor (CERES)
- Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS)

• Spatial resolution : 500 m

• Temporal resolution : 7 hours

Satellite Products Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
•ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM)
• Version 1
• Release to public : 2009
• Coverage : 90 % of earth surface
• Spatial resolution : 90 meters
• Created by compiling 1.3 million VNIR images taken by ASTER
• Serious artifacts are present

• Version 2
• Release to public : 2011
• Spatial resolution : 30 meters
• Reduced presence of artifacts, and more realistic values over water bodies
 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) (DEM)
• Prior to ASTER DEM

• Board with outfitted with two radar antennas to acquire topographic

information.

• Available DEM resolution of SRTM

- 3 arc second : 90 meters
- 1 arc second : 30 meters

- widely used for topographic maps and elevation - topographic contours -

elevation slope – aspect – flow direction - watershed delineation for
hydrological studies.
 Reanalysis data
- WHY ?
- Sparse observed data

- WHAT Data ?
• Parameters for Models
- Temperatures
- Precipitation
- Solar Radiation
- Winds
- et cetera
- Where ?
- From Reanalysis product
Reanalysis data
 Reanalysis data
• It is reprocessing of observational data, extending to historical period by a
consistent modern analysis system

• “A meteorological reanalysis is a meteorological data assimilation project,

aims to assimilate historical observational data spanning an extended
period, using a single consistent assimilation (or "analysis") scheme
throughout.”

• Extensively used in climate research and services,

- for monitoring and comparing current climate conditions with those of the
past, identifying the causes of climate variations.
 Example of Reanalysis datasets:

• European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) re-analysis

• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) / National Centers for

Environmental Protection (NCEP) Reanalysis

• JRA-25 reanalysis – Japanese Meteorological Agency

• NASA MERRA
• ……….
•European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast
(ECMWF) re-analysis

• Periodically uses its forecast models and data assimilation systems to

'reanalyse' archived observations data

• Create global data sets describing the recent history of the atmosphere,
land surface, and oceans

• Currently, focuses on the development of consistent reanalyzes of the

coupled climate system.
ECMWF reanalysis products
• ERA stands for 'European Reanalysis’
• ERA-15
• The ERA-15 15 years (1979-1993)

• KEY STRENGTHS:
• well captured signals from volcanic eruptions in the lower stratospheric
temperature anomaly

• KEY LIMITATIONS:
• Excessive tropical precipitation.

• Hydrologic budget was not 'closed'.

• incorrect southward shift in the ITCZ over Africa in 1987 most and bias correction
of satellite data.
• ERA-20CM --ERA-CLIM project.

• ERA-20CM is ECMWF's first atmospheric reanalysis of the 20th century, from 1900-
2010.

• Global Coverage.

• Temporal resolution : 3 hrs.

• Spatial resolution : ~ 120 km
• Available data : Precipitation, TempAVG

• A coupled Atmosphere/Land-surface/Ocean-waves model is used to reanalyze the

weather, by assimilating surface observations.
•ERA-Interim
• Global atmospheric reanalysis from 1979, continuously updated in real time.

• Uses a fixed version of a numerical weather prediction (NWP) to produce reanalysis

data.

• Spatial resolution  approximately 80 km.

• ERA-Interim products are normally updated once per month.

• Updated in near-real-time as new data becomes available.

• ERA-Interim/Land is a global reanalysis of land-surface parameters from 1979-2010

at 80 km spatial resolution
•ERA-40
• Global atmosphere and surface conditions for 45-years, (September 1957 -
August 2002)

• Many sources of the meteorological observations eg., balloons, aircrafts,

buoys, satellites.

• This data was run through the ECMWF computer model at a 125 km
resolution

• The data is stored in GRIB format

• Archived ERA-40 data are available directly through from ECMWF and from
ECMWF Member and Cooperating States.
• National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)
• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Reanalysis

• Climate Forecasting System Reanalysis

• CFSR : 1979 – 2010

• Temporal resolution: hourly, 6 hourly, monthly

• Spatial Resolution : ~ 50 km

• Coverage : Global

• Available Parameter : Precipitation, TempMAX, Temp MIN,. + many more

•NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis
• Continuously updated from 1948 –present globally gridded data set

• Incorporating observations and numerical weather prediction (NWP)

• Temporal resolution : 6 hourly

• Spatial Resolution : ~ 209 km

• Coverage : Global

• Available Parameter : Precipitation, TempMAX, TempMIN, TempAVG. + many

more
 Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and
Applications (MERRA) – NASA
• The MERRA production is being conducted in 3 separate periods,

• 1979 - 1989;
• 1989 - 1998;
• 1998 - present.

• Temporal resolution : 6 hr

• Spatial resolution : ~ 70 km

• Coverage : Global

• Available Data : Precipitation, TempMAX, TempMIN,

TempAVG, + many more
 JRA-25 - Japan Meteorological Agency
(JMA)
• 1979-2014

• First long-term global atmospheric reanalysis for ASIA

• Available variables :
- Temperature
- Relative humidity
- Surface pressure
- Precipitation from Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I).
- Daily sea surface temperature (SST)
- Ozone profiles observations from Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS).
 Asian Precipitation - Highly-Resolved Observational Data
Integration Towards Evaluation (APHRODITE)
• Daily gridded precipitation

- since 1951 – 2007

- Continental-scale  dense network (5000 – 12,000) of daily rain-gauge data

for Asia including the Himalayas, South and Southeast Asia and mountainous
areas in the Middle East.

- Products are available on a regional basis and benchmark for various

estimations of gridded precipitation.

- Temporal resolution : Daily

- Spatial resolution : ~ 25 km
APHRODITE
• KEY STRENGTHS:
• High density and quality station network.

• KEY LIMITATIONS:
• Station network changes with time and season.

• Not homogenize the observed time series of temperature data.

• Changes in gauges, location of the stations, and many other factors might
cause discontinuity of observation data.
ASCAT - Advanced Scatterometer NOAA/NESDIS

• ASCAT winds products measures from scatterometer instrument aboard

the EUMETSAT Metop satellites.

• Radar to measure backscatter to determine speed and direction of winds

over the surface of the oceans.

• ASCAT data feeds numerical weather prediction models, provides useful

information on ice, snow and soil moisture, and is used to analyze areas of
individual storm activity.

• Temporal resolution: Daily images are archived for 7 days

Climate change studies
Climate modeling and Climate change scenarios

• General Circulation Models (GCMs) are used to simulate global climate

• Operate at spatial resolutions ranging from ~100 km to ~250 km.

• Regional Climate Models (RCMs) can be used to simulate regional climate at

a typical resolution of ~50 km.

• Climate change information is usually required at a higher spatial

resolution.

• Different downscaling techniques are used to bridge these resolution

differences.
• Downscaling technique is to obtain local- scale weather and climate at the
surface level, from regional-scale atmospheric variables that are provided by
GCMs.

• Dynamical downscaling : numerical model in higher spatial resolution.

• Statistical downscaling : statistical relationship between large scale variables
CO-ordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX)
• Initiated by World Climate Research Program (WCRP)

• GCMs are organized in the Coupled Model Intercomparision Project – Phase 5 (CMIP5)
archive as a basis of IPCC AR 5

• For the improved generation of regional climate change projection within Assessment
Reports

• CORDEX is the evaluation of multiple regional models for a 20-year (1989-2007) with
the boundary forcing obtained from ERA-Interim reanalysis

• CORDEX - downscale 150 years of GCM data from 1951-2100.

• Four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) are used as a basis for long term
and near term climate modelling
Four RCPs Scenarios
Satellite data _ Reanalysis_ Future climate scenarios
_ Downscaled
- Satellite image / products - > to delineate, classify, quantify the land use land
cover area, changes, etc

- Reanalysis datasets - > to use as a input for the models from the historical
data sets

- Downscaled data - > to fine scaling of regional climate information

- Future climate scenarios -> to estimate the future climate change scenarios