Morakot Worachairungreung

ST 117770
Remote Sensing and GIS

Remote Sensing Laboratory

Laboratory Exercise 4
Moderate Resolution Remote Sensing
Introduction
Low to moderate resolution satellite data with their resolution of 250 m to 1 km is important to regional
and global scale environmental monitoring. They observe very large swath. Whole the world in a day.

Some satellites have morning and afternoon monitoring. They wants to monitor temperature,
temperature change means have wind and pressure changes and it gives more choice and frequently
data than high resolution for example Landsat observe only 5 minutes temperature but low resolution
is a high multi temporal capability.

Characteristic of sensors
1. NOAA
2. SPOT VI
3. MODIS
4. Radarst
5. ALOS

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Remote Sensing and GIS

Satellite Sensor Spatial Spectral Attitude Swath IFOV Repeat Cost (seller) Minimum
Resolution Resolution (km) (km) (μrad) Interval Price
(meters) (bits) (days)
NOAA Advanced Band 1.1 * 1.1 km 10 830 – 870 2,900 1.4 1 Free Free
Very High 1 -2 (Geoscience ,
Resolution 3A 3B 2016)
Radiometer 4 -5
(AVHRR/3)
SPOT VI 2* High Band 1-3 10 * 10 8 (spotimage, 649 60 20 1-3 €1,900- Free
Geometrical SWIR 20 * 20 2003) ( 26 days 8,100
Resolution PAN 5 *5 repeat cycle)
( HGR) single image
instrument 2.5 * 2.5 dual
image
High PAN 10 m cross- 120 €8,100 €1,900
Resolution track
Stereoscopic 5 m along
(HRS) track
MODIS Terra / Aqua Bands1- 2 250 *250 705 2330 N/A 1-2 $10-$120 Free
Bands3 - 7 500*500 ( 16 days
Bands8 - 36 1*1 km repeat cycle)
ALOS ( PASCO , MS AVNIR-2 10 *10 8 628km 70 10 14 days $1,607 $67
2016) PALSAR (SAR-L Band) 10 * 10 5 70 10
PRISM (Panchromatic) 2.5*2.5 8 35 2.5

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Remote Sensing and GIS

Satellite Sensor Spatial Spectral Attitude Swath IFOV Repeat Cost Minimum
Resolution Resolution (bits) (km) (km) (μrad) Interval (seller) Price
(meters) (days)
SAR ( Radarsat-
1):
Fine 8*8 m
50 km
Standard 25*25 m 100 km
Wide 30*30 m C- band, HH
150 km
RADARSAT ScanSAR Narrow 50*50 m Polarization 300 km
ScanSAR Wide 100*100 m 500 km
Extended High 75 km
25*25 m
Incidence 170 km
Extended Low 30*30 m
Incidence
SAR ( Radarsat-
2):
Spotlight
Ultra-Fine 3*3 m 798 km $675-
8 km N/A 24 days Free
Multi-Look Fine 3*3 m $1,350
20 km
Fine 8*8 m 50 km
Standard 8*8 m 50 km
Wide HH, HV, 100 km
30*30m
ScanSAR Narrow VH, VV 150 km
ScanSAR Wide 30*30 m
( depended on 300 km
Extended High 50*50 m
single and dual 500 km
Incidence 100* 100 m 75 km
18*18-27*27
Extended Low 30*30 m 170 km
Incidence 25 km
8*8 m
Fine Quad- 25 km
30*30 m
Polarisation
Standard Quad-
Polarisation
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Remote Sensing and GIS

Comparison of sensor and application of each sensor

Band Wavelength(microns) Comments
6,8,10 7,9,11,12,14 15,16,17
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR/3)
NOAA 1 0.58-0.68 0.58-0.68 0.58-0.68 Daytime cloud/ surface and
vegetation mapping
2 0.725-1.10 0.725-1.10 0.725-1.10 Surface water, ice, snow melt,
and
vegetation mapping
3A 1.58-1.64 Snow and ice detection
3B 3.55-3.93 3.55-3.93 3.55-3.93 Sea surface temperature, night-
time
cloud mapping
4 10.5-11.5 10.3-11.3 10.3-11.3 Sea surface temperature, day and
night
cloud mapping
5 11.5-12.5 11.5-12.5 Sea surface temperature, day and
night
cloud mapping

Band Wavelength(microns) Comments

TERRA/AQUA
MODIS 1 0.620 0.670 Land/Cloud
2 0.841 0.876 Boundaries
3 0.459 0.479 Land/Cloud
4 0.545 0.565 Properties
5 1.230 1.250
6 1.628 1.652
7 2.105 2.155
8 0.405 0.420 Ocean Color/
9 0.438 0.448 Phytoplankton/
10 0.483 0.493 Biogeochemistry
11 0.526 0.536
12 0.546 0.556
13 0.662 0.672
14 0.673 0.683
15 0.743 0.753
16 0.862 0.877
17 0.890 0.920 Atmospheric
18 0.931 0.941 Water Vapor
19 0.915 0.965
20 3.660 3.840 Surface/Cloud
21 3.929 3.989 Temperature
22 3.929 3.989
23 4.020 4.080

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24 4.433 4.598 Atmospheric

25 4.482 4.549 Temperature
26 1.360 1.390 Cirrus Clouds
27 6.535 6.895 Water Vapor
28 7.175 7.475
29 8.400 8.700
30 9.580 9.880 Ozone
31 10.780 11.280 Surface/Cloud
32 11.770 12.270 Temperature
33 13.185 13.485 Cloud Top
34 13.485 13.785 Altitude
35 13.785 14.085
36 14.085 14.385

Band Wavelength(microns) Comments

High Geometrical Resolution (HGR) instrument
SPOT 6 ( Corporation, 1, Green 0.50 to 0.59 This band corresponds
2016) to the green reflectance
of healthy vegetation.
2, Red 0.61 to 0.68 This band is useful for
discriminating
between plant species.
It is also useful for soil
boundary and
geological boundary
delineations.
3, (near-IR) 0.79 to 0.89 This band is especially
responsive to the
amount of vegetation
biomass present in a
scene. It is useful for
crop identification and
emphasizes soil/ crop
and land/ water
contrasts.
4, (mid-IR) 1.58 to 1.75 This band is sensitive
to the amount of water
in plants, which is
useful in crop drought
studies and in plant
health analyses. This is
also one of the few
bands that can be used
to discriminate
between clouds, snow,
and ice.
5, Panchromatic 0.48 to 0.71 sharper image
definition

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Remote Sensing and GIS

This is a totally new

instrument. It is
High-resolution Stereoscopic (HRS) instrument intended for the
production of Digital
Terrain Models (DTM).
This instrument has
been designed for the
daily coverage of land.
Image resolution is 1
km. Spectral bands are
identical the HGR
ones, except that the
Vegetation (VGT) instrument green band of HGR is
replaced by a blue one.
Some advanced
applications have been
developed by CNES
using this blue band, in
particular for halieutic
purposes above oceans
in inter-tropical areas.

Band Wavelength(microns) Comments

AVNIR-2 (J-spacesystems, 2012)
ALOS 1, blue 0.45 to 0.52 This band is useful for
mapping coastal water
areas, differentiating
between soil and
vegetation, forest type
mapping, and detecting
cultural features.
2, green 0.52 to 0.60 This band corresponds
to the green reflectance
of healthy vegetation.
Also useful for cultural
feature identification.
3, red 0.63 to 0.69 This band is useful for
discriminating
between many plant
species. It is also useful
for determining soil
boundary and
geological boundary
delineations as well as
cultural features.
4, NIR 0.76 to 0.90 This band is especially
responsive to the
amount of vegetation
biomass present in a
scene. It is useful for

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Remote Sensing and GIS

crop identification and

emphasizes soil/ crop
and land/ water
contrasts.
PALSAR (J-spacesystems, 2012)
Band Frequency (GHz) Comments
SAR-L 1.3 PALSAR was an
active microwave
sensor, which was not
affected by weather
conditions and
operable both daytime
and nighttime. It was
improved based on
Synthetic Aperture
Radar ( SAR) onboard
the first earth
observation satellite,
JERS-1.
PRISM (J-spacesystems, 2012)
Band Wavelength(microns) Comments
PAN 0.52-0.77 It is intended for the
production of Digital
Terrain Models (DTM).

Beam modes ( RADARSAT, Position Comments

1997)
Standard AGRICULTURE
• Crop compliance
monitoring
• Soil moisture studies
Wide • Harvest prediction
• Rice crop monitoring
COASTAL / OCEANS
• Ocean features
Low incidence detection
• Wave spectra
• Aquaculture
monitoring
High incidence • Coastline mapping
• Oil spill monitoring
FORESTRY
• Harvest mapping
• Broad class mapping
Fine
• Clear-cut detection
GEOLOGY
• Geological mapping

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ST 117770
Remote Sensing and GIS

ScanSAR wide • Terrain mapping

• Petroleum exploration
• Structural mapping
• Oil seep detection
ScanSAR narrow HYDROLOGY
• Wetlands mapping
• Watershed
management
Standard • Flood monitoring
Quad MAPPING
polarization • Base mapping
• Land use/ land cover
Fine Quad mapping
polarization • Topographic mapping
• DEM creation
SURVEILLANCE
• Point target detection
Multilook
fine • Terrestrial
surveillance
• Maritime surveillance
(e.g., ship detection and
Ultrafine
monitoring)

Advantage and disadvantage of all sensors and image products

Advantage
High multi-temporal, they observe more often than
high resolution data.
Global coverage, whole the world in one day we
can alarm overview whole the worlds before using
high resolution image.
Multi- spectral information, some satellite give 36
bands
Cloud free products, they observe more often and
use cloud composite products.
Free of charge, this is scientific products.
Local receiving is feasible,
Hyper- spectral information, they have many
information and can generate higher data products.
Disadvantage
Spatial resolution, it is very difficult to identify.
Geo- location, it’ s very difficult to identify in
GPS where the point in pixel is.
Data handling, it is free product not commercial
product maybe they have local manual,
projection and 10bits data.
Off- nadir observation, it is very large area
image.

Conclusions
This laboratory teaches how we select to use moderate resolution remote sensing.
Understanding application is very useful when people use moderate resolution remote sensing. People

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Remote Sensing and GIS

should think about what application field is suitable to use in moderate resolution. Oceanography we
cannot find high resolution in ocean application because it is no demand of customer so moderate
resolution remote sensing is very important. Environment application should use moderate resolution
remote sensing because they have hyper spectral so it is very useful for generating higher products for
safe the world. Natural resource and disaster near real time mornitoring because moderate resolution
remote sensing monitor often.

References
Corporation, S. I. ( 2016, 2 9) . SPOT- 5 Satellite Sensor. Retrieved from Corporation, Satellite Imaging:
http://www.satimagingcorp.com/satellite-sensors/other-satellite-sensors/spot-5/

Geoscience , A. (2016, 2 14). NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved from
Applying geoscience to Australia's most important challenges: http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-
topics/earth-obs/satellites-and-sensors/noaa

J-spacesystems. (2012). PALSAR User’s Guide 2nd Edition. Unpublished.

PASCO , C. ( 2016, 2 14) . About ALOS- 2. Retrieved from The ALOS- 2 stands for Advanced Land
Observing Satellite 2: http://en.alos-pasco.com/alos-2/

RADARSAT. (1997). RADARSAT Curriculum Guideline. Unpublished.

spotimage. (2003). Spot satellite technical data.