Center for River, Harbor

Short Course on & Landslide Research

GIS & Its Application
http://www.cuet.ac.bd/crhlsr/scourse

Introduction to
Remote Sensing
Learning Objective

1. What is Remote Sensing (RS)?

2. Application Field of RS
3. How Satellites Collect Earth-Surface Data?
4. Considerations while using RS Data
5. LANDSAT Satellite Properties
6. How to Access LANDSAT Data?
Remote Sensing

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 What is Remote Sensing?
• Measurement of a quantity associated with an object by
a device not in direct contact with the object

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Application of Remote Sensing

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Application of Remote Sensing

Land Cover and Land Use Analysis

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Application of Remote Sensing

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Application of Remote Sensing

Water Surface Temperature

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Application of Remote Sensing

Post-Disaster Damage Assessment

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Application of Remote Sensing

Measuring Intensity of Drought

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Application of Remote Sensing

Flash Flood Mapping

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Application of Remote Sensing

Global Forest Fire Monitoring 12

 Platforms used for Remote
Sensing
•SATELLITES
ASTER, Landsat, AVHRR, Terra, Aqua

•RADAR

•SONAR

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How Data is Collected by
Remote Sensing?

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How Data is Collected by
Remote Sensing?
•The intensity of reflected
and emitted radiation to
space is influenced by the
surface and atmospheric
conditions

•Satellite measurements
contain information about
the surface and
atmospheric conditions
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How Data is Collected by
Remote Sensing?

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Spectral Signature

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 What Satellite Data to Use?
(Considerations)
Depends on:

• Study Region extent

• Methodology
• Accuracy
• Satellite platform and sensor property

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 Satellite platform and sensor
property
RESOLUTION

• Spectral Resolution
• Spatial Resolution
• Temporal Resolution
• Radiometric Resolution
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 Spectral Resolution

Finer spectral channels enable remote sensing of

different parts of the Earth’s surface
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Spatial Resolution

Decided by its pixel

size

-- Pixel is the
smallest unit
measured by a
sensor
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Spatial Resolution & Extent

DATA
Extent

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 Temporal Resolution
Sensor Revisit time

Landsat 16-days

MODIS 2-days

Commercial (Orb View) 1-2 days

It is the return period of satellite to the same

location point
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 Radiometric Resolution

Brightness levels

The larger this number

the sharper the imagery

Represented by
positive digital numbers
which vary from 0 to a
selected power of 2

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About LANDSAT Satellite

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 About LANDSAT

On July 23, 1972 the

Earth Resources
Technology Satellite
was launched. This
was eventually
renamed to Landsat.

106 mi by 115 mi
spatial extent
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 About LANDSAT

LANDSAT 8

LANDSAT 8 image of
Chittagong-Cox’s Bazaar
region

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About LANDSAT

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About LANDSAT

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 LANDSAT data archive
USGS Earth Explorer Website

https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

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LANDSAT data access

Enter Area
Name

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LANDSAT data access

Enter Date
(from & to)

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 LANDSAT data access
Select
data
set

Select
Satellite/Sensor

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 LANDSAT data access
Select
additional
criteria

Select Scene Cloud-

coverage

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LANDSAT data access

Download

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LANDSAT data access

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Let’s Do This
Open the LANDSAT MTL Meta Data File

Check
-Spacecraft ID
-Sensor ID
-Existing Bands -WRS PATH/WRS ROW
-CLOUD COVER
-SUN AZIMUTH
-SUN ELEVATION
Summary
1. Idea of Remote Sensing (RS)
2. Application
3. Data Collection Technique
4. RS Mechanism
5. Properties of Satellite
6. LANDSAT Satellite
7. Data Access & Exploration