SATELLITE IMAGERY

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Satellite Imagery
Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, space borne photography, or
simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by
governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell images by
licensing them to governments and businesses such as Apple Maps and Google Maps. It
should not be confused for astronomy images collected by space telescope.  Satellite
imagery used for weather analysis and forecasting: VIS, IR, and WV. Although modern
satellites work at many more than three bands, our goal here is not to replicate a remote
sensing course experience, but instead reinforce the utilities of satellite imagery for analysis
and forecasting.

1.2 Types of Satellite Imagery

The three most common types of satellite images are:
1. Visible Satellite Image
2. Infrared (IR) Satellite Image
3. Water vapor (WV) Satellite Image

1.2.1 Visible Satellite Imagery

Visible satellite pictures can only be viewed during the
day, since clouds reflect the light from the sun. On these
images, clouds show up as white, the ground is normally
grey, and water is dark. In winter, snow-covered ground
will be white, which can make distinguishing clouds more
difficult. To help differentiate between clouds and snow,
looping pictures can be helpful; clouds will move while
the snow won't. Snow-covered ground can also be
identified by looking for terrain features, such as rivers or lakes. Rivers will remain dark in
the imagery as long as they are not frozen. If the rivers are not visible, they are probably
covered with clouds. Visible imagery is also very useful for seeing thunderstorm clouds
building. Satellite will see the developing thunderstorms in their earliest stages, before they
are detected on radar.

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1.2.2 Infrared Satellite Imagery

Infrared satellite pictures show clouds in both day and

night. Instead of using sunlight to reflect off of clouds,
the clouds are identified by satellite sensors that
measure heat radiating off of them. The sensors also
measure heat radiating off the surface of the earth.
Clouds will be colder than land and water, so they are
easily identified. Infrared imagery is useful for
determining thunderstorm intensity. Strong to severe
thunderstorms will normally have very cold tops.
Infrared imagery can also be used for identifying fog and low clouds. The fog product
combines two different infrared channels to see fog and low clouds at night, which show up
as dark areas on the imagery.

1.2.3 Water vapor Satellite Imagery

Water vapor satellite pictures indicate how much

moisture is present in the upper atmosphere
(approximately from 15,000 ft to 30,000 ft). The
highest humilities will be the whitest areas while dry
regions will be dark. Water vapor imagery is useful for
indicating where heavy rain is possible. Thunderstorms
can also erupt under the high moisture plumes.

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Chapter 2
2.1 WORKING OF SATELLITE IMAGERY

Fig 2.1 Working

of Satellite Imagery

The Sun sheds plenty of energy on Earth in the visible and infrared bands.  Satellites record
this energy after it reflects off the surface of Earth and bounces back toward space.  Objects
on Earth, such as forests, water, pavement or snow all reflect different amounts of energy. 
It's these differences in reflectivity that enable us to identify objects through remote sensing. 
You can understand this idea if you think about how you can recognize objects from the air: 
partly it's the differences in color or brightness, as we saw when we discussed interpretation
of air photos.  Water is darker than snow or concrete, for instance.  Interpretation of
remotely-sensed images relies largely on these differences in reflection in the bands of energy
that the satellite records.

Groups of objects on Earth have typical reflections of energy that help identify the objects. 
For example, water reflects very little visible or infrared energy.  Snow reflects energy
strongly, which is why it appears white (the combination of all visible light wavelengths). 
Vegetation is an interesting case.  Healthy vegetation absorbs most visible light, but strongly
reflects infrared.  In fact, any object that had a strong infrared signal and a weak red visible
signal would almost certainly be vegetation.  Hence objects can be identified to some degree
based on their "spectral signature," or combination of reflectances in various bands. 
However, we cannot usually get too specific in our identification based on reflectance.  For
example, it's nearly impossible to distinguish a redwood from a Douglas-fir based on satellite

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data -- their signals are too similar.  For trees, at best we can usually distinguish deciduous
and evergreen forest.

Chapter 3
3.1 APPLICATIONS OF SATELLITE IMAGERY
1. Providing a base map for graphical reference and assisting planners and engineers

The amount of details that an orthoimagery produces

using high resolution satellite imagery is of immense
value as it provides a detail image of the selected area
along with its surrounding areas.
As maps are location-based they are specifically designed
to communicate highly structured data and to give a
complete picture about the whole world. There are
numerous applications of satellite imagery and remote sensing data.  Today nations use
information derived from the satellite imagery for government decision making, civil defense
operations, police and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in general. These days, data
captured through Satellite Imagery has become mandatory and all government plans are to be
submitted on the basis of Satellite Imagery data.

2. Extracting mineral deposits with remote sensing based spectral analysis

During the pre-feasibility and feasibility stages of the

mineral exploration, it is important to know about the
mineral potentiality of the area to be considered for
mineral extraction. In such scenarios, satellite remote
sensing based mapping and its integration in a GIS
platform help geo scientist to map the mineral
potential zones easily by saving time. With the help of
spectral analysis of satellite image bands the scientist
can quickly identify and map mineral availability through special indicators. This will enable
exploration geologist to narrow his geo physical, geo chemical and test drilling activities to
high potential zones.

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3. Disaster mitigation planning and recovery

The result of a natural calamity can be devastating and at

times difficult to assess. But disaster risk assessment is
necessary for rescue workers. This information has to be
prepared and executed quickly and with accuracy.
Object-based image classification using change
detection (pre- and post-event) is a quick way to acquire
damage assessments data. Other similar applications
using satellite imagery in disaster assessments include
measuring shadows from buildings and digital surface models.

4. Agriculture development

With increasing population

across the world and the need
for increased agricultural
production there is a certain
need for proper management
of the world’s agricultural
resources. To make this
happen it is first necessary to
obtain reliable data on not
only the types, but also the quality, quantity and location of these resources. Satellite imagery
and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) will always continue to be a significant factor in
the improvement of the present systems of acquiring and generating agricultural maps and
resource data. Agriculture mapping and surveys are presently conducted throughout the
world, in order to gather information and statistics on crops, range land, livestock and other
related agricultural resources.

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5. 3D GIS

3D city models are digital models of urban areas that represent Terrain surfaces, sites,
buildings, vegetation, infrastructure and Landscape
elements as well as related objects belonging to urban
areas. Their components are described and represented by
corresponding two-dimensional and three-dimensional
spatial data and geo-referenced data. 3D city models
support presentation, exploration, analysis, and
management of tasks in a large number of different
application domains. 3D GIS is the instant and effective
Solution for larger and remote locations where manual survey is next to impossible. Various
urban/ rural planning departments require 3D GIS data like, Drainage, Sewerage, Water
supply, Canal Designing BIM and may more.

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Chapter 4
4.1 SATELLITE IMAGE OPERATORS
1. Arithmetic operators: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponent , compliment
and negation.
2. Spatial transformation: Blurring, sharpening and filtering.
3. Color conversion operator: Transform the image from one color model to another color
model.
4. Geometric transformation: rotation, scale and wrap.
5. Statistics: Computation of histogram, mean and standard deviation pixel values of an
image.
6. Non-spatial domain transformation: Forward and inverse Fourier transformation.
7. Radiometric transformation: includes histogram equalization, mean, scaling, linear scale
and threshold based filtering of an image.

4.2 LANDSAT 8

Fig 4.2 Illustration of the Landsat 8 Satellite.

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Landsat 8 orbits the the Earth in a sun-synchronous, near-polar orbit, at an altitude of 705 km

(438 mi), inclined at 98.2 degrees, and completes one Earth orbit every 99 minutes.  The
satellite has a 16-day repeat cycle with an equatorial crossing time: 10:00 a.m. +/- 15
minutes.  

Landsat 8 acquires about 740 scenes a day on the Worldwide Reference System-2 (WRS-2)

path/row system, with a swath overlap (or side lap) varying from 7 percent at the equator to a
maximum of approximately 85 percent at extreme latitudes. A Landsat 8 scene size is 185 km
x 180 km (114 mi x 112 mi). 

4.3 GOOGLE MAPS

Google maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google that
powers many map based services. They provide high resolution aerial or satellite images for
most urban areas all over the world.  Google maps satellite images are several months or
years old.
Google Maps provide route planner under “Get Direction” that provides up to 4 modes of
transportation depending on the area: driving, public transit, walking and cycling. Google
maps uses JavaScript and it is used in mobiles for various application. These are being used
increasingly for navigation purpose. It helps in GPS service. My location is used for
determining current location.

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Chapter 5

ADVANTAGES OF SATELLITE IMAGERY

 Large areas – 1000 km2+

 Potential repeat images
 Low usage/high availability > 50km offshore
 Cost - either very high or free depending upon license agreement
 Non invasive/no disturbance
 Anywhere/anytime
 Low set-up cost/bureaucracy

DISADVANTAGES OF SATELLITE IMAGERY

 Big data – Needs automated procedures developing

 Download
 Processing
 Counting
 Quality assessment
 Species ID unlikely
 Need agreement with satellite provider
 Instantaneous record has implications

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Chapter 6

CONCLUSION

Satellite image processing has a good application in future and can be used for analysis of
various images taken from satellites and air crafts of ground. It uses sensors and also accesses
various dangerous locations with quality resolution. Google has also invented Google maps
that can help to view images at various angles and get the 3-D view of any place on the
ground. It can capture an area around the spot up to a large extend.

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REFERENCES
[1] Assefa M. Melesse, “Remote sensing sensors and applications in environmental resources
mapping and modelling”, Department of environmental studies, florida international
university.
[2] M Govender, K chetty and H Bulcockf, “a review of hyperspectral remote sensing and its
application in vegetation and water
Resource studies” university of kwazulu-natal, private bag x01, scottsville 3209, so uth africa
[3] Victor H. Gardner, “Hyperspectral satellite imaging: planning a mission”, university of
maryland, college park, MD, 20742
[4]Remote sensing imagery in vegetation mapping: a review:
http://jpe.Oxfordjournals.Org/content/1/1/9.Full
[5] Prof. B. Krishna mohan,” satellite image processing and analysis”, CSRE, IIT bombay.

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