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SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS IN REMOTE SENSING

COURSE Dr. Rama Rao

Any one who had a basic course in remtoe sensing should be aware of and answer the
following questions.

1. What is a sun synchronour orbit? Why earth observing remote sensing satellites are
usually placed in sun synchronour orbit?

A Sun-synchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit which combines altitude and inclination in such
a way that an object on that orbit ascends or descends over any given Earth latitude at the same
local mean solar time. The surface illumination angle will be nearly the same every time. This
consistent lighting is a useful characteristic for satellites that image the Earth's surface in visible
or infrared wavelengths and for other remote sensing satellites. For example, a satellite in sun-
synchronous orbit might ascend across the equator twelve times a day each time at
approximately 15:00 mean local time. This is achieved by having the osculating orbital
plane precess (rotate) approximately one degree each day eastward, to keep pace with the
Earth's movement around the Sun.

2. What is Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV) of a remote sensor? What is its role in
remote sensing satellites?

The IFOV is the angular cone of visibility of the sensor (A) and determines the area on the
Earth's surface which is "seen" from a given altitude at one particular moment in time (B). The
size of the area viewed is determined by multiplying the IFOV by the distance from the ground
to the sensor (C). This area on the ground is called the resolution cell and determines a sensor's
maximum spatial resolution.

3. Define spectral and radiometric resolutions of a remote sensor.

Spectral resolution
The wavelength width of the different spectral bands recorded by a remote sensor –
usually, this is related to the number of spectral bands recorded by the sensor. E.g., the
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Hyperion sensor on Earth Observing-1 resolves 220 bands from 0.4 to 2.5 μm, with a
spectral resolution of 0.10 to 0.11 μm per band.

Radiometric resolution
The number of different intensities of radiation the sensor is able to distinguish.
Typically, this ranges from 8 to 14 bits, corresponding to 256 levels of the gray scale
and up to 16,384 intensities or "shades" of colour, in each band. It also depends on the
instrument noise.

4. What are the causes of geometric distortions in a remote sensing image?

All remote sensing images are subject to some form of geometric distortions, depending on the
manner in which the data are acquired. These errors may be due to a variety of factors,
including one or more of the following, to name only a few:
􀂄 the perspective of the sensor optics,
􀂄 the motion of the scanning system,
􀂄 the motion and (in)stability of the platform,
􀂄 the platform altitude, attitude, and velocity,
􀂄 the terrain relief, and
􀂄 the curvature and rotation of the Earth.

5. How many spectral bands are there in IRS–ID LISS-III sensor and what are their
wavelength ranges?

Check for yourselves

6. What kind of distortion occurs if the IFOV for all pixels of a scanner stays constant?

As the sensor scans across each line, the distance from the sensor to the ground increases further
away from the centre of the swath. Although the scanning mirror rotates at a constant speed,
the IFOV of the sensor moves faster (relative to the ground) and scans a larger area as it moves
closer to the edges. This effect results in the compression of image features at points away from
the nadir and is called tangential scale distortion.
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7. From the following cross word table, find out as many as possible names of satellites /
sensors.

Answer yourself

M N
O
S A D A
A I M S
V I S T
H H E R T S E
R S R R
R V M
M

8. What are spectral indices? What is their role in the interpretation of remote sensing
image? What does NDVI can tell about?

A spectral index (SI) is generated by combining data from multiple spectral bands into a single
value. Usually simple algebraic formulations, SIs are designed to enhance signals of particular
type of materials or land cover (e.g. vegetation) presence in remotely sensed data and provide
an approximate of materials or land cover amount. The rationale for spectral indices (SIs) is to
exploit the unique spectral signature of different materials as compared to spectral signatures
of other materials.

Example:

Green leaves have a distinct spectral reflectance pattern in the visible (vis) and near-infrared
(nir) wavelengths. Reflectances in the blue and red regions are very low, with a slightly higher
bump in the green. This is why leaves appear green to human eyes. In the near-infrared (nir),
the spectral response of green leaves is much greater than in any portion of the visible. Other
materials such as bare soil, sand, exposed rock, concrete, or asphalt, generally show a steady
rise in reflectance (with no dramatic jumps) as wavelength increases from the visible to the
near-infrared. Therefore, spectral indices calculated for vegetation are called spectral
vegetation indices. Two widely used SVIs are the Simple Ratio or SR (sometimes referred to
as the RVI or ratio vegetation index) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or
NDVI.

Simple Ratio or Ratio Vegetation Index (SR or RVI)

The simple ratio vegetation index (termed SR or RVI) is calculated using the following
formula.

SR or RVI = NIR / RED

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If both the RED and NIR bands (or the VIS and NIR) have the same or similar reflectances,
then the Simple Ratio (SR) is 1 or close to 1. SR values for bare soils generally are near 1; as
the amount of green vegetation increases in a pixel, the SR increases. Note that the SR is not
bounded; its values can increase far beyond 1. Generally, very high SR values are on the order
of 30.

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

NDVI is calculated as follows:

NDVI = (NIR - RED) / (NIR + RED)

In the NDVI, the difference between the near-infrared and red reflectances is divided by their
sum. This normalization is used to minimize the effects of variable irradiance (illumination)
levels. Unlike the unbounded Simple Ratio, the NDVI has a range limited to a value from -1 to
1. Data from vegetated areas will yield positive values for the NDVI due to high near-infrared
and low red or visible reflectances. As the amount of green vegetation increases in a pixel,
NDVI increases in value up to nearly 1.

In contrast, bare soil and rocks generally show similar reflectances in the near-infrared and red
or visible, generating positive but lower NDVI values close to 0. The red or visible reflectance
of water, clouds, and snow are larger than their near-infrared reflectance, so scenes containing
these materials produce negative NDVIs.

9. What is clustering? Briefly explain ISODATA clustering algorithm.

Clusters are the natural (statistical) groupings or structures in the remote sensing data.
Ideally, pixels of a particular material should have same intensity values (DN values)
same or very close and when plotted in a feature space (plot of intensity values vs
spectral bands) the pixels form a group. This group is a called a cluster and the
mathematical procedure to form these clusters is called clustering.

ISODATA Clustering algorithm:

(i) Cluster centers are randomly placed and pixels are assigned based on the
shortest distance to center method
(ii) The standard deviation within each cluster, and the distance between cluster
(iii) centers is calculated z Clusters are split if one or more standard deviation is
greater than the user-defined threshold
(iv) Clusters are merged if the distance between them is less than the user-defined
threshold A second iteration is performed with the new cluster centers
Further iterations are performed until:
(v) (i) the average inter-center distance falls below the user-defined threshold,
(vi) ( ii) the average change in the inter-center distance between iterations is less
than a threshold, (iii) the maximum number of iterations is reached
(vii) Clusters associated with fewer than the user-specified minimum number of
pixels are eliminated
(viii) Lone pixels are either put back in the pool for reclassification, or ignored as
unclassifiable.
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10. What are atmospheric windows? What is their role in the context of optical remote
sensing?

Those areas of the spectrum which are not severely influenced by atmospheric absorption and
thus, are useful to remote sensors, are called atmospheric windows. By comparing the
characteristics of the two most common energy/radiation sources (the sun and the earth) with
the atmospheric windows available to us, we can define those wavelengths that we can use
most effectively for remote sensing. The visible portion of the spectrum, to which our eyes are
most sensitive, corresponds to both an atmospheric window and the peak energy level of the
sun.

Note also that heat energy emitted by the Earth corresponds to a window around 10 μm in the
thermal IR portion of the spectrum, while the large window at wavelengths beyond 1 mm is
associated with the microwave region.

11. What is the difference between image registration and image georeferencing?

Image registration is the process of transforming different sets of data into one coordinate
system. Data may be multiple photographs, data from different sensors, times, depths, or
viewpoints.[1] It is used in computer vision, medical imaging, military automatic target
recognition, and compiling and analyzing images and data from satellites. Registration is
necessary in order to be able to compare or integrate the data obtained from these different
measurements. Image registration involves spatially registering the target image(s) to align
with the reference image.

Georeferencing is the process of assigning geographic coordinates toeach pixel in an

image. Knowing where an image is located in the world allows information about features
contained in that image to be determined. This information includes location, size and
distance.
When data from different sources need to be combined and then used in a GIS application, it
becomes essential to have a common referencing system. This is brought about by using
various georeferencing techniques. Most georeferencing tasks are undertaken to link two or
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more different datasets together by virtue of the fact that they relate to the same geographic
locations. In the image registration, if geo-coordinates are used, it is called georeferencing.

12. Explain the basic principle behind the land surface temperature measurement by remote
sensing satellites.

There is a high positive correlation between the true kinetic temperature of an object (Tkin) and
the amount of radiant flux radiated from the object (Trad). Therefore, we can utilize
radiometers placed some distance from the object to measure its radiant temperature which
correlates well with the object’s true kinetic temperature.

13. What is a spectral signature? Draw the spectral signature of snow.

For a material, the curve depicting the reflectance of radiation over the range
of wavelengths in the EM spectrum is called spectral signature of the material.

Spectral Characteristics of Snow and Clouds

Snow and clouds can be easily differentiated only in the middle-infrared portion of the
spectrum. Snow reflectance is very high in the visible and NIR wavelengths, but drops to near
zero in the water absorption bands. Most clouds act as non-selective scatterers and reflect
significant amounts of solar irradiance across the 400-2500 nm spectrum. In general, snow
reflects more visible and NIR radiation than ice does.
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14. What would be the advantage of geometrically correcting an image to geographic

coordinates prior to further analysis and interpretation?

The main advantage is that the reference data collected during field visits can be directly
correlated with the corresponding pixel locations in the image and the comparison
between image and external reference data which has lat/long coordinates becomes
direct.

15. You just can't have it all!..." what are the trade-offs between spatial, spectral, and
radiometric resolution which must be taken into consideration when engineers design a
sensor?

There are trade-offs between spatial, spectral, and radiometric resolution which must be taken
into consideration when engineers design a sensor. For high spatial resolution, the sensor has
to have a small IFOV (Instantaneous Field of View). However, this reduces the amount of
energy that can be detected as the area of the ground resolution cell within the IFOV becomes
smaller. This leads to reduced radiometric resolution - the ability to detect fine energy
differences. To increase the amount of energy detected (and thus, the radiometric resolution)
without reducing spatial resolution, we would have to broaden the wavelength range detected
for a particular channel or band. Unfortunately, this would reduce the spectral resolution of the
sensor. Conversely, coarser spatial resolution would allow improved radiometric and/or
spectral resolution. Thus, these three types of resolution must be balanced against the desired
capabilities and objectives of the sensor.