3.laws of Radiation and Their Relevance in Remote

 In order to best make use of the of information that comes
to us via the electromagnetic spectrum, we need to

understand some basic properties of radiation.
 We need to know the fundamental principles describing

the electromagnetic radiation that originates from an
object, and how that radiation travels through space.
 For electromagnetic radiation, there are four "laws" that
describe the type and amount of energy being emitted by an
object.
The difference between a law and a theory is that a law
simply describes something, while a theory tries to explain
"why" something occurs.
Planck's Law:
“Every object emits radiation at all times and at all
wavelengths” .
SUN
IMAGES
(False colour
images)
VISIBLE RANGE UV EMISSION
 As we know that the sun emits visible light (left
image of the Sun), infrared waves, and ultraviolet
waves (right image of the Sun), emits microwaves,
radio waves, and X-rays.
 The sun is like a big nuclear furnace and it emits all
sorts of electromagnetic radiation.
 However, Plank's Law states that every object emits
over the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
 That means we also emit radiation at all
wavelengths -- so does everything around us!
 Some emission may not be in measurable amount.
Planck's Law:
Every physical body spontaneously and continuously emits
electromagnetic radiation and the spectral radiance of a body,
Bν describes the amount of energy it emits at different
radiation frequencies.
 It is the power emitted per unit area of the body, per unit
solid angle of emission, per unit frequency.
Planck showed that the spectral radiance of a body for
frequency ν at absolute temperature T is given by

Planck's Law:
The spectral radiance can also be expressed per unit
wavelength λ instead of per unit frequency.
 In this case, it is given by.
Planck's law accurately
describes black-body
radiation. Shown here are
a family of curves for
different temperatures. The
classical (black) curve
diverges from observed
intensity at high
frequencies.
Showing how radiated energy

emitted at shorter wavelengths
The shorter the increases more rapidly with
wavelength of radiation, temperature than energy
the greater the energy of emitted at longer wavelengths.
each quantum.
Animation
Implication of Planck’s Law
The other basic property of radiation is its intensity,
equivalent to the brightness of visible light.
This may be regarded as either the number of quanta or the
amplitudes of the electric and magnetic fields.
The more quanta at a particular wavelength, the greater the
energy that is transmitted.
The energy of a single long-wavelength quantum is less
than that of one at short wavelength.
Implication of Planck’s Law
Consequently, more long-wavelength quanta must fall on
a detector to produce a measurable response compared
with the number of shorter wavelength quanta that
produce the same response.
In general, therefore, systems aimed at long wavelength
radiation need to collect radiation either from a larger
target area or over a longer time than those used for
shorter wavelengths.
This has important consequences for the resolution of
remote sensing systems and their ability to discriminate
real objects from systematic noise.
However, in reality, things are much more complicated
than this, because instruments use different kinds of
detectors at different wavelengths.
Stefan-Boltzmann Law
 In nature, all processes that generate radiation are
related in some way to the temperature of the body
emitting it.
 All matter in the Universe, even that in the near-perfect
vacuum are above absolute zero (-273.15°C) and emits
some form of radiation.
 Just how much is emitted and the range of its
wavelengths is a complex function both of temperature
and the nature of the body itself.
Stefan-Boltzmann Law
 Matter capable of absorbing all electromagnetic energy that it
receives and emitting radiation perfectly according to its
temperature is known as a blackbody.
The total energy emitted by a blackbody its emittance (H) in
W m-2 is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute
temperature (T in Kelvin or K).
 This is the Stefan-Boltzmann Law:
Wien's Displacement Law
 At any particular temperature, a blackbody
emits radiation with a range of wavelengths.
However, its absolute temperature
determines which wavelength transmits the
maximum amount of energy.
 This dominant wavelength (λm in μm) is
given by Wien's Displacement Law:
Implication of Wien's Displacement Law
As temperature increases,
total energy emitted rises very
rapidly and the wavelength
carrying most energy
becomes shorter.
The shape of the curve
relating emittance to
wavelength is important (left
figure), and stems from both
the StefanBoltzmann and
Wien's Laws.
For any temperature
there is a minimum
wavelength of
radiation, a nearby
wavelength of
maximum emittance
and a long tail towards
longer wavelengths.
Thus a black body at 6000
K (i.e. Sun's surface
temperature), does not
emit radiation with
wavelengths shorter than
0.1 µm, has an energy
peak at 0.5 µm (in the part
of the spectrum that is
visible to us as green), but
emits all wavelengths
beyond that up to about
100 µm.
Kirchhoff's Law
Any grey object (other than a perfect black body) which
receives radiation, disposes off a part of it in reflection
and transmission.
 The absorptivity, reflectivity and transmissivity are each
less than or equal to unity.
Kirchoffs law states that the absorptivity (a) of a
substance for radiation of a specific wavelength (λ) is
equal to its emissivity (e) for the same wavelength and is
given by the following equation:
a (λ) = e (λ)
Implication of Kirchhoff's Law
If we want to measure a particular constituent in the
atmosphere (e.g. water vapor), we need to choose a
wavelength that is emitted well by water vapor (otherwise
we wouldn't detect it).
However, since water vapor readily emits at our chosen
wavelength, it also readily absorbs radiation at this
wavelength, which is going to cause some problems
measurement-wise.
https://learningweather.psu.edu/node/18
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_law

3.laws of Radiation and Their Relevance in Remote

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

3.laws of Radiation and Their Relevance in Remote

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

3.laws of Radiation and Their Relevance in Remote

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

 In order to best make use of the of information that comes

to us via the electromagnetic spectrum, we need to

 We need to know the fundamental principles describing

Showing how radiated energy

You might also like