REMOTE SENSING

ASSIGNMENT OF UNIT 3: EMR INTERACTIONS

SUBMITTED BY: KHUSBOO
TO
MR. RAKESH
 1.Define these terms:
• Reflection: Reflectance occurs when a ray of light is re-directed as it strikes a non- transparent surface. The
nature of reflection depends upon the size of surface irregularities in relation to the wavelength of the radiation
considered. In remote sensing we are most interested in measuring the radiation reflected from targets.

• Transmission: Transmission of radiation occurs when radiation passes through a substance

without significant attenuation. From a given thickness, or depth of a substance, the ability of a
medium to transmit energy is measured as a transmittance (t).

• Absorption: Absorption of radiation occurs when the atmosphere prevents, or strongly attenuates
transmission of radiation or its energy through the atmosphere.
 2. Explain scattering and its types.
• Scattering:
• Scattering occurs when particles or large gas molecules present in the atmosphere interact with and
cause the electromagnetic radiation to be redirected from its original path.
• Types of Scattering:
1. Rayleight scattering :
• Rayleight scattering occurs when particles are very small compared to the wavelength of the radiation.
• These could be particles such as small specks of dust or nitrogen and oxygen molecules.
• The longer path lengths leads to an increase in Rayleigh scatter and results in the deplection of the blue
wavelengths.
• Only the longer red and orange wavelength reaches our eyes, hence, beautiful orange and red sunset appear.
2. Mie Scattering:
• Mie scattering occurs when the particles are just about the same size as the wavelength of the
radiation.
• Mie scattering occurs mostly in the lower portion of the atmosphere where larger particles are
more abundant, and dominates when cloud conditions are overcast.
• This type of scattering influences a broad range of wavelengths in and near the visible
spectrum.
3. Non- selective scattering:
• The final scattering mechanism of importance is called non – selective scattering.
• This occurs when the particles are much larger than the wavelength of the radiation.
• Water droplets and large dust particles can cause this type of scattering.
• Non selective scattering gets its name from the fact that all wavelengths are scattered about
equally.
 3. Write a brief note on Indian history of
remote sensing.
• 1969: Indian Space Research Orgnisation (ISRO) formed.
• 1972-76: ISRO conduct air- borne remote sensing experiments.
• 1975: Aryabhatta, the first Indian satellite launched.
• 1979: Bhaskara- 1 and Rohini satellites successfully launched.
• 1981: an experimentl Geo- stationary satellite APPLE launched.
• 1982- 83: INSAT 1A and 1B multipurpose geo- stationary satellite successfully launched for telecommunications, broadcasting and
meteorological needs.
• 1988- 99: INSAT 1C, 1D, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D and 2E series of improved multipurpose geo-stationary satellite launched.
• 1988: first Indian Remote Sensing (IRS- 1A) polar orbiting satellite launched to explore the areas of agriculture, water resources, forestry
and ecology, geology, water sheds, marine fisheries and coastal management.
• 1991- 99: IRS- 1B, 1C, 1D, IRS- P1, P2, P3 and P4 (Oceansat- 1) launched on indigeneous Polar Satellite Lunching Vehicle for natural
recourse management studies, disaster mitigation study town planning etc.
• 2003: IRS-P6 (Resoursesat-1) launched with improved spatial and spectral resolutions.
• 2005: IRS-P5 (Cartosat-1) launched suitable for cadastre and infrastructure mapping and analysis.
• 2007: Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT)launched capable of taking images in cloudy and snow- covered regions and also both during day
and night.
• 2008: Cartosat-2A launched to enhance disaster monitoring and damage assessment.
• 2009: Oceansat-2 launched to aid in the analysis for operational Potential Fishing Zones. Satellite is mainly designed for Ocean biology
and sea state applications.
• 2010: Cartosat-2B launched that carries advanced imaging sensors for disaster monitoring and to study damage assessment.
 4.Which scattering is most dominant and why?

• Rayleigh scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism in the upper

atmosphere. The fact that the sky appears blue during the day is because of this
phenomenon.
• As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the shorter wavelengths of the visible
spectrum are scattered more than the other visible wavelengths.
• At sunrise and sunset the light has to travel farther through the atmosphere than at
midday and the scattering of the shorter wavelength is more complete; this leaves a
greater proportion of the longer wavelength to penetrate the atmosphere.
 5. Explain atmospheric Haze?
• Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon in which dust, smoke, and other
dry particulates suspended in air obscure visibility and the clarity of the sky.
• In meteorology, the word haze is generally used to denote visibility- reducing
aerosols of the wet type suspended in the atmosphere.
• A small component of wet- haze aerosols appear to be derived from compounds
released by trees when burning, such as terpenes.
• For all these reason, wet haze tens to be primarily a warm season phenomenon.
 6. What is spectral signature. Why we create
spectral signature?
• Spectral reflectance, is the ratio of reflected energy to incident energy as a function of wavelength. Various materials of the earth surface
have different spectral reflectance characteristics.
• Spectral reflectance is responsible for the colour or tone in a photographic image of an object.
• Threes appear green because they reflect more of the green wavelength.
• The values of the spectral reflectance of objects averaged over different, well- defined wavelength intervals comprise the spectral
signature of the objects or features by which they can be distinguished.
• To obtain the necessary ground truth for the interpretation of multispectral imegaery, the spectral characteristics of various natural
objects have been extensively measured and recorded.
• The spectral reflectance is depend on wavelength, it has different values at different wavelengths for a given terrain features.
• Multispectral imagery is a powerful tool for distinguishing different types of materials and features in the landscape. Natural nd man-
made materials often have a unique spectral signatures that can be used to identify them quantitatively.
• Spectral profile charts allow you to select areas of interest or ground features on the image and review the spectral information of all
bands in a chart format.
• Spectral signature help you to choose are of interest from the complete study area.
 7. What is atmospheric window?
• The earth’s atmosphere is by no means completely transparent to electromagnetic radiations because
these gases together form important barriers to transmission of these radiation through the
atmosphere.
• It selectively transmits energy of certain wavelengths; those wavelengths that are relatively easily
transmitted through the atmosphere referred to as atmospheric windows.
• More precisely, the areas of the spectrum which are not severely influenced by atmospheric absorption
and thus are useful to remote sensors are called atmospheric windows.
• 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.
 8. What is the difference between absorption
and transmittance.
ABSORPTION TRANSMITTANCE

Absorption of radiation occurs when the atmosphere prevents, or strongly Transmittance gives a measurement of the light that passed through the sample.

attenuates transmission of radiation or its energy through the atmosphere.

Three gases namely ; ozone, carbon di oxide and water vapour are
Transmission of radiation occurs when radiation passes through a substance without significant
responsible for most absorption of solar radiation.
attenuation.

From a given thickness, or depth of a substance, the ability of a medium to transmit energy is measured

as a

transmittance (t).
 9.What is specular and diffuse reflection and
what is the difference between both of them.
SPECULAR REFLECTION DIFFUSE REFLECTION
Specular reflection happens on a plane surface. Duffuse reflection happens on a rough surface.
The angle of incident and angle of reflection both are Angle of incident and angle of reflection are different.
same.
The image which is extracted from the specular reflection The image which is extracted from the diffuse reflection is
is clear. blurry and hazy.
Example: when wet, water fills in the crevices, resulting Example: a dry asphalt roadway diffuse incident light.
in specular reflection and a glare.
 10. Explain reflectance characteristics of these
terms : Soil, Water and Vegetation.
• Soil Reflectance:
• the majority of radiation incident on a soil surface is either reflected or absorbed and little is transmitted.
• The characteristics of soil that determine its reflectance properties are its moisture content, organic matter
content, texture, structure and iron oxide content.
• the soil curve shows less peak and valley variations. The presence of moisture in soil decrease its reflectance.
• By measuring the energy that is reflected by targets on earth’s surface over a variety of different wavelengths,
we cn build up a spectral signature for that object.
• Water Reflectance:
• Majority of the radiation incident upon water is not reflected but is either absorbed or transmitted.
• Longer visible wavelengths and near infrared radiation is absorbed more by water than the visible wavelengths.
• The water looks blue or blue green due to stronger reflectance at these shorter wavelengths and darker if
viewed at red or near infrared wavelengths.
• The factors that affect the variability in reflectance of a water body are depth of water, materials within water
and its surface roughness of water.

• Vegetation Reflectance:
• The spectral characterstics of vegetation vary with wavelength. Plant pigment in leaves called chlorophyll
strongly absorbs radiation in the red and blue wavelengths but reflects green wavelength.
• The internal structure of healthy leaves act s diffuse reflector of near infrared wavelengths.
• Measuring and monitoring the near infrared reflectance is one way that scientists determine how healthy
particular vegetation may be.