Disaster Management

Unit – II: Remote Sensing in

Disaster Management

- Introduction

Artwork by:
Raj Bhagat Palanichamy
(WRI INDIA)

Dr. Debasis Sarkar

Professor
Dept. of Civil Engineering
School of Technology
PDEU.
DM:/Unit-2/Remote Sensing in Disaster Management (15 Hrs.)

- Introduction to Remote Sensing

- Fundamentals of Remote Sensing
- Electromagnetic Radiation
- Electromagnetic Spectrum
- Energy interaction with Atmosphere
- Energy interaction with Earth Surface
- Platform and Sensors
- Characteristics of Image, Image Interpretation and Analysis
- Visual Image Interpretation & Digital Image Processing
- Microwave Remote Sensing
- Remote Sensing Application in Disaster Management .

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Remote Sensing
 Remote sensing can be considered as the identification or survey of objects by indirect means
using naturally existing or artificially created force field.
 Of most significant impact are systems using force fields of the electromagnetic spectrum that
permit the user to directionally separate the reflected energy from the object in images.
 The first sensor capable of storing an image, which could be later interpreted, was the
photographic emulsion, discovered by Nièpce and Daguerre in 1839.
 The photographic camera became the first practical remote sensing device around 1850.
 As early as 1859, photographs taken from balloons were used for military applications in the battle
of Solferino in Italy and later during the American Civil War.
 In the 1960s, remote sensing efforts made use of the first satellite platforms.
 In 1972, Landsat 1 (USA), became the first remote sensing satellite with a world coverage at 80 m
pixels in four spectral visible and near-infrared channels.
 Higher spatial resolution was achieved by the French Spot satellites launched since 1986 with pixel
sizes of 10 m.
 The Indian satellites IRS 1C and 1D reached panchromatic pixel sizes of 6 m in 1996.

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 Remote Sensing
• Remote sensing is a method of obtaining information from distant objects without direct
contact.
• The remote sensing principle using waves of the electromagnetic spectrum, illustrated in the
Figure below

The energy radiates from an energy source.

1. A passive source: (naturally available) energy source is the sun.
2. An active energy source: It may be a lamp, a laser, or a microwave transmitter with its antenna.

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Principles of remote sensing
• The radiation propagates through a vacuum with the speed of light, c, at about 300000 km/sec.
• It reaches an object, where it interacts with the matter of this object.
• Part of the energy is reflected toward the sensor.
• At the sensor, the intensity of the incoming radiation is quantized and stored.
• The stored energy values are transformed into images.
• Image processing techniques applied to analyze and extract object information.

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Electromagnetic Radiation: Basic Laws
• Electromagnetic energy is radiated by any body having a temperature higher than –273°C (or 0
K), the absolute zero temperature.
• A body radiates energy in all frequencies. The relation between frequency, ν, and wavelength,
λ, is expressible as

with λ expressed in meters and

frequency in cycles per seconds (i.e.,
Hertz).

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Electromagnetic spectrum Source: https://earthsky.org/

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Electromagnetic spectrum

This image from the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA)

shows what the galaxy M33 would look like if you
could see in radio waves. This image maps atomic
hydrogen gas in the galaxy. The different colors map
velocities in the gas: red shows gas moving away from
us, blue is moving towards us. Image via NRAO/AUI.
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Energy interactions in the atmosphere
1. Composition of the atmosphere
2. Interactions of the electromagnetic radiation with the atmospheric particles – Scattering and
absorption

1. Composition of the atmosphere ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Atmosphere : Gaseous envelop that surrounds the Earth’s surface
• Much of the gases are concentrated within the lower 100km of the atmosphere
• Only 3x10-5 percent of the gases are found above 100 km (Gibbson, 2000)

Composition of the Earth’s atmosphere (from Gibbson, 2000)

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Composition of the atmosphere
Oxygen and Nitrogen
• Present in the ratio 1:4
• Both together add to 99 percent of the total gaseous composition
Ozone
• Present in very small quantities
• Mostly concentrated in the atmosphere between 19 and 23km
The atmospheric water vapor, methane, dust particles, pollen from vegetation, smoke particles
etc.
• Dust particles and the pollen form about 50% of the total particles
• Size of these particles varies from approximately 0.01μm to 100μm
The gases and the particles present in the atmosphere cause scattering and absorption of the
electromagnetic radiation passing through it.

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 Source:https://energyeducatio
n.ca/
Energy Interactions
 From the source to the sensor, the
radiation passes through the
atmosphere
 Path length: The distance traveled
by the radiation through the
atmosphere
 Varies depending on the remote
sensing techniques and sources

Space photography using solar energy

• Path length = 2 x Thickness of the
earth’s atmosphere
Airborne thermal sensors using emitted
energy from the objects on the earth
• Path length = One way distance from the
earth’s surface to the sensor.

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Energy Interactions…
The intensity and the spectral composition of the incident radiation are altered by the
atmospheric effects.
Atmospheric interaction depends on:
- Properties of the radiation such as magnitude and wavelength
- Atmospheric conditions
- Path length
Interaction with atmospheric particles
- Scattering
- Absorption

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The magnificent beauty of nature can be partly explained by scattering

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Scattering -Rayleigh Scattering
• Scattering caused by the atmospheric molecules and other tiny
particles
• Also known as selective scattering or molecular scattering
• Dependent on the wavelength
• Occurs when particles are much smaller than the wavelengths of the
radiation
 Particle size less than (1/10)th of the wavelength
Rayleigh scattering causes the blue color of
• Intensity of the scattered light is inversely proportional to the the daytime sky and the reddening of the
fourth power of wavelength Sun at sunset.
 Shorter wavelengths are scattered more than longer
wavelengths
• Scattering of the visible bands is caused mainly by the molecules of
Oxygen and Nitrogen

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Rayleigh Scattering of the Visible Part of the EM Energy

Scattering of the visible bands is caused mainly by the molecules of Oxygen and Nitrogen

Blue (shorter wavelength) is scattered more

• Blue light is scattered around four times the red light
• UV light is scattered about 16 times the red light
• A "blue" sky is a manifestation of Rayleigh scatter

Orange or red color during sunrise and sunset

• Sun rays have to travel a longer path
• Complete scattering (and absorption) of shorter wavelength radiations
• Only the longer wavelength (orange and red) which are less scattered are visible

Other examples
• The haze in imagery
• Bluish-grey cast in a color image when taken from high altitude

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Mie Scattering
• Occurs when the wavelengths of the energy is almost equal to the diameter of the
atmospheric particles
o Usually caused by the aerosol particles such as dust, smoke and pollen
o Gas molecules are too small to cause Mie scattering of the radiation commonly used for remote sensing.
• Longer wavelengths also get scattered compared to Rayleigh scatter.
• Intensity of the scattered light varies approximately as the inverse of the wavelength

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/

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Blue color of the sky | The white color of clouds

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Absorption

Absorption: Process in which the incident energy is retained by particles in the atmosphere
- Energy is transformed into other forms.
- Unlike scattering, atmospheric absorption causes an effective loss of energy.
- Absorption depends on
– Wavelength of the energy
– Atmospheric composition
– Arrangement of the gaseous molecules and their energy level

The most efficient absorbers of solar radiation are

– Water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone

Gaseous components are selective absorbers of the electromagnetic radiation

– Absorb electromagnetic energy in specific wavelength bands
– Depends on the arrangement of the gaseous molecules and their energy levels

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Atmospheric window
• The Earth’s atmosphere selectively transmits energy of certain wavelengths and those wavelengths that
are easily transmitted through the atmosphere can be referred as atmospheric windows.
• Only radiation in these wavelengths can be transmitted through the atmosphere and the others are
blocked.
• Atmospheric windows are mainly due to the effect of absorption within the atmosphere.

Atmospheri
c
windows.

They are of significant importance for remote sensing, because energy within the windows convey
information about the radiometric properties of the objects and thus helps produce satellite images.
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Atmospheric window
Remote sensing data acquisition is limited through these atmospheric windows
1. Wavelengths shorter than 0.1 μm
o Absorbed by Nitrogen and other gaseous components
2. Wavelengths shorter than 0.3μm (X- rays, Gamma rays and part of ultraviolet rays)
o Mostly absorbed by the ozone (O3)
3. Visible part of the spectrum
o Little absorption occurs
4. Oxygen in the atmosphere causes absorption centered at 6.3μm.
5. Infrared (IR) radiation
o Mainly absorbed by water vapor and carbon dioxide molecules
6. Far infrared region
o Mostly absorbed by the atmosphere
7. Microwave region
o Absorption is almost nil

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Interaction of Energy in Plants

Whereas the reflection on smooth object surfaces

is simple, the interaction of energy in plants is
more complicated.

A plant leaf consists of at least three layers:

• Transparent epidermis.
• A palisade type mesophyll, which reflects green
light and absorbs red, due to its chlorophyll
content.
• A spongy type mesophyll that reflects near
infrared.

Cross-section of a leaf

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