Introduction to Remote Sensing

	Introduction: What is Remote Sensing?
	1. Physical Basics The chapter Physical Basics or Remote Sensing discusses the electromagnetic spectrum, radiation and absorption principles, atmospheric influences and spectral reflectance properties. The electromagnetic spectrum Radiation principles Atmospheric influences Interaction of radiation with the earth surface Spectral reflectance properties
	2. Satellites The chapter on Satellites covers different satellite orbits and sensors, followed by an overview of exemplary earth observation satellites (LANDSAT, SPOT 5, Ikonos 2, Radarsat, Meteosat 8, Quickbird 2, ERS 2, Envisat, IRS P6, NOAA 18, GOES 12). Satellite orbits Active - passive satellite sensors Exemplary earth observation satellites
	3. Resolution The chapter on Resolutions describes the image content in geometric, spectral, radiometric and temporal ways. Display of remote sensing data Spatial resolution Spectral resolution Radiometric resolution Temporal resolution
	4. Visual Image Interpretation In this chapter the basics of visual interpretation of satellite images are presented. What are the different steps for analysing and interpreting true colour satellite images?

	5. Image Processing Image Processing or enhancement is used before interpreting or classifying an image. Following a section on pre-processing steps such as geometric and radiometric correction some enhancement possibilities are presented. Corrections Image enhancement
	6. Image Classification The final step of interpreting a satellite image is the classification procedure. Unsupervised and supervised image classification methods are described in this chapter after clarifying why a classification is useful. The classification process Unsupervised classification Supervised classification
	7. Educational Games A total of 10 games were developed to deepen your knowledge about the basics of remote sensing.
	8. References A list of references of literature and data sources as well as suggestions for further reading.
	9. Image credits A list of image credits and copyright is given here.
	10. Links A list of useful external links (for getting satellite images, virtual globes etc.)
	11. Authors A list of the authors who created the learning module about the basics of remote sensing.
	12. Worksheets A list of worksheets.
	13. Worksheets A list of worksheets and related information for use in class.

Table of Contents