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GEOG 3110 - The Earth From Space:
Remote Sensing of the Environment
Photogenic Geography 3110 students, in a color infrared photograph
Professor: Phil Dennison
Meets Tuesday and Thursday, 2:00-3:20, 102 OSH
Over the past decade there has been an extraordinary increase in the
availability of remote sensing images of Earth. Many people are now familiar with remote
sensing through web-based mapping services and innovative visualization
programs like Google Earth. Less than
10 years ago, it was unlikely that you had ever seen a satellite image of
your home or school. The explosion in
the availability of remote sensing data has coincided with a growing number
of remote sensing applications. Remote
sensing data are now used in anthropology, civil engineering, environmental
sciences, geography, geology, hydrology, natural resource assessment,
meteorology, and urban planning. In
this course, we will examine remote sensing science, techniques, and
applications. Five lab exercises will
give us “hands-on” experience with real remote sensing data.
Click on the following links or scroll below to see some of the topics we
will examine in this class.
Click here for additional class information.
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The Electromagnetic Spectrum
- Important regions of
the electromagnetic spectrum for remote sensing
- Wavelength, frequency,
and energy
- Atmospheric windows
- Passive and active
remote sensing
The electromagnetic spectrum (NASA)
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Aerial Imagery
- Advantages and
disadvantages of aerial imaging
- How to interpret
images
- History of remote
sensing
A 1-meter spatial resolution aerial image of Rice-Eccles Stadium (USGS)
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Multispectral and
Hyperspectral Remote Sensing
- Remote sensing and
image display using multiple bands
- Spectral signatures of
materials
- Earth observation
remote sensing
Two infrared bands and one red band from a Landsat
image of the eastern Salt Lake Valley (USGS)
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Thermal Infrared and Radar Remote Sensing
- Thermal emission
- Remote sensing of
temperature
- Radar bands
- Radar backscattering
- Measuring elevation
using remote sensing
Landsat
data draped over a digital elevation model derived from Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission
(SRTM) data (NASA JPL/USGS)
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Remote Sensing of Vegetation
- How plants reflect,
absorb, and transmit light
- Vegetation mapping
- Vegetation indices
Red pixels indicate the presence of Lantana in this AVIRIS image of the Kalaupapa Peninsula, Molokai, Hawaii
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Remote Sensing of Soil and Rock
- Minerals
- Soil grain size
- Soil moisture
A mineral map of Cuprite, Nevada derived from AVIRIS data (USGS)
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Remote Sensing of Water
- Water depth
- Sediment concentration
- Phytoplankton
Colors indicate chlorophyll concentrations in this SeaWiFS
image of the coast of British Columbia, Canada (NASA)
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Remote Sensing of Urban Landscapes
- Urban materials
- Land cover vs. land
use
- Lidar
- Population
A composite of DMSP "night lights" data shows the locations of
urban areas around the world (NASA)
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Additional Class Information
- 5 labs (30% of
final grade)
- 2 multiple choice
and short answer midterms (40% of final grade)
- 1 multiple choice
and short answer final (30% of final grade)
- no prerequisites
Please contact Phil Dennison ( ) if
you have questions regarding this class.
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