Remote sensing is the process of detecting and monitoring the physical characteristics of an area by measuring its reflected and emitted radiation at a distance (typically from satellite or aircraft). Special cameras collect remotely sensed images, which help researchers "sense" things about the Earth. Some examples are:
- Cameras on satellites and airplanes take images of large areas on the Earth's surface, allowing us to see much more than we can see when standing on the ground.
- Sonar systems on ships can be used to create images of the ocean floor without needing to travel to the bottom of the ocean.
- Cameras on satellites can be used to make images of temperature changes in the oceans.
Some specific uses of remotely sensed images of the Earth include:
- Large forest fires can be mapped from space, allowing rangers to see a much larger area than from the ground.
- Tracking clouds to help predict the weather or watching erupting volcanoes, and help watching for dust storms.
- Tracking the growth of a city and changes in farmland or forests over several years or decades.
- Discovery and mapping of the rugged topography of the ocean floor (e.g., huge mountain ranges, deep canyons, and the “magnetic striping” on the ocean floor).
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What are the acquisition schedules for the Landsat satellites?
The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers (438 miles) in a 185-kilometer (115-mile) swath, moving from north to south over the sunlit side of the Earth in a sun synchronous orbit, following the World Reference System (WRS-2). Each satellite makes a complete orbit every 99 minutes, completes about 14 full orbits each day, and crosses every point on...
What are the band designations for the Landsat satellites?
The sensors aboard each of the Landsat satellites were designed to acquire data in different ranges of frequencies along the electromagnetic spectrum (View Bandpass Wavelengths for all Landsat Sensors). The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) carried on Landsat 1,2,3,4 and 5 collected data in four ranges (bands); the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor on Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 included those found on earlier...
What sensors does the Landsat 9 satellite carry?
Landsat 9 carries the same instruments that are on the Landsat 8 satellite but with some improvements: Operational Land Imager (OLI) for reflective band data. Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) for the thermal infrared bands. OLI has a slightly improved signal-to-noise ratio over Landsat 8's OLI. Landsat 9’s TIRS is a Class-B instrument with a five-year design life and a key improvement of stray light...
What do the different colors in a color-infrared aerial photograph represent?
Color-infrared (CIR) aerial photography--often called "false color" photography because it renders the scene in colors not normally seen by the human eye--is widely used for interpretation of natural resources. Atmospheric haze does not interfere with the acquisition of the image.Live vegetation is almost always associated with red tones. Very intense reds indicate dense, vigorously growing...
Are the scanned aerial photographic images georectified?
Scans of traditional aerial photography film products (air photos) are not georectified.The USGS does, however, offer several orthoimagery (georectified aerial photograph) products:Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle (DOQ)High Resolution Orthoimagery (HRO)National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP, NAIP Plus)NAIP orthoimagery has been collected for the entire conterminous United States every 3 years...
How do I download orthoimagery products and what are the available formats?
Download orthoimagery (georectified aerial photographs) using EarthExplorer, which has the full catalog of USGS orthoimagery and aerial photography, or The National Map downloader, which has NAIP orthoimagery only. EarthExplorer: Products Overview Format varies by type of orthoimagery: Native format, Georeferenced Tagged Image File Format (GeoTIFF), or compressed 10:1 JPEG2000 The National Map...
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- FAQ
What are the acquisition schedules for the Landsat satellites?
The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers (438 miles) in a 185-kilometer (115-mile) swath, moving from north to south over the sunlit side of the Earth in a sun synchronous orbit, following the World Reference System (WRS-2). Each satellite makes a complete orbit every 99 minutes, completes about 14 full orbits each day, and crosses every point on...
What are the band designations for the Landsat satellites?
The sensors aboard each of the Landsat satellites were designed to acquire data in different ranges of frequencies along the electromagnetic spectrum (View Bandpass Wavelengths for all Landsat Sensors). The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) carried on Landsat 1,2,3,4 and 5 collected data in four ranges (bands); the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor on Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 included those found on earlier...
What sensors does the Landsat 9 satellite carry?
Landsat 9 carries the same instruments that are on the Landsat 8 satellite but with some improvements: Operational Land Imager (OLI) for reflective band data. Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) for the thermal infrared bands. OLI has a slightly improved signal-to-noise ratio over Landsat 8's OLI. Landsat 9’s TIRS is a Class-B instrument with a five-year design life and a key improvement of stray light...
What do the different colors in a color-infrared aerial photograph represent?
Color-infrared (CIR) aerial photography--often called "false color" photography because it renders the scene in colors not normally seen by the human eye--is widely used for interpretation of natural resources. Atmospheric haze does not interfere with the acquisition of the image.Live vegetation is almost always associated with red tones. Very intense reds indicate dense, vigorously growing...
Are the scanned aerial photographic images georectified?
Scans of traditional aerial photography film products (air photos) are not georectified.The USGS does, however, offer several orthoimagery (georectified aerial photograph) products:Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle (DOQ)High Resolution Orthoimagery (HRO)National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP, NAIP Plus)NAIP orthoimagery has been collected for the entire conterminous United States every 3 years...
How do I download orthoimagery products and what are the available formats?
Download orthoimagery (georectified aerial photographs) using EarthExplorer, which has the full catalog of USGS orthoimagery and aerial photography, or The National Map downloader, which has NAIP orthoimagery only. EarthExplorer: Products Overview Format varies by type of orthoimagery: Native format, Georeferenced Tagged Image File Format (GeoTIFF), or compressed 10:1 JPEG2000 The National Map...
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