Lab 5 Recap

Lab 5 Recap
File Sizes From Smallest to Largest

 MODIS Image -11,127,225 pixels (7 bands,

500m resolution)
 Landsat Panchromatic - 234,404,221 pixels
(1 band,15 m resolution)
 Landsat Multispectral - 58,532,901 pixels (7
bands, 30m resolution)
 NAIP Image - 261,532,200 pixels (4 bands, 1
m resolution)
Landsat 8 – King Fire

True Color
Landsat 8 - King Fire

False Color (Red – Shortwave Infrared, Green –

NIR, Blue – Visible)
Landsat 8 - King Fire

False Color (Red – Shortwave Infrared, Green –

Shortwave Infrared, Blue – NIR)
Landsat 8 – King Fire
October 5, 2014
Earth Observing
Satellites

GSP 216 Spring 2015

Earth Observing Satellites
 The age of satellites officially began in 1957
with the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet
Union
 First U.S. satellite, Explorer 1 launched in
1958
 NASA launched the world’s first weather
satellite, TIROS 1 in1960

TIROS 1 Satellite
and first image
from the satellite
Imagery from Manned
Space Programs

 Imagery shot by
astronauts on the
Mercury, Gemini and
Apollo programs

"Blue Marble" - The first photograph in

which Earth is in full view. The picture
was taken on December 7, 1972, as
the Apollo 17 crew left Earth’s orbit for
the moon
Earth Observing System
(EOS)
 The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a
NASA program
 Consists of a series of satellites for long-term
global observations of the land surface,
biosphere, solid Earth, atmosphere, and
oceans
 Program was launched in 1997
 International Collaboration – Canada, UK,
Japan, France, Germany..
Earth Observing System
(EOS)
Mission Launch Date Mission Launch Date
SeaWiFS August 1, 1997 Aura July 16, 2004
TRMM November 27, 1997 PARASOL December 1, 2004
Landsat 7 April 15, 1999 CloudSat
April 28, 2006
QuikSCAT June 19, 1999 CALIPSO
Terra (EOS-AM) December 18, 1999 OSTM/Jason-2 January 20, 2008
ACRIMSAT December 20, 1999 Aquarius June 10, 2011
NMP/EO-1 November 21, 2000 Suomi NPP October 28, 2011
Jason 1 December 7, 2001 GCOM-W1 May 18, 2012
Meteor 3M-1/Sage Landsat 8 February 11, 2013
III December 10, 2001 GMP Core February 27, 2014
GRACE March 17, 2002 OCO-2 July 2, 2014
Aqua May 4, 2002 Rapid-SCAT September 20, 2014
ADEOS II (Midori II) December 12, 2002 CATS January 10, 2015
ICESat January 12, 2003 SMAP January 31, 2015
SORCE January 25, 2003 DSCOVR February 11, 2015
Earth Observing System (EOS)
• Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) provides
precipitation measurements from space, including worldwide
observations of rain and snow every three hours

• Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 is NASA’s first

dedicated Earth remote sensing satellite to study atmospheric
carbon dioxide from Space

• RapidScat (On ISS) - Measures Earth's ocean surface wind

speed and direction

• Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) - Lidar instrument

that will provide profile measurements of atmospheric
aerosols and clouds from the (ISS)

• Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) – Will produce global

maps of soil moisture
Earth Observing System
(EOS)
Deep Space Climate
Observatory
(DSCOVR) – Positioned
between Earth and Sun,
will provide real-time
solar wind monitoring

For more information about missions and satellites :

http://eospso.nasa.gov/

http://eospso.nasa.gov/files/mission_profile.pdf
Landsat

Landsat satellites have provided the longest,

continuous global record of land cover

 The first unmanned satellite specifically

designed to acquire data about the earth’s
resources
 ERTS 1 (Earth Resources Technology
Satellite) later renamed Landsat 1, was
launched in 1972
Landsat Timeline
Landsat
The Landsat satellites have carried six different
sensor types
 Return Beam Vidicon (RBV)
 Multispectral Scanner (MSS)
 Thematic Mapper (TM)
 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM)
 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+)
 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal
Infrared Sensor (TIRS)
Landsat
Landsat

 Landsat satellites capture images of the

Earth’s surface along the satellite’s ground
track in a 185-kilometer-wide swath as the
satellite moves in a descending orbit (moving
from north to south) over the sunlit side of the
Earth
Landsat 1, 2 & 3

Landsats 1 -3 supported two

sensor systems:
 Return Beam Vidicon (RBV)
 Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS)

On Landsat-1 the Return Beam

Vidicon (RBV) Operated from July
23, 1972 to August 5, 1972,
recording only 1692 images
Landsat Sensors

Return Beam Vidicon (RBV)

 The RBV camera system was designed to obtain
high resolution television pictures of the Earth
 Three cameras were used to take pictures
simultaneously in three different spectral bands
(green-blue, orange-red and red-near infrared)
 The RBV was supposed to be the main instrument,
but had technical problems and the MSS data
produced multispectral data in digital format
Landsat Sensors

Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS)

 Spatial Resolution: 80 meters
 Four spectral bands ranging from the visible green to
the near-infrared (IR) wavelengths
Landsat Sensors

Thematic Mapper (TM)

 First used on Landsat 4
 Spatial Resolution: 30 meters
 Seven spectral bands, three in visible wavelengths,
four in infrared
Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS)

Landsat Landsat Wavelength Resolution

1-3 4-5 (micrometers) (meters)
Band 4 Band 1 0.5-0.6 80
Multispectral
Band 5 Band 2 0.6-0.7 80
Scanner
(MSS) Band 6 Band 3 0.7-0.8 80

Band 7 Band 4 0.8-1.1 80

Thematic Mapper (TM)

Landsat Wavelength Resolution

4-5 (micrometers) (meters)
Band 1 0.45-0.52 30
Band 2 0.52-0.60 30
Thematic Band 3 0.63-0.69 30
Mapper Band 4 0.76-0.90 30
(TM)
Band 5 1.55-1.75 30
Band 6 10.40-12.50 120

Band 7 2.08-2.35 30
Enhanced Thematic Mapper
Plus (ETM+)
Landsat Wavelength Resolution
7 (micrometers) (meters)
Band 1 0.45-0.52 30
Band 2 0.52-0.60 30
Band 3 0.63-0.69 30
Enhanced
Band 4 0.77-0.90 30
Thematic
Mapper Band 5 1.55-1.75 30
Plus Band 6 10.40-12.50 60
(ETM+)
Band 7 2.09-2.35 30

Band 8 .52-.90 15
Operational Land Imager (OLI)
&Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)
Spatial
Wavelength
Bands Resolution
(micrometers)
(meters)
Band 1 - Coastal aerosol 0.43 - 0.45 30
Band 2 - Blue 0.45 - 0.51 30
Band 3 - Green 0.53 - 0.59 30
Band 4 - Red 0.64 - 0.67 30
Landsat 8 Band 5 - Near Infrared (NIR) 0.85 - 0.88 30
Operational
Land Imager Band 6 - SWIR 1 1.57 - 1.65 30
(OLI) Band 7 - SWIR 2 2.11 - 2.29 30
and
Thermal Band 8 - Panchromatic 0.50 - 0.68 15
Infrared Band 9 - Cirrus 1.36 - 1.38 30
Sensor
Band 10 - Thermal Infrared (TIRS) 1 10.60 - 11.19 100
(TIRS)

Band 11 - Thermal Infrared (TIRS) 2 11.50 - 12.51 100

The Afternoon Constellation
“A-Train”
The Afternoon Constellation
“A-Train”
The Afternoon constellation (or “A-Train”) consists of several
U.S. and international satellites that fly within approximately
15 minutes of each other to enable coordinated science
 Aura

 CloudSat
 CALIPSO

 Aqua
 GCOM-WI
 OCO-2
 PARASOL
Aqua & Terra Satellites
Terra
 Launched in 1999
 Flagship of the Earth Observing System
 Designed to monitor the state of Earth's
environment and changes in its climate
system
 Sun-synchronous orbit
 Has five sensors on the satellite
Terra
Aqua & Terra Satellites
Terra
 ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission
and Reflection Radiometer)
 CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy
System)
 MISR (Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer)
 MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer)
 MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the
Troposphere)
Aqua & Terra Satellites

Aqua
 Launched in 2002
 “Sister” satellite to Terra
 Designed to monitor studying the
precipitation, evaporation, and cycling of
water.
 Sun-synchronous orbit
 Has five sensors on the satellite
Aqua & Terra Satellites
Aqua
 AMSR-E — Advanced Microwave Scanning
Radiometer-EOS
 MODIS — Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer
 AMSU-A — Advanced Microwave Sounding
Unit
 AIRS — Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
 HSB — Humidity Sounder for Brazil
 CERES – Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant
Energy System
MODIS

 Moderate-resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
 Sensor that is on both Terra and Aqua
 36 spectral bands ranging in wavelength
from 0.4 µm to 14.4 µm
 Varying spatial resolutions (2 bands at 250 m,
5 bands at 500 m and 29 bands at 1 km)
MODIS

Phytoplankton bloom in the

Bering Sea, Terra Satellite
September 26th, 2014
MODIS Wavelength Resolution
Band Primary Use
(nm) (m)
1 620–670 250 Land/Cloud/
Aerosols
2 841–876 250 Boundaries
3 459–479 500
4 545–565 500 Land/Cloud/
5 1230–1250 500 Aerosols
6 1628–1652 500 Properties
7 2105–2155 500
8 405–420 1000
9 438–448 1000
10 483–493 1000
11 526–536 1000 Ocean Color/
12 546–556 1000 Phytoplankton/
13 662–672 1000 Biogeochemistry
14 673–683 1000
15 743–753 1000
16 862–877 1000
17 890–920 1000
Atmospheric
18 931–941 1000
Water Vapor
19 915–965 1000
MODIS Wavelength Resolution
Band Primary Use
(nm) (m)
20 3.660–3.840 1000
21 3.929–3.989 1000 Surface/Cloud
22 3.929–3.989 1000 Temperature

23 4.020–4.080 1000
24 4.433–4.498 1000 Atmospheric
25 4.482–4.549 1000 Temperature

26 1.360–1.390 1000
Cirrus Clouds
27 6.535–6.895 1000
Water Vapor
28 7.175–7.475 1000
29 8.400–8.700 1000 Cloud Properties
30 9.580–9.880 1000 Ozone
31 10.780–11.280 1000 Surface/Cloud
32 11.770–12.270 1000 Temperature

33 13.185–13.485 1000
34 13.485–13.785 1000 Cloud Top
35 13.785–14.085 1000 Altitude

36 14.085–14.385 1000
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission
and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)

 On Terra Satellite
 Does not continuously collect
data
 Targeted acquisition, pointable
sensor
 Spatial Resolution from 15 to 90
meters
 14 different bands, ranging from
visible to thermal infrared light

Ellesmere Island, Canada

Commercial

 SPOT – 1986-2014 (1.5 – 20m)

 IKONOS – 1999 (1 -4 m)
 Quickbird – 2001 (0.60 - 2.4 m)
 World-View-2 – 2009 (0.46 – 1.84m)
 WorldView-3 – 2014 (0.31 – 3.7 m)
 Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) 2002-
Present
 Five satellites, 30-40 m in 3-4 bands
SPOT

SPOT - Satellite Pour l’Observation de la

Terre (French for "Earth observation
satellite")
 High spatial resolution imagery
 SPOT 1 launched in 1986 with 10 m
panchromatic and 20 m multispectral
 SPOT 5-7 are still active
SPOT

 SPOT 1 -1986 (10 m and 20 m)

 SPOT 2 - 1990 (10 m and 20 m)
 SPOT -1993 (10 m and 20 m)
 SPOT 4 – 1998 (10 m and 20 m)
 SPOT 5 - 2002 (2.5 m, 5 m and 10 m)
 SPOT 6 – 2012 (2.2 m, 8.8m)
 SPOT 7 – 2014 (2.2 m, 8.8m)
Commercial

IKONOS
 Launched in 1999 by GeoEye
 First to collect publicly available high-
resolution imagery at 1- and 4-meter
resolution.
 Four band multi-spectral (Blue, Red, Green,
and NIR)
 GeoEye and DigitalGlobe merged in 2013
Commercial
DigitalGlobe
 Quickbird – 2001
 0.60 m, panchromatic, 2.4 m multispectral
 WorldView-1 – 2007
 0.50 m, panchromatic
 WorldView-2 – 2009
 0.46 m, panchromatic
 1.84 m, 8 band multispectral
 WorldView-3 – 2014
 0.31 m, panchromatic
 1.24 m, 8 band multispectral, 3.7 m Shortwave Infrared
Commercial
Micro Satellites
 Disaster Monitoring Constellation
 Five Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites
 Daily images
 30-40 m spatial resolution, 4 band

NigeriaSat-1 image
of flooding following
Hurricane Katrina.
Copyright NASRDA
2005.
Where to obtain data?

 USGS EarthExplorer
 http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
 USGS Global Visualization Viewer - GLOVIS
 http://glovis.usgs.gov/
 USDA Geospatial Data Gateway
 http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/
What data products are
available?
 Landsat Archive
 MODIS
 Aerial photos
 Historical
 NHAP/NAAP/NAIP
 Digital Elevation Models
 Climate Data
 Watershed
 Land Use/ Land Cover
 Soils
What format ?

 Most data is downloaded in a compressed

format
 Large file sizes
 Level 1 Data
 Corrected for radiometric and geometric
accuracy
 GeoTIFF data format
 Separate file for each band