What's in This Presentation
_  Introduction to remote sensing
_  How Landsat, a land-observing satellite, works
_  How teachers and students can answer questions about nature 
with Landsat images

Remote Sensing Overview
- What is remote sensing?
- Observing or measuring things from a distance

- How is remote sensing useful?
- It enables us to study nature in ways that would otherwise be beyond human capability, across 
great distances and at wavelengths of light invisible to human eyes.

- How is remote sensing done?
- By employing special detectors to record light as itÕs emitted or reflected by the objects of 
interest to us; and
- By studying and manipulating the recorded images we get, so that we can answer our questions 
about nature and how people affect it.

													
		


What Can We Study with Remote Sensing?

-  Land, air, water, rocks, living things, ice and snow

	For example:
-  Climate change and its effects 
-  Productivity of grasslands 
-  How human activities change land cover	
-  Landforms we canÕt see from the ground	
-  Photosynthesis on land and in the ocean
-  Air quality:  chemicals and particles (aerosols) 
-  The extent of natural hazards such as volcanoes, floods, and drought
-  Shifting ecosystem boundaries:  deserts, forests, and wetlands

													
		


Remote Sensing Gives Us the Big View
_ With remote sensing, charting changes in the EarthÕs land, oceans, and atmosphere becomes more 
comprehensive, easier, quicker, and often less expensive.  
Where does remote sensing fit 
in the curriculum?
_ With remote sensing, we can teach Ñ
Agriculture, the atmosphere, biology, the carbon cycle, chemistry, Earth system science, ecology, 
geography, geology, global environmental change, hydrology, land use, landforms, mapping, natural 
hazards, oceanography (physical, biological, and geological), planetary geology, weather and climate 
					Ñ and more.

 
What can students do 
		with remote sensing?

Students canÉ

_   Study their own neighborhoods from the perspective of space
_   Map urban growth
_   Measure the extent of lava flows, glaciers, floods, and drought
_   Describe changes in land cover over large areas
_   Find forest fires, and monitor vegetation recovery over time
_   Check the health of coral reefs
_   Evaluate water quality in a lake
_   Assess damage to a coastline after a hurricane
_   Estimate plant photosynthetic activity
How does remote sensing work?

>> By sensing and measuring radiation << 

In remote sensing images like this one from Landsat, we can learn about the 
Earth in useful ways.
The image at right shows North CarolinaÕs Outer Banks after a hurricane.

WhatÕs special about Landsat?

- Landsat has been observing the Earth continuously over a long period of time.
	
- Landsat covers all of the EarthÕs land surface at high resolution (captures lots of 
detail).

- Landsat provides affordable images for learning and teaching.
	
How Does Landsat Work?
Overview of the next five slides:

- Landsat observes radiation at seven wavelength ranges, or bands, of the EM 
spectrum.  

- You can display any three of those seven spectral bands at one time.

- Landsat images are made of pixels (picture elements).

Landsat observes radiation at seven wavelength ranges, or bands, 
of the EM spectrum.  Each image use only three of the seven spectral bands.  Why?

 >> Different combinations of bands show different things about the land surface. <<

Each pixel shows a combination of the three wavelength bands that have been selected to make up the image, just as the whole image does.

Teachers and students can learn to analyze Landsat images.
- You and your students can use Landsat to get the "big picture" and to pursue your 
questions about how the Earth is changing.

- To do this, you can use special software called "MultiSpec".  It is available at no cost.  

- When using MultiSpec for the first time, use the GLOBE MultiSpec Tutorial provided 
on this website. 

- To download the MultiSpec software itself, go to:
	 http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~biehl/MultiSpec/