A Brief History of Remote Sensing Cindy Webb & Karisa Vlasek NASA Nebraska Space Grant & EPSCoR University of Nebraska at Omaha.

A Brief History A Brief History of of

Remote SensingRemote Sensing

Cindy Webb & Karisa VlasekCindy Webb & Karisa VlasekNASA Nebraska Space Grant NASA Nebraska Space Grant

& EPSCoR& EPSCoRUniversity of Nebraska at University of Nebraska at

OmahaOmaha

What is Remote Sensing?What is Remote Sensing?

“In the broadest sense, the measurement or acquisition of

information of some property of an object or phenomenon, by a

recording device that is not in physical or intimate contact with

the object or phenomenon under study; e.g., the utilization at a

distance (as from aircraft, spacecraft, or ship) of any device and its

attendant display for gathering information pertinent to the

environment, such as measurements of force fields,

electromagnetic radiation, or acoustic energy.”

Quote taken from http://www.vtt.fi/tte/research/tte1/tte14/virtual/defin.html

What is Remote Sensing?What is Remote Sensing?

The technique employs such

devices as the camera, lasers, and

radio frequency receivers, radar

systems, sonar, seismographs,

gravimeters, magnetometers, and

scintillation counters.”

Scintillation counters from http://beckman.com/products/Discipline/Life_Science_Research/pr_disc_gen_scint.asp?bhcp=1

Magnetometer from http://www.ssec.honeywell.com/magnetic/magnetometers.html

Seismograph from http://www.terraplus.com/sa/cart/detail.asp?pg={5612B911-E226-40E4-B35E-504277C92A7B}

Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Image provide by http://eos-am.gsfc.nasa.gov/modis.html

Quote taken from http://www.vtt.fi/tte/research/tte1/tte14/virtual/defin.html

How did remote sensing How did remote sensing begin?begin?

Cameras served as the first remote sensors over 150 years ago.

Pictures of Cameras from http://www.historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/ads/suite/classifieds/classifieds.cgi, cameras pictured not necessarily used in remote sensing

1859 – Gaspard Felix 1859 – Gaspard Felix TournachonTournachon

1859 – Gaspard Felix Tournachon took cameras up into a balloon to make land surveys. He was not very successful, but this began aerial photography. Unfortunately, this first picture is lost.

1860s – Aerial photos from balloons continued to be the standard.

Self-Portrait from http://www.profotos.com/education/referencedesk/masters/masters/felixnadar/felixnadar.shtml

1873 – James Clark 1873 – James Clark MaxwellMaxwellThe theory of the electromagnetic spectrum was developed by The theory of the electromagnetic spectrum was developed by

James Clerk Maxwell. The electromagnetic spectrum is arranged James Clerk Maxwell. The electromagnetic spectrum is arranged by frequency and wave length. by frequency and wave length.

Image from http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec2.html

1882 – E. Archibald1882 – E. Archibald

E. Archibald of England began mounting cameras on kites and this method stayed popular through the last two decades of 19th century.

Left: “Here is a well-preserved photo (1889) from a kite, snapped by a remote mechanism operated by A Balut, covering Labrugauere, France:”

Picutre from http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Intro/Part2_7.html

Quote taken from http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Intro/Part2_7.html

1897 – Rocket Ships1897 – Rocket Ships“Historically, the first photos taken from a small rocket, from a height of about 100 meters, were imaged from a rocket designed by Alfred Nobel (of Prize fame) and launched in 1897 over a Swedish landscape:”

Photo from http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Intro/Part2_7.htmlQuote taken from http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Intro/Part2_7.html

1903 - Pigeons1903 - Pigeons

Cameras were attached to pigeons. The cameras were programmed to take a picture every 30 seconds as the pigeon flew along.

Images from http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Front/overview.html

Unfortunately, most pigeons were shot down by opposing troops. Their flight path was not predictable which posed an additional problem.

1904 – Alfred Maul1904 – Alfred MaulThe first rocket to obtain aerial photographs at 600 meters, less than one mile, was launched by Alfred Maul.

Photos from http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Intro/Part2_7.html

1908 – Wilbur Wright1908 – Wilbur Wright

1908 – Wilbur Wright piloted the first plane as his passenger, L.P. Bonvillain, took aerial photographs in France.

Pictures from http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/WrBr/Wrights.htmlPortrait from http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/WrBr/Wrights.html

1908 – Wilbur Wright1908 – Wilbur WrightBelow are pictures of Wilbur describing his airplane to King Alfonso XIII of Spain (left) and a picture of his flight on September 21, 1908 which lasted 1 hour and 25 4/5 seconds (right).

Pictures from http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/WrBr/Wrights.html

1914-1918 – Cameras in 1914-1918 – Cameras in PlanesPlanes

Cameras were mounted on planes or held by aviators. Normally these pictures were used for reconnaissance missions.

Photos from http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Intro/Part2_7.html

1946 – U.S. Army1946 – U.S. Army Rockets were launched by the

United States Army, reaching higher altitudes (70-100 miles) than before.

Photos from http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Intro/Part2_7.html

From the end of WWI to the early 1960s, aerial photographs remained the standard.

Washington, D.C., 1949--U.S. Geological Survey,aerial mapping photograph

Photos from http://mac.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs12796.html

Plattsburgh, New York, 1940--U.S. Geological Survey, aerial mapping photograph

Jefferson County, Colorado, 1937--National Archives, Cartographic and Architectural Branch, aerial mapping photograph

1960 – TIROS-11960 – TIROS-1 1960 – The first non-photo

sensors were television cameras mounted on unmanned spacecraft and devoted to looking at clouds. TIROS-1, Television Infrared Observation Satellite, was first sensor launched. It has since been renamed NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To the right are two recent NOAA images.

Severe weather outbreak that caused 88 tornadoes on November 10, 2002.

Image of solar storm on October 28, 2003.

Images from http://www.noaa.com/

1960s – Man also entered space taking photographs.

Images from http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/index.cfm

1972 – ERTS-1 Launched1972 – ERTS-1 Launched

NASA launched ERTS-1, the first Earth Resources Technology Satellite. Multi-spectral data from onboard sensors were used for crops, minerals, soils, and urban growth analysis.

The name of the satellite was soon changed to Landsat.

Image provided by http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Landsat/

1980-1990 - Landsat 4 The launching of

Landsat 4 introduced a new generation of sensors. They were placed in lower orbits and carried improved instruments. In 1984, it began malfunctioning and Landsat 5 was launched early as a result.

Image from http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lansat45.htm

This is a Landsat 7 image of the recent fires in Southern California. This image was acquired on October 26, 2004.

Image from http://landsat7.usgs.gov/gallery/

Famous Remote Sensing Famous Remote Sensing ImagesImages

The following slides contain some of the most famous finding and images that remote sensing has produced. Some of these images have been invaluable in depicting the changes that have occurred over time.

1980-1990 – Discovery of hole in ozone layer

1986-1992 – Chernobyl 1986-1992 – Effects of deforestation 1992 – Hurricane Andrew

1980 to 1990 – A hole in 1980 to 1990 – A hole in the ozone layerthe ozone layer

Image from http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/tour/tour_images/toms/toms90.gif

“It is important to appreciate that the atmosphere behaves differently from year to year. Even though the same processes that lead to ozone depletion occur every year, the effect they have on the ozone is altered by the meteorology of the atmosphere above Antarctica. This is known as the 'variability' of the atmosphere. This variability leads to changes in the amount of ozone depleted and the dates when the depletion starts and finishes.”

1986 – Chernobyl1986 – Chernobyl

“The 1986 and 1992 images clearly show farm abandonment. Agriculture appears as a collage of bright red (growing crops) and white (highly reflective bare ground). Many of these areas appear a flat tan-green in 1992, indicating natural vegetation which has taken over the abandoned fields.”

1986 Image of Chernobyl 1992 Image of Chernobyl

Quote and picture taken from taken over the abandoned fields.” http://edc.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/Chernobyl/Chernobyl

Effects of deforestationEffects of deforestation

Rondônia, Brazil 1975

Rondônia, Brazil 1986

Rondônia, Brazil 1992

“Approximately 30% (3,562,800 sq km) of the world's tropical forests are in Brazil. The estimated average deforestation rate from 1978 to 1988 was 15,000 sq km per year.”

“Systematic cutting of the forest vegetation starts along roads and then fans out to create the "feather" or "fishbone" pattern shown in the eastern half of the 1986 image. The deforested land and urban areas appear in light blue; healthy vegetation appears red.”

Images and quote from http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/Rondonia/Rondonia

1992 – Hurricane Andrew1992 – Hurricane Andrew

Image from http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/rsd/images/andrew.html

This is an image of Hurricane Andrew taken on August 25, 1992.

Sources for quotesSources for quotes http://www.vtt.fi/tte/research/tte1/tte14/virtual/

defin.html http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Intro/Part2_7.html http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/tour/part2.html#oct http://edc.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/Chernobyl/

Chernobyl http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/

Rondonia/Rondonia