EYE IN THE SKY: MONITORING THE EARTH BY SATELLITE

ENVIRST/GEOG/GEOSCI/GLE/LANDARC 371

Introduction to the Earth as viewed from above, focusing on use of aerial photography and satellite imagery to study the environment. Includes physical processes of electromagnetic radiation, data types and sensing capabilities, methods for interpretation, analysis and mapping, and applications.

ENVIRST 971

Many diverse technologies for monitoring the environment have become available in recent years, including traditional remote sensing data sources: aerial photography and satellite imagery, hyper-spectral data, imagery on demand, RADAR and LiDAR. Other new data sources are quite unconventional, with many emerging relatively recently: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones), social media, smartphones as sources of crowd-sourced data, and more. Sophisticated data management, analytics, and presentation technology are required to effectively leverage both the spatial (including 3D) and temporal dimensions of these often untapped data sources. Intended to survey and explore these newly developing technologies, and provide direct experience to the student to understand and interact with the data and methods (geocomputing, coding, cloud-based platforms), and to learn to plan, manage, and utilize them effectively.

CIVENGR/ENVIRST/LANDARC 556

Techniques of enhancement and quantification of remote sensing imagery. Emphasis on processing and analyzing data gathered by airborne and satellite sensors. Techniques to quantitatively analyze data from photography, electro-optical scanners, satellite systems, and radar and passive microwave systems. Applications to: agriculture and forestry, geology and soils, water quality, and urban and regional planning.

ENVIRST 931

Explore the ways remote sensing data are being used within an international development context, broadly defined. Provides a unique focus on understanding how projects were completed with satellite data, what data sources were necessary, how expert local knowledge was incorporated, and how various challenges were faced and overcome. Discover how the application of remote sensing data helped change policy in different countries across the globe.

ENVIRST 956

Focuses on the fundamental physical principles of terrestrial remote sensing, followed by an examination of advanced topics in earth observation and digital image processing. Topics include radiation interaction with the atmosphere and the surface; radiative transfer theory; land surface characteristics including energy balance; thermal sensing; atmospheric and radiometric correction of image data; automated cloud detection and removal. Applications of remote sensing data for environmental problems will be explored in depth, including biophysical remote sensing with 3D modeling of vegetation canopies, dense time series analysis, data mining techniques, data fusion, as well as object vs. per-pixel approaches to pattern recognition. Explores all major data types, including optical, RADAR, LiDAR, and hyperspectral data, and provide instruction in hands-on image processing using open source software.